[TRC] (AU) Dog Days (3/5)

[mikkeneko]

Title: Dog Days - Part 3
Rating: PG
Spoilers: AU.
Summary: Fai and Kurogane settle in together. Fluff, and then angst.

Author's Note: Please note that a responsible pet owner should always be sure to neuter their pets, and a large and potentially dangerous dog like Kurogane (and we know that he is dangerous!) ought not to be allowed to run around loose. But, we'll forgive Fai here because it's Kurogane.

Fai named the dog Kurogane. He'd heard somewhere that it meant 'black' in Japanese, which seemed appropriate, since the mysterious pet store owner - Yuuko - had told him the dog was part shiba. But the name rarely got used in that form; he just as often called the dog "puppy" or "doggie" or "woof-woof," since Kurogane responded the same way to his voice no matter what name he used.

Living with Kurogane was a revelation to Fai; it opened a whole new world up to his eyes. In some ways it was much easier than he'd feared, since Kurogane was an adult dog and not a puppy. He didn't need to be housetrained, he already responded well to commands, and he was mature and restrained enough not to cause havoc in Fai's house or chew up his clothes. He accepted the worn-out beanbag and layers of old coats and blankets that Fai offered him as a bed with deliberate dignity, and settled about the business of disguising the original color with layer on layer of black dog hair.

Kurogane was incredibly smart; he constantly surprised Fai with how much he could do, and how much he was able to understand. He was able to open any cabinet, drawer, or door which was not locked. Within a few days of settling at Fai's home, he recognized all of the items in the apartment by name, and was willing to pick many of them up and carry them over to Fai on request.

He seemed to know the difference between Fai really wanting something and Fai giving him commands just to watch him do it, and would pointedly ignore Fai during those times. In fact, Kurogane seemed perfectly capable of ignoring any of Fai's commands that he didn't think were 'right.' He was stubborn and willful, not exactly the picture of eager obedience that Fai had always associated with dogs. Kurogane did what he wanted, when he wanted, which only sometimes happened to coincide with what Fai wanted him to do.

Fai talked to his new dog almost constantly; it was such a relief having another living being nearby that he couldn't help himself. He was sure that Kurogane understood much of what he said, although whether he bothered to listen was another question; Kurogane spent much of his time that he was in the apartment completely ignoring Fai. At times, though, he would growl or let out a low woof in response to something Fai had said, almost as though carrying on a conversation.

Word quickly got around the neighborhood about Fai's new dog, which according to rumor had nearly torn someone's arm off defending him. The amount of respect his neighbors paid to him increased dramatically, and Fai never came back from the restaurant where he worked to find his ground-floor apartment broken into again. Except for when he was at work, Kurogane accompanied Fai everywhere he went outside the apartment. It made a huge difference having the big black dog by his side; Fai no longer felt threatened by any of the lurking figures in alleyways or shadows. He felt much freer to go out during the day, or stay out longer after dark.

With a new and uncharacteristic boldness, he began to explore the area around his home, for the first time getting to know and developing a fondness for the city he lived in. Finding new places, with Kurogane by his side, made the next few months an exciting adventure. He even found a small green park a few blocks away where he could take Kurogane to play. A cheap Frisbee and some tennis balls were all the equipment they needed for endless games of chase and fetch, although they lost Frisbees about as frequently as Kuro's strong jaws clamped down too hard and collapsed the tennis balls. If nothing else was handy, there were always sticks.

Although Kurogane loved to chase and catch, he was not very big on the 'fetch' aspect of things; he plainly thought that if Fai wanted his toy back, he was going to have to come and get it. Fai retaliated by playing keep-away, holding the toy high over his head where Kurogane couldn't reach it. This enticed Kurogane to chase him through the park, much to the alarm of any other park-goers at the sight of the huge black dog growling threateningly, and knocking the slender young man over as his jaws snapped at Fai's hands.

Despite what the shelter girl had said about pit bulls, Fai was never worried that Kurogane might hurt him; he knew Kurogane far too well, and for all his strength and potential ferocity, he had never hurt Fai even by accident. At times, when they were lying together on the grass and both panting from exertion, he would remember what the lady at the pet shop had told him about the loyalty of Shiba Inus; that they picked one master and stayed with them forever. He would close his eyes and bury his face against Kuro's thick black fur, as the dog's warm wet tongue lapped against his hand, and hope it was true.

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Kurogane stood on his hind legs and used his nose to bump aside the latch of the bathroom window from the outside. Gathering his powerful leg muscles under him, he sprang up and over the windowsill, landing on the inside with barely a bump. He was even able to pull the window shut after him with his jaws, not liking the cold damp drafts that came in under the doors if he didn't. No point in having an inside den, after all, if the weather was going to be like outside.

He jumped from the sink to the floor with a thump, and his claws ticked on the tile as he padded out into the main room from the bathroom. He was feeling very pleased with himself right now; he'd gotten into an argument with two ambitious schnauzers and even a stray Doberman who'd all been looking to expand into this block. He'd won, of course; now that he had regular food and a place to sleep - and a territory worth defending - no mangy mutt was going to be able to stand up against him.

A quick glance around confirmed what his nose had already assured him; his den was safe and secure, all was as it should be. His new den was spacious and warm, and he was able to come and go as he pleased. His master was home, which was a little unusual at this hour but not displeasing. As far as Kurogane was concerned, his master worked far too hard, and often came back to the den too tired to want to go to the park and play.

Aside from that detail, though, Kurogane couldn't be more pleased with his current set-up. His master was lovely, friendly and attentive and always willing to play, except when he was exhausted from work. Sure, he had a few qualities that Kurogane would knock out of him if he could - like the fact that he chattered meaninglessly all the time, and that he insisted on hugging Kurogane when he'd made it clear that he didn't like it - but Kurogane was willing to defend him against all comers. His master belonged to him and nobody else. At least there had been no talk in all his master's chatter about trying to take him to the V-E-T for the painful unmanning operation that so many of the street dogs had been subjected to. If he had, then Kurogane would have had to take steps.

Thinking of his master, he looked around the little apartment; normally he'd be in the kitchen, making delicious smells come out of the various wall boxes, but there was no sign of him. Poking his head around the doors, Kurogane eventually found his master in the bedroom, and why? It was too early to go to sleep.

His master was seated on the bed, and his hands were wrapped around the phone, but he wasn't talking into it. He was just sitting there, holding it in his lap, and his expression was strange, somehow empty and flat. Kurogane's concern increased; normally his master was happy and smiling, or making even stranger faces. It wasn't right for him to look so empty. Something was wrong.

He went over to his master and pushed his head into his lap, huffing softly to get his attention. When that didn't work, he impatiently swatted the man's leg with his paw. His master needed to tell him what was wrong, so that he could go out and rip the throat out of whatever had made him so sad.

Slowly, his master raised his face until he could focus on Kurogane. "Kuro," he said in a dull voice, for once not attaching any of the stupid nicknames to the end of it. "You're back."

His voice was all wrong too, quiet and flat, not happy and bubbly at all. Kurogane jumped up onto the bed beside his master, disdaining the "no puppy on the covers!" rule entirely, and settled down against his master's side, looking intently into his face. His master's fingers slid into his coat, curling against the good scratching-spots, but his face was turned away, staring off to the side.

"I've heard it said that suicide runs in families," he said quietly. "Or that it's contagious, like a disease. If you know someone who's killed themselves… if it's happened to someone in your family… the more you see it, the more you think about it, the more it gets into your head, and the more likely it is that you'll try to kill yourself, too. I don't know if that's really true, but I don't know how else to explain it, unless I really am under a curse.

"I used to have a family - a father and mother, and a twin brother, Yuui. One day when we came home from school, we found Mother in the bedroom. She'd hanged herself. We didn't know why… even now I still don't know why, but I'll never forget it, opening that door, calling out, and then seeing… one shoe had fallen off, and she was wearing her nice dressy socks, the ones with the flowers on them. Why do I still remember that? I don't remember what her face looked like - I don't - but I remember that.

"When we were freshmen in high school, my brother killed himself. We'd been bullied at school ever since we were children, and I guess he just couldn't take it anymore. He locked himself in the bathroom - we had to call the police to break down the door. The police wouldn't let me near, wouldn't let me see. I still don't know which is better… seeing or not seeing…

"And now my father just blew his brains out." The words sounded like they were dragged out of his throat, and his eyes were sparkling with tears. "We weren't close - I hadn't seen him since my last year of high school, when he found out I was gay, when he threw me out of the house. We'd never even spoken since then, and now I find out… he was the last of my family, and I found out because his neighbor heard the shot, and came to see if he was okay - and I -"

"I'm the last one now," he choked out, and the tears began pouring down his face. "I'm alone. I don't have any family, I don't have anyone. She said the… the funeral is on Thursday, and I… oh, Kuro, I don't… I don't even have enough money to buy a plane ticket to go to his funeral…"

He broke down into sobs, burying his face against Kurogane's neck, his hands clutching in the spiky black hair as he cried. The dog endured it patiently, pressed his warm furry body against his master's, and licked the tears away from where they fell onto his hands. It was all he could do; it was enough.

~to be continued...