Title: Dog Days - Part 1
Rating: PG
Spoilers: AU.
Summary: On his way home from work one day, Fai encounters a stray dog and decides to feed it. Before long, he finds that he's made a friend - one determined to stay by his side and protect him whether he likes it or not.
Author's Note:What astonished me about Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle is not so much the fact that this fandom has a story where Fai is - literally - a cat that Kurogane adopts… but that there's more than one. This is sort of my answer to that.

"Hello there, big doggie!" a cheerful voice called down the alleyway.

Kurogane's white-tipped ears flicked up at the sound, and he raised his chin from his paws to look up at whoever had dared to address him so casually. A growl started in his chest, but it was more habit than real anger, a low and almost uncertain rumbling in his ribcage and belly.

A tall, skinny man was standing at the end of the alley, a few steps off the street. His hair was light and flew in wisps around his face, and his laughing eyes were bright blue. Kurogane's ears flattened, and he pushed himself to all four feet even as he adopted a slinking, low-slung posture. He didn't know quite how to react. Most humans ignored him entirely, or looked afraid, unless they were shouting at him or chasing him away. He wasn't used to humans talking to him in friendly tones, at least not since - Kurogane shuddered inside to think about it - Master was gone.

"Good doggie," the stranger cooed in a sickeningly sweet voice. "Aren't you a handsome one, so big and black-furred. Oo's a good boy, oo's a good boy?"

Kurogane's growl increased, and he glared venomously at the stranger. He might not have a Master and a Den right now, but that didn't give random strange humans the right to baby-talk him.

At the same time, though, he hesitated to chase the man out of the alleyway, or make any threatening moves. This alleyway wasn't really his territory to begin with; he'd been on the move too long to really make a home for himself. And he was weak with hunger, having trouble scrounging enough to eat from the trash cans in these alleyways. He didn't feel up to a fight, not with the other city dogs, and not with this strange, stupid human. He crouched down a little lower, pressing the side of his body against the wall, and lowered his ears a little more. His entire posture eloquently spoke of, Leave me alone.

Far from taking a hint, though, the light-haired man took a few more steps into the alleyway. He was carrying a package that crinkled and smelled of plastic, and he crouched and leaned forward, his head almost at the level of Kurogane's as he stretched out one hand. "You haven't had enough to eat in a while, have you?" he said softly. "Poor guy. You're all alone. I guess you must have lost your people, if nobody is taking care of you. Or did they throw you out on the street to starve?"

Kurogane sniffed suspiciously in his direction, and relaxed his defensive posture as enticing smells made their way out of his bag. His ears perked up again despite himself, and he sniffed again. His growls shifted to soft whines.

"Here, I have something you can eat," the man announced, sitting back on his heels and reached into his plastic bag. "Lucky for you, I got paid today, so I can afford to spare a little bit of meat…"

He took out something that smelled delicious, wrapped in paper, and Kurogane could not stop himself from drooling as he deposited it on the alleyway floor. When he nosed aside the stiff, waxy paper, he found ground raw meat, cold but dripping with delicious bloody juices. He instantly forgave the man for the baby talk right there on the spot, and charitably decided that as humans went, this one wasn't so bad.

When the meat was all gone he snuffled around trying to find a last few crumbs, tail thumping against the alley floor as he licked the paper for the last of the juice. The man chuckled, his chin propped in his hands as he watched Kurogane fish around in the paper. "Still not enough…?" he asked.

"Try this," he said, digging back into his bag and pulling out a package of sausages, long tubular things with pinched-off ends tied with thread. "Who knows what all is in here, but you dogs can eat most kinds of meat, can't you?"

The sausages were a little harder to handle than the hamburger had been. He had to pick up each sausage by one end, then toss his head up to swallow the whole thing with a gulp. The pale-haired stranger laughed out loud to watch his antics, but Kurogane charitably decided to forgive him the indignity, at least right now.

Once the sausages were all gone, he looked up at the man hopefully, a small whine escaping him. "Sorry, that's all I have for now," he said regretfully. "Unless you can eat cheese as well?" He fished around in his bag for something else, broke off a chunk of some yellow, bitter-smelling substance and offered it. Kurogane sniffed the offering in his hand for a moment and took it, but although he mouthed it a few times, it tasted more like plastic than like food. He looked at the strange man in disgust, and snorted deep in his canine chest.

The man laughed again. "Ah, well, guess I can't blame you, that's American cheese," he said.

He reached out with an empty hand, and although Kurogane was wary, this time he let the man's fingers brush across the top of his head, rub his ears. He had a nice touch - gentle, maybe a bit on the wishy-washy side, tickling and irritating more than he satisfied.

Kurogane hated to admit it to himself, but had missed humans' touch.

Abruptly the light, tickling touch became too itchy, and Kurogane sat back abruptly and began to scratch behind his ear with a hind leg. The man laughed again and rose to his feet, to Kurogane's annoyance, brushing his hands off on his pants leg.

"I have to go now, big doggie," he said. "I'd better get home before dark. I hope you can find someone else to give you food, or find your people again."

With one final pat, the man turned towards the mouth of the alley and started off down the street. He didn't see the dark human figure, further back in the intersection, detach itself from the shadows and begin to follow him.

But Kurogane did.

Cautiously - he was out of his territory, and he had learned to be wary of men who would try to catch him - he slipped out of his pathetic excuse for a temporary den and sniffed down the street. The laughing man's smell-trail was easy to pick out, leading recent and steady away down the street. The darker, slightly sicker smell-trail of another human was overlaid on top, dirty and chemical, following close behind.

Kurogane snorted, sneezed, then leapt to his feet and began to follow them. There weren't many other humans on this street, and when he caught up to the two that had been following, he froze in place at the sound of human voices shouting.

The sick man had grabbed onto his human, who staggered backwards, crying out as the intruder grabbed his shoulders and shook him like a ragdoll. "Shut up and be quiet!" the dark figure was saying loudly. "Shut up and give me your money! All I want is your money. Do it or else you get hurt!"

"Calm down, okay, just calm down," he heard his human's voice, pleading in a way that darkened Kurogane's vision and made his lips lift in a snarl. "Look, I don't have any money, I spent it all on groceries. You can have them, okay? Just take them -"

"Fuck the goddamn groceries, man!" the dark figure yelled, lashing out with his arm and ripping the plastic bag, sending cans and packages bouncing everywhere. "I know you have cash! I heard you say you got paid today! Now gimme the fucking cash, or else -"

Fury blazed up in Kurogane's mind; a low growl began in his chest, building higher and higher as he crept forward, all his hair standing on end. How dare this filthy thug threaten his human? He would pay for this!

He leapt forward, his powerful leg muscles catapulting him across the distance. His jaws closed around the attacker's arm in an unbreakable grip, and the mugger screamed as sharp teeth ripped into the skin of his arm. He turned around, shaking his arm wildly, beating at his head as he tried to make Kurogane let go.

The light-haired man staggered back, arms full of ripped plastic and a look of shock on his face. He didn't see a wound, but Kurogane couldn't tell if he was injured or not, not through the smell of the attacker's blood filling his mouth and nose. He ignored the heavy blows to his face, bracing his large paws on the rough concrete and throwing all his substantial weight towards dragging the man backwards.

"Call off your dog! Call off your goddamn dog!" the man was crying hysterically, and the blond man just shook his head, hands fumbling in the pockets of his coat for a small silver object.

The mugger's flailing free arm found a discarded length of pipe lying against a wall, and he grabbed at it frantically, then swung it around to impact with a heavy thud on Kurogane's side. It was an awkward angle and didn't do as much damage as it could have, but it was enough to make Kurogane yelp loudly and lose his grip on the man's arm.

With his side smarting, and his mouth full of the nasty taste of the other man's blood, Kurogane scrambled around to place himself between the mugger and the blond human, who had the little metal disk up to his face now. For a moment, he licked his lips and hefted his makeshift weapon, but Kurogane's throat-ripping snarl stopped him in place.

"I'm calling the cops," the blond man said in a firm voice that shook only slightly. "You'd better get out of here, and don't come around this area looking for trip money again!"

The mugger had been expecting an easy mark; the savage dog and the threatened cops were too much for him. The piece of pipe clattered to the ground as he turned and fled, stumbling and clutching his mauled arm with his good hand.

Kurogane stayed in a guard position long after the man's footsteps had gone, until the trail of blood he'd left behind began to cool. Then, finally, he sat down at the blond man's feet and bayed loudly in triumph. He'd defended his good person, and made a bad one run off like a wounded rabbit. Oh yeah, he was a bad-ass motherfucker.

"Good doggie," a faint voice came from behind him, and Kurogane's breath whuffed out of him in surprise as light, tentative hand touched his coat. He looked up into the human's eyes, bright blue and wide with shock. "Would… the brave black doggie like to stay with me tonight…?"

Good dog. It had been a long time since Kurogane had heard those words spoken to him, and he liked the sound of it. He flipped his nose up against the human's hand, leaving a smear of blood against his pale skin; but the man only hesitated before he reached over and scratched Kurogane's ears, much more satisfyingly this time.

Maybe, just maybe, Kurogane had found his new Master. He thought he could get to like this one.

~to be continued...