Puppy Heart

Kanda has known the golden rule of their species since the day he matured out of his pup stage: an Alpha always watches over their mate if they are injured. And seeing Allen get hurt has set him all on edge. Maybe if Kanda can't sleep, Allen can put him at ease if he cuddles next to him instead.

Hello again. If you are new, thank you for choosing to read this story. If you've read some of my things before, thank you for choosing to read this story too. The prompt came from a picture I saw on Tumblr that got me thinking in a whole new universe: Puppyverse! It's basically me seeing everyone as a talking dog, pretty much just like Lady and the Tramp, so if you can get into that visual then everything makes a lot more sense.

So if I haven't completely turned you off from this story, lets begin.

Puppy Heart

"Really BaKanda it's not as bad as you think." There was a swish of a tail. "Oww!"

Kanda knew that his mate was injured. Kanda knew that that paw was hurt just enough to be pained by lashing his tail at it. And Kanda knew that he would feel incredibly guilty at purposefully making his mate more hurt than he already was.

But Kanda also knew that when Allen was being an idiot, he had to treat him like an idiot.

"My ass it's not as bad as I think. If the hairs at the end of my tail could make you scream like that then your arm is completely damaged."

Allen pulled his arm closer to his body, giving Kanda the most hurt and betrayed look he could muster on his small face. The larger dog flinched just as his mate knew he would and Allen had to fight to keep the smirk off his face. "That's no reason to hit me like that."

Kanda stared down at his laying mate, having an internal conflict over keeping his strict face on and continue reprimanding how stupid he was for getting hurt or apologizing for not being able to protect him and hurting him more in the process of reprimanding him.

The look on Allen's face, the one Kanda could never avoid feeling like the worst Alpha in the world, won out and the larger leaned down to lick at the still healing wound. "I'm sorry."

Seeing where his Alpha was coming from and understanding that he was just worried, Allen was quick to forgive. "Good. Now come over here."

His paw was still tender so lifting it was a slight problem, but the white, smaller dog was still able to reach just enough to show that he wanted to be nuzzled. There were few things better than having his neck cuddled by his Alpha, especially feeling so tired and weak from being wounded, so there was nothing more Allen wanted then to feel the warmth and comfort he was asking for.

And Kanda, though still wary of agitating the right arm even more, was willing to comply with his mate's wish. So when his muzzle was right at the perfect spot at the juncture between his jaw and neck, Kanda exerted a little force to push Allen onto his back.

Not expecting such a sudden change in position, Allen yelped in surprise as his paws went dangling in the air and Kanda's face came into view. The slightly blue tinted dog stared down at his captive before leaning in to nuzzle at the better angled chest and Allen purred in response to the new, better feeling, fluffy tail wagging lazily.

"I thought I mated a puppy, not a damn cat."

"I'm happy," Allen sighed, leaning his head back to give Kanda more room. "And I haven't been a puppy in a long time."

Kanda knew that, and he was upset at himself for bringing it up. Their puppy days growing up were some of the worst times for him; the fear of becoming an Alpha overtaking his mind, the anger at Allen for being his mate during the time he thought he wanted it to be Alma, the pain of almost losing Allen for it.

Kanda took a quick glance to the left, at Allen's red stained, deformed paw and gently licked it.

"BaKanda! Why can't you just accept that I'm your mate and let us move on with our lives?"

"Because who would ever want a stupid Moyashi as a mate?! I would have rather had no mate then have it be you!"

"…If I could change places with Alma, I would…but he doesn't even love you as much as you do him! Why do you think he's been gone for these past days?"

"Shut up! Alma would never leave me and I'm going to mark him as mine. I don't need you to be my mate!"

"Kanda wait—if that's what you want fine but you have to see how he sees you. If you can still love him after that then I'll let you ruin your life with him."

"Shut up!"

"Kanda? Kanda…Kanda!"

That horrible night was one of the worst storms the Black Order had ever seen and during it lightning had struck down several trees, including the ones in the forest Kanda and Allen were in. When he was going to go out and find Alma, a tree had been hit and was about to crush the rage-blinded Alpha dog when Allen pushed him away. His top body was almost crushed underneath the—thankfully—dwarf trunk but his left paw was punctured by a branch that had splintered into hundreds of needles that pierced through the entire arm of the white, still young puppy.

When they were rescued Allen was immediately taken to the infirmary and put into immediate surgery to remove all the still embedded needles. The process was long and exhausting, Komui using every bit of his medical experience to try and leave Allen with his arm intact, and Kanda stayed at his side throughout the ordeal.

His Alpha instincts awoke when seeing Allen under that tree and his heart cried out at seeing all the pieces that were removed from his mate's—and yes he did finally accept him as his mate—arm along with all the blood he was losing. There was a time that everyone thought that they were going to lose the white pup but, pleading for forgiveness and not to leave him, Kanda's Alpha soul was able to call back Allen's weakened one from the brink of death.

And though his arm was deformed—the wood having permanently disfigured the skin along with destroying the roots of his fur to stop them from ever growing again—it was perfectly usable in a few months time without so much as leaving even a limp behind.

Kanda had taken his role of Alpha seriously when dealing with his mate: standing guard while Allen slept, bringing him the best meats to return his strength, and keeping him warm when the lack of insulation from his left side made him so cold that he shivered. And while his mate was kind enough to never say anything, Kanda learned that, just as Allen said, Alma never cared for him. Those feelings were long gone for the blue dog of course, but it still stung knowing that on the nights he was missing Alma had run off to be with another Alpha without even telling Kanda.

Allen whined, bringing Kanda back to the present and worrying that he was hurting the smaller dog. "You were thinking too much again." Kanda moved closer to the furless paw and kissed it with enough love that Allen shivered. "You know how bad that is for you."

Kanda's eyes narrowed at the attempt to rile him, but just gave a final lick before moving away. "I was just thinking how much I hate when you get hurt for me."

Allen gave him a sympathetic look. "You never let me anyway, so why are you worrying about it?"

He was completely ignoring his red paw, and Kanda didn't feel like pointing out the obvious. "I think I hate it more when I can't protect you from getting hurt."

Allen whined again, stretching his neck as far back as it could go while still gazing at him with soft, large eyes. "You know you can't stop everything, and this was not your fault."

He must have know that it any other position Kanda would have argued over both those statements, but Allen was in his most submissive stance, choosing to absolve Kanda's protector side rather then challenge his protective side.

And Kanda could see how tired his mate was getting if he was willing to use that position—having seen it only once before, near the end of Allen's first recovery period—in order to stave off having an argument over Kanda's ability to defend him.

"Go to sleep Moyashi."

"But you won't get any sleep—you'll just watch over me all night again and forget to rest yourself. Besides, I'm not even that tired." Allen's yawn betrayed him. "Okay fine," he turned himself back over to lie on his stomach, "maybe I'm a little tired. But I want you to sleep with me."

Kanda slowly inched his way into a relaxed position of his own, decided to lay down facing the Moyashi to try and appease him. "I'll get to sleep once you do."

Allen was having none of it. He wanted to sleep by his mate so he was going to. Carefully, he stood up, shushing the complaint on Kanda's lips and limping his way to his side. Plopping over, he snuggled into his Alpha's side relishing in the warmth of his thick fur. "If you can't sleep watching me from so far away, then you can guard me at your side while we both rest."

Kanda knew that that wasn't going to happen, and he was pretty sure that Allen knew it too, but he did feel better having his mate at his side. He nuzzled the top of the smaller white head before giving a small lick to his cheek.

"Goodnight Moyashi. I know I never said this, but I'm glad that my mate was you."

Whether Allen heard the once in a lifetime words or not, he was comforted by the gentle rumble from his mate's chest and fell asleep feeling like his Alpha was made just for him just as strongly as he knew that he was born especially for Kanda.

End

Please review and tell me what you think. I was a little apprehensive of writing in non human but I'm kinda proud of this story. But that could be just me.