Warnings: bullying, angst, fluff, and obligatory puppy love everywhere
Author's Note: Yes, I am aware there are plenty of stories where Kurogane is a dog in AU fics, but how often are there of him as a puppy; let alone the puppy retains the personality of young Kurogane? So after talking about this with tsubasafan, I present you kid fic with Kuro-puppy~

Also, let it be known that Shiba Inus are not the best idea to have if you're having a puppy or dog for the first time, since they can get aggressive with their hunting instincts. But because they're known to be loyal, what else would be perfect for a Kuro-puppy, or Kuro-doggy for that matter?

They say a dog is man's best friend, but what Fai didn't expect was for a stout, black Shiba Inu puppy that was the size of a basketball but had the energy of a three year old child to be his.

Ashura had come home one day with the puppy as a surprise for the quiet and lonely boy, saying that after talking to a coworker whose dog had given birth to a litter a few weeks ago he'd decided to drop by. According to the owners, this one in particular was playful, but was awfully clingy to its mother and siblings. However, his coworker felt best that this one would be great as a companion from what she had observed over the past few weeks. Fai didn't know what to make of this with a new addition to the small family ridden with heartbreak and tragedy, but he accepted Ashura's thoughtful (but rather spontaneous) gesture nevertheless. He was given the honor of naming the boisterous puppy, and feeling not too creative, Fai decided to call it 'Kuro'.

Things didn't go out smoothly as first with Kuro running around and exploring his new home and destroying a lot of items rather innocently. It took some time after many incidents, but eventually the puppy came to win and warm Fai's heart.

Those books weren't kidding when they said be prepared for a puppy to think that anything is like a tree. Or a bench. Or mailbox.

"No, not the rug!" Ashura shouted. He was too late. Kuro had spun round and round as fast as he could sniffing the corner of a rug, declaring it suitable to mark his territory and raising a leg up before the well-intentioned but clumsy man could run into the living room and save the precious cloth.

The puppy didn't hear the man's hysterics, however, and after conquering the rug he darted across the wooden floor to the front hall where Fai was, having just got back home from school. Kuro yapped and wagged his tail, clearly happy to see the boy. For a moment, Fai thought that maybe Kuro wasn't so bad and that he really was adorable. He smiled.

And stopped as soon as Kuro lifted his leg and peed on his sneakers.

"Bad dog!" Fai hollered.

"Fai, if you don't hurry, you'll going to be late for school again!"

"I'm coming, but Kuro-meanie won't let go of my sock!"

This wasn't the first instance. Every time Fai tried putting on his socks in the morning Kuro would run into his room and latched on one, tugging on it insistently. He was still teething, and it didn't help that the puppy was mistaken that Fai was going to take him out to walk and play in the backyard. He heard Ashura sigh.

"Forget about it. Just put on another random one since time's running out. On second thought, don't walk there. I'll start the car and you meet me in the garage."

Grumbling, Fai let go of his sock, which made Kuro very happy. The black puppy ran around his bed before leaping on top of the blanket where he pinned the sock down with a paw and gnawed on it. Meanwhile Fai dug for another sock, and to his dismay the last clean pair he had available was a striped neon green one. It had come in a discounted pack Ashura had found at the local Walmart, but being eternally grateful for the man, Fai simply bit his tongue and swore to only wear them at the last resort. Sighing, he jammed one on, grabbed his backpack and ran to the hall to put on his shoes, ignoring the whines coming from Kuro.

There was a hole in one of them. It seemed that his sock was not the only victim of Kuro's ungodly puppy teeth. Just his luck, it was the left shoe, the same foot he was wearing the hideous sock, and there was no time to switch socks. Fai groaned. He put them on anyways and ran to the car, where Ashura was clenching the wheel so hard his hands were turning white.

After Ashura pulled out of the garage he pointed to the window of Fai's bedroom. "Hey look, Kuro is saying goodbye to us."

Fai looked, and sure enough he saw tiny black paws and a wet nose pressed to the window. Kuro looked too sad that it made him feel guilty, but then Ashura drove down the street and by the time they arrived in front of his school and Fai ran to his classroom, he'd forgot the puppy's somber face.

The weather was nice today and Fai was tempted to put off his homework later for the evening to go play outside in the small yard, but evening was when Ashura had more time for him so for now he just had to manage. It didn't help, however, that Kuro was thinking the same for he went inside his room with a toy in his mouth.

"Sorry, I'm busy," Fai said.

Being a non-human, Kuro would not understand Fai, and being a puppy, he wouldn't listen anyways. He dropped the ball and yapped, pleading the boy to play with him. He would not budge from the room until Fai threw the ball no matter what! Fai sighed.

"Silly Kuro-stubborn," he teased. Grinning, Fai picked up the ball and Kuro wagged in delight. He made sure to toss it far out into the hall so that the puppy would take a long time to fetch it. Instantly Kuro ran for it, the sounds of his tiny paws diminishing the further away he went. There, that should hopefully distract the puppy for now. Mussing with his hair, Fai resumed to tackle his math problems but then heard something thumping on the ground.

"What now?"

Kuro barked and nudged the ball that was slobbered with saliva with his nose, urging his young master to do it again. This was not going to end well. But he had a plan.

He picked it up. "You want this?" Kuro started leaping on his hind legs. "Yeah? Well, here you go!"

As soon as the hyper puppy was out of the way, Fai closed the door. Content, he went back and picked up his pencil, scribbling his calculations away. All was peaceful – the birds chirped outside of his window and a breeze blew in through the open window. It was interrupted much too soon when Fai heard whimpering and scratching noises on his door. He ignored Kuro for a while, but the stubborn puppy would just not stop. That little rascal!

"All right, all right, fine, you win Kuro-whiny," Fai greeted after opening his door reluctantly.

Kuro didn't seem to be wounded at all by Fai's sarcasm. Instead he joyfully ran in and waited for his young master to resume their playtime. To his chagrin, the game lasted quite for a while, causing much delay in Fai finishing his homework. But at least Kuro eventually got tired and decided to settle for a nap on his bed.

Of course, later in the evening his energy level was back to square one, and both Fai and Ashura had to join forces to exhaust Kuro out once again.

The nice weather didn't last too long. Soon storm clouds rolled in, lightning, thunder and rain greeting the town. Fai was afraid of thunder growing up, but he eventually got over that. There were scarier things out there, and certainly harsher things in life than thunderstorms. Who else knew it better than Fai and Ashura?

Thunder was not the only sound keeping Fai from falling asleep instantly when lights were out. Kuro wouldn't stop barking from the living room where he usually slept in his pen. He was loud and at times he would whimper too, scraping on the net with his sharp claws. The puppy couldn't help it, really. He was scared of the noise and was left on his own in the big, dark and scary room, but all Fai wanted was for Kuro to stop being so loud.

Grumbling, Fai boxed his ears with his pillow and rolled over in hopes of cancelling out the noises of Kuro and the thunder. Minutes passed but it still did not work. He heard Ashura making his way down the hall to check on the puppy. Moments later it had appeared that he went back to his room with Kuro and shut his door. Well, at least it seemed like Kuro being a nuisance was under control. Fai rolled around and tried to fall asleep for the umpteenth time. However, his already lack of silence and peace was interrupted once again when he heard a knock on his door.

"What?" he groaned.

Ashura opened the door, and in his hand was Kuro.

"Sorry to bother you, but is it alright if I leave Kuro with you? He's scared and won't even settle down in bed with me, but I figure he might if he stayed in here."

Was there really any other choice? "Yeah," he mumbled.

With his reluctant permission, Ashura let go of Kuro, who immediately leapt into his bed and burrowed underneath Fai's covers. No longer whining, the puppy proceeded to lick as much as he pleased over the boy's face. He squirmed as he was licked on his nose and his ears, trying to tell Kuro to leave him alone, which he eventually did. Settling down at last, Kuro let out one last yelp just as another thunder clapped outside.

"Shhh, just sleep, we're fine," Fai tried to assure. He even pet the little fur ball for extra measures of comfort.

Miraculously, he started to feel that drain on his body, lulling him into a deep sleep. Fai welcomed it, and just as he drifted off into a much needed sleep, Kuro laid there, hugging near his arm, snoring quietly away.

A few weeks later, the unthinkable happened.

The mailman went up to the doormat instead of simply dropping mail in the mailbox. Ashura instructed Fai that it was safe to open the door for the mailman and that he could always tell by the fancy wing logo on the uniform shirt. Sure enough when Fai opened the door a young, cheerful man with spiked hair and orange glasses greeted him.

"Hello there, can I ask you to sign this to receive the package?" he said.

"Uh…sure."

Fai had never signed his name on anything before, so he decided to use cursive to good use and wrote his full name in tidy handwriting. The mailman smiled and commented on it, which caused Fai to flush. Nobody besides Ashura and his teacher had ever said something nice to him before.

"Thanks, son, now let me just drop this inside right next to the door and – whoa, hey there!"

Fai wondered what had caused the mailman to be on full alert, but when he heard angry barking he knew. He wheeled around and saw Kuro running full speed out from the kitchen, his fur on the back of his head sticking out in retaliation. Before Fai could stop him, the puppy leapt and aimed for the mailman's hand; but fortunately he missed and instead his teeth latched straight onto the package. Mortified, Fai hauled him off and held onto Kuro, who was still growling at the suspicious stranger.

"Sorry, sir!" he said, struggling to keep Kuro still. The puppy wriggled in his hands and snarled, thinking that his young master was not safe, even though he was still tiny!

Mister Mailman laughed. "No worries, us mailmen get this all the time. Mind you, I got small injuries from bigger dogs before. But still, you ought to train him, I think, just in case. I'm fine, but some people really do get bothered if people's dogs get out of hand."

He laughed again and dropped the box, cheerfully bid goodbye and went back to his truck. Nothing horrific had happened, and he certainly didn't get mad at Fai for not keeping good check on Kuro, but the boy was still mortified. Frowning he shut the door and finally let Kuro go, who eagerly followed him back to his room.

"Bad dog," he scolded. Kuro winced at Fai's sudden sharp tone. Ears drooping, he started to whine, upset that he had angered his young master. He did look pitifully sad, really, but Fai felt horrible. Not a lot of people had encountered Kuro before, but whenever they have, the puppy didn't leave the best of impressions, and Fai couldn't handle that well.

Not knowing how else to deal with his own crippling issues of self-consciousness, Fai closed his door and lied on his bed, ignoring Kuro scratching and pleading.

Today was shaping out to be one of the most horrible. First, he was late for school. Then he realized he forgot to bring his lunch bag from home. If it wasn't for some helpful classmates who were kind enough to lend him some money he wouldn't have been able to get food from the cafeteria. And then there was the dreaded walk home from school.

On most days, Ashura was able to pick Fai up straight from school. Other times he would stay behind for after school programs to avoid walking with certain menacing kids. But today it was a terrible timing. Not only was it a time that Ashura was unable to come by at 1:30 PM, but today's program was cancelled. With no such luck, Fai had to bear with it at the end of the day.

Being an only child, and being a quiet kid, Fai was picked on easily. There were many times he wished he knew how to stand up for himself, and there were many days he desperately wanted somebody to stand up for him. But nobody else in his class would, and every night he would complain about it to Ashura, who looked so sad but didn't know what to say or do to help Fai's case. The bullying hadn't escalated to the point that Ashura would take the matter in his hands and speak to his teacher or even the school's principal. Yet even so, Fai hated it, and who could blame him?

The worst thing was that some of these bullies lived right on the same street as Fai, so there was literally no end in sight for him to evade them; unlike say if they took different intersections before him. The timid boy had learned to practice some mannerisms, such as walking with his shoulders up and out the best he could and hands outside of his pockets. It was words and actually fighting back that he lacked in.

"Hey you," one of them sneered.

Ignore him. Just ignore him.

"HEY, can't you hear me?"

"What do you want?"

"Huh? What was that? I couldn't hear you."

"I said…" Fai hesitated. He was getting close to home by now, and far in the distance he could see the white picket fence that distinguished his and Ashura's house.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing. Just messing with you," the head of the boys said. His cronies snickered. Even though Fai wanted nothing to do with them, could never be friends with them, the fact that he fell for the other's trap hurt him.

"Just…leave me alone," he managed to say, words that Ashura had advised him to say when horrible things like this happen.

"What did you say?"

Furious, Fai whipped around right in front of his house where they had all stopped. In the background he could hear Kuro yapping, who was waiting for him behind the backyard fence.

"Leave me alone!" he yelled. In agitated anger, Fai blindly pushed the bigger boy in the chest. But he was too small, and that didn't have any effect, and that scared him.

Instead, the head bully sneered and shoved on Fai's shoulders, nearly knocking the breath out of him already. He screamed, and before he knew it, he was pinned to the ground on his front lawn, struggling to fight the other boy off. Meanwhile the others cheered their friend on as he tried to punch Fai. In a will of a struggle to survive, Fai managed to dodge each and every one of them, surrendering small hands to protect his face.

This was no good, he would be beaten up badly, with a black eye and bloody nose – maybe even have some teeth knocked out of him. Oh why did he push the other back in the first place? He shouldn't have; he was too stupid, too weak, and now he was on to get it and nobody else responsible was around to help him. Even Kuro was barking now, ferociously, but he was stuck behind the backyard fence, and even then he was just a tiny puppy. What could he do anyways to help Fai in a bad situation like this?

"Geroff me," Fai said, holding back tears and cries in pain. He clawed, he kicked, but nothing would work. Ashura wasn't home to stop this, and if he could manage to survive then he would do his best to show the man what damages the bully had done to him. Yet he was barely able to hold on, and he screamed for help, begging for mercy and forgiveness.

Kuro was barking louder, somehow.

"Kuro…" he called out faintly.

How was it possible that the puppy was getting louder? Unless, unless he had…

"YOW! That hurts!"

Fai witnessed in shock and awe as Kuro darted out of nowhere and sank his sharp teeth into the bully's finger, freeing him from his strong grip. Fai rolled out of the way, scratched but without any bleeding or wounds to his face, and watched as the little black Shiba Inu puppy went his way of savagely attacking the bully. He'd read about Kuro's kind being reckless and loyal, but he never knew it was such the case until now.

Kuro was fierce, Kuro was angry, and the puppy refused to surrender to these large humans who were messing with his young master. By then the big boy and his friends were terrified, and one by one they started leaving the lawn, running down the street. Kuro even bolted after them, nipping at their shoes until he knew for sure none of them would mess with his young master anymore. Fai screamed for Kuro to come back, scared that something would happen to the little puppy, until he'd finally come running back, dazed and tired, and fell down to one side on the lawn.

"Kuro!"

Fai scooped the puppy up, shaking. He ignored his backpack and hurried to enter the house, where he fetched more water for the puppy. After grabbing his stuff, Fai took them both into his room, where he tossed his backpack aside and shut the door. He propped Kuro on the bed. The puppy was worn out, but he would be fine. But even so – Fai didn't, he couldn't –

"What the heck was that for?"

He must have been yelling louder than he bargained for, as Kuro immediately shriveled and whimpered. But he didn't really care.

"Why would you do that for me? Escape from the backyard and put yourself in harm."

Fai collapsed on his bed, and his chest hurt so much.

"I knew I should be glad I got no harm, but – but…now they'll hate me even more."

Kuro tilted his head and swiped a paw at Fai's head. He ignored the pup's warm gesture and sunk into his pillow, sobbing.

"It's no use," he cried. "I'll never make any friends. When Mom and Dad died I got even lonelier, until Ashura adopted me like a good godfather he was. But everybody felt too sorry for the little orphan that they wouldn't let me come over to play."

Kuro huddled closer and started licking his hands, which Fai immediately withdrew.

"Stop it, stop trying to smuggle me! You're not helping me here at all. You're just some hyper puppy who thinks you're bigger than you are. Just leave me alone. Leave me alone…"

He cried loud and hard into his pillow. It wasn't the first time he had done so all those times he was home alone and Ashura wasn't around to hear (because he never wanted to let his godfather know, he always smiled to assure that he was fine when he wasn't). But today he felt even worse. It was a horrible day – he was late to school, nearly didn't get to have lunch, and on top of it he was bullied so badly that his little puppy was his savior. Not anybody else, a puppy.

Said puppy didn't leave him alone, and instead wriggled his way underneath Fai's arm to sniff along his cheeks and slobber kisses everywhere. They were annoying, but eventually they tickled him. Before he knew it, Fai started to laugh over and over again.

Kuro was stubborn, he should have known better than that. But he had done what no one else had done before. He had come in to defend him, unyieldingly, and for that, Fai realized that all along that Kuro had more to him than his crazy antics.

"I'm sorry," he said, petting Kuro. "It's just…"

As if he wasn't worn out from chasing and biting big bullies, the puppy panted eagerly and wagged his tail in delight. Fai smiled for the first time today.

"Everyone except for Ashura mostly had been judging me. But you – you're just a puppy and all – but you never judged me. Even though I was mean to you occasionally and leave you at home many times, you never stopped pestering me. And that, that feels so – so…"

Fai was tearing up again. As if right on cue, the boisterous puppy commenced licking his tears away, causing Fai to laugh even more.

"So, um, thanks, for just being a good dog and a good friend."

He hugged Kuro, with all his gratitude and love he could. Kuro may have his moments that drove Fai up the wall, but in the end, he never stopped wanting to be close to him, even if it was scratching at his door to play fetch across the hall while Fai was busy doing homework. He wasn't a human, and he couldn't talk nor do many other things, but Kuro was a good friend. It's just all this time Fai never realized how much Kuro meant to him, until today when the pup exhausted himself. From now on, he promised he wouldn't hold mean spirited grudges against the well intentioned and most loyal friend he would ever have.

When Ashura came home that night, Fai went to thank him for bringing home Kuro. He explained to the man what had happened earlier that day, and despite himself, broke down into tears again, before explaining the heroic deed Kuro had done. Touched, Ashura hugged him, and of course, Kuro ran into the living room then to try to get in as well.

From that day on, Fai treasured Kuro just as much the puppy did for the boy, and they loved each other very, very much.

Stay tuned for an epilogue~