The Dog Only She Believed In

By 246Nakuro

Summary: When Sesshomaru is turned into a mortal dog and sent to the worst man in the world to be killed, he's rescued by a group that rescue dogs, he's so bad off that no one wants to deal with him, except one girl with long black hair and dark brown eyes.

Sesshomaru lay on the cold hard metal floor of the cage he had lived in for months now. He hated being a mortal dog they were so weak, that even now all he wanted to do was lie down and give up. But he had someone he needed to get revenge on and his spirit alone was what was keeping him alive. He felt cold and tried to curl up in the cage but it was so dirty he didn't dare lie down in it.

He finally unable to hold himself up anymore lay down on the dirty floor of the cage and closed his eyes. He knew he was getting close to the end of his rope as his breathing shallowed just a bit. He heard the door open but simply lay there making no sound. If he was silent Naraku tended to leave him alone. Trapped in this cage full of his urine and feces, barely big enough for him.

"Humpf." He heard Naraku grunt and bit down a yelp as he threw something inside the cage, but Naraku didn't touch it. "I thought you would be more entertaining than this. Damn demons are useless."

He remained in the cage for he didn't know how long until he heard a famine voice. "Oh." It sounded sad but he had been fooled one too many times with a human's voice. "We didn't get to this one in time. Get Kagome, she can help me remove the poor guy." He felt the cage lifted and growled loudly lunging at the fingers within it which quickly retracted. "He's alive!"

Sesshomaru kept his hackles raised; his teeth bared and growled loudly never taking his eyes off her. Another girl came around the corner and he growled at them both. She had long black hair and dark brown eyes. He didn't, and wouldn't trust her.

"Hey there big boy." She told him gently and reached towards his cage slowly.

"Kagome don't!" The girl from before tried to warn her friend before the girl yelped and pulled her badly bleeding finger back to her chest.

"Your so scared aren't you big boy?" She didn't seem mad that he had bitten her, or that he hadn't stopped growling when she pulled her hand away, her voice was calm and sweet and he actually found himself relaxing ever so slightly. "Sango?" The girl known as Kagome looked at the first girl. "Go get me a blanket."

The girl now known as Sango left to do just that. Kagome turned back to the dog in the cage. He was skin and bones. She wasn't sure how he had survived so long but it had to have something to do with his spirit and she wasn't going to give up on him just because he was a little quicker to bite then listen. He could learn she knew it. Sango handed her the blanket and Kagome moved slowly so as not to frighten him and placed it over his stinky cage.

Sesshomaru growled at the darkness but his body naturally relaxed as darkness had always meant safety before. It was a short drive to the rescue clinic, but all the dogs except the white one Kagome had become attached to could be examined. The white dog wouldn't come out of the cage and bit/lunged at anyone who touched the cage. Figuring he was just scared they placed his cage in the big cage the quarantine dogs went into after being examined. The door open in case he wanted to come out. Kagome came to give the dogs their food and water rations as they slowly had to work them up to normal amounts of food again after being starved for so long.

She slowly came around the corner to the white dog's cage and stilled upon seeing him out of the tiny cage and drinking the water they had left in the cage, however when Kagome came around the corner and he could see her he ran back into the tiny cage and growled at her as she entered the big one. He was scared but he refused to let anyone see it was fear. A month went by and still no one could get into the cage with the white dog. Sango told Kagome to put him down, but Kagome couldn't find it in her heart to do so.

As she had been seeing him as much as he would allow for a month he had started to come around to her. He wouldn't growl at her CONSTANTLY anymore, like he did with everyone else. Sesshomaru grabbed the book Naraku had thrown at him and hid it under his dog's bed. No one came into his cage except Kagome and she didn't touch his stuff.

Kagome turned around the corner and fought herself not to jump up and down in delight. The white dog was eating his food and could see her. He growled ever so often at her, but he hadn't retreated into the stinky small cage. She slowly opened the door of the bigger cage with a soft floor and grabbed the small cage. He stopped eating to look at her.

"It's ok boy. You won't need this anymore." She headed out towards the opening and the white dog followed at a distance.

She closed the door of the cage and tossed the smaller cage. She knew now she had to work on the white dog getting a bath and checked out by a vet. But at least she had gained some of his trust. Another month went by and Kagome finally got him to trust her around water. She brought in the bucket of water and a soapy sponge and gave him as through a cleaning as she could then let him dry off. Sesshomaru couldn't remember the last time he felt clean. But it was a good feeling.

He didn't trust Kagome to the extent of being with him or doing anything but bucket of water and putting food in the cage. She had made such good progress with him she had to find a name for him. She had tried "Prince" but he had been in such a horrible spot she couldn't make it stick. She had tried various other names to but none had stuck. Finally she came up with a name that seemed to be the complete opposite of the straggly, matted, scared, vicious, and ornery dog. "Fluffy" but she found the more she thought of it, the more and more she liked it.

Sesshomaru was eating his meal when Kagome tried to take it from him. Instinct took over and he tackled her and mauled her until she was a bloody heap on the ground then went back to eating. Kagome got up and tried not to scream in pain and called an ambulance for herself. She had to get thirty stitches and a few metal pieces placed in her but she made it through the surgery fine. Sango tried once again to get her to put the dog down but Kagome was firm.

"Fluffy was just reacting to how things were. I moved to fast. It's my fault not his." Kagome immediately told Sango and for a week they tossed food into his cage, until Kagome returned and walked right over to his cage with no fear. "Hey there Fluffy."

Sesshomaru wagged his tail softly. He had missed her, he'd never outright admit it but she actually talked to him saw him as something worthwhile. Everyone else treated him like an outcast, but she treated him almost like family. Almost. She went to open the cage and he took a few steps back to give her room. She put down a bowl of food and he waited until she stood up before he rushed to it. A hand was suddenly touching him and he growled loudly and felt everyone cower back except her and the second it went towards his bowl he attacked it with all the viciousness he had shown Kagome. Then went back to eating.

For three months this occurred and everyone labeled Kagome insane. But after the third mouth the hand could touch the bowl and he would growl at it but not attack it. Kagome had also worked with the clippers and was finally able to clip his matted coat and it was starting to grow back out again. Now he was starting to live up to his name. He would let her brush him and his fur was as soft as silk but as thick as oxen fur. When Kagome left the door to the cage open by accident to go get the cleaning supplies the other members of the rescue screamed and hid as he followed her. Kagome turned around and saw him out of the cage.

"Whoa! Hey. No. Not out here pal." She told him gently and tried to grab him but he backed away from the hand. Kagome stopped, having learned to listen to him, or get hurt. "Ok. Ok." She raised her hands in the air. "No touchy but you have to get back in your cage right now."

Sesshomaru sighed, turned around and headed back to the cage as if he'd been given a command. The rescuers watched in shock as he went to his bed and lay down while the door was still open. Kagome smiled, she had no idea how great the trust was but she wondered if she could take it to the next level and grabbed one of the adjustable collars off the wall and loosened it as loose as it would go and slowly placed it on Fluffy with a leach.

Instantly Sesshomaru fought it, but to his shock unlike everything he'd learned up until that point the collar slid off gently. Kagome placed it on him again and this time he didn't fight it just looked at her. Kagome smiled and kneeled down to his level.

"Good dog."

Sesshomaru cocked his head at her confused and even as she moved to tighten the collar so that he would now have a collar he felt he could trust her because she kept it loose enough for him not to feel trapped. That night when Kagome was getting ready to leave she noticed fluffy whining and scratching at the gate so opened it to say goodbye to him when he started shoving his bed up and turning handed her the book he'd been hiding. Kagome took it home and they managed to put Naraku away for good all because of the dog no one but Kagome dared to trust.

FLUFFY

The end.