Inuzuka: House of Dogs

The first thing I knew in this world was warmth. Warmth in my okasan to warmth in my otousan's arms. The next two things I knew are too entwined to place as second and third: love and dogs. I've heard the order of holding goes okasan, otousan, other relatives. My otousan was fourth because as soon as I was born both my father and mother's closest friends wanted to check the newest pup out and I got passed by the scruff of my neck from dog to dog to otousan. Then from otousan to dog to dog to dog to nee-chan. Warm kisses on red cheeks. Warm licks on red cheeks. It was all the same to me. I can't imagine a better way to be born or a better way to live, among warmth and love and dogs. Ten warm bodies in a heap, revealing ten sets of fangs, not hiding anything from the other nine hearts all beating with yours. I want to make it eleven, let you in my world of fur and fangs and family. I want you to share this with me. And I want to take you from your world where the first things you knew were heat and wind and stinging sand. And to keep your mouth shut and how to avoid being beaten. Where you learned, by the age of three, to walk the tightrope of safety among political and social turmoil. Where love is a formality and a fool's paradise. Let me teach you to live with dogs.