Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha or any of the characters. And I do not intent to gain any kind of retribution for this work of fanfiction.
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The year of the dog
Chapter one: Starting the year
Inuyasha needed to get away. The only thing that made him move was the need to run and put as much distance as he could between them, and this stupid and ridiculous body of his.
As he ran through the streets, not bothering to look back to check if someone was still chasing after him, his diminished hearing range was even more useless, only being able to hear the ringing of his own heartbeat.
His mind kept telling him it was a lie, that this couldn't be happening. Convincing himself that this was certainly a dream... or a food intoxication related nightmare, he turned around the corner the best he could with those legs.
Looking down he could only see the white blurs of his arms, now in the unfamiliar form of paws. The pain in his side was strange yet familiar, as was the scent of his blood. He was injured and needed help; he needed shelter, but had neither.
White pinpricks started to appear in the edges of his vision and knowing that blacking out was more than a possibility now, his focus changed. He didn't need to run anymore, he needed to hide.
Another turn around the corner took him to a street with more than a few people walking by. It was too late to go back. One of his front legs gave out and at the same time his head crashed on the ground the world went blank. The last thing he heard was a loud gasp that wasn't his own.
-.-.-.-
"I'm telling you, you shouldn't have taken that thing home before it woke up!"
It was all dark around him, and even without moving or opening his eyes, he felt groggy and disoriented. Inuyasha remained motionless as he played dead and at the same time he tried to gain information from his surroundings.
The sound of the feminine voice sounded weird, like a recorded voice. It didn't sound like the person was physically around him, and he didn't like her tone either.
Using his nose without moving too much, trying to avoid the attention of the people that could be around him, the hanyou tried to scent his surroundings. His eyes were still closed, that meant the only word his groggy mind was able to offer was 'girly'. Maybe if he moved around, opened his eyes, or had his normal sense of smell he could gather more information, but the closeness of the second woman's voice stopped his sniffing.
"Don't say it like that, Sango!" He could feel her eyes on him. "HE is not a thing, and the vet said he was physically okay, that they couldn't do more for him." Her voice became slightly louder, "Why should I leave him in that cold place? And let him wake up in a cage! That is just cruel, what if he..."
The voice of the second woman sounded soft and kind, he even had to pay attention to his ears, keeping them from moving around as she apparently, by the sound of her steps, walked around him. Her voice was so pleasing that when the other voice interrupted her sentence Inuyasha almost growled, almost.
"What if HE is a crazy and aggressive dog and HE attacks you! You have to be careful Kagome!"
The 'record' sounding voice, not stopping when Kagome said "He won't" with a confidence that impressed him, and continued enunciating crazy scenarios where HE could try to kill the woman and reasons why he was all bloody and injured when she found him.
If he were not playing dead he would have huffed at the stupid idea of that 'Sango'. If he could talk to her he would tell her a few things about dogs and animals in general. His train of thought was lost when the voice he liked sounded again.
"I will be careful. But don't be silly! He wouldn't attack me just because."
The next thing he knew a hand was stroking his side tenderly; at the same time her voice went higher and childish. "He is way too cute to be a bad boy. You're gonna be a good boy when you finish this long nap, you will! Yes, you will be a handsome and well behaved dog for your new mama!"
"Stop that, you're creeping me out. He is asleep," said Sango with a bored voice.
"You stop being paranoid. Just because you happen to like cats doesn't mean dogs are bad. Besides it's time for me to go to work, I need to get going, bye!"
"Just be careful! See you soon."
Inuyasha heard the call end and soon the sound of her steps came close again. Her hand brushed his muzzle once as she whispered "Please wake up soon. I've been dying to play with you!"
The sound of the lock being turned was his cue to open his eyes and spring to his legs. Something very stupid to do because that made him go down again, dizzy.
'Fuck!' he thought as the last hope or delusion about his transformation being a nightmare shattered. He was a white dog and had no youkai related abilities.
As he took unsure steps out of the dog bed in the corner of the room, he looked around. Everything seemed weird, the things in the room seemed misplaced, he was looking at things from a different angle, from the wrong angle, furniture was not supposed to look that tall, nor that dull and almost colorless. He didn't know if it was because of his current height or the loss of his youkai-like vision. Not wanting to have another worry in his head he decided it was both.
The door was closed, and after trying to open it with his thumb-lacking paws and his teeth, it became clear for him that a key was needed to unlock the door.
"Just fucking perfect," he shouted bitterly in his head. "first turned into an stupid shit-eating dog by my stupid brother! And now I'm a fucking pet!"
His eyes swept the apartment, thinking everything looked... girly. His brain was stuck with that word, and as the place smelled flowery and pink stuff was almost everywhere, girly was going to be the word that stayed in his head.
That is when he saw HIS bed and sighed in relief. At least it was red, not pink, blue or green as almost everything else was.
Inuyasha was fairly sure the human woman taking care of him had not relation with lord asshole-maru as nothing around her smelled like dog youkai. There were two male scents, one was old, he couldn't be sure about how long it had been since the adult male had been here, but it hadn't been recently. The other scent was of a youkai child, and that meant no immediate risk to his safety. He stored the information in the back of his mind.
The smell of the girl was the only one strong there, and that meant she was living alone. Following his nose and the increasing curiosity about the woman, he slowly walked to one of the rooms, that turned out to be her bedroom. Looking around it appeared to be clean and organized, except for the chair in front of her small vanity, that looked like the place she threw everything she was not ready to use or, after sniffing the chair, ready to put in the dirty laundry.
Inuyasha let out a very dog-ish huff before moving to inspect the bed. Beside hers, there were no new male scents. His chin was taller than the bed, and it looked cozy, with the exception of too many little pillows for his liking.
Smirking to himself he jumped to the bed, testing the power of his new back legs. It had a green set of sheets and it was as cozy and soft as it felt. He plopped down and turned a couple of times, telling himself he was not doing it as a dog marking her bed with his scent, but as someone who needed to stretch after a very long sleep.
After he found a comfortable position in her bed Inuyasha stopped to think about his options. He had clearly heard the bitch-witch that changed him say something about a year. Maybe she meant he would be a dog for a year. A cold fear induced shiver ran through his body.
"What if the old hag meant I only have a year to find a way to go back to my normal body?" A panicked voice, that he refused to recognize as his, screamed in the back of his head.
A low dog howl sounded around him at the same time.
"No, Sesshoumaru wouldn't do that. He wouldn't..." He shook his head without raising it from the bed. "The asshole likes to rub things in my face and he can't do it if I'm a fucking dog..."
He remained still, taking in the situation. He was going to be a dog for a year. "A real, shit-eating dog. Well, I wouldn't eat my shit but, yeah," he thought.
It meant that he would have to fend for himself in that form. Find shelter and food. An idea popped in his head. His ears perked with excitement.
He could find a friend that could help him! That could be his answer! Someone he trusted could be reached and convinced to help him. As the possibility developed in his head, the white ears drooped down the sides.
"Who are you gonna go to, dick? The people who hate you? Or the ones that work with your stupid brother?"
Something that sounded like a whine—but wasn't because he didn't whine—echoed around him. It looked like he had two options: he could stay with the woman and pretend to be a pet and with that have a secured way to tend to his needs, or escape and see what happens.
Inuyasha huffed, knowing that even if staying meant losing his dignity and self-respect for the next twelve months playing a pet dog, it was still the safest route. If he still had his strength and his powers he would go, but it looked like he was a normal dog, and that meant that he could even be taken to the pound.
"Or Sesshoumaru's minions could cage me for display. That little sadist green fuck would love that, the fucker!"
Determined to play the part of a dog- at least temporarily- and then forget this ever happened, the hanyou turned dog jumped out of bed, feeling thirsty.
Walking out of the bed he found his own bed again, and just as he expected there was a green water bowl beside it, but he was not going to drink from that unless absolutely had to. So he walked through the kitchen on his way to the fridge. She had to have something to drink in the house, at least for herself.
Opening the fridge was more difficult than expected as he had to bite the handle. Thankfully it had one. And after securing it with his teeth he had to pull, an ability that had not been mastered with his current body. That meant that every time he pulled his own fucking paws got in the way and the unexpected pain of smashing the door against his toes caused him to let go of the door.
His head went down on its own accord but he regained control before licking his pained toes. He was not going to stoop that low. People didn't lick their feet.
It took him a couple of tries more and a bark that was all curses before getting it right. Now in front of his face was a cool breeze and many containers that followed the theme of this house: cute, small and only in one of three colors. A triumphant laugh came out of him—it sounded more like barking in his ears, but he was not going to ruin the moment because of that. A cool water bottle was now within his reach.
He walked back to his bed, because it was closer than hers and being on the floor would give him more control as he tried to open it.
Using his limited senses he pondered over his options. He knew his teeth were big enough to puncture the bottle, but that would also mean wasting too much water and soaking the floor. The other option was to take off the cap with his teeth. Soon he discovered that holding the water bottle without thumbs was way more difficult than expected, but when he discovered how to do that, biting the cap off was easy... Drinking from the bottle without making a mess was proven impossible.
Looking at the big puddle beside his bed, Inuyasha felt both proud and stupid. He was proud because he learned how to open a water bottle with paws, and felt simultaneously stupid because he forgot he didn't have the kind of lips needed to drink from a bottle. Now half of his face was wet because he had rested his head on the floor looking up with the bottle between his paws, letting gravity and aim do the rest, and the latter had failed.
"Stupid dog paws."
The next thing on his list that he needed to do before the woman came back was cleaning that puddle. He was not going to meet her only to make her believe he peed on the floor. Standing on two legs, taking the paper towels from the counter and drying the floor was one of the easiest thing he had done since waking up.
Smiling to himself for being so skilled at being a dog, and stopping in his tracks for a moment after that thought crossed his mind, Inuyasha went back to rest on her soft bed. That soft and incredible smelling bed.
"It's just because it doesn't smell like fucking dog"
It didn't take long for him to have the need to pee. It became an experience he wanted to forget as soon as it ended, and something that would remain a secret from everyone.
And the thing that could make him brush that horrible experience from his head was food.
"Ramen would be great..." his thoughts dreamy and longing. "This stupid body."
Cooking ramen without help would be impossible. Without even checking in the cupboard he knew she had some, because everyone loved ramen.
Opening the fridge a second time was not as difficult as has been the first time, because now he knew how to move his legs.
"Look at this fridge! No more crushed paws!" He even pushed the door again cockily.
"Now, what to get?" He studied the contents of the fridge "cold leftovers, cold vegetables, cold food or..." there it was in the top shelf, something that could help erase the embarrassing memories of today. A very canine smile adorned his face as he climbed the fridge reaching for his "cream cake".
Standing on two legs was becoming easier and easier each time, and using his front paws to climb his way to the top shelf was nothing compared to taking the cake with his teeth and pulling it from its place without tilting it and letting it fall to the ground.
The base was secured with the strength of his molars and his jaw was set as he walked backwards, keeping the door open with his rump.
His vision was compromised by the delicious-smelling cake that was almost touching his nose; the cake that was as delicious as it smelled according with the lick he had given it in the fridge.
"Easy, easy. Don't fuck this up and this will be delicious... just a little more." Inuyasha could hear the wish-wash of his tail dancing happily, but with the perspective of eating this half-eaten cake, he didn't give a fuck.
After backing up to the place where he thought his new bed was, he went down to the floor with his whole body, not trusting his balance to move only his neck. Now the hanyou-turned-dog was laying down staring at the most delicious cake he had ever tasted, and it was all his. The back of his mind knew he was wagging his tail again, and he didn't care still.
Inuyasha circled the cake, like a predator intimidating its prey, he even growled in contentment and there was nothing between him and his happiness. He crouched down and took the last couple of steps with his head barely above the ground, before a full snarl came out of him at the first bite of the decadent tasting treat.
If he could whistle or hum he would be doing that, but as he could not the only thing he did before going down for another bite was to let his chest rumble in contentment.
His teeth and tongue were less than an inch from a second bite when something made him stop. It was the voice of a boy close to the door.
"KAGOME! Kagome!" He shouted happily.
"Hello, Shippou. What are you doing up at this hour?" The woman's voice sounded happy and slightly worried. And thankfully farther away than the boy.
"Dad isn't home yet, I'm waiting for him." Inuyasha could hear the small boy jump. "That is not important! I think your dog is awake! I've been hearing someone moving inside! Can I come in and pet him? Can I play with him? Can I take it for a walk? Pleaaseee Kagome!"
The woman laughed, and he thought it was a good laugh, not too high and cute in some way. Not that he cared.
"Is he awake? That is great!" Inuyasha guessed she was now directly in front of the door and probably kneeling down because her volume was now lower and pleading. "What about another day? I want you to meet him, but we need to make him feel secure in his new home before we give him too much excitement."
"B-but Kagome, I'll behave and treat him well!"
Some ruffling, maybe the kid's hair, and she spoke again, "I know you will be good, but he was hurt, and weak. We need to be careful. He doesn't even know ME."
"Um, Ok," he said in a pouty tone. "What about tomorrow?" his tone was happy again.
"What a fickle boy," Inuyasha thought just before putting two and two together. "If that woman sees her new dog eating cake after being injured... the bitch is going to take it from me!"
With a growl he reached down again and started to devour the rest of the cake, not caring about the taste anymore, nor the conversation between the people outside the door.
"This cake is mine!" Was the only thought he had as he ate and growled at the same time. If he had not been obsessing over the cake, he could have thought about how those things don't mix.
He was chomping on the last big piece of cake left when the door swung open and he tried to growl, with food still going down his throat, which caused him to let out a strangled cough; at the same time his eyes finally found the woman that had been taking care of him.
She was petite, and as her voice she looked soft and kind. Her clear grey eyes contrasted with her long black hair. His observations were suddenly stopped when his non-stop coughing became retching.
"What the..." Inuyasha thought as the barely digested cake started to fall on the floor.
"Exactly the way I wanted to meet the human. Barfing," was the bitter thought he had as he waited for her reaction.
"Ohh poor baby..." The woman closed the door and ran closer, and stroked his back. "Relax baby, relax. It's alright"
Inuyasha avoided her eyes, this was humiliating. She was kneeling beside him trying to calm him as he barfed the delicious cake he had stolen from her fridge.
"But what did you eat?" She asked with that calming voice of hers. "Is that my birthday cake? Are you puking my birthday cake?"
Kagome went around him and picked up the discarded tray full of sweet cream, and went back to stare at the dog. He was taking big mouthfuls of air as he stared at her too.
"She is mad, I ate her birthday cake and then barfed it on her floor." His heart started to race as his mind kept going. "No one wants a dog that only takes things, eats them, and then barfs it." His fear was quickly becoming anger. "The bitch is going to throw me out!" His muscles tensed at the same time her eyes connected with his.
Kagome knew she was supposed to be mad and as a former—and new—dog owner she was supposed to teach him that eating what was not his was wrong. But the only thing her mind was able to come up with was:
"You truly are a beautiful dog, aren't you?" her voice full of awe.
His eyes were bright gold and his fur striking white, with a black nose. His stance was proud and she could tell he was studying her as much as she was him. The most beautiful akita she had ever seen.
Kagome stood up with the carton tray in hand and threw it to the garbage before taking a few kitchen napkins and kneeling beside him, careful of not stepping in his mess.
Her hands touched his side and after stroking his side a couple of times her other hand wiped his nuzzle.
"We need to get you clean and then get rid of this mess, okay?"
Inuyasha only stared at her, letting her wipe him without moving. Taking her scent, not because he liked it, but because anything was better than smelling his own vomit.
"Why don't you go to your bed and I'll deal with this?" Her voice was higher than before and had that childish tone that was bound to get on his nerves.
Kagome's eyes widened as she saw her dog walk directly to his red bed and plop onto it without stepping in his vomit. "You seem like a very intelligent dog, Yuki!" She chirped before scratching behind his ears.
Inuyasha stared at Kagome as she cleaned his mess. She didn't seemed mad, only kept talking about how he should not take things that weren't his, and that it was a good thing he didn't eat it because that much sugar wasn't good for him.
"Maybe this is not going to be as bad as I thought" Inuyasha told himself with his head resting on his front paws, before something she said came back to him "and who the fuck is Yuki?"
To be continued...
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A/N:
Thank you for reading the beginning of this story. Also thank you to the people who takes the time to leave a review to tell me what do you think about this.
I started writing this after being inspired with a friend's dogyasha fic. It is so amazing and cute that I couldn't stop thinking about dumb scenarios for Inuyasha and Kagome to interact, so I made this story that has a dogyasha but Kagome thinks he is a stray, nothing special. But, she couldn't be more wrong.
This chapter is dedicated to my friend Grapefruitwannabe. Happy birthday hun! I know how much you love dogyasha.
And a final thank you to my friends, the ones responsible for this being readable and enjoyable. Thank you Britt and Robin.
See you soon, hopefuly.
Nanna.
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