"Please Come Home"

~Dedicated to Kanta Yamamoto who passed away last year and Koyuki who continues to wait for his return~

"But drenched in vanilla twilight

I'll sit on the front porch all night

Waist deep in thought because

When I think of you I don't feel so alone"

"Vanilla Twilight" by Owl City

My master is a very good master. When we first met, he was still a young pup just like me. From then on we were inseparable. We did almost everything together. Most mornings I would walk with my master and his mother to a big house where other pups gathered. I never really understood why, but that was okay as long as I was with master. He always patted me on the head before he left. The house was boring without my master, but I learned to be good at waiting. I would wait by the window until I saw him come home. When my master grew older, his mother stopped coming, but not me. Who would keep my master company if I wasn't there?

My master didn't play with the other pups like he played with me- even when he was a young pup. He was quiet and never ran around with them. But he and I play games all the time.

In the winter my master likes to look at books. I can't understand why that is fun, but I keep him company all the same. Sometimes when he sits in the kotatsu* he peels mikan* and secretly shares it with me when his mother isn't looking. If we're lucky, it snows and we play lots of games outside.

In the spring my master is always sneezing so we can't play as much. But every year he takes me on walks to the cherry blossom trees by the bridge. My master always looks so peaceful when we go. I don't see what is so special about pink flowers, but as long as my master is happy, that's okay with me.

In the summer we play in the sprinkler and he makes rainbows in the air. I think my master is magic. His mother always scolds us when we play too long, but he never seems to mind too much.

In the fall, my master buys yakimo* for us to share from the white truck that bumbles around the neighborhood. That truck is always loud, but the sweet potato is good so I don't bark at it. His mother strings persimmon* along the kitchen window too until they dry. They're chewy, but my master always laughs when I try to eat it. It gets stuck in my teeth and I have to keep snapping my jaws to chew it. I like when my master laughs.

My master goes to a different house for older pups now. Even though there is a shorter way we can go, he always takes the long way. My master is smart so he must know, but I think he likes the long way better. We cross the cherry tree bridge where you can hear the river laughing. At first I barked at it because I wanted to know why it was laughing, but my master looked at me funny so I stopped. After the bridge, we walk down the main road where there are many shops. The humans there are always busy in the morning. My master knows them and he always bows and they always smile back. If I'm lucky, he might buy me a small treat. He'll smile secretively and we always shake on it before he gives it to me. When we reach the gate of his big house, he waves and follows the older pups inside. I'm not supposed to go in there so I wait until I see him go inside the house. Sometimes I stay a little so the other pups can pet me. I like attention. Then I walk back home. Sometimes it's dark outside when my master finally comes home, but I save my dinner until I hear the faint jingle of keys. I sit in front of the door so he can pick me up as soon as he comes in.

My master doesn't play as much with me because he is very busy, but I stay with him anyway. While he is staring at books and scribbling lines I lay down beside him because he always gives me a good belly rub during his breaks. At night when he can't sleep he talks to me. I feel sorry I can't understand what he is saying, but it sounds important so I sit as patiently as I can. I whine softly and wag my tail once in a while to show him I'm listening. In the end he always hugs me and whispers "good boy" before he falls asleep.

My master hasn't come home yet. One night he didn't come back from the big house and I stayed up all night waiting for him. His mother left sometime during that long night. When she came back the next day, there was water in her eyes. I was worried because I'd never seen his mother's eyes leak before. The first time my master's eyes started leaking was when he was a young pup and he fell off his bike. I'd panicked at first, but I came to understand that human's eyes usually leaked when they were sad or hurt. So I did what I did when my master's eyes leaked. I laid down beside her with my chin on her knee until she calmed down. She didn't notice me at first. When she stopped, she stroked the top of my head. She wasn't as good at giving rubs as my master, but that was okay. I just wanted her to feel better.

"Pochi…" I wagged my tail at my name. "What're we going to do?"

I licked her hand, but more water dripped down and she stayed like that for a long time.

My master hasn't come home yet. The sun has risen twice now. I go outside as soon as my master's alarm goes off and walk to his other big house like we usually do. I try to ask the river where he is, but it just laughs. The human in the yakimo truck doesn't seem to know either. I pass the shops on the road to the big house and some of the humans cluck sympathetically at me. I am confused, but they toss me some treats so I forget about it. I sit by the gate at the big house and wait. The other pups coo sadly at me too and many of them pat my head as they go by. Some of them have water in their eyes. I lay down by the gate. When the sun starts to go down, the other pups start to leave, but none of them are my master. I go home.

My master's mother has water in her eyes again when I come home, but this time she doesn't ignore me. She scoops me up and holds me so tight I squirm uncomfortably.

"Pochi, I'm so glad you're safe. Don't ever do that again. You're all I've got now." I don't know what to do, so I give her a sloppy kiss.

She feeds me something warm and hot. I'm surprised because only my master gives me treats like this, but I eat it happily. After I finish, I sit on the couch with her. I'm only allowed on the couch when it's just me and my master and afterwards he always makes sure to vacuum, but tonight is somehow different.

My master hasn't come home yet. It snowed last night and I begged his mother to play with me outside since he wasn't there. She couldn't understand and told me to be quiet. I curled up with her on the couch instead and she gave me something warm and sweet to drink. She has been giving me treats a lot lately. It's nice, but I miss my master. There is a picture of him on a little stand that wasn't there before along with a vase of puffy white and yellow flowers*. His mother sits in front of that stand a lot and I sit beside her. She seems lonely. I still wait in front of the door patiently. She keeps saying the same thing over and over again.

"Kiku isn't come back." I wag my tail at my master's name, but I still don't know what she's saying. She sighs and strokes my head. She still can't pet me like my master can, but she's getting better. She says other things and I do my best to pay attention. She repeats words like "car" "gone" "drunk" "dead" but I don't know what they mean.

My master hasn't come home yet. The snow melted and I didn't get to play in it. I'm disappointed and I think my master would be too. The cherry blossoms bloomed and I sit under them because that's what my master likes. They still look like plain pink flowers to me though. The river is still laughing. I wish it could teach me how to laugh. Maybe when my master comes back we could laugh together. The house is too quiet and I wait patiently by the door until my master's mother comes home. I greet her and then return to my spot at the door. When he doesn't come, I go to his mother's room. I used to sleep in his bed, but it has lost his scent and I feel lonely. At least his mother sort of smells like him. She looks sad nowadays, but I do my best to cheer her up. Sometimes she will even smile at me. I don't mind keeping her company.

My master hasn't come home yet. That's okay. I will keep waiting. I'm good at waiting.

When violet eyes get brighter

And heavy wings grow lighter

I'll taste the sky and feel alive again

And I'll forget the world that I knew

But I swear I won't forget you

"Vanilla Twilight" Owl City

A/N: So as I've mentioned, this was inspired by a true story. Kanta Yamamoto was 16 when he and his friend passed away after being hit by a drunk driver last year. Koyuki, his dog since age 8, continues to look for Kanta and he walks along the same path the two used to take to school. I was really touched by this story and I wanted to write something in memory of Kanta, so this happened ^^ Granted, it's fanfiction, but that doesn't make it any less sincere in my opinion. I am also working on an illustration for this as well~

I tried a different style when I wrote this. I chose to use very straightforward, simple and compound sentences as if it were really a dog talking (kind of like Doug, from UP) and altered some phrases to make it more dog-like (leaking=crying, pups=children, etc.). It took me forever to come up with a title for this and I'd originally called it just "My Master", but I didn't really like that. I couldn't think of any English titles, so eventually I just wrote it in Japanese since I liked the way it sounded in that language better :)

Notes:
* Mikan = I believe they're called Mandarin oranges in English. Japanese people eat a lot of mikan in the winter. After eating them I couldn't eat normal oranges because I liked mikan so much haha
* Kotatsu = Wow, how do I explain this... It's basically a stove under a low table (common in Japanese houses) and the table is covered in a thick blanket like a comforter. It's amazzinngg in the winter. It actually makes you lazy because it's just so warm and you never want to leave.
* Yakimo = Sweet potato roasted over hot stones. We literally have trucks that drive through neighborhoods and they play this really traditional, Japanese style song about yakimo. It's kinda like the ice cream trucks in America xD It's really good though, and healthier than ice cream.
* Persimmon- Japanese people often hang persimmon, or kaki, let them dry for several days, and then eat it. It's really chewy and I personally don't care for it lol
* "There is a picture of him on a little stand..."- It's Japanese tradition to make an alter for close relatives who passed away. Everyday they set out food for them to "eat" and they burn incense. There's also typically flower there as well.

Ugh, sorry for the long author's note (bad habit), but I hope you enjoyed it!

Stay safe~