Puppy Love
Disclaimer: I do not La Corda D' Oro.
Chapter 3: Missed
It was dawn when Ren woke up. He glanced at the sleeping Kahoko before jumping off the bed. He landed gracefully. His tail wagged; it had taken him only a week, yes, ONLY a week to learn what dogs usually do. Part of it was thanks to his human self and part was because Kahoko often brought him to dog parks to walk him.
He stretched his upper paws forward and his hind legs on tiptoes. Before he knew it, he was flat on the floor. 'Okay, so maybe not the stretching part just yet.' He told himself. He shook his body and padded towards the table again.
His snout pointed towards the table as the pink notebook was laid out again on the table, but Kahoko's school books were scattered across, mixing smells mostly of fruit-scented ink and paper. Lately, he has been constantly annoyed of an unfamiliar smell surrounding Kahoko.
It smelled of dirt, a strange, but natural woody smell and something he couldn't quite put. He knew that the dirt came from the ground. He cringed visibly when he knew that the woody smell happened to be Tsuchiura Ryoutaro. Ryoutaro had bumped into Kahoko during one of their walks and he happened to smell him. Ugh.
The strange smell he couldn't quite comprehend, however, was more dominant than that of Tsuchiura. It was familiar yet unfamiliar at the same time. He shook his head just as Kahoko woke up from her slumber. She yawned and stretched her arms. Ren was by her feet as dog instincts took over him. Kahoko smiled and groggily told him, "Morning, Ren." He barked and panted as Kahoko stroke his furry body, "Oh, you're so cute!" she cooed as she rubbed his belly.
Ren stood up and shook his body as Kahoko walked towards the bathroom to change. Today was a Saturday and that meant their usual early walk. Ren sat patiently by the door as he yawned lightly. Kahoko reemerged from the bathroom wearing a yellow blouse with a ribbon on top and a pair of white pants paired with a pair of white sandals.
Ren noticed that her outfit was a little too fancy for a simple walk in the park, but thought otherwise as she carried him and ran down the mahogany staircase. She bid good morning to her mom and sister who were eating in the kitchen and she hurriedly grabbed Ren's light blue, leather leash and a matching leather collar.
She nearly strangled him as she hastily placed the leash around his neck and with a yelp from Ren as Kahoko tugged hard on his leash, she yelled goodbye to her family. Her mother shook her head as Kahoko's sister sighed and took a sip from her coffee, "I pity the poor dog…"
"Kaho-chan, you're late!" Hihara Kazuki whined as he flapped his arms like a little kid would. Kahoko clapped her hands together, still holding Ren's leash, before she uttered her apology. Yunoki Azuma interrupted as he said, "Please calm down, Hihara. There's a few good minutes before the show starts." Ren titled his head, 'Show? There was a show today?'
He pawed Kahoko's pants as his golden eyes seemed to question her. She squealed lightly and bent down to pet him, "Today's Hamai Misa's concert and her special guest today is her husband." She told him as she continued to stroke his fur. 'In short, my parents are having a concert…now I remember; they were mentioning it before I went to school that same morning when I became a dog.' He whimpered, 'My parents must be very worried.'
"Oh, Hino. You brought Ren with you today?" A deep voice inquired and it made Kahoko turn around and Ren more irritated. 'Of course, he would be here. Tough luck…' Hihara asked, "Huh? Who's Ren?" Kahoko stood up and pointed down to where she holding the leash. "Eh? A dog? How cute!" he exclaimed as he quickly scooped Ren in his arms. Ren pointed his snout at Hihara and sniffed at him, 'Another dog instinct, distinguishing a person's smell.' Hihara smelled like fresh cut grass.
Kahoko let go of Ren's leash as Hihara began showing Ren to all that joined them. Renmemorized the scents of the people he knew. 'Yunoki-senpai smells like a rose's dew. Fuyuumi-san smells like peaches and Keiichi-kun smells like pine.' Ren jumped out of Hihara's arms with him exclaiming his surprise. Ren went over to Kahoko and she picked him up. He sniffed and took in her scent, 'Strawberries with raspberries… interesting.'
"Okay, let's go, gang!" the green-haired trumpeter cheerfully exclaimed as he started to march. Shimizu walked along Kahoko as he sleepily asked, "Hino-senpai, is it okay to bring Ren to the concert?" He stroked Ren's fur as he said this. Kahoko nodded to him, "Since it's outside, the park permitted pets to be allowed." And Shimizu nodded.
The concert as usual was smashing success. 'Mom's melody seems to be a little off though…' Ren noted as the group made their towards Hamai Misa's dressing room. He could hear from a mile away his father's voice inside and his mother's worried one, then a moment of silence before Tsuchiura knocked on the door.
Ren jumped down from Kahoko's arms as the door opened; he was anxious. He caught sight of the embrace and a tear rolling down Misa's cheek before she pulled away from her husband. She placed on a smile as her husband looked at her worriedly. Before he could go nearer to them, he felt a pair of small hands grabbing him and along with the voice of Kahoko saying, "Ren, you shouldn't do that!"
She bowed politely before the couple as Misa chuckled slightly. "That concert was amazing!" Hihara exclaimed, startling Ren as he winced. Misa approached him and gave him a gentle pat on his furry head. She giggled as Ren licked her hand, "I see Ren is his name. Could I hold him for a bit?" Kahoko nodded before handing Ren over to Misa and he began to wag his tail as his father chuckled as well.
But then, Misa frowned slightly as she continued to stroke Ren's furry body. Len's father placed his hands on Misa's shoulders. Suddenly, the atmosphere dropped as everyone's mood dampened. "Have you found him yet?" Kahoko asked, silence in the room interrupted. Misa hugged Len lightly before shaking her head. Her husband pulled her into an embrace, Ren still in her arms.
"I wonder what happened to that guy…he's usually too proud to run away." Tsuchiura remarked, while Ren growled at him. Kahoko shushed him, she made a move to grab him, but she stopped when Misa started crying. "Len…Len…" she whispered, trembling slightly. The only male violinist pulled her closer into his embrace. Ren knew he had worried his mother too much, 'Stupid fairy…'
Ren pointed his snout at her and licked her cheek, something he couldn't do as a human. Misa jolted in surprise as Ren continued to lick her face until she began to laugh, "That tickles..." she giggled. Her husband gave a sigh of relief as she gently pulled out from his embrace. She giggled more as Ren gave a bark of joy, "You are simply adorable."
'Mother smells like roses.' Ren concluded before he was shown to his father, 'Father smells like freshly baked bread.' Misa turned to everyone, "I'm so sorry you had to see that. Let me make it up to you, so please come to over to our house for some tea and cookies. Also, Hino-san, please bring over Ren. He might be able to find some clues about Len when we search his room." Ren widened his eyes and began to panic as he whined slightly, 'Not my room!' Everyone turned to look at Ren, who finally stayed put when Misa placed him down. He shook his fur slightly before he sat and barked, tail wagging. 'I hope this would make them distracted…' Almost everyone around the room squealed or chuckled in delight.
"We better get going." Yunoki announced and Misa reminded them again, "My house at 1'o clock in the afternoon." Ren sighed, 'Great…'
As everyone began walking home, Tsuchiura suddenly remarked, "You know, for a dog, he's pretty cool." Everyone turned to stare at him in question. "I mean being able to change the atmosphere of that room." Everyone else nodded or gave a shout of approval. "So even if his name does sound like Tsukimori's, his attitude definitely isn't like Ren's. I mean, can you imagine Tsukimori doing those things?" There was a short pause before everyone erupted in laughter. 'Oi, Oi.' Ren growled, clearly annoyed.
'Lucky for Tsuchiura his house was near or I would have bitten his butt right then and there.' Ren huffed as lied down on Kahoko's bed. Kahoko had just finished her bath and was hunched over her desk, writing again. Ren yawned slightly before padding towards the side of Kahoko's pink pillow and snuggling beside it. He was lulled to sleep by the scent on her pillow.
Kahoko slammed the book shut and locked it with a sigh. She turned to see Ren already peacefully asleep and giggled as she saw his nose wiggling slightly. Kahoko sighed again and approached her bed and pulled the blue covers, 'Blue, reminds me of Tsukimori-kun. His ocean colored hair, his cold gold eyes, his cool voice and his pale skin.' Her heart thumped louder, 'Wha-what?' she shouted in her thoughts. "Maybe it's just because I miss him." She told herself before finally dozing off.
Author: That took me longer than expected…too long. Sorry, sorry for the late update. I'll try and update faster next time. Sorry for any spelling and grammatical errors. Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! Oh and do review...