Title: Dog Days - Part 4
Rating: PG
Spoilers: AU.
Summary: The weather gets colder, Fai gets poorer, and both dog and owner face some tough times.
Author's Note: Gosh, for all that this started out as a fluffy AU, I pretty much made Fai's life suck as hard as it possibly could with no curses or magical imprisonment involved. He's got no money, no friends, he has a crap job and lives in the bad part of town, and his family's all dead. Meeting Kurogane was pretty much the only good thing that ever happened to him.

Soon enough, summer gave way to autumn, and the city became colder. Fai's heating bills began going up, and he was struggling to meet rent payments as it was. He constantly worried about having enough food for Kuro; he was a big dog, and needed to eat almost as much as Fai himself. At least he was no longer a young, growing dog.

Thanks to a tip he'd received from Sakura, the pretty young volunteer at the shelter, for a while he was able to get dog food at a local charity that donated food and other goods to pet owners in financial trouble. It was humiliating to have to rely on a charity, but Kurogane needed to eat, and that was more important than his own pride. Gradually, though, even their stocks of available dog food were dipping low, and every day Fai had to put a little less in Kuro's bowl.

The guilt racked at him; he had adopted Kuro, and thus taken responsibility for him. He felt like he was failing him. He searched his mind for some other way to get more money, or find cheaper food, but couldn't think of anything.

Kurogane often went out in the evenings; he let himself in and out through Fai's back window, the one with the broken lock. Fai had long ago given up trying to stop him; Kurogane could open any latch or seal he tried to put on it. His collar and tags showed that he had all his shots up to date, anyway, so hopefully he wouldn't get picked up by the pound; and he always came home.

He entered Fai's apartment with a rattle and a thump, walked into the room licking his chops, then went into the kitchen to drink noisily from the water bowl. Fai got up to fill his bowl with food; his throat tightened as he poured the last of the bag of dry food into the bowl, barely filling it to half its level. Taking the pathetic offering, he put it on the floor next to the water bowl. "Here, Kuro," he called softly. "Sorry this is all there is tonight. Tomorrow I should get paid, so I can go and buy another bag, but for tonight, just bear with it, okay?"

Kurogane glanced over at the bowl, then snuffed and turned away from it, showing no interest at all. Instead he padded over to the bed, the one that Fai had made from a beanbag and old coats, and stepped into it, turning around twice before flopping down with a loud huffing noise.

Fai was confused. This was Kurogane's usual after-dinner routine; he was behaving as though he'd already eaten, but he hadn't eaten anything. Confusion gave way to concern. He picked up the bowl and carried it over to Kurogane, setting it beside his head. "What's wrong?" he asked, as though Kurogane could somehow answer him. "This is the same as usual, I promise; it hasn't gone bad or anything, even if there isn't as much."

Kurogane turned to sniff at the bowl, then yawned loudly, licking his chops as though he'd just eaten a substantial meal. He turned his back on the bowl of food, and settled back down with a contented sigh. He didn't act in the least bit hungry, although breakfast had been scanty that day too, and he'd been out all day…

Realization began to dawn on Fai. "Kuro-tan," he said. "Are you trying to tell me that you've already eaten? That you're finding food elsewhere?"

Kurogane raised his head to look at him, and whuffed in a tone that was a mixture of exasperation and satisfaction, as though Fai was a dim six-year old who'd just grasped a simple concept. He yawned again, and deliberately put his head down and closed his eyes.

Overwhelming relief filled Fai, and he reached out to put his arms around Kurogane and hug him close. The dog tolerated it, for a change; normally he didn't like to be hugged or restrained for more than a few seconds. "I'm sorry I can't do better, Kuro-tan," Fai said, voice muffled against Kurogane's shoulder. "Just keep coming back, okay? Don't forget this is where you live."

Kurogane pressed his cold nose against the side of Fai's neck for a moment, as if agreeing; then he began to growl and struggle to get away.

As the autumn deepened into winter, the worsening economy plunged the downtown area where Fai lived into a depression. People started eating out less and less, and the tips from the remaining patrons dwindled almost to nothing, leaving him with a base salary of barely four dollars an hour. To try to make up the difference, Fai began working longer and longer hours; coming in early or staying long after close to sweep and clean the kitchens at the restaurant.

He made a few tries at finding a new job; but all of the other businesses in the area were in the same boat, and he couldn't search too far abroad. Unless he could find a job close to the major public transit centers, he wouldn't be able to commute from home; he couldn't afford a car. He quickly realized he was lucky to have any job at all, without a college degree or even a high school diploma to his name. By the end of December, he estimated that he could just barely make rent for January if he traded with some of the other wait staff to work all the Christmas shifts; for once, not having anyone to share the holidays with worked to his advantage.

His small pile of savings shrank rapidly as the weather grew colder, and Fai soon was forced to decide between buying food or paying for heat. Thanks to the combination of cold temperatures and overwork, he developed a cold and cough. He felt a little guilty about continuing to work in food service with a cough, but he didn't know what else to do; he couldn't take time off work, and he couldn't afford a doctor. He compromised by buying cough suppressants to keep the cough down while he was waiting tables. But those ate into his cash flow as well, and they didn't really cure the cold, just suppressed the symptoms.

On the morning of December 31st he woke up with a pounding headache and a feeling like a thick suffocating blanket wrapped around his throat and chest. He struggled to his feet and the room tilted dangerously around him; vertigo and dizziness sloshed in his inner ear.

I have to get to work, he thought. I can't afford to miss a day. He staggered over to the sofa and sat down hard, head hanging. He lifted his head a few moments later, noting with confusion how the room swam in his vision. He was thirsty. I'll get a drink of water when I get to work, he promised himself. No, I'll get one now, it's a long cold walk to the restaurant. He struggled to his feet and staggered into the bathroom, pouring himself a glass of water and drinking it.

The water tasted strange in his mouth, and moments later he was on his knees on the tiled floor, retching into the basin. He coughed and wiped his mouth, then used the sink to pull himself to his feet. I don't have time for this. I have to get to work!

Groping for his keys, took a step forward, then lost his footing and fell, landing with a bone-jarring crash. As he lay on the floor, half-stunned, his thoughts began to wander. He began to believe that he was already at work, stacking dishes on the cart in preparation for his shift. He went to load coffee into the grinder for the morning crowd, then suddenly remembered that he had to buy dog food for Kurogane on his way home. "Stupid of me to forget," he mumbled to himself, talking to the swizzle sticks that were lined up on the shelf. "I could have just gotten it on the way to work this morning... Wait a minute, I didn't go to work this morning..."

He came to himself on the floor of his apartment, with Kurogane whining and licking at his hands. Lying on the unprotected floor was chilling him fast, but he began to feel cold with fear, as well. Something was very wrong. I have to get up... I have to go to work, I have to buy food for Kuro...

Something hard bumped against his hand; with an effort he managed to focus his eyes on the length of his arm, and saw a slightly tooth-marked bottle of water brushing his fingertips. Kurogane pawed at his elbow, then nudged the bottle against his hand with his broad nose. "Clever Kuro-boo," Fai crooned at him, as he fumbled shakily with the top of the bottle. "How did you know I was thirsty?"

He got the top off, spilling water all over himself and the carpet in the process, and swallowed greedy gulps. Almost immediately, his stomach rebelled; this time he was barely able to make his feet and stagger the few steps to the kitchen sink before he threw it all back up again. This time, the retching didn't stop even when all the water was gone, and the fluid he spat into the sink was bright green. What the hell have I been drinking? I didn't even eat anything funny last night, Fai wondered crazily, as he sank slowly to the floor again.

Enough was enough, he decided. Green fluids were a bad, bad sign. He needed to go to the hospital. After several false starts, he managed to crawl on his hands and knees across the apartment floor, Kurogane at his side practically pushing him along. "Kuro," he croaked out. "…get… phone."

As he approached the bedroom door, Kurogane seemed to realize what he wanted and raced ahead, coming back a few seconds later with the cell phone and dropping it in front of Fai's hands. Fai clutched at the small object, fingers fumbling with the buttons, and it took him several moments to realize that the small grey screen wasn't coming up no matter what buttons he pressed. The phone was dead - he'd left it off the charger last night, and the aging battery wouldn't hold more than a few hours' charge.

The phone fell out of his hands with a clatter, and Fai collapsed onto the floor, too stunned and exhausted to move. He was shivering with cold, exposed on the cold floor, and he curled into a ball, trying to warm himself up again. Kurogane paced around him, whining anxiously and pawing at his sleeves. He knew that his dog was right, he had to get up, get moving, but his arms and legs just wouldn't respond to him. Kurogane was warm, nice and warm - he clutched at his dog's fur with clumsy hands, trying to get close enough to curl up around him.

Kurogane's whimpers escalated to full-throated howls, and as Fai drifted off, listening to them, he wondered if anyone would hear them and come to see what was wrong. Somehow, he doubted it. Aside from Kurogane, nobody knew who he was, or cared; Kurogane was all that he had. "…Kuro…." he mumbled deliriously, his teeth chattering. "…help me…"

Somewhere very far away, at the end of a long tunnel, he heard the dog's howling resolve into angry cursing. Strong hands grabbed him; strong arms lifted him. The sudden change of position caused the blood to rush away from Fai's head, and he passed out.

More author's notes:

Fai's hallucinatory episode is based on one that really happened to a friend of mine; apparently if you get sick enough that you can't keep down water and get reeeeally dehydrated, weird shit starts to happen to you, including hallucinations, and throwing up pure bile (bright green.) Fortunately one of the things my friend did in her confusion was to call her husband at work, who immediately called an ambulance for her, and she's fine now.

~to be continued...