.

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"No matter how close we are to another person, few human relationships are as free from strife, disagreement, and frustration as is the relationship you have with a good dog. Few human beings give of themselves to another as a dog gives of itself. I also suspect that we cherish dogs because their unblemished souls make us wish - consciously or unconsciously - that we were as innocent as they are, and make us yearn for a place where innocence is universal and where the meanness, the betrayals, and the cruelties of this world are unknown."

― Dean Koontz, A Big Little Life: A Memoir of a Joyful Dog

(:)(A)(:)

The Good Dog

Chapter #21

(:)(A)(:)

Yusuke had never been big on the whole Christmas thing.

In fact, the only thing he really looked forward to about Christmas was the two week break and the occasional party. Maybe it was because his mom and him never really celebrated ... She was always too drunk and too poor to ever put much of an effort into gifts or even decorations so the day kinda just passed like any other with the exception of exchanging a muttered "Merry Christmas" in the morning before he headed out to the arcade.

(Seriously, if you want an entire arcade all to yourself go Christmas morning and be amazed).

Since joining up with the Spirit Detectives the holiday had become a bit more festive than a pocket full of quarters and the echoes of PacMan's depressing death jingle (fucking ghosts). The gang usually all got together at Genkai's on Christmas Eve and exchanged some laughs over hot chocolate. Keiko and him had started exchanging gifts Christmas morning last year when they had officially become a couple but it was a small, private affair between the two of them. Nothing big, nothing fancy.

So imagine his surprise when, in a matter of seconds, the Higurashi's living room seemed to have been victimized by some kind of christmas colored confetti bomb.

Not even exaggerating.

Souta was tearing into his presents with full gusto (manic grin included) but Mrs. H must have done some wrapping job because the paper was tearing off in strips instead of sheets. The rest of the little family followed his lead, albeit with more control and (in Kagome's case) an occasional pained wince as her stitches pulled.

Yusuke winced with her, knowing from personal experience that abdominal wounds were nasty little buggers when it came to healing. No doubt she'd be sore for at least a few more weeks. She was being a champ about it though ... he'd give her that. The morning she finally came back home Yusuke had watched her toss her bottle of pain medication in her nightstand drawer and hadn't touched it since. When her mother (seeing her daughters pained grimaces despite Kagome's best efforts to hide them) insisted that she take something for the discomfort the girl would just shake her head. "They make me too sleepy," she had said, "I want to be with everyone, not passed out in a coma in my room."

He understood her reluctance - really he did - but he wished that she would at least cut the stubborn act and take something for the pain at night. She'd only been home two days and already dark rings were beginning to bruise the fragile skin under her eyes. She wasn't sleeping enough. Most of her nights consisted of cautious shifting and turning as she struggled to find a comfortable position that didn't even exist.

Last night Yusuke had woken up to find that she had pretty much given up on the idea of sleep entirely. Instead of being tucked into her bed he found her sitting in her desk chair, staring out her window just as the sky was beginning to lighten into gray. Even without following her line of sight, Yusuke knew she was staring at the well house. She had been sneaking casual glances to it since she had arrived back home whenever she knew her family wasn't there witness it. Of course, being that that he couldn't really SAY anything about it, she had no issues about staring out at the wooden structure while he was around.

Sometimes he couldn't help but think that - in some ways - he understood her the more than anyone else in that house.

She was always so busy pretending for everyone. She'd plaster on these smiles that didn't always reach her eyes and laugh just a little too loudly even when she had the entire world weighing down on her. Even now, she tried so hard to hide the amount of pain she was in just so her family could be spared from a little bit of concern for her. Maybe it was because the act wasn't directed towards him, but he suspected it was really just because sucking it up and smiling through the pain is something he's mastered too and he knows what he's seeing when he sees it.

Then again, maybe it was just the fact that she never bothered spare him from the truth.

Whatever the reason, he spotted the way her eyes would glaze over when they landed on the well house as easily as he would notice a demon on a playground. At first the observation made him anxious. Any normal person would look at that wooden shack and see an empty grave after what she had been through. It wasn't until he saw the worried pull of her brow and the nervous tugging of her bottom lip between her teeth, that Yusuke was reminded that Kagome Higurashi was anything but normal.

Instead of being plagued by nightmarish memories she was weighed down by worry for the friends she had left behind.

There was a definite irony in the way she could worry about people who were technically already dead (according to the present times standards) instead of herself. Though, if he let himself dwell on it, he kinda understood. They were as good as dead to him but for Kagome, who split her life between the two different time periods, they were still as alive as any of his own comrades. Then again, it was really only her concern over a particular dog demon that irritated him.

Inuyasha had come by several times while Kagome was still in the hospital and not at all since she had returned home. When he had come, Yusuke found himself listening in on the short (almost curt) conversation he had with Kagome's mother. He wanted to know what the fuck happened. He wanted to know why the fuck the dog demon had leapt through the well virtually unscathed (hours later) when Kagome could barely drag herself out. Mrs. H wanted to understand too. He could hear it in the way the older woman's words clipped at the edges and the long silences that followed the demon's guilty mutterings of "I should have been there".

Yusuke had barely been able to restrain himself from bounding down the porch steps and (literally) ripping the guy a new one. Because no fucking shit he should have been there. He should have been there and he should have protected her.

He should have saved her.

Inuyasha had wanted to see her, to see with his own eyes and feel with his own hands that she was alright, but Mrs. H had shot him down without so much as a blink of an eye. "You need to let her rest Inuyasha," was all it took, and dog boy didn't dare to so much as bring it up again. Even he must have heard the implication in those words - 'stay away'.

For the most part he did. He kept himself away and only returned several times to ask how Kagome was doing before tucking his tail between his legs and running back to his time.

While Mrs. H's attitude towards dog breath seemed to have turned into something bordering between resentment and pity, her opinion of Yusuke had obviously improved.

A few days after crying into his coat the older woman had arrived home after visiting Kagome, a grocery bag in her hand and a secretive little smile playing on her lips. That night, instead of dog food in a bowl, she served him steak on one of the family's plates with only a "Kagome thought you would like it medium rare" as an explanation. Since then, short of actually sitting at the table, he shared every meal with the little family and damn. He knew that woman could cook just from the table scraps that Souta fed him, but a full meal?

Fucking heaven.

Other than Kagome coming home, those meals had been the only thing he had really looked forward to those two weeks. If he still had the use of words he would have thanked Mrs. H just for that little break from perpetual waiting, let alone the meal.

He was dragged from his thoughts by a single pat to his head and then the sensation of something sticky being left behind. Looking up he saw Kagome's bright, albeit tired, face smiling down at him. "There you go, now you're dressed for the occasion!"

Immediately suspicious, he swiped a paw over his head and grumbled when it came back with a snowman themed bow. Kagome gave a half hearted cry of despair but laughed when he shot her an exasperated look.

Did he mention that he wasn't all that big on the whole Christmas thing?

She scratched behind his ears in what he knew was an attempt at a silent apology and he laid down at the foot of the couch to watch Souta tear into the last remaining present. Mrs. H was already bumbling around and beginning to pick up the discarded scraps of wrapping paper from the floor while Gramps admired his 'lucky cat' shaped coffee mug with a toothy grin.

Souta cheered, a new video game in hand as he gushed about how all the other kids at school were going to be so jealous. "Thanks Kagome! You're the best!"

Kagome smiled from her reclined spot on the couch. "What kind of sister would I be if I let my little brother go back to school without the latest cool game?"

The kid beamed. "It has a two player option, we should play it together while you get better!"

She laughed, a teasing look in her eye. "Only if you promise not to whine when I'm better than you!"

Yusuke's ears perked at that. He hadn't known that Kagome enjoyed video games let alone was good at them. Then again, he knew from experience how much free time hero's actually got when they were busy saving the world ...

The correct answer is: none.

"You're on!" Souta exclaimed, hands tearing into the clear package wrap so that he could retrieve the game disk. "I call the red controller!"

"Hold on for just a moment Souta," Mrs. Higurashi interrupted, sharing a look and a smile with the old man. "There's one more present for you and Kagome to unwrap."

While Souta cheered enthusiastically, Kagome blinked up at her mother in confusion. "Mama, what are you talking about? That was the last one under the tree."

Mrs. H's smile brightened, a sly gleam lighting up her eyes as she pulled a tiny, silver wrapped box from her robe pocket. "I know dear, but I wanted this one to be opened last so I held onto it." She handed it to Kagome, and Yusuke watched curiously as stared down at it.

Souta hovered over her shoulder, excitement seeming to thrum under his skin as he fidgeted. "Don't just stare at it Kagome! Open it!"

She laughed, and Yusuke couldn't help but notice that even though it was honest, it was weak and just slightly strained. No doubt she was already running out of precious energy. Still, she valiantly tried to keep up a bright demeanor for her family's sake (like she always did). "Ok, ok! I'm going!"

Her hands made careful work of tearing off the paper and Yusuke couldn't help but roll his eyes at the way her fingers patiently pulled away the edges. Kagome literally unwrapped her presents, apparently having issues with following Souta's example and just shredding the decorated paper. Then again, looking at the mess of littered wrapping paper that was scattered haphazardly around the living room, Yusuke had to admit that her method sure as hell left a lot less clean up.

Yusuke watched as the paper fell away and revealed an unassuming white box and he had to keep himself from snorting - he never did understand why people went through the trouble of wrapping something if it came in a blank box anyway. Kagome shared a quick glance with her younger brother (who was, at this point, practically vibrating with pent up excitement) before lifting the lid.

For a moment there was complete silence as the siblings stared into the box and then suddenly Souta was squealing, rushing over to his mother and throwing his arms around her waist. A stream of thank you's were pouring out of his mouth at such a rate that the words were blending together into a string of blabbered syllables. Mrs. H only responded with a happy smile and Gramps chuckled good naturedly on the couch.

Kagome was just staring down at the box, the widest grin on her face while tears stuck to the corner of her long lashes. "Thank you," she whispered, "Thank you so much."

Yusuke frowned. Since when did Christmas presents bring out that kind of reaction? Just what the hell was in that box?

He watched curiously as Kagome's nimble fingers plucked the gift from the box and his eyes got a glimpse of shiny metal. When she turned it in her hand and he got a clearer view he almost scoffed. It was just a circular piece of flat, reflective metal. What the hell was so great about that? Really, the thing just looked like one of those cheap metal tags you got from the pet sto-

Oh.

Holy shit.

It was a dog tag.

Brain muddled with the implications of what came with that one little scrap of metal, Yusuke numbly obeyed when Kagome called him over. Her fingers were shaky with what he knew was a combination of pain and fatigue as she leaned over to attach the tag to his collar, but Yusuke couldn't help but notice that her eyes hadn't looked this bright - this happy - in days.

"Welcome to the family!"

He'd be lying if he said those words didn't make a tiny part of him feel pleasantly warm, but he'd deny it with his very last breath because the last thing he needed was for the world to think he was a sap. The jokes about him calling a girl half his size 'master' was going to be enough of a running joke when he returned home.

The rest of the day passed in a blur of home cooked meals, video games, lighthearted trash talk between siblings, and hot chocolate (the one thing Mrs. H refused to give him since "chocolate was bad for dogs"). The entire time Yusuke watched Kagome with a careful eye, catching her nodding off only twice despite the sleepy shadows under her eyes, and found himself wondering what was next.

He had secured a place in the Higurashi family, which was great. It meant he didn't have to worry about being separated from Kagome prematurely. But the old hag's words echoed in his head, "He is your protector."

Pulling her from that well house ... that didn't really count as protecting, did it?

He didn't know for sure, but he suspected that it didn't. If it had then shouldn't he have been turned back by now? There had to be something else. Koenma was a spoiled brat of a boss but he wouldn't just forget about him - he would have demanded that he be pulled out the moment his mission was over.

That night he followed her up the stairs (making a point to walk right beside her just in case she tripped). He turned away when she changed into her pajamas and let her use his back to steady her as she made the painful climb onto her mattress and slipped between the sheets. For a while she just stroked his ears as her eyelids grew heavier by each passing second. "I'm glad you don't have to leave..." she mumbled, before sleep took her.

Yusuke sat there, eyes tracing her face, his pulse pounding in his ears as the guilt heavy realization came to him. To Kagome that shiny new tag on his collar, the one that dubbed him as 'Dog', meant that he was there for good. She didn't know that the man underneath wouldn't be able to stay by her side forever.

Another, larger wave of guilt (and a more than a little bit of shame) hit him moments later when he realized that he kinda wished he could.

AN: In a perfect world this would have been timed perfectly and it would be December instead of September. It's kinda killing me right now writing about Christmas when it's 90 degrees outside...

I didn't even realize that some of you might have thought that the 'change' I was hinting about last chapter was Yusuke turning human again. My bad! The change I guess I've been so excited for this emotional shift that I completely forgot about that other change everyone is expecting!

And, because this has already been addressed by some of you, I want to just kind of justify my position on this. This IS a Yusuke/Kagome story. Being that, I think a lot of people expected me to just find some way of getting rid of Keiko. It would be easy to just write her off as a bitch or make her break up with him and leave him heartbroken so that Kagome could pick up the pieces. Hell, it'd be easy to even kill her off.

But that's the point. It'd be EASY.

I didn't want to take the easy route on this because making this black and white would make it just that much less real. So, yeah.

ALSO! I was having a discussion with fellow author Dark Shining Light (she writes some lovely Fairy Tail fics - go check her out if you enjoy that fandom) and we have noticed something rather tragic about as of late so we are starting a movement.

Go look at some of your favorite fics. Look at the amount of reviews and then look at the amount of favs and follows. Is it just me, or are there a whole lot of wonderful stories that have double (sometimes even more) favs/follows than actual reviews? Don't get me wrong - I appreciate the favs and follows myself (as I have said last chapter the fact that this story is as followed as much as it is makes me feel warm and tingly inside) but at the end of the day most of us authors are posting our stories so we can get feed back. Those favs and follows? They just read as numbers. In a review I see a person. I LOVE seeing your guys' reactions to my chapters. If there was no review system ... well, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction at all. I'd be writing something original that I could at least have the chance of making some money for my efforts.

Reviews ARE a fanfic author's payment.

I am guilty of not always reviewing, I know. It is something that I have been working at remedying. Especially with one shots. It is SO easy to enjoy a one shot and just move on because, hey, it's not like it's ever going to update. Sometimes, as readers, even us authors forget the time and effort it takes even for a short drabble. And they DO take effort. I know I probably spent a good five hours (at least) agonizing over Love Bleeds The Color Red even though it was less than a thousand words.

Writers are taking time out of their lives and taking little pieces of themselves (because lets face it, writing is a personal thing) and putting it out there in the form of a story. If other authors are anything like me then they are probably waiting eagerly for those little emails to come through with responses.

So lets start a movement - authors and readers alike. If you like a story enough to fav/follow then you should like it enough to take a few extra minutes to review at least once. Lets all try to be people instead of just a number.

End o' rant.

Note: please don't take this as me being a review whore (I mean, I AM. But that's not why I'm posting this). If you can't manage to fully adopt this idea then I hope you'll at least make an effort in reviewing other author's works. We have so many wonderful budding writers out there that just need the encouragement to keep on writing. Please, PLEASE give them that encouragement.

To the people who do review: Thank you. I want you to realize that if it were not your words of encouragement throughout the years that I wouldn't even be half the writer I am today - I mean that. I wouldn't be able to call myself a writer if you all hadn't been there every step of the way to keep pushing me forward. This chapter is for you guys!