52. Stray
During the peaceful three years following their decision to hide out in the human world, Starrk and Lilynette quickly became a fixture in Karakura Town. True to his word, Starrk never disturbed the plus spirits or the low-ranked shinigami assigned to send them to Soul Society. He also stayed out of the way of the weak hollows born from plus souls, although if they caught his scent they fled in instinctual terror. Even the vizards rarely saw him; he automatically hid his reiatsu and stayed out of the way. It was a strange life for a hollow, but one that Starrk and Lilynette found far more satisfying than the life or death struggle for existence in Hueco Mundo.
One day, Starrk was sleeping in the park on the shore of a small pond surrounded by tall bushes and trees, out of the line of sight of the rest of the park. It was a tiny piece of land that was difficult for humans to get to and usually overlooked by spiritual beings so it was a perfect place for Starrk to nap uninterrupted. However, as he quickly found out, it was also a perfect place for stray animals to find solace away from the larger threats of human society. Unlike most humans, animals often sensed spiritual creatures and reacted as they would to living humans; a hostile spiritual presence was greeted as a threat while a benevolent presence was a friend.
Starrk's nap was broken by a low growl.
He blinked one eye open in surprise and turned it towards a small, mangy mixed breed dog who was glaring at him, lips skinned back off sharp white teeth and hackles raised in aggression. It was so dirty that he couldn't really tell what color its short fur was supposed to be, just that the feet and narrow face were darker than the rest of it. Its body was compact and strong, but thin from lack of food, and situated over lean legs corded with muscle that were built for jumping and running. Large upright ears decorated with notches and scars swiveled towards him warily as it paced around the edge of his clearing, and a crooked tail, obviously broken at least once sometime in the past, was held straight and stiff behind. If he stood up, the little beast's shoulder would barely reach his knee. Had he been more familiar with dog breeds, he would have guessed it was a mix between some sort of terrier and a collie.
"What?" he grumbled.
It barked.
He stared at it for a moment, then went back to sleep. It knew better then to attack, but he sensed it staring and stalking around for a while.
Over the next couple of months, he saw the dog fairly often. No matter how many times he napped there, it refused to leave. But it didn't stay hostile for long; by the second week it was creeping forward, curiosity overcoming fear, and by the third he was allowed to scratch it on the head. By the fourth week, every time he arrived, it greeted him with a wagging tail and flopped down next to him when he sprawled on his stomach to sleep.
It was about this time that he realized 'it' was a 'she'. Her stomach began to grow. And grow. And grow. Even Starrk, a male of a species incapable of bearing children, could tell she was heavily pregnant.
Starrk knew less than nothing about caring for a pregnant female dog (he didn't even have the base instincts humans might feel) so he tried to help using the only thing hollows relied on – food. Over the next month, a great many grocery stores and pet shops found themselves mysteriously missing bags and cans of dog food while vendors and butchers were short cuts of raw meat, with no thief caught on camera. Starrk's new friend found herself well fed, probably for the first time in her life.
If she'd liked him before, she loved him now and greeted him happily every time he showed up with a new treat. Starrk watched with some trepidation as her belly grew even bigger, until he could feel tiny movements against his hand if he gently laid it on her abdomen, as if the puppies were trying to push their own way out. It looked like she was going to explode if she got any bigger! (He hoped that wasn't how puppies were born, though he didn't know. He'd been created through the death of his Vasto Lorde parent/self. How did living creatures deal with it?)
Then, one day, she wasn't there to greet him when he arrived. He waited but she never showed up and eventually he left the food and went home to Lilynette. The next day, the food was gone but she was still scarce so he repeated the gesture. It was three days later that he saw her in person; tired and thinner than she'd been in months, but happy. She greeted him with a wagging tail and squirmed in pleasure when he scratched behind her hears and thumped gently at her flank. When she ate the food and moved to leave, he was disappointed but not surprised. He was surprised when, before vanishing into the underbrush, she turned and barked at him, a clear command to follow. Without any further urging, he stood up and trailed her to her den.
He found a small hollow beneath the arched roots of an ancient gnarled oak tree far into the abandoned and overgrown part of the park. The entrance was big enough for the dog to crawl through but too small for Starrk. Looking in, he could see a small space with a hard packed dirt floor, dimly lit by sunlight filtering through the cracks in the roots and cushioned by dead leaves rendered soft with age. In the very center of the nest lay seven tiny furry bundles, each one small enough to fit in the palm of his hand. When he first saw them, they were still save for the rise and fall of their small chests, but as soon as their mother lay down next to them, they stirred and began to cry in quiet, demanding mews. Their mother nosed at them affectionately as they squirmed into place and began to feed. Once they were quiet again, except for the occasional indignant squall as siblings pushed each other out of the way, the mother lay down her head and looked at Starrk, a doggy smile of pride on her face.
His eyes, which were wide while watching the vulnerable newborns, crinkled at the corners and his mouth turned up in a small smile, unfamiliar on his normally apathetic face.
"They're cute." He told her quietly. Her tail thumped at the sound of his voice.
He lay there for a long time, not sleeping just watching and savoring the fact the dog actually wanted him there and welcomed his presence. She quickly fell asleep, exhausted by caring for her babies and the efforts of the previous few days and Starrk watched the pups wiggle and squirm their way around the nest, whining and squeaking at each other quietly. A few fell asleep immediately, many more followed after tiring themselves out trying to explore but since they were still blind and deaf, they could only to do so by bumping into what was around them.
One puppy by pure chance managed to crawl its way to the opening and Starrk held a hand in its path, gently warning it back. The puppy sniffed at him and bumped its blunt, soft muzzle against his hand, then gave a startled sneeze at the new scent, so strong that the force knocked it over onto its back. Before its distressed mews could escalate into cries and wake the mom, Starrk nudged it back on to its stomach and in the direction of its siblings. When it tried to turn around and banged into a wall instead, he lifted the pup gently with one hand under its chest and belly and settled it down in the center of the den alongside the puppy pile. With a happy sound, it burrowed between two sleepily complaining siblings and fell asleep, tuckered out from its adventure.
As Starrk watched, a funny painful feeling settled into his chest. It ached right by his hollow hole, but it was somehow a good feeling and he didn't want it to stop. He watched the small family until night fell, then said good bye to the mother and set off to meet up with Lilynette.
So much fluff...
Is it just me, or is this one begging for a follow up chapter? I feel like Starrk would be much happier with a pet...
...
(FYI, originally this was going to be in the 'Five Years' verse and occur after Starrk's relocation to Karakura Town and before Ichigo's 'coming of age'. I was going to have other characters find out about the pups and react to Starrk's involvement - most likely with hilarity. Although those puppies are going to need homes in the near future...I wonder who Starrk's going to ask?)
I hope you enjoyed the chapter!
AN: My update schedule promises to be pretty sketchy for a while, at least until next month (as it has been since...early September, I think). Real life ambushed me with some pretty major things that I was not...am not...really ready for. Some good, some bad, some just massive and daunting. At the moment, they're my priority.
