Chapter Ten

Something's wrong. Something feels wrong. It's like a sharp stabbing pain and I turn my head anxiously. I know that I'm just a dog right now but could it be that a dog can sense these things. I feel Hiro place his hand on my back and come to look me in the eyes. "Hey," he says attempting to calm me down. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Something's wrong, something doesn't feel right," I tell him and that seems to concern Hiro even more. He places a hand on the top of my head and his eyes are questioning and that's when I feel a sharp, sickening pain through my head and down through my entire body. It's as if there is some chemical reaction akin to what I went through when I returned to that hideout.

"Can you tell me what?" Hiro asks as her surveys the yard. There doesn't appear to be any danger but I can feel it inside of me. Suddenly I feel myself whine as I drop onto the ground.

"Hurts," I say like a child and Hiro pulls me towards his lap, he starts picking up my ears, holding my cheeks so that I turn my face to look at him. I don't know how else to explain it other than it hurts. It's so painful. I roll off of him and the burn is enough to want to make me scream. I howl but then feel the fur sinking back into my body and my body stretching and burning. Am I becoming human again?

…

…

I don't know what's happening but something is and Fred doesn't appear to be of any use in this situation. One moment ago, Tadashi was fine and then he said something was wrong before his body stiffened and a painful expression took over his face. I tried to pull him close to give him comfort and protection and he just rolled away from me.

I watch completely taken aback as his body seems to change in front of our eyes, he starts off with a howl but then his howling turns to an agonizing yell as he turns human. He looks like himself, his old body but his arms are wrapped around himself protectively. He is exactly the same as when he was human before but the pain looks unbearable on his face.

I move over before seeing rips open in his skin as if someone is attacking him with an invisible swords and other parts seem to burn so I can see smoke, the burn has taken over half of his face and he's bleeding. If he continues, he's going to die right in front of me. I touch his body, it's hotter than is healthy. This is a medical emergency.

"Tadashi," I whisper wanting to help but not knowing the way to do it, his yells show the torment and pain that he's going through and tears appear to be coming from his closed eyes. I want him to go back to being the dog. As much as that is selfish of me, I want for him to be safe and this doesn't seem safe. I've wanted to see him as my big brother for so long but not like this. "He needs help," I tell Fred who nods. He runs away. I don't know if he's going to fetch something but Tadashi can't be left alone like this.

As he loses consciousness, his body seems to shrink again and the white fur with the black spots appears as his features turn more to the puppy. There are still some signs of the burn but it has turned to grazing on his cheek that will heal and the rips that appeared all over his body seem to close without scarring but he's shrunk even further. He's that puppy who he was at the beginning.

"Hey," I say weakly as his breathing seems to steady. He's still whimpering but they aren't those agonizing yells that showed how much pain he was going through. "Hey," I whisper as he just lays on the ground but then blinks up at me.

"Hiro," he whispers as he slowly reaches out his paw for me. He still seems weak but I can talk to him. He looks bewildered, confused. I guess I would be confused too. "Are you okay?" he asks slowly and I gently lift him so I have him pressed against my chest.

"Are you okay?" I inquire, that's the real question here. He moves his paw and gently taps it against my chest before nodding. I kiss the top of his head. "Good. You really scared me back there," I tell him and see Fred return with the phone. I shake my head no and let Tadashi rest his head on my shoulder as I hold him securely.

"Yeah," he says but whines the way a sad dog does. He's lying to me. Of course he's not okay but he's well enough to lie to me and to conceal the truth. "What am I?" he asks and I pull him back, holding him in front of me so we can look each other in the eyes.

"You're my brother," I tell him before bringing him to my chest again. "You're my big brother. As for your body though, you're a puppy again." He looks at me nervously and Fred retrieves a blanket which I wrap around him. "Don't worry. A puppy is easier to take care of."

I put my paw up to his cheek and he shakes his head. "I promise you that I'll get your body back for you but until I do that, I need you to remain safe. I'm going to do all I can to get you into the human form without you going through that much pain." I stand up, still cradling Tadashi in the blanket. "I need to get him home and make sure he rests." I tell Fred. "Tell the others that I'm sorry."

"I will, make sure he's okay," Fred says and I nod, "I care about him as if he were my own brother."

"He's my brother," I say protectively and Tadashi has fallen asleep. Fred nods to that, not sure what to say. I just have to make sure he heals because I sure as hell don't know what happened back there.

…

…

It was surprising how Aunt Cass was able to just take in the fact that I am now back to being a baby with a nod of her head and a slow understanding. I don't even understand it myself but Hiro had Baymax do a "puppy scan" and I'm okay. Apparently, I'm okay health wise but I'm confused and my body feels like it's been stretched back and forth. How did I even become human if only for a brief moment?

Hiro has barely let me out of his arms since we returned to the house and he's made sure that my bed has all the blankets I might need. He sets me onto the pillow. "I'm going to be using the computer on the other side of the room," he gestures and I nod. The pillow feels very nice and soft. He wraps the blanket around me and gently pushes the fur on my hair back.

"Make a sound if you need me," he tells me extremely concerned. He goes to the computer and I let myself feel safe by the way Hiro has set me in the bed. Before I am about to fall asleep, I feel something land on the bed and open an eye, I smile and close it.

"Mochi," I whisper and Mochi walks around me as if protecting me but Hiro has stood. He picks Mochi up, not knowing how he was only trying to protect me. It's difficult navigating my new life as a dog when Hiro can't understand Mochi and Mochi has no way of communicating with Hiro.

"Mochi, what are you doing?" Hiro asks and Mochi meows with discontent, "He needs his rest. He's not one of your friends."

"I kind of am," I try to explain to Hiro and he looks me over. He turns to Mochi who is trying to get down and finally, Hiro places the cat on the bed. Mochi wraps himself around my head to give me warmth but as I see Hiro I can see the struggle which he's going through. He doesn't see me as an animal. I realize now that he's not expecting me to act like an animal but I had to readjust to this new life.

"I'm sorry," I whisper to him, "You're my little brother."

"Yeah," Hiro nods shakily. "Of course. I'll always be your brother. Just uh…feel better, okay?" he asks and walks to his side of the room. I feel guilty about this. I did become human today if only for a short, agonizing time, I could hopefully become his human brother in the future but that isn't something I can control on my own.

I close my eyes again before hearing a loud knock on the door. It's better just to sleep through it. I hear voices but I can't make out what they are saying. I just want to rest and sleep off how exhausted I am. However, during the talk, I hear Aunt Cass's voice.

"Hiro!" she says with an unexpected severity in her voice. "Can you come down here! Bring Dashi!"

Hiro walks over to me and gently scoops me up, holding me to his shoulder as he carries me downstairs. I blink as the light seems brighter and I see two police officers there. What happened? Hiro seems as concerned as I am and then we see a photo of my old body where it looks like a dog attacked me. I look up at Hiro and he pulls me closer.

"We found Tadashi Hamada's corpse. We believe that he was attacked by a dog, we need to euthanize the animal," one officer says and Hiro looks horrified but his grip on me gets even tighter. "Do you have another dog?"

"Just Dashi," Hiro tells them and I feel relieved. Nobody could think that my puppy self could inflict such wounds on my old body. I just can't believe that I'm dead and this time my body is dead for real. I whine and squeak but Hiro tries to comfort me. "I hope you find the dog which attacked him," Hiro lies but covers my head with one of his hands as if protecting me.

What does the death of my human-self mean for me now? Is this why I temporarily got my old body back?

End of Chapter Ten

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Thank you to Guest for their review on Chapter Nine