Disclaimer: Koroku agilely jumped and grabbed the door knob with both of his fore paws. With little effort, He used his entire weight to shift the knob to the right until the door opened with a soft click. Within the simple room a computer sat directly across of Koroku with its cursor blinking idly after the words "Suikoden and its many characters belong to Konami, and not the author of this simple fan fiction." After reading the words, Koroku left the room with a soft "aroo".
A Night Time Walk
Koroku and Shiba
Guest Starring: Watari
The dark corridor was entirely silent except for the soft pads of Koroku's feet against the cold, stone floor. At this hour most of Budehuc's residents had retired to their rooms, but Koroku had slept all of the prior day away and was in no mood for another long nap.
Using his keen canine senses, Koroku navigated the lower levels of the castle with ease. Long walks like Koroku's current one were strongly discouraged by humans, but that quite certainly meant nothing to the often rebellious canine. Also, much to the dog's surprise, at least one human was not quite asleep this night either.
Koroku wrinkled his nose as he noticed the warmth of a human body beside him. Stopping his brisk trot, Koroku barked as he began to sniff what he reasoned to be the human's feet in interest. He waited for a reply, but none came, and he followed it with a second louder "aroo" to make certain this human, who Koroku curiously noted barely had a scent at all, heard him.
"…," was the only reply.
Koroku rubbed up against the stoic figure and thumped his tail against its leg. It replied with a slight head movement in Koroku's direction but otherwise gave no reply to the dog's curious behaviors.
"Leave Watari alone, Little Koroku," a low voice boomed from down the corridor. The speaker's loud footsteps thudded towards the caramel dog.
"Aroo! Aroo. Aroo," came the happy response as Koroku instantly recognized the powerful voice of the lizardman Shiba, who was also out on his own night time walk. Whipping Watari's leg with his tail once more, Koroku quickly trailed after Shiba in to the main hall of the castle.
Moonlight basked the checkered tiles of Budehuc castle in a pale silvery glow that always had a calming effect on both Koroku and Shiba. Humans often used this time to sleep, but for Koroku it was another chance at adventure, and Shiba felt less awkward when humans were not around. The peaceful serenade of crickets in the darkness drew Shiba towards the courtyard as the little dog followed while sniffing Shiba's scaled feet in amusement.
Shiba never said much to the little dog, although he obviously enjoyed his time with Koroku as much as the canine did with him. Koroku regarded Shiba just as he did any other resident of Budehuc, and perhaps that did make the two a likely pair. They also shared a mutual appreciation for the night, one many of the humans could never understand. The lizardman made his way to the front door and chuckled deeply as Koroku leaped at the handle and opened it with his entire body before Shiba could even reach for it.
"Where do dogs learn those kinds of maneuvers?" Shiba inquired.
Koroku padded outside without noticing the question and waited for Shiba with his tail wagging across the moon lit grass. The large lizardman, menacing to the typical person, sat beside the dog and patted its head in appreciation of the company. Shiba looked at the animal with what would be considered a smile by his kind, although humans would describe it more as a hostile bearing of teeth. Koroku merrily returned the smile with head nods and tail wags.
"Humans treat us both badly at times, but I could never do something like that to such an understanding animal. They just don't understand us because we're not the same size," it was a true enough statement because many human's underappreciated both of them for their lack of human-sized bodies. "And, if Cecile is correct, they might fear both of us for our combat prowess!" Shiba gave a low laugh as Koroku arooed in total agreement, which in combination ceased the crickets' orchestral performance.
Koroku stretched out on his back and rolled about in the grass for a moment as he watched the stars move with his own tossing and turning. It was such a simple thing that many would find silly or senseless, but Shiba admired the free spirit Koroku possessed in being able to find pleasure from such things. Dogs were such unique creatures, and Koroku really was intelligent as Cecile suggested in many ways. Shiba had always seen Koroku as, unlike humans, one who was able to appreciate all of life's little anomalies and explore it without always using other's opinions to misconstrue experiences, everything was truly an adventure. It was an odd thought, but one worth pondering in the night as it felt like all the rest of the world sat idle and unaware.
The dog's intelligent eyes turned to Shiba as if reading his thought and gave a quiet aroo as he yawned in drowsiness. Shiba could also truly relate to that thought as well, thinking about such things was a tiring business and maybe this was the point when one had to sleep. Night walking sometimes made him think too much and he was over do for some sleep.
"Aroo!" Koroku exclaimed as he left Shiba to his thoughts and slowly ambled towards his little, wooden dog house.
Shiba stood and saluted the dog with an odd hand gesture that was no doubt intended to be performed with a pole axe. "Good night Lieutenant Koroku and good luck in your adventures tomorrow."
Hearing the formal title usually only used by Cecile, Koroku gave a pleasant "aroo". He then settled down for another night's long nap, one which was filled with his own glorious adventures.
Author's Note: I'd just like to say that I know how odd this installment is, and it really is the production of being half asleep and bored beyond all hope. That's all, I hope it wasn't too brain numbingly boring or bizarre. Bye for now!