"Sunny-Sunny NO! Get back here!"

Together, as a group, they slowly turned to the doorway.

Sunny the nincompoop ran past the doorway. Then the kid.

Sunny.

Then the kid.

Sunny.

And the kid.

Each time Sunny passed by the doorway, they noticed that the gap between the kid and the dog was getting wider each time. It was clear that the now nine-month-old puppy had gotten her running legs and was much faster than the teenager.

Obviously, they burst into laughter.

Each time the pair passed by the doorway, it only made them laugh even harder. It wasn't long before each and every one of them were in tears. Major Kang was already on the floor with side stitches. Ji-Hoon, Sung-Ho, and Gwangsik were choking on the saliva they accidentally breathed in, and the others were a bright red as they leaned their heads onto the table.

The kid ran past probably two more times until he walked into the room, breathless as sweat poured down his face. Like Major Kang, his hand was wrapped around his ribs as the side stitches set in.

"Sunny," He breathed out, trying to make his voice louder than their laughter," She-she took-my knife." The fact that he had to take deep breaths in between every couple of words made them laugh even harder. But it certainly explained why he was chasing after his dog in the first place. He glared at them as he tried to breathe, which didn't help his case at all.

A bark at the doorway made all of them look, and there was Sunny, in her brown and black glory as she sat at the doorway. Her tongue was hanging out the side of her mouth as she panted. It was obvious that the dog thought it was some type of game, especially with the way she barked once again to get their attention.

Before they had the chance to start laughing again, they saw the knife that she had taken from the kid resting at her feet.

It was his Bowie knife, the kids 40 centimeter combat knife that everyone was always surprised to see that he had and could use effectively.

It wasn't in its sheath.

Sunny grabbed the razor-sharp knife by its handle and took off running again, the knife sticking out of the side of her mouth dangerously.

Aw shit.

For a few seconds, all they could do was stare at the doorway as they processed what they just saw. But once it clicked that their resident dog was running through the hallways with an unsheathed knife sticking out the side of her mouth, they scrambled to their feet.

"Sunny NO!"

"Get that dog!"

"Fuck!"

"SUNNY!"

"Catch her!"

All the kid could do was stare at the men as they scrambled out of the room and down the hallway so they could help get the knife back before she hurt anyone. He could hear their shouts and calls for Sunny throughout the building.

With a nod, he rejoined the chase to help get his dog back under control.


"God dammit Sunny." Kang watched with a smile as the kid rubbed at his cheek, the hair on the right side of his face sticking up with help from the dried dog drool," Stop licking me when I'm sleeping." He muttered bitterly, glaring at Sunny as her tail thumped on the bed, her puppy eyes looking up at the teenager.

Kang chuckled at the sight, and that caused the kid to look over at him with pursed lips as he tried to uncrunch his stiff hair," She keeps on licking my face when I'm sleeping." His voice was bitter as he said that, and despite the puppy dog look on the eleven-month-old puppy, her eyes did nothing to sway him.

"Maybe she just loves you that much?" His comment only made the teenager scowl.

He just laughed at the face the kid made.

The rest of the day went on normally, in fact, Kang had forgotten about the squirt's frustration of waking up to dog drool on his face.

After a particularly late night of paperwork and phone calls, Major Kang finally stumbled back into the barracks. Exhaustion was weighing heavily on him, he was so tired that even changing into his pajamas felt like a chore.

He had just sat down on his bunk when there was a sharp inhale that made him look to the bunk next to him. It was the kid's bunk, and he was starting to think that he was hearing things when he heard a pained groan. In the dark barracks, he could barely see the teenager starting to toss and turn, the normally quiet teenager as he went through turmoil in his sleep.

He didn't even get the chance to be worried before Sunny hopped onto the bed. With care that he had never seen from the animal, Sunny slowly made her way up to the top of the bed. She stared down at her owner's scrunched-up face for a few seconds before she tenderly started to lick the side of his face.

Oddly enough, that helped settle the young man. His face smoothed out, his face becoming lax once more as Sunny tended to him. With a huff of approval, Sunny curled up in a small ball next to the kid, she was practically lying on top of him until he unconsciously made room for her in the small bed. It was adorable to see the way that even in his sleep, the squirt rested his hand on her chest as the two almost cuddled.

Kang smiled.

Well, that explained why the kid had been waking up to dried drool on his face.

"Good dog."

Her tail thumped against the bed.


He was ready to pull his hair out.

Sunny pawed at the door, her nails scratching the wood and that combined with the utterly annoying whines she had been making for the past few hours.

He was ready to lose his mind.

It was the kid's first mission in a while, in which he was officially joining the other as a guide. Now that the kid had already been with them for almost an entire year (With no progress in finding his remaining family), they felt confident enough to let him guide them to places and such.

Sunny must have had separation anxiety because ever since they had left at almost two in the morning, she was whining up a storm as she waited for her owner to return.

As one might expect after nearly six hours of persistent crying, she was starting to drive him up the wall. She kept on scratching at the door for a few minutes at a time, before going to his desk so she could paw at his knee a few times before she went back to the door.

Just as he was just about to snap and tell her to shut up.

She started howling.

Howling.

He drew the line right there. He could ignore whining and the sound of nails on a door.

He couldn't ignore her howling.

"Fine!" He angrily stomped over to the door and damn near flung it open," Go! Just be quiet already!" He felt his eyebrow twitch when Sunny ran out of his office without a second thought. Because if that was all it took for her to be quiet, he would have done it a long time ago.

With a sigh, he sat back down at his desk, reveling in the silence that was left behind.

He should have kicked her out hours ago.

Then he wanted to lose his mind all over again when she returned in 10 minutes. She ran into his office. With utter annoyance flowing through his veins, he just watched as Sunny ran up to him, pawed at his knee, before running back to the doorway where she would wait for him expectantly.

Yeah, after a few hours of listening to her complain that the squirt was gone, he wasn't going to indulge her and follow her as she wanted.

He wanted to bash his head into the wall when she started barking.

Or at least he wanted to until he realized that maybe Sunny didn't want to play after all. She wasn't barking playfully, nor was she barking her usual bark when she wanted attention.

She was barking aggressively, her voice dipping into tones that she only used when she was feeling threatened.

Kang frowned at her, thoroughly confused by the sudden change of demeanor. It made absolutely no sense that she was barking like that. Sure she would bark every once in a while, but it was the first time she was barking at him for seemingly no reason.

Sunny walked over to him, this time, she bit down on his pant's loose fabric and started to tug at it. She was big enough that she was able to drag him a few inches with the chair and all.

Alright, something was wrong.

"Okay okay," He got up, and Sunny let go of his leg in favor of pacing," I'm going I'm going." She barked again as if she was approving of his words. She ran down the hallway without him, before doubling back to tug on his pant leg again.

Taking the cue, he picked up the pace, and when a speed walk wasn't fast enough for her, he was in a light jog.

Sunny took him to the hangar, the last place where the kid had been in contact in with the ground before getting in the Humvee and leaving. She looked at him expectantly, occasionally pacing around the area before giving him the same look.

This is what he gets for trusting a dog.

Groaning, he pinched the bridge of his nose as he propped his hand onto his hip. He was truly reconsidering his life decisions," Sunny, why do you do this to me? He's going to be coming back later!"

At that, Sunny whined, and promptly pawed at the air.

Sometimes this dog could be incredibly smart.

And other times, she could be incredibly dumb.

It looks like it was going to be one of those moments where she was being dumb.

God, why did he even follow her in the first place?

Fate must have been making fun of him.

Because at that moment, the hangar doors opened, and in came the two humvee's that the men had left in. They looked just as surprised as he felt, especially since they hadn't radioed their return as they should have. Ji-Hoon rolled down the driver's side window, still looking surprised as he said," An EMP took out our radio on the way back," Well that explained why they didn't radio their return," How did you know we were back?"

Kang pointed at Sunny, who was wagging her whole body and tail madly as the men climbed out of the trucks," She led me here."

"Huh…sometimes that dog is smarter than I think."

That was definitely an understatement.

"Oh yeah. We need to get the kid a helmet."

He rose his eyebrow," What makes you say that?" Because he knew that he needed the kid a helmet, that was one of the first things they tried to give him. But as one might expect, no one had a helmet small enough for a 15-year-old kid when everyone on base was 20 and older.

Ji-Hoon motioned to the back with his head," He banged his head against the dashboard when the EMP went off," The door opened, and Kang looked just in time to see the squirt stumble out of the truck, Gwangsik supporting him on his unsteady legs," Pretty sure he has a concussion." Yeah, he could have made that conclusion himself, especially with the way there were bandages wrapped around the teen's head again.

When Sunny bounded up to him, eager for some pets, the kid dazedly smiled," Sshhunyy." Before trying to pet Sunny on the head, only for him to miss and Gwangsik had to grab him before he fell.

Yeah, he had a decent concussion.

Oddly enough, it was as if Sunny had known that her owner was not in a good shape. Instead of being a hyperactive ball of energy as she normally was, she was calm and patient as Gwangsik led him to the infirmary. She was walking right next to him, pressed tightly to his leg as he was led away.

Kang ran his hand through his hair.

Alright, maybe Sunny really was smarter than what he thought.


Hm…

He frowned as he looked down at the squirt. He didn't mind, but he had noticed that the kid was sleeping a lot more lately.

A lot more.

The young teen was going to sleep earlier, would wake up later, and then it was like every time he had nothing to do for about 30 minutes, he would doze off into a nap. That was pretty often since he was just a 15-year-old kid, and that meant that they didn't have a lot of duties that he could, or was allowed to do.

He would be lying if he said that he wasn't concerned. The kid had already been with them for a year and some change, and this was the first time where the kid was sleeping so much.

Curious, he gently pressed the back of his hand against the kid's cheek and forehead, confirming that the kid did not have a fever like he thought. Lazily, the squirt pushed his hand away but remained asleep in the process.

Somewhat odd, but he didn't question it further, he just let the kid sleep longer.

Though he did laugh when Sunny woke him up by licking him awake.

It didn't click until a few days later when he realized that someone had increased the teenager's rations, and the consistent snacking the boy did whenever one of the men shared their care package with him.

He completely forgot that the kid was just 15.

With a grin on his face, he texted his mother requesting that she send over more of his old clothes. With the way the kid was eating and sleeping, it wasn't going to be long before the kid's growth spurt was going to take root.

Like he thought, about a month or two later, the kid's clothes were noticeably too small for him. Instead of being at eye level with his chest, the teenager was now at eye level with his shoulder.

He grinned again as he saw the kid walking awkwardly down the hall, clearly uncomfortable with the way his pants were fitting him. Bounding up to the young man, he almost giddily asked," Hey, are your pants built like a cheap castle?"

The teenager looked utterly confused at the question, and Kang swore he could see the teen questioning his intelligence at that moment. Or least, he did until he finished the joke.

"There's no ball room."

"Pft-!" his smile only got wider when he realized that his stupid joke had finally gotten a laugh out of him. But he started laughing when he saw the kid try to hide his blush with his hands, his hands did nothing to hide the reddened skin or the surprised laughter.

It was worth the punch he got.