Date Written: August 9, 2007

Summary: Little Fay gets a new friend! But what is he supposed to do with it? And how is it suppose to protect him, exactly?

A/N: I've decided to give into the "official" spelling of our mage's name, that being "Fay." Which is quite funny because the dictionary meaning for it is "fairy." XD

WARNINGS! Slight Celes spoilers. Nothing horrible, though, like tattoo meaning.

ALSO! I did, in fact, post this chapter this past Friday (the above date), but ten minutes later realized that it was total, unadulterated, crap and deleted it. I wish I hadn't had posted it, because it looks like I just put this back up "updated" to get more reviews. How annoying. Thank you for the reviews, though!

TAKES PLACE a while after Fay is taken in by Ashura. Like, I don't know, a month or so. Basically, just enough time for him to know his way around but not quite comfortable enough to talk with many people.

Hope you enjoy!

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What is it?

A friend. He'll make sure you're safe when I'm not around. Does that sound nice?

… Yes. Thank you, Ashura-ou.

UuUuUuUuUuUuUuU

Fay stared at the large, fluffy mass on his bed. It stared back. He leaned over and pushed it's leathery nose. It fell over. He wasn't quite sure what to do next. He knew he was supposed to do something with it, but this was the first toy he had ever been given that he remembered. He had never expected Ashura to give him anything remotely child like. Being coddled wasn't what he thought he was there for. Yet, there in front of him, sprawled out on his bed, was a large, black, stuffed dog.

Ashura had said it was suppose to protect him. But it was immobile. He didn't even sense any magic inside of it. How was it suppose to protect him from being scared of the shadows at night? Fay stiffened at that thought. It was evening and he'd have to go to bed in an hour or two. He quickly shook the idea away and looked back down at the toppled dog, deciding that if Ashura said it was going to keep him safe, it was worth a shot.

Fay scooted over to it and sat it back up, staring at it again. It's marble eyes were supposed to be brown, but there was a strange glint in each one that gave the appearance of red. It was very large, too. Almost as big as himself, though that wasn't really saying much. The amount of black fur just made it's size seem even bigger, as well. On top of that, it didn't smile. Fay had seen the guard dogs many times and they smiled. This one didn't. It almost looked like it was scowling. Fay found that odd because what did it have to scowl at?

On the bright side, something that mean looking must be able to scare something away.

He kept staring at it, desperately trying to understand what he was supposed to do with it in the meantime. It was quite a conundrum. It just sat there. Doing nothing. He wondered if there was something wrong with it. Like maybe it didn't like him. That had to be wrong, though, because Ashura had told him that it was a friend.

"Hi," he finally whispered to it.

No response. Not that he was expecting one.

"Um, what's your name?"

Still nothing.

"… You don't have a name?"

This time, Fay took it's head and shook it from side to side.

"That's no good. You should have a name."

The dog shook it's head up and down at that.

"Right. Well, since you don't have one, I'll give you a name! How does that sound?"

The dog shook it's head again, this time with much more enthusiasm.

"Okay, then. What's a good name for you?" Fay put a finger to his chin and looked up at the ceiling for inspiration. It was a lot harder than he thought. He looked back down at the dog and quickly decided that the typical names didn't suit it at all. It definitely wasn't a Boris, or an Ivan, or a Yerik. That was about all of the names he could come up with that he had heard the guards call their dogs. It was a very short list since the guards didn't really speak to begin with.

Suddenly, Fay felt his stomach twist in hunger. "What's that?" he said to the dog, putting his ear to it's muzzle. "You're hungry? Well, I guess that now is an okay time to go and get a snack. Dinner's already been served, after all."

Hopping off of the bed, Fay snatched the dog's tail up and proceeded to drag him down the hallways. It was when they were turning a corner that they came to a sudden halt. Well, more like Fay got jerked back from the dog's sudden halt.

"What's the matter?" Fay asked it. He went around the corner and saw it's paw clinging to the wall. As he undid it from the nail, Fay continued, "You're a silly doggie. Don't you want a snack?" Picking it back up, it's head lulled to the side making Fay giggle. "Is Doggie-chan shy?"

No response. A scowl, though.

"Doggie-chan… You don't like that name?"

Still nothing but a scowl.

"How about Doggie-pipi?"

Scowl.

"Doggie-chu?"

Scowl.

"Doggie-wan wan?"

Fay briefly wondered if he would eventually hear a growl from the thing.

"Hm. Well, I guess I'll just have to keep coming up with new ones until we find one you like. Come on, Doggie-tan."

Fay hugged the dog tightly in his arms this time as they continued to the kitchens. While going through the hallways, Fay made sure to explain where each door went (the few that he remembered), what the guards were for, and even tried to introduce him to one of the other dogs, only to have to have the guard restrain it due to the dog thinking it was a chew toy. Fay took note to make sure to bandage that paw after they got their snack.

Once at the kitchen's door, Fay slowly opened it just enough to peek inside. After finding nobody was around, he tiptoed as quietly as possible in, making sure his dog was secured in his arms.

"Why, hello there," a voice said from his side, making Fay jump with a small squeak. Whirling around, he saw a man behind one of the counters he couldn't see from the door making his way towards him. He squeezed the dog with all his might, holding in front of him.

"I-I'm sorry!" he stuttered. "Doggie-tan, here, was hungry and, um, I-"

"It's okay, it's okay! Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong." The man smiled and kneeled down so he was eye level with Fay, who took a few steps back in return. "My name is Ueda Hiroyasu. I'm the baker of this kitchen. What's your name?" (1)

Fay hugged his dog tighter, probably cutting off circulation, before whispering, "Fay."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Fay! Are you here for something to eat?"

Fay shook his head and held out his doggie. "He is."

Hiroyasu peered at it for a while, a small laugh beginning to bubble up. "Oh, I see. And what would he want to eat?"

Fay put the dog's muzzle back to his ear and nodded a few times. "He wants cake… um, but it's okay if that's not allowed."

"Why wouldn't it be allowed? Everybody should have cake, right?" Fay nodded. "Right! So how about I get you a piece of cake along with your friend?" Fay nodded again, hiding his face slightly behind the dog in embarrassment.

As Hiroyasu happily finished frosting a cake he had already been working on, Fay sat on a stool, swinging his legs and absentmindedly humming. Doggie-rin, meanwhile, was dancing. Not very well, but you couldn't do much when you were so big in comparison to the little boy doing all the work. Not to mention, little puffs of stuffing coming out of a paw. Fay tried to put it back it, but managed to just make the paw look swollen instead.

"All done!" Hiroyasu cheered, placing the two slices of cake on the counter in front of the two. Fay stared at them, amazed at how pretty and delicious they looked. He gazed back up at Hiroyasu, wondering if it was okay to eat them. Luckily, the man immediately understood. "Go on, eat! I wouldn't have made them special if I didn't want you to enjoy it!"

Fay gave him a small smile and a whispered, "Thank you," before taking a fork full of the sweet. Hiroyasu began the clean up while Fay finished his cake. Doggie-puu just sat in his lap, though, not touching his piece.

"You don't like cake?" Fay asked when he was done and saw the state of his dog's cake. It proceeded to slump to the side. "You should at least try it." Taking it's head, Fay shoved it's nose into the cake, making sure that part of it was eaten (of course, he couldn't tell by how the cake seemed to flatten). Lifting it back up, the dog appeared to be glaring at him. It must have been annoyed at the force taken. As an apology, Fay hugged it, getting cake on his cheek in the process.

"Hm, I don't think your friend likes cake that much," Hiroyasu said. Taking a wash cloth, he cleaned off Fay's cheek and the counter. Fay took care of the cake on the dog's nose. "What's his name? Doggie-rin, did you call it?"

"I think so," Fay said. "I can't remember."

"So he gets a new name every time you talk to him? What a lucky dog to have an owner who cares so much about him!"

"Really?" Fay was confused as to how him not being able to remember which words he put at the end of the word "doggie" counted as good ownership qualities.

"Yup! Coming up with a name that nobody else has for someone is a very special thing. Your dog seems to have a bunch of new nicknames that you made up, so that must be even better. After all, people give other people nicknames because they are very dear to them."

Despite only having the toy for an hour or so, Fay had to admit that he enjoyed calling it different things. He supposed that that counted as caring. Even if the thing seemed to be permanently scowling at him.

"But what if he doesn't like them?" Fay asked.

Hiroyasu paused and contemplated this. "I suppose you should just keep trying?"

Fay nodded and whispered another thank you, before hopping off the stool.

"Do you need any help getting back?" Hiroyasu offered.

Fay looked up at him, then down at his dog friend. "No thank you. Doggie-tin and me will be okay."

"Alright then. Feel free to come back any time for some more cake!"

Fay nodded again and left, feeling very satisfied at having met the man. He was nice. Maybe, if he had time, he could teach him how to cook stuff. That cake was delicious. "Good thing you were hungry, Doggie-sama."

Despite that ending being better than the others, he still got a scowl.

They spent the rest of the day together, pretty much joined at the hip. Fay showed him all the different statues, tapestries (making up his own explanations as to their significance), potion ingredients, portraits, until eventually ending up at the library where they sat in one of the corners and studied.

It was rather late to start with, and the time began to catch up with him. And the dog. It had slumped over and onto Fay's shoulder, but Fay just continued to study. He himself was beginning to nod off by the time some servants came by looking for him, Ashura promptly being called in after he was found.

"Planning on staying up all night to study?" he said, approaching the snoozing boy.

Fay quickly stood up when he realized who it was and gave a small bow, picking up the dog with him without even thinking. "I was showing Doggie-puu around and all the things I'm learning when he went to sleep, Ashura-ou. I didn't want to wake him up so I thought that I would just keep reading."

Ashura patted Fay's head and smiled down at the boy. "By the looks of it, you two have become very good friends. Is that right?" Fay nodded, unsuccessfully hiding the still torn paw into his shirt. "That's good, then. Come along. We should get you to bed."

Fay obediently followed, Doggie-san following Fay until Ashura had him taken away for a while to stitch the paw up. And before he knew it, he was clean (he had tried to clean Doggie-kun once he got him back, but the servants told him that that wouldn't be a good idea) and tucked into bed, Ashura reading him a story as he grew more sleepy.

He was still awake once Ashura finished and wished him good night, though. No matter how sleepy he was, he always seemed to have trouble actually going to sleep. He kept seeing shadows at night that reminded him of the bodies at the tower. Each one had a face to it that he still remembered, and the more he thought about them, the more real they became to him. Exactly what his new friend was supposed to protect him from.

"Doggie-bun?" he whispered to the corner where he had place him.

No response.

"Are you scared of the dark?"

Still nothing.

"It's okay. Lot's of people are. I-If you want, you can sleep with me tonight. Would you like that?"

Nothing was said, but Fay took it as him being shy and quickly pulled him under the covers. With one last look at the shadows, Fay buried his face into the mass of black fur, shutting his eyes tight and holding Doggie-chan as close as possible. It didn't take too long until Fay began to feel his fear slowly leaving him and sleep creeping towards him.

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Fay suddenly awoke to find himself on the couch with his head in Kurogane's lap, the man himself looking like he was close to falling asleep. Sitting up, he turned the television off, snapping Kurogane out of his dozing state.

"It's about time you woke up," he yawned, casting a glare at the mage.

Fay gave him a small smile and wrapped his arms around his neck, burying his face as best he could in the man's hair.

He could still tell he was being glared at as Kurogane said, "What's with you all of a sudden?"

Fay hummed and answered, "Nothing... I think you should grow your hair, though."

What Kurogane said next was something that sent a combination of shock and relief through Fay's entire body. "Idiot. You don't have to hide in my hair. I'll make sure to protect you so you don't have to hide at all."

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1.) Just in case some people don't know, Ueda Hiroyasu is one of the characters in Chobits. He's one of the main supporting characters, and is a baker. I always thought he'd be good with kids, and this just kind of fit. Not to mention Fay needs SOMEBODY to put some meat on his bones.

2.) (side note) Hm. I hate to say that that last part might be considered angst... Crap.

3.) (side note) I KNOW WHERE TO READ THE CHAPTERS! I greatly appreciate the offers, but I already know (three sites, actually) and am even a member of the Tsubasa community on msn. Viv-san, right here. So don't worry. I am very up to date on spoilers and am freely CHOOSING to not read the scanlations until the Celes arc is over in order to get a greater impact of the entire thing. Thank you for the offers, though.

A/N: This was hard, but it is definitely better than the other one I had. I'm much more okay with this one. Hope you are, too!

You know what to do!

Please leave a review!

As always, CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is welcomed with stuff dogs!

Next chapter: I know for a fact it will be Sakura/Syaoran fluff. I've been wanting to write it, and by golly next chapter it shall be done! Yeah!