As Yuuri made it to his house, he debated what would be the best way to convince his mother to let him keep the dog. The fact that the dog had saved him earlier that day would be a great starting point, plus it seemed to have a good disposition. He could play off his mother's fantasies about it being a prince magically enchanted or something, his mother would have a field day playing out all the possibilities. Heck, she just might love that especially so if she would always ask about him coming home with wings or not after a trip to Shin Makoku, but first he decided that he had to do something about the dog's scary appearance. He couldn't just present her his new noble knight looking like this. Nothing could be done about the dog's size, but he could clean the dog up a bit by giving it a bath.
He knew his mother would most likely be out at this time of day, but he couldn't be so sure about Shori. If his overprotective brother got a good look at the dog now, there was no way he was ever going to convince him that it was safe for him to be around. So he snuck around to the back of his house as quietly as he could while bringing the ever compliant dog with him. He looked into the house through the open side doors to the yard and tried to peer inside for any sign of his brother. After noticing the lights were all out he deemed the house empty.
The small pool that was often used to take him from this world to the other was still out and had a clean supply of water. Now all he needed was some soap. He stepped into the empty house and when he turned around to try and get the dog to stop following him so it wouldn't get the house messy; he found the dog was just sitting in the yard waiting for him. Maybe the dog had been one of those outside pets only? Yuuri realized even if he got his family to let him keep the dog, it might already have an owner. He didn't think he could bear to get close to it only to later have to give it up. The loss of not being able to see anyone from Shin Makoku was hurting him more than he was letting on to anyone. He shuddered to think of what Shori and his mother might try to do to cheer him up if they ever got wind of his new found loneliness. He just wished he could at least still talk to Conrad, without him around he had no one to confide to. Murata would try every now and then, but they didn't go to the same school and hardly ever met anymore.
He tried to brush away his depressing thoughts as he picked up a random bottle of shampoo from the bathroom and left for his room to get a quick change of clothes go back to the dog. As he came outside to the dog's side, he noticed that the dog's tail was silently waging as he took off his shirt. No point in getting his shirt wet and possible dirty with trying to give the dog a bath. He didn't know if the large animal would put up a fight with him on this or not. He knew cats hated water, but dogs? He had no clue on that one.
He gently tried to guide the dog into the small wading pool only to find that dog seemed to know exactly what was coming. Its tail was wagging so hard that he thought he could almost hear the wind whip around it. It stopped right before entering the pool and turned its head to look at Yuuri. Yuuri for his part was slightly confused as to why the dog had so suddenly stopped only to realize that the dog had done more than just stop, it had also crouched. Before he had time to lift his arms to shield himself, he found himself covered in water from the dog jumping into the pool with a big splash. "How did you manage to get me this wet when I'm not even the one in the pool?" Yuuri laughed out. The dog barked in reply with a playful manner. Yuuri took the shampoo in hand and finally looked at just what he had picked up. 'Strawberry Cream? At least Shori can't complain about you smelling bad. Mom will love it though.' He proceeded to squeeze the pink bottles contents into his hands and lather it up. He was careful of the face with the dried blood and was taking his time to look for any wounds that the blood might have come from. After a thorough search he was satisfied that the dog wasn't hurt anywhere. As he washed the dogs back, he noticed that it had gone stone still. Its tail no longer waged and it had its head slightly pointed down with its eyes closed. After about five minutes or so, he had gotten the dog almost completely clean. All that was left was the underside now. He gently stared to rub the dog's chest and front legs to clean the dried dirt from it. He then went to the back legs and started to work his way up. Just as he was almost all the way up the inside of the legs, the dog suddenly decided it had had enough and forcefully shook itself. Yuuri abandoned the rest of the work in favor of trying to keep the flying water out of his face while laughing. He hadn't had this much fun for weeks now.
The dog got out of the pool and proceeded to come up to Yuuri and nuzzle his bare chest and neck. Yuuri was having too much fun while laughing to hear his mother come to the back door and watch her son and the dog. The only thing Yuuri cared about at that moment was the over friendly and affectionate dog that was constantly rubbing and nuzzling against him. It was a bright flash of light a few moments later that finally drew his attention to the previously silent observer. His mother had a camera in hand and was starting to squeal at the cute site in front of her. The soaking wet duo stopped their playing and turned to look at Jennifer. She was practically gushing at the picture the two of them made. Yuuri suddenly didn't think convincing her would be such a problem anymore, now if only he could keep Shori from getting his hands on that picture. He didn't like the idea of a half naked picture of himself in Shori's hands.
"Yuu-chan! Where did you find such a cute doggy?!"
"He scared off a few bullies that were around school and then followed me home; do you think I could keep him?" Since his mother had already taking a liking to the dog, he didn't want her to know just how much trouble he would have been if it weren't for the dog saving him.
"He? No no Yuu-chan! Such a cute doggy has to be a girl! I don't want to be fated to only have boys in the house." Miko sighed. "Have you thought of any pretty names for her? Oh! How about Amber?! Or maybe even Angel! Too bad she doesn't have any wings though."
Yuuri looked down at the dog to find that it was laying flat on its stomach and had its head on Yuuri's lap. He somehow got the impression the dog was just as mortified as he was with his mother's name selection. As his mother tried to suggest even more girlish names, he thought it best if he somehow intervened. Otherwise the dog really might be labeled with one of those embarrassing names. He tried to point out that dog had scared of the bullies with just growling and had faithfully waited outside the school for him to come out and followed him home. At first it seemed to work. She gave a thoughtful look at the dog and suddenly smiled.
"Your right Yuu-chan! He's more like a knight sent to protect his princess from the forces of darkness that would do harm to his fair lady!" Yuuri could almost see the stars in her eyes at the idea. He didn't want to be compared to being a damsel in distress, but if it got his mother to stop trying to give his new dog the girly names from before, he would put up with it.
"You know, he has such pretty brown eyes, just like your handsome godfather! Why not name him Conrad!"
"What!?" Yuuri almost shrieked in response. He couldn't just name his new dog after Conrad! That would be majorly embarrassing if said solider ever found out about it. Not to mention all the teasing Yozak would put him through, or the yelling Wolfram would give his poor ears. He tried to protest the new name, but Miko wouldn't have it.
"If you want to keep him, then his name has to be Conrad" his mother stated with a voice that said she wouldn't reconsider.
'Shori is not going to like this' Yuuri couldn't help but think. All throughout the conversation with his mother he had failed to notice he and now his Conrad were still dripping wet until a shiver went down his spine from the air conditioner blowing in his direction.
"Yuu-chan, why don't you go dry yourself and Conrad off before you catch a cold" Miko suggested. Yuuri couldn't agree more.
"Conrad, come here boy" Yuuri tried. He didn't have any expectations that the dog he had only just met that morning would come to his new name, so he was surprised that it immediately trotted after him. It felt weird to call the dog Conrad, but since it came when called, he lost his last argument he was going to use agents his mother about it.
Conrad followed Yuuri all way to the bath room and silently watched as the boy dried himself off and took his now wet pants off. By the time Yuuri finished with the towel, it was too wet to be of much use for Conrad and it was the last towel, so he picked up a folded shirt of his and tried to dry Conrad with it. When he was done, he took a closer look at the shirt only to find that it wasn't his at all but his brothers. 'Shori is defiantly not going to like this' Yuuri almost sighed.
He decided that he might have to resort to calling his brother 'oni-chan' to make up for it. Yuuri peeked outside the door to see if his mother was in sight before dashing to his room to find a dry pair of pants to put on. The entire time Conrad kept on his heels like a shadow. When he had just finished dressing, the front door could be heard opening and his brother's load voice proclaiming he was home with it.