A/N: I'm back! Did you miss me? I come bringing fluff and humor to balance out the angst of the most recent chapters!

I actually did a bit of research for this one because I wanted to try to figure out what breed of dog Kurogane most closely resembled. After looking through a ridiculous number of pictures, I found one that worked: the Belgian sheepdog. I'm not talking about one of those ridiculous-looking white things whose eyes are hidden by their hair that you most likely think of when you hear the word "sheepdog". If you want to see what one looks like, just search for it on Google images. It looks just like the big doggy that Fai drew in Outo!

Also, I know that Fai is supposed to be the big kitty, but I thought I could have more fun with this fic if I made him a kitten. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Mendicant /mendikent/ adj. & n.- adj. 1 begging. 2 (of a friar) living solely on alms. n. 1 a beggar. 2 a mendicant friar.


Mendicant

Kurogane nosed eagerly through the garbage. He could smell something good in there somewhere and he wanted it. It was meat, cooked, judging by the scent of it, and might even have condiments on it. There were too many other smells mixed with it from the rest of the garbage, but he was pretty sure he was hot on the trail of a half-eaten burger. Those, for him, were a rare and deeply appreciated delicacy. Not quite as good as a whole burger, but infinitely preferable to the crap he usually ended up eating.

Another dog, scruffy and dirty, sauntered up behind him but Kurogane heard him coming instantly and whipped around to give him a warning growl. The other dog lowered its ears and slunk away, disappointed. The Belgian sheepdog snorted in satisfaction at the success of his scare tactics and went back to digging in the garbage. Although Kurogane was a loner and there were plenty of little gangs of strays in his area, all of the other dogs knew better than to bother him. He ruled the back alleys of his town with an iron paw and anyone who dared to challenge his authority would most likely end up dead or at least with their tail chewed off.

At last he found it: the burger he had been searching for. And to Kurogane's delight, it turned out to be a Big Mac. Oh, heavenly spoils! The Belgian sheepdog snapped it up greedily, being careful to get every last crumb of it. It was quite possibly the most delicious thing he had ever tasted.

After making absolutely certain that there was nothing else of interest in that particular garbage can, Kurogane stalked off, his tail wagging slightly with gratitude for the fancy meal he had managed to stumble across. Now that his face wasn't half buried in refuse, he turned his nose toward the sky. It smelled like rain. Kurogane let out a little snarl of irritation. That meant he would have to search out somewhere dry to spend the night. He didn't really like getting wet because his fur tended to poof out as he dried, making him look utterly ridiculous. Although he had proven his extreme levels of badass plenty of times, he could still tell that the other dogs had a lot harder time taking him seriously when he was all fluffy. Hell, he even had a hard time taking himself seriously when he was all fluffy. Kurogane figured that he might as well start looking for a place now.

Kurogane wandered the streets aimlessly. As he passed by, he saw several humans jump and hurriedly avert their eyes and those who had children picked them up and quickened their pace, clearly afraid that he might attack them. Kurogane ignored them. There had been a time when he, as a puppy, had enjoyed messing with them by following them for a few blocks or sticking his nose into the women's purses when they weren't pay attention and scaring the shit out of them when they noticed him there. These days he didn't have much desire to play such pranks. There was really no point to them and they had lost their novelty after doing it so many times.

Eventually, Kurogane was fortunate enough to stumble across an empty construction site with several large cement tubes stacked in a pile on its premises. After sniffing around them a bit, the Belgian sheepdog decided that these would serve his purpose nicely. He marked them with his scent to make sure everyone would know that they were his; he didn't want to come back later that night and find any bitches hanging out in his tubes (pun intended). As much as Kurogane loved being the single top dog in town, he had to admit that it got kind of lonely being on his own all the time. Still, that didn't mean that he wanted other dogs invading his territory.

The sun was beginning to set and Kurogane could see the clouds getting thicker overhead. He scratched himself behind the ear with his back foot unconcernedly. In spite of the fact that it made his fur fluffy when he stayed out in it, he really didn't mind the rain. It made a soothing sort of melody for him to fall asleep to at night and when he got up in the morning there were usually puddles on the ground which provided more convenient sources of drinking water.

When he felt the first raindrop hit him on the nose, Kurogane retreated into one of the tunnels and curled up inside to watch the rain fall. He wondered how much more enjoyable it would be to watch the rain if he had someone to do it with. Kurogane shook his head, trying to convince himself that it would suck because whoever it was would probably end up being noisy. Yet he couldn't quite shake the feeling that he was missing out on something…


Kurogane cracked open one scarlet eye. The rain had escalated into a torrential downpour and it was still dark out. So why the hell was he awake? With a little snort of annoyance, he shut his eye again and tried to go back to sleep. Then he heard it again; the noise that had awoken him in the first place. It was coming from somewhere far off and hardly rose above the roar of the rain, a desperate, high-pitched mewing sound. Kurogane snarled and put his paws over his ears. It was probably some damn alley cat that had been involved in a fight and lost. But it quickly became clear that he wouldn't be comfortable enough with his paws over his ears to fall asleep again. He would have to find the stupid beast and put it out of its misery.

Growling, the Belgian sheepdog got to his feet and stretched before venturing out into the storm. The rain was freezing; if he hadn't had his thick shaggy coat to protect him from it, he would have turned around and went right back into his tunnel. Kurogane picked up his pace as he followed the meowing. He wanted to get this over with and go back to sleep. Kurogane barreled through the downpour, down one alley, then another, and another.

He was close now, but the fact that it had hardly become any louder caused him to think that maybe noise was being made by a kitten. Kurogane had met a lot of cats in his days, but he had never heard a full-grown cat make a sound that high-pitched. It probably would have hurt his ears if it wasn't so quiet. Perhaps he should be glad that it was a kitten, though; they were small and made a perfect midnight snack. Kurogane couldn't help wondering why he was being granted such extravagant dining experiences tonight; he never went after kittens because there tended to be vicious mother cats with sharp claws nearby. But he wasn't one to scoff at a good meal when it was presented to him so willingly. He would take great pleasure in eating this one. The little creature may be small, but it sure could holler.

Finally, Kurogane came to a cardboard box from which the meowing seemed to be emanating. The Belgian sheepdog put his paws on the rim so that he could look down inside. His eyes were met by oversized sparkling blue ones which belonged to the most pathetic-looking kitten he had ever seen, pure black with a tiny black nose to match. Actually, the little thing might have been kind of cute if it hadn't been soaked to the bone. When the kitten saw him, it mewed at him pleadingly. Its cardboard box was filling with water and if he left it there, it would most likely drown by morning.

Even though he usually had no sympathy for cats, he couldn't help feeling just a little bit sorry for this one. The way it was sitting in this cardboard box that it was clearly incapable of getting in or out of on its own led him to believe that it had been abandoned by some humans. It was thin, but it didn't have the starved look of most alley cats. The kitten shivered in the rain as it waited for him to decide whether he would have mercy on it or not. It gave another pitiful meow as if in an attempt to plead its case. Eventually Kurogane sighed and picked the kitten up carefully with his mouth by its scruff. It mewed in gratitude and relief but wisely fell silent after that.

Thank you for saving me, Doggy san.

Reluctantly, Kurogane took the kitten back to his hideout in the concrete tubes. Once he was inside, he shook himself off, splattering water everywhere. The sheepdog waited for the kitten to do the same but it just sat there stupidly, looking scandalized that he had splashed it. Kurogane rolled his eyes, showing that he didn't really care one way or the other whether the dumb cat wanted to stay wet or not.

He lay down again and closed his eyes. For about three seconds, he thought they might just leave it at that and let sleeping dogs lie (again, pun intended). Then he felt a rough little sandpaper tongue lick the tip of his nose. Kurogane snarled as he opened his eyes once more. This damn cat had a lot of nerve, waking him up in the middle of the night, making him go out in the rain to save its sorry ass, making him take it home with him and now it was going to bother him further, after all he had done for it?!

The kitten shivered again and meowed softly, a quiet request for help. Kurogane wasn't exactly sure what it expected him to do for it. It was still dripping wet and it seemed not to know how to shake itself off like he had. Perhaps it wanted him to help it dry off. He had memories of his mother licking him dry as a puppy when they had been out in the rain.

Realizing the kitten wasn't going to let him sleep until he assisted it, Kurogane snorted irritably again and began to lick it. He moved his tongue along its black fur backwards, causing the fur to remain standing up it his wake. It looked ridiculous. The kitten didn't seem to care how it looked; it just sat there, letting him take care of it. As he was licking, Kurogane learned a few things about his new companion. First of all, "it" was a boy. Secondly, he smelled far too nice to have lived his life on the streets which pretty much confirmed Kurogane's theory that he had been abandoned.

The third thing he learned was that the kitten shed. Kurogane could feel hair sticking to his tongue and it made him want to gag. He knew better than to swallow, though; it was degrading enough that he had welcomed this thing into his hideout and had proceeded to lick him dry, and he was not about to spend the rest of the night hacking up hairballs. As soon as he had finished helping the kitten get dried off, Kurogane began to lick the wall of the concrete tube, trying desperately to get the excess fur off his tongue. Stupid kitten; he owed him, big time.

Meanwhile, the kitten climbed up onto his savior's back, looking for a spot to get comfortable. Kurogane growled warningly at him but the kitten showed no concern whatsoever. He found a spot on the back of the sheepdog's neck that seemed satisfactory and began to knead the area with his tiny paws in preparation to lie down. Kurogane gritted his teeth, fighting against an almost overpowering urge to stand up suddenly and crush the little beast between the ceiling of the tube and his back. Finally the kitten stopped kneading and curled up warmly on the back of Kurogane's neck where he promptly fell asleep. Kurogane sighed and closed his eyes again. The kitten had gotten lucky this time, but if he bothered him one more time, he swore he would eat him on the spot, no questions asked.


The next time the dog opened his eyes it was morning. The rain had stopped and the sun was out in full force, apparently trying to make up for its early disappearance the previous day. At first Kurogane thought he had awoken in a good mood, but then he felt the sharp little pangs in his tail and an odd little rumbling noise. He sat up abruptly to see what was going on. There sat the little black kitten that he had rescued last night. He was purring loudly as he swatted and nipped at the sheepdog's tail playfully. Kurogane growled at him. If the kitten had some beef with him, let him take it up with him to his face and leave his poor tail out of it.

As soon as the kitten saw that he was awake, it meowed happily. Apparently he thought he had made a new friend. Well, he'd thought wrong; Kurogane snorted and turned his head away in refusal. The kitten didn't seem at all deterred by that, however. He merely strolled around to the front of the dog and rubbed affectionately against his front legs as he continued to purr. Kurogane was once again considering eating him, then he remembered how he had shed the night before and imagined that fur coating not only his tongue but his throat as well. The thought made him want to mow his head along the ground. He supposed that eating his annoying little guest wasn't really an option after all.

My name is Fai! What's yours?

It's Kurogane.

Kurogane, huh? That's a weird name… Anyway, let's be friends!

Yeah, I don't think so.

Kurogane promised himself right then and there that he was never taking in another stray again. He hadn't been with this stray for long, but already Fai was pissing him off and it didn't look like he'd be getting rid of him anytime soon. Admittedly, though, now that the tiny black kitten was dry, he was absolutely adorable. His fur looked so fluffy and smooth that Kurogane found himself wishing he could touch it. Not that he couldn't if he really wanted to, but that would just be weird. Plus, he doubted that that would be an effective way of letting Fai know that he wasn't wanted here anymore.

Eventually, Fai got tired of rubbing against him and trotted out in front of him, sat down, and mewed expectantly. Kurogane stared at him blankly. When Fai's request received no reaction, he mewed again, holding it out longer this time. The sheepdog was confused; what did Fai expect from him now? Clearly he wanted something but Kurogane had no idea what that something might be.

Not until Fai approached him again and began nuzzling his nose along the underside of Kurogane's belly, searching for a source of milk, did he understand. The kitten was hungry and expected Kurogane to feed him. Kurogane growled. This little critter had a lot of audacity considering that it was hardly more than a fluffy tennis ball. Still, he supposed that he was a little bit hungry himself… Kurogane sighed resignedly and turned to venture out in search of food. He paused at the opening of the concrete tube and looked over his shoulder at Fai.

Stay.

The kitten meowed back at him cheerfully and it sounded suspiciously as though he was trying to say something like Good luck, Kurowanwan! I'll have kisses ready for you when you get back! Kurogane hoped that he had misunderstood because that really wasn't much of an incentive for him to return. In fact, it was more like an incentive for him not to return. But whatever; the sheepdog exited the tube at a dutiful trot, determined to bring back some food.


Kurogane returned to the tube, dejected. All he had managed to find were some fish sticks and two pieces of old pizza. If he had been looking for a meal just for him, that might have just been enough, but there was no way it could feed two of them. For some reason, Kurogane felt as though he had let Fai down. The kitten had been looking to him to take care of him and he had pretty much failed. Then Kurogane shook himself; why should he care if he wasn't able to cater to that lazy freeloading cat? Still, he couldn't help feeling just a little bit guilty.

As the sheepdog neared the concrete tube, however, he caught a strong and tantalizing whiff of chicken. Mouth watering, Kurogane followed the scent and to his immense surprise it led him straight to his own hideout. Fai was sitting in the opening of the tube, waiting for him. When he saw Kurogane coming, he meowed a greeting. Kurogane looked over the top of Fai's fluffy little head and let his mouth fall open in shock when he saw what looked like a whole roasted chicken sitting there.

Where the hell did you get that?!

Oh, it was easy, Kurowanko; all I had to do was say "please"!

Kurogane looked from Fai to the chicken, stunned. Fai just grinned at him and turned around so that he could begin to partake of their feast. The dog dropped his meager findings, feeling slightly miffed. How had that fluffy little squirt managed to find such an amazing treat when he, an experienced garbage-raider, had hardly been able to come up with enough food to feed himself? And why the hell had Fai even bothered sending him out for food if he could get a whole freaking roasted chicken so easily on his own? Kurogane ripped a leg off of the chicken and started to eat. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd had fresh food. It tasted wonderful. Maybe this kitten wasn't so bad after all.

After Fai had eaten his fill, he started the ritual after-meal grooming process. This was one thing about cats that Kurogane found mysterious. Why, after eating anything at all, did cats insist on grooming every inch of their bodies, even places that had had absolutely no contact with the food whatsoever? But maybe Fai did look just a little bit cute as he washed his delicate paws and behind his ears.

Kurogane snorted and went back to his chicken. What the hell was he doing, staring at that oversized rat? What would become of his badass reputation if the other dogs in the area found out that he was taking care of that thing, treating it like his own puppy? He decided he'd rather not think about it. Whatever would happen, he was sure it wouldn't be good.

Once Kurogane had polished off the rest of the chicken, he gave his lips a quick once-over with his tongue. That was as close as he got to an "after-dinner grooming"; he didn't need to take a whole freaking bath every time he finished eating something. Kurogane glanced down at the kitten and was mildly amused when he saw him wrinkling his little black nose in disgust.

Umm… You missed a couple spots, Kurowanta.

I didn't miss them; I'm just not gonna do them.

But that's yucky! …Do you want me to do it for you?

Don't you dare, you fluffy little bastard!

Fai shook his head in disbelief. Dogs had terrible hygiene. Kurogane shook his head in disbelief. Cats had ridiculous hygiene.


Kurogane lie snarling inside the concrete tube. This "babysitting the kitty" thing was really, really starting to piss him off. He had serious alpha-male dog stuff to do but every time he tried to head off and do them, Fai insisted on following. That was completely out of the question; an alpha-male dog could not have an adorable fluffy kitten prancing around after him everywhere he went.

And Fai did prance. In fact, he was prancing now as Kurogane watched him trailing a yellow butterfly across the empty construction site. It made the sheepdog sick just to watch… At least that was what he told himself. In reality, maybe he didn't mind seeing Fai prance back and forth across the lot. Fai leapt into the air and made a swipe for the butterfly but it easily avoided him. The kitten watched disappointedly as the butterfly drifted high out of his reach and vanished from sight.

Without the insect to distract him, Fai trotted back over to Kurogane in hopes of finding entertainment. Kurogane hurriedly pretended to be asleep thinking that this might keep Fai from bothering him. The kitten stopped when he saw that the sheepdog's eyes were closed and tilted his head quizzically. Kurogane opened his eyes just a slit so that he could watch him. He couldn't quite tell whether his act was fooling him but it seemed to be working. Fai came closer and sniffed around Kurogane's face; it took every ounce of self-control he possessed not to jump up and take a nip at him. That would teach him to bother a dog when he was trying to sleep.

Fai tagged Kurogane's nose with his paw playfully and immediately jumped back in case it woke him. Reflexively, Kurogane's tongue shot out to lick himself where Fai had touched him. This seemed to amuse Fai because he tagged Kurogane's nose again so that he could watch his tongue come out once more. The sheepdog was starting to get really annoyed. If Fai kept this up, he really was going to snap at him. What bothered him almost as much was the fact that he couldn't seem to keep from licking his nose when Fai pawed at it. He had always prided himself as having perfect control over every aspect of his body but this was one reflex that he couldn't seem to suppress.

Fai found this reflex funny. He wondered how he could take advantage of it. By this point, he was pretty sure that Kurogane was just pretending to be asleep so that he wouldn't have to play with him. He pawed Kurogane's nose again, but this time instead of jumping back, he leaned forward and as soon as the dog's tongue came out, Fai licked it. That got the kind of reaction he'd been hoping for!

Kurogane, enraged, jumped to his feet, his eyes snapping open and blazing with fury. That kitten was going to get it for stealing tongue kisses! If he'd been capable of blushing, his face would have been as scarlet as his eyes. Fai meowed in excited terror, knowing that he was in serious doo-doo for his little escapade. Kurogane lunged at him, barking madly as Fai scampered away across the grass.

The kitten dashed into a patch of tall grass, hoping to lose the enraged dog. Even as he crouched low among the weeds, hiding from Kurogane's certain wrath, Fai couldn't help feeling extremely glad that he had been the one to rescue him the previous night. The big doggy was so cute and fun to play with! Kurogane stuck his face into the tall grass, sniffing around for a hint of the kitten's scent. As soon as he found Fai, he swore he'd eat him. He didn't even care about the shedding.

Fai retreated, intending to sneak out through the side then loop around behind Kurogane and pounce on his tail. With some difficulty he pushed his way quietly through the tall grass. He could just see it starting to thin out in front of him, signaling that he had almost made it out of the weeds. Just as he was about to creep out of them, he found his way blocked by what had to be the most horrifying creature he'd ever seen. It was fat, long, covered with brown and black hair, and had two huge gross black eyes on the front of its face. As Fai stared, it inched its way closer to him along the blades of grass which bowed under its weight. Completely forgetting about his plan to surprise Kurogane, Fai jumped backwards with a strangled meow of fear.

When Kurogane heard the kitten's startled meow, his ears perked up. Judging by the hissing and spitting that followed, it sounded like Fai was in danger. He raced around the edge of the tall patch of grass toward the noises. It didn't take the sheepdog long to spot Fai's black form amongst the weeds. His tail was all bristled out and his fur stood on end as he backed away slowly from the predator. Kurogane couldn't see any threat in the area. Confused, the black dog followed the kitten's terrified gaze.

When Kurogane's crimson eyes landed on the creature that was putting Fai in such a tizzy, he couldn't contain a snort of amusement. There, climbing up the stem of a dandelion, was an obese black and brown caterpillar. That was what Fai was so freaked out about? Kurogane swiped at the dandelion with his tail and sent to offending caterpillar flying. When the vicious threat was removed from his sight, Fai began to calm down. He let out a mew of relief and his fur un-bristled. The kitten turned his bright blue eyes on Kurogane and the dog could see them sparkling with renewed affection and gratitude.

Kurogane rolled his eyes as Fai came bounding out of the grass and began to rub up against him, purring loudly. Although it was exasperating, Kurogane couldn't help feeling just a little bit pleased that his small action had prompted such a flood of thankfulness from Fai. He sat there and accepted his love willingly. Surprisingly, Kurogane found that he didn't completely hate it. In fact, he might even have liked it.

Without thinking, the sheepdog bent down to lick the top of Fai's fluffy head. Fai noticed his movement and mewed curiously, wondering what Kurogane was going to do to him. It looked like he was about to lick him, but that hardly seemed likely. Fai's mewing brought Kurogane back to his senses and he realized what he'd been about to do. Mortified, Kurogane quickly pretended to have smelled something interesting in the tall grass and hid his face in it so that he wouldn't have to look at Fai.

That plan backfired horribly; Kurogane ended up sticking his nose into a cluster of low-growing thistles. He yelped in pain and jerked away, licking frantically at the prickly spines that were lodged in his skin. When that didn't work, he lowered his head to the ground and tried to brush them off with his paw. Not until Fai touched him with his paw did he pause in his futile efforts to remove the spines, his scarlet eyes watering in agony. Fai walked around in front of his friend and meowed softly to help calm him before grasping the spines in his sharp little teeth. Kurogane squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself for the moment when the kitten would jerk them out.

Fai tore them out as quickly as he could to minimize the pain that Kurogane would experience in the process. Kurogane gave a little whine as they were removed but was overcome by a deep, sweeping relief once it was over. He allowed Fai to lick his nose comfortingly with his warm pink tongue, soothing the sore area. Every so often, Fai would steal a glance at the sheepdog's face. Although Kurogane was doing his best to keep his expression as neutral as possible, the kitten wasn't fooled. He could see the dog's tail wagging.


A/N: How was that? Was it ok? Originally, I had dog-catcher!Saiga come and try to drag Kurogane off to the pound and Fai rescuing him, but... as much as the thought of dog-catcher!Saiga amused me, it didn't turn out so I got rid of it. I kept laughing at the story as I was writing it and laughing at my own stories so something that my roommate considers to be especially lame. Needless to say, I think I earned about twenty "dork points" with her during my writing process. Then again, she has quite a few "dork points" with me too, so I think I'm finally catching up to her in that area

Well, I enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoyed reading it just as much!