"Mom I'm home." Yasha yelled throwing his book bag down on the ground. The child was dressed in his school uniform. His most prominent features was the silver hair and the dog ears that stuck out as he tried to listen for where his mother was. In his medical records it said he had several birth defects including the ears, claws and the odd fang like k-nines that his dentist had tried several times to make them look like 'normal' teeth until Kagome finally told the dentist that Yasha can live with his teeth like that.
"Hello Yasha." A nickname given to her son due to her not being able to say his full name for so long. Yasha never knew why, he just got used to that being his nickname. He knew he was named after his father but he didn't know too much other than that about the man his mother loved.
"Mom, what is that new smell?" he asked looking around. A sense he picked up from his father no less.
"I got you a little something." Kagome said as she walked into the other room. She walked back with a fuzzy thing following her. "She is only two years old. Her name is Shiho"
"You got me a dog?" Yasha asked with disgust, now his mother was making fun of him.
"I also got you a few dog training sessions so that you can train her." Kagome said happily as the dog ran up to Yasha and sniffed him. "The woman that I got her from said she will be a hard dog to train so you will have to work extremely hard to train her."
"Why did you get me a dog?" Yasha said watching the dog sniff around him before looking up at him dumbly.
"In time you will grow to love her!" Kagome said ecstatically.
Yasha watched the dog look at him dumbly before he put his hand out to the dog allowing it to sniff his hand. Yasha bent down to get a better level with the new dog. The dog then saw his ears as it jumped up at him knocking him over. Yasha laughed as he pushed at the dog as the dog lapped at his face.
Kagome started to yell at the dog, "Get off him. Get off." As she tugged on the dog repeatedly.
The dog started to lap at Yasha's face before nipping at the ears, "Its okay mom." He said smiling. As soon as Kagome let go of the dog, it went for Yasha's ears as it pulled at the right one, "Owe, Shiho off." He said in a rather low tone. The dog moved off as Yasha got up brushing himself off.
Kagome smiled at her son. "How did you get her to answer so easily to you?"
"I just told her what I wanted." He said as if he did something wrong.
"If you want we can go out right now to get Shiho everything she needs. Your dog training session starts tomorrow." Kagome told her son as she grabbed her keys.
"I want to get Shiho a new collar and a new leash." Yasha said happily.
"Of course." Kagome said walking to the door glad to see her son happy.
Kagome walked to the SUV as Yasha ran to it with Shiho right at his heels. Kagome unlocked the doors as Yasha jumped in with Shiho following right in.
"Dogs go in the back." Kagome said as she pulled the dog out of the SUV.
"But mom, Shiho wants to ride with us in the front."
"What if we get into a car accident?" she asked.
"If I can buckle her in, can she stay up front?"
"Sure." Kagome smiled wanting to see her son try to keep the dog buckled.
"Alright!" Yasha yelled. "Come on Shiho, we have to buckle you in." he said as the dog jumped in. Yasha pat the back seat as Shiho jumped up and quickly sat down. She seemed hesitant as Yasha put the seat belt around her. "Now you have to stay there and don't move while the car is in motion." He said. He smiled as he turned to his mother, "See mom, I did it!"
"You never cease to amaze me." Kagome whispered. "but if she moves at all she is going into the back." Kagome said as she started the car and started driving off.
Once in the pet store Shiho never left Yasha's side. When Yasha stopped, Shiho sat next to him. "Shiho the red or blue?" Yasha asked holding two collars up. The dog seemed to sniff them both and then barked. "The red? I was thinking you would like blue more." He said as he looked at the two collars.
"Hun, don't talk to the dog, she can't understand you. Just get the one you like." Kagome told her son.
"Well she likes the red more." Yasha told his mother, "So I guess the red. Which means we need a red leash." He said as he walked to the leashes and Shiho let out a content sound.
Everyone stared at Yasha, he was well known everywhere. Everywhere he went, he was known as 'dog boy' or 'the kid with dog ears' or 'the thing.' Now Yasha was used to it and even Kagome was used to them saying these things. When Kagome first brought him to her time every talk show in the world wanted her to bring him on so that they could interview him and she could never forget when she was offered several contracts to be in a show that would travel around and watch Yasha grow up. These contracts offered her several million dollars in order to allow them to do this- she was shocked at the price, that was enough for them to live more than comfortably. Kagome just couldn't do it though, the thought of exploiting her only son was too much. She chose not to go along with such a thing. Kagome just filed Yasha's ears as a birth defect and that was that.
This time unlike normal though, Yasha seemed to completely ignore the sounds from these people as he went through things to get the new dog. "A ball or a stuffed animal?" he asked the dog as the dog went straight for the fox stuffed animal. "Good choice." The child laughed putting the ball back.
Kagome followed behind with the cart already filled with things he was getting his new companion.
"Mom can we get her some pig ears?" he asked as he held up a package of treats.
Kagome lauged, "Sure hun." Kagome heard the rude remarks from people walking by, they did what they normally did and took pictures using there phones from a distance of her son.
Yasha went back to his mom, "I think I got everything now mom." He said as he put a rubber chew toy in the basket.
Kagome laughed as she looked at what was in the cart. "Do we really need four bones?" Kagome asked.
"I don't know how much she likes to chew." Her son told her.
"Just get one, we can always come back." She told him.
Yasha grabbed the other three as he went back to place them where he got them.
Once Yasha came back she smiled, "Alright we will check out." She walked to the register. She just wanted her son to be happy.
While she was paying, she realized Shiho still had the stuffed animal in her mouth. "I need the stuffed animal." Kagome said.
"Shiho give it up." Yasha yelled pulling the toy from the dog. The dog refused to give it up. It quickly turned into a game of tug-o-war. Yasha was pulling as hard as he could to get the stuffed animal and Shiho was pulling just as hard while she growled. "Come on, I will give it right back." Yasha said as the dog let go, making Yasha fall back on his butt. "Here mom." He said handing her the toy.
Kagome took it smiling as she paid for everything and gave the toy back to the dog.
Yasha ran back to the SUV with the bags as Kagome followed with several more bags, "That was amazing! I didn't even hear people say anything about me!" Yasha yelled as he got into the SUV and went to buckle Shiho in. The dog still had the stuffed animal in its mouth.
"You didn't?" Kagome asked 'his mind must have been on that dog' Kagome thought. She heard the remarks but why didn't her son?
The next day Yasha was leaving the school. "So Yash, you want to come over today?" Azami asked.
"No sorry, my mom just got me a new dog and I really want to play with her. Plus we are going to have dog training classes tonight!" Yasha said.
"Oh yeah, you told me you got a new dog." Azami whispered. She waved to him saying, "I will make sure that I am able to come to your party this weekend."
"You better." Yasha yelled before he ran home so that he could play with his new dog…
"I will pick you up at seven, when class is over." Kagome said as she drove off leaving her son in front of the building.
"Com on Shiho, now stay on your best behavior." Yasha told the dog as the dog let out a whimper. "I don't want to hear it." he said laughing. He couldn't understand the dog but it made him feel better to act like he did. Other than his two friends at school, Shiho seemed like his only friend.
Yasha walked into dog training class with Shiho on her new leash. Shiho refused to leave more than a foot from Yasha's side as the other dogs ran around playing with each other. The other dogs where biting and growling at each other playfully as the owners all stood on the side of the gym talking. Yasha stood off to the side watching as Shiho lay down not interested in what the other dogs were doing. She seemed more interested in staying near Yasha. Shiho lay near Yasha's feet with her eyes movie back and forth watching the dogs.
A woman walked in as everything stopped moving to look at her. She looked like a strict military woman as she walked down the aisle eyeing the people who were lazily talking while their dogs played. "How can you expect your dogs to do what you want when you guys sit there and allow them to do what they want?" The woman asked the group. She then spotted Yasha, "Look at this child, his first time here just like you and he already has his dog standing next to him." Shiho stay laying on the floor with her head perked up watching the woman walk down to Yasha.
Yasha didn't like her looks to much, she was odd. Shiho picked up on that as she got up from her laying position and barked at the woman to leave them alone.
"We will have to fix the barking. Will your dog stay next to you when she is off the lead?" the woman asked.
"I don't know I just got her, I think she would." Yasha stuttered out.
"Then show me." She said quickly.
"Excuse me?"
"Show me, let her off the leash and walk down the aisle." She said pointing down to the other side of the gym.
Yasha gulped as he took Shiho off the leash.
"Now walk." The woman said.
"Come on Shiho." Yasha said as he walked along.
The dog started following next to him. She kept looking around; something was making yasha unsteady which was quickly making her unsteady.
He then walked back to the woman, "Amazing work." The woman said. "We will be using…what was your dogs name?"
"Shiho ma'am."
"We will be using Shiho for many of our training sessions as a practice dog to show everyone else. Now everyone retrieve your dogs and put them on a leash. Except you…" she kept making hand movements trying to get him to tell her his name.
"Yasha." He told her.
"Except you Yasha, you may keep little Shiho off the lead."
Once everyone was in a line, the woman started talking as if she was talking to a drill line, "Alright, welcome to your first week of training. We always start here by getting to know ourselves and our dogs. We will start with the basic sit and lay command." She yelled out to everyone. "These are easy, first you have to decide how you want your dog to listen, and do you simply want your dog speaking the same language as everyone else? You can have them to learn any language you know. Or you can come up with your own language all together. Such as agh could mean sit." She said. "Now think it over then I will ask young Yasha and Shiho to come out to show you how it is done." She said as she waved for Yasha to walk out. "Yasha here is better at controlling his dog than all of you combined" she yelled. "Now Yasha what did you decide to use for commands?"
"Sit?" he whispered.
"You can do better than that, your dog is smart, come up with something for you." She said.
"I got something! I already used it earlier!" Yasha yelled as he turned to Shiho. He let out a low pitched sound.
"What was that?" the woman asked.
"That will be my command for sit!" the young boy said.
"Very well. To get your dog to sit, you must hold a treat over its head to get it to want to sit in order to see the treat better. Then you must say the word…or sound once it has sat." the woman said. "Give it a try Yasha." The woman said.
Yasha grabbed a treat and held it over Shiho's head making her look at it. Yasha then let out a low sound. Shiho sat immediately.
"Now praise her." The woman said.
Yasha smiled and gave her the treat. It only took Shiho once to have to learn it after that she would do it whenever Yasha made the noise.
"Very good, your dog is a natural." The woman said ruffling the top of the kids head.
Yasha was the youngest there by at least twenty years if not more. He was proud of himself for once he was doing something right.
"Now you are to try it." the woman said as several men tried to get there dogs to sit. Some dogs did it right away while others weren't getting it so easily. "Keep trying with young Shiho." The woman walked off to help the other men.
Yasha stood there looking at Shiho who was already sitting. He moved to make her stand up and then let out a lower pitched noise as Shiho sat immediately. Yasha smiled giving her a treat. "Good girl." He said petting her.
He kept using the two pitches as Shiho did it right away. Yasha praised her every time. He tried to think of what else he could do. He then decided a higher pitched noise, as he did that Shiho started to growl as Yasha's eyes got huge. "Its okay girl" he said petting her to calm her down. She calmed down as he whispered, "Note to self- don't do that one again."
The night went on as Shiho picked up everything right away. Yasha and the instructor were more than proud of young Shiho. Kagome walked in to get her son as all of the older men and there dogs walked out still talking to each other.
"Yasha, come on." Kagome said as she saw her son praising his dog.
"You must be young Yasha's mother." The woman who was teaching the class said.
"Why yes, I am Kagome Higarashi." Kagome said.
"Your son's dog is a natural. The other dogs barely learned the sit and lay commands today and Shiho had already learned sit, lay, roll over, beg, and several more. Can I talk to you?" the woman asked gesturing for Yasha to move.
"Oh yes, Yasha, why don't you go play with Shiho over there?" Kagome asked pointing to the other side of the gym.
"Yes mom." Yasha said. "Come on Shiho!" he yelled as the dog ran behind him.
Once the woman thought he was out of ear shot she began, "Your son is very peculiar. He has taught his dog in means of pitches. If you don't know what I mean then ask him about it when he gets home."
"That isn't why you asked him to be away." Kagome whispered getting irritated.
"Yes, I also wanted to let you know that I am worried about your son. He seems quite nice and does everything I ask of him but it seems like he talks to that dog. I don't think he should be treating that dog as a human being." She said. Yasha and Shiho were having a wrestling match as Shiho just grabbed Yasha's ear pulling.
"What my son does with his dog is of no concern to you." Kagome said to her.
"Yes, I understand but he seems to hold conversations with the dog. That isn't natural."
"It is natural when it is the only thing that will listen to you. It is very natural for a little kid to talk to their animal and act like they are conversing with it. It is obvious that you never had children." Kagome yelled. Shiho and Yasha stopped at the same time from Kagome's voice. Shiho just had Yasha's ear in her mouth as they both froze watching the two.
"No, I never had kids but I just wanted to talk to you…"
"No we are done here." Kagome yelled walking off. "Yasha get your dog and come." Kagome yelled as Yasha ran behind her with Shiho trailing behind. "We wont be coming here again." Kagome said as she closed the gym door behind her.
Kagome got in her SUV as Yasha buckled his dog in.
"I can't believe her." Kagome said frustrated.
"Is it true?" Yasha asked buckling up in the front seat.
"Is what true?" Kagome asked.
"Is it really unnatural for a child to talk to their pets? Am I that weird?" he asked.
Kagome almost felt a tear come to her eye as she put her head on the steering wheel. "No, you are perfectly fine, you're not weird at all. Don't listen to them." She said looking at her son.
"Don't lie to me mom." Yasha said. "Do I really act so different than so many kids?"
"No, you are perfectly normal." Kagome said forcing out a smile as she started up the car and drove out.
There was silence in the car for a few minutes before Kagome heard a faint whisper, "I feel like she understands me that's why I talk to her like that."
"What was that?" Kagome asked.
"Shiho, for some reason, I feel like she knows what I have been through. I feel like I can tell her my biggest secrets and she will keep them to herself. Is that weird?" he asked.
Kagome shook her head as a tear finally fell. "No, it isn't weird. I used to have a hamster and I did the same thing, every day I would tell it about my life and everything I did. I would tell it my deepest secrets."
"What happened to the hamster?" Yasha asked.
"It died of old age, hamsters only last two years." Kagome said. "and I had it when I was eight."
"Oh." Yasha whispered.
"Don't worry, just be you. That's what…"
"My father would have wanted." Yasha said as if he had heard it several times. He sighed as he looked out of the car, "I just want to know something about dad." He mumbled so that Kagome couldn't hear him. "I just want to know what he looked like." Yasha looked at his reflection in the window as he tried to imagine and older looking self. His mother said his father looked just like him just older so he would try continuously to think of what that would look like. Every time his thought was shattered by thoughts of 'how much older?' and 'did he really look like that?' Yasha sighed as they made it home.
Yay! Another chapter done! Sorry it took me so long. I was going to put up this chapter last weekend before finals but I was caught in the whole power outage thing in New England…I was without power for five days- it was pretty cold. I never want to go through that again. Lets just say a trailer without heat, running water, or a stove to cook on really starts to kill you. I didn't stay at my house the whole time though- I went to live at my aunts for a few days and then went to a hotel.
It was amazing when I got my power back. I went that morning to get a new change of clothes out of my house and my house was literally so cold I could see my breath. I put my book bag down to change out my clothing, right after I do that, I make sure I have everything to study for with me in my other backpack (yes I had two back packs). But as I went to leave my light came on and it didn't register until I went to turn of the light switch. I literally screamed and cried when I got power back. Like literally tears pouring down my face as I heard the furnace kick on and I could see my room without a candle! I thanked God so much that day! Then I had a final the next day and all of my time was put towards all my finals.
Anyways it is out! I kinda rushed at getting this together cuz it had been so long since I have updated!
Thanks for waiting and I hope this chapter clarifies a little as far as what Yasha looks like and where this story is going! I found Shiho to be so cute! The way she is always at Yasha's side : )
Please review and let me know what you thought of this chapter!
