"Give that back you damn mutt!" a burly butcher shouted, brandishing a cleaver as he chased Daichi.
"Yer gonna have ta run faster than that if ya want ta catch me, old man!" he taunted even though he knew that the butcher couldn't understand him in his wolf form. Rounding a corner he ran a little while longer before he passed an alley and he skidded to a stop then backed up to it. It came to a dead-end but it had a few places to hide so he trotted into it and hid behind a trashcan and not a moment too soon since the butcher ran pass the alley a few seconds later.
"And humans call us stupid?" he snorted. He waited a few minutes to make sure the butcher wasn't coming back before he lied down and placed the steak he had taken from the butcher onto the ground. "Man, it's been a while since I've had fresh food," he said as he sniffed the steak. Licking his lips he went to take a bite out of it when the trashcan next to him suddenly rattled and he jumped up then backed away from it.
"Hello...?" he called uncertainly and when the trashcan rattled again he took a few cautious steps toward it. "Um, is anyone in there?" A few moments of silence passed and just as Daichi was starting to think it was just his imagination a weak whine came from inside the trashcan causing him to tilt his head, puzzled. What the heck was in there?
'Well, there's only one way ta find out,' he thought before he walked up to the trashcan and pushed it over with his nose. The trashcan hit the ground with a resounding clang which was followed by another weak whine. Still puzzled, Daichi walked to the front of the trashcan to peer inside and what he saw made his eyes widen in shock. A ball of black fur with big brown eyes was staring up at him, its eyes filled with fear. What was a pup doing inside of a trashcan?
"Hey, pup," he started. "Why are ya in there?" When the pup looked away and didn't say anything he frowned, but after a moment he replaced it with a friendly smile and said, "Listen, pup. I'm not gonna hurt ya," as his tail wagged.
The pup turned its head slightly and eyed him warily for a few moments. "How...how can I trust you?" it finally asked weakly and Daichi's smile widened into a grin.
"Come on, how can ya not trust this face?" he asked.
"Easily."
Ouch.
"If I couldn't even trust my owner then how could I trust a stranger like you?" the pup continued.
"Well, for one thing I'm not a human like yer owner. I'm a dog. Like ya. So, in a way we're like brothers-"
"I'm a girl..."
"Sisters! We're like sisters and brothers!" he corrected quickly.
"So?" The pup averted her eyes as sadness appeared in them. "You're still a stranger to me..."
Daichi let out a sigh as he sat down. "Listen, pup-"
"My name is Hana," she interjected.
"Hana? OK. Listen, Hana. Since ya don't trust humans anymore--not that I blame ya--and ya don't trust me then how about I take ya ta somebody that ya can trust?" he asked.
Hana looked up at him with a glint of hope in her eyes. "Who?"
The grin reappeared on his face. "Well, there's a dog who lives nearby that's like a surrogate mother ta all of the young strays. She'll take care of ya and raise ya until yer ready ta live on the streets on yer own."
"I don't know..." Hana said uncertainly. "Can she really be trusted?"
"Why don't ya be the judge of that?" he chuckled before he stood up. "Come on. I'll take ya to 'er."
Hana looked away. "I told you that I don't trust you, remember?"
Daichi resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "What are ya gonna do then?"
"Just give me the directions and I'll walk there myself," she said stubbornly as she got up on shaky legs.
"Yeah, right," he snorted. "It'll take ya hours ta get to 'er whereas it'll only take me minutes."
"Don't care," she replied curtly, sticking her nose into the air before she walked out of the trashcan and started heading out of the alley, but as she passed Daichi he picked her up by the scruff of her neck. "Hey! Let me go!" she yelled as she tried to wriggle out of his mouth.
"No-can-do," he drawled, enunciating each word. "Shorry Hana, but my chivalroush shide won't allow a young female pup shuch as yershelf ta go alone."
"I can take care of myself!" she retorted when he started walking out of the alley.
"Shure ya can."
"But...but..." she stammered, trying to come up with an excuse for him to let her go alone but failing. That is, until she noticed the steak on the ground and she got an idea. "What about your food?" she asked quickly.
"Huh?" Daichi stopped, his eyes shifting down to her before he turned his head to look back at the steak. "Oh! It'sh fine. I'll jusht come back for it later," he answered with a smile and continued walking.
Well, so much for that.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Are we there yet?"
Daichi bit back a groan. "For the eighth time. Yesh, Hana. We're almosht there," he muttered. Was she like this all of the time? It would sure explain why her owner dumped her.
"Well, hurry up. All of these humans are making me uncomfortable..." she whined.
Daichi glanced down at her before looking around them. They -or technically just him- were currently walking through a crowd of people who were staring down at them with puzzled expressions on their faces. They had probably never seen a dog carrying a pup before.
"Ah, it'sh fine. Jusht ignore 'em," he said, eyes forward once again.
"Easy for you to say... You're bigger..." he heard her mumble.
"Then maybe ya should closhe yer eyesh," he suggested.
A few moments of silence passed and he thought she had taken his suggestion and closed her eyes. But then he heard her say, "But what if we pass something interesting? Then I won't be able to see it."
That's it.
Daichi stopped and was about to drop the little annoying fur-ball on her butt when he heard someone yell, "There's the thief!" and he whipped his head to the right to see a guy dressed in the same kind of clothes as the butcher who had been chasing him. He tensed when a larger guy showed up and he was about to make a run for it when the large guy hit the other one over the head and scolded, "Idiot! That's not the same dog! It was black and does that one look black to you?"
"No..." he whimpered, rubbing where the large guy had hit him.
"Moron," the large guy snapped before walking away and Daichi relaxed when the other one followed after him.
"Humans are scary..." Hana whimpered and Daichi glanced down at her before he continued walking silently. It was only after they had left the crowd of people and rounded a corner into an alley that went behind a bunch of different stores did he speak.
"They're not all bad. Shome of 'em have pure heartsh. In fact, in a lot of waysh they're like ush."
Hana looked up at him, surprised. "Really?"
"Yesh. I've met jusht ash many bad dogsh as I have humansh." He was lying, of course. He had met many more bad humans than dogs but there was no reason to tell her the truth since the only thing that would do is make her hate humans. Not that he's against hating humans since he hates them himself but being so young she would be more likely to snap at a human without thinking of what could happen afterwards.
Daichi couldn't help but inwardly snort. Yeah, just like he did to the man who was a part of the group that killed his family. Other dogs and wolves would call him a hypocrite, but if he could take it back he wouldn't since it was because of that man that he had become the tough wolf that he was today. However, he didn't want a sweet, innocent pup like Hana to live the way he had. She deserved to keep her innocence for as long as possible and besides, he had been lucky. Most humans would kill a dog that growls or snaps at them.
Gurgle, gurgle.
'Speaking of 'er...' Daichi's gaze lowered to the pup he had just been thinking about and he chuckled at the embarrassed look on her face. "We're almosht there."
"That's what you said before..." she grumbled.
"Yesh, and now I only have ta shay it shix more times before we're even," he quipped.
Hana tilted her head, confused, but then she understood what he meant and she gave him a dirty look which made him snicker.
"Daichi!" called a female voice from behind them and Hana could feel Daichi's mouth turn up in what probably was a grin as he turned his head to look at the source of the voice and her eyes widened in awe at the sight of a large, short haired tan/white dog with large ears that were erect and a bushy tail. But the females eyes looked really weird. Unlike the dogs Hana had seen which had brown or blue eyes the females eyes were a milky color and you couldn't see the pupils.
"Sharah," Daichi greeted before he turned and walked up to her. "How've ya been?"
"I've been marvelous," she replied with a smile, drawling the last word. "Lately there's been so many humans visiting the markets that I've been able to take food without them noticing. Most of the time, that is," she added with a chuckle.
"I'm glad to hear that," he chuckled.
"Why don't you take food from the marketplace instead of the butchers? It's a lot less dangerous and easier for you," she suggested.
He shrugged. "Nah, I enjoy the danger. It givesh me shomeshing ta look forward ta every day."
"You must have a pre-tty boring life then," she quipped with a smirk and Daichi was going to retort when Hana interrupted.
"What's wrong with your eyes?" she asked, causing Daichi's eyes to widen in horror.
"I'm sho shorry, Sharah! Forgive 'er! She shpeaks without thinking firsht!" he said quickly with a nervous smile.
"Hey!" Hana yelled.
Sarah giggled. "It's quite all right, Daichi." She lowered her head so it was level with Hana's. "What is your name, little one?" she asked with a kind smile.
"Um, my name is H-Hana..." she answered meekly.
'Sure. Now she's all shy and sweet,' Daichi thought as he rolled his eyes.
"Nice to meet you Hana," Sarah greeted. "Now, to answer your question the reason my eyes look the way they do is because I am blind," she explained, causing Hana's eyes to widen in shock and when she realized just how rude her question had been she looked down in embarrassment.
"I-I'm so sorry for asking a question like that," she squeaked.
Sarah giggled. "There's no need to apologize, dear. You didn't know."
Hana looked up at her in awe. 'Wow... She's so nice.'
"Hey," Daichi whined. "How come ya didn't bite 'er like ya did ta me?"
"Because," Sarah started, raising her head to give him a deadpan look, "you were older than her and you also didn't ask it innocently like she did."
His ears flattened against his head as he averted his eyes, pouting. "Sho? Ya still didn't have ta bite me..." he grumbled, causing her to laugh which only made his pout deepen.
"You're still such a pup, Daichi," she said fondly once she had stopped laughing and then she continued, "So. I'm guessing the reason for you being on this side of town is because you were bringing Hana to me?"
"Ya guessed right. As always," he chuckled. He could never stay mad at her -or any females for that matter- for very long.
"Well, I'd be happy to take her in. That is, if she wants to stay with me," she said.
"Yes!" Hana yelled without any hesitation. "Yes, I'd love to stay with you Ms. Sarah!"
"Just Sarah is fine, Hana," she said, waving her paw dismissively with a smile.
Hana nodded her head slightly with a sheepish smile before Daichi put her down.
"Finally!" he sighed in relief. "My jaw was starting ta feel like it was gonna fall off."
"Considering how much you talk I'm surprised it hasn't already," Sarah joked which made Hana giggle.
"Ha, ha. Very funny," he grumbled, but his smile showed that he wasn't upset. "Listen, as much as I enjoy talkin' to ya I've gotta go. I left a juicy steak behind ta help this little runt-"
"Hey!" Hana yelled, but he ignored her and continued.
"-ta find a place to stay."
"I'm shocked," Sarah snickered. "You actually left behind food to help someone?" she teased.
"Man, what is this? 'Make fun of Daichi' day?" he whined.
"I'm sorry, Daichi. You make it too easy," she giggled.
He looked away and muttered, "Yeah, sure..." but then he looked back at her with a grin. "Ya two take care of yerselves, all right?"
"I will!" Hana exclaimed as she jumped up and down.
Sarah giggled at Hana's antics. "We will. You take care as well Daichi," she said with a warm smile that made his cheeks warm up. It was a good thing he wasn't in his human form.
He cleared his throat slightly and said, "I will," with a warm smile of his own before he turned and started to head back to the alley he had left the steak in, but then he got an idea that made him inwardly smirk and he called over his shoulder, "Watch yer back at night, Hana! Sarah gets super hungry and she might mistake ya for a snack!"
"What?!" she squeaked.
"Daichi!" Sarah scolded, which made him laugh and he picked up his pace so he was running and once he was out of the alley Sarah let out an irritated sigh but then her mouth turned up in a soft smile.
"Idiot."
(Whew! I'm FINALLY done! This is the longest reply to a rp I've ever done. x_x I'm so sorry for taking so long to post guys but I got writer's block a few times and hopefully the length of my post makes up for it. ^^; Oh, and would one of you mind having your character find Daichi's steak?
P.S. In case I wasn't descriptive enough Sarah is a German shepherd.)
