Work Text:
Kyotaro likes to think that he doesn’t act out of impulse very often, because he sure as hell doesn’t want to be like Sakura of all people, but he can admit to himself that there are times when he does things without fully thinking.
He finds himself in a very Sakura-like situation, unfortunately.
He’s freezing his ass off, standing in the middle of the vet clinic’s lobby. Water drips from his entire body, wet hair sticking to his forehead and face and looking a complete mess. The bundle in his left arm wriggles around inside the blanket Kyotaro had thrown on top of it to keep it dry from the rain. It squeaks from underneath the blankets, squirming around more, and Kyotaro begrudgingly forces himself to walk up to the counter of the vet office.
The woman sitting behind the counter immediately looks up with wide eyes, apparently surprised to see Kyotaro there. As if he didn’t just loudly announce his arrival through the door. Whatever.
Kyotaro grunts as he lifts the blanket bundle and sets it on the counter gently, carefully opening it up. A puppy’s head pops out immediately, big ears flopping over its face before it lets out another squeaking bark.
“Found it,” Kyotaro grumbles, eyebrows furrowed.
“I’m sorry, but we’re a clinic, not a shelter… we can’t take in any strays,” she says gently, trying to offer Kyotaro a smile.
Kyotaro shakes his head. He doesn’t look the woman in the eyes, but he glances at her as he speaks. “Just… just need a check-up. Right? To see…”
“Oh, right! Right, yes. Let me go see if the vet is available for a walk-in, then we’ll see about getting you back.” She offers Kyotaro a much more relaxed smile this time, before she turns and heads down the long hallway to the back of the clinic.
Kyotaro stares down at the dark brown puppy, their gazes locked. The puppy just stares back at him, tilting its head, one ear flopping over on top of its head as it does so. Kyotaro has no idea how he’s going to explain this to his parents. Or anyone else, for that matter.
Though Kyotaro is sure his parents wouldn’t mind a puppy being at home during the day, Kyotaro is too anxious to leave her there by herself. And, yes, the puppy is a girl. The vet had told him so last night as she made sure the little thing was healthy.
A healthy, but very rare dog breed: a Kai Ken, whom Kyotaro has named Kurumu. Because her fur colouring is a lot like wood made from walnuts. And because he likes that their names both start with K.
So Kurumu goes to Furin with him. Kyotaro plops the tiny little thing into his jacket’s inner pocket with the small chew toy the vet clinic gave them, and makes his way through Furin’s school gate, right through the school doors, and straight to his classroom. He knows he’ll have to figure out excuses to let Kurumu go to the bathroom and he’ll have to figure out what to feed her, but Kyotaro decides he’ll deal with those as they come.
Kurumu is surprisingly well behaved. She’s small and docile and quiet. She whimpers and lets out tiny barks occasionally, but Kyotaro simply glares at anyone who tries to give him funny looks about it.
When their class is slated for patrol that afternoon, Kyotaro shoots up as a volunteer to go. It’ll give him the chance to let Kurumu roam a little and to get her something to eat, since the sandwich he gave her at lunch wasn’t a lot.
His group ends up consisting of Kiryu, Anzai, Tsugeura, and Nirei.
Kyotaro is surprised that Nirei isn’t stuck to Sakura’s or Suo’s side for patrol. He doesn’t see the blonde headed boy by himself very often, their trio usually always sticking together like super glue. But after KEEL, Kyotaro did notice that Nirei’s reliance on Sakura and Suo has turned into much more of a partnership than the other two simply protecting Nirei constantly.
Not that Nirei actively fights these days, but he’s seemingly learned to defend himself—and others—while still making sure to not be in the way. Kyotaro hates to think so harshly and so meanly about a person, but Nirei used to be more pathetic. He’s always meant well, Kyotaro knows this, but his presence could be a burden since he doesn’t actually know how to fight.
Nirei is super smart, though. He knows everything about both Furin High and Bofurin, and he always seems to do his homework without struggling too much. Kyotaro has always been a little jealous of that fact. Tests and homework are the bane of Kyotaro’s existence, honestly. If he had the real courage to do so, he’d ask Nirei for help.
Kurumu letting out a soft bark from his inner pocket brings Kyotaro out of his thoughts. He blinks and looks down at her, before quickly looking around his surroundings—none of the other Bofurin members are around, so she should be free to come out.
“Okay, Kurumu…” Kyotaro pulls her out of his pocket carefully and sets her down on the ground next to the building they’re near, squatting down to watch her. “Don’t go running off anywhere, hear me? I don’t wanna go chasin’ after you.”
Kurumu stares up at him with her big eyes, barks, then proceeds to pad around in circles before she finds a place to pee. Kyotaro watches her carefully, merely letting her prance around in the open area beside the store. She finds a piece of trash to play with, chewing on it as she bats at with her paws. She’s so cute. Kyotaro can’t help but smile as he watches, sitting down fully on the ground as he rests his chin against his knees.
“Sugishita-san!” As Kurumu barks, louder than she has this entire time, Kyotaro can barely make out someone calling his name. He blinks once, going rigid in place. It’s quiet, and then— “Sugishita-san?”
Kyotaro immediately dives for Kurumu, muttering a soft apology to her as he places her back inside of his jacket pocket. He’s still on his knees beside the store, face shoved into his jacket, when Nirei shows up right in front of him. Nirei looks down at him with golden eyes, curiosity and a bit of worry floating in them.
“Sugishita-san, what are you doing down there on the ground? Are you okay? Did someone hur—”
“I’m fine,” Kyotaro says quickly, shaking his head. He’s still got his hand buried in his jacket, curled around Kurumu’s small body. She bites down at the juncture between his thumb and index finger, making him jolt a little.
Nirei notices, of course. “Are you sure?” He asks, starting to crouch down to Kyotaro’s level. “I–I know I’m not really good with fighting, but I can help with everything after—”
“I’m fine!” Kyotaro repeats, a little louder than necessary. Kurumu makes a soft whine from inside his jacket. He curses at himself in his mind, shaking his head some. “I’m… seriously fine. No fight. Just—”
Nirei is watching him with a tense expression, eyebrows furrowed, eyes now fully filled with worry. Kyotaro definitely doesn’t like that look on Nirei, especially when it’s aimed at him. It makes Kyotaro feel so bad. He gets a little distracted for a moment, staring at Nirei, his eyes focusing directly on the freckles that are sprinkled across his face.
Freckles… Kyotaro thinks to himself, slowly blinking.
“Sugishita-san?” Nirei mumbles, his hand reaching out to gently rest on Kyotaro’s arm, gently shaking Kyotaro out of his thoughts again.
Unfortunately, Kyotaro ends up like Sakura once again. His ears burn and he can tell his cheeks are starting to flush. He quickly ducks his head away from Nirei as he bites the inside of his lip, mentally cursing at himself once more. Kurumu wriggles around in his pocket, obviously uncomfortable that he’s not moving or even truly paying attention to her again, and Kyotaro sort of just wants to die on the spot.
“Stupid cute boy…” Kyotaro grumbles to himself, glaring down at the ground near his feet. He sighs out as he shakes his head again.
Strands of hair fall into Kyotaro’s eyes as he slowly turns his head back towards Nirei, forcing himself to look up at his blonde haired classmate. Then, mumbling, Kyotaro slowly pulls Kurumu out of his jacket pocket. “I was… her…”
Nirei blinks quickly as he looks down at the dark brown puppy in Kyotaro’s palm, his mouth now falling open, eyes going wide. “Sugishita-san… is that—is that a puppy?”
Slowly, Kyotaro nods. He lowers his head, hiding behind his curtain of hair. Kurumu shoves herself up on his palm, yipping towards Nirei as her tail wags happily. “Found her yesterday…” Kyotaro mumbles, glancing at Nirei through his hair. “I didn’t… wanna leave her…”
Nirei makes something like a cooing noise, and the weight of Kurumu in his hand is suddenly gone. When Kyotaro lifts his head and turns to look at Nirei, a little startled, he watches in awe as Kurumu happily licks at Nirei’s face. Nirei laughs as she does so, holding her up with both hands wrapped around her.
“She’s so cute!” Nirei gushes, a bright grin on his face. Kurumu seems to love him, headbutting against the side of Nirei’s face, her tail going a million miles an hour.
Kyotaro can do nothing but stare, watching as Nirei and Kurumu interact. It’s… so fucking cute. Kyotaro’s heart can’t take this. It beats so rapidly in his chest that he’s starting to feel light-headed from it. Nirei’s bright smile is suddenly directed at Kyotaro, making him jolt a little in place.
“She doesn’t have a collar yet,” Nirei says, gently rubbing around Kurumu’s neck. “What’s her name?”
“Ku… Kurumu…” Kyotaro wants to shrink into himself, hide away from Nirei’s blinding smile and gaze.
“Kurumu? That suits her so well!” Nirei somehow smiles even wider. “You should get her a collar soon, though, Sugishita-san. She’ll get lost without it, and then how will anyone know she’s yours?”
Truthfully, Kyotaro hadn’t thought about that at all. He had been so focused on just making sure that Kurumu is healthy and doing alright to think about anything else, but he’s starting to realize just how much more he’s going to need to do to take care of a puppy (and, later on, a dog).
“I… didn’t think…” Kyotaro’s words trail off, his eyebrows furrowing. He suddenly feels like a child, lost and unsure about where to go and how to start.
Suddenly, Kurumu is being gently placed back into his hands. Kyotaro blinks before he slowly looks back up at Nirei, swallowing a little hard. His confusion must show on his face, because Nirei immediately curls his fingers around Kyotaro’s, being careful to not tip them and make Kurumu fall off.
“Why don’t we go together, Sugishita-san?” Nirei suggests, eyes lighting up at his own suggestion. “I had a dog when I was little, so I know exactly what we need to get Kurumu-chan!”
Kurumu-chan… Kyotaro thinks, almost bitterly for some reason. He calls her with ‘-chan’ but I’m still ‘-san’...
His own thoughts make him pause everything else for a moment, his eyes going wide. Is he feeling jealous over a damn puppy? Oh, that’s bad. Terribly bad. Kyotaro needs to be put down suddenly. He shakes himself out of those thoughts, before he gives a tiny nod to Nirei’s question. Kyotaro forces himself to glance up into Nirei’s golden eyes, sunlight sparkling off of them.
Kyotaro is going to die.
Instead, all he can do is nod again as he carefully takes Kurumu and puts her in his pocket. She whines, obviously unhappy about having to be separated from Nirei right now, and that makes Nirei giggle. Not laugh, not chuckle—literally giggle.
Kyotaro has to stop himself from turning tail and running away to keep his red face a secret from Nirei.
Before he can do anything too drastic, Nirei reaches out and grabs Kyotaro’s hand, his fingers squeezing around it as he starts to pull Kyotaro down through the city street. “I know the perfect pet store! It’s pretty close to here, too. And we can get her a leash! So you don’t have to carry her in your jacket everywhere.”
He talks a million miles an hour, and sometimes Kyotaro can’t really keep up with what he’s saying, but Kyotaro doesn’t mind. He likes it. Nirei’s voice is nice, and though he might not catch every single thing being said to him, Kyotaro does his best to pay attention as much as possible.
As they walk, Nirei doesn’t let go of his hand. Kyotaro wonders if maybe he’s forgotten, or if he just simply doesn’t care. He tries to not think about how it might look to other people from the outside, and he definitely fails, but Nirei’s constant stream of sentences and sounds sets Kyotaro a little more at ease.
(And if he curls his fingers around Nirei’s just a little bit tighter, then that’s for just the two of them to know and feel.)