Strega's Best Friend
Title: Strega's Best Friend
Word Count: 2,985
Characters/Pairings: Takaya, Jin, Chidori
Contains: Spoilers, Fluff, Comedy, Angst, Implied Drug Trade, Mentioned Violence
Rating: K+
Summary: Takaya adopts a puppy dog.
It wasn’t planned-and it certainly wasn’t expected...
“Well?” Prodded Shinjiro with a rough voice as he glared from beneath his beanie.
Darkness flooded the filthy alleyways, and only the moon’s harsh light on a starless night allowed for him to see the bizarre threesome that stood before him. He often dealt with this shady trio under these sort of conditions.
“Jin...” Takaya’s voice encouraged with a conniving lace to it. Immediately as he had spoken, a smart-looking fellow stepped forward with a case-his thick, tinted glasses casting a blinding glare in correspondence to the moonlight.
“Give this man what he is due.” The man in hippie clothing ordered his subordinate, keeping his eerie, yellow eyes fixated on his “business relation”.
Jin tossed the case at Shinjiro, who caught it between his hands with ease.
“...I sense something.” Chidori’s quiet but noticeable words interrupted the ongoing trade.
All three men turned their heads to focus on the girl in white, who never bothered to say much unless it was truly necessary.
She delicately raised her left arm and pointed a finger toward a dark direction where dirty dumpsters aligned against a wall.
“Over there.”
Shinjiro was the first to respond, stepping forward without hesitation and striding over to the pointed direction after having shoved the case back into Jin’s arms for temporary holding.
He crouched down and took a look behind the dumpsters, squinting to see in the shadows-something was definitely back there.
“What is it?” Jin inquired, shifting his gaze from Shinjiro to Chidori.
“It’s-”
“Tch. Poor thing...” Shinjiro’s voice interrupted as he emerged back into the moonlight, a beaten up medium-sized dog nestled within his arms. The creature was dirty and too-skinny, and bloody wounds were visible in his patched, brown fur.
His deep, black eyes darted about as he whimpered in his pathetic state.
It was pitiable, really-like he had been discarded.
Takaya, in particular, seemed to be intensely examining the dog with some profound interest.
“Can’t just leave ‘im here. Guess I’ll-”
“-I’ll take that dog.” Takaya firmly interrupted Shinji with his spur-of-the-moment decision.
“‘scuse me?” Shinji asked in a skeptical tone, slightly taken off-guard by what Takaya had just said.
“Jin, drop those things and carry Shinjiro for me.” Takaya demanded as he turned away.
“What-!” Jin exclaimed, dropping the case in his arms.
“-‘scuse me?!” Shinji repeated in a louder tone than Jin, stunned by the statement.
“I refer to the canine...” Takaya clarified as he looked back over his tattooed shoulder with a devious smile.
“I’m naming him after you, because you are both quite...similar.” Takaya turned his head back again, finishing with a disturbing chuckle.
“Tch. Whatever. Like I care.” Shinji muttered as he deposited the dog’s body into Jin’s arms carefully before scooping up the case Jin had dropped.
“...You’d just better take care of that dog. I don’t take kindly to animal abuse.” He added with a venomous tone, staring icily at Takaya.
“Of course... Shin is to be part of our family, after all.”
...But it happened, anyway. One receives the apperception of a bond...
The first thing Takaya did upon returning was clean Shin’s wounds and properly bandage him-he sported wrappings along his torso and his front forelegs. The front-left foreleg’s muscle and skin had been ripped up, but surprisingly Shin would walk on it well without too much trouble. He is indeed an unrelenting survivor... Takaya had thought to himself.
After consistently giving Shin an adequate supply of water and plenty of helpings of meat, his condition seemed to have improved drastically. His ears perked up often-especially when he heard Takaya’s voice-and his bushy tail wagged with delight. His patchy coat had grown back some, and his fur gave off a healthy shine-no doubt due to the continual grooming that Chidori had fawned him with. His eyes especially glimmered with intelligence-he was no stupid dog, and Takaya was convinced that Shin understood him perfectly. Many times had he followed Takaya’s commands word-for-word, much to Takaya’s delight.
Chidori and Jin, however, remained somewhat unenthusiastic. Especially Jin, as Takaya had allowed for Shin to sleep on their bed, and Shin preferred to sleep dead center in between them with his limbs sprawled out all over Jin! Multiple times had he been pushed out of the bed. Not cool.
Today, Jin was particularly annoyed, as Takaya had made him go buy a jumbo bag of dog kibble that matched himself in size! Not the easiest thing to carry back to their lousy living place...while riding on a defective bicycle. Especially since it was the middle of the night, and he didn’t have the best visual advantage. Why weren’t there more streetlights? There should be more streetlights!
Jin was now currently working on one of his usual “just-shove-it-through-the-door” routines in his standard loud-and-noisy manner-while also trying to fit in a huge bag of kibble...
“Jin...” Takaya’s voice hissed from his usual spot on the ratty sofa where Shin was happily snuggled by his side. “Gentle...” He reminded Jin like he always did whenever his friend decided to ungracefully crash through the front door.
Jin said nothing and proceeded to storm into their joint-room to change into his pajamas. He’d had a long day.
“Observe, Chidori-the wonderment of a dog and his master’s mutual understanding...” Takaya stated to the redhead that currently sat at their cluttered table, drawing away in her sketchpad with disinterest.
“Shin-fetch me Jin!” Takaya ordered, pointing toward their bedroom.
Shin’s ears pricked in excitement as he bolted into the room after Jin, seemingly by Takaya’s command.
“Ahhgh! What the-!” Jin cried loudly from the room-some growling was also to be heard.
The brown fluff that was Shin reappeared shortly, dragging Jin across the wood floor by means of clenching his teeth tightly into the blunette’s nightshirt. Jin flailed wildly as he suffered the choking, courtesy of his nearly-pulled-off tee stringing him along by the neck.
“Excellent, Shin! You obey splendidly...” Takaya praised his newest subordinate with delight.
“T-Takaya-!!” Jin attempted to yell, but couldn’t manage much between his throat’s spasmodic sounds from the strangulation.
Takaya was too busy reveling in his own thoughts to care about his friend’s crisis-it was just too fascinating for him that this dog happened to understand and abide by all of his words. He knew he had felt something special upon the first time looking at that scraggily mutt.
Just...something.
...Another discovers trust buried within distaste...
Jin sat typing incessantly at his computer late one night, murmuring unhappily about life’s general nuisances. It was one thing after another-twice he had confiscated his grenade’s from Shin’s mouth! Right now he was trying his best to ignore the dog that was neurotically pacing around the room.
Shouldn’t someone take this dog out? Jin thought in irritation as he looked for a volunteer to do so-Chidori wasn’t to be seen, and Takaya was snoozing away on the sofa again.
Figures. He thought, not surprised about the fact that nobody would volunteer, and Takaya was sleeping again. This caused Jin to start thinking with amusement about how Hypnos really was a suitable Persona for his friend...
His eye twitched in irritation when he felt a certain dog’s paw patting against his leg while letting out a woeful whimper.
“Not now, dog!” Jin shifted his leg away from Shin’s nudging while he continued his rapid typing.
“There’s epic shit happening on the internet!”
Shin only increased his whining.
“Jin...” Takaya mumbled half-asleep from his lazy position. “...Take Shin out for a walk.”
Takaya saddled him with the duty of dog-walker before quickly falling back into his doze.
Jin glared at Takaya’s sleeping body...then shifted the glare to meet Shin’s big, begging eyes.
“...”
“I can’t believe I’m doing this...” He said as he stormed off to find the leash Takaya used.
***
Three times already had Jin lost control of the rambunctious dog, and he’d simply lost count of how many times the leash had entangled around his legs and tripped him.
“Last street I’m taking you down-you’d best enjoy it!”
The final street was empty, quiet, and dark for the most part; only a few dimly lit streetlights and one broken streetlight were visible.
Jin sighed while wiping over his brow with his left sleeve, feeling unpleased with the night’s grueling humidity. He could be checking his e-mails, and-
His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden screech of rubber tires swerving uncontrollably against asphalt. When he turned his head, the bright headlights of a vehicle glared up his glasses harshly, instantly blinding him.
The erratic driver should’ve hit him right then and there-but his arm, and consequentially his entire body, had been forcefully and immediately yanked by means of the dog-leash out of harm’s way.
Looking up from where he lay safely on the side of the street, Jin caught a last glance of the maniacal driver’s car veering sharply around the corner-he could vaguely smell burning rubber.
“...”
Jin rolled over on his back and let out a crazed laugh-he’d almost just died there...by a drunken driver or some other nonsense! That wasn’t how he was supposed to die!
“Takaya...” He quietly spoke the name of the man whose wish he had promised to fulfill with his very life...
Big, curious eyes suddenly loomed over him, blinking at Jin in his peculiar state.
The senseless Jin stared wide-eyed at the dog he had disliked that had just saved his life...
Only when Shin’s wet tongue lapped across his dazed face did he react.
“Ew, sick!” Jin exclaimed while pushing the brown mutt away and sitting up to wipe the dog slobber off his face. He took off his glasses to clean the smeared dog-saliva from them as well...
After wiping his thick specs off with his shirt, he pushed them back up the ridge of his nose and glared at Shin-Shin just sat there beating his tail happily and tilting his head to look at Jin questionably, panting all the while.
“...”
Jin scoffed at himself for doing what he never thought he’d do:
“Tch. Come here, boy!” Jin opened his arms wide and beckoned for Shin.
Shin immediately pounced upon Jin, receiving an excessive amount of fondling and belly-rubs shortly thereafter.
“Good boy, Shin... Good boy!”
...The last awakens to affection...
Chidori stood in the center of their “living room”, swaying back and forth unsteadily on her feet.
She had an apathetic, dead look in her eyes as she held her ax by the chain-it swung back and forth as unstably as her own body. There was something both oddly rhythmic and psychotic about the way she and her weapon moved...like twisted art-something Chidori was quite familiar with.
She thrust her ax forward aggressively-the movement was an unexpected and lithesome one. She performed all of her violent hurls with a style both wild and elegant.
And she practiced all of her unsafe maneuvers in the living room every morning because she wanted to. This was most likely the reason why Takaya and Jin always slept in a good hour after Chidori...
She raised her chain again to enact another dangerous move, and threw the ax-
-But the chain slipped through her fingers’ grip.
Her eyes widened slightly and she gasped quietly with surprise-she hadn’t made a mistake like this in a very long time. It wasn’t really the mistake itself she was fretting about, but the fact that at this rate the table (and Jin’s laptop) was toast.
There was a loud bark when Shin leapt into the air to catch Chidori’s ax by its wooden handle-the dog had come out of nowhere with alarming speed and an even more shocking ability.
His paws hit the floor, and he looked up at Chidori with a certain charm gleaming in his eyes while he held her ax firmly in his jaws.
Chidori blinked at Shin with an expressionless look set in her face.
Shin just stood there expectantly while waggling his tail back and forth with energy.
She took her ax back nonchalantly, eyes still focused on the ragamuffin that had saved her from Jin’s wrath-of-geek.
“...”
As if coming to the realization of something, Chidori headed toward her room and pulled out a box beside her mattress-Shin followed her close behind to watch.
Digging through it, she threw out many different styles of ribbons, stockings, and other various frilly things... She only stopped when she held a long strip of pretty lace within her slender fingertips.
Giving an ever-so-slightly and not-really-noticeable smile to herself, she turned to tie the ribbon around Shin’s neck, finishing it off in a well-done bow.
She stood back to look at him-he just cocked his head to the side, wondering what it was that Chidori had just done.
The white lace complimented his woody brown fur, and the bow was simply adorable-it suited him.
Chidori crouched beside him to fluff his ears and scratch him on the head...
She felt a certain warmth inside being with this dog.
It was nice.
...A dysfunctional family is a family nonetheless...
“Hurry up and get over here, Jin! This is to be a family portrait...” Takaya’s voice declared from where he sat on the middle the couch with Chidori at his left.
Chidori had her arms wrapped around Shin, who sat calmly between them with his eyes focused on Jin:
“Hold your horses and let me finish setting up my webcam to snap the shot!” Jin grumbled as he commenced a few keystrokes on his laptop, occasionally positioning the screen’s direction.
“Just let me start the timer, annd-” Jin pressed a few more buttons, then clicked.
“-Okay, scoot over!!” He yelled as he dived for the sofa, landing on the right side of Takaya. He smoothed his hair back with his left hand and gave a thumbs up with his right...
A “snap” sounded when the camera went off, and Jin immediately hopped back over to take a look...
“Aw, crap! I look like a dork.” Jin whined as Takaya and Chidori-with Shin padding along behind-huddled next to Jin to view their “family portrait”:
Jin was mid-thumbs-up with an awkward smile while squinting-his glasses were also glared over...
Takaya had the smile of a creep or someone downright disturbed-but at least he was smiling, because...
Chidori glared at the camera as if she were about to hack it down with her ax.
Shin looked the best hands down-lacy bow around his neck and all.
“I like it. Print it out, Jin.” Takaya said while giving his hair a flip.
“We must also frame it! It shall be hung somewhere within this house...”
Jin rolled his eyes as he tapped away on the computer keys.
Family, huh?
It sounded so weird...
But it also seemed right.
...Still, the loyal one remains for those ne’er returning.
Shin was curled up on her mattress like he usually was as of late...
Except the girl in white no longer slept there with him.
She hadn’t returned for a long time, and Shin missed her-but at least her familiar scent that still lingered in her room comforted him while he waited...
His master and the green one had returned-but they seemed different lately, and something was just missing without the girl in white.
Oftentimes he found himself whimpering in the middle of the night without her.
His master hadn’t seemed too happy lately, either.
Shin stood up and plodded over to the white girl’s box-where she had gotten his ribbon for him. Sticking his nose in, he pulled out a random, ruffled piece of material.
He carried it over to the green one, who was busy making the “clicking” sounds again. The dog nudged at his leg with a whine, setting the thing that was the white girl’s on his lap.
“Huh?”
Jin picked up what Shin had dropped in his lap.
“Hey, that’s-” He started to say, but stopped himself.
“Yes... Let us not mention that traitor’s name ever again, Jin...” Takaya said venomously as he approached the door, his revolver in hand.
“She is long gone now, after all.”
“Y-yeah...” Jin replied, feeling a little uncomfortable-he set Chidori’s thing on the table and closed his laptop.
“Tonight’s the night... Are you ready, Jin?”
“I’ve always been ready, Takaya.” Jin stood up, giving Shin a pat on the head only briefly before walking over to be next to Takaya.
“Well then... Let us be on our way. The tower of demise and Nyx awaits us...as do they.”
Takaya opened the door, and Jin was the first to walk out.
Shin sat and cocked his head in confusion.
Takaya paused before leaving, noticing Shin.
The master crouched down before his dog, then ruffled his scruff affectionately for what would be the final time.
“This is it, Shin!” He whispered with awe, a fanatical gleam in his eye and a crazed smile lining his mouth.
“May we all rest in peace...”
Takaya stood and turned away from Shin, following in Jin’s footsteps out the door and into the night.
Shin watched as the door closed with an eerie creak, and they left him behind...
They’ll come back... The dog thought assuredly as he headed for the old sofa, toenails clicking steadily against the wood flooring.
She’ll be back, too.
He hopped onto the cushions-propping his head against the arm of the couch, he looked up with shining, innocent eyes at a certain framed photo hanging on the wall...
The loyal dog swished his tail back and forth in a pendulum motion as he patiently waited-eyes fixated steadily on his family that wouldn’t be coming back.