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They pull behind the leash. Taken by surprise, Shiro drops the grip he has on the other’s dog neck. He barely registers the other dog’s fall, as he keeps growling, his fangs bare. They drag him out of the fence.
“I can’t believe the cripple won!”
“Pay up!”
“You’re new here, right? That’s the champion.”
“Damn, that dog’s luck is gonna end sooner or later.”
“Thinking someone wanted to put it down after it lost its leg…”
Their voices and their yells resound in Shiro’s ears until the syringe presses in the back of his neck. Shiro’s muscles relax as the adrenaline of the battle wears down. As usual, what it remains isn’t the anger, the fear, but the disgust and the horror.
They take off his prosthetic leg, treat his wounds with not much care, then shove him in the cage. Shiro curls on himself; it isn’t much of a choice, since the cage isn’t big enough for him to stand, let aside move around. The only thing he can drink is the blood that covers his fangs. He places his head on his only foreleg and closes his eyes.
The room around is quiet, save for some low whine from the wounded dogs in the cages around. Some of them won’t survive until tomorrow. Shiro might: he has won until now, and he hasn’t let the wounds take him down either.
Like every night, he tries to sleep thinking about positive things.
He thinks of Allura, her gentles hands as she rubs his belly. Of Coran, the way he says “good boy” every time Shiro brings back the ball. Of Allura’s favorite, Lance, as the ferret curls around her neck in her sleep and the way he concedes Shiro to share the bed “because it’s you”. Of Pidge’s lair, where she tries to hide during the turtle’s hibernation period, only to be disturbed every time by Hunk. The cavy gets annoyed without his favorite partner for play.
And he thinks of Keith. The skinny black cat Shiro himself saved from the road and brought back to Allura’s house until she agreed to keep him too. Shiro wouldn’t let Keith returning to be a tramp and he was sure Keith doesn’t mind having a house.
Shiro remembers the way he keeps sleeping at the corner of Allura’s bed, much to Lance’s annoyance. The way he attacks Shiro’s tail, the way he enjoys playing hide and seek with Hunk, the way he helps Pidge moving around.
The way Keith mews Shiro’s name…
Shiro jerks back from his sleepy state as he hears screams outside. The dogs around him barks and the room, a second ago silent, echoes the confusion. Shiro is still calm. Until that moment, the matches have been only once a week, and only one for each dog. It’s a strange change of the human’s habit he’s worry about.
The light turns on. The men entering the room aren’t the usual. Not the ones that kidnapped Shiro, not the ones that take care of him during the matches. Understanding what they are saying is impossible because of the confusion around. Shiro follows them with his eyes, as they open the cages and bring out the dogs one after another. They restrain the dogs, but the way they move is careful, attentive. They check the dogs’ condition and pay attention to their wounds.
Still, Shiro finds himself drew back in the cage as one of the men approaches. It’s pointless, because the cage isn’t so big to let him distance enough to put him in a safe place.
“Easy, easy, boy,” the man whispers. He opens the cage, but he doesn’t stretch his arms to reach Shiro. Instead, he invites Shiro. “Come. Come.”
Shiro looks around, unsure. But the cage’s door is open and it’s too inviting for Shiro to refuse. He craws and the man moves to let him outside.
“Hey, Ulas. Be careful,” the other man says.
“Don’t worry, Thace. He’s a good boy.” Ulas kneels at Shiro’s height and rubs his back. Shiro flinches and releases a low growl. Ulas retreats the hand and still looks at Shiro with soft eyes.
“God. Look at those wounds,” Thace comments. “And he misses a leg too.”
“The collar is too tight, I can see from here. Help me out.”
Shiro panics as Thace grabs his body and pulls him down. He growls and struggles but Ulas still manages to inject him with something that relaxes him. Shiro yelps as they transport him outside and places him on a blanket inside a trunk. Ulas takes off the collar and keeps whispering sweet words at Shiro, a hand rubs his head.
Shiro isn’t sure if he can trust them yet. For now, they treat him better that the other men, but he still hates being unable to be free at least with his body. Once the trunk reaches his destination and Shiro is moved in a room that looks like a veterinarian’s place – Shiro’s memory of his visits with Allura are now better that what actually were back then – Shiro relaxes.
Maybe he’s saved.
Ulas and Thace treat him. They bandage carefully his wound, give him medicines and overall do a complete checkup. Shiro let them.
“The leg was amputated with accuracy. I guess a veterinarian did it. And they removed his chips too.”
Thace snorts. “Veterinarians who agree to work from the illegal dogs’ fight are the worst. I hope the police had got them all.”
“Look at this wounds.” Ulas clean a cut on Shiro’s foreleg. “Don’t worry, big boy, you’ll be fine. And the fur will grow up again.” His voice softens. “I’m pretty sure you are a gorgeous dog.”
“It’s hard to say with all those wounds, but I guess he can be a Golden Retriever?” Thace hums.
“Yeah. Usually, for dogs’ fight, they look out for wandered dogs or for ferocious breeds. This boy is neither.”
“I’ll put his information on our website, let’s see if we can find his owner.”
As he leaves, Ulas rubs Shiro’s head. Shiro turns to lick his hand and Ulas smiles. “Good boy. I’ll take care of you until your owner returns. I’m pretty sure they miss you.”
Ulas maintains his promise. They give Shiro good food and water, a big cage outside where Shiro can stretch his muscles and a lot of treatment. They also bath him. His fur returns golden as it’s supposed to be, covering his wounds. The scar on his nose and the missing legs remain the only proof of his bad adventure.
Allura doesn’t come.
Shiro doesn’t believe she forgets about him, but time has passed for sure. And Shiro can’t even tell where they are. She probably doesn’t know about his whereabouts. It’s even worse, as Shiro imagines Allura placing around the flyers with his photo and the word “missing” behind him.
He wants to leave. To wander around and search for her. He doesn’t want another owner, as Ulas suggests once. Better be a tramp looking for his owner that stay there forever.
“I’m not sure Iverson will accept,” Thace comments. “As sad as it is, dogs rescued from fights are seeing as dangerous for new owners.”
“Oh, come on, look at him. He’s a good boy.” Ulas rubs Shiro’s face. “He won’t hurt a fly.”
Until he does.
To Shiro’s excuse, he reacts because he feels threatened. The man called Iverson doesn’t have ill intentions, but the way he speaks is somewhat similar to the men that kidnapped him. Iverson’s voice is demanding, he commands Shiro. And when he pulls the leash a little too strong, Shiro remembers the fence. His vision blurs for a second and he attacks, bare fangs as he bites Iverson’s leg.
It takes both Ulas and Thace to drag him back and calm him. Shiro stops earing their voices, and he yelp, an apology for them and for the man who’s still crying in pain.
But even if Shiro calms himself in a second, the damage is done.
“I absolutely won’t let this dog being adopted!”
“He’s good,” Ulas pleas. “He has trauma, but we can work on it…”
“The answer is no,” Iverson replies. “If we endanger someone because we let a dangerous dog being adopted, we can be suited. The kennel can’t afford a cause or a refund.”
“He’s not dangerous…”
“If we can’t find his owner and we can’t let him being adopted, it means we have to put him down,” Thance intervenes. “He doesn’t deserve it.”
“I’m sorry.” Iverson sounds sincere, even if he’s condemning Shiro to death. “We still have some time for his owner to keep in touch. Otherwise…”
Shiro doesn’t wait to the end of the sentence. He doesn’t want to die. He doesn’t survive so long in the fence only to be killed by the men that claim to save him.
The door is open.
Shiro lowers down, his belly places on the ground. As Ulas and Thace let their guard down, Shiro springs. Despite not having a prosthetic foreleg, he’s still fast enough. He runs outside the room, follows the hallway and reaches the courtyard outside. There are people here, coming for a look at the dogs. Which means the gate is open too.
Shiro keeps running, ignoring the scream behind him and the curious look of the humans around. He’s almost at the gate when Iverson manages to grab his leash and stops him. Shiro loses his breath, feeling the collar gripping his neck.
He yelps and turns, in time to see a shadow jumping on Iverson’s arm. The shadow reveals to be a black cat. It bites the hand that keeps Shiro’s leash, and it slips from Iverson’s grip. The cat lands with grace next to Shiro.
“Run.”
Shiro doesn’t think. He follows the cat outside the gate. They rush in the street, avoiding the humans in their path. They turn and turns at every corner until they reach a park. The cat enters goes hiding in the bushes. Only then, safe from the humans’ gazes, it stops.
“Shiro…”
So he is Keith. Shiro stares as he realizes Keith grows up. He isn’t the skinny small cat Shiro remembers. Even if his size is still smaller compared to a male adult cat, he isn’t a kitten anymore. His fur grows too, and his tail is now fluffy as Keith lifts it. His long vibrissa trembles, as he watches carefully at Shiro with his big blue eyes.
“Keith…” Shiro murmurs.
Keith gets near. He gives a small head butt at Shiro’s chest and then he rubs his entire body against Shiro’s flank. His tail is upright, the end curves a little. For a second, Keith purrs. It lasts a second, but he relaxes Shiro. After all, Keith isn’t a cat that purrs very often.
“Where have you been?” Keith asks. “What happen to you?”
“I wish I can tell.” After his rescue, the memories become more and more foggy, as Shiro tries to cancel all the pain. “I was kidnapped… Men enter into the yards when Allura wasn’t at home… They made me fight… Against other dogs…” He bares his fangs: how many of them have been kidnapped too, leaving a nice owner alone and worried about them? And Shiro was forced to kill them in order to survive.
Keith purrs again. “I know you didn’t leave us. We all know,” he adds. “We miss you.”
Shiro licks Keith’s head. “How do you find me?”
“Moving around.” Keith yawns. “I get far and far from home hoping to find some lead. I found out they brought new dogs at the kennel here recently and I came looking.”
“You left the house?” Shiro doesn’t want to sound annoyed, but he feels bad for Allura. Losing two animals at the same time…
“No… Not really. I do come back sometime.”
The answer seems made to relax Shiro. It doesn’t work. Keith was a stray cat when Shiro met him, and in some way he never got along with some rules of being a domestic animal. Without Shiro, it wouldn’t be far-fetched Keith returns at his old habit as a tramp.
Shiro looks around. He doesn’t recognize the park, as he didn’t recognize the streets they took before. They are probably very far from home. And Shiro has the feeling that they won’t wait for his owner anymore before put him down after his escape. Besides, Keith is in danger now, and he doesn’t have the chip or the collar: he refuses them. For other humans he is definitely a tramp.
“Let’s go home,” Keith says.
“You know the way?”
“Yes. I had to keep track every time I move, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to bring you back.”
“Let’s move, then.”
Shiro follows Keith blind. He has no idea where they are, but he trusts Keith enough to not doubt at all that he knows what he’s doing. Shiro wants to ask about the others, ask about Keith himself and how he dealt with Shiro’s disappearance, but he does not dare. He just follows his lead.
Sometimes, Keith stops to check if Shiro has some problem, or if he still can manage walking. They have a lot of streets ahead. Shiro doesn’t hide his fatigue: even if the cage at the kennel is bigger, it’s still a cage. He doesn’t have much time to exercise himself. And he misses a leg too, something Keith is trying not to look at. He fails most of the time, but Shiro doesn’t mind.
Keith won’t judge him for his weakness.
Once it becomes night, Keith still moves until they reach the bridge over a river. There is a small stone stair that brings under the bridge. The area smells bad and, from the garbage, it has been the shelter of clochards in the past. Keith nods at an old blanket.
“It’s not the best place, but it’s safe. I sleep here before.”
Keith’s expertises as a stray cat are showing. He doesn’t remember if he was abandoned by some owner that didn’t want the kitten of their female cat or if he lost himself from his mother, but surely he knows how to live in the open. It was one of the many things Shiro loves about him, and the one that convinced Shiro that Keith deserves someone to take care of him too.
Shiro sleeps badly. He doesn’t miss the fact that Keith doesn’t curl himself on the blanket, neither he stretches against Shiro’s belly. Instead, he remains near the stair. He’s watchful. It’s not good for a cat not to sleep.
Shiro stands up, takes him by the scruff of his neck and places him on the blankets. “Rest,” he says.
“I’m fine,” Keith protests, but in the end he crouches down. Shiro curls around him and licks his fur until Keith closes his eyes. They have enough hearing to get ready if someone approaches.
They move again at the first light in the morning. From the building around, Shiro understands they reach the suburbs of the city. Which city, he can’t say. He knows Allura attends college in the near big city, but she never brings Shiro with her.
At a corner, Keith stops and sits down. Shiro tilts his head, as a silent request.
“If we’re lucky, we can save some road,” Keith explains.
They wait for ten minutes, until a bus stops by. A man gets off. In a jump, Keith gets on. Shiro follows, unsure. Only three humans are on board, still Shiro doesn’t feel safe in such a small space. Keith takes place in one of the seats near the door.
“Don’t worry, they never pay attention to me. Too sleepy at this time.”
Shiro is grateful Keith understands his worries. He remains on the ground, next to his seat. The bus does five more stops, few humans come and go, until Keith decides it’s time to get off. The surrounding has changed again, but Shiro still doesn’t recognize the place.
“Are you hungry?” Keith asks.
“A little,” Shiro admits.
“Wait here.”
Shiro watches with a mixture of awe and worry as Keith enters in a butcher’s. He returns a couple of minutes later, with a small piece of meat in his mouth. He places it before Shiro.
“The butcher likes cats,” Keith explains.
“I see.” Shiro looks uncertain at the meat. It won’t be enough to stop his hunger, still his hesitation is about Keith.
“Don’t worry. I eat another piece inside the shop.”
It’s a lie, of course, Shiro understands that well.
But he accepts it and swallows the piece of meat in one bite, before they travel again. Shiro realizes they aren’t in the same city anymore. He wonders just how far Keith has been wandering around searching for him.
They reach the train station. Shiro took the train once, with Allura, so he recognizes it.
“In days of college, Allura takes the train from here,” Keith explains. “If we’re lucky, this is one of those days.”
Shiro’s tail wags. They are almost home. “Otherwise?” he still asks, because he knows recently things haven’t been great for him.
“We take the train to get to Allura’s town.”
They don’t enter the train station, they hide in the nearest flower bed, near enough to see all the humans that go inside but not being spotted by them. They are mostly young humans, Shiro notices. Hours pass. At certain hours, the train station is crowded with people Shiro finds difficult to follow all of them.
“It’s not Allura’s day,” Keith says at last.
It’s almost evening.
At the platform, only few humans remain. They shot a look at Keith and Shiro, but make no attempt to disturb them. Shiro understand they may appear as tramp at their eyes. He hopes none of them call the kennel, or that they are distant enough to be safe from Iverson’s hunt. Keith can escape. Shiro can hold back the men to let him run. Even if the train station is a dangerous place to run in the first place.
The trains are loud and fast.
“Look, Ryan! It’s Keith! He comes back. And with a friend! A dog friend!”
Shiro jumps a little in the direction of the voice and sees two young humans walking in their direction. From their clothes and the giant bag hung on their shoulder, he guesses they are athletes, or so the humans call that kind of people, whoever it means.
If Keith takes the train often to go around searching for Shiro, it isn’t strange people start to recognize him. Maybe they aren’t dangerous, still Shiro places himself between them and Keith.
The two boys stop a few meters from them. Keith looks annoyed. Shiro glares.
“Careful, James. This dog doesn’t look friendly.”
James takes off a small sack from his pocket. Shiro recognizes the rumors of treats. Slowly, he bends over and walks slowly, his hand leans forward. “Here, kitty, kitty.”
Shiro barks before James can get too near. He stops.
“Told you.” Ryan chuckles. “Keith hires a dog as a bodyguard.”
James pouts. “I’m just being friendly.” He let the treats fall in the ground and walks back to the other human. They chat between themselves. From the words Shiro catches, they talk about him and his scar and his missing leg. It isn’t surprising.
His look is more focused on the treats. The boys look nice. Harmless. “Keith. Do you know them?”
“I saw them before. They like taking pictures of me.”
So they are good humans, the kind that likes animals, even stray ones. “Go eat. You haven’t for more than a day,” he adds, as Keith is about to refuse.
“Okay.” Keith reaches the treats and basically swallows them whole. From time to time, he keeps an eyes on the two boys, to be sure they don’t come near.
“See? My plan to win Keith over the food is working.”
Ryan rolls his eyes. “You don’t have something for the dog too?”
“No… wait, I have the remains of my sandwich.” Still keeping the bag on his shoulder, James rums inside until he takes off a small package. He opens it and throws the sandwich forward. Shiro barks again for the surprise, and Keith rushes at his side.
“You scare them,” Ryan complains.
Shiro and Keith look at each other, then at the sandwich on the ground. Keith moves faster, he grabs it with his mouth and brings back to Shiro. He glares at him, daring to refuse it. Keith got the treats, he’s fine. Shiro needs to eat more.
“Oww, how cute. I want to put it on Instagram.”
They ignore Ryan and James as they keep looking at them. Shiro sighs happily. “With it, I almost have an entire breakfast for today.”
“Once we reach Allura, she will feed you.”
Keith looks worried. He shouldn’t. He saves Shiro, he should be proud. Starving for a couple of days is still better than what Shiro went through.
“Thanks to you.” He places a paw on his back and licks his face. Keith isn’t reassured, but he replies getting near to Shiro and rubs against him.
The train arrives. James and Ryan are considerate enough to wait for Shiro and Keith get on before following. Like they did in the bus, Keith finds a spot near the door so they can escape easily, and takes a seat, while Shiro sits in the ground.
“You can come too,” Keith invites him.
“It’s too little for me to stay comfortable,” Shiro answers. It’s true, but it’s mostly an excuse. He doesn’t feel comfortable in the entire train.
There are few humans in the train car, and only James and Ryan are near enough to be heard. Still, the movements of the train make Shiro sleepy after the day of wander. He looks at Keith: he’s attentive as usual.
“I’m sorry,” Shiro murmurs.
“Don’t,” Keith replies.
“Thanks.”
Shiro lets himself relax. He notices the stops of the train, but he keeps his eyes closes. Once Keith jumps next to him to warn they reached their destination, he feels rested. Again, James and Ryan let them move first. Keith jumps off the train and stops, his eyes wide. Shiro almost stumbles into him.
“Shiro! Shiro!”
It’s Allura. She’s on the platform and she’s running towards them. Shiro remains still, unable to realize he’s back, and he’s safe now that his owner finds him. Allura throws herself at him, hugging him and sinking her head in his fur.
“It’s really you. You’re back.” Shiro licks her face, happy. Allura doesn’t cry, she just doesn’t, but she’s moved.
“My God. What’s happening… Well, now you’re back. You’re safe.” She turns her head a little. “Keith. You brought him back.” Keith walks forward to let her rub the back of his ears.
“Oh, hey, Allura. The dog’s yours too?”
She lifts her head. “Yes! He disappeared more than a year ago… I searched for him but in the end I gave up… Keith didn’t. He never did.”
“You mean Keith takes the train searching for your dog?” James is impressed.
“And he found him.” Allura nods.
“This is so cute.” James kneels down and leans his hand. Keith ignores him.
“Don’t bother. Keith only loves Shiro.”
Allura gestures at Shiro, who isn’t sure it’s entirely true. He’s pretty sure Keith loves her too, and the other animals of her house. Still, Keith passes near James, he rubs his body against his leg – making James melts – before attaching himself to Shiro.
“How do you know they were here?” Ryan asks.
“Thanks to your Instagram. I saw your video.”
“Oh. I guess I should have called it ‘Keith and his dogfriend’ after all.”
Allura laughs. “Definitely.”
Much to Keith’s annoyance, she takes him in her arms. “Let’s go home.”
For the first time in a long time, Shiro takes the chance to not being watchful. Keith is still at his back, looking at him closely, and Shiro can feel his gaze on himself. It’s reassuring. Shiro wants to thank him properly once the situation is settled, but for now he dedicates his time to the others.
Coran is waiting for them at home, and he cries against his fur for five minutes straight. The others jump on him, and each one of them shows Shiro their affection in their own way. Lance offers his place on Allura’s bed, saying he will let for once the pillow next to Allura’s head free. Hunk lets Shiro eats his portion of the food. Pidge spends a whole amount of time explaining how cool Shiro is even with a missed leg.
Keith remains a little far. He watches Shiro enjoying his time with the others. When Allura goes to bed, they all follow. She places Pidge at one corner of the bed and she let Shiro jumps and lies next to her, while Lance and Hunk curled between the two of them. Keith sits down next to Pidge. Allura feels asleep with her arm places around Shiro’s body.
Shiro is happy. He’s back at his home, with the people he loves.
But he can’t sleep.
Here, with Allura breathing next to him, Hunk and Lance fighting each other in their sleep, and Pidge closed in her shell, the memories of his time in the fence come back in full force. The dogs he killed in order to survive… they didn’t deserve it. Shiro doesn’t deserve a happy life anymore. Maybe he should remain a tramp for now, as a punishment. He knows how to survive, Keith just showed him.
More than that, he’s scared of being dangerous for the people he loves. He already reacted back with Iverson. It can happen again.
Slowly, he leaves the bed, opens the door of Allura’s room and climbs downstairs. The main door is closed, of course. His bed is still in the living room and Shiro guesses it’s because of Keith. He can see the dark hairs spread on it. After all, even before Keith refused to sleep in his own personal basket. Shiro lies down, inhales Keith’s smell.
And just after that, Keith is at his side. His eyes glow in the dark. He doesn’t say anything.
“I’m dangerous,” Shiro admits. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
Without answering, Keith takes two step forwards. He curls himself against Shiro, in the place where it should be his right forearm. Keith curves his back, exposing his belly in a very vulnerable position.
And he purrs.
Loudly.
The sound and the vibration are like a lullaby for Shiro. But more of it, it’s Keith presence. The warm of the cat’s body against his own and the unbreakable faith that Keith will stay at his side, no matter what. They’re not tramps, they have a home. And they have each other.
“It’s good to have you back,” Keith meows.
His eyes are closed, completely safe and relaxed. Shiro curls more so he can protect him with his entire body.
“It’s good to be back.”
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