The first time he saw the food-bringer, his hime-sama had been summoned to meet their new personal servent. He wasn’t entirely certain of the new servent’s name, deciding not to worry about such things as he snuggled next to his hime-sama’s legs as they were escorted to see the new arrival.
He looked up, tilting his head in confusion. His hime-sama wasn’t talking to him, but to two servants surrounding another with long hair.
Respectful bows as the two servants stepped away from the third. And now the pup could get a better look. Long dark hair, robes different from the ones the servants wore. The man smelled like gunpowder and the sea.
He decided then to keep an eye on this new stranger. Until a motive could be determined. A few weeks should suffice, if this man was a threat to his hime-sama.
Over the next few weeks, the wolf-human hybrid took his silent duty very seriously. The servant learned from hime-sama and the other servants what they liked. And, occasionally, the servant would drop food! On the ground! And the pup would get to eat it!
Even though hime-sama often handfed him off their own plate, he appreciated the scraps from the servant as well.
“You’ve been watching him.”
He didn’t startle at his hime-sama’s noiseless entry. Their round face beamed down at him.
“Yes.” The foreign words slid across his tongue easily, so different to when he was first brought to Japan years ago. “His ib is pure, hime-sama. He holds no darkness in his heart.”
“Good. Such a good protector, my puppy is.” Their plump belly jiggled as they leaned over to stroke his head.
His tongue lolled out of his mouth and he panted happily, leaning into their touch.
The food bringer quickly carved his pattern into a daily routine, serving and attending to hime-sama’s every whim and occasionally giving the pup some scraps from meals when they both thought hime-sama wasn’t looking. Or even feeding him from hand if hime-sama asked. The pup become fiercely loyal to the food-bringer, often seeking him out for pets and cuddles if the whim struck him. (What was hime-sama going to do? Say no?)
And as the pup dozed in his sleep spot, keeping an eye on the food-bringer as he moved around the cooking stations making another meal for their hime-sama, his tail wagged in content. Life was good.
