Reincarnation

Quick A/N: I know Makka's gender was never canonically confirmed but for the sake of this story, they're female.

"Makkachin!" Victor called into the cold for the millionth time, desperately searching for any sign of the poodle. He'd been looking for the dog for almost an hour now, and to no avail.

He was about to turn around and look back the way he'd come when his phone rang from the inside pocket of his coat. He ignored it, thinking it was probably Chris or Yakov, or maybe even Yurio.

But when whoever it was called a second time, he knew it wasn't. None of his friends ever called a second time, unless something really bad was happening, they knew he was busy if Victor didn't pick up on the first few rings.

Sure enough, when Victor finally managed to yank his phone free of his coat, almost dropping it in the snow in the process, the number was unfamiliar.

"Hello?" He said as he answered, watching as the cloud of his breath evaporated.

"Uhm, hello." A voice responded quietly. "I… Do you happen to be missing a dog, a poodle, I think?"

Victor straightened up, his entire demeanour changing immediately. "Yes, yes! Did you find her?"

"Yeah, I believe so." The voice sounds relieved now, and not quite as timid. "Could you possibly come get her soon?"

"Of course!" Victor responded, already walking, although he had no idea where exactly he was going yet. But, as it turned out, whoever had found Makkachin was one of Victor's neighbors.

He'd heard someone had recently moved into the house on the corner, and that's exactly the address he had been given. Sure enough, the lights on the bottom floor of the house we're still on, even at this hour, and he could hear at least one dog barking inside.

Striding up to the front door, Victor knocked three times, and another dog started barking, one which he could recognize as his beloved Makkachin. It didn't take very long for the door to open, and Victor assumed they had been waiting for him.

Oh. Oh, he's cute.

The man had obviously been preparing to turn in for the night, or at least been sleeping. He was wearing an oversized navy blue sweater and black sweatpants, but what really gave Victor the notion that he'd been asleep was his adorably messy hair and the fact that he paused to rub his eyes before pushing his glasses back up his nose and addressing Victor.

"Hello."

"Hello." Victor returned his greeting with a smile. "I'm Victor, I own the dog you found, Makkachin."

The man nodded and gave a faint smile as he opened the door further. "Come on in, she's been dying to see you. My name's Yuri, by the way."

Victor acknowledged him with a nod, and Yuri shut the front door and led the way through the house, into the kitchen, and then paused before opening the door to what turned out to be the living room. Makkachin immediately leapt out and landed on Victor, who, with a laugh, caught the dog while managing to keep his balance.

"I missed you too." He said, giving the dog a pat as he set her down. Makka barked in reply.

"Thanks for taking care of her." Victor said, turning his attention back to Yuri, who he noticed was smiling softly.

"Oh, it's no problem." Yuri said dismissively, waving a hand. "Would you like something to drink before you leave?"

"... Hot Chocolate?" Victor asked somewhat jokingly, with an underlying tone of hope.

"I can do that." Yuri smiled, turning to the stove to put a kettle on for water while gesturing for Victor to take a seat at the small wooden table. The entire time he was preparing their drinks, the other dog was barking from somewhere else in the house. Victor didn't mind, it had really become background noise at this point, but Yuri eventually sighed and called out, "Vicchan, shizukani shite kudasai!"

The barking halted for a second, then the dog whined before eventually going silent.

"Sorry about that." Yuri apologized, setting a mug of hot chocolate in front of Victor before sitting down across from him with his own. "He's been barking ever since I separated him from Makkachin."

"It's no problem." Victor assured him, taking a long sip from his drink. "If you don't mind me asking… what was it you said to him?"

"Oh, I just asked him to be quiet. I'm actually from Japan, so Vicchan was trained to obey commands in Japanese." Yuri explained, staring down at the hot liquid in his mug.

"That's so cool!" Victor said, startling the man across from him with his enthusiasm. "I'm from Russia, so Makka's trained in both English and Russian."

Yuri seemed to relax at this, taking a long drink from his mug and then pausing to run his tongue over his upper lip. Victor stared, completely enthralled by the man before him. When Yuri lowered his mug back down to the tabletop, Victor noticed the light blush on his cheeks, and realized he'd been caught staring. He was about to apologise when he was cut off my Yuri's phone ringing from the kitchen counter.

"Sorry." Yuri apologized instead, standing up and picking it up to check the caller ID.

"That's alright." Victor said, standing up as well. "I should probably get going anyway, I don't want to overstay my welcome. Have a nice night."

"You too." Was all Yuri said as Victor left for his own home, Makka close on his heels

XXX

Yuri wasn't really expecting to see the handsome Russian man again, especially not only a few weeks later. But here he was, standing on his doorstep once again, that same endearing smile on his face.

"Sorry to appear out of the blue like this," Victor said. "But there's something I need to talk to you about."

"Oh, come on in." Yuri said, waiting until Victor had come inside before shutting to door behind him and leading the way back to the kitchen.

"Hot Chocolate?" Yuri offered, but Victor declined with a shake of his head.

Yuri sat, next to Victor this time, and waited patiently for him to begin. The Russian took a deep breath and fussed with the end of his shirt sleeve before speaking.

"When you found Makkachin, was she with your Vicchan?"

"Yes…"

"Oh." Victor dropped Yuri's gaze, messing with his short sleeve again. "Um…"

"Victor, you're worrying me."

"Sorry, sorry. It's just…" Victor finally met Yuri's gaze and released his shirtsleeve, his voice steadying. "Makkachin's pregnant, and I'm fairly sure your Vicchan's the father."

Yuri's mouth opened, his eyes widening, but no sound came out. Victor suddenly realized that the house was silent, much unlike the first time he'd been there, and he hadn't seen any sign of Yuri's dog. His suspicions were confirmed when Yuri whispered, "Vicchan's… he… passed away a week ago."

"Oh. Oh Yuri, I'm so sorry. I- I… don't know what to say."

Yuri waved a hand dismissively, but still refused to meet his gaze. "It's fine, you didn't know."

There was a silence before Yuri spoke again, finally meeting the older man's gaze. "Puppies, huh? I'll help, if you want me to."

"Oh, yes, please." Victor said, his expression becoming a bit more relaxed. "But… Can I have your number? You know, so I don't have to come over here every time I want to tell you something."

Yuri nodded, and they exchanged phone numbers before Victor quickly took his leave.

"Well." Yuri said bluntly, staring at the closed door to his home that Victor had just left through. "This is going to be interesting."

XXX

Victor rolled over in his bed, blinking tiredly as he tried to figure out what had woken him up. His clock told him it was only one in the morning, so he curled up and tried to go back to sleep. That's when the whining started again, and Victor sat bolt upright in bed, hurriedly turning on the lamp on his bedside table. As his eyes adjusted to the sudden harsh light, he could make out Makka laying on her side in her bed, breathing rather heavily. Either something was terribly wrong, or she was in labor. Victor sincerely hoped it was the latter.

It proved to the latter when he knelt by her bed and quickly checked her over. Half of his brain was telling him they needed to get to the vet, while the other told him there was no time. When he turned around and caught sight of the blizzard raging on outside the window, he knew there was absolutely no way they were going anywhere.

Yuri, Victor realized. Call Yuri.

He hardly knew the man, but he had promised to help and right now, he was Victor's best bet.

Rushing back over to his bed, Victor yanked his phone free of it's charger and pressed on Yuri's contact. The phone rang once. Twice. Three times. Just as Victor was thinking Yuri was going to ignore him and carry on sleeping, he picked up.

"Victor?" He asked, his accented voice heavy with sleep. "What's going on?"

"Makka's gone into labor." Victor said in a rush, sounding relieved and panicked at the same time. "Can you come over? Please?"

Yuri was silent for a few moments, processing what he'd just been told.

"Yes." He said suddenly, and Victor heard him getting out of bed. "Yes, I'm coming. Give me your address."

Victor did, quickly describing the house before Yuri hung up, promising he'd be there soon.

Victor took a second to pull a random shirt out of his dresser, not really caring if it matched the pants he was already wearing or not. At least he wouldn't be half naked.

He went back and kneeled next to Makka, whose loud cries and whines had changed into occasional whimpers. Victor started getting nervous again when ten minutes passed, and Makka grew restless. He soothed her, attempting to gather some semblance of calmness, if only for his dog.

He only pulled himself away from Makkachin when someone, most probably Yuri, knocked briskly on his front door.

"Victor!" Yelled the accented voice, muffled by the heavy wooden door and the howling wind. "Victor, it's Yuri!"

Victor rushed to the door and unlocked it, yanking it open to reveal the pajama-clad man covered in snow, a jacket hastily pulled on overtop along with a bright blue scarf.

"Sorry I took so long." Yuri stammered out an apology as he stepped inside, pulling back his hood and loosening his scarf as he did so.

"It's alright." Victor sighed, relieved, as he grabbed the other man's wrist and pulled him further into the house. "You're here now."

He led Yuri to Makkachin, who gave a half-hearted wag of her tail at his arrival.

"Victor." Yuri sighed. "Why are you so unprepared?"

"What? I didn't really know.. what to do." Victor said, suddenly feeling embarrassed and rather useless.

"We'll probably need towels." Yuri reasoned, as he kneeled beside Makkachin. "And something to put the puppies in after their born. A laundry basket, maybe, lined with blankets, and a heating pad, if you have one."

Victor hurried off to gather the supplies, relieved to finally have something solid to do, and someone else there to help him through the process. He was carrying everything back to the bedroom in the laundry basket when Yuri suddenly called for him.

"Victor!" He yelled, sounding distressed. "The first one's coming!"

The Russian man nearly tripped over his own feet in an attempt to get back to the bedroom faster, startling Yuri with his frantic entrance.

"Get ready." Yuri said, rolling up his pajama sleeves. "And hurry, will you?"

"Right." Victor said, kneeling beside Yuri and sorting through the blankets and towels. He paused his fussing with the controls of the heating pad when the sound of a crying puppy reached his ears.

He watched, fascinated, as Yuri gently toweled the puppy clean under Makkachin's watchful eye, and then handed him to Victor to set in the laundry basket. They repeated this process several times, until there were four, crying, wriggling, puppies in the basket. Yuri held the fifth in his hand, staring down at the small body wrapped in the towel.

"Yuri?"

"Stillborn." He whispered, not looking up. "I'm sorry, Victor…"

"It's okay, it's not your fault." Victor assured him. "It's not uncommon for the runt of a litter to be stillborn."

Silence ensued and Victor returned the puppies to their mother so they could nurse.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Yuri said, reaching into one of the pockets of the jacket he'd discarded on the floor earlier and pulling out many different-colored paper collars.

"So we can tell them apart." He explained, holding them out to Victor with a timid smile. "And so they don't end up with each other's names."

"Names." Victor's expression broke out into a grin as he realized. "We get to name them."

Yuri nodded, smiling softly, as he watched the older man look over the wriggling pups.

"You," Victor decided as he gently returned the eldest puppy to where he'd strayed from Makkachin's side. "Are going to be a nightmare… Koshmar."

"And you," Victor continued, shifting to the second puppy, another male. "Can be Shokolad."

Yuri giggled. "That's original, Victor."

"Why, thank you." Victor laughed. "You should name the last two, Yuri."

"Okay…" Yuri said, looking down at the two younger puppies. He gently stroked the third puppy, the only female of the litter. "I'll call you Hana, then."

Victor smiled as Yuri moved on to the next, running his fingers through the soft curls on his back.

"He looks just like Vicchan did." Yuri murmured, more to himself than Victor. Which was probably for the best, as the Russian man wasn't sure how to respond to such a statement.

"Takeo." Yuri decided, looking up to meet Victor's gaze as his hand moved to the stillborn on his lap. "And this one deserves a name, too."

Victor nodded. "You name him, Yuri."

Yuri hummed in response. "Alright. I'll name him Yasushi, then."

"That's very… fitting." Victor said. Yuri only nodded.

"Here." Victor continued, holding out his hands to take Yasushi. "I'll take care of him for now, and we'll bury him in the spring."

Yuri nodded silently as Victor gently took the small puppy from him and left the room. When he came back, he found that Yuri had cleaned up most of the mess and given each puppy a paper collar. Yuri himself was standing at the foot of Victor's bed, his jacket in hand, looking as if he felt slightly out of place now that the puppies had arrived.

"Well, I guess I should probably be going now." He said, confirming Victor's suspicions when he stepped forward with a shy smile.

"Wait, Yuri." Victor stopped him. "Why don't you stay the rest of the night? It's still storming outside, and it's not even 3 AM yet."

Yuri glanced out Victor's bedroom window, staring out into the darkness for a moment before turning back to the Russian man who was eagerly awaiting his response.

"Alright, I'll stay."

A/N: Look, I'm alive! Kind of a cliffhanger ending, I know, but I have a few ideas for a second chapter, which I'll write if you guys really want it.

Translations:

Koshmar = Nightmare

Shokolad = Chocolate

Hana = Flower

Takeo = Warrior

Yasushi = Peaceful

Vicchan, shizukani shite kudasai = Vicchan, please, be quiet

~Uni