Hey look I'm uploading something for this fandom after about a year. Yay. Really sorry for the huge delay, Ive been working another writing project, plus college has been very busy lately. I meant to get this out on day 1 of Naegiri week but uh, that didn't happen. I won't really be doing any of the other prompts for the week due to time constraints, but I can at least tell you that I'm working on the next chapter of Moving Forward. I hope you enjoy!

Kyoko sneaked a glance around the corner of the alleyway. If her sources were right, then the culprit she was looking for lived in this building, but she hadn't been able to pinpoint what floor he was on. She narrowed her eyes. Having to check each floor of the building individually would be time consuming, but she couldn't think of any other choice. Kyoko prepared to rush down the alley and head for the side-entrance before a small noise caught her attention.

Whirring around, Kyoko's hand drifted down to the gun holstered on her hip, but dropped when she came face to face with a fluffy little Shiba Inu. It looked up at her with a smile, its tail wagging happily. Kyoko blinked, leaned down to pet it, then waved it away.

"Shoo," she said. "It's dangerous here, get away."

Turning away from the dog, Kyoko peered back around the corner, only for her eyes to widen in surprise when the dog ran right past her and into the alley. Then turned to her and started yipping again. Its head shifted between her and the wall, as if it were trying to point something

out to her.

Kyoko pursed her lips tightly. On the one hand, every logical instinct in her body was telling her that this made no sense. On the other hand, her intuition was telling her that there was something… trustworthy about this dog. As crazy as it sounded, she believed her intuition.

Kyoko approached the dog and leaned down to look at it curiously. "Well?" she asked. "What is it? What did you want to show me?"

The dog did nothing except excitedly run over to a dumpster and hop excitedly near it, yipping and barking towards her. Kyoko let out a disappointed sigh and walked over to the dog.

"Okay, I'm going to go do my job now. Stay safe, boy."

As Kyoko began to walk away, she was cut off by the Shiba running in front of her barking excitedly. Kyoko sighed in exasperation and glared at the dog.

"Look," she said sternly, acutely aware of how stupid it was to be talking to a dog. "I have a job to do and I don't have time to play with you, so shoo!" She waved the dog away, but it just whimpered and ran around in circles before heading to the dumpster, barking urgently at it, then at her.

Kyoko looked on in confusion. She was ready to dismiss this as just some random stray coming up to her and begging for attention but… this was starting to get a bit too strange to chalk down to coincidence. With a furrowed brow, she walked back towards the dumpster.

"Okay...so what are you trying to show me…" she said, placing a hand on her chin. She examined the dumpster as closely as she could, wrinkling her nose at the smell, and hoped that she wouldn't have to go dumpster diving.

Fortunately, Kyoko didn't have to look that closely before she noticed some odd skidmarks on the ground next to the dumpster. Furrowing her brow, she clenched her teeth and started pushing the dumpster aside. She let out an amused smile as the little Shiba came up next to her and started trying to help her push.

Once she was done, she sighed in relief and looked behind where the dumpster had been. Sure enough, the dumpster had been moved, and was hiding a stairway that led into what seemed to be a basement. Kyoko looked at the dog, that was smiling up at her and wagging its tail happily.

"Good boy, now get going, it's dangerous here," she said again, though by this point she was already expecting the dog not to listen to her, even if it could understand her.

Drawing her gun, Kyoko stepped down the stairs cautiously, and walked down a short hallway that led to a door. Looking behind her, Kyoko saw that she wasn't being followed by anyone except the helpful little Shiba Inu. Clicking off the safety on her gun, Kyoko gripped it tightly and pointed it at the door with one hand, while the other one gripped the doorknob. Flattening herself against the wall, Kyoko pressed an ear against the door. She heard nothing. Once she was satisfied it was safe, she opened the door. Once she was satisfied that it was safe, she opened the door and slowly walked inside, keeping her gun pointed ahead of her. Kyoko whirled around as she heard a noise behind her, only to turn back around as the Shiba dashed right past her.

She huffed in annoyance. "So now what do you want to show me?"

Kyoko was down in what looked like a workshop of some kind. Tools and crafting tables were spread around the basement neatly. There weren't any signs that the room had been used recently, however. In fact, the whole place was stunningly clean. Too clean. It looked like someone had scrubbed down every single surface in the room. Like they had something to hide.

Kyoko frowned. She had a bad feeling about this.

Walking over to where the dog was yipping for her attention, Kyoko stopped in front if what appeared to be a large metal cooler, she looked down at the dog, already past the point of skepticism.

"Is this it?" she asked.

The dog's ears drooped downwards and it whimpered sadly. This did not bode well.

Kyoko opened the cooler and peered inside it. Grimacing at what she saw inside of it, Kyoko quickly shut it, and sighed.

"Alright, I think that's enough evidence for a conviction…" she muttered. Kyoko's head whipped up as she heard the sound of someone yelling behind her. A shadow appeared at the end of the stairway back to the alley, and she cursed under her breath. Kyoko turned to the dog and hissed out a quick "Hide!" before darting off to place herself behind cover. The dog followed suit, running off in the other direction.

A few seconds later, the suspect she had been investigating walked into the workshop, and started cursing up a storm as he looked around, trying to find the intruder. Kyoko held her breath as she steadied her grip on her gun. She couldn't risk peeking out of her hiding spot to check on his location, but based on the sound of his footsteps, he'd be coming near her in 3...2...1…

Kyoko's eyes widened as she heard a loud bark and a string of curses from the man, followed by a slam and a pained whimper. Rising out of her hiding place, Kyoko saw the Shiba Inu lying on the ground, whimpering in pain. The suspect was holding a cleaver in one hand, and was raising his arm as if to throw it. With his attention focused on the dog, the man didn't even notice Kyoko's presence until she shot a bullet straight through his hand. He yelled in pain as his cleaver fell to the floor, and turned around to glare hatefully at Kyoko.

"You bit-"

His curse was cut short by Kyoko rushing forward to roundhouse kick him in the face, flooring him. When the man opened his eyes, he was greeted by the sight of Kyoko's cold glare and the barrel of her gun.

Later that night, Kyoko arrived at her apartment, carrying the helpful little Shiba Inu in her arms.

As soon as the police had arrived and the suspect had been taken into custody, Kyoko took it upon herself to take her fluffy little helper to a veterinarian. The short struggle had earned the little dog a couple of wounds, but after a quick check-up and some painkillers, the vet had assured her that he would make a complete recovery so long as he rested and ate well. After that, Kyoko could have just taken him to a shelter, but after what she'd gone through, she felt strangely indebted to the little dog, so she decided to take him home with her, at least until he recovered, she'd look into where to leave him once he was in good health. A part of her was even starting to consider the possibility of adopting him, seeing as how the vet hadn't been able to find anything indicating an owner.

The dog's medication had made him very sleepy and tired, and he'd been quiet for the majority of the trip back to her house, almost to the point of causing Kyoko to worry for the little fluffball. Upon getting home she made herself a quick dinner, she tried to get the dog to eat something, but he had apparently lost his appetite.

After a long day of work, Kyoko was almost as tired as the dog was, so she turned in to bed early, and decided that, in lieu of going out to buy a dog bed that she wasn't expecting to use after a few nights, Kyoko figured that it would be fine to just let the dog sleep next to her, and she'd just spend the next day doing laundry to get the hair and smell out of her sheets.

Once she was tucked in bed and the very sleepy dog was laying on the pillow next to her, Kyoko reached over to scratch her new fluffy friend behind the ears. She smiled.

"I suppose I owe you one. I'll make you breakfast in the morning," she said before drifting off to sleep.

The next morning, Kyoko awoke to a very strange weight on her bed. Opening her eyes, she was surprised to see another person in her bed. Specifically, a naked person. A naked man, who seemed to be about her age, with very messy brown hair.

Being very careful not to make any noise that would wake the intruder. Kyoko slid out of bed, and grabbed the gun that she kept in a drawer, pointing it at the stranger.

"Who are you, and why are you in my bed?"

The stranger slowly turned around, revealing a younger looking face than she was expecting, and blinked groggily a few times. He seemed to have trouble recognizing his surroundings, until his eyes locked on to the gun in her hand, at which point they widened in panic and he sprung up, holding up his hands.

"W-wait! Don't shoot!" he pleaded, only to realize that he had exposed himself in the process. The intruder clumsily gripped the bedsheets and threw them haphazardly over himself in an attempt to preserve his modesty, or to prevent from offending her, or both.

Kyoko remained completely unfazed. "I'll ask again," she repeated, somewhat more tersely this time as her finger started to pull slightly on the trigger. "Who are you, and why are you in my bed?"

"I-I-I swear! I didn't want to end up here! You brought me here!" he said desperately.

Kyoko's frown intensified and she glared at him. "I believe I would remember if that was the case."

"N-no, really! I swear! I wanted to leave b-but the painkillers made me really sleepy so I fell asleep even though I didn't want to and I forgot that I was going to turn back in the morning so I figured it would be okay if I just stayed the night but then I turned back and you woke up seeing me like this and now it's really hard to explain but if you just let me then I-"

As the stranger continued to ramble on, Kyoko noticed a few more things about him. Maybe it was because her senses were still a bit dull from having just woken up and were starting to clear, or maybe it was because she wasn't focused so intently focused on his face anymore, but as she scanned his body for any signs of weaponry or danger, she started to see a few odd signs.

What she assumed to be some tufts of messy hair that were sticking out were actually, on closer inspection, a pair of fluffy ears atop his head. As he spoke she saw that his canines seemed abnormally large, and as he waved his hands around she noticed that his nails were unusually long and sharp, and that there seemed to be hair covering parts of his hands.

Kyoko blinked. "You're that dog."

"And so anyway I know it's really hard to believe but basically what I'm trying to say is that I- huh?" The stranger looked up at her in confusion for a moment, then his face split into a smile. "You believe me?!"

"Well, I'm still making up my mind on that, but as unbelievable as it may seem, the evidence seems to be quite clear." She loosened her grip on her gun and lowered it slightly, but not completely. "So, care to explain? Preferably with less rambling this time?"

The stranger laughed nervously. "Uh, yeah. Well, as you can probably tell, I'm a werewolf."

Kyoko quirked an eyebrow. "A werewolf that turns into a Shiba Inu?"

He sighed. "Well, when I asked about it I was told that the form that werewolves take when they transform reflects their soul or something like that…"

"So you have the soul of a Shiba Inu?"

He gave off a very dog-like whimper. "Well, anyway, over the past few weeks while I was out and about during my transformations, I saw some weird guy near my neighborhood who always seemed to be going in and out of that alleyway really late at night. One night I saw him carrying a really big bag of ice into that workshop, and then hide the entrance with the dumpster. I was really confused until I heard that the police were investigating a serial killer, so I thought that might be it. I was going to check on it one more time just to be sure, and then I ran into you and, well, you know the rest."

Kyoko nodded. "I see. Well, I appreciate the assistance." She pursed her lips for a moment before speaking up again. "I thought werewolves only transformed during the full moon." This was ridiculous, but it was in her nature to be inquisitive, and at this point, skepticism had gone out the window.

"Yeah, I thought so too for a while, but apparently it varies depending on the person."

Kyoko lowered her gun and sighed. "I think it would be best if we continue this conversation in another setting."

He looked down at the sheets preserving his modesty and turned red, laughing nervously. "U-um, yeah. Sorry about all this, by the way…"

Kyoko put her gun away. "It's fine. I suppose I should be one apologizing, since you got injured for trying to help me."

"Oh, no, don't worry about that!" he said. "One of the perks of being a werewolf is I heal really quick, by the time you got me to the vet I was feeling a lot better." To emphasize his point he held up an arm that had a somewhat nasty scar on it. "See? All better! Well, uh, kinda."

As he deflated Kyoko gave a small smile and she began walking towards the door. "Alright then, let's go. You can cover yourself with the sheets until we can find you some clothes."

He looked at her, distress and confusion evident in his eyes. "Huh? Where are we going?"

She smiled at him reassuringly. "I promised you breakfast, remember?"

"Huh? You did? Was I asleep for- huh? H-hey! Wait up!"

A few minutes later the two of them were sitting at Kyoko's dinner table over breakfast. The dog-boy wrapped around a cocoon of blankets and blushing beet red as he ate slowly. Kyoko paused after a sip of coffee to give him an inquisitive glance.

"So, how long have you been a werewolf?" she asked.

He jumped. "H-huh? Where did that come from?"

"I'm a detective it's in my nature to be inquisitive."

"Oh, right. Well, um, I've been like this for a few years. It was really rough at first, but I found some resources and uh, help, and now it's not so bad. In fact at first I- um, well, nevermind…"

She looked at him curiously. "What is it?

"N-nevermind, it's… embarrassing…"

Kyoko smirked. "More embarrassing than waking up naked in a stranger's bed with a gun pointed at you?"

He chuckled nervously. "Heh, well, I guess when you put it like that… well, when I first, uh, caught this, I actually got really excited. I was just a normal average guy before, but when I became a werewolf, I was special all of a sudden. I actually wanted to become a, um… well, a superhero, or something like that," he admitted, not meeting her gaze, he let out another nervous laugh. "But, um, well, you can probably guess that turning into a cute little Shiba isn't very helpful for superheroics so, uh, that didn't pan out."

Kyoko stared at her coffee thoughtfully. There was an awkward silence between them for a bit until she spoke up again. "It does have other advantages."

He looked up at this. "Huh?"

"Well, you can sneak into places that might otherwise be hard to reach, you can remain relatively undetected while gathering information, and your durability puts you in much less danger than many others would be in when in positions like that. In my line of work, your abilities would be incredibly helpful."

"O-oh…" he blushed at the unexpected praise. "Well, um, thank you."

A thought occurred to Kyoko, and she smiled. "What would you say to being my assistant? It's not quite as glamorous as being a superhero, but you could do a lot of good, and I could use your… unique skills."

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped in shock, then his face lit up like a christmas tree. "That… that sounds great! I'd love to help!" He extended his hand for her to shake. "My name's Makoto Naegi, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

Kyoko smiled as she shook Makoto's hand. "Very well then. My name is Kyoko Kirigiri, I look forward to working with you, Naegi."

It was the beginning of a beautiful partnership.