Kai trotted through the woods, his nose leading him forward.
He had been wandering like this for what felt like hours, searching for his owner.
But so far, after the first initial scent, he had found no other traces of her.
He was getting tired, and his stomach was rumbling but he refused to give up.
He had to find her.
Soon, he found the edge of the forest.
He upped his pace excitedly and peeked out into the view of the opening.
It was a large village.
The buildings were made of wood and stone.
Trails of smoke arose out of the chimneys and into the sky.
He walked toward the village, his tongue sticking out as he looked for something to eat.
Soon, he caught a whiff of something delicious.
His nose led him to a clearing where he saw a building surrounded by a fence.
There were children playing outside, their laughter filling the air and brightening the atmosphere.
Kai's tail wagged as he approached them.
The children noticed him.
Kai was a golden breed of dog that they had never seen before.
He was a big dog, but strangely they didn't feel afraid of him.
Instead, they ran over to pet him, giggling as they brushed his fur with their hands.
"Doggy! So big!"
"Why is he so yellow?"
"Not he! Look how cute they look, it's a girl!"
They were all smiling, their faces were dirty but full of joy.
Kai loved the attention.
He rubbed and leaned his head into their hands, enjoying the scratches behind his ears.
As he played with the children, he noticed one little girl who was particularly friendly.
She had long, brown curly hair and bright green eyes.
She laughed as she threw a ball for him to fetch, and Kai brought it back to her every time.
The other children giggled as they watched Kai and the little girl play.
Kai couldn't help but wag his tail as he bounded after the ball, feeling a sense of happiness wash over him.
He started to run circles around the children, darting back and forth as they tried to catch him.
The little girl with curly brown hair joined in, running after Kai and trying to catch him.
Kai slowed down, letting the little girl catch up to him, and then wagged his tail excitedly as she gave him a big hug.
The other children crowded around, wanting to hug Kai too, and he happily obliged, licking their faces and wagging his tail as they all laughed and played together.
'Fun!'
"Oy Chloe, I wanna play fetch with the dog too!" A boy called out to the girl with curly brown hair.
Hearing this, the girl held the ball tightly and stubbornly refused.
"No! Mine."
Kai barked in joy, causing the children to giggle as they patted him more.
"All of you! Leave that stray alone, it's lunchtime!" A lady from within the fence called out to them.
Saddened, the children obeyed and started to go back inside for lunch.
On the way in, they all took glances at the friendly dog. They wanted to play with him more.
Soon, Kai was left alone.
He was still hungry.
The lady closed the fence as soon as the last child came in, not giving Kai a chance to enter.
As a dog that had been looked after his entire life, he didn't know what to do, so he just paced around the fence.
He sniffed the ground and anywhere he could reach, hoping to find some food.
The smell of the delicious food from inside the building leaked out, causing him to droll.
But no matter how much he looked around the fence, he couldn't find any food.
So Kai became more and more disheartened.
Minutes later, however, some of the children snuck out of the building with a bit of food in their hands!
Kai moved up to the fence and tried to squeeze his face through the gaps with little success, causing the kids to laugh and smile.
The children each slipped some food through the fence for Kai, which he eagerly gobbled up, grateful for the meal.
The little girl with curly hair, Chloe, brought a bit more food than the others.
"Doggy, we need to do our chores so wait for us."
"Yea! Don't run away!"
The other children left to go back inside but Chloe lingered behind, happily watching Kai as he finished his food.
He licked his teeth and the area around his mouth and looked at her joyfully.
She looked at Kai with a mixture of curiosity and affection.
Chloe put her hand out between the bars of the fence to pet him, to which he replied by nuzzling her hand with his nose causing her to giggle.
'Curly hair girl is nice!'
The girl opened the gate and stepped out, before giving Kai another wave of pats.
"I already helped Marie hang up the laundry this morning so I don't have to help clean up lunch today." The girl announced proudly as she walked toward the open area.
Kai followed her closely behind.
He didn't understand what she was saying, but he did know that he wanted to play fetch again.
Chloe then stopped and crouched down in front of Kai.
She used her hands to scratch under Kai's chin and squished his face however she liked.
Kai simply reacted to the golden retriever's smile, panting with his tongue out.
"I've never seen a stray dog like you before. Are you some noble's pet?" She said as she continued to squish his face. "But nobles never come to this village though..."
The girl tilted her head as she thought.
Her hands still ruffling Kai's fur non-stop.
In return, Kai copied her and tilted his head as well.
"Mmmm, I'll think about it later. Your gold fur is so soft, I could pat you forever." She mumbled as she made an extremely satisfied smile.
She was so lost in fluffing Kai that she even started to drool a little.
However, she suddenly snapped back to reality as something seemingly important hit her.
"Ah! I need to give you a name!"
'Name? Kai's name is Kai.' He thought as he vaguely recognised the word 'name'
"Hmmm, a name for a dog..." She thought for a moment. "How about just Fluffy!?"
'Fluffy?' He tilted his head even more.
"From now on, you're Fluffy!" She said as she poked Kai's nose.
'Fluffy?'
"Fluffy!"
'Fluffy...So curly hair girl's name is Fluffy! Nice!'
As if replying to the word, Kai barked happily.
"Good boy, let's go play fetch!" Chloe cheered as she ran to get the ball from before.
They played together, and soon, the other kids finished their chores and ran out to join the fun.
Laughter filled the air again as the kids and Kai ran around the opening.
The atmosphere became happy and warmed with joy.
Noticing the especially happy mood today, two adult women came out of the building and had been watching the kids play.
They watched as the children chased around the big fluffy golden dog.
"I've never seen a stray dog with bright fur like that before. Do you think we should stop them from playing with it in case Marie?" One of the ladies asked.
Although she did question the safety of the children around the big dog, the lady didn't look concerned.
"The dog doesn't seem to be dangerous at all. It should be fine." The other lady answered with a smile as they both turned around and headed back into the building.
Strangely, nobody had questioned the origins of the stray dog.
Neither did they question if the dog was dangerous.
It was as if the dog naturally gave everyone the impression that it was friendly.
The moment people laid their eyes on it, they seemed to accept that the dog was harmless.
Kai continued to play with the kids for hours, running around and playing fetch with the ball that the children had.
The sun began to set, and the children started to tire out.
One by one, they said their goodbyes to Kai and headed inside for dinner.
Kai watched as the last child disappeared through the door, and he let out a small whine.
He didn't want to be alone again.
He padded over to the fence and rested his head against it, hoping someone would come out and keep him company.
Hours passed and darkness filled the sky.
The lights from within the building started to go out one by one.
Soon the area became dark, and Kai simply lay there in front of the fence.
He was lonely, but as a dog, there wasn't much he could do.
As if trying to cheer him up, the clouds in the sky moved and the light of the full moon shined down onto the village.
Kai looked up into the sky, staring at the beautiful round moon.
'Maybe they will play with Kai tomorrow.'
He thought as he put his head down.
However, as if hearing some footsteps from within the building, his head and ears quickly perked up.
The door creaked open, and a young girl walked out toward the fence to pet him.
It was the little girl who had been especially friendly to him from the beginning.
She smiled at him, and he licked her hand in response.
"Come on, Kai," she whispered, "I'll sneak you some more food."
She opened the fence and led him to the back of the building, where the kitchen was located.
She snuck him a few scraps of food which he happily gobbled down.
Chloe watched him and giggled.
After more scratches behind the ears, they then moved to a nearby set of stairs.
They sat together, enjoying the quiet of the night.
"Fluffy, please be my friend forever," Chloe said tiredly as she leaned on Kai and began dosing off.
As they sat there, Kai felt a sense of belonging.
'Fluffy is good friend.'
He licked Chloe on her cheek and cuddled up to her, causing her to smile as she closed her eyes.
He felt a sense of warmth with these children, and he wanted to stay close to them.
It reminded him of the days when he would always play and run around the yard with Ren.
He missed the feeling so much, and he didn't want it to go away.
He looked up at Chloe, who was now sleeping soundly against his side.
Kai let out a yawn and lay down next to her, carefully lowering himself so she could lie on top of him.
He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, with Chloe snuggled up next to him.
'Kai like Fluffy and friends. Kai look for Ren around here for now.'