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12.

When Taketo got back to the apartment, the only response to his "I'm home!" was loud snoring. The half-naked Wolf sprawled partially off the couch, limbs akimbo, hadn't even twitched. No Salsa? Taketo thought, frustrated.

"Well, first things first," Taketo said, turning to more immediate concerns. He toed off his sneakers, saying, "Wolf, hey, it's time for your medicine."

The snoring continued unabated.

"Honestly," Taketo sighed, heading for the kitchen to sort out the proper pills and pour a glass of water. He returned to the living room. "Wolf? Hey." He cautiously shook Wolf by the shoulder, and he slid off the couch the rest of the way onto the floor. "Mmn," he mumbled, rolling over.

"Wolf, c'mon, medicine," Taketo said again, now feeling a little desperate. He'd never encountered a situation like this at the clinic or at school. How do you give pills to sleeping wolves? he wondered. Eyeing Wolf, he admitted that it was unlikely that this variation of subject was ever going to come up; none of their clients resembled young men.

"Well, why not?" Taketo decided, after none of his efforts to wake up Wolf had panned out. "It always works in the comics." And it wasn't like Wolf was going to wake up and notice, so where was the harm? Taketo popped the pills into his own mouth, added a draught of water from the glass, then knelt down and plastered his mouth over Wolf's.

Hey, it works, he thought happily, as Wolf swallowed the last of the pills. Then Wolf's arms shot out and wrapped themselves around Taketo's neck, jerking him off balance and down -- even as Wolf was rolling over on top of him and snuffling at his hair.

"Nnn," Wolf said, "Takahashi . . . smells nice."

"Hunh?" Taketo said, "What?" Wolf's eyes weren't even open. He's not still asleep?

"Hnn, yeah," Wolf murmured thickly, "you know what Wolf likes." Fending off Taketo's attempts to stop him, he yanked aside Taketo's shirt collar and began to lick his throat.

"No," Taketo said, "I don't know -- I'm not Takahashi!" And what on earth is he doing? Taketo wondered, as Wolf forced his knee between his legs. He frantically pulled out his emergency stash of 'Obaa-chan's devious karate' -- and clouted Wolf on the side of the neck, even as he twisted to switch their positions.

"Ow, feisty," Wolf muttered sleeply, looking up at him unfocused. "But this way's good, too."

"I'm. Not. Takahashi," Taketo repeated.

Wolf blinked. "Eh?"

"I'm Taketo," he said.

"Eh?"

"You're staying at my place right now," Taketo said.

"Eh?" Wolf frowned, processing this. Then, at last, he gave a nod: "Yeah, okay. Taketo." But even as Taketo breathed a sigh of relief, Wolf was reaching up again happily: "Wolf really likes the service here!"

Taketo backpedaled across the room. "Cut it out!" he yelled.

"Nn," Wolf said, sitting up and licking his lips. "You gave Wolf some pills?"

"Um, yeah," Taketo said, face reddening. "I couldn't wake you up."

"Wolf's changed his mind. Takahashi needs to become a vet, too." He wrapped his hands behind his head, and stretched lazily. "Unh, Wolf still needs a little more sleep though." He held up two fingers and a thumb. "Okay. Three more hours. But we do it on your bed."

"Uh," Taketo said, reddening, "I really wasn't --"

"Where's that stupid dog?" Wolf interrupted.

"That's what I wanted to ask you," Taketo said. "Did he come back while I was at work?"

Wolf shrugged, and tossed himself back on the couch. "Didn't hear him." He sniffed the air. "Nah. All old stuff -- hasn't been back since then."

Not good news, Taketo thought. "Wolf, listen. I'm going to make my brother's dinner, but I'll try to be quiet about it. Then I'm going to go out to look for Salsa. If he comes back while I'm gone --"

"Yeah, yeah," Wolf said. "Tell him he gets the couch."

"No, that's not --" Taketo gave up for now. "Please let him know I'm looking for him." Taketo had an idea of where to start, at least.