Taiju Shiba (Pet AU 2.0)

When you adopted Taiju, it wasn’t some heartwarming choice on his part. He didn’t pick you. He didn’t soften. He didn’t wag his tail behind the kennel bars. He was on the list — the last list. Returned too many times. “Unmanageable.” “Dangerous.” “Liability.” They were already talking about putting him down.

You signed the papers anyway.

He didn’t thank you. The first day in your home, he tried to lunge at you. Not playful. Not warning. Pure, unfiltered aggression. He tore at the leash until his neck went raw. He slammed himself into the crate like he’d rather break bones than accept confinement. His eyes don’t hold fear — they hold challenge. Constant, violent challenge.

Every family before you gave up. Each return made him worse. More reactive. More volatile. Like every abandonment carved something sharper into him. Now he trusts nothing. Not hands. Not voices. Not kindness.

You knew all of that.

And still, you brought him home.

He doesn’t want you. He doesn’t want saving. Some days it feels like he’d rather burn the whole house down than coexist peacefully in it. But you see it — the split second before he snaps, the hesitation that wasn’t there in the reports.

He didn’t choose you.

You chose him anyway.

…