Kipper

He was a minor antagonist in *Crossed*. He was the pet dog of Song Han and the enemy of Xenia and Rupert before the former brutally murdered and devoured him to spite his owner.

## **Physical Appearance**

He was a medium-sized border collie with primarily black and white fur. He had blue eyes, semi-erect ears, and tan patches on each side of his face. There were also tan markings on his lower legs before his white paws. He had small tan circles above his eyes that resembled eyebrows. His tail was white-tipped with tan markings. He wore a green collar around his neck with a gold nametag.

## **History**

### **Early Life**

As a puppy, Kipper was adopted by Sun Han and given to his wife Song as a birthday present. The couple raised him in a stable, loving household. When he was 2 years old, Sun was hit by the car of a drunk driver, which instantly killed him. Kipper and Song both mourned Sun's death, but helped each other through the tragedy. The two lived alone until Song decided to adopt the foxes Xenia and Rupert, the latter of whom she inadvertently injured.

## ***Crossed***

### **Chapter 14: Scattered**

Kipper is first seen with his master and the other people and dogs who volunteered to find the Anti-House Foxes when Xenia watches the group from behind a nearby oak. She whips back out of sight as Kipper glares in her direction and hears him barking. After a minute, the barking stops and Xenia looks out again to see Song disciplining Kipper. Shortly after, however, he notices her again, and Xenia quickly retreats.

Later that day, a horrified Xenia spots him looking into the burrow and sounds the alarm. Hearing him bark triumphantly, she wakes the other foxes and cries that the humans and dogs are digging them out. Later, when Kipper and the other dogs flush the foxes out of the burrow, he runs at Tina and is about to grab her neck in his mouth when Rupert attacks him, biting his ear. At that, Xenia gives a battle cry, inciting the other foxes to attack their assailants as well.

While grappling with a Dachshund, Xenia sees Kipper throwing Rupert off and pinning him to the ground before barking at Song. She runs over to him with a catchpole and tries to capture Rupert, but the fox suddenly bites Kipper's leg, causing him to let go. Kipper howls in pain and Song attacks Rupert in retaliation, but accidentally steps on his right forepaw and breaks it. Xenia, watching all this, becomes infuriated; she fights off the Dachshund, runs at Song and viciously claws and bites her before attacking Kipper when he tries to intervene. The fox faces off against both Kipper and Song while standing between them and the injured Rupert. Kipper lunges at her, but Song uses his leash to yank him back and prevent him from potentially harming Rupert any further. Barking angrily, Kipper strains, but Song drags him away despite her wounds and orders him to sit next to the vet who came along to have his wounds fixed. Kipper glares at Xenia, who glares back at him, and grins as Song quickly grabs Xenia with the catchpole and drags the snarling vixen away from Rupert. The collie keeps watching Xenia as Song puts her into a large cage, and does the same with Rupert moments later. After all the foxes have been contained, their cages are transported to a large truck; Xenia glares at Kipper, whose wounds are being treated by the vet, as the cage she shares with Rupert is carried away.

### **Chapter 16: Adoption**

When Song walks Xenia to her home, the fox notices Kipper running to the door in excitement to greet his master. However, he sees Xenia and glares at her. Song opens the door and asks Kipper to move aside, but he doesn't. Kipper asks Xenia in a hostile tone what she's doing there. Before Xenia can answer, Song sharply commands Kipper to stop antagonizing her, explaining that she adopted both her and Rupert. Realizing that means both foxes will be living under the same roof, Kipper rushes at Xenia, but Song gets him under control with the dog whistle she used on Xenia and again commands him to move. Kipper obeys, still glaring at Xenia, as Song walks her into the house. While their owner goes to check up on Rupert, Kipper approaches Xenia, who snarls at him to stay away from her and Rupert. Kipper tells her he hates foxes, and the two circle each other. However, before a fight erupts, Song returns, grabs Kipper by the collar, and walks him to the back door where she angrily kicks him out of the house.

## **Personality**

Kipper was an arrogant dog due to his superior sense of smell and tracking abilities. He had an extreme hatred of foxes, shown as when he tried to kill Tina after flushing the Anti-House Foxes out of their burrow with other dogs. He also showed open hostility to Xenia and Rupert after learning that his owner Song decided to adopt them, partly in regret for inadvertently hurting Rupert. He enjoyed taunting the injured Rupert, quickly striking up a rivalry with Xenia since she was extremely protective of him. He also picked fights with Xenia, but never won due to Song's interference. Nonetheless, he was extremely loyal to Song and looked up to her since he was a puppy. However, his cockiness towards Xenia declined after she displayed psychotic behavior. As he was unaware of the fact that Xenia was actually a demonic seven-tailed fox spirit in the form of a normal fox, he became rather distant toward her out of uneasiness, believing her to be disturbed. In the last moments of his life, Kipper became greatly afraid of Xenia when he realized she wanted to kill him.

## **Quotes**

"I. Hate. Foxes."- Kipper to Xenia when he learns Song will adopt her and Rupert in Chapter 16.

"This is *my* territory, so get out. Song will throw you right back out again when she's done fixing you. If she doesn't, *I will*." Kipper growling at Rupert when he tries to enter the kitchen in Chapter 17.

"What *are* you?!" Kipper when Xenia reveals her true form to him in Chapter 20.

"You are a *MONSTER*!!!" Kipper's last words before Kitsune Xenia spitefully devours him.