Chapter Text
Ever since Roberu was just a young foal, he knew that he was the social outlier of the horse beastman clan. He couldn’t keep up with the other horses — they were stronger, faster, and prouder than he was — and even when they tried to encourage him to follow the herd’s mission to be as vigorous as they can be, his personal nature just wouldn’t allow it. There was no motivation for him to follow through.
Truth be told, Roberu has always wanted to live life at his own pace without having to worry about things like social status or power or whatever. Where the other foals would join their parents on their daily runs around the herd’s countryside territory, Roberu wandered around on his own to explore the ever changing nature around him. He was free to do what he liked on these trips to where the meadows seemed endless, inviting him to run to his heart’s content across them… and yet at the same time, he felt like he was trapped under the expectations of his clan, begging him to run not for himself but for their sake, for a scrap of hope to prove that his generation of horses will be able to keep the clan prosperous and strong in the future.
At only seven years old, Roberu understood that he wasn’t happy with the future ahead of him. But honestly, what could he do about it? A foal like him was powerless against the wishes of his clan.
The small horse beastman mulls over his situation for a minute before deciding that it was useless to do so. Frustrated, he leaves the safe shelter of his cottage home and walks to the meadow to clear his thoughts and find a temporary escape from his clan, just like he always does when he feels down.
At the meadow, the birds are chirping, as usual. The breeze makes waves across the tall fields of grass, as usual. The clouds are drifting above, as usual. Roberu is aimlessly pushing through tall blades of grass when his ears pick up a new sound.
Whimpering. It’s coming from somewhere nearby. Unusual.
His instincts are telling him to ignore it. It could be a trap — here in this meadow, no one will see you die under the thick carpet of the grassland, which makes it a perfect hunting ground — but the sound tugs at his heart strings and he moves to seek out the source of it anyway. A very risky move coming from a vulnerable foal like him, but it’s not like he can just leave without finding out what’s causing the noise.
Roberu pushes a curtain of grass apart and discovers a bundle of towels writhing on the ground in front of him. He carefully listens for any other activity around him in caution before picking the bundle up and taking a closer look.
He gasps when he sees a beastman pup wrapped inside the towels, small and whining for its mother’s attention. Its ears were folded against its head, and there were no teeth lining its mouth yet. Upon closer inspection, he sees that its body is coated in dust, almost as if it was hastily abandoned.
This baby clearly needs help. Roberu doesn't hesitate to run home with the pup in his arms.
To say that Roberu’s parents were ecstatic was an understatement. Mama-koku was practically squealing with joy once she saw what Roberu had come home with.
“Oh my god, Robe-chan! He’s absolutely adorable!” She cradles the pup in her arms and plays with its small hands. It snoozes away, ignorant to the world. “Where’d you find him?”
Roberu dusts the front of his shirt off from where the bundle of towels had been resting. “Out in the meadow, mama. He was just sitting on the ground by himself when I heard him crying.”
Papa-koku looks up from his lunch: a generous helping of crispy greens accompanied by a variety of plump vegetables. “If sha baby wa siffing by hisshelf ahy honger, hoo knowsh wha cood haff haffened shu him.” He takes a moment to swallow his food. “Good job picking him up, son.”
“You know you’re not supposed to talk with food in your mouth, honey. More importantly, we need to decide what we’re going to do with him.”
Papa-koku wipes his mouth with a napkin and gets up to approach her, curious about the baby in her arms. “Well, what do you suppose he is?”
All three of them take a good look at the pup. Folded ears, tiny claws on its fingers, and a head of soft, thin fur. If they had to take a guess, they would have to say it was...
“...Some sort of dog?”
They all look at each other before bursting out laughing. The sudden increase in noise is enough to stir the pup awake, and he starts to whine. Mama-koku puts the baby in Roberu’s arms before running off towards the kitchen.
“Hold the baby for a little while, Robe-chan. Honey, go out and buy some formula for me please.”
“Does that mean we are keeping him, mama?”
Clanging sounds can be heard from the kitchen as Mama-koku pulls a small pot out of a cabinet. “What does your father think?”
Roberu feels his father’s hand rest between his ears, followed by a jolly laugh. “I don’t see why not! Our son could use someone to play with, after all.”
The thought of having someone else to grow up and explore the world with — someone who can destroy his bothersome feelings of isolation — gives Roberu optimism.
Mama-koku had rushed out of her bedroom later that day, excitement plastered across her face and a shiny metal dog tag in her hand. She bursts into the living room and announces in a loud whisper, “I found his name!”
Papa-koku and Roberu glance at each other before scurrying over to see the dog tag. It reads:
Kageyama Shien
February 25 / Jackal
Male / Blood: B
Everyone stands together in combined awe. Papa-koku is the first to break the silence. “So the little guy’s name is Shien, huh. It sounds pretty cool.”
“It says he’s a jackal too, mama. What’s that?”
Mama-koku retracts the dog tag and wipes at it with the hem of her shirt. “Remember how we guessed earlier that he was some kind of dog? Well, we were right.”
“Oh.”
“I don’t mean to cut the conversation short here, but,” Papa-koku interrupts. “Why are we whispering?”
Mama-koku motions at them to follow her. They walk quietly towards her bedroom and stop to peek into the open doorway. Laying peacefully over the plush bed is a sleeping Shien. The dusty rags from earlier have been replaced with Roberu’s old, colorful baby clothes, and his calm expression shows just how content he was to have been finally fed a warm bottle.
All in all, the sight was incredibly cute. Everyone standing at the doorway basked in the feeling of pride they got from having successfully taken care of the new baby on its first day there.
Everyone else in the clan became aware of the Yukoku family’s newest member a few days later. The news had broken out some time after they had invited the clan’s elder to present the baby to him.
The horse beastman clan’s elder was a good-natured man with a lot of heart. When he saw the canine child living under the horses’ care, he was surprised, but he did not condemn it. Instead, he showed his sympathy for the child’s situation and thanked the family for taking it in during its time of need.
The rest of the clan, however, was not as accepting as their leader. Many of the other herbivores thought the family was insane from bringing a canine into their midst. That child was going to grow up and find out how obviously different he was from everyone else around him. He might leave his adoptive family behind in search of the pack he was estranged from. Or worse, he could turn against his family if his predatory instincts become overpowering, especially when he matures. All of these proved to be potentially harmful not only to the Yukoku family’s safety, but to the herd’s as well.
Of course, the Yukoku family in question doesn’t particularly care. Right now, they don't need protection from predatory instincts or… whatever. Quite the opposite, actually: Shien was the one that needed their guardianship. As a baby, Shien was harmless and vulnerable, so no one in the beast clan felt inclined to actually act on their aversion. As a whole, they silently agreed to leave the family alone to live their life as they pleased.
With great care on the Yukoku family’s part and lots and lots of patience, Shien had been raised into a curious kid, eager to learn more about his world. By the age of six, his ears had fully perked up, his fur had grown shiny and soft, and his first set of pearly canine teeth had set in.
Worried that Shien would be alienated by the other kids at the herd’s primary school, Roberu’s parents had decided that homeschooling the jackal boy was the best option they had at hand. Mama-koku and Papa-koku took turns teaching him the skills he needed to survive and move forward, while leaving the lesson of socializing to their son.
The newly thirteen-year-old Roberu, of course, had no problem with that responsibility. Now that Shien was able to run around on his own two legs and move freely, Roberu was more than happy to go and play games with him in the pastures. It was so much fun to have company to talk to and interact with, and acting as the older one gave him a feeling of honor that was unmatched by anything else. Roberu felt joy in teaching Shien to do things like catching fish in the stream by their house or telling him stories of the terrifying beastmen he’s seen crossing the pastures before. The starry-eyed look of awe Shien would give him at the end of each of their little playdates would have Roberu wishing that they could play together forever and not have to worry about anything else.
It was an impossible ideal that only a child could dream up, the truth snapping him back to reality one fateful evening when the pair returned home to find their parents missing.
The silence within those walls was deafening: something that was rare for the Yukoku family home. Shien and Roberu look around the house for a note, a sign, something to explain their disappearance. They miss the crossed-out box on the hanging calendar for that day — September 26th — and the small cake sitting peacefully inside one of the shelves in the fridge. Unwilling to make Shien worry any longer, Roberu decides that the two should head to bed and wait. Hopefully Mama-koku and Papa-koku will return later.
The horse clan’s elder comes by their house early the next morning, grief written across his aged features. He explains nothing, only declares that he will be taking care of them from that day onward.
After Shien turns in that night, the elder calls Roberu aside and sits him down for a talk. It is then that the young horse beastman learns the fate of his parents.
Shien is bewildered when Roberu tells him that they will never be returning to the pastures again.
To say that the other horse beastmen were wary of the jackal beastman in their midst after that event was an understatement. Roberu hated seeing how horse parents pulled their children close when Shien was in their sights, or how the other kids whispered amongst themselves while pointing small, accusing fingers at him. Hell, some of the older teenage horses would actually threaten the young Shien, telling him that if he even dared to display any dominance over the clan members, that they would beat him mercilessly and remind him of his place.
Their anger towards Shien was uncalled for, but as much as Roberu hated to admit it, their fear was not. Shien himself has done nothing to warrant the treatment he’s been receiving, but the actions of other canines like him have. Roberu has heard the stories. Brutal, unpredictable, and sharp: such were the traits that canine beastmen were known for. He could only hope that Shien never experienced that same bloodthirsty temptation that other meat-eating beastmen have become victim to.
Roberu shakes his head. Shien would never, right? Absolutely not. Roberu would do his best to stop him if it that happened. Not that Shien would ever need his help.
That was something to worry about later. For the next few years, Roberu focused on looking after Shien’s wellbeing with the patient guidance of the clan elder.
When the elder dies, his age having finally caught up to him, Roberu is eighteen years old. He’s all grown up and ready to face the world. Unfortunately, the death also means that the barrier that’s been protecting Shien from the restless prejudice of the horse clan is also gone.
Roberu isn’t stupid. If Shien stays here any longer, they’re going to kill him. It’s no secret that they’ve been waiting for the opportunity to do it, to rid themselves of the threat that keeps them from sleeping peacefully at night.
It is for that reason that Roberu has made preparations. Under his parents’ bed were suitcases, packed with the bare essentials that the two need to live a new life somewhere else, where Shien isn’t threatened for being born a canine. He can’t help being a jackal, it was something that was never his decision in the first place.
So as soon as he learns that the elder has passed, he finally pulls both sets of luggage out from where they rest and silently bids his old life farewell. Holding an eleven-year-old Shien in one hand and the handle of his suitcase in the other, the two take off for the city.