Chapter Text
‘’You don’t need friends to survive in this world, why are people so fixated on stupid labels like ‘friendship’ and ‘companions’. Aren’t it basically people you like more than people you don’t call your ‘friends’?
How lame.
I never needed any of those, and I probably never will. It’s not like it will kill me or anything.
So, STOP…BUGGING ME…ALREADY…YOU…PIECE…OF…SHIT!’’
The boy who looked like a 5 year old,, despite being in the 7th grade, looked disappointed upon hearing those words coming out of the mouth of Matsuno Ichimatsu, the boy he’s desperate to be friends with from the day they were first assigned in the very same classroom. After many attempts to get close to him, after many attempts to include him in all sorts of activities, the scruffy looking boy STILL refused to attempt anything more than just simple chitter-chatter.
The boy, named Hatabou, just couldn’t seem to comprehend it, who wouldn’t want to have a few people to have fun with, to talk with about your problems, to be there for each other in harsh time, to cheer you up. To help you, support you.
He would much rather handle everything all by himself rather than having ‘a friend’?
But he knew by now, there is nothing he could possibly do to change Ichimatsu his mind.
He attempted many times by now, he even attempted to ask other people. But Ichimatsu gave them a cold shoulder each and every single time.
The only reaction Hatabou seemed to be able to pull off was nothing more than just a simple dumb stare.
He continued to stare into Ichimatsu’s dead eyes, not giving a single response whatsoever.
After a staring contest which felt like an eternity.
Ichimatsu finally cliqued his tongue in frustration, turned around and continued to walk out of the school gates, leaving Hatabou to continue staring into nothingness, still not catching up on a response.
‘’tch… what a pain in the ass. Who would be so desperate to get close to a pile of garbage like I am.’’
Ichimatsu mumbled under his breath while walking down the street.
For some reason, it seemed to be more crowded than usual in the city, there are more cars driving down the road, more people walking in all sorts of directions down the streets. There didn’t seem to be any specific reason for it to be so crowded, perhaps it was that time of the day where everyone got off from work.
But Ichimatsu couldn’t help but feel annoyed by it. It meant he actually had to pay attention where he was going so he wouldn’t have to bump into someone.
What if he were to run into someone he knew, is he unfortunate enough to run into someone who wanted to initiate a conversation? Or worse, do the exact same thing that Hatabou tries to do all the time, and actually attempt to get closer to him.
Ichimatsu couldn’t imagine anything more annoying, he didn’t know how he was supposed to handle something like this, he saw people do it countless times, but he just can’t seem to be comfortable doing the exact same thing himself.
That very thought pissed him off to no end…no…rather…
He was envious.
After strolling through the streets of Akatsuka city for a bit, he finally snuck into a dark, dirty alleyway, and started to look around.
Not long afterwards, a few cats seemed to jump out of the corner, as if they were waiting for his arrival.
‘’ hey there Kuro, Shiro, Nyanko, I brought you some dried sardines, I kept them in my schoolbag all day, so I hope they still taste great.’’
Ichimatsu leaned forward on his knees, opened his bag and fumbled into it without even looking.
Eventually, he pulled out a bag of economy sized dried sardines, opened the bag without much effort and proceeded to give them to the cats, one by one.
The cats all toke huge bites out of it and meowed with a pleasured tone.
Listening and looking at the delight of the cats eating the dried sardines gave Ichimatsu a resting smile on his face.
that’s right, I’m completely fine with having cats as my only friends, at least they are easy to read.
At least they don’t backstab me when giving the opportunity.
Ichimatsu attempted to grab another handful of sardines while the cats patiently waited for more to come, until suddenly something seemed to startle the cats harshly and they all quickly ran away into all sorts of directions.
Ichimatsu seemed to be confused by this, did he do something?
Quickly, Ichimatsu picked himself up from the ground and started to look around the alley in case he might find something that might’ve caused to cats to be so startled. But nothing specifically seemed to be out of the ordinary.
Such a wasted opportunity. All those cats ran away, they’re too startled to calm down now, it left Ichimatsu no other choice but to put his dried sardines back into his bag and come back another time.
As he walked out of the alleyway, he noticed how there seemed to be even more people than before now. Where do they even come from?
Ichimatsu couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable from all of this. He wanted to go home as soon as possible.
As he tried to fumble his way into the crowded streets, he couldn’t help but notice something unusual moving around somewhere in front of him. It definitely seemed to be out of place.
After pacing his way a little faster, he could get a closer look, it…it was a fox?!
The fox seemed to be looking around nervously, trying to sneak his way through the crowd.
What was a fox doing here?! In the middle of the city! Did he get lost?
There is no way in hell this is a coincidence, maybe someone brought him here and it is simply trying to escape or something like that.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the fox seemed to be startled by something, just like the cats.
The fox sprinted his way on the highway, jumping right in front of a car.
The car attempted to hit the brakes as fast as he could. But he failed to stop in time.
Something overtook Ichimatsu at that very moment, he seemed to be concerned, his legs moved toward the moving vehicle without as much as a second thought.
But to no avail, he was way too slow.
Before the car managed to stop, he hit the fox with a harsh thud, the animal fell to the ground like a brick and layed there motionless.
The people who managed to catch glimpse of the incicent suddenly all stopped walking, even cars who were driving slowly on the highway suddenly managed to stop.
The man who hit the fox quickly stepped out of the car, and stared at the fox as he was lying there without giving much of a kick.
Ichimatsu inspected him carefully, and could somehow spot from his distance that, luckily, the fox still seemed to be breathing.
Determined, Ichimatsu pushed his way through the crowd, ran straight up to the fox, when he stood right in front of it, he let himself fall onto his knees and was the first to check on it.
‘’ HEY?! WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, GET OUT OF THE WAY KID!’’
The driver yelled at him with shock and frustration hidden in his voice.
Ichimatsu didn’t give a response, all he did was stare back at him like he wanted to snap his neck off.
After scaring away the driver responsible for this, he took a closer look at the fox,
It seemed to breath at a rapid rate, and was bleeding around his front paw, so that was what the driver hit.
Without much of a second thought, Ichimatsu attempted to pick up the fox while taking consideration of the wounded paw, he seemed to have some trouble getting up, seeing how it isn’t exactly the lightest animal to be dragging around, but he managed to handle it, eventually.
‘’ what do you think you’re doing?! What if it has rabies?!’’ a bystander from the crowd yelled at the boy.
But Ichimatsu didn’t care, without a reply, he carried the fox away from the highway, and proceeded to walk on the sidewalk, luckily, the people gave him some space, seeing how they didn’t want to get any closer.
Ichimatsu didn’t even bother to question himself, why did he felt so concerned for a random animal he found like this, why does he even bother helping him.
As he took effort to not let the weight of the fox get to him, he made his way to the closest vet, in hopes of helping it out. At the very least, he hoped it didn’t had to be in vain.
After dragging the animal through a few blocks, and stumbling his way into the vet, he walked right up the reception without a single concern.
‘’ this fox hurt his leg, please help him out, it’s an emergency’ Ichimatsu said.
‘’ well…alright, we can see if we’re able to help you out, please wait in the waiting room for a bit, we will be there in a few moments.’’
‘’ didn’t you hear what I just said?! I said, it’s an emergency, what if he actually dies because you had to make him wait for this long?!’’
‘’ we understand your concern, but the veterinarian is right in the middle of helping another customer, we can’t handle everything at the same time, so please be patient.’’
Frustrated, Ichimatsu tried to drag the fox to a nearby couch and laid him carefully.
Ichimatsu sat on the floor instead, so he could keep an eye out on him.
, he finally seemed to notice the fox was looking at ichimatsu with his eyed wide open.
Was he awake this whole time? Or did he just opened his eyes coincidently?
He couldn’t help but feel like he was taking care of one of his many cats, a bigger, scruffier cat with a head which resembles more of a dog.
Gently, Ichimatsu stroked the animal’s head, which, to his surprise, is something the fox seems to like quite a lot, he most certainly gives more of a reaction than you could expect him to be.
Softly, almost like a whisper, Ichimatsu proclaimed:
‘’ don’t worry, we will get your paw fixed right up, I know it hurts quite a lot, but once you pull yourself through all of this, everything is going to be just fine. ‘’
The fox his eyes seemed to shimmer, so he understood him?
Giving a genuine smile, Ichimatsu continued to stroke his head, it was a nice, for both of them.
‘’ next customer, who… brought in a….fox?!’’
Standing in the doorway was an old man who couldn’t possibly be anyone else but the veterinarian.
With a shocked expression, he stared right down at the boy. Not knowing how to react to this.
‘’ you will take care of him, right? He may not be a pet, but…’’
‘’ ofcourse I will look after him, don’t worry kid. We’ll bring him to the operation room and see what we can do.’’
….
Patiently, Ichimatsu sat in the waiting room, in the hopes that everything will turn out to be just fine.
Time seems to drag on so slowly when you’re desperate for it to go by faster.
He tried to pass the time by reading some of the magazines lying on the table, even though there wasn’t much interesting to pick out from it. The magazines were either fiddled with stories directed towards older people… or teenage girls.
Either way, Ichimatsu had a hard time containing himself like this in the waiting room.
Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, the door from the operation room opened up, the first to sprint his way down towards Ichimatsu was the fox, struggling to skip on only 3 legs.
‘’ you made it!’’
Ichimatsu jumped out his chair, he accepted the approach from the fox, continuing to stroke his head with a genuine smile.
‘’ luckily, the wound wasn’t too severe. But that is not to say what would’ve happened if you hadn’t brought him here. All ends well, it seems.’’
The veterinarian walks towards Ichimatsu and attempted to give the fox a pet on the head as well.
But much to his surprise, the fox backed off and scuffed at him angrily.
‘’ not to mention, he seems to have a liking for you, it’s a rare occurrence, I got to give you that.’’
Slowly, Ichimatsu took a few steps toward the veterinarian.
After some time, he finally bows down his head towards the veterinarian,
‘’ thank you so much,’’
‘’ it’s my job kid,’’
…….
Sometime seemed to have passed, seeing how the sun seems to go down. Ichimatsu knew for a fact that he might’ve missed dinner, he was just hoping that his mom kept some leftovers for him so he could eat it later.
the fox still seems to follow him around, skipping on only one leg.
Every few meter, Ichimatsu would stop himself in his tracks, looking back at the fox, trying to give away without saying a word that he can’t come with him.
Which never seems to work, seeing how he continues skip right after him.
But Ichimatsu was only a few blocks away from reaching his home. He had no choice but to do it the hard way.
‘’ I know you have taken a liking for me, but you can’t come with me, okay?
My parents will never agree with this, I’m not even allowed to have a cat all on my own, so a fox is even more out of the question. I’m sure you have better places to go, so shhh…’’
The fox didn’t give any response, but it seemed like he managed to understand what Ichimatsu was telling him, which is a good thing.
Eventually, Ichimatsu turned around and looked at the fox from the corner of his eye, to see if he really understood him.
Much to his surprise, he just stood there, motionless.
Ichimatsu felt a heavy pit in his stomach, just leaving him there.
It is not the same as leaving behind a cat because he has been hanging around them for quite some time, he would probably never see the fox again.
But suddenly, as Ichimatsu almost took the corner he heard someone behind him saying.
‘’ that’s cruel, just when I started to get to know you better.’’
Ichimatsu quickly turned around upon hearing that, the fox was still standing right where he left him, still not moving an inch.
‘’ eh…w…who said that? Were you talking to me?’’
Ichimatsu looked around confused, there was no one else around, which seems to narrow down the possibilities.
‘’ ofcourse I’m talking to you, unless you accuse me of talking to the air or something, haha, that would be weird.’’
Ichimatsu couldn’t help but think that that voice would be coming from the fox, but… that is not possible is it?! Out of the question. He must be hearing stuff, or someone is playing a prank on him.
‘’ if….if you think you’re funny! You’re not. Go home and drown in your bathtub or something before I do it for you!’’
‘’ wow, that is… an interesting threat. Ah… wait…’’
In a blink of an eye the fox skipped his way toward ichimatsu, he was surprisingly fast, despite having an injured leg.
But something else was happening as well, weird movements seemed to be going on, like the fur was growing, light seemed to emit from the fox, it got bigger, it managed to get closer too.
And before Ichimatsu could progress what happened, the fox suddenly stood face to face to him, but not with the same face, this one resembles more of a human, well, not exactly. He still seemed to have the same red eyes, neat hair, which somehow resembles ichimatsu, whiskers on his face and bearing his fangs in a mischievous looking grin.
Upon closer inspection. He seemed to be in a red yukata, still wearing the bandage around his injured paw…hand? And behind him was still the fluffy tail… or rather, there were suddenly more of them.
After finally progressing what stood in front of him. Ichimatsu suddenly tried to back away startled.
‘’ I guess I still have to introduce myself properly to you eh? Eeehnmm…. Sorry I never really managed to catch your name, do you mind..?’’
Still giving away his mischievous grin, the man waited patiently for a response. Ichimatsu didn’t even reconsider whether he should just give away his name like that, so he simply answered him, still surprised.
‘’ ichimatsu…’’
‘’ Ichimatsu? That sure is a straightforward name, haha, I like it.’’
‘’ you can call me Osomatsu… I’m a kitsune.’’