Chapter Text
After you had spent several days in intensive care, you were moved. You still felt wobbly on your legs, the white pyjama clinging to your sweaty body, as you tried to stand up from your bed, being dragged along by Kangaroo and Rhino. They had just arrived at the exit door, dragging you along as they looked at each other and Rhino pulled out a black sack, nodding at his partner. As they put the black bag over your head and checked to make sure you weren't able to see anything, you could hear Fox in the distance as he reprimanded his goons to be more careful with you.
"I don't want the stitches to open up, be more careful."
"Sorry, sir."
The other guard mumble something, and Fox replied with a sigh, "Not this time. Medics orders."
"Besides," you could feel a hand on your head, which was covered by the bag, "I don't want my lovely pet falling into a medical coma because of a drug overdose."
A moment later there was the shuffle of clothes, and keys clinking, and you could hear the creaking of a large metal door, and after a moment a gust of wind chilled the air. As you were pulled outside, you noticed the faint sound of cars in the distance, located above your head. It could be assumed that you and the rest of the crew were located underneath a bridge before you were placed inside a car. As you were strapped in, you could feel chains around your wrists, and someone sitting down next to you, petting your head gently.
"Aw, don't worry, darling, we'll be home in no time."
During the drive, you must have fallen asleep, as unexpectedly large hands woke you up, lugging you out of the car and into, what you could assume, was an elevator, stereotypical, but dampened music coming out of the speakers, and the telltale sound of mechanisms springing into action, as you could feel the elevator going up. This entire thing was taking way too long, and you had to fight to stay awake. All you wanted right now was sleep. You didn't care where you could lie down right now.
You could feel a hand on your neck, feeling claws ghosting over your naked skin there, "Don't worry darling, we're home soon."
Just as he said that you recognized the ring of a bell, signalling your arrival at your destination. Once again you were dragged further along until more doors opened, and you felt your body being put on a bed, Rhino and Kangaroo excusing themselves to leave you alone with Fox.
Fox was saying something, but you were far too sleepy to listen to anything, all you knew was that the bed underneath you felt very comfortable and plushy. It must have been the softest bed you ever laid in, and before you knew it, you'd drifted off to sleep.
As you woke up the next morning, you could hear talking from the room next door, and rose up, noticing that the shackles around your wrists were gone, and so was the bag over your head. But there was something else now. Yawning, you touched the metal collar around your neck, not really registering at first what it was. You tried standing up, realizing your feet were a bit more steadfast than yesterday.
Carefully you walked to the door, listening in to Fox talking to someone, not sure who it was. Maybe he was on the phone, as you couldn't hear the other person. You pressed your ear against the door, hearing Fox walking around as he kept talking, seemingly unaware you were already awake.
"Come on, do it for me. You can even empty the pantry. I know you're busy-", Fox sighed, "I can't ask them! You know they're- No, you know I don't play favourites. It is just - you're the most responsible. I'll make it worth your time, I promise."
You could hear Fox groan, "Please, Kunal, you know I don't ask much from you."
There was a heavy pause. "You know where the key is, just don't tell the others, you know how they are."
Realizing, the phone call was over, you tried to run back to the bed, but your legs gave out and you fell backwards, groaning as the pain in your stomach made itself recognisable.
"Aw, pet," the door opened, and you looked up to Fox, who stood over you, hands on his hips, and a grin on his lips, "are you already up?" He bridal-carried you to the bed and put you down, kissing your brow, you could feel his claws ghosting over your scalp, as he dragged his hands through your hair.
"You shouldn't be up, you need rest. I need to get back. But I got an excellent pet sitter to take care of you. I'm sure you'll get along very well. He has a great personality."
You could feel your tongue disobeying you, as you tried to press out a question, "Show?" It was slurred, and you weren't sure Fox actually heard you.
The man above you sighed, "If it was just a show - ah, I don't want to bore you with work. When I'm back, I'll feed you some great sushi, and we'll have a nice evening just you and me." He grinned at you and checked the watch on his wrist. You just noticed he was wearing his announcer outfit, fumbling with the fedora on his head. He must be waiting for this Kunal person, as he was impatiently tapping his food.
"Oh, you must be hungry," Fox let his eyes wander over the room, checking the windows, and you could see him actually locking them. Well, that was one escape route down. He turned towards you, "I'll make sure to tell him to feed you some breakfast. Though I have to admit, he isn't that great a cook."
He had just finished inspecting the window when the door rang, and he hurried out. You gripped the black satin bedsheets, leaning forwards and straining your ears as you tried to make out what they were saying.
You could hear some arguing, as steps came closer, "- traffic is terrible - not my fault my bus was late."
"- taken a taxi-"
"I-"
"-pay for it-"
"I told you, I don't want you to pay for it!"
The door opened, and you blinked at the person standing next to Fox. Unlike Fox, he was dressed in more casual attire, blue jeans and a t-shirt, a baseball cap on his head. He was also a little taller than Fox. Fox looked at the younger man, and poked his side. After a deep sigh, he took off his baseball cap, and dragged a hand through his black curls, revealing ears not unlike Fox's, and a bushy tail.
"Don't worry, there'll be no problems. As you can see-"
"Another one," the dark-skinned youth groaned, rubbing his eyes, and you noticed he had Fox's eyes.
Fox sighed, "I don't have time for this, Kunal, just - there's food in the pantry, milk in the fridge- it can't be that hard to feed a human."
"But-"
"We talked about this on the phone- I'll be back in a couple of hours!"
Before the younger man could say anything, Fox was gone, and he watched from the bedroom door as the entrance door closed.
Kunal hit the doorframe and groaned as he walked back, dragging his feet noticeably, leaving the bedroom door open.
You could hear shuffling and the clinking of spoons and ceramic bowls, as the young man was working in the kitchen, doing god-knows-what. It seemed ages as he came in with a tray, balancing a bowl of cereal and a jug of milk, as well as a filled mug of tea on it. He placed it on the side table and sat down on a stool next to you, leaning over.
You both stared at each other for a while, as he leaned back and groaned loudly.
"Do I need to spoon-feed you?"
You hastily shook your head and tried to grasp the bowl, noticing how weak you still were, as the bowl fell out of your hands. Kunal snatched it before it fell down, and sat back on his chair, eyeing you up and down, inspecting your eyes.
"They must have put you on some heavy drugs. That quack must have given you morphine, without trying anything else beforehand. No wonder you're like this. Are you even hungry?"
You check yourself and realize, that you indeed don't feel any hunger. Strangely, you can't remember when you'd last eaten.
"Yeah, side effect, like many opioids. Probably coupled with dizziness and constipation."
You yawned. "And drowsiness," Kunal added, taking away the tray. "I hope that idiot medic wrote down how much we need to reduce over the coming days."
You could hear the youth mumble to himself as he walked out, and slowly you slipped away into a deep sleep.
Something was scratching at the blindfold over the empty eye socket, and you grudgingly opened your good eye, seeing Fox leaning over, long red hair falling over his shoulder, as big brown eyes stared at you. Wait, something was wrong. You rubbed your eye and the person in front of you became clearer. Fox tail, fox ears, toothy grin, and a claw poking into your cheek.
"Aw, is the little pet awake? Did the little pet have a good sleep? Do we need to give you a new name?"
"What the fuck!"
You were confused, who was that? How did she get in here? Why was she here?
"Kunal! Big bro! How's it going?"
The young man stared at the young woman, who was half-sitting, half-laying on the bed next to you, pinching your cheek. "What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here!"
"I can be where ever I want to be."
The young man groaned as the woman jumped from the bed, dragging her nails over the bedside table, as if looking for something. "There's nothing here, Rose."
"What do you mean? I'm not looking for anything in here-" she eyed you up and down, and pointed at you with a claw. "Why didn't anyone tell me he has a new pet?"
"You know why."
She leaned against the wall, her head dragging down, "Oh yes, Kunal is so much more reliable! Kunal has his life in order. Why can't you be more like him!" She spread out her arms, before letting them fall down.
"You should be in rehab," the dark-haired youth hissed, and you kept looking around the room.
"Rehab is for losers and has-beens."
"Then you fit right in-" Kunal replied and ducked as she grabbed a flower pot, aiming it at his head, but only hitting the door frame. It was then that she realized it was made out of hard plastic, not actual clay. She groaned, "He really thinks of everything."
The young woman walked to the closet her tail wriggling around and opened it, noticing the lack of coat hangers. "I can't believe he went the extra mile."
"Fox?" you asked, feeling that you regained some control over your tongue again. It seemed you were able to form more coherent thoughts.
Their eyes landed on you, and she put her hands on her hips, grinning at you as she leaned forwards. She reminded you of him.
"Oh, the pet can actually speak? What did daddy do to you? I mean," she put a hand on her chin, looking thoughtful, "probably some eyefuck, a bit of stabby-stabby, drugs, a whole lot of drugs- but you must have impressed him enough to keep you. Congratulations!" She turned towards her brother, laughing, "Hey, hey, Kunal, let's bet how long this one will last!"
Kunal gritted his teeth, "Get out."
You tried to piece things together, and you looked up between them. "Fox is your dad?" you finally asked, fighting sleep.
"Ren Hana," Kunal sighed, "that's his name."
You let it sink in, that name and you look up again, between them, this brother and sister who seemed so different. You thought about it, the plastic pot, the siblings, 'this one'- you keep turning it over and over in your head, trying to piece it together.
"I'm not the first?"
Kunal sighed, his shoulders dropping, as he averted his eyes. The girl looked thoughtful, looking down at you, tapping her chin, "I think you're number-"
"Rose-" Kunal hissed, hitting the doorframe, "stop it."
"I mean, maybe like the sixth or seventh?" She looked at Kunal, "How many did he go through? I mean if you count us together- like all of us-"
"All of you?"
She looks down at you, and grins with a wide smile, showing some very sharp canine teeth, you don't want to get close to. "All five of us-"
"With Ren?"
"No, not with Ren," she rolled her eyes, "but then we got the twins- and my creepy little sister- " Her tail stopped wagging. "He hadn't had a pet in a long time."
You felt yourself getting sleepy again, this was too much for you in one day. Kunal was saying something, then they started talking amongst each other, whispers, a faint cry, gentle words, darkness.
You woke up, being greeted by the faint smell of fish, and the actual Fox- no, wait Ren, standing in the doorframe, holding a tray filled with sashimi. The door was closing, and the closet had been closed. The pot was back in its old place as if it never happened.
You fiddled with the collar around your neck and looked up to the man standing in the doorframe who was slowly approaching you. Maybe right now they were discussing how far you could make it. How long you'd last. Betting on when you'd have enough. Everything made sense now.
"How are you feeling darling?"
You wonder how many other pets he called that. How many people before you had worn this collar? And how long did they last?
"Kunal is nice-" you mumble and stare down at the black satin bedsheets. You wonder if Rose left before he came.
You can feel something heavy hanging in the air, and a barking laugh fills the air. "Yes, he is, sometimes," Ren's smile drops, "I think he's a little too nice, too soft-"
You stare at your hands, and you grip the sheets, as you feel a hand on your shoulder, and Ren pets your head, "Don't worry darling, I'll make sure you feel right at home. We can watch some home movies- maybe I still have some videos with their mothers. I think you should meet the whole family."