Please read the notes at the end of the chapter!

It definitely struck him as odd as soon as he saw the cage. The work he was doing at the animal shelter was required in order for him to graduate, but it was something Ritsuka enjoyed. Dogs, cats, puppies, kittens, even the occasional horse—he was the person who played with them and fed them. It'd been two years since he'd started this job, and while obscure, strange animals sometimes made their way through, he'd never seen something quite like this.

"Good morning, Ritsuka-kun!" The receptionist, a fellow student by the name of Yuiko, chirped as soon as he walked through the door. Ritsuka felt his lips twitch upwards in an easy smile, and he wholeheartedly returned her enthusiastic greeting and waved. The animal shelter was a nice place. It gave him an escape of sorts, someplace he could go after days of stress and borderline depression. His therapist had recommended the volunteer program here, and Ritsuka had taken up the offer when it was made clear that in order to graduate, university students were required to volunteer out in the world. And honestly? It was one of the better decisions he'd made. It'd clearly made him happier over the short time he'd been working here, and he often wondered if he could get a full time job here. Probably not. An animal shelter/veterinarian clinic wouldn't want a kid with a double major of photography and psychology, but thinking of that seemed to kill the happiness he was granted by working here in the first place. So he didn't dwell on that.

Ritsuka was used to the routine by now. Talk to Yuiko for a few moments, write his arrival time in, meet with the veterinarians, and see of what help he could be. There was definitely something off today, though, and Ritsuka had noticed it right when he'd walked through the door. There was a certain air of…discontent? He didn't feel as if that was the correct term for it, but it was there, and it was like walking into a fog that suddenly made him extremely alert. When he went to the desk, Yuiko said nothing to him, and she was suddenly fallen with silence as Ritsuka wrote his time in. He forced himself to break the silence, smiling again and asking her, "Where's Doctor Kuungi?"

Yuiko's smile seemed forced, but she nodded in the direction of the veterinarian sector of the building, "Last door on the left." And then returned to her work at her computer.

Last door on the left—

The storage room?

That was odd, but Ritsuka went, aptly navigating his way through the hallway. He was curious, of course, and the clinic was oddly silent. There were usually barking dogs and yowling cats filling the silence. That was part of the reason Ritsuka liked it here so much. It was never quiet. It made him feel safe, for some reason, and the silence now was very unsettling. He tried not to allow it to get to him, but despite being an independent adult, it was difficult. Silence at home had always meant that violence and pain was lurking right around the corner. Every few moments, he would pause in his steps, just to remind himself that he was twenty now. He was an adult. His home problems could no longer reach him here. He was making it on his own.

Ritsuka took another pause when he reached the door. It was more of a hesitation then, though. He knocked twice—his common greeting—and then pushed the door open to the storage room. He'd only been in here once or twice, so it was unfamiliar to him, but—

Oh god. What the hell was that rancid smell—?

It smelled absolutely vile, and Ritsuka had to cover his mouth and nose as he stepped into the room. He didn't recognize the smell, but it made him gag and cough until he finally got used to it. It wasn't the smell of waste or anything of the sort, but more as if something had simply curled up and died. He glanced around the large storage room, his eyes immediately finding Doctor Kuungi's. The man was always as he was—stiff and professional but friendly. Though now, his expression was somewhat different. He seemed almost…discontent? There was definitely something that was causing him to be uncomfortable. Was it the scent? Ritsuka could still smell it, though it wasn't as strong as it had been when he'd walked in. No it was something else, and that something was where he was looking, rather than at Ritsuka.

The university student followed his gaze. A cage. That wasn't so uncommon, of course. Animals in the kennels were almost always caged. But this—

This was different.

Because curled up against the side of the cage, body scarred and beaten, was a child. A human child. Not an animal. Not a dog, nor a cat. But a child.

"Doctor—" He didn't take his eyes off of it, crouching down to hook his fingers in the bars and—

"Ritsuka-kun, no!" The slap came hard against Ritsuka's wrists, reminding him of days past when violence had been a common occurrence in his life. He lost his balance, falling backwards and hitting the tile floor hard with his butt. His eyes still focused on the caged kid, mouth agape. That was a child. A beaten, thin, caged child. It'd been hurt—! It needed medical attention. If it didn't get that soon, the wounds could become infected easily. Ritsuka knew that much from experience. He also knew what it was like to be locked away like that. And he wouldn't let any other kid go through that. He would've unlatched the cage. He would've fought back against his superior. But he just. Couldn't. Move.

"A child…" The whisper fell from Ritsuka, hanging in the empty, stomach-churning air for just a moment. "A child." A child in an animal clinic. A child who'd been hurt badly. A caged child. Something wasn't quite adding up here. Ritsuka couldn't quite put two and two together. Even if the kid was violent, it didn't belong here. It belonged in a hospital regardless. It was human, right? The form seemed human. It had long, blonde human hair. The part of its face Ritsuka could see were human. There was no hair on its pale arms and its hands were human shaped, as well as its—

It occurred to Ritsuka just an instant before his superior said it.

"He's not a child. He's a feral animal. You've never seen one in person, have you? Just on TV. He's not human, Ritsuka-kun. He's a micropoda."

Sure enough, its—no, his—small feet were shaped like human foot sized paws, and Ritsuka had failed to notice the ears angled backwards on his head, and the tail that protruded from the…whatever sort of rag he'd been put in. It was true. Ritsuka had never seen one in person. Their common name was pawfeet, and the singular version was pawfoot. They were pets. They hardly lived beyond seventeen years, and they were very docile creatures, from what Ritsuka had seen. They were well-behaved little pets. Their owners treated them as if they were dolls—something that had always made Ritsuka slightly uncomfortable since they looked so much like humans. They were rare, as well, and Ritsuka had only got glimpses of ones with their owners on the streets. He'd never been so close to one. It was odd for him. A minute ago, he'd just been viewing him as a person, a human. Not a pet. Not an animal. But suddenly it was obvious that he was just that.

The tail, the ears, the feet, the muzzle that Ritsuka could only catch a glimpse of: it was all obvious now. He wasn't human. He was human-like, but not human. It was disgusting, the way he suddenly could look at the pet again and feel not as upset over seeing it in a cage. It was, after all, an animal. He didn't see how he'd seen it as a human—it was clearly a micropoda, with the features that were so obvious now. It became acceptable that it was in a cage and in the clinic, treated like the animal it was. In that single instant of realization and then confirmation from Doctor Kuungi, Ritsuka's own mind had stripped away its personhood, leaving something he'd thought of as a poor, helpless child, as an animal far, far beneath him, and on the level of a dog or a cat.

He now pitied it. He felt sorry for it. It was something deserving of his pity, and the pity he felt for it wasn't the same sort of sympathy and empathy he would feel for another human. It was the pity he often felt for the injured kittens he helped care for. It was something that shoved him even further beneath Ritsuka himself and stripped away what was left of his personhood. He no longer thought it needed to be out of the cage or cared for any more than his wounds being treated. The sight of him didn't disturb him. It almost became something Ritsuka was used to, all because the thing in the cage was an animal, despite its human skin and face and abilities. He was still unsettled by the sight of it, since its skin was scarred and the stench of it was still there, but it no longer surprised him.

"Fe…ral?" Ritsuka heard the word uttered and didn't recognize immediately that it was from him, and that he was repeating the doctor's words. Feral meant wild. Wild, uncontrollable, and violent. When a feral dog came in, it would growl and bite and strike to kill. Feral was not the term Ritsuka would use to describe the pawfeet he'd seen on television. He remembered them as docile, obedient things. He remembered having to stay home sick from college once, not long ago, and feverishly turning on a random program to watch. It happened to be a program on pawfeet. It'd been with some famous talk show host—Ritsuka couldn't currently recall the name—and she'd had guests. There'd been a young one, six or seven, who'd been dressed up like a child's doll. Her hair had been curled and fairly obviously bleached, her dress clearly much too satiny and frilly for her liking. He'd watched as the crowd had howled with laughter as she'd tried to read from a children's book. 'Reading is for humans,' She'd said, her voice that of a young human girl. 'Not for pets.'

At the memory, Ritsuka tore his eyes from the scrawny animal in the cage, looking back at Doctor Kuungi. He watched him nod in confirmation. Feral. This thing wasn't like the gentle creatures he'd seen before. He was violent and—

"Do you know what, exactly, gets these types of animals that name?"

Ritsuka immediately shook his head, "No, Doctor."

The doctor sighed in response, and he suddenly looked very old. "Ritsuka-kun, these animals are violent by nature. I don't expect you to know that, though. A micropoda being particularly violent isn't what earns them the term 'feral'."

Ritsuka didn't understand where he was going with this. He really understood nothing at this point, and that was frustrating, since Ritsuka was someone who strove for the truth and only that. He didn't like beating around the bush. He didn't like it when people took so long to just get to the point. He wanted to know why he was here. This was really the first time he'd been so frustrated with Doctor Kuungi. The man was usually very straightforward. Ritsuka met with him every day to receive his instructions on his tasks. He had to have been expecting him. There was no way he couldn't have—so why, exactly, was he here?! To be introduced to a new animal? An animal that would have to have medical care and wouldn't show up in the rescue clinic for weeks anyways? That couldn't be it. Ritsuka respected this man, and there was no way he could be that dense.

"I…see," Was all he could say, mostly out of shock and confusion. "Then why—?"

The doctor cut him off, "This animal's name is Soubi. Perhaps you've heard of him on the internet or on the news. He's become the face of debates over his kind. Some say that micropodas need to be eliminated. Others say that they need to be treated like humans are. Both sides cite his case. This animal is here because he killed a man, and he needs a foster home until his put-down date. He appears in court beforehand, hence why he's the face of the debates. No one will take him. You're our only hope left."

Hello again! Most of you know me from my old account, CheyWolfe. This fanfiction is sort of my coming back from hiatus? I won't be using that account anymore, though. I will be rewriting a lot (Healing, Revival, Mind Maps)! This is something I've been working on for a bit though.

Most chapters will be longer than this-this is really just a sort of introduction to story. They'll be around 5,000-9,000 words? I've been trying to get back in the swing of writing, so I'll try to update every week! A lot will be explained in the story, but I will say that canon Fighters are canon pawfeet. So, Soubi, Tokino, Nisei, Natsuo, and others will all be 'pets'. Everything else will be explained in canon, but please leave questions so I can address them later on!

Comments of any kind and crit is very welcome and encouraged! I'd like to know what people think of the concept, and feedback/reviews/whatever helps encourage me to write more. Thank you!