This came out of me since September and I decided to let you guys get to know Musaki's new cousin Max. You might remember him from 'Dark Side of the Moon' and his past might be something serious. And this came up for me and I decided to release this. Dedicated to my awesome friends: Spade-Omega 7, son of wind, Joe 'Po' Navark, Tan-Tan Tanuki, seylenagomez, Kung Fu Panda MasterCheesecake Serenity in Virginia, Shadow Wolf Boy and many others. This is for you guys.

Warning: might involve mentioning of child molestation.

A Tiger Cub's Horrifying Secret

by: Terrell James

Chapter 1: New Life Threatened

It was a peaceful day in the Valley of Peace and in Mako's house, it became more peaceful and also amazing too. Five young cubs were running around outside, just having some fun. One young white and grey striped tiger ran across from the ground chasing after 4 of his brothers and he pounced on all of them and started laughing.

"I gotcha!" he exclaimed.

The young mountain lion stood up and tried to break free from his brothers and said, "I had you first, Max!"

Max chuckled and said, "Yeah, right! I brought you guys down, Bang!"

Bang rolled his eyes and said, "Cheater!"

"Who you calling a cheater, cheater?"

"Oh, that's mature!"

Then, Crash, Logan and Taw Kwon Do got up and Crash heard them argue and said, "Break it up, guys."

"You guys always argue over something stupid." Logan added.

"We're brothers. Is there any other reason?" asked Crash.

Suddenly, their adopted father came outside to find out what's the ruckus and asked, "Okay, what's going on here?"

"Max cheated!" Crash pointed at him.

Max rolled his eyes and he said, "You should've got in the way before I pounced you!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

'Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did...not!"

"Did...too!"

"All right, enough. Max, were you cheating?" asked Mako.

"No. Not really. Crash wasn't supposed to be in the way. He should've dodged."

"Hold up, what do you mean by that?" asked Crash.

"Predators are easy to pounce and the prey are supposed to run away after they get caught. Tiger's instinct."

"Are you sure it didn't involve being a competitive amateur?"

Crash and Max kept arguing for a minute until Samurai came out and said, "Guys!"

"WHAT?" they shouted.

"Can you guys like not scream at each other for five minutes? Besides, Musaki's here."

Everyone immediately ran back to the house and sees Musaki standing there and they gave him a huge hug and Crash asked, "How ya doing, cuz?"

"Pretty good." Musaki replied.

"Hey, Musaki!" Max shouted, joyfully.

"What's up, Maxie?"

Tae Kwon Do snickered at the name, which gave Max a squinting glare at him to stop and he focused of Musaki and asked, "So, what are you doing here?"

"Just came by to visit you and see how you're living life with my cousins."

"Well, it's the best experience ever. More so than being at the orphanage, to be honest."

"I'm with ya there."

"Crash and Max are at each other's throats again." Samurai added.

"What is it this time?" asked Musaki.

"Crash couldn't get out of the way when I pounced him." Max answered.

"I didn't have to."

Musaki rolled his eyes and shook his head and said, "Sounds like me and Tigress..only much more ridiculous."

"I bet."

"Hey, nephew!"

Musaki looks up and sees his uncle Mako coming in and he gave him a huge hug and Mako asked, "How's my kung-fu nephew?"

"Doing well, actually."

"That's brilliant. Listen, can you do me a huge favor?"

"What's that?"

"See, I have to bring in two more kids from eastern China and I've grown attached to them and I was kinda wondering that if Max can stay with you for a while. He's kinda scared to be left alone because he's afraid that someone might come in and harm him and you know how he is with strangers."

"How long will you be gone?"

"Me and the kids would be gone for...2 weeks."

"2 weeks?"

"Yeah, absoultely."

As Mako and Musaki were talking, Max was standing outside in the door, just feeling like he's at peace with his new life and like everything seemed to be going great for him.

He sighed happily as he sat across the steps, looking at most of the Valley like it's the one place he definitely belongs.

Then, he seeks out someone coming this way wearing a dark black hoodie and he seemed a little nervous about who it was and then, it said, "Max..."

Max didn't know what to make of it and he was a little frightened that the stranger knew his name and he asked, "How'd you know my name?"

Suddenly, the hooded figure took off the hoodie and unveiled a face. Max dropped his mouth in shock as he became familiar with those eyes and the horror sunk in him and he whispered, "Mom?"

"That's right."

"What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I came to bring you back!"

Suddenly, he can recognize that look she made and he backed away from her and said, "Go away, please. I'm living my new life with my new family now."

She grabbed him by the arm and squeezed it hard, making Max scream in pain and she covered his mouth so no one could hear him and she said, angrily, "New family? Have you forgotten about me?"

Max started whimpering in pain as his mother throws him down on the ground and she grabbed his tail, which made him really scared and he screamed loudly; which caught most of his cousins' attention and saw him being pummeled by some stranger.

"What are you doing?" asked Mako.

"Mind your business, old man!" the female tiger snarled.

"Who the heck are you?"

"What does it look like? I'm his mother!"

Everyone gasped in shock and they all asked, "Mother?"

"Yes! I came to get him back!"

"Please let me go!" max said, crying.

His mother kicks him in the butt and slaps him as well and said, "Shut up!"

"Hey, that is not appropriate for him!" Mako yelled.

"So what? I can do whatever the heck I want with him, even if it means grabbing his tail and me licking it!"

"Ewww! That's gross!" Crash shouted.

"You'd do that?" asked Musaki.

"I have...when he was a cub!"

"You're sick."

She let go of Max and said, "I'll be back. And once I do, he will be all mine!"

When she left, everyone grew really disgusted by Max's mother's behavior and also concerned for Max for being a victim of such abuse. Max started crying as he went back to the room and they didn't know what to make of it.

Musaki looked at Mako and asked, "Why did she do this?"

"I never actually knew how bad his past was when he told me the first time." Mako answered.

Musaki didn't really know anything about that and wanted to find out what's the deal with him. As soon as he came into Max's room, he was just crying on his bed and Musaki felt really sorry for him as he sat down next to him and asked, "You okay?"

Max slowly looks at Musaki with tears in his eyes and Musaki could tell that there was a lot of pain, shame and anguish on his cousin's eyes and he reached out for a hug and Max said, "I don't want her to come back...not after what she did to me."

"What did she do to you?"

Max sighed and said, "I can't tell you."

"Come on, cuz. You can tell me. You can tell me anything."

He knew that this would be a difficult topic to talk about, but he knows that he can trust Musaki with anything and he said, "My mom...she used to molest me when I was a cub."

Musaki's jaw dropped and asked, "She what?"

"I don't know why she would do that to me. She'd put her tail on my legs and other parts of my body and then, she would touch me in places that are somewhat untouched and would harass me. She would tell me I'm ugly, stupid, miserable excuse for a son and that I would never amount to anything. And she would beat me up and blood would come out of paw, arm, leg, foot and sometimes my head. And she would try to kill me."

Musaki could not believe that Max's mom would do that to him and he felt angry at his mother for being a such a horrible mother to Max and the way he was treating him.

Max then broke down crying into Musaki's arms and in his shoulders and said, "I would get nightmares every night that she would come back for me and hurt me again."

He hugged him tightly and Musaki just held him and he looked at the other side of the door and sees Mako standing there. He walks over to him and said, "I kinda heard the whole thing. Max hasn't told me anything like that before."

"I was too scared." Max said, in between tears.

"Well, don't worry. She won't be able to find you because you'll be with Musaki for 2 weeks."

"Huh?"

"Me, your brothers and sisters are gonna go out of town to bring in new kids here and you'll be staying with Musaki at the Jade Palace."

Max looked at Musaki and he smiled at him and Musaki told him, "You'll be safe with me there. I promise."

"Okay."

Musaki pats Max in the head as he left the room and then, Cody, Samurai, Phoenix and Tsunami came in with growing concern for Max and Cody said, "I know you'll take good care of him, Musaki."

"Yeah. It's just...I've never heard of some situations like that before and I worry for Max." Musaki added.

"So do we. But I know he'll be in good hands with him. We know we can trust you." Phoenix added.

"Thanks, guys."

Hours later, the rest of the clan went out of the house and said their farewells to Max and Musaki and as they left, Max felt really scared that his bio mother would come to grab him away and Musaki saw that fear in him and he said, "Don't worry. You're with me. Plus, you get to come to the Jade Palace."

"I guess it's okay."

Do I know how to kick off drama or what? And this is just the beginning! Stay tuned for more!