Sasuke did not have much knowledge of a fox, but he acted quick, assuming animals were all the same, holding the young fox's little feet and dangling it upside down while swaying to back and forth to let out unwanted water out of its lungs. An action which is to be done for preventing drowning cats from death.

This was when Sasuke realised, widening his eyes, that this little fox he was holding, had multiple tails


Chapter 2: Same world


Hn. No wonder it looked like a momiji*… Sasuke thought.

After the little fox coughed and spluttered, realising all the contents in the lungs, it was set down and it curled up into a ball, from pain, terror and confusion.

For the first time in life, the young, stuck up Uchiha felt sorry and guilt for the tiny fur ball creature.

He patted the little creature which jerked at his touch from fear.

It was because Sasuke had nearly drowned it, not to mention physical violence before hand.

"…I'm sorry," Sasuke quietly muttered to the fluffy fur ball, his voice sounding fully apologetic.

It was probably the first time Sasuke ever said those simple words which had much more meaning than an essay, a book or an encyclopaedia when a person truly meant the words and say it clearly.

The feeling reached the small fox, understanding those words and lifted its head, the dark, crimson eyes staring hard into deep onyx eyes of Sasuke's who held out a hand before the fox.

The fox licked the palm as if it was accepting Sasuke's apology, and then crashed its head onto the palm, having no energy to support itself anymore.

Sasuke panicked and ran all the way home, carrying the dripping wet fox, secured carefully between two thin, pale arms and a thumping chest.

The one to spot the young Uchiha running towards home was Itachi who saw Sasuke's worry-filled look and became concerned.

"What's wrong?" Itachi asked the panting little Uchiha who reached the Uchiha residents at last.

Sasuke held the little fox before Itachi who quickly understood the health of the poor creature by looking at it and took it in.

"…is it… gonna be aright?" Sasuke asked, uninterestedly, trying not to sound too worried that will hint Sasuke's feelings of how he cares much about the fluffy fur ball who was at rest in a basket with warm blankets covering its body along with the multiple tails.

Itachi saw through his little brother and gave the usual kind smile although quite surprised to see the stuck up little one being so worried and anxious.

"This little one can heal on its own, and quite rapidly, actually. Very unusual but that seems to be the case," Itachi explained, and then added,"No need to worry, Sasuke."

"…I'm not worried," Sasuke muttered to the floor, where his view soon turned from the floor to his elder brother.

Itachi had pulled Sasuke's small, left arm and started to wrap a clean, white bandage around the wound that was received from the fox which Sasuke forgot about till now.

The wound had sealed its passage from letting any blood out and had been cleanly washed off from the river during underwater and Itachi had no need to tend the wound in any way except pulling over a bandage around it to prevent the fragile wound from opening again or get infected.

As he did so, he spoke to Sasuke," the little fox here is just like you, Sasuke."

Sasuke laid out a confused and doubtful expression on his face.

"Trying to do anything that will catch attention and get acknowledged, trying to point out your existence, saying 'I'm here'," Itachi said, pin-pointing Sasuke's feelings and actions which made Sasuke form a small flush against his pale cheeks from embarrassment.

Not wanting to admit it, Sasuke turned away with a small, "hmph!"

"I'll leave the rest to you," said Itachi as he playfully prodded a couple of fingers upon Sasuke's forehead.

Sasuke winced and rubbed his forehead while glaring at his brother's back till it was out of sight.

Sasuke turned his attention on the fox, to his wound, and back to the fox again.

"Hn! Well you did a good job at proving your little existence," Sasuke muttered sarcastically at the little fox that seemed to have woke up and was staring hard at Sasuke as if trying to understand Sasuke's words.

The fox cooed as if it pleaded for something.

"Don't coo at me! I don't have anything for you," Sasuke snapped, annoyed.

He hated irritating voices that sounded whiny and yellow.

The little fox placed both its furry paws on the edge of the basket, wanting to be closer to the young Uchiha but finding that it can't support its body weight out of the basket.

It cooed at Sasuke again, trying to communicate in attempt for asking help, but Sasuke angrily stared at the fox.

"I hate whiny voices and high tones, so shut up. Be lucky that you're even here to be taken care of!" Sasuke said harshly that stopped the little fox completely.

Hesitatingly, the furry thing tried again, putting its fear aside and asking for help out of the basket.

Sasuke looked down at the little furry creature a little surprised, noticing the cooing tone lowered as if it had understood Sasuke's words.

The furry paws was put down the back up onto the edge of the basket, to which Sasuke took the hint and lifted the feather-light baby fox which was much different to the weight when Sasuke carried it dripping wet.

Before lowering it down, Sasuke checked whether the fox was a male or a female.

Finding the young fox being a male, Sasuke somewhat felt relieved, but not sure why.

He placed the fox on the tatami* where it sat quietly like a stuffed toy.

The young Uchiha took the chance of this stillness and counted his its tails.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5… is that 6?" Sasuke said, looking at one that was smaller and shorter than the rest.

Realising that the fox was getting some attention by the young Uchiha, it swished all its tail a few times with joy, but with lack of energy restored, it couldn't jump around, thought it was enough to amuse the little Uchiha.

It seemed he found a liking towards the furry golden fox a little.

Sasuke playfully tugged on the smallest tail to which the little fox's tail twitched and curled it behind, out of Sasuke's reach.

Another attempt by reaching around the fox made the fox pull it between its legs and hide it with its body, but Sasuke knew the fox was enjoying the play from its reactions since the little fox swished the other tails excitingly like a dog wagging tis tail.

This was the first time that Sasuke got a proper response at something he did, and it eventually made him form a small smile.

What Sasuke didn't know, was that it was the first time the fox got a response from someone too.

Looking at the smiling face of Sasuke's, the little fox stared at him with big, round, crimson eyes, storing this image deep into its mind, and also falling in love with it.

The little fox rolled over and showed its less golden chest where Sasuke scratched it with care.

Loving the feeling, the little one cooed lowly, but happily.


Cye: Definitely not the last chapter.

Vocab

-Momiji: Acer palmatum, called Japanese Maple. Usually the image is red, but actually has a range of colours with different variation

-Tatami: Thick woven straw mats that are used instead of carpet.