Raised by Lions

Chapter 3: To Hide A Fawn

Almost two months have passed since Ibuki brought the fawn to the hideout and most of the lions have taken a liking to the kid. The only trouble was, with more words in Louis' vocabulary and him being properly fed, lead to the kid being more active and that makes it harder to hide him from their boss.

Louis had learned by now that the old lion with the light marks around his eyes and a cane was one he should be avoiding. He'd usually only seen him from afar before one of the other Shishigumi members hid him away.

On one such occasion, he'd been following Sabu through the corridor to the bathroom from the dining room, the bandana wearing lion seemed to be walking ever so slightly slower to allow Louis to keep up. Heavy footsteps and wooden clicking came from the opposite side of the hall, where a much older looking lion with a cane exited a room.

Sabu had momentarily flinched a little and then shoved Louis into the hallway closet. The small fawn, caught off guard by the action, was frozen in place as he sat on the floor of the closet between dusty blankets and other things he didn't recognise.

The heavy footsteps of Chief lion passed by, along with the rhythmic clanking of his cane, and the lion merely regarded Sabu in passing, "What are you looking for, Sabu?" He had a gruff voice to him, Louis noted. "Just checking for more cleaner, we ran out and my blood stained shirt from the other night is still in horrible condition." Sabu answered with a grunt. This seemed to be enough for the leader, since he made a noncommittal hum and moved into the direction of the kitchen.

Sabu waited until he couldn't see Chief anymore and then opened the closet, offering his hand and softly asking, "You good, kid?" Louis nods and takes the offered hand, eyes fixated on the very long, very sharp looking claws. He kept hold of that clawed hand, following the masked lion through the halls again. Sabu was bent at a slightly awkward angle for walking, but for some reason, he couldn't bring himself to pull his hand away from Louis, who was clutching one of his fingers very tightly.

   _______________°•○●○•°_______________

Another such time, Chief had come in during the usual dinner routine, which Louis now attended, and Jinma promptly grabbed the fawn by the midsection and pulled him into his jacket. For a second Jinma realised how truly small the fawn was, since his whole hand had wrapped around Louis' midsection for a split second.  Louis seemed to get the idea and stayed as close to Jinma's side as he possibly could to make himself as small as possible. Jinma also hunched forward a little to create a little more cover. Louis was completely covered by the jacket.

The group was thankful for Jinma's quick thinking and also the fact that Louis didn't panic, scream or make any noise in general if any of them grabbed him suddenly.

When Chief left the room again, all eyes turned to Jinma, who sat upright again and moved his jacket to let Louis out. Louis giggled and got down from where he stood on Jinma's thigh, clutching the lion's shirt, sitting in his previous spot and eating further, as if nothing had transpired in the first place.

They didn't actively feed him meat at meals, but wouldn't deny him a bite if he asked it from them. They found it odd, but cute, so they kept up with it.

Ibuki wondered, between bites of steak, if Louis had gotten used to the group of lions way too quickly or if he just saw it as some game and was playing along.

  
_______________°•○●○•°_______________

By the third time it happened, Louis seemed to have picked up on it. The heavy footsteps approached again, this time to the livingroom, where the lions had been relaxing after a busy day in the market.

After hearing them, Louis promptly jumped down and ducked in under the low couch, staying very quiet and still. Ibuki shrugged off the idea that the smell of herbivore would reach Chief because Louis smelled like a mix of all their scents at this point.