Raised by Lions

Chapter 20: Antlers

The migraines didn't stop for a couple days and Ibuki was even considering as much as taking Louis to a doctor in the city. Course there are doctors in the Market, but you don't just trust them to deal with a herbivore.

Some of the lions seemed worried, others treated it like a normality, and Agata was often seen slipping Louis painkillers and Free giving Louis the occasional bit of alcohol or a cigarette. All of the above seemed to work and as long as the older lions didn't deem it excessive, they didn't interfere with this arrangement.

A week of this passed before Louis woke up one morning with a strange feeling in his head. No... on top of his head, actually. He scratched an itch by his ear and touched something that wasn't there the night before. He practically flew out of bed with the speed he was going and jumped up onto the counter in his bathroom to look in the mirror.

To his surprise, and slight horror, two stubs were there between his ears. He carefully trailed a hand over them, feeling the odd texture of the skin over it. Was this why he was having migraines all week? He had to talk to Ibuki.

Thinking of migraines, his head thudded in familiar pain and he scrambled to swallow some painkillers from the bottle in his bathroom quickly. If he snuffed it before it got too bad then he'd be able to bare it.

He made quick work of getting dressed and then ran to go find Ibuki. He found Ibuki and Dolph in the kitchen, after almost tripping twice down the stairs.

Running over, Louis forewent greetings and jumped onto the chair beside Ibuki, flinching at the screeching sound the chair made as it skidded over the linoleum floor. "Dad! Dad! Help!" Ibuki immediately turned his attention to Louis.

"What's up, kiddo?" Ibuki asked, trying to not flip out over his son being in distress. "Look at this! What is this?!" Louis all but yelled in a panic, pointing to the stubs on his head. They were no bigger than a couple sentimeters above his skull.

Ibuki stared for a moment and it even took a solid minute for it to click in his own head. "Louis, calm down, it's okay," Ibuki said, gently cupping Louis' face and lifting his chin to look up at him. Louis sniffled, looking years younger than he was. Ibuki couldn't remember the last time Louis had such a fragile look in his eyes.

Ibuki gently wiped a tear away from Louis' cheek and had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. "Louis, what are you?" Louis blinked, confused but still fragile looking. Ibuki sighed, he should rephrase that.

"Louis, what species are you?" Ibuki asked, trying to get Louis to connect the dots for himself. Louis blinked again, clearing his throat before saying, "Red Deer. What does this have to do with anything?" Louis watched as Ibuki and Dolph exchanged a look and Dolph also seemed to be holding back a laugh.

"And what's own to deer species in the male department?" Louis blinked, now just confused as he tried to think it through with a still muddled morning brain. Then it seemed to click and Louis blushed so brightly his fur actually seemed red. "Antlers," He said in a voice just above a whisper, even his ears now tinted in blush.

Ibuki let out a soft chuckle, "Exactly. Your antlers are just growing in. No need for panic." Louis let out a sigh of relief, accompanied by a nervous laugh. "That explains the constant migraines," Dolph quipped and suddenly it made sense to Louis as well.

Before he could think too much about it, Louis flinched and grabbed the left side of his head in a spot between his eye and his antler stubs. "Ow!" He hissed. Dolph sighed and got up to make Louis some tea.

If anyone had been paying attention, they would've noticed Dolph's tail unfurling from Ibuki's as he got up.

While he was making tea, Free came into the kitchen in his usual gremlin fashion, squatting in front of the fridge to dig out leftovers as he did every morning. Louis groaned and Free grumbled, "Same to you pipsqueak. Still got migraines?" The lion asked between bites of leftover pork ribs.