BXBX NOVEL Chapter 4 - 4. MILKY
[A/N: Remember, we are still a few decades away till Konoha is formed and other villages or nations are founded. All the tailed beasts do hate humans, but not to the level they did in the canon. Because till now, they have only been called monsters or chased by people. They have not experienced being captured and turned into a caged beast inside a Jinchuriki. So, don\'t be surprised if they are not as crazy or human-hating. Though they will become that when we reach the canon story.]
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Dread and fear swept everybody\'s hearts and minds there. The big fox just ate that magical baby. Jin, who was until now still protesting, turned silent and started crying.
"Why did you eat him? You can speak, you are smart... just why?" Jin asked Kurama weakly.
"Strong prey on the weak. That\'s the law of the universe. Now, hand me all your cows." Kurama ordered them in a threatening voice.
"Please, let us go. If you take our cattle, then we are as good as dead. Or... just kill us all! That would be a much better fate than to slowly starve to death." The mother of Jin voiced angrily. Anger was a quick way to get over your fears sometimes, but certainly not a wise thing.
Kurama laughed, "HAHAHA... fine, you asked for this."
Everyone closed their eyes, to not know when death came to them.
"HAYA!" But, all of a sudden, the voice of that baby came to them once again.
Jin immediately opened his eyes when he heard that and saw that Shiroken was as fine as ever. He was hanging from one of Kurama\'s nostrils while waving one arm around.
Kurama felt like punching his own head after this. It was impossible to contain Shiroken if he didn\'t want to. But... he had a much bigger problem now... he needed to sneeze.
"UH-OH... AAA... AAACHOOO!" he faced towards the sky and sneezed. Poor Shiroken was thrown upwards as he saw what it was like above the clouds, he then looked at the sun and the beautiful sea of clouds underneath.
Then, he started to fall like a missile, whistling down. But for Shiroken, it was all fun and games. "AHAHAHA..."
Kurama got nervous on the ground. ~Will he die if he falls from there? I remember he was fine when we first saw him~
But he decided to not take his chances and catch him mid-air. So, he adjusted himself and looked up from where Shiroken would fall.
After 2 seconds, Shiroken became clearly visible to all of them. Kurama held his hands out to catch him.
100 meters
50 metres
He was so fast. But, poor Kurama miscalculated and this lead Shiroken to fall straight on top of his furry head.
*BOOM*
"OWWWWWW..." For the first time, Kurama let out an animal-like cry. A big bump swelled on top of his head.
Meanwhile, Shiroken was simply sitting on his back, relaxing on the fluffy red fur. Kurama looked back at Shiroken in annoyance, "What kind of revenge are you taking on me today?"
Shiroken yawned and started making hungry signs. It was simple, he would start trying to eat whatever was closest to him. Right now it was Kurama himself.
Kurama turned to the villagers, "You have milk for him?"
"Yes, yes... we have some." They meekly gave it to him with no questions asked.
Kurama simply took one of their empty buckets, poured all the milk they gave him and held Shiroken near the bucket. Shiroken also started directly drinking it.
Boredly, Kurama looked at the various villagers who were cowering in fear, and feeling the uncertainty looming over their lives. "Where are you going?" He asked them.
"Across the canyon, to new lands." The village chief answered immediately, not wasting anytime.
Kurama was a smart guy, so when his eyes fell on all the cows, he had an idea form in his mind. ~If I can kidnap them and make them provide milk and food for Shiro, we will never have to worry about anything~
"BRUBRUBRU..."
"AH..." Kurama saw that he had dipped Shiroken too much into the milk so he pulled him slightly back. Everyone there was secretly shocked and confused about what was happening. First, it was the blatant child abuse of a baby that did not die even after falling so high from the sky. Then there was this big scary fox beast taking care of a baby like it was a normal thing.
"Humans... do you want a safe land to live on? A land which will always be protected from those pest shinobi?" He asked.
Everyone\'s heads nodded automatically.
"Good, then just do as I say. I will give you land to live on, and in return, you will feed Shiro here some milk. I, and my siblings, will protect you if you don\'t try to fight us or call us names. Okay?" Kurama asked/ordered them.
"Uh... can we think about it?" A man from the group asked.
Kurama showed his fangs, "Can\'t I just eat you all and be done with it?"
~We are definitely hostages now~ The man thought and surrendered to his fate.
Kurama has the innate ability to sense negative emotions, so he knew what all these people were collectively feeling. "If you stay honest, I will not eat you. You will also get protection. The place you are going to is also infested with Shinobi. As such, even there you can die easily. Decide fast now, Shiro is almost done drinking his milk."
Everyone\'s eyes nearly fell out when they noticed that the little baby had really almost finished drinking the whole bucket of milk. Then, it seemed that the bucket was their hourglass. The moment it gets empty, their fate will be decided.
It was now up to the village chief to decide. All others will follow, as they have done till now.
A long moment of silence ensued, with only the sound of Shiroken cutely gulping milk being audible. Then... the old man\'s brows fluttered and he opened his eyes.
"We will accept your offer, great forest spirit. We will follow you and establish our village where you tell us. But, you must promise us that you will keep us all safe from any harm." the village chief said with a dignified expression.
Kurama also knew that he shouldn\'t push them too much. "I will keep you all safe, from all except me, because if you mess with me..."
"Yes, you will eat us. Please lead the way, and I am Rakumatsu." he bowed towards Kurama and introduced himself. All others followed suit and bowed.
Kurama, for the first time, was seeing humans actually bowing to him and giving him respect. Although there was a hint of fear, but still.
*THUD*
Kurama turned his head and saw Shiroken had fallen in the bucket as it was empty. He was now just licking it clean, a proud thing Kurama had taught him.
"Then follow me, and be fast," Kurama ordered them and walked deeper into the forest with Shiroken sitting on his head.
"PA PA PA... LA LA LA... KU KU KU... CHO CHO CHO..." Shiroken made cute noises from the top while patting Kurama\'s head as if it was a drum. His smile and positive energy were surely relaxing for the people following close behind.
Kurama was using his powers to make way for them through the jungle, or else they would never be able to bring their carriages. He was still covering his tracks though.
Kurama\'s towering height made it very hard for them to get lost in the forest anyway. But, poor folks didn\'t know that Kurama had run more than 100 kilometres before, and now it was a journey back.
Being a little considerate, Kurama let them rest every now and then. But it was still going to take them too long.
Just when they least expected, a voice came from the sky, "SHIRO-CHAN! KURA-CHAN... Where are you?"
It was none other than Chomei. He must have come looking for them as they had not returned in a day. Soon, Chomei noticed the large form of Kurama and flew down to them.
"You are here. Why did you not return already?" Chomei asked Kurama, who just sidestepped for Chomei to see the people.
Seeing this hoard of people, his helmet-like head shined, "Kura-chan, I thought you stopped eating humans."
Kurama then proceeded to explain who they were and why he was bringing them along. That was all it took for Chomei to accept it.
"Don\'t fear me, little humans. I am Lucky-Seven-Chomei. All of you, get into your carts and carriages. I will bring you all with me." Chomei excitedly told them.
But, seeing they were not moving, Kurama growled, "DO IT. I don\'t have time to take 10 days to get somewhere I can reach in minutes."
Everyone scrambled to get onto the nearest cart. Then, Chomei lifted them with his claws and flew to the camp. It took him two turns to take all the people with him. Kurama meanwhile was back in speed mode and leapt through the forest. In just 15 minutes they arrived home.
Currently, all the people there were on the ground, cowering in fear at seeing all the 9 giant figures at the same time. Just 1 single Kurama was like a nightmare to them, seeing all of them at the same time made even a few of them faint.
"WHO ARE THESE HUMANS? WHY ARE THEY HERE?" Shukaku protested angrily and even ran to kill a few.
"AYAAAAA..." But Shiroken jumped down from Kurama\'s head and stopped him.
Kurama explained the details then. "... All of us have no experience in how to raise a child. For now, he only drinks milk, but later he will need to eat. And we don\'t even know what a child can eat and what he can\'t, so what if he becomes sick because of that?"
Kurama used Shiroken\'s health as a reason because he knew, no matter how angry Shukaku was with other humans, Shiroken was someone he cared for dearly.
"BUT..." Shukaku muttered.
Gyuki became the voice of reason at that moment and agreed with Kurama, "Calm down, Shukaku. These humans are not shinobi. For us, even those Shinobi are as easy to deal with as insects. If these humans go against us, we can wipe them out at any time. But there is no harm in trying. Do not forget what the old man had taught us."
Now that the topic came to the old man, all of them turned silent. Shukaku just huffed and went away angrily.
"These are all my siblings. We may look like beasts, but we are far smarter than you all combined, so take my warning and never try to betray our trust or harm Shiro. If you do..." Gyuki\'s round white eyes turned red and it was a clear message to all.
Rakumatsu kneeled at them and vowed, "I vow that neither I nor any member of my village will go against you. We just want to live peacefully."
"Then as long as you desire it, peace is what you will get." Matatabi\'s feminine cold voice warned them again.
Kurama was happy that all agreed with his plans. This made him truly feel like he was the leader of all siblings, like he always considered himself. So he instructed the villagers, "You all may establish your village here. Use the wood from the trees around here to create your dwellings. As for the cattle..."
He simply waved his tails and created a quick shed and fence for the animals.
Rakumatsu thanked him again, "Thank you, great spirit. But, what shall we name this village?"
"OH OH... I know... let\'s name it... MILKY!... because they live here to give milk to Shiro." Chomei once again gave one of his stupid suggestions.
[You can see Chomei, Shukaku and Gyuki on my Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]
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Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely* *Franklin Walley*
Thank you for your support!