Dried leaves crunched underneath the boot of a hunter, whom was partially crouched. Camouflage patterned clothing covered his body, making him seemingly blend into the foliage around him, least from a distance. Resting in his hands was a rifle that he uses each time that he goes on one of his hunting trips, the scope that was secured to the top of the iron and wooden top of the rifle gleaming slightly from the occasional ray of light that caught it.

The man wasn't alone though, a younger individual following him. However, the child's face had that of uncertainty plastered on it, like as though he was having to follow his father involuntarily. Dressed in the same style of the father, the child had to stick close to him lest he himself wind up lost in these very woods that they both were crouching through.

“Son…” the father spoke in a low tone, his head turning and eyes glancing over his shoulder to the child, whom tried to keep himself from flinching beneath the gaze. “Even though it's good that you stuck with me up to now, but I don't want you trying to run back home. You'll have to be like me at some point, especially when living out here.”

“But dad, I–” the child tried to bicker, but easily ceased when the gaze from the father turned into a harsh glare.

“No buts! Now, when we manage to find something, I'll take the shot so that you yourself can attempt for the next game we find after.” he stated, turning his head forward again, resuming his movement, the child having to follow him lest he face any harsh consequences.

The father and son continued to creep through the brush of the forest, the father signaling to stop every so often for him to search around, resuming his walk after not spotting anything. The sun overhead was steadily lowering towards the western horizon as this went on, the father determined to find something to shoot, even if it would be a fawn or rabbit. The child though wanted to head back, some of the sounds that were starting to ring out through the forest were easily unnerving him, occasionally having to hold in the sound of a whimper of fear.

Just when it looked like there was going to be nothing for the father, his gaze caught something further ahead, holding his hand behind him facing the child in a gesture to stop. He lifted the rifle up, gazing through the scope to see what the object was. Further ahead was something that had the same coloration of the deer that could be found in the forest, though the fur was a deal longer than those of said creatures. He inspected the 'mound' through the scope, seeing that it was moving, slowly rising and falling over the course of a few seconds, repeating in a constant cycle.

“Well I'll be…” he muttered under his breath, the child looking up at him.

“What is it, dad?” the child asked, trying to look in the direction the rifle was aiming at.

The scope wasn't a long-distance one, so the child could somewhat see the moving mound, curiosity starting to rise at what it was. The anomaly seemed to shift, one portion of it lifting up from it, a pair of black-tipped ears poking up from it, the father easily able to identify what kind of creature it was.

“A fox?” he questioned, his lips slowly curling up in a smirk. “Mighty big one as well. Its pelt 'oughta be worth a fortune.” he stated to himself, looking to the child. “Watch and Learn son. You're gonna be doing this when you're a grown man.”

Prior to him stating such, the child's eyes seemed to light up when he heard that the creature ahead was a fox, though dread came to him when he heard what his father said, seeing his gaze go back to looking through the scope. The click of the rifle's safety being switched off barely sounded out, the man taking in a breath to hold it and steady his heart, which in turn would reduce the interference from its beats. He lined up the cross-hairs to where he could assume where the fox's heart was located, seeing the ears of the vulpine flick slightly at the edge of his vision.

The child though watched his father aiming the rifle, looking over to the fox, an internal conflict starting to well up within him. On one hand, he didn't want his father to shoot the larger fox, seeing the child was one that loved its kind. On the other though, he wanted to learn since his father was insistent on teaching him this, which was due to him restricting the child from everything but learning about hunting past his early childhood. His gaze shifted from his father and to the fox, his breathing starting to hasten as he tried to make a decision; Interfere with the shot and save the fox, or let it be shot as his father wanted it to be.

The man's finger pulling back on the trigger made him snap to a decision, lunging with hands outstretched to the rifle to knock it off of its intended target. A shot rang out just as the rifle was shoved, the father looking at the child with an expression of shock, which quickly turned to anger. A yelp from the fox sounded out as the father shoved the protesting child off of him, a shell from the rifle being jettisoned out of the rifle's chamber before he looked to where the fox was at.

His anger was quickly turned to fear, seeing that the shot did not hit his intended target, seeing the large beast speeding right at him, fangs bared and legs powering it along the ground. The man yelled out as he lifted the rifle to try and fire a panic shot at the fox, only for the beast to charge into him, easily making him lose his grip on the gun. He was carried right into a tree, slamming into it and forcing all the air out of his body, feeling a harsh pop coming from his back due to the impact and the back of his head erupting with pain.

The fox pulled back, the man slumping to the base of the tree, stars dancing in his vision and blood seeping from the wound on the back of his head. The child, whom was down on the ground, watched with a mixture of shock and fear, having witnessed the beast slam his father into the tree. Growls were audible from the beast, glaring at the human that shot at it, slowly walking up to his dazed and defenseless form. Much as it wanted to sink its fangs into the human's neck and end it right there, it had other plans in mind. Looking to each of the pouches on the human's vest, it moved its head to each of them and bit into the woven fabric, yanking its head back and tore the bottoms of each of the pouches to let their contents spill out and around the human, making sure that none of them had other weapons the human could have used against it.

Once each of them were torn and rendered unable to hold anything, the fox moved its head over the human's its jaws parting as it moved them around the head. Once the head was in far enough, the jaws bit down into the vest of the human if only to have a form of grip on it, lifting the human up slightly from his spot, its tongue wrapping around whatever it could. Lifting its head up, its jaws let up on their grip, letting the human slide down further into its maw, the head pressing up against the entrance to the throat. The ring of muscle opened up with ease, the human slipping in further, the shoulders of him catching onto the edges of the fox's lips, though a light shake of its head easily had them slip inside.

With a swallow, the human's head was gripped by the throat, the muscles tugging on it to pull the human further inside, the entrance having to stretch itself to accommodate the shoulders, doing so with little problem. Gravity was in favor with the fox, it swallowing again to pull the human further in, the legs of him hanging limply outside of its jaws. A third swallow and the neck of the fox was swelling slightly from a large lump forming on it, the only form of resistance the dazed human could do was barely twitching.

Close by though, the child could only watch as his father was steadily vanishing into the jaws of the fox, the height of it standing up easily larger than what his father was. Despite his fear of what was happening, he felt the longing urge to approach the beast, slowly getting up from his spot and starting to walk towards it. Even when the sound of its swallowing met his ears and seeing his father sliding further in, he didn't feel worried about the fox, soon standing almost next to its side, seeing its chest swelling out as he figured it was his father sliding through it.

Swallowing whatever fear he had down, he lifted a hand and reached out to the oak-brown side of the fox before him, glancing up at the head of it before his hand pressed against the side of it. He was able to feel the warmth of the fox's body through his hand, seeing the head of it turning down to face him once its jaws closed. The child felt unnerved at the gaze he was receiving, it still showing anger from being shot at. The left ear of the fox though had a sizable chunk of it missing, blood trickling from it at a slow rate, showing that it was hit by the bullet and healing.

“Um…good foxie…?” the child stated, pulling his hand back and took a step back from the fox.

He stumbled a bit when he saw the beast turn to face him, fear welling up as he continued to step away from it. His foot got caught on a root and fell back with a yell, landing on his back, the landing cushioned slightly by the leaves on the ground. When the child looked back to the fox after the landing, he froze when he saw the head of it lowering down to him, seeing the nose of it flaring slightly, hearing it sniff his downed form. He didn't try to move himself, locked up with fear of the beast, though felt that he should try and tell it that he did save it from his father.

When he managed to ease himself just enough, he moved a hand to the snout of the vulpine, seeing its eyes dart down to looking at it. Despite such, the child laid his hand on the side of the fox's snout, feeling the strands of fur caught underneath the palm and fingers of it, a bit ticklish but refrained from chuckling, seeing the eyes of the fox shift between his hand and looking right at him.

“I uh…I tried to…stop him.” the child said to the fox with bits of hesitation. “I-I didn't want him…to sh-shoot you…”

The fox continued to gaze down at the child before it, the wounded ear flicking slightly from the trickle of blood that was on it, tiny dots of it landing on other parts of the head. Its belly sagged from the human adult fully entering it, and was originally going to add the child to it. After hearing his explanation of how he tried to save it though, the thoughts of consuming the child started to wane, brushing its head away from the small hand that rested on its snout, its tongue coming out and lapped at the child's face. The young human before it sputtered from the largely unexpected lick, though he backed away from the fox, crying out for it to not eat him. However, the fear was easily washed away when the large beast took a couple steps forward, laying itself down right next to the child, its fur partially covering him.

Seeing the fox do that, the child started to calm down even smiling at the warmth of the fox's body. He pulled his arm out from underneath it since the giant ended up laying on it, slowly hugging the side of its chest. A purr rumbled out from the fox, it lightly nuzzling the child in return for the gesture, its body slowly curling up around the child, further sharing its body warmth with him. Seeing and feeling such, the child couldn't help but giggle happily at such, easily snuggling into the warm fur of his new friend, his fear of it now nonexistent. He was about to fully relax in the fur of the fox, though remembered on what happened, looking to the belly of the giant then to its face.

“Um…my dad…?” he started, seeing its gaze shift to him. “He…he was a big jerk, always yelling at me, saying I should…hate animals instead of liking them…” the child let out a saddened sigh, snuggling up into the fox a small bit. “Even when mom left, he was still mean and yelling at me…but…when I saw he was about to shoot you, I didn't want him to hurt you…”

The fox listened to the child's story, saddened that he had to go through such hard times, lightly nuzzling the child to assure him. A smile came to his face and he laughed at the nuzzle, happily hugging the snout of the fox.

“Th-thank you…!” he said to it, though involuntarily yawned after, realizing on how tired he was, all due to him having to come with his father.

No other word was needed to be said, the fox nuzzling the child a bit more and even curling up more tightly around the child, willing to shield him from the nightly chill that would follow. A giggle came from the child due to such, him snuggling into the fur of the fox, whom purred from such, the child easily starting to drift to sleep.

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Requested by DeviantArt user HenriTheLucario.