Raised by Lions

Chapter 7: Parent to Parent

It had been a slow day in the market, so Ibuki called up their 'friend' in the Dokugumi and arranged a time to meet so the kids could play.

It had gone similar to the last time, Louis and Legosi were playing in the corner with some toys the pup had and Gosha and Ibuki were sitting across from each other on plush couches in Gosha's office, while their closest Gumi members did whatever they did outside the office.

The two had just been watching the kids play in comfortable silence until Ibuki cleared his throat and effectively caught Gosha's attention. "You've been in this position longer than I have, and I've been wondering something." Gosha offered a small smile, but his eyes examined Ibuki's features for any signs of malintent. Their kids were friends, that didn't mean they were.

"Hmm?" Gosha hummed, giving Ibuki the go ahead to ask. "Louis' been catching up with his age, which makes me wonder if it'd be a good idea to send him to a school?" Gosha thought for a moment, then shrugged, "In my experience, children aren't too good at keeping secrets. There aren't any schools back here and it could cause a great fuss if they mentioned anything about the Gumis."

Ibuki frowned but he had to admit the old lizard had a point. "Then what would you suggest? I can't leave the kid uneducated." Gosha nodded, "I never said that. My plan with Legosi is to homeschool him until middle school, where he can be taught to properly keep a secret. I'd suggest you do the same." Ibuki was quiet for a moment as he considered this.

Louis could easily accidentally let slip who they were and then there'd be trouble and all that shit. Then again, did any of them have the ability to homeschool the fawn? If it was only until he started middle school, like age 12, then it was possible. Most of them finished middle school, even if almost none of them did the same with high school.

He let out a sigh and nodded in agreement, "That may be the best course of action." Now just to decide who had the patience to teach a fawn, evidently Hino didn't, remembering what happened when they tried to teach Louis to talk.

More questions about raising a kid from his side, and Gosha answering them to the best of his ability was exchanged. "Doctor wise, where'd you suggest we go?" Gosha frowned, which caused Ibuki to elaborate, "I found him in the livestock tower, I'm pretty sure he isn't vaccinated or anything and in the long run, there's a chance he'll still get sick."

That seemed to be enough for Gosha, who took out his phone and gave Ibuki the number of the doctor he had on payroll. "Since there's no doctors back here, this one is deeper into the City, however, he's chill with families whose kids aren't the same species as the parents." Ibuki nodded, thankfully. That was another thing he could tick off that wasn't a worry anymore.

The conversation went on like that.

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Meanwhile, Louis and Legosi had built a 'castle' with Legosi's blocks and Louis had a small blanket tied around his neck like a cape while Legosi had a toy sword hooked in the loop of his pants.

"King Louis declares you the top Knight, Legosi. Now, go slay the dragon in the mountains!" Louis declared, pointing randomly into the air. Legosi giggled but playfully bowed, "As you wish, King Louis!" They both giggled again before Legosi ran a lap around the room, toy sword extended in front of him.

Legosi could hear the adults laughing at them, but didn't think much of it. They were friends and it was fun to play pretend with Louis. When Legosi finished the lap and returned to Louis, he held out a small plushie that looked like a dragon and said, "I have slayed the dragon, my King, and as proof, here is it's head."

Louis took the plushie and placed it on one of the walls of their castle, proclaiming, "Well done, my Knight!" They giggled again.

The two adults assumed the 'mounted' head of the dragon was some sort of a childish, more innocent, version of how they'd string up bodies at the gates of their respective mansions and the mounted skulls of fallen leaders on the walls of the offices. It was cute, in a morbid sense of the word.