Naruto: Distorted Daydream

18. Milk

The beginning of its consciousness were with the taste of sweetness. When it felt hungry, it would cry like it had learnt before.

But satiety would come rarely.

It was obvious.

Malnourishment reduced what the Choinoke mother could provide from her breasts. So, of course, she would prefer feeding her child over the one in the cage.

Time didn't exist here. She'd either stare at the walls or play with her child. The keeper would come at random intervals to feed them.

At her request, she was provided with two basins of water for cleaning, some cloth and soap. Her life became a routine of walking up to her child's cries, feeding him, cleaning up and playing with him, eating, sitting blankly and sleeping.

A satisfying life.

Sometimes, she would press herself against the cage to feed the creature. She was terrified of it. At first, she had some pity. But that stopped later when it grew a full set of teeth within a week. Sharp, pointy, beastlike fangs. It wasn't a human child.

So she would stay away from it. It smelled foul, covered in urine and faeces and its bed stained with curdled milk odours.

That day, it was hungry. Its stomach twisted in its gut. And its neter regions were sore with rashes from unchanged diapers. In its pain, it curled up its torso and found itself sitting upright. For the first time it sat up. It was a new perspective, enough to distract it.

It could see outside the low wooden brim. The skinny, dark figure that fed it was doing something in the corner outside the cage.

Hunger made it act. It pushed against the bars trying to get her attention.

This, was the second biggest mistake of its life.

..................................
The Yugakure keeper barged in hearing a scream.

"What happened?"

The lady held her chest.

"Ah, nothing. I just got spooked."

"Hm?"

"That-that child suddenly got up..."

The thing in the cage was looking at them with unnaturally piercing blue eyes. Its arm flapped around through the bars as it made unintelligible sounds trying to attract their attention.

Ryūki was in his haunt pouring over scrolls received from his superiors. Scattered bits of encryptions, maps of the surrounding terrains, supply points, newspaper clippings, covered his desks.

In a matter of a few weeks, this place had become his hidden, underground fortress.

"Ryūki-sama."

He looked at his subordinate.

"The Jinchuuriki."

He collected the documents and dumped them in the drawer then went with him.

Ryūki observed the creature in the cage. It had finally learnt to sit up by itself. It stared back at him observing everything.

"Well, so this...Jinchuuriki... unexpectedly acts just like a normal human baby. I thought it would be more...."

Ryūki put his hand close to the bars. It reached out a small hand and grabbed his fingers pulling at them.

"Heh." He narrowed his eyes.

"This changes things."

...................................................