Hello everybody, this is going to be a decently long, sad but ultimately uplifting tale about a certain family of rabbits that ends up 'buying' a fox. This story is going to cover a number of years (12 in total), so do not be surprised to see multiple time-skips throughout the story. There is no need to worry about this story not being finished either. I always finish what I start before I publish anything so you will never find yourself going weeks without an update.

That being said, I hope you all enjoy the story. It's going to start out slow, as it's told at first from the eyes of a very young child, but as they grow so will it. I just hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it (and if that seems odd given the context, just wait for the final chapter).

When she'd first heard the news, Judy had been more than a little shocked, but at the same time she'd been equally as excited. Her older siblings would brush her aside, telling her that little kits weren't allowed to see, but she'd push past them along with a number of other kits anyway, because she was five, a full handful, brimming with energy, and in a crowd of kits too large to be stopped by rabbits who were more interested in talking amongst themselves than they were preventing the kits from seeing the fox.

Judy didn't know why her parents had chosen to buy a fox, but buy him they had, and she wanted to see if he was anything like her stories, big, fast, cruel, with claws like daggers, teeth like knives, and a mean sneer to show the world how horrible he was. She was left disappointed, when she finally made it to the front lawn the thing waiting there looked nothing like what she'd imagined.

It certainly looked similar to how she'd seen foxes in pictures, but it was far smaller, its hands were hidden behind soft-looking gloves, its head was stuck in a strange device that looked part fabric and part metal, a bunch of metal loops going around the fox's mouth, almost too tight for him to be able to open it, while the fabric looped around his head and held it in place. A metal ring was around his neck, a yellow light on in the center of it, and the only other thing this 'fox' was wearing was a worn and torn pair of brown shorts. Even at her the age of 5 Judy knew it was too skinny, its arms being too small to snatch up any kits like in the stories, its legs too weak to run away from any cops. The thing was barely bigger than her, though even the extra height could be ignored as it was hunched forward protectively, its arms wrapped around its tail and holding it to its chest as it looked around at the large group of rabbits in front of it.

In front of the fox stood her parents, and they motioned for it to come near. Instead the little fox shook its head, eyes wide as it stared at the vast sea of bunnies. Judy saw her mother pull something out of her pocket, and not a second later the fox screaming out in pain, one hand shooting to its neck, but that stopped the second her suddenly sad-looking mother put whatever it was back in her pocket and soon it was holding its tail in both arms again, the same way Judy knew some of her sisters held their stuffed rabbit. She had to admire how fluffy the tail looked, if she was able to have something like it then she wouldn't let go either.

"Why isn't he de-clawed at least?" Judy heard one of the older rabbits ask another.

"That's part of the contract." Replied the second one, to a derisive snort from the first.

"Screw the contract, why did they agree to that anyway?" Asked the first one.

"Bon thinks he'll be good around the house when he's older." The second rabbit answered.

"Right, like I'll ever trust a fox to do anything right." The first one drawled out.

"Don't worry, but the time we're finished training him, you'll be eating those words." Replied the second with great amusement. Judy could only wonder what kind of training that would be, she'd seen some of her older siblings be trained to dig holes and plant vegetables and that seemed fun, she sometimes tried helping with her little shovel, but how would training be for a fox?

It turned out training for a fox was a lot different than it was for a bunny, as was his room. Judy's parents had put the fox in what used to be a closet, and locked the door for most of the first day.

"Can we see him?" She asked, pleading with her father amidst half a dozen other voices all echoing the same thought.

"No kits, you can't see him until we let him out." Her father replied as he continued to walk down the hallway.

"When is he coming out?" Asked a chorus of voices.

"After dinnertime, he needs to grow used to the place." Stu spoke, her father shrugging off the disappointed 'awww's' the crowd gave when the kits realized they wouldn't be able to see him for three more hours. Suddenly Stu spun on the spot and looked down at them. "You all know what happens when you're naughty right?" Her father asked, and the excited kits all nodded their heads. "Good, well the fox was naughty when we got to the lawn, that's why he was shocked, and that's why he's staying in his room until after dinner." Her father finished.

"Awwww!" The kits all whined again, even if they knew it wouldn't change their father's mind. Sure enough, Stu had soon turned around and was walking away, some of the kits following him, whereas others were like Judy, and decided to return to the fox's room, more than willing to wait here until supper, maybe they'd be able to see the fox before then.

When the fox was finally let out of his room, Judy was one of the kits who got to stand in the front row, now able to see him much closer she could tell that he still looked scared, his ears folding back rather than drooping, and his head darted around as he took in the crowd that was staring at him, though it was nothing compared to the crowd outside the house.

Her mother stood next to him, and motioned with her hand to everyone around her. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet our new helper, say 'hello'." She demanded as she looked down at him.

"H-hello!" The little fox stammered out with wide and frightened eyes.

"I expect anyone who has any objections about him staying with us to bring their thoughts to either myself or Stu, and I expect you'll treat out helper with all the respect he deserves." That second part seemed a little odd to Judy, why would a fox deserve anything?

Her mother turning back to the fox was the only thing that prevented her from asking the question, especially because she'd pulled a strange looking remote from her pocket and Judy was curious what it would do. "When he's being mean, you'll see this happen to him." As her mother spoke she pushed a button on the remote, and to Judy's surprise the light on the ring around the fox's neck turned red, and then the fox began crying out again, one arm reaching up to his neck, while the other seemed to just twitch. After a second the light changed back to yellow, and Judy could see the fox was crying, but she couldn't feel bad for him. Her mother had said that would happen if he was mean, so it was his fault.

Surprisingly her sentiment didn't seem shared by her parent, as her mother had another sad look on her face when she pocketed the device once more. "If he's being naughty, then you come and tell myself or Stu immediately, and we'll punish him appropriately." Judy nodded along with a number of other kits, this was something she couldn't wait for, her stories had told her all about the naughty foxes and she'd be making sure none of her siblings got hurt by him!

"Good, now fox, come." He mother demanded as she began to move a little down the hallway, the crowd parting for her as she went but the fox didn't move, instead he only glanced nervously around still. Judy's mother walked back to him, looked down at him for a second, and then with one of her hands gave a small swat to one of his ears.

Judy winced, she'd been swatted like that before and it had hurt for a minute. She'd also seen her siblings get swatted like that before and some of them began to cry, much like how this fox was beginning to cry right now. "Come." Her mother ordered, walking down the hallway again.

This time the fox quickly ran after her and Judy, along with a number of her siblings, closed behind him, the little kits fascinated by his long and puffy tail. Being the first in line, and more than a little curious, Judy reached out and grabbed at it, only to see it fly away from her and go between the fox's legs, safe from curious hands.

Undeterred, Judy followed the fox along with her siblings, curious where her mother was going and what she would make him do.

It turned out that her mother had taken the fox out to train, and simply had him do the dishes. It was boring to watch, but Judy stayed anyway, sure that there was something more to it, and even if there wasn't, she needed to keep an eye on the fox to make sure he wasn't naughty. When her mother said he was finished, she gave him a bowl of soup and tucked a straw in through the metal loops around his mouth. When that was gone her mother took him back to his room, and as soon as he was inside she'd locked the door.

It took Judy a little bit to realize she wasn't going to see the fox for the rest of the night, so she went back to her kit room, and returned in the morning to find her father in charge of the fox this time. Like her mother, her father would lightly swat one of the fox's ears when he didn't listen right away, but otherwise he took the fox around the burrow, told him about the different rooms, and then made him fold some laundry.

This time it was a bit different than when she was trained in how to fold laundry however, whenever the fox folded a shirt wrong and presented it to her dad, he would lightly hit the fox's ears, and after the third time he turned to see Judy and two of her sisters staring and watching him.

"It's okay kits." Her father stated in a friendly tone. "I'm just training him." He said while pointing to a small book in his other hand Judy hadn't noticed yet.

The next time the fox offered up a shirt, Judy could see his arms shaking in what she guessed was fear, but she didn't understand why. If he didn't want to get punished then he just had to do it right, and even at her distance Judy could see there was nothing wrong with the shirt, but it was then that the fox decided to be mean.

That was the only explanation she had for it, as the light on his neck-ring turned red, the fox dropped the shirt, and reached up to grab the ring while letting out a long whine. When the light turned back to yellow, the fox looked up at her father, more tears coming down from his eyes.

"Pick it up." Sighed out her father, pointing at the shirt on the floor. The fox quickly took it, refolded it, and then held it up to her father, the buck nodding after he looked at it for a few seconds.

So a routine ended up forming. Judy would see the fox be taken out of his room by one of her parents, first they'd take him to one of the washrooms to get ready for the day, and then he'd be made to do one of the regular tasks that she'd seen her older siblings do, though whenever he did something wrong he was punished, and every time the day ended he'd be given a bowl of cereal and put back in his room. Whoever took him out was always the one holding the same book, a 'training manual' she heard the others say and the name at least sounded interesting.

A few times this routine changed, the first was a few weeks after they'd gotten the fox, her mother had walked up to the door, unlocked it, and then pulled out the strange remote and pushed one of its many buttons. Judy thought she heard a whine, and then the door would open to reveal the fox, no longer looking quite as skinny as when he got here, and now wearing shorts that weren't torn, as well as a t-shirt that didn't fit right, being made for an older rabbit rather than a small fox.

The fox would follow after her parents wherever they went, head hung low, but strangely enough his collar light, as she'd eventually learned the metal loop was called a collar, would be displaying a green light instead of the yellow it had the first couple of days that he was here. Occasionally it would turn yellow, usually when the fox watched everyone else eat and her parents made him sit by their sides, but Judy wasn't bothered by it. The fox was always fed after supper, and she remembered one of her uncles saying the fox should be happy he was getting anything at all.

Other times the light turned yellow included when the fox looked outside some of the windows when he got to the main floor of the burrow, but this only happened occasionally. Other times where when he'd made a mistake with his chores, as Judy learned they were, and her parents would punish him in the same way, their saddened looks from his initial punishments slowly vanishing as the 'training' went on.

Eventually the light almost never turned red anymore, and Judy was glad. Red meant he was being mean, and if it wasn't red anymore then that meant he was no longer a mean fox, right?

Before she knew it, weeks had passed. She and the rest of the burrow simply grew used to having the fox around, and eventually her parents even let him go around without their direct supervision, they'd simply tell him to do something and he'd do it, running off as fast as he could to do whatever chore they demanded. When the day was over he'd just go back to his room, shut the door, one of her parents would check on him, and then his room would be locked for the rest of the night.

Perhaps if her parents had been watching him constantly Judy would never have gotten the opportunity to talk to him in the laundry room one day. It was a day when most of the rabbits were out in the fields, or teaching the older rabbits, and the little doe happened to pass by the room and found herself entranced by the fox's tail once more. No matter how many times she'd tried to grab it, the fluffy appendage would always move out of reach at the last second, but now was her chance to try again and get it in between her hands.

She did not try to sneak up on the fox, rather she ran and jumped, flying forwards and snapping her hands shut around the tail, only to hear a high-pitched yelp, and then feel an odd tingle pass through her, so she let go. The second her grip was gone however the fox cried out and fell to the floor, his hands around his collar and the light displaying red. Judy frowned at that, the fox was trying to be mean? She couldn't see how, but she trusted her parents to tell her what that red light meant, so he had to have been mean!

When the light reverted to yellow, the fox stood back up, but this time he faced her instead of having his back to her, and his expression was remarkably similar to how he was when he'd first arrived, even his arms were now protectively holding his tail.

"Why were you being mean?" She asked, and the little fox blinked.

"I-I wasn't being mean!" He stammered out.

Judy pointed at his collar. "Your light turned red, that means you were being mean!" She said with a smile, knowing she was right.

The fox let out a whine, a canid's whine still sounding odd to her ears. "I didn't w-want to be mean!" He stammered back, moving slightly away from her as he spoke. "Please don't tell!"

Judy frowned at that. "Why not?" She challenged, the fox's eyes looking left and right as she waited for a response, though she was wise to his tricks.

"I'll-I'll..." He stammered out before his voice trailed into another whine.

"I'm telling!" Judy decided, turning to leave to tell her mother about the fox being mean.

"I'll let you t-touch my tail! Just this once!" The fox quickly stammered out and Judy froze in her tracks. That was a good deal, one she decided to agree on.

"Deal!" She yelled, coming back and approaching the fox, looking at his yellow collar and scared face before down at the tail nestled between his gloved hands. It took a few seconds for him to hold it out to her, and she eagerly took it.

It was as soft as she imagined, and had a lot of hair, far more than she'd expected, the little doe assuming that most of his tail was skin, muscle and bone. She pet it for a few seconds, and then it was gone, tucked in close to the fox again as he held it tightly to his chest.

"Give it back or I'll tell!" She demanded, and with a sad look, he handed it back over. As Judy pet it again she decided that if most foxes were bad, then maybe some were okay, and her family had gotten lucky to get one of the not-bad ones.

Though Judy never told her parents the fox was mean, or any of the later times in which the fox was mean (taking those as more opportunities to grab his tail) she did have more than enough siblings who were more than willing to tell, especially when all that happened was he wouldn't get his supper for the night.

It had started when one of her aunties had handed out a sweet to one of the kits for telling her, and then her mom and dad began handing out sweets, and soon there was a crowd following the fox everywhere, hoping to catch one of the times that he was mean so that they could get the treats themselves. It limited the times in which Judy could play with his tail, much to her annoyance, but sometimes all of her siblings would grow bored and leave, while she'd sometimes stick around. In those rare few moments she'd try to catch his tail, he'd usually be mean, and then she'd be able to play with it some more.

After a few more weeks his bouts of being mean happened less and less, before seeming to stop altogether, and even when she grabbed his tail he would only pull it out of her hands with a frightened look. The first two times she hadn't said anything about it, but the third time it happened she had a plan.

"If you don't let me play with it I'll tell them you were being mean!" She demanded to the fox one day as he was back on folding laundry.

"But I wasn't being mean!" He argued back, a little scared of the threat.

"No, but I'll tell them anyway!" She stated definitively and with a big smile, the fox's ears folding back and his eyes growing wide, before he held his tail out to her and she realized she could play with it to her heart's content.

Unfortunately a few days later some of her siblings had also realized easy ways of getting candy, which was just to tell their parents that he was being mean, regardless of whether or not it was true. Fortunately good old sibling rivalry saved the fox from further misery on the third day in a row that they'd lied about him being mean.

"He was being mean again?" Asked her mother to the group of kits in disbelief.

"No!" Judy yelled out, a lone voice amidst many crying 'Yes!'. Her mother focused on her with narrow eyes and Judy explained further: "He wasn't being mean, Jamie's lying so he can get candy!" She yelled out.

"No I'm not!" Replied the kit who had told her mother.

"Yes you were!" Yelled another one of Judy's sisters, this one not having liked the lying kit anyway.

Soon a shouting match broke out and her parents had to take the time to separate them all, sticking them in different tables in the dining room with nothing to do for time-out. That was the last time sweets were used to goad the children into telling their parents, and while some blamed Judy for being a tattletale, others blamed Jamie for lying about it.

Of course the lack of sweets made it far easier for her to find the fox alone, and eventually she no longer had to threaten him to touch his tail, she'd simply walk up and grab it. He'd look around to see who it was, and when he saw it was her he'd go back to doing whatever he was doing.

When Christmas rolled around Judy found herself with a small pile of presents, as were all her siblings, as well as all of the adult rabbits, at least half of the rabbits gathered in the family room to celebrate and open gifts together, including her parents which naturally meant the fox was there.

The 'vulpine' (a word Judy'd been proud to remember) ran around the room, picking up present after present in a corner and running them to their proper owners, by the time the stack was half-gone he was panting a lot, and when it was finally gone he was shaking from the effort of standing. Judy knew that feeling, sometimes after playing for a while she found it hard to stand, but until her parents told him 'sit', the fox remained on his feet.

When he finally sat down though it was to Judy's confusion. Santa Claws always gave presents, but where were the fox's? Whispered mutterings from the other kits confirmed she wasn't alone in her thoughts, and soon her dad stood to address them.

"I see some of you kits are wondering where his presents are." Her dad spoke, motioning towards the fox as he did so. "Well he's been naughty a few times earlier this year, and Santa Claws doesn't give any gifts to naughty kits!" He declared, before resuming his seat next to her mother.

It made sense to Judy, but she couldn't ignore noticing how sad the fox's face looked as he stared at them all opening their gifts, just as she couldn't ignore the tears rolling down his cheeks when he watched everyone else play with their new toys.

Time for an author's note. If you found this chapter hard to sit through, please give it a bit of time. As mentioned above it's told through the eyes of a child, and this is more for setup than anything else. As Judy grows, so will her knowledge of the fox as well as the world around her. Until then, I decided to try to present her in a third person view that allows you to get into her head somewhat, so future chapters are going to feel quite a bit different.