(A/N) This is the first fanfiction I've ever written, so I have more or less no idea what I'm doing.

This is basically an AU where Nick's family moves to Bunnyburrow and he and Judy meet each other as kids. At the moment, my plan is for the story to span several years and detail Judy and Nick's lives as they grow up together. This will eventually be a romance between Nick and Judy, though obviously not until they're a bit older. I don't know exactly how many chapters there will be before reaching Nick and Judy's teen years, because as I said, I have no idea what I'm doing.

That being said, this first chapter is an idea I've had for quite a while, since even before I started reading fanfiction. However, after the second chapter, I will mostly be flying blind so I don't know how often I will post updates. I will try to update as often as I can, though.

Ok, time for me to shut up. I hope you enjoy it!

Judy Hopps stared up at the approaching predator, her eyes widening in fear as she slowly tried to back away.

How had it come to this? Just mere seconds ago, Judy had stood up to Gideon Grey and flat out told him she wasn't afraid. She had even been brave enough to fight back and kick him right in the face when he taunted her.

But now, as the fox was coming straight at her, claws out, Judy was frozen. She wanted to get up off the ground and run, but her muscles wouldn't cooperate. By this point, Sharla and the others were too far away to help, and Judy couldn't really blame them for it. She had brought herself into this mess because she didn't want to see her friends hurt, and if that meant she had to get hurt in the process, then so be it.

"You don't know when to quit, do you?" Gideon said. And Judy knew he was right. She couldn't bring herself to regret the decisions that brought her here.

Judy winced as Gideon's claws slashed her cheek, closing her eyes suddenly but not uttering a sound. It took everything she had, but she was not about to let this fox see her cry, no matter how much she wanted to.

Trying her best to ignore the searing pain, Judy kept her eyes firmly shut. She placed a single paw on her cheek, hoping it would lessen the pain, but she did not dare look to see what Gideon would do next. In her other paw, she was relieved when she felt the familiar texture of paper. At least, she thought, she had accomplished what she came to do, and that should be enough. She only hoped the big fox didn't realize she had retrieved the tickets.

Judy remained frozen in place; her eyes still clenched shut, as she heard Gideon snarl again. She didn't want to open her eyes, didn't want to watch what would happen next.

"He…he wouldn't really try to eat me, would he?" she thought, recalling his earlier comment about how predators used to eat prey. She should have realized it was quite a stretch to expect the fox to actually eat her, but she was too frightened to think straight.

And that was when she heard the voice. With her friends far away and Gideon closing in on her, Judy felt hopeless for the first time. She had stood up for her friends, but there was no one to stand up for her. She was alone.

Or so she thought.

"Hey!" called the voice of a boy who sounded like he was about the same age as Judy. "Leave that bunny alone!"

"Huh?" Judy thought, surprised.

Opening her eyes just slightly, she flinched when she saw yet another fox running towards her. Unlike Gideon, he was only a little taller than Judy herself, but what startled her were his eyes. They were bright green and filled with ferocity. This fox was angry, angrier even than Gideon when he got kicked in the face. Somehow, despite his smaller size, he seemed far more intimidating than the larger fox right now.

"Who are you?" Gideon asked; he seemed taken aback by the new arrival as well. "I ain't seen you 'round here before—"

"What is wrong with you?!" the smaller fox shouted, looking Gideon directly in the eye. "Leave her alone! What did she ever do to you?!"

Still breathing heavily and too scared to move, Judy watched the scene with wide eyes. Even Gideon seemed apprehensive of the smaller fox now, as he was unable to respond. A few times, he opened his mouth as if he was going to speak, but stopped. Apparently, his friend Travis had already run away, as Judy didn't see him anywhere.

"Who—who do you think you are?" Gideon inquired, finally able to put words together.

"Excuse me?" the smaller fox replied; he was so angry now that he was starting to shake, something Judy herself had felt when she'd first noticed Gideon bullying Sharla and her friends. "Who do I think I am?! Why did you hurt that bunny?! She didn't do anything to—"

"How do you know what she did?" Gideon demanded. "You weren't—"

"Yes, I was; I saw the whole thing!" the other fox continued. "She was trying to protect her friends, and you—you—"

His anger rising, the fox let out a tremendously loud noise that was somewhere between a snarl and a shout, and Gideon immediately turned and hurried away. For a moment, Judy expected the new arrival to chase after him, but instead…he turned around.

As the mystery fox began slowly approaching her, Judy finally pulled her paw away from her cheek and saw it stained red. Though she had suspected she was bleeding, the sight of it still made her feel faint all of a sudden. It didn't help that she was already shaking in fear as the green-eyed fox walked towards her.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly, kneeling down beside her. "I saw you were bleeding—hold on…"

He pulled some kind of wet tissue from his backpack and reached out towards her cheek. Startled, Judy flinched, edging backwards.

"It's ok!" the fox assured her, reaching his other paw towards her as if to calm her. "I won't hurt you. Just…hold still, ok?"

Judy was not particularly thrilled about having another predator's claws so close to her, but she did as he asked nonetheless. Gently, the fox pressed the wet tissue to her cuts; all of his rage seemed to have vanished completely. Judy whimpered slightly as the wet wipe stung a little. A few tears formed in her eyes, and unlike earlier, she did not try to hold them back.

"I'm sorry; I guess it does hurt a little," the fox apologized. "But that cut looks really bad and you don't want it to get infected."

"Why…why are you doing this?" Judy asked, her voice still quivering.

"Well, I guess because you were hurt and I wanted to help you," the fox replied, clearly confused by the question. "And what you did was really brave, standing up to him like that…"

Judy continued to hold still as he pulled a bandage from his backpack and carefully placed it on her cheek. Almost instinctively, she expected his sharp claws to cut her, but they didn't. The fox was incredibly careful and gentle, which surprised her. Sure, she had never been quite as distrustful of foxes as her father, but deep inside, she was still afraid. Now, as she looked into this fox's green eyes as he finished applying the bandage, she wondered why. Why was she afraid?

"Do I…scare you?" he asked.

"N-no!" Judy insisted. "I'm not…I…"

"It's ok," he said softly, backing away slightly. "I understand. I didn't want to scare you; I just wanted to help you. I…don't like to see other mammals get hurt. But I guess you're ok now, so I'll just go…"

He sounded so disappointed when he said those words; Judy couldn't help but feel bad. She had no reason to fear this fox, so why did she? He had rescued her, tended to her wounds, and even tried to comfort her. It was more than she could have hoped for, especially from someone she didn't know.

Just as the fox stood up and started to walk away, Judy got to her feet and followed after him.

"Wait!" she said. "Don't go! I'm sorry…"

He turned back around to face her, looking her right in the eyes. How was it that those same eyes that had looked so terrifying before now seem gentle? How was it that a fox, the animal Judy had been raised to fear, now looked at her with kindness?

"Why are you apologizing?" he asked. "It's not your fault you were hurt."

Judy was almost certain he knew why she was apologizing; he was just being nice.

"Far too nice," she thought, ashamed. "I don't deserve it. Why am I still scared of him?"

"I told you, it's ok," the fox continued. "You're not the only bunny that's scared of me. Actually…you're probably the nicest mammal I've met in Bunnyburrow so far."

"Do you…really mean that?" Judy asked.

"Yeah, I mean no one else was going to stand up to Gideon Grey, and I know you were scared of him too but you didn't let that stop you," he replied.

"But…that's different," Judy insisted. "Gideon is a jerk and I had every reason to be scared of him. But you…"

"I won't pretend it doesn't bother me," the fox admitted. "I don't want you to be afraid of me. But you don't want to be scared of me either, so it's not your fault. Anyway, I know you have to go give those tickets back to your friends, so I'll just go—"

"Wait!" Judy interrupted.

Trying to ignore the fact that her whole body was shaking, she reached a paw out towards the fox. He looked genuinely surprised.

"I'm Judy," she said. "Thank you for…everything. I'm…so lucky I met you."

For the first time, a faint smile crossed the fox's face, and he cautiously took her paw with his own.

"Nick," he replied. "And I'm just as lucky I met you, Judy."

"Judy!" called Sharla's voice from nearby.

"Well, I guess you have to go," Nick said, letting go of her paw. "I hope I see you again, Judy."

And before Judy could say anything else, Nick was gone. Sharla and the others hurried over to make sure she was ok, having witnessed most of the excitement from a safe distance. They were grateful that Judy had retrieved the tickets, relieved when they saw that she was ok, and confused when she explained what had just happened with Nick.

Even Judy herself didn't fully understand what had just happened. Nick seemed somehow unlike anyone else she had met, but she could never have guessed just how much their meeting would change her life forever.

After all, she was only nine.

(A/N) Did you like this chapter? Let me know what you thought! (you know, if you want to.)