I do not own Zootopia, that belongs to Disney. This a fan work made solely for the sake of amusement.

The One That I Want

Chapter One: Ripe Harvest

By: Gabriel LaVedier

Zira Kaamu knew nothing was ever promised in life, least of all in a place as precarious as Happytown. Some mammals could let that lead them to depression, but she had a far different outlook. With no promises life was meant to be seen as a precious gift. Things mattered more when they could be lost, a lesson that meshed with things she learned from Taka Pride. Life wasn't fair, he often told her, so it was up to everyone to try and make life more fair for all.

To that end she had taken the opportunity to be under the tutelage of Taka Pride when she worked at the Pride company. She got a business degree at night classes, renovated a blocky building she bought with undersigning from Taka, and made it into a fortress and haven for the kind of women who were roughly treated. Single mothers and their children were especially welcome, in a place that had reasonable rates to make their small paychecks stretch more. They all learned how to help each other, keep the place up, and protect each other from loser exes or other similar problems. Protection, security, and understanding were key.

Family mattered very much to her. More to the point, while the men that had been in her life, aside from the noble Taka, had been worthless, her children were her world. Perhaps they brought out a bit too much passion in her, but she wanted only the best for all of them. She wanted them to rise higher than the circumstances they had been born into. That's what every parent wanted and she was quite firm about it.

All told, she hadn't done very badly on that front. Her daughter was blissfully in love with a fine lioness who liked her odd personality and dark ways. Her family had produced good and bad, but she and her brother seemed to be made of finer material than the father that sired her. Her younger son was being too much of a player. He enjoyed being in the sphere that his sister's girlfriend could unlock. He was at least careful, and tried to be charming without being overly lustful. He'd learned better than that. He was just a charmer with no thought to settling down yet, but had grand prospects. Then there was Nuka...

He was a good cub. He was studious, loved his family, and was always willing to do anything asked of him. She recognized that, perhaps, as the oldest she had over-mothered him. It was Happytown, and they were more vulnerable. His skinny form and nervousness that he covered over with swinging between bravado and reticence. For all his good traits, he had never been much to go out and seek partners. Lately, though, something had changed.

One day when he had come home from visiting his new favorite haunt in Tanukitown he had seemed more distant than usual. His distraction didn't seem to be negative. He was smiling, just slightly. He moved about the apartment with a light tread, flopped onto his bed and enjoyed his music with a game attempt at singing along with the foreign lyrics. He was even more careful than usual, looking at a lyric sheet and moving his finger along as he did.

From that day Zira had been more attuned to the way Nuka acted. He was more distracted, looking at the tickets he had been given by the fox woman, apparently directly gifted by the members of his favorite group. He groomed more to get his mane in more of a tightly forward-swept manner, filed down his claws a bit more, tried to straighten his whiskers and had taken to having his Chibimetal jacket hanging off his shoulders. His portion of the settlement money that had been given to him and not put away as savings was being used more often, for trips to Tanukitown and occasional trinkets he tried to hide before wrapping up.

"Nuka..." Zira was sitting at the table in the kitchen, hands folded in front of her, face inscrutable, while her eyes were their usual slightly slitted and searching set, looking piercing and questing. "Have a seat. Right now."

"Yes mother, of course." He had never done anything truly wrong. He had never disobeyed the rules of the house or made his mother upset. He got grades that were the best he could muster, did all his chores, supported everyone as best he could. But her look was one he never thought he would face. The look given to those who were somehow guilty of something. "Mother... what..?"

"No, Nuka, you have not angered me... perhaps," Zira said with a soft, even voice. "Tell me. Have you found a queen that makes you happy?"

"N-no, mother. I haven't found a qu-queen..." Nuka said, fidgeting a bit in his seat. His mother was such a loving queen, but her stern eyes didn't keep their home safe for nothing. They were almost tangible in their force.

"So many things are implied... are you like your sister? Some handsome fellow with a large mane and strong features will be here some day to meet my approval? Speak, Nuka."

Nuka swallowed, hard. "She's a... tanuki..."

Time ticked away, slow, heavy, each second thudding like Nuka's heartbeat, Zira's silence weighty as lead, filling the air with a choking thickness. "And she is... greedy? Needful? Clingy? You spend your money often on trips and I see you hiding trinkets that must be for her. Is she bleeding you dry and you know it's wrong?"

Nuka blinked in slow motion, his eyes then going wide, staring, not sure what to make of the strange pivot the conversation had taken. "No, mother. Not at all. But... a tanuki. I know we all say nice things about Inters and Outsiders, but those are other mammals. But you... you wanted me, wanted Kovu, to find lionesses. Good queens, quality-"

"Enough!" Zira hissed, her gaze narrowing more. She looked something more than angry. The creases in her features, the ever so slight curl of her lips, the pull of her brow; she was certainly not just mad, she was offended. "Is that what you think of me? Of this family? Lip service? Insincerity? We may be taking in a Pride queen, we may be living on the legacy of a Pride man, but we do not hold the values the main line held as they have been expressed. Look me in my eyes, cub, and say to me you thought I would spit on any lady you chose, that you needed to hide a tanuki from me."

He couldn't. For all he was nearly an adult, for all he had grown up hard and tough in a slum, he had been given safety through his mother, the mother that kept food on his plate and sense in his head, the mother staring daggers at him for lying by omission, for calling her a hypocrite. He couldn't look her in her eyes. He tried, and a wave of self-loathing moved through his form. "I-I'm... I'm so sorry, mother. But I... she's so..."

Zira rapped on the table and brought her look back up to a serious gaze, to a stern contemplation. "You will atone with information and openness. Her name, immediately."

"Kaho Mujina," Nuka quickly snapped off. "Her friends call her Cereal. Her name has a reading that means ear of cereal grain. It's... cute..."

"Mm, I see. Now, is she in school? Does she have some form of employment?"

"Of course. She goes to Iriomote High School, it's sort of... sub-private, a nice place. She also works as a miko at the shrine her mother is the priestess at. She sells charms and talismans, tells fortunes, keeps the grounds. It's a family business, she's in line to be the next shrine priestess if she wants.

"Well now, a religious girl. That seems familiar," Zira said, finally cracking a small smile. "That's one parent. Is there another? And what is their housing situation?"

"Her father's an office worker, a middle-manager type at... one of the international companies in the area. They have a home on the shrine grounds. She told me it's kind of sort of like if she was a PUCA Tender. I've been over to see it. It's very unique, built like places in the family's Old Country."

"And this was all mistaken hesitation, not because she is somehow taking advantage of you and you knew it?"

"Again, I'm sorry mother. I don't know what I was thinking..."

Zira sighed and reached out to slowly pet over Nuka's mane. "I tried my best but I was too stern, too protective. You were the first, and we were in a more precarious position. I made you too timid and you made yourself too brash. Now it all comes out in a confused manner. I recognize that having a job of some import must take up much of her time, but you are aware I expect to meet this girl at some time, yes? I met Kiara. I've met a few of the more serious relationships Kovu had. It's only right."

"I've met her parents, I want her to meet you. But... she's a miko. She's lived all her life in Tanukitown, safe, mostly knowing the shrine. This... is Happytown. I don't know... if I'm enough to make it happen," Nuka confessed, looking at his own scrawny arms.

"If you fear that, truly, then swallow your pride, and ask your sister for help. Yes, she will mock you, and yes, that is a family trait. But she may also want to see this... Kaho of yours. Her mockery will eventually turn to smiles. Or, ask your future brother-in-law and his lovely lady. Surely a girl hyena would be enough to run off troubles. But you must have her around some time. Before that concert you plan to attend. I want a girl that I've looked over to accompany you," Zira insisted.

Nuka nodded firmly, dipping his head in contrition and agreement. "Of course, mother. I'll try to make arrangements. And... I haven't been bled dry. She's not greedy. I buy her things she seems slightly reluctant to take. Even if that's cultural, she's not flashy. She's a priestess in training. It's not so usual to get cheap necklaces or accessories that would look nice and make us match at the concert. And me buying charms and incense and fortune telling at the shrine. It's her job, after all. I don't want to waste her time or upset her mother."

Zira rose from her seat and stepped over to Nuka, leaning in to hug him and plant a kiss on his forehead. "Because you're a good cub. Respectful. Just make sure it happens before your concert date. I am not some beast, but I want to see her."

o o o

"So, big brother needs his little sister to keep him safe, how cute," Vitani said with a loud laugh. She was standing with her slightly-fuming brother at the border area between Happytown and the "proper" city. It was almost an unspoken rule that that's where service stopped. Cabs and Zuber did not actually go in, not even if someone paid extra. Vitani was well aware. Kiara once tried to be the gallant princess and take Vitani right to her front door, but the Zuber driver waved off any money offered for going past the unspoken boundary. Coward. She had dressed for the occasion in some of the quality gothy stuff that Kiara had bought for her. Black denim baggies with stapled cuffs over her paws, a Candide tee with pre-done fading and distressing under a mesh shirt, and black-and-red striped sateen sleeves pinned to her top, with a purpose-made stitched thumb-hole on both, a bulge in her right sleeve showing she was still carrying her butterfly knife.

"I just think it would be better with numbers is all," Nuka hissed through his teeth. He could show off much more pique with his sister, if only because it was painfully clear the tough queen could take it. She had always been rough and tumble, and actually snarked off to mother once or twice. The two queens understood each other and had the healthy mutual respect that most could only hope for. "It's called being sensible. I'm oldest so I need to think of that." His attire was his usual of late. The same black slacks and white short sleeve shirt and black tie, with his Chibimetal jacket hanging off his shoulders, banchou-style.

"Rat scat, I take Kiara to the house and back alone and you know it," Vitani chuckled. She gave her brother a light jab on the shoulder and bumped his chin after. "I'll give you spoor from now until one of us dies. It's family. But hey, I wanna see this girl too. Don't worry, I'll keep my hands off. My girl's better anyway."

"That's just your opinion. Kaho is perfect," Nuka insisted, standing up to his full height.

"You can up-oil your mane and hang your coat off your shoulders like a punk, but you're still a mama's cub. Lean into it. Don't girls from Tanukitown like mama's cubs?" Vitani asked. "You're trying to appeal to that kinda thing; I've seen those comic books you read and the movies you pick on movie nights."

"H-hey, I'm not... not just a mama's cub. I have my own nerve," Nuka insisted, scowling at his sister. "Kaho likes me just for who I am, but it's not because I'm a mama's cub. It's because I'm generous and always share my locust skewers and noodle bowls. We get the couple noodles and slurp them up at the same time, and share the shrimp. Her mother thinks it's cute and her father says that's how he was."

Vitani let out a hooting laugh and lightly shoved her brother's arm. "Oh sweet darkness! You actually act like Kion! Kiara tells me that even with a tough girl like Jasiri he's nothing but a syrupy honeydrop. Well, if it works, it works. Bet you slurp face plenty with that noodle trick."

Nuka's incensed fuming was interrupted by the approach of a modestly sized light-colored sedan that drove right up to the street. The back doors opened up and let out two figures. The first was Kiara in a bright spaghetti-strap top marked with two stylized cartoon lionesses leaning on one another and a pair of culottes, as well as a pair of flat sandals. The other was Kaho, out of her miko outfit but apparently in her school clothes. The tanuki was in a pleated white skirt with a blue trim, with a soft white button-up top with some vertical pleats near the buttons, and a small sailor-type half-tabard at the back. Clutched at her side was sort of a small bag marked with a popular cartoon fox, and in her waistband the handle of a small paper fan was visible. She also had on a pair of probably non-school-approved long-projection geta sandals with red-and-white twisted thongs.

Though Kiara was closer, Kaho was quicker, clacking around the car and practically throwing herself into Nuka's arms, though she very quickly pulled back, nervously pushing her glasses up her snout and smiling timidly, showing off her snaggled teeth. "I, um, hope that... that your mother approves of me."

"Oh she, she approves. She hasn't met you but likes you, she just wants to do this. Formally," Nuka said, rubbing the back of his head and pulling too big of a smile.

Vitani kissed Kiara on the lips and drew her in to a huge, tight hug, while looking aside at the girl in Nuka's life. She was, by every reasonable estimation she could make, plain. Homely plain. She'd be a farm wife in an old movie, or a secretary or teacher in an even older movie. Glasses, weird teeth, really round and plump face, dull color. She actually smiled at that. Her brother, the guy with good taste. No flashy gold-digger, just a girl that likes him. "So, how was the trip from the tram station? Get any insight from Nuka's squeeze?"

"She was telling me a lot about her job. She sweeps up the shrine grounds, sells amulets and incense, and tells fortunes! Like a rabbit," Kiara squealed. "Mostly she was asking me about what it was like in Happytown. I had to tell her the truth. It's a little... wild."

"Wild is just spicy," Vitani said, waving a hand dismissively. "It's not so bad, we just live day-to-day. Toughens you up. Don't worry. For all the scat I give him, I'm sure he can take care of problems."

Nuka linked arms with Kaho, finding it easier than usual with her new height, though his ears flattened back a little thinking he was inconveniencing her. "Ah, I like your geta. I hope I'm not the reason you're wearing them. They don't look comfortable or easy..."

Kaho gave a musical laugh and settled in against Nuka's side. "I can walk on tengu geta if I want to. I keep them in my locker at school and wear them if I want to have some height. This is easy on us both. I... I like holding your arm."

Vitani laughed again as Kiara tried to politely hide a titter. "Just like your brother, a honeydrop. How does that hyena stand him?"

"Jasiri's just as sweet," Kiara asserted. "She only ever got into that one Girl Fight, and didn't go past a solid punch to the face and a shove."

"A fight?" Kaho asked, looking up at Nuka.

Nuka shook his head and squeezed Kaho a bit. "It's a hyena thing. If there's a scrap over a boy they fight a bit and part on understanding terms. Well... unless an insult was involved. You remember what happened to her brother? He and his girlfriend caught the queen that did it tagging up the neighborhood. She got pushy, Jasiri started a Girl Fight... I hear it really was over that fast."

"Not that fast, but Kion doesn't generally like to brag how long she held up on just defense, let her solid bones and strong jawline take punch after punch. And she wasn't even hurt by it. He wants to brag but he won't. But he let it all slip a little at a time. Like Vitani said, he's a honeydrop," Kiara giggled.

"Well, let's get going, we shouldn't keep mother waiting," Nuka said, walking at the head of the little group onto the cracked sidewalks and uneven streets that were the mark of Happytown proper.

Though she did her best not to express it, Kaho regarded everything with a curious mix of awe, surprise, and uncertainty. The broken pavement, the tufts of stray grass poking up at odd intervals, the dead trees in rusted cages, and in the gutter she could have sworn she saw spent taser cartridges and bent tranq darts with ragged indicator puffs.

Nuka felt Kaho tense up and pulled her in a little closer. "W-we, we can all go to Kuzunoha Ramen, the trams aren't that much and it's a nice trip. Sis, I know you'll love the monitor liver and soba."

Before Vitani got to whip off the grinning insult loaded on her tongue, Kaho pulled the little paper fan from her waistband and lightly tapped Nuka's pompadour. "Honma? Nandeyanen? Aho..." She leaped up to press a kiss on the side of his muzzle, clacking back down on her geta lifts deftly, in spite of her chubby heaviness. "Nu-kun... I was only born and raised on the shrine grounds, I am not a sacred treasure or a snooty kami. M-maybe I am not as wild as a youkai, but still not so controlled. I know this place is... strange. But it is your home. You lived here, I should see it with my own eyes."

"I suppose..." Nuka pulled Kaho closer and walked on.

"Nu-kun? Not sure if I should use that to tease you or not. It's pretty syrupy cute but pretty dull as far as honey nicknames go," Vitani said. She kissed Kiara's cheek and winked. "Strong nicknames are the best, right princess?"

"Well, unless you don't have them. You don't need anything but Vitani," Kiara sighed, leaning comfortably against Vitani's strong shoulder.

"Maybe it's a bit... naughty," Kaho giggled, her dipped tail swaying in a very canid way. "Girls in my school always call their boyfriends kun. But the ones who are serious give them nicknames. I... maybe it's too fast? Should I call you Nuka-kun?"

Vitani rolled her eyes and laughed. "You're just as bad as him. You're both too cute for your own goods. Keep it up, it seems right that a mama's cub like him gets a girl like you. Really... I'm actually kind of amazed, Nuka."

Nuka quirked a brow and looked behind him. "What's the angle this time?"

Vitani chuckled into a sigh. "Truce. I mean it. You must have looked at her swinging butt at some point. She moves like a canid. She's a canid, snout to wagging tail."

"And?" Nuka asked with an annoyed look.

"You've got some stuff, big brother. Sure, mother would never say a thing about it. But the entire rest of the city would lose their collective scat over a black-mane lion holding onto a boiled grain canine. Every lioness in the city that isn't like Kiara and me would scream bloody murder over a panting howler taking one of 'their' best men. But you don't care, do you? Even if she's a schoolteacher from an old movie, she really makes you happy, doesn't she?"

The look on Nuka's face melted slowly from defensive annoyance and subtle mirth. He softly rubbed Kaho's hip and started stepping more lightly and happily. "She's all I could ever want."

"I... I'm not as cool as the other girls in my class. What do I have to do with boiled grain and teachers? Is it my nickname?" Kaho asked.

Nuka started to reply but Vitani poked him in the back. "Let me, she should think you're too nice to know. You're plain, as far as I can tell. My number doesn't go to you. But I'm guessing you're straight average, plain and simple like boiled grain for breakfast. The kind they used to cast in old black and white movies as schoolteachers and secretaries. But I've seen this honeydrop at home. When he tells mother about what he was doing his eyes get all big. He loves some eye candy, that's normal. But even if the girls in that band look just like you from what I can pick out, when he watches the music videos he never looks anything like when he talks about you. What a pathetic honeydrop." She lightly flicked the back of his head and gave a warm chuckle. "Love ya, bro."

Nuka rubbed the back of his head and half-smiled. "You know... I don't think like that..."

Kaho tapped Nuka with her paper fan, smiling and showing off her teeth again. "Oh Nu-kun... I'm not pretty. Mother always made sure to keep me understanding real things. The tanuki face is... what it is. But you liking me is what matters. You're a special lion, Nu-kun." She reached into her bag and took out a paulownia leaf, looking fairly fresh and healthy. She settled it on his head, using his mane oil to keep it stuck to the top of his head. She took out another one and dabbed a touch of lotion on it and stuck it to her own head. "You saw the tree these came from. It was the one mother planted when I was born. You've seen father and mother walking around with the silk sakura leaves on their heads. Copies of the ones from the tree she had planted when she was born, a tanuki thing. We always accessorize with head leaves, like Michael Tanuyama on ZNN. I still pluck real ones for... for this..."

Kiara cooed sweetly and leaned her head against Vitani's shoulder. Vitani smiled and rolled her eyes. "I'm surrounded by honeydrops. How does this happen?"

Kiara tilted her head and kissed Vitani's cheek. "I think most everyone's a little honeyed. Even you, my bitter-melon."

"Ha! Bitter-melon! That's the truth!" Nuka laughed.

Vitani had to laugh in kind, squeezing Kiara tighter. "You got it just right, princess. Just call me melon. Bitterness optional."

The quartet walked on in general security. Despite the fact that both Kiara and Kaho were clearly very up-market from the surroundings, even the dullest dregs knew the attire of Vitani, unique and dated, and knew what they meant; knew Zira was not far, nor forgiving. Some had harassed Kiara, initially, for pride and for a few bucks. The butterfly knife in Vitani's sleeve took the wind out of a few. Zira's merciless pipe wrench and steely eyes made sure the ones that didn't get the daughter's message remembered the mother forever.

Once at the boarding house Kaho started to remove her geta but was halted. "Wait until we get to the apartment. They know mother, but unattended things still have a way of sneaking off," Nuka said, leading everyone into the apartment block.

Because Zira was owner and, by skilled rights, the super, the apartment her family occupied was on the ground floor, by her office. It was the biggest place in the block, having a relatively large main area that was a combination of carpeted living room and cramped dining area in the midst of the kitchen. To one side, a door to the single bathroom, on the other side doors to the three small rooms, one for Zira, one for Vitani and one for the boys. The decision had been made early in their lives and had been just a natural fact. Kovu didn't appear to be home but Zira was sitting at the table, seemingly waiting while nursing a cup of what looked to be lukewarm coffee.

She rose and approached the collection of teens, a smile on her muzzle and her hand out. On seeing the older lioness approach, however, Kaho dropped into a stiff and formal bow. "K-konnianiachiwa, Kaamu-san! Mujina Kaho des'!"

The shock on Zira's face melted into amusement, her hand slowly falling to her side. "Well... And here I thought the girls Kovu brought around had class and manners. So, you're the girl my Nuka can't stop talking about? Please let me have a look at you, dear."

Kaho slowly stood up, arms still at her side, looking suddenly nervous. She had been raised to respect adults, to show deference to her elders. Her mother was a refined figure, with gravitas and spiritual presence. Though both friendly and savagely beautiful, this Zira woman had an aura of subtle command, with strong eyes that impacted her like the gaze was physical. And it was kind, even nice falling on her. But her stern and firm nature still came through. Being caught by them when there was anger in them likely would be a terrible thing. "Y-yes, Kaamu-san."

Zira clicked her tongue as she slowly strode around the plump schoolgirl tanuki, noting all the details including the matching leaves on her and Nuka's heads. "I know I have some power in the area but you can feel free to call me Zira. I never demanded that anyone call me Ms. Kaamu."

"It's... how things are for her," Nuka said. "Those titles come after names. And for those she respects, the family name has to be used."

"Mm, a very respectful culture. I appreciate the respectfulness, but I am not so arrogant to think I am so special," Zira said. "What does she call you, Nuka?"

A smile broke out across Kaho's face. "Nu-kun. It's... I should be less quick." She turned a bit and looked slightly down.

"A nickname. I see," Zira said, nodding sharply. "I'm certain Nuka told you this is a formality. I already like you; I trust his judgment. If you would like to call me anything, just call me mother."

Another bow followed. "Yes, okasan."

Nuka leaned in and whispered, "Ka-san."

"No!" Kaho rose quickly with wide eyes. "Nandeyanen?"

"Mother is that kind of mammal, it's always been her way," Nuka explained.

"Ka-san," Kaho muttered, nodding her head. "Thank you for bringing me to your home."

"I don't leave Happytown much, it's easier to have my children bring dates here so I can supervise. I believe very much in keeping things proper," Zira said. "I'm aware I ate up a date day for both yourself and Vitani. I think that earns you a free day with the television. Share the allowance, in a civil manner."

"Take first shift, bro, I'm always good," Vitani said, pulling Kiara down onto her lap and burying her muzzle in the other lioness' neck.

Nuka chuckled and flipped though the small collection of DVD boxes beside the cheap television stand. "Don't worry. You two can probably ignore it..." He pulled up a dark box marked with a lot of Japanese characters, showing off the figures of the girls of Chibimetal. "We should get pumped up for the future."

Kaho laughed behind her hand. "Sugoi."

Zira smiled as she regarded her children. Vitani necking lightly while Kiara was transported in gentle bliss. Nuka settled beside Kaho, the two pressed up against one another, matching leaves lightly touching as he leaned his head down as much as he could to get them close to each other. Kovu was still enjoying his popularity and smooth nature. He'd settle sooner or later. At present, two out of three settled cubs was quite the success in her books. She sipped her coffee and allowed herself a self-assured smile. She was probably as good as her future daughter-in-laws thought she was. She'd just never say it out loud.