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Here's twelve people. Sorry about Eleven; I had to delete and re-post it about three times before it worked properly(still seems a little queer to me though). Just for the hell of it, though, some people might need a pronunciation guide (It annoys me when I read books, the inability to pronounce names) As follows:

Kyle Eighly (AY-lee)

Nikki Wagner (as is, or VOG-ner)

Aeiea (ay-YUH) Serbia (zer-byuh)

Riku (REE-koo) Nushuida (nush-WEED-uh)

Keller Iedle ( EE-dull)

Alex Ferdinand (as in Franz Ferdinand)

Janelle (you know this one, but it's juh-NELL) Biarde (bee-AR-dee)

Ficher (pronounced like "fisher")

* * *

Riku swiped the nagging phone off of the receiver next to the refrigerator, holding it up to her ear. "What?" she barked into it, looking around to make sure that her father wasn't home yet.

"Riku?"

"What?"

"It's Aaron."

The vixen's face turned an even deeper red, provoking her to cradle the phone with shy care. "Oh... I'm sorry. We've been getting so many of those damn telemarketers..."

"I need you to listen to me though. Please," her mate's voice sounded serious, frighteningly so.

"Eh... eh, yeah?"

"Riku, what did you do with Alex?"

"Alex? Oh... well..." she considered hanging up, "Alex...?"

"Ferdinand! I heard him talking to his cronies about-"

"Oh... you know that Alex. He's a joker, a liar." Riku was sweating heavily now, as she vaguely recalled her injustice.

"Riku, you bitch! How could you...?" the jet panther's voice seemed to well, "I thought that you loved me..."

"Aaron... I do. Of course I do. I just-"

"You just couldn't resist! You're a whore, Riku! A whore!"

Riku shuddered, her eyes wide as she backed to the counter, "But-"

"But nothing! How I ever even looked at a tramp like you..."

"Aaron, I-"

"Go sell yourself! I don't give a damn! Maybe dogs are as bad as I hear!" Aaron's voice was unmistakably weeping, though his intent was iron.

"Please, listen... I just-"

"Shut up! I'm telling you... Good Bye!" Aaron slammed the phone down, his fists so tight that his metal claws drew tears of his own red blood. He desperately yearned to tear something limb-from-limb, preferably Riku.

"Aaron! What's wrong, honey?" Bella Spruce, a black panthress bearing the stern brown eyes akin to her son's, bellowed with some forceful concern.

"Riku! She's such a bitch!" the young panther, not even waiting for a reply from his mother, stormed down the hall, out of the huge living room. He tore the doorknob out of his door, slamming it vainly shut behind him.

Mister and Misses Spruce wisely decided to leave their potentially hostile son to his own.

"Yeah, that's girl trouble alright... she must've done a number on him..." muttered Harold, Aaron's father.

"Let it go, Harold." Bella said finally, turning her body, and then her head back to her previous business.

Aaron's first response to rage was thirst. Accumulative, bingeing thirst. He reached down to the little cola refrigerator by his bed, which was currently stocked with only water. He guzzled down four liters of the cool refreshing element, then calmed himself. Smart move... now I gotta pee...

The panther rolled comically in his bed, thinking of nothing else now than his lavatory. When he finally swallowed his pride to run down the hall and use the toilet, he could return to his sulking.

Aaron wanted drugs. He needed drugs, or at least something to place him in a euphoric sanctuary for some time. He turned over, hanging his head over the side of his bed and reaching under the mattress by his pillows to retrieve his coveted magazines. The girly ones.

He would have given his fangs to be with the girls in those pictures, but, alas they were but erotic two-dimensional images. Aaron scanned his eyes over a photograph of a feline model, her hands tied above her head and her knees and toes supporting her exposed, wet form above ground.

"Aaron!"

The pitch-dark panther flinched, fumbling the periodical and dropping it onto the carpet of his floor. He quickly slid it under the bed. "Yeah?"

"You ok?"

"Yeah. I'm fine, Dad."

"Ok..."

Such seemed to remind the boy that tomorrow was Monday. He spit at that word as if it were a curse. Two fuckin' weeks... I can wait.

* * *

"Nice Kyle. Very nice..." Fiona Eighly shuffled through her son's year's report cards. "Mm... third quarter you started to slip. But you caught up, and I'm very proud of you."

Kyle smiled, and all went silent. Almost silent, save the soft continuum of Nikki's purring as the panther massaged her back over his lap. He huffed affectionately with combined relief every time her white-tipped yellow tail brushed his chin.

"So... about the... favor, then?" Kyle looked up at his mother sheepishly, pursing his lips.

"Of course, Kyle. You're father and I have waited years and years to be grandparents..." Fiona smiled warmly, "Won't you and Nikki be able to go to college together?"

"No... she'll still be in high school..." he looked down to the rumbling Neko on his lap, "You are going to college right? Penn State?"

"Uh-huh..." Nikki wasn't really listening, seemingly in a sort of trance by his soothing touch. "You should get a degree in massage therapy..." she sighed comfortably, letting her little arms hang over and a line of drool leave her lips.

Fiona giggled, "Like Raj..."

Truthfully, her late son had an expert degree in neurotherapeutic methods. That, of course, was where Kyle learned all of his massage and acupuncture tricks.

The indigo feline placed his paws on her shoulders again, working out the muscle tension and carefully working around her delicate neck. Kyle slid out one claw, rolling it in one delicate motion down along her back, ending it at her arching rim. He repeated this tease once more, then gazed at her reaction.

The little Neko trembled slightly, and her knees buckled together. A warm wet spot blotched Kyle's left knee, and he blushed. The whole front of her panties were wet with her juice, leaving her form exhausted on a supple scale.

Fiona raised an eyebrow as Kyle desperately tried to push the Neko's behind down. "Yeah... well. If you can do that with a massage, Kyle, you're getting a degree..."

"But... what...?" the panther blushed and panicked. Telling his parents about the baby had gone about as well as expected if not a tiny pinch better. This, though, was just one of those awkward moments.

"Have you decided on a name?" the contented mother asked casually, seeing Nikki's ears prick up. She quickly turned over for Kyle to rub her belly. "I haven't. Oh... Kyle, have you-oh... ahh..." the Neko bent her legs and pulled down the front of her shirt to cover the her dampened panties.

"So... Mom, how long does a pregnancy last?" The blue panther asked, digging his paws rhythmically into the little dips around Nikki's midriff.

"Nine months."

"Holy sh-" he stopped himself, seeing his mother's angry eyes, "That's almost another year!"

"Can't you wait?"

"Yeah... I'm just excited..."

"Your father said exactly the same thing..."

Kyle was thankful that his melded school at Glen Rock Academy allowed him to be in the same building as Nikki, even though he was going into high school the next year, and she would be going into middle school. He leaned down to rub his cheek against the Neko's, his blue sea of blue facial fur like a gentle tide on a summer beach.

Fiona smiled, noting her son's flawless affection. Most males would abandon Nikki for a more attractive mate... she closed her eyes and leaned back, Kyle's true to her, and he deserves my fealty. She basked in that thought for a minute or so, her eyes glazed over dumbly.

"Mom...?" Kyle whispered into her ear. He was cradling purring Nikki in his arms. "Nikki and I are going upstairs..."

The panthress mother smiled and nodded. She wasn't daft, as she knew what they were probably going to do up there. She didn't mind though, as she knew that she could trust her son in not harming his mate. She did however request them to remain quiet while they did this, because Kyle's room was designed for musical harmonics, and could be heard clearly from downstairs. Fiona wasn't going to call the police for exploitation of children, because she knew what young love was. She had been through it.

* * *

Kyle slowly reclined himself under the covers of his warm bed. Nikki lay over his chest, her legs going down between his. He locked his senses onto her half-closed jade masterpieces for eyes, mentally waving goodbye to the world around him as he was entranced in their uncanny brilliance.

He woke up suddenly as he felt Nikki lick his cheek with her little rough-grained tongue. The Neko remained under the soft comforters, slowly pulling off her shirt, which matched the yellow hue of her ears, hair, and tail. She gave in freely to Kyle's loving embrace, his paws cleanly rubbing her back, slowly pulling her down toward his face.

She was first to extend her tongue, closing her eyes and awaiting the panther to meet. He did, of course. Kyle's broad tongue exchanged licks with her little one, seeing to the saliva that poured down their joined lingui.

At last, their lips met. Well met, very well, like a charmingly awkward cross-of-paths in an autumn park. It had been a while since the two of them, in their right minds, had exchanges such loving gestures.

Nikki ran a soft hand down the smooth curve of Kyle's left loin, causing his leg to jolt reflexively. Arching her back, Nikki supported the blankets along her short extent, her little tail teasing back and forth under it, mimicking the movements of a dancing cobra.

Kyle smiled and closed his eyes once the Neko finished searching his mouth orally, "W-which way do you want to-"

"Hush... just lie still and leave the rest to me..." she pressed her forehead against his in the universal feline salute.

"Uh... ok..." Kyle said dumbly, his voice cracking. She's awfully comfy around me... seeing how stingy she is in public... his thoughts vanished, and he reached down to lower the catgirl's underwear.

Nikki caught his hands, "You worry about your own clothes..." she teased, smiling, and magically converting those beautiful verdant eyes into impish beacons.

Kyle obeyed without question, sliding off his T-shirt. He blushed as he saw his mate's patient face, as if she was just waiting for him to get his pants off. Finally, he unfastened his fly, sliding down his violet cargo-pants. This left the panther in only his boxers, under which a full erection was clearly visible. Sliding those down as well, Kyle finally closed his eyes, spread his legs a tad, and relaxed.

Nikki archer her back to almost ninety degrees from her hips, lowering her gaze lustfully onto the boy's heavily-breathing stomach. Lowering herself very slowly, the Neko finally felt the head of his cock part her vaginal lips slightly. Resisting the urge to let herself fall over it, Nikki descended at a suspenseful rate, each broadening widening the circle of her intake, creating the feeling of being split apart.

The catgirl gasped as though she were stepping into very cold water, closing one of her eyes as a tear rolled down her cheek. Finally all the way in, Nikki's tight, wet pussy seemed to be soaking Kyle's crotch already.

Kyle was teased in an unholy way by the pressure. Every waiting moment it seemed as though he wouldn't fit into her any longer, but the thesis of that was followed by undulating pleasure. The ripples of the muscle inside of the Neko brushed around Kyle's sensitive pubic nerves, forcing him to stick out his chest and let his arms out from under him.

Finally, Nikki pressed her chest against the panther's, raising her waist for another round of torture for him. The panther pulled the blanket off of her, beating the constant heat of exciting voluptuousness.

The Neko pressed her face into her mate's fluffy chest starting to purr with numb contentment. Kyle placed his big paws over the back of her head, gently stroking her hair which barely reached her own shoulders.

She hissed loudly as a sense of searing pain shot up her waist and back, and she savored the bittersweet relief which came for a short time when his pulsing member only brushed her sensitive gorge. The only way that the pain was bearable was for the double amount of pleasing euphoria that made up for it. That was the meaning of passionate pleasure.

Kyle lie back limply, a thunderous rumbling sounding from his chest, akin to Nikki's, but much deeper. His paws had subconsciously wandered south, buoyantly groping the Neko's soft, silky hips. He helped her along, guiding her in gruelingly slow procession over his meat, his mind at the same time following the paths of the warm, dripping fluids on his pubic plane.

He was hypnotized in all five senses, his eyes occupying nothing other than Nikki's smoothly waving tail, drawing him farther away from reality with each alluring motion.

A gentle knock at the door ran the panther's sedated consciousness into a brick wall. Nikki didn't seem to notice it, as she remained with her purring face pressed into his fluffed chest.

Kyle reflexively pulled the blankets back up, then gave a relieved sigh when he realized that the 'visitor' had no intention of entering.

"Kyle?" Zach Eighly, his father, whispered. His warm, breathy voice seemed to seep under the crack in the door.

The blue panther's eyes were tearing now, as the pressure around his sensitive girth teased him to no merciful end. "Yeah...? Uh..."

"Hey, are you ok? You sound like you've got strop-throat..." the man reached for the door handle.

"No... I'm fine. Just a little... eh... just tired."

"Positive?"

"Yeah. I'm just gonna take a-" Kyle's lips smacked as delirious Nikki attempted to submit her little tongue into his speaking mouth. The Neko pulled her hips up just a hair, dripping even more of her lubricant onto the sheets.

The panther almost shouted at her for toying with him. The split second peak of his pleasure could be easily chosen from his awkward scenario, the warm cream of his seed rushing to free itself, as if urging him to make a complete fool of himself.

He let out a prolonged grunt. The claws of his new grip refrained with all of his will from digging into the catgirl's shoulders, lost for judgment in the heat of his embrace.

"Kyle?" the sound of his father's soft voice gave forth a new wave of concern.

"I'm fine! Go away!" Kyle bellowed with a muted roar, finally cumming into his mate. The cerulean feline pictured the look on his father's face, hoping dearly that he would just walk away. To his fortune, he did.

Nikki didn't say anything, only making cooing noises. She worked her flaccid upward, stopping when her chest met his. A thinning ream of sticky semen followed her swollen pussy, draining excess as she moved on to confront Kyle. "I can't feel my body..." she whispered in one breath, melting over the boy, who was also panting rhythmically along with his arterial pulse.

"Nikki... hey. Hey, Nikki?" Kyle looked down, and his purring stopped. She had fallen asleep, curling up entirely on his chest. The Neko's ear's flicked periodically, and her tail mocked back and fourth in contented, pendulant movements. The panther's soliciting paw finally located Nikki's damp undergarments, bringing the up under her feet to meet snugly around her slender waist.

Kyle lifted his quiescent lover under the arms, rolling on his side and shielding her in the safety of his arms' embrace. They were cozy. Eventually, he joined her in peaceful slumber, the warmth of each other as well as the heavy comforters remedying the unyielding cool of the summer night.

* * *

"It's pretty..." Janelle finally deducted, breaking the ice of uncomfortable silence between her and Keller. The moon was full, and the impending night brought forth a cool zephyr, stinging their sensitive noses with its prime. "Isn't it?"

Keller gazed dumbly outward fir a few seconds, finally coming to his senses to answer, "Oh... er. Yeah! It's... beautiful." The pair of spotted felines sat along the low brick wall that held the rookery at the park. The wide field beyond the fenced playground was clearly visible from there, along with the vegetal horizon line and pearl moon.

"I come here to cry. It just seems so private..." Janelle made no outward signs of melancholia or angst, she just kicked her feet and leaned back.

Keller didn't say anything. He just tried to keep his gaze away from the girl at his side. The jaguar would have trouble looking at her the same way ever again after kissing her. He felt like such a dirty rotten flesh peddler.

"I like your spots. Like little 'C's..." the snowy leopard said, running a finger along the boy's arm.

He drew away and blushed, "Uh..." was all he could say, and Janelle giggled.

The next moments were very quiet as the couple of them shared a common outlook. All was still and unperturbed, as if the vast pale of the moon was soaring across the deep purple sky above them.

Keller jerked, startled as something soft brushed his right loin, the one opposite Janelle. He dared look down, taking half-relief in the fact that it was her tail. In pique of himself, Keller reached down to pat her fluffy limb, his touch causing it to flit itself.

Janelle blushed, pulling her tail away, "Sorry..." she hugged her appendage closely, "It's getting late. We should go before our parents get worried..."

He nodded his agreement, relieved that that evening had finally ended. The short trip back home would be an eerie one. Wolves all around could be heard howling their dues to an unhearing beholder.

The jaguar watched his girlfriend walk away until her form was barely visible at the of the road, where the boundaries of the visually impairing fog met its own boundary.

* * *

Janelle quietly shut the front door to her house, cautiously stepping inside. The glowing digits on the kitchen clock read '11'49'. She quivered at the sound of nervous moaning from somewhere down the hall, also taking into account the fact that her parents, and Nick were waiting for her in the den.

"Janelle, shhh. It's your sister. She won't listen to any of us. Something's wrong with her, she needs your help. Quiet, and go talk to her... ok?" Helen, Janelle's mother, explained worriedly.

"Is she ok?" she asked back, looking down the hall.

"She should be fine. Just... go talk to her."

Janelle found this situation eerily familiar to The Exorcist. She half-expected Trudy to be possessed by some wicked, red eyed demon, and a pair of Irish priests spouting holy water. She pushed open the door to her younger sister's perfect little room, careful not to bump into anything. There were drawings of angle-precise squares spaced along the walls, their apotheosis overshadowing the two-pair furniture. The snow leopard who was currently standing, sat down at Trudy's bedside.

The little feline's nervous moaning continued.

"Trudy?" Janelle whispered, slowly leaning for her quivering younger sister. Trudy was seven years old, though brilliant for her age. "Trudy what's wrong?"

Trudy sniffed repeatedly, momentarily lifting her face from a two-foot-diameter puddle of tears. She was laying with her head, chest, and shoulders pressed, suffocating against the sheets, and her waist and hindquarters waving behind her. "I... I... oh..." she stuttered, hardly paying any heed.

Janelle assumed from personal experience that Trudy was in her first heat. No... that couldn't have been it. In such pain, she would hot have taking time to constantly straighten the falling crease on her blankets.

"Please tell me what's wrong, Trudy. It's ok, it's Janelle. Big sister... ok?" the older sister scooted toward the quivering little leopard, cautiously reaching out to stroke her staggering back.

"I... I... I c-counted my spots... l-like I do every day, r-right?" Trudy wept, calming considerably.

"You count your...!?" Janelle stopped and sighed, "Never mind... go on."

"I have two-hundred-twenty-seven."

"So...?"

"One's missing!" the younger snowy leopard burst finally, "...and that's an odd number!"

"That's it?" Janelle bellowed in irritated frustration.

"What do you mean 'that's it'?" Trudy began to bawl again, her tail straight between her legs, "If I get cut it half... one side of me will have more spots than the other!"

For Christ's sake... Janelle thought, forcefully hoisting up her little sister, despite her constant resistance. "Shh... shh. It's ok Trudy. Settle down..." she placed one of her large paws on her younger sister's belly, calmly rubbing her to the fluffed grain of her fur.

Janelle thought, forcefully hoisting up her little sister, despite her constant resistance. "Shh... shh. It's ok Trudy. Settle down..." she placed one of her large paws on her younger sister's belly, calmly rubbing her to the fluffed grain of her fur.

Trudy's siren gasps and tender weeps slowed to a gentle purr, and her eyes closed halfway.

Almost peaceful, the purring little girl reached up to her older sister's face and yanked out a whisker.

"Ah! Trudy what the fu-" Janelle quieted as her sister quietly padded across the bed, disposing of the elongated, fibrous hair in a biohazard bin near her nightstand.

"Sorry..." Trudy tucked herself humbly into bed, "You had five on one side and four on the other..." her eyes shot open in an instant one they were closed. She looked out and noticed that the shadow of Janelle's desk in the hall wasn't as usual perpendicular to her doorframe open at forty-five degrees to bring light from the hall. She quickly made her bed and stood up to correct this. The little girl needed her sister's help though, to move the desk exactly three and one-fourth inches. She measured based on a trigonometric property that the space between the doorframe and the desk created.

"Anything else wrong here?" Janelle finally blurted, ready to strangle her obsessive-compulsive sister to death.

Trudy took her sister by the waist and guided her out into the hall, "Wait here..." she muttered, closing the door.

About fifteen minutes later, the little girl left her older sister's room, saying nothing as she closed the door to her own and proceeded to bed. Janelle entered her room, seeing that every pen in her desk had been arranged alphabetically by color, and al of her posters were set in at perfect degrees with the protractor that Trudy kept with her. Nothing at all was out of line, and her bed was made. "Woah..." was all that she could thing to say. Trying hard to forget about this episode, she yanked the cover away, sliding her body under the thinnest sheet. She closed her eyes quickly, hugging her legs up to her bosom and murring. It was as if she could still feel Keller's paw on her tail, and how she wished it, he, was there right now. She would never forget right where she was when he kissed her, and she placed her head facing the ceiling in that area.

She could hardly wait any longer. She had not yet been soiled, and when she was, it would most certainly be by Keller. Her head now hanging over the edge of her bed, Janelle slid of her pants to sleep. Maybe.

Janelle placed her paw on her bare area, flexing her loin as the cold fabric brushed it. She spread her legs, purring as she slid her clothed finger into her own vagina.

She would die of embarrassment if she knew that some sick mind was writing an erotic story about her and posting it online. Sick.

She slid two more finger in, trying to stuff more of the cold sheets with them, and expelling some fore-wash. The leopard basked in comfort for what seemed like a few minutes, savoring each brush on her inner walls, like a million tiny cold needles pricking her skin. When she finally opened her eyes, she blushed. Trudy was standing at her open doorway, rubbing her eyes.

"Sis, are you alright?" the little feline yawned, stepping into the room.

Janelle blushed, puling her blankets back over her. "Yeah. I'm just..." her eyes wandered to the clock.

Minutes? Bullshit. She had been shaming herself for almost four hours. On a school night to top it all off. "What are you doing up?" she asked her younger sister, who was leasing up the blankets until they were straight as frosting on a cake.

"I got scared."

"Of what?"

"I thought someone was hurting you."

Janelle's face turned an even deeper red, though it was to dark to notice. "I'm fine. Don't worry, just go back to bed."

"I can't sleep... I'm scared."

"Go talk to Mom and Dad, Trudy."

"I tried. They won't get up."

The older sister sighed, covering her near-exposed pussy, "What do you want, then?"

"Can I sleep in here?"

"No."

"It's not as dark as my room."

"Yours doesn't have a window," Janelle just growled, "Grr! Fine... but please be quiet..." She had always hated having to sleep with a sibling, just as Nick had hated it when she was afraid of the lightening.

Trudy snuggled up closer than Janelle would earthly approve, but she loved her sister anyway. Finally, after about fifteen minutes of beating back OCD, the blankets were perfectly straight, and the two of them fell asleep.

* * *

Janelle opened her eyes to the sound of Trudy's voice in her ear, "Wha... what? Five more minutes..."

"Sis...? Why aren't you wearing pants?"

"Trudy, do you ever sleep?"

"Yes, but you're making weird noises again..." the little girl saw the irritated sleep in his sister's eyes and recoiled.

Janelle sighed, "Ok... ok. Trudy, have you ever... liked a boy?"

"Yeah... I guess. I have some friends that are boys..."

"I mean..." the older sister took a deep breath, "I mean, have you ever found a boy attractive?" Janelle was thankful that her little sister had a wide enough vocabulary for her to word out.

Trudy blushed, "No... I... didn't know that I was supposed to..."

"No one's ever told you about this stuff?"

The younger leopard shook her head.

"Oh boy... let's see. Ok... when a boy... er," Janelle paused, seeing that her sister was sitting, listening intently with her tail swiping back and forth. "When a boy falls in love with a girl... er... they will eventually develop a physical attraction to each other..."

"Eww... always?" Trudy yowled, wincing.

"Trust me, it will happen," the older sister inhaled loudly through her teeth, "Ok... then. The male and female will mate. Often romantically."

"Mate...?"

"Hey, hey. I'm getting to that part," Janelle really didn't want to talk about this, but she knew that she would have to educate her sometime, "Having sex... that is when you... um... well the boy..."

The younger girl's expression was of piercingly innocent and youthful curiosity. Hard to resist, really. "Yeah?" she prompted quietly.

"Well... you know how you have... private parts?" Janelle pulled her shirt down farther to cover her own.

"Yeah..."

"The boy does too. His, though, is different... well..." she sighed, "The boy has something called a penis... which is naturally adapted to fit into out private parts, which are called vaginas."

Trudy thought about it scientifically, actually finding it more fascinating than gross. "Ok..."

"Well... when males and females mate... well... let's just say that it feels really good."

"Is that all?" the younger sister asked, looking down at her waist, then blushing and looking back up to Janelle.

"Uh... there's a lot more to it... but that's all you need to know."

"Yeah... but that doesn't explain why you were making those-"

"I said all you need to know." She finally finished, changing the subject, "What time is it?"

"Five-thirty." Trudy replied quickly, laying back. She looked up, now having a lot to think about. "Have you ever...?"

"No, I haven't..."

"Are you thinking about Keller?"

Janelle flushed red again, and alarm sounding in her head, "Eh... why would I be?"

"He's your mate."

"What? No! He's just my-"

"If he wasn't, then how do you know how good it feels?"

"Well... my friends said-"

"That's hearsay..."

"Shut your mouth before I decide to use a stapler!" Janelle finally yelled. Her little sister was much smarter than she was, and wouldn't let her forget it.

Along comes Monday. Time for school again. These last two weeks would be the longest eternity that any of these young furs would face. Longer and longer every stinking year.

* * *

Aeiea was glad to be back in her baggy black cargo pants, skull shirt, cloak, and combat boots. All of it black, like her feathers. That's how she liked it.

The largest relief, free of measure, was being out of that damned hospital. No more loud-mouthed nurses, needles, antibiotic, and no more white gowns. The raven was back with her foster family now. They were an almost monotonously friendly trio of lions, not exactly as suited for a crow as her old gun-smoking father.

The place was very nice, the food was godly, and the green tea was made just as Aeiea like it. Green.

Little Zen was fascinated at the fact that 'Aeiea' was anagramatical, the same backwards as forward. He would write it backwards, then hold it to a mirror.

Frankly, Aeiea hated bubbly, hyperactive little children. For Zen, though, she could make an exception. He was eleven, and basically an accommodating, apolitical set of ears to talk to.

Best of all, though, was that this family encouraged the raven girl's relationship with Casey. She had even seen him as of late, though he was going back in for more surgery. He came over to tell them how he begged and begged the doctors to keep his paw. Only time would tell them, really.

* * *

"You like the meatloaf, dear?" Kathryn Beering asked after having Aeiea pass her the salad.

The raven smiled warmly and nodded, "Yes, thank you..." despite her cheery mood, Aeiea's voice was just naturally raspy, like someone's dying words.

"So, where is your school?" Leo Beering asked his new daughter, running a paw through his gigantic, light eclipsing mane.

"Oh... erm... you know where the community college is, on the South Side, right?" Aeiea said, pointing a feathered finger over her shoulder.

"Don't you go to the same school as Zen?"

"Not anymore..."

"Oh, that's right..."

"Won't be long before those stupid dogs and cats get things straightened out." The raven politely pushed away her plate.

Leo raised an eyebrow.

"Er... no offense," Aeiea caught, backing her chair away from the table.

"None taken. I agree with you completely. This fighting is childish, and there needs to be someone who can do something about it." The father of the pride continued, smiling, then loosing a tremor of a belch. "Thank you again Kat for this wonderful meal!"

The busy housewife smiled, dismissing the table-guests to return to the cleaning.

* * *

"Ok Aeiea! Open your eyes!" Zen shouted excitedly, directing the raven to her new room.

Aeiea opened her eyes, smiling appreciatively, when clearing her throat in surprise. The room was very nicely furnished, and very spacey.

"Wow... thank you! My own room!" had she not known any better, the crow would have gone straight for the basement. No, this one was upstairs. The luxury!

The only thing this room needed was some dark furnishings, a black paintjob, and some Him posters. She would take care of that herself. The whole of life outside the basement was Carpe Diem. That included painting a room.

"Thanks Zen. I love it." She concluded.

The little cub almost frowned. Aeiea was hardly capable to expressing joy, even if she felt it. It just came out as what sounded like an irritated sigh.

Aeiea carefully lowered herself onto the bed, wary of her injury. The stitched kept it shut, but it still hurt like bleeding hell. At least she'd be home from school for a while... and so would Casey.

* * *

Nikki was hanging upside down from a branch, holding down, actually up, her loose shirt. The weather was nice enough now for people to eat outside at the picnic tables, so Aaron and Kyle did so. The Neko had already masticated her lunch, so she just played around for a while.

Kyle and Aaron were out of her earshot, however. They were speaking quietly, even though hardly anyone was around.

"...I'm serious, Kyle! She's like three-foot-five, and flat as a pancake!" The black panther said to his friend, looking over his shoulder at the line of security guards that divided the courtyard.

"Aaron, listen. That's not what it's all about! When you're in love, nothing else matters..." Kyle replied, smiling dreamily and looking at the upside-down catgirl, "Besides... just look at her..."

Aaron looked past Kyle's head, scanning from a distance Nikki's visible belly and panties. His eyes closed halfway. He blushed as he thought he saw her nipples for a split second. Ok... just stop. Stop lookin' at her! She's not even hot... the pitch-colored panther shouted inside his head, but his eyes wouldn't leave her.

Nikki dropped down, landing on her hands, then whipping up onto her feet in one fluid motion.

"W-what did you say you did to get N-Nikki, again?" Aaron asked, never taking his eyes off of the Neko across the courtyard.

"I punched a jerk..."

The black feline gave an absent-minded laugh, "If all girls were that easy, we'd all be fighters, eh?"

Kyle sighed, "There was a lot more to it than that... we were locker-mates and stuff like that..."

"Is she really pregnant?"

"I dunno... I'm starting to have my little doubts," the blue panther blinked his eyes, then turned smug, "At the rate she and I are pedaling, she will be..." he chuckled and shook his head, "I'm going straight to hell, I just know it."

* * *

"I need to get over there, please!" Riku pleaded, folding her paws and kneeling before the security guard.

"No. You can not cross this line!" the tall, species-invisible man replied, holding the persistent girl in place.

"Please! My friend is over there!"

"You have to stay on your side."

"This is fucking stupid! We all get together after school anyway!" Riku proceeded in growling fervently in his face and turning around.

"I don't make the rules. The school-board and state require that we remain here to prevent riots."

The deep red vixen stood on her toes to meet the visor of the imposing sentinel's shrouded eyes. "What are you?"

The guard huffed, "I'm not at liberty to say."

"C'mon, who's gonna know?"

"Fine. If you must know..." he pulled off his helmet, revealing the blank, gray face of a wolf. He wasn't a man at all either. He was almost a boy, no older than eighteen, his poker-face of duty diminishing any old trace of youthful innocence.

"Woah... how old are you?" Riku asked with a high-pitched, puerile voice.

"Please step away from the line."

"Are you sixteen?"

"Stay back please."

"C'mon, tell me!"

"How old are you, then?"

The vixen blushed, placing a finger to her lips. "Oh, me? I'm... eighteen," she lied, letting her black-tipped ears flatten to her head.

"Oh really... and you still in high school?" the wolf pressed, tilting his head and grinning astutely.

"I'm... I'm a student-teacher." The fox-girl didn't smile, just looked at her toes and hid her books.

"Oh, I'm sorry. May I see your badge?" he asked, throwing on his helmet and holding out his paw.

"Of course! I... left it in my classroom." Riku prayed that her arrogant young mind would cease this senseless bluff.

"If you had your badge with you, Ma'am, I could escort you across..." the face-shaded wolf tilted his head a little to look at something over Riku's shoulder, then resumed partial eye contact.

"Right. I'll go get it right now..." she turned around, her nervous tread breaking into a run. The gears in her thick head turned, breaking cobwebs from lack of recent use. She couldn't steal a badge, because she needed photo I.D. All they were, though, were little swipe cards attached to lanyards.

"Hmm..." Riku groaned, wringing her black "gloved" paws and considering her options. Bailing would get her in big trouble.

The answer hit her hard, like a swig of whisky. She would have to forge one. The only person in the school ho had access to something like that was Ryan. Ryan and his underground matrix of school-wired computer hardware.

* * *

Riku rapped eight times on the door of room marked '-203A-', making sure to knock in two bars of four to signal that she wasn't an authority figure.

"Come in..." Ryan responded direly, tapping the tips of his fingers together, making them click as his filed keyboard-claws met. He was a burly canine stature, deep brown in fur, and possessing the keen mind of a computer wizard.

"Hey... Ryan?"

"What?"

"I need a favor."

"That's what I'm here for."

"Yeah... well... I need a badge."

"Easy. What kind?"

"One for the Peach County School District."

"Devious. Have a seat... ten minutes, tops."

"Thanks..." Riku hesitantly planted herself on a cardboard box containing a pair of hard-drives. The wolf at the battered office chair tapped at his illegal computer's keyboard, pulling up a template for this year's staff employee card on the screen.

"Oh... and if you need my school picture-"

"Way ahead of you." Ryan clicked loudly on them mouse, and an awkward, smiling portrait of Riku blipped onto the screen.

"Could to black out the little flower in my hair please?" she asked, noting that she needed to look older in order to submit for this.

"Sure..." he airbrushed over the little daisy clip and cropped the photo to fit into the badge template.

"Your name?"

"Riku Nushuida... but..."

"You need an alias..."

"Um... how about... Becky... Becky Lapel."

"Ok...publishing and laminating..." the Dawg punched in 'return' and rotated his chair to face a group of four different types of printers, which he used to make credit cards, CD's and whatnot. A genuine staff badge popped out of the slot of the grayish box placed in the top right quadrant. Ryan snapped it up and handed it to her, "It'll read your name in a swipe too."

"Wow! You are good... What do I owe you?"

"For you... fifty bucks."

"Done." Riku reached into her handbag and grasped a crumpled fifty-dollar bill from its depths, slapping it into the wolf's paw.

"Here's a lanyard too. I got a few of 'em." He tossed her the neck-strap and waved.

"Thanks so much! I'll see you later..." the cerise vixen walked backwards out of the concisely "furnished" office. She gazed down at her new badge, mouthing her new alter-ego. Her eyes darted left to right, and she tied up her hair inconspicuously. I'm going to have to look a little less 'Riku' and a little more 'Becky', the girl stepped into the ladies' room, pulling off her pink blouse and flipping it inside-out. Unsatisfactory, but only temporary... she finished, smiling at her reflection.

As she confidently strode back onto the courtyard, it seemed that most of the furs had cleared for the bell. Riku stepped up to the line of boundary, looking around for the nice wolf who had greeted her before. That boy seemed completely invisible, blending with the other identical officers.

"Back again, ma'am?" that friendly voice slid from behind the fox, startling her into turning around in mid-air, and nearly falling.

"Yes... oh. Hello...!" Riku was slightly confused and frustrated with herself. She was used to boys falling over her, and when they were not, she lost composure.

"You have your badge?"

"Yeah..."

"Miss... misses? Lapel."

"Miss..."

"You must be new here then...?"

Riku's eyes wandered away from his, and she drew a blank. Finally, taking care to answer, "Yup!" she blurted awkwardly, blushing. "Hiccups... er... sorry."

"Follow me."

She watched him walk, amused at the way that his pointy white-gray tail reversed back and forth like a confidently wound pendulum. The vixen shook her head, her ponytail slapping her ears as she did so, He's too old for me... and besides, he could arrest me if I don't get rid of my... she considered ridding herself of all of her drugs, though it would be a difficult dependency to overcome. "What's your name?"

The wolf chuckled, "You'd laugh if I told you."

"No I won't! C'mon..."

"Ok..." he paused, looking down at her "Roderick."

"I think it's a... well... I think it suits you."

"Your too kind..."

"No... I didn't... I think it sounds... strong, and... noble."

Roderick sighed comically, "Thanks."

"So... Roderick," Riku gulped, her knees buckling slightly, "Have you ever arrested anyone?"

In reply, the wolf recited the Miranda Rights flawlessly, pantomiming spreading and frisking someone against the back of a car.

Riku pulled at her collar, "Is that a yes?"

He nodded, "I just got out of training too. I think they want to get rid of me..."

"N-nah... It's all in your... your..." the crimson fox drew a blank, gazing down at her feet.

"'Head'?"

"Yeah."

"Well... we're in cat territory now. Where did you need to go?"

Honestly, Riku had forgotten. "Oh... just down the hall here." She waved goodbye to Roderick, half-glad to be out of his company.

The girl stepped into the staff room.

It wasn't as great as students had rumored. A coffee machine and a round table. Two feline, and one canine teacher sat around it, talking about crosswalks or something. In an instant, though, all eyes were on Riku.

"Can I help you, dear?" asked one of them, a woman who likely taught the younger grades.

"Oh... uh..."

"You're... Riku, right?" the slightly reclining fox-man at the table asked, his eyes piqued with recognition.

"Uh... no! No... I'm Becky, see?" Riku held out her badge.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. Why would I not be?"

"Because you look too much like Riku."

The disguised vixen thought quickly, knowing that the unique deep red hue of her coat was a dangerous giveaway. "Wait... Riku? She passed me in the hall... said that we are a spit and image... she's a little off the diving board though..."

"Yep... that's Riku for you. How long have you been working here?"

"I'm new."

"Ah, well! Have a seat then."

Riku gave a relieved sigh. She had dodged that bullet by a half-a-hair on her ear. I'm screwed for skipping class... but I'm in the clear to be in the staff room. She gave a cautious giggle to herself.

"So, are you in college then? Student teaching?"

"Um... yep. Yeah, that's me..." the vixen lifted an arm, looking at her non-existent watch under the lip of the table. "Jeez, I gotta go..." she stood up, quickly turning around and braking into a fearful run.

Riku saw Roderick leaning against the wall outside, seemingly waiting for her. "Back already?" he asked casually, stretching his arms.

"Wrong room..." the girl explained, jogging past him. She almost made it before he caught her around the chest and pulled her back.

"Slow down. I gotta take you, remember?" the wolf placed a hand on her shoulder and yawned cavalierly.

Riku gave an evanescent smile, for some reason neglecting to remove his paw from her. "Do you live close by?"

"Yeah, fairly. Why?"

"Oh... I dunno. Just wonder if..."

"Hmm?"

"I'm just working with these... you know... I don't have much to do at all..." Riku blushed, wishing that she wasn't saying this. This guy was four years older tan she was. She wondered how Kyle and Nikki could pull that off...

"Are you saying that you want to...?"

"Do you like tea?"

"Oh... sure. There's a place downtown-"

"Wait... you're saying yes?" the vixen squeaked, her face lighting up with surprise and joy.

"Well... you haven't asked me anything yet... but yeah. C'mon over to my place, say... five?" he scratched his address onto the back of a parking ticket, and handed it to Riku. "Oh, and the name's Dole. Roderick Dole."

She hugged the little leaflet without consent, flashing her sparkling eyes up at him, then skipping across the common. Screw Alex. Fuck Aaron. I'm dating a cop! She jumped up into the air, giving a cheer, then proceeding to walk casually through the hall to her next class.

* * *

During and after school that day, Riku had successfully passed her badge in order to obtain advantageous privileges. A downside to the double-life was the drawback of having to constantly change one's appearance. It ended to be worthwhile though, as she was on her way to the address that she had been given by a certain canine friend. The walk ended up being about five blocks north of the end of the trail leading out of the school. Roderick's house was way the bloody fuck on top of a hill, which meant both a grueling walk, and a romantic view. The houses here were all propped on thick wooden supports, every single one topped with a weathervane. Tornadoes were common in this part of Pennsylvania, and if one did hit, these estates would be the first to know.

Finally, when she reached the cul-de-sac (happy now?) at the peak of the bluff, she looked back to see how insignificant a town Glen Rock was. Doesn't that just beat all?

Riku stepped up onto the stone steps of the house with the matching number as her card, she knocked hastily on the door. The red-painted portal swung open almost instantly, and Roderick's tall, gray form filled it. He seemed almost naked without his padded vests, helmet, and cargo pants, but he smiled and waved her in.

"Becky, hey. You're early!"

"Sorry... I'll go..." the vixen turned around to leave, but the wolf caught her and turned her around.

"Nah. C'mon in, and welcome to my humble abode..." he stepped aside and pointed inward.

"This is your house?"

"Yeah. I moved out of my parents' about six months ago and bought this place. Furniture's a bit thin, but at least a big house..." The place was roomy. Two bedrooms, a den, kitchen, two bathrooms and a porch. The carpets and walls were all clean, vacuumed, and one of the rooms was in the process of being painted.

Damn... he's got it made up here! Riku thought, hiding a smile. Of course... he does have a good job...

Riku thought, hiding a smile.

"I live here ninety percent of the time, otherwise I'm still in school..."

"Seriously? How are you... on the force then?"

"Oh... heh..." he yerfed, sounding more like an embarrassed cough-hiccup, "My dad helped me with that part..."

"So... erm..." this was really the first time that she had ever been nervous around a boy. He was more of a man than a boy. Riku was beginning to think that this whole bluff would condemn her to death, but she reconsidered as his words popped her thought bubble:

"C'mon, let go then!" and with that, the wolf strode down the steps, letting the elapsed zephyrs hold his body upright.

"So... Roderick-"

"You can call me Richie if you want..."

"Ok... Richie, are we gonna walk there?"

"Of course! It's a nice day. Not a cloud in sight..."

"Right."

As the two of them shuffled down the steep hill, the watercolor image of all of Glen Rock slowly fell into focus. Riku couldn't see her house, though. It was over in a corner where no one could see it.

"What is your favorite kind of tea?" the wolf broke the silence abruptly with his always-inquisitive voice. He took a step closer to Riku.

"Oh... well. I'm no connoisseur... peppermint's good." The girl gave a wry smile, then looked back down at her feet.

The warm Western wind howled through, rippling millions of blades of grass and causing the trees to hiss and whisper. This whether made Riku want to scream, shout, run, jump, anything that would get the world to notice her for something other than her cleavage.

A plastic bag and some scarps of newspaper blew across their paths, only augmenting the hush of the barren solitude of the quiet neighborhood. On the other side of this cluster of houses was a diagonal street that led downtown, where there was a decent strip mall, Mac's Ice Cream, Alberto's Pizza, and the arcade.

Riku and Roderick proceeded in that direction for several, uncomfortably silent minutes. They were on their way to the café, skipping the soda fountain, which was where most teens hung out.

The wolf held the door politely, letting Riku pass and take a seat in front of the largest window. He walked up to the counter and called two cups of tea, which he carefully ferried to the table and sat down himself.

"Heh... thank you..." the fox girl paid a genuinely amicable smile.

Richie held the little cup rested in his thumb, middle, and forefinger, taking a glamorous sip.

Riku wrapped an awkward finger through the grip, brought it up to her muzzle, and chugged it down. The vixen coughed up the beverage, holding her throat and wheezing. All eyes were on the grievous spectacle, and one paw, Roderick's.

"Have you ever had tea before?" the wolf asked her sternly, rubbing her shoulders.

Riku shook her head.

Richie chuckled, standing her up in his arms, "It's hot."

"Thanks for telling me..." she muttered, her red cheeks ever redder. "Soda fountain?" she sought finally.

"Soda fountain." He agreed.

When both of them were comfortably situated again, they left for the place across, and down the street, where there was a big television, 50's style round diner tables, and plenty of soda.

Riku, of course, could no longer feel her tongue, making it even more awkward to speak.

"So... Becky?"

The vixen didn't give a response.

"Becky?"

Remembering her feigned name she finally replied "Oh, yeah?"

"What're you having?"

"I like cherry..."

"A'ight," he waved across the counter for a cherry Coke, and a tall key-lime fizz with cream. He snatched two straws, popping them into the drinks and taking a huge slurp of his. "Tea's for snobs anyway..."

Riku laughed, sucking on her own straw, then stretching. It was odd to see dogs and cats getting along in one place, but they all knew that they had to share the soda fountain. All hell would break lose of one species claimed it as a permanent command post, and bragging rights. There were a few of the nonpartisan species there as well; a quartet of raccoons, and a hare.

"So what do you do in your free time?" Richie asked, again being the one to break the long, false silence.

I drink. She said in her head. "I like to... lounge around, draw a picture or two..." Masturbate... don't forget smoke weed... Good lord, Riku was such a bad girl.

She said in her head."I like to... lounge around, draw a picture or two..." Good lord, Riku was such a bad girl.

"That's neat. How do you like teaching?"

Why would I become the enemy? Riku was sick of her conscience being a smart-ass with her. "It's fun. I never liked teachers until..."

Riku was sick of her conscience being a smart-ass with her. "It's fun. I never liked teachers until..."

"Are you going to be a full-time school teacher?"

"I'd doubt it..." the vixen rather enjoyed answering his many questions. Anything to keep a conversation going, as she hated quiet. Then her eyes lay on something. His paw was on top of hers on the table! Riku recoiled quickly, rudely.

"Sorry... I didn't... I didn't think you would mind..." Roderick placed his hand back on his lap.

"It's ok... I just got a little... startled." Why wouldn't she let him touch her? Something was going wrong with her, she just knew it.

She was maturing.

Before, the fox girl would tease the boys to nosebleeds, afterward having nothing to do with them. Now, though, these hormones wisely made her conscious of what she was doing. Riku felt like the representative of her own reputation, and if she screwed up, this boy would dump her in the alley out back.

"Becky? Another round, or you ready to leave?" Richie asked finally, waving a paw in front of her glazed eyes.

"Vagina..." the vixen replied, apparently deep in dumb thought.

"What?" the wolf gave a short laugh, waking Riku up.

"What? Oh God... what did I say?"

"Nothing. Never mind. Let's head out, ok?" Roderick paid the jerk and beckoned Riku out.

An excited gasp echoed from across the street. Riku looked up to see Nikki waving at her, and Kyle seemingly praying to God that the vixen would keep her mouth shut.

My disguise sucks... she finally deducted, covering her face.

she finally deducted, covering her face.

Nikki had already proceeded in crossing to hug the fox around the legs. "Riku! It's been so long since I've actually been able to see you!"

"Riku?" Roderick asked, looking down at Nikki, Human? He thought.

"Oh... it's a nickname." Riku whispered, pushing the Neko away from her.

"Who's this Riku?"

"Oh, yeah. Um... Nikki... Kyle. This is Rod--er... Richie." The crimson-furred girl let her guy-friend shake hands with her regular friends.

"Hi... erm..." Richie had lived around here for some time, though he had never seen strange company like this. When the panther and the Neko waved salutations and continued with their business, the tall gray wolf loosened up a little. "So... Becky...?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Why is...? Well... uh..." he sigh-laughed, "They are... unusual looking people..."

"Yeah... a little."

"Is the little one human?"

"Yes. Human and cat. She's a Neko."

"Ah... I see. Why's that guy blue?"

"I think he told me once. When I met him at least... he said it's like Albinism, but with blue. I forget what it's called. Don't laugh at him."

"Hey, I won't. They students of yours?"

"Sure... yeah."

"Glad to hear it..." he hissed hastily as he caught a glimpse of is watch. "Six-thirty... er... well, sorry our... 'evening formality' couldn't be a little longer..." with that, Richie softly grasped Riku's hands, leaning over and rubbing his cheek against hers. He turned and ran off, stepping into the street and causing a few cars to screech to halts.

That meager gesture, a mere grazing of cheeks, meant and felt more to her than any kiss she had ever been graced with.

Just then, it occurred to her that she had never before experienced true love.

* * *

Keller, obeying his parent's call, quick-stepped down the stairs from his room, all the way to the den where they waited for him.

"Keller, we need to have a little... chat." Margaret, preferably Maggie, Iedle said to her son, standing with her arms folded over her chest.

"W-what?"

"About that girl... Janet."

"Janelle." The tall boy corrected, though he wished he hadn't.

"Well... you two were in the park. Alone in the park, at almost midnight."

"Yeah... I know..."

Maggie grasped her son's face so that he faced her, "What were you doing?"

"We were looking at the moon."

She saw that her son's pulse stayed normal, and his eyes and mouth were set calmly. He was telling the truth, but to what extent? The woman sighed looking far up at her son still, "I should never have let you go to that dance. You're too young to be dating."

"Mom! I'm fifteen now! I think I can-"

"Thinking isn't knowing. I'm sorry Keller. You have to say goodbye to that girl... for now, at least."

"Mother, please! This isn't fair! I'm not a kid anymore!"

"You can't let a distraction like that deter you from school!"

"Listen! Girl's hate me. They think I'm a dork! Someone actually likes me for once, and now you want me to dump her?"

"Keller... don't do this, just-"

"You can't make me do anything! I'm staying with Janelle, and that's the end of it!" the big, lofty boy whipped around, flitting his tail and storming back upstairs.

Margaret hung her mouth open a bit. Keller never stood up to her. She was almost, almost proud of him, but she then remembered that she was also angry at him.

Keller, of course, slammed his door. He hoped Janelle was ready, cause she's in for a ride. He would suck her mouth dry if it made his mother angry. He whipped up a drumstick and wailed on the cymbal with all his ferocious, feline might. This produced a deafening sound, which he was fervently immune to. Muting the sound with his weary fingers, he hoisted up a lengthy pair of dirty jeans, drawing a small mobile phone out of the pocket. He flipped it open, trying to recall his girlfriend's number. Once he had dialed it, the ring persisted for a few seconds.

A yawn shook the small phone from the opposite end. "Keller? Do you know what time it is?"

"I love you Janelle."

Another yawn. "Love you too Keller. What do you want?"

"My mother want's us to break up..."

Janelle gave a surprised, if dulled, yelp. "You're leaving me?"

Keller smiled, though she couldn't see it, "No. Mom says I'm too young for a girl. I say..." he groaned emotionlessly, pausing to finish, "Bullshit."

"Oh Keller. I'm so glad. I'm sorry... I don't sound glad, but I am. I'm tired."

"I think your voice is beautiful!" the jaguar gulped. What a stupid thing to say! He cursed himself yet again. Why the hell did I say that?

"You're so sweet. I'll see you tomorrow..."

"Wait! Don't hang up yet. I have-"

"G'night Keller..." the line ended, releasing the dial tone again.

"Keller! Who are you talking to?" Misses Iedle called from downstairs, banging on the wall.

"Myself! I'm going to bed!" the boy pulled off his shirt, falling limp over his comforters and pillow. Keller turned onto his back, looking forward to see his tail lashing slowly in lateral motions between his legs, then his eyes and mind closed in unison.

* * *

Kyle was awakened by his own moaning. He looked at his pillow, which was covered in snot and saliva. His head felt as if it was full of water, and his nasal canal wouldn't budge. His throat burned, as he had been forced to breath through it all night long. "What the hell..." his statement was not really a question, just a confused complaint.

The panther stood up, dazed and top-heavy, proceeding downstairs for school. His mother seemed to be waiting for him there, not having left for work yet. Kyle plopped himself lazily down into the nearest chair, resting his flaccid face on the wood of the kitchen table.

"Oh, honey! Are you alright?" Fiona knelt down and stroked her son's back softly.

"Yeah..." he snorted up a six-in-long ream of mucus in its attempt to escape his nose.

The worried mother pulled up her son's eyelid, taking careful note of their blood-shot corneas. "Oh no... lie still honey. I need to take a temperature..." she pulled out the utensil drawer under the countertop and opened the case for her trusty oral thermometer. Fiona carefully placed it under Kyle's tongue, holding his jaw shut for it to take a reading. When it finally beeped, it read a solid 103° .

Kyle moaned again.

"Kyle, you get right back up there and lie down! I'm calling you in today. Oh, where did this come from?" she growled in frustration, hoisting her son up onto his feet and directing him for the stairway. "Don't move. Stay in bed. I'll bring you orange juice and medicine."

"Mom... *snort* I think I'll be fine..." he coughed, lodging a loogie in his throat and gagging.

"Oh I bet you get this from kissing Nikki! She's has the flu, doesn't she?"

"No! It's just influenza..."

"Bed! Rest is the cure." Fiona ushered him still.

Kyle spread himself over his bed, turning over his pillow. Fluids built up in his head flowed with every which way that he leaned. There was no comfortable position. He found himself with his face pressed against the headboard, and his ass sticking in the air behind him. His mother happened to walk in just then.

"Lovely..." she muttered sarcastically, placing a tray on the nightstand. Fiona forcefully turned her son over, propping his head to swallow the foul tasting syrupy flu medication that she brought up. "Please Kyle... just take your medicine."

The blue-hued panther finally swallowed the light-yellowish rubbish from the teaspoon, wincing. He moaned again, turning on his side.

"Shh... relax. I'll take the next few days off if I need to. Poor guy..."

He nodded, wiping away a river of snot from his pillow. "How do I get this stuff out of my nose...? I can hardly breath..."

"I'll see if I have any mace on the spice rack..." the panthress stood up and padded back down to the kitchen.

Kyle gulped. He wished that he hadn't said anything. A few minutes later, his mother returned with a napkin dabbed with black powder, and a cod spray bottle.

"Close your eyes, honey." She whispered, holding the incredibly strong pepper under his nostrils.

He coughed, producing a healthy graining noise from his throat, and his sinuses cleared up. Fiona handed him a clean paper towel and said, "Blow."

The boy blew his nose onto the napkin, sniffing loudly again. "Thanks..." he wiped his nose on his arm and closed his eyes loosely.

Fiona placed her paw lovingly on his head, scratching around his ears and softly pinching the back of his neck. Kyle grabbed a hug-full of blankets and purred softly. Calm and bliss came to his aid, and he presented his belly in a cozy fashion. His eyes opened wide, and he gasped...

CHOO! An unpleasant splatter of infected mucus drenched him as he sneezed, and his mother drew back. "Ohhh..." he moaned, his bottom lip twitching with hopeless frustration.

An unpleasant splatter of infected mucus drenched him as he sneezed, and his mother drew back. "Ohhh..." he moaned, his bottom lip twitching with hopeless frustration.

"Oh... poor baby..." Misses Eighly hoisted her son again, hugging him around the shoulders and constricting his breathing even more.

"Mom... mom... MOM!" he finally screamed, his head pounding like a hangover now. "Please... please let me sleep."

"I hate to see you so sick..."

"Ok... ok. I'm going to rest now."

"Pleasant dreams, honey."

"Alright Mom..." Kyle closed his eyes, conjuring up a dream about Nikki's lips. Usually a dream of the 'wet' variety. In this case... nothing but the dull fatigue of sinus congestion.

* * *

Trudy took four neat steps into the Strauss Academy for the Gifted. She lived here most of the time, as this place provided dormitory for anyone who was smart enough to learn there. The little white-spotted leopard was a summer away from a literal scholarship and entry into Yale, where her genius could flourish with the best of them.

For now, though, she could just toss her usual report card, a line of 'A+' into the trash cans near the stout lockers. She attended this boarding school away from her family all year 'round, except for break-time, which had just ended.

Wary only to step in the exact middle of each square floor-tile, Trudy tip-toed over to her perfectly clean and organized locker next to the English room in building 'D'. She dialed in the combination, popping it open and placing her math folder perpendicular to her science spiral. Carefully shutting the locker and resetting it to zero, she proceeded slowly and precisely down the hall by each individual tile.

As the tiny snow leopard passed the choir room, she widened her eyes in surprise as the doorknob turned. She was unable to jump out of the way without stepping on a crack, so she let the door hit her clean in the face.

"Oh crap! I hit a kitten...! " the wary fox from the choir rehearsal knelt down over Trudy, whose nose was bleeding. "I'm sorry little fighter. Didn't see you there. You ok?"

The leopard reached up to button the boy's top button and straighten his red pinstriped tie over it, then nodded. She wiped the blood from her little nose. Red stained her white fur, though, so she was careful smear it equally on both arms.

Finally, she opened her eyes. The fox boy jumped in surprise and fear, as he was pulled into two cerulean galaxies. Her eyes were impossibly big, glowing with what looked like fiber-optic radiance, this lumen reduced only slightly by her growing, rounded slit pupils.

He tried to look away. Constantly. His mind called the shots for what his body did, thus he could not break eye contact. Finally, he was forced to blink, and he took that momentary cease-fire to turn his head.

"Just... just walk over in... you know. Walk in the middle of the hall so the doors don't get you."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"There's a row of three red tiles in the middle. My legs don't reach that far, cause it's an odd number."

"What? So...?"

"My feet have to stay inside the squares."

The boy smiled, "That shouldn't be too hard though... you got really small feet."

"Makes it harder to step exactly in the middle... that's why I walk in the middle of the sides. I switch the side every hour."

"Oh for God's sake... why do you worry about things like that?"

Trudy lifted her gaze from the floor, to his dull green eyes and muttered simply, "I don't know."

The boy tilted his head as to attempt to break gazed again, but to no avail. "What's your name? If it's ok with you, you're the perfect project for psyche class..."

"Trudy Biarde..."

"So... what are you doing here at Strauss?"

"I scored higher on a test than all the teachers in my old school."

"Jeez! Uh..."

"Toes."

"What?"

"Point both of your feet forward please. Like this..." she pointed to her foot-paws, which here both parallel.

"Oh... er... sorry." The fox looked away and let out a paw to shake, "I'm Neo. Neo Ficher. Do you have anywhere to go?"

"I have two free periods."

"No fair! How?"

"I took night-school all year last year."

"Damn..." Neo ushered her to follow, but remembered to walk slowly for her to catch up. He even looked at his own feet, which would hardly fit in the tiles.

"You can step in a perpendicular intersection of four if you would like," Trudy offered, trying to be kind, but ending up just annoying.

"Ok... thanks..." he sighed and took a big tread, "So you're a snowy...?"

"Leopard. Snowy leopard."

"Aren't you used to a colder climate?"

"Actually, my mother and dad used to live in Nova Scotia. I was born in Michigan though. Now I'm here in Pennsylvania..."

"Hmm... I'm... a..." he could hardly say his hybrid species name without cussing, "A fox and a raccoon. See the mask?" he pointed to his face, which was bright orange, with white licks of fur rising like inverted flames onto a black ellipse of hairs around his eyes. These were often called "Robins" because they made them look like Batman's masked sidekick. "Heh... and look at my tail," Neo whipped around, his foot landing precisely at the intersection in front of Trudy.

The little leopard stared in awe as a huge brown-and-red fluffy thing whipped past her head. His tail was orange like his face, but with deep brown rings banded around it (or maybe it was the other way around, Trudy could not decide).

"Pretty isn't it?"

She nodded.

When they reached Psychology in 'C165', Neo politely held open the door for his little subject. A brightly plumed swan woman garbed in a plain, pinstriped suit and tie lifted her head on her long neck to look their way.

"Hello Neo!" she smiled and waved as she saw Trudy, "May I help you?"

"I have decided on a project."

"Oh really? Let's see it!"

Neo gently pushed Trudy up to the desk.

"Oh... is she-eee..." Ms. Swanson shuddered as her eyes met the leopard kitten's. "What is your project?" she looked at her papers to avoid those creepy eyes.

"She is extraordinary. I'm sure she's way smarter than me. She's four levels up on the Strauss scale."

"But... there are only three levels..."

"They had to improvise."

"Interesting. Dear, can you tell me product of 58199 by 1542?"

Trudy thought for about fifteen seconds, looking at something square in the room to concentrate. "Eighty-nine million, seven-hundred forty-two thousand, eight-hundred fifty-eight."

The woman was punching in the problem on a calculator form her drawer. She gasped, looking at Trudy again. "She's right..."

"See?"

"Of course, but what does this have to do with your psychology?"

"Watch..." Neo walked across the room, up the set of small steps, and onto the coat rack. He pulled back the cabinet door covering it revealing all of its messed contents.

Trudy let out a terrified mew, proceeding across the room. She took out every coat, spanning across fifteen minuets, as many of them weighed more than she did. The kitten sorted them out by size, color, brand-name, type, and even number of pockets. She then proceeded in dragging them back to be hung up. If the coats didn't span across each square cubby, she divided the stack of them in two, and set the odd one on the floor. With all of the coats left over, she sorted them again, and alphabetized them in the remaining square. Trudy stepped back down the steps, standing to face Ms. Swanson again.

"It's completely compulsive. She can't help it." Neo said, placing a paw on the snowy-white feline's slender shoulder.

"Uh... yes. Well... I need a slip with her signature to verify her permission to be... studied." The woman's English accent caused her voice to crack a little in surprise.

"Is it ok with you Trudy?" the fox asked, lowering to her face but still avoiding her eyes.

She nodded, tagging a perfect signature on an index card from Neo, and presenting it to the teacher.

"Thank you so much. I'll make this bearable, I promise." He patted her hard on the back, almost knocking her down.

* * *

After another day of platinum test scores, angular perfection, and nips for lunch Trudy was proceeding to the older boy's dorm. She knocked lightly on the door, perhaps too lightly, as she had to repeat this several times before she heard, "C'mon in!"

"Neo?"

"Oh, hey Trudy..." he smiled expectantly, "I've got a project format an list of procedures. Take a look at them..."

Her eyes scanned over the paper, and she nodded and handed it back.

He noticed that she was looking at him funny. It seemed a confused admiration... "What? This...? Oh..." he remembered that he had his shirt off. On his belly, was a spiral shaped whip of white fur, ascending from his waist, and circling at his chest. "I was born with that..."

"It's perfect..." Trudy sighed, closing her eyes halfway and tilting her head. She shook herself, blushing. "The project. It's well devised. Perfect."

Neo covered himself, throwing on a black AC/DC shirt. "Shall we begin then?"

She nodded.

"I need you full name please. As a subject."

The leopard kitten blushed, looking at her feet again, "Trudeth Orchid Biarde..."

"Hey, I think it's a pretty name. Just lay down right here. I'll be your shrink." Neo helped the feline up onto the couch and pulled up a chair from the table. "Can you tell me why you are this way?"

Trudy shook her head.

"Any memories of things that may have caused it?"

"Brain chemical imbalance... I was born this way..."

Neo could not help but feel a deep sympathy for her. It must be hell to have to worry about everything. "Do you wish that you were normal?"

"No."

The fox fawned at the reply, leaving a line of pen across his clipboard. "I see... why not?"

"If it wasn't for this imbalance, I would not be so smart."

That's amazing! He thought, scratching this down on his notes. Neo ran his eyes over her tiny figure, stopping at her thigh. "Do you always keep a ruler in your pocket?"

He thought, scratching this down on his notes. Neo ran his eyes over her tiny figure, stopping at her thigh. "Do you always keep a ruler in your pocket?"

"Protractor." Trudy corrected, whipping out her carbon-steel angling device, twisting the knob on the vertex and uncapping the lead point on the ray.

"That is the most pimpin' protractor I've ever laid eyes on..." the canine boy honestly with that he had one of those beasts for geometry class. Of course, he was fifteen, and this little girl was three years ahead of him in mathematics. "Do they even teach Calculus at this school?"

"Yes. I have a separate tutor."

"Right... sorry. I got off topic. Can you tell your interests and how they are effected by this imbalance?" he stretched widely, glad that he was didn't have to wear a suit and tie in his own quarters.

Trudy tried to catch a glimpse of that pattern on his chest again, but only drew back and blushed when he looked back. "I spend a lot of time cleaning my room."

Neo smiled, "I should be doing that same. Is that a hobby though?"

"I like to mow the lawn too. It's like an art if you think about it."

"You don't sing, or draw, or play an instrument?"

The kitten shook her head, "No. My brother plays the bassoon, though."

"Positive... there is nothing fun that you like to do?"

"I like to talk to my sister."

"Really? Tell me about that." The fox flipped a page on his clipboard.

"She's smart."

"As smart as you?"

Trudy blushed, "Well... I mean she knows a lot."

"Like what?"

"Sunday night she was telling me about... er..." she wasn't sure if she was exactly comfortable saying 'sex', "Um... she was telling me about... England."

"Hmm?"

"Yeah... England. That's all there is to it."

"Ok, now I going to run some tests... hold on, gotta find the procedures..."

Trudy frowned.

"Oh, don't worry! There not painful tests... here we go. Ok..." he pointed to the small coffee table between them. "Put one paw behind your back."

She obeyed.

"there are two things under this napkin. You may only choose one of them..." he pulled the napkin away, revealing a ten dollar bill on one side, and a pair of pencils on the other. One of the pencils, though was out of parallel line, otherwise completely uneven.

Trudy went immediately for the pencils, taking time to make them perfectly straight.

Wow... he thought, the impulses of this disorder were strong. He wrote the results down onto his notes. "Ok, another test." He fastened a blindfold around her head, making sure that it was tight. "No peeking. Ok... I have placed eight pennies on this table. Four on each side."

he thought,the impulses of this disorder were strong. He wrote the results down onto his notes. "Ok, another test." He fastened a blindfold around her head, making sure that it was tight. "No peeking. Ok... I have placed eight pennies on this table. Four on each side."

Trudy nodded.

Neo slid one of the pennies from one group to the other, making it five/three.

"Put it back." The kitten ordered forcefully, sitting on her paws to keep them from pulling at her blindfold.

"Ok..." the fox slid another from the 'three' group, into the five, making it six/two.

Trudy's ear twitched, and her arms ached in protest of her fighting. He paws were at the edges of her blindfold now, about to pull it off. "Stop... please! Just put them back."

The sound of another penny sliding stung her ears, and tears of frustration soaked her blindfold. She finally tore it off of her head, reaching down to the table and separating the pennies.

Neo recorded the results again. "Ok... this is a fictional question. Don't take it personally. I won't judge you." He flipped a page, "If your life, or the life of a loved one, depended on it, would you choose to help them rather than straighten something that is out of place?"

Trudy looked down at her paws, tears from the previous test still flowing. "That's a terrible question... don't make me answer it. Please."

"I'm sorry." He flipped a page again, looking for the compulsive reaction test. "There is a fifty percent chance that you have an odd number of furs on your body."

The kitten looked up at the ceiling. "Uh... I... NO! That can't be right... er..." she began to take account of every single fur up her right leg.

"Don't count your fur! That was just a test, ok?"

The white, black spotted kitty looked up at him again. This time, though, her hug eyes were welled with tears.

"No... no. Don't do that... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to make you..." his mind and heart filled with her emotions. Her entrancing eyes acting like a WIFI, transmitting information through the air, and into him. "Oh, I'm sorry little fighter..." he knelt over, placing his black paws on her shoulders.

"I can never know if... how do I...?" she slowly started to jump her breaths, more beads of tears rolling, falling with the facsimile of crystalline boulders.

"Please stop crying. It's only a project..." he pressed his cheek up against hers, taking comfort in the feeling of their whiskers intertwining. There seemed to be an air of bonding here, like a brother and sister.

Trudy, though, felt tainted. She was able to fix her simple spot problem with a black marking pen, but this was a number that was uncountable by man, and a duel of chance. She felt comfortable, now in Neo's arms, and she rested her head over his shoulder with personally unprecedented content. She started to purr, a teasingly soft song into his ear.

"If this thing won't work out for you... sorry. I didn't stop to think of how... sensitive you might be..."

"It's ok *sniff* I only... I've never..."

"Shh. I can extract what I need for the report from what I have. Thanks a lot. I mean it," he leaned back, willingly bewitched by her stare by now. "You can go if you want to."

Trudy gave a quiet sigh, then flashed a hopeful smile. "So does this mean that we are... friends?"

"I think it does." The fox stood up, taking her by one tiny paw. "If you don't mind...?"

"No! This is wonderful! I've never had a friend before!" the kitten hugged him around the hips, her face pressed against his crotch.

Neo blushed, "Hey, hey..." he took her head and placed it in a safer place, "You've never had any friends before?" he asked, her running a finger over her quirky ponytail.

"No. Most people I spend time with..." the feline girl sniffed again, "end up in some kind of clinic."

"Nah! You're a nice girl. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"What if they're right, though?"

"They're not. What they're really saying is 'I wish I have a college degree at the age of eight!'."

Trudy purred louder, sticking her paws up the back of his shirt and affectionately scratching at his lower back with her pinprick little claws.

"Ow! You're clawin' me!" Neo smiled as he remembered that to be a representation of feline affection. He would claw her back as well, had canines any claws to speak of. His were little black, cylindrical stubs. At that moment, he was disappointed that more of his raccoon side had not grown out. His back and rear twitched as the pleasant pain concentrated to one area. "Ok... it's cute... but stop now... it's starting to hurt..."

"Sorry..."

"What does that really mean?"

"What... 'sorry'?"

"No. The claws. What does it mean when you wring your claws into someone like that?"

The kitten blushed, "It means... it means you... you L... you Lo..."

"Love them?"

"It's not like I... I'm not really..."

"It's ok, I understand."

"You don't think that I really...?" her face turned even redder. She didn't even know how old he was, but he looked like a big boy.

"Do you?"

"Well... not a lot of people are nice to me like you are..."

"People should be. I took some time to get to know you, and it paid off."

Trudy looked away. What does he mean by that? "I've gotta go...!" she stepped back, waving hastily as him, and leaving the room. She proceeded to the girls dormitories, where she would find her perfect room waiting for her.

* * *

The glowing LCD on Trudy's alarm clock read 3'22 A.M. She had been up all night, not unsoundly, just pondering. The image of the fur pattern on Neo's torso was branded into her mind, and she so longed to see it again. That longing was something new to her, in all sorts. The kitten was hardly ever genuinely embarrassed, but Lord was she when that boy asked her to stop clawing. Blushing moments like that hit her with the thudding pound of an antalgic arrow.

His body, his figure, was enough to make her forget that, though. Ever since that talk with her sister, Trudy was deadly curious with a yearning to see him below the belt. He own thoughts disturbed her by now. She kept rethinking the sentence 'lick his body clean'. It seemed so arousing, yet so disgusting at the same time.

Trudy stepped out of bed, her body shaking with anticipation. She knew the wrong thing to do, and that seemed to be her next objective. She was garbed in her nightgown, one that her mother had bought for her, quite luxurious with its silky satin white.

She stepped across the hall, knowing that no one could hear her. It was dark. Very dark. The only illumination was the light towers from the football field showing through the wide windows around the doors. The boy's dormitory was across the hall, which incidentally had tiles. She carefully scoped out the lines as to step in only their center. Once through the tall, blue double-doors, Trudy placed her feet in grain with the uncomfortable econo-carpet, and slowly made her way up the stairs. Trudy was in 'guy' territory now. A place where girls fear to tread, even during school hours. Although... personal dormitory 'suites'... such were the luxuries of being so smart.

The leopard stopped to stretch, looking both ways in case anyone was up. All she saw was a long hallway spaced with a seemingly endless tier of identical doors. The remembered distinctly that Neo's had two bolt shaped patched of sticker fuzz on it. That was the key to finding it, she was sure.

Taking several slow, careful steps toward the door that best fit the image in her mind, Trudy spotted the room, and pushed open the door. She saw the familiar coffee table, half-wall keeping the mini-kitchen, and bed. The leopard jumped up onto it, eyeing Neo's friendly horizon. She carefully pulled down the covers, causing him to shiver in a transient quip. Assured that he was not awake, Trudy proceeded in unfastening the buttons on his pajama top. She was wary, as if she missed one, she would have to button them all up again and start over.

At long last, the girl's entrancing eyes lay over the helical fur pattern on his chest. She reached down slowly to touch it, but Neo turned on his side, groaning apathetically. Trudy jumped back slightly, lowering her fluffy head to the space between his arms. She extended her paw, more confidently this time, caressing the soft, multicolored turf all around his torso.

Neo rolled on his back, spreading his arms, "Yeah... easy now ladies. There's enough of the Neo for everyone..." he muttered in his sleep. He was obviously having... pleasant dreams. The fox's arms wrapped around Trudy, and he hugged her up close to him.

The leopard struggled a bit, uncomfortable with having her body so close to someone else's. When she finally settled, Neo rested his head on her shoulder comfortably. The fox extended his tongue, licking her cheek appreciatively and grinning amidst his slumber. Trudy shifted and blushed, going stiff as his paws wandered up her nightgown, resting ten furry fingers around her chest. She went limp, giving in, as most people did, to the warm feeling that groped the senses.

Neo kissed the leopard, submitting his flat, smooth tongue between her lips and pulling her ever closer. Despite herself, the young feline returned his kiss, her wide eyes growing wider as he stopped breathing and coughed loudly.

His eyes popped open.

When his brain processed his spectrum, he let out a yelp and scrambled backward desperately, falling flat off of the bed. His orange head poked up, "What the hell...? Who...?" he blushed, covering his mouth with his paw, "Trudy... uh..."

The leopard girl said nothing at all.

"What...why are you in my room...?"

"I'm sorry...! I..."

"Answer me. What are you doing here?"

"I... I wanted to..."

"What?"

"I came in here... and I got into bed... and then you..."

"You're avoiding the question, little fighter."

"I just..." Trudy groaned in frustration, unable to actually explain her feelings, "I don't know."

"Ok... first of all... the door was locked."

"I picked it open."

"You're kidding me..." he wrung the skin on his muzzle between his thumb and forefinger, standing up, "Why are you in my bed?"

"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have-"

"Why are you in my bed?" he repeated sternly.

The girl looked up at him, her tearing eyes and facial expression telling the tale.

"Oh... oh God..." Neo muttered, finally realizing why she had intruded, "Ok... Trudy, you..." he paused, plotting the correct words, "...have a crush on me..."

She didn't dare nod or shake her head.

"First of all... I apologize for kissing you in my sleep. I was dreaming... no two words about it." The fox smiled evanescently, "Second of all... oh boy..." he took a deep breath, and Trudy listened intently to him. "I really don't want to break your heart. I know it's a very fragile thing... but I have a girlfriend already... and you're much too young for me."

Her lower lip twitched, and the hope that filled her eyes the previous afternoon fell with her tears. "I thought..."

"Whatever you thought... you thought wrong!" Neo yanked the blankets out from under her, dumping onto the floor unpleasantly, "I don't love you at all. In fact... I hate you. Get away from me. Now."

Trudy struggled to hold in her tears, looking up at him with the most honest and for-true emotions that any living thing could possibly portray. The beautiful cerulean glass masterpieces that were her captivating eyes had just taken a devastating wrecking ball on their greatest beams of support. She backed up, ever so slowly, reaching for the door.

Neo's eyebrows slanted outward, and the wrinkles of anger disappeared from his muzzle. He took a quick step forward, extending a paw, "Wait... I'm sorry little fighter. That was mean... I'm sorry. Don't leave. Please..." the fox leaned forward, but Trudy had already fled. For the first time, the little leopard didn't care if she stepped on a crack. She left the door to her dormitory hall open.

The pain of her melancholy weeping echoed though Neo's head, and he yearned to apologize to his little friend, but the rage of his inability to do so was crushing him...

* * *

Riku, "Becky", sat with her sweetheart on the edge of the park rookery, gazing up at the rigid afternoon sky above the acres of field. The flat stopped at a wall of endless forest, leading far out of Glen Rock. Above those trees, was a line of tall, wooden telephone poles that contorted the landscape like the masts of a great sailing ship.

"You see that up there, Becky?" Richie asked, pointing to the top of one of the poles.

"What?"

"The glass insulators. The little green caps on the telephone pole."

"Yeah, I see 'em. Why?"

"I bet you I could hit one."

"Hit one?"

Roderick drew his gun, pointing it outward. "Like this."

"You can't hit one of those. It way out there..."

"You wanna bet?"

"Uh-kay." The vixen grinned, "You're on..." Riku thought for a moment, "If you miss... you've gotta stand up and sing 'Moonlight Bay' nice and loud for the folks of Glen Rock... deal?"

"If I make the shot..." the grayish wolf tilted his head and smiled slyly, "You have to kiss me."

He won't make it. No way. "You're on Tiger." She shook his paw.

"You're on Tiger." She shook his paw.

Roderick took careful aim, holding his sidearm in both hands... BAM.

Of course... the little mushroom-shaped glass piece exploded on far, as the projectile shattered it completely. Riku gasped almost silently.

Richie blushed, setting the pistol down. The wolf scooted closer to his dame.

The vixen pursed her lips in the shape of a humorless smile, and pecked him on the cheek.

"Is that all?" Roderick started to close his eyes, and both of their faces sloped slowly toward each other, and a their lips barely brushed before...

"Oh..." Riku looked over his shoulder, past the little fenced-off playground. Her father was looking through his car window for her. Luckily, he hadn't spotted her yet, but she needed to leave. "See you later. Thanks." She pecked him on the cheek again, stood up, and ran off.

Riku waved at her father, who then looked her way.

"Hey baby... where have you been? I've been looking for you for half-an hour..." Russ finally said, seeing that Riku was gazing out the window of the station wagon.

"I was with Richie."

"Who's Richie?"

"My friend."

"Oh really? Is he nice?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you..."

"Ok..." he looked down at her chest, "Is that a badge you're wearing?"

The vixen quickly snatched the lanyard up, stuffing it into her pocket, "Lunch card." She muttered, still avoiding her father's stare.

* * *

Janelle opened the front door to her home, "Hi Keller! C'mon in." she greeted the jaguar with a warm smile. "I got lunch on the table..."

"Hi... er... s-s-Sweetheart. You cook yourself?" Keller's eyes darted about the place, and he ducked under the doorframe.

The snowy leopard girl met eye-contact with him, seeing that he couldn't hold still. "Keller...?"

"W... what?"

"Do you have Tourette's?"

"N-no... why?"

"I dunno... you're... kind of a... fidget."

"I'm really sorry..."

"Here... sit down. How's hot cocoa?" Janelle patted him on the back, and he smiled, "Yeah... well... you're usually not even this twitchy..."

"I'm cold..."

"Cold?" she blurted, "It's eighty degrees out there!"

"Sorry."

"Don't be sorry... please. You don't have to treat me like a royal subject..."

"Sor-" Keller blushed, "S... I apologize."

Janelle sighed, twisting his chair, and sitting up on his lap, facing him with her legs around his waist, "Don't be negative. Please. I invited you over here because we have the whole day to ourselves. It's summer vacation! Be happy."

"Where's your brother?"

"He's at work."

"Your sister?"

"She's at that nerdy international school."

"I should really leave... no one's home here..."

"Don't you move a muscle! I'm here, remember?"

"I'm gonna lea-" Keller began, but Janelle silenced him with a kiss on the lips.

When she finished, and pulled her face away slightly, she whispered, "You were saying...?"

"Bye... I'm going back home. Your parents are gone and..."

The leopard took the tall boy by the hand. "Right this way please."

"But..."

"Shut up. I said follow me."

"Yes ma'am..."

The two of them proceeded up the stairs, Keller barely setting his cocoa on the table before she pulled him away. Once they were safely in her bedroom, Janelle slammed the door shut and locked it. "Are you ready?"

"For what...? No... no Janelle..." Keller blushed, reaching for the lock on the door handle.

"Keller! Just stay still. This won't hurt at all. I just want to kiss you..." she pressed her shapely body up against his, unbuttoning his green plaid over-shirt and nestling her tongue comfortably in the smooth fur on his belly.

The tall, geek-stature jaguar panted heavily, trying not to look down his lover's shirt. "Uh..."

In between repeated nips and licks, Janelle whispered in a play of her soothing voice, "How does it feel?"

He made no reply, just stood stone still as best he could.

"Keller... it's all ok."

He shook his head.

"Relax."

"I c-can't..."

Janelle caressed his chest, wrapping her paws around his back, causing him to purr delicately, "Have you been working out, Keller?"

"N-n-no... not m-m... much..."

She stood on her toes, vigorously tonguing his chest, leaving a thin gloss of saliva over his spotted fur. "Now...?"

"Ahh..!" the jaguar hissed inward though his fangs, "R-r-rough..."

"Are you ok?"

"Y-your t... t-tongue is rough..."

"So is yours, Keller."

"Uh..."

"Just let it out. Let your love out Keller." The white spotted leopard nuzzled him affectionately, "I know it's in there..." she buried her face finally in his fur, "I've seen it."

"Y-you... maybe... I-I... I can't... Sweetheart." he loosed a sigh... Sweetheart. For real.

"Can you try? Please...? For me." Janelle pleaded, "A kiss... a hug. Something?"

Keller cleared his throat loudly, his eye twitching every second. He reached around her, his fingers finding the straps of her bra through her shirt.

Janelle tried not to gasp, as it would... 'scare' him away. The girl just placed her weight in his arms, completely silent.

He closed his eyes, then crept his paws shakily up the front of her top, pulling the bra out from under it.

"Yeah... see? There we go..." Janelle whispered, leaning her head on his arm and swaying a little for comfort.

Keller pulled her top up, and off one arm, letting it feather quietly to the floor. He leaned down, resting his nose on her bosom, and rather enjoying the scent. "Is th-this ok...?"

"Oh Keller... It's wonderful..." the leopard took care to nuzzle him again, "Please continue."

He did. The jaguar quickly unfastened the button and fly of her tight blue-jeans, his paws spidering around her waist, and sliding down the back of her pants, caressing her ass.

"Ah... oh yeah Keller... this is what I always wanted..." Janelle arched her back and murred softly. "I love you Keller..."

He forced a smile, though she could not see it. The taller feline ran two fingers over the base of her tail, examining the way it moved...

Pants in Anthropomorphic reservations were sold with slits in the very back for the tail. That, though, was when Keller noticed... no panties. He cupped his paws around her bare ass. The jaguar slid them across that alluring cleft until her ajar pants fell to her feet, and she stepped them off. Keller opened his eyes, widening them in amazement as his senses took in the spectacle of the beautiful snowy feline's nude figure. His steady breaths turned into wobbly pants, and his hands wandered up her back again, rubbing her affectionately with the grain of her fluffy white fur.

"A-am I... doing it r-r-right...?" the tall boys asked, lifting his head slightly so that his muzzle was at her ear.

"Beautiful... it feels great..." Janelle stretched in his arms, "You don't need to ask permission to get close to me..."

"Sorry..."

The snowy leopard sighed, "It's ok..." she reached up to undo his huge, baggy cargo pants, pulling open the button, and the fly, letting them slide down his bare legs. She nuzzled his erection through his green boxers, causing his knees to go weak instantly. The leopard look up wt him, seeing the occupied expression in his eyes.

"Sweetheart..." Keller muttered, suddenly hoisting the girl up, pressing her against the opposite wall, and kissing her with a fiery passion; one that made the world outside of their interlocked mouths disappear. He held the same kiss for at least thirty seconds, nonstop.

Janelle finally gasped, leaving the oral embrace to breathe. Her head was dizzy, as it would be after love like that, and she crossed her eyes.

"Keller..." she cooed finally, gripping her legs around his waste as he held her fast against the wall of her room. She wrapped her arms around his neck, heaving him closer to her, to a point where she could just barely smell his breath on her face.

Keller pressed his chest against her to hold her to the wall while he slid off his boxers. He wondered if there was any special thing that he had to do before he ventured inside of her... some special trick that he would be leaving out, thus embarrassing himself yet again. He decided to keep it simple, kissing her again; his hands in a sandwich of the cold wall, and Janelle's warm back.

"Whenever you're ready Keller... take your time..." the leopard regretted saying this. She wanted it now.

"Uh... ok..." he nodded, and a tear rolled down his cheek.

"You do know what to do, right?"

"Uh..."

"You have an urge to mate..." she bit his ear affectionately, "Do what it says, ok?"

He nodded, wet tears still falling onto the feline's breasts.

At long last, Keller floated the tip of his member in between her damp lips, slowly... slowly sliding it in. He gave a grunt, as if he was lifting something heavy. "Ahh... God... it's so warm..." he was startled when he reached the end. He was hardly half-way in there, and there was a dead end.

"Go in Keller. Please! All the way..." he cooed, hugging him tighter with both her arms and legs.

"I can't... that's it..." his voice was shivering, like the cold; the warmth in Janelle's pussy made the rest of his body feel like sub-zero.

"More..." she murred as he tried to shift his position on the impasse, unintentionally pleasuring her even more.

"I c-can't... S-sweetheart... That's it..."

"Push."

"But there's-"

"Just push."

Keller hugged her closer, the head of his dick pressing against her hymen, stretching it like a trampoline.

"Harder... you're almost..."

He thrust his hips all the way forth, the delayed momentum causing his crotch to slap together with hers.

Janelle screamed, trying to silence herself. Keller looked down to see blood running down his leg. His pupils narrowed. The jaguar pulled himself out of her, cursing himself repeatedly, streams of tears welling at his cheeks. He set her down, kneeling to look at her.

"Oh God... I knew I shouldn't have done this! I'm so stupid!" he looked around for something to clean it up, then decided just to use the shirt off his back. "Janelle... I'm so sorry! The last thing I could ever want is to hurt you! Please... p-please forgive me...!"

"Shh-shhh... Kel... Keller... it's ok... settle down please. Please. That is n-natural. It happens to every girl during their first time..." Janelle whimpered and moaned as the boy wiped the blood from her sensitive slit. "Aww Keller.. no. No... don't cry...!"

The jaguar stood up, throwing his shirt down. "Janelle... I made you bleed. I can't live with myself..." he wept a few times, "Maybe my mother was right. I'm not the right boy for you..."

"Don't you ever say that!" she stood up on buckling knees, "Please... can we finish what we started? It only happens once, then it's over. I promise."

Keller shook his head, "No... I can't hurt you again..."

"I don't want pain. Why would I ask for pain? It feel so good, Keller!"

"Are you just doing this 'cause you feel sorry for me? Is that why you ever asked me to the dance?"

Janelle whimpered again, "Don't say things like that! That's terrible. I love you Keller." She looked to her swollen pussy, "Look, no blood, see?" the leopard inserted three of her fingers into her soft canyon, unaware that I made here knees buckle and give way. She blushed as she fell down from her own self-shaming. "Please... I want to finish it."

Keller shook his head.

"Look at me. I'm naked! Aren't you horny at all?"

Keller shook his head again.

"What... are you...?" Janelle was going to say 'gay'.

"I love you... so, so much. I just... I'm afraid I might hurt you." The jaguar wrapped a paw around his length, wanting so badly to shove it into that girl.

"Puh-leez?" the female feline pleaded, spreading her legs apart to show her femininity. "How 'bout if I get up on the bed...? Would that help?" she smiled demonically.

"Oh c'mon... don't..."

"I'm coming up there. Watch out!" Janelle waved her ass and tail in the air, pouncing up onto her mate, licking his cheeks repeatedly.

Keller gave a laugh that was void of humor. He wanted to assure himself that This would not go badly. Or... to his preference, not go at all. He grasped her shoulders, rolling her over on her back and spreading his legs over her waist. He hung over her now, smiling flaccidly, with his fully erect digit looming to be dipped.

"Do it Keller... I can't wait!" the leopard squeaked, squeezing the jaguars thighs between her knees.

"Ok..." he let his tongue hang down, and a bead of crystalline sweat fall from his long, dirty-blonde hair. "Just... the same as before?"

"Be rough with me. Don't hold back... I want to have fun with this." She licked his chest again, wrapping her slender hand around his airplane, directing it to her runway. (Innuendo Alert... HA! In your face, literals! Dance, dance! Wicka-wicka Dance, dance!)

Keller pressed his chest against her bust, kissing her harshly. He slid his genitalia into hers, pushing her rolling her waist up so that her legs dangled in the air behind him. The warm, wet-cloth feeling, combined with the tickling tightness forced the jaguar to quicken his rhythmic thrusts, driving to him pleasure. The point of no return, seemingly; he could not stop if he tried.

Janelle yelped with every hit, digging her feline claws into his back.

"Faster! C'mon... co..." the girl crossed her legs around him, their long tails spiraling together. She could feel it coming; they were almost done.

Keller pressed his tongue hard against her neck, drooling down her side as his pumping slowed gradually. The jaguar stopped completely, letting out a crying yelp. Every muscle in his body tightened, his whimpers turned into a moaning scream, and his seed jetted into her, taking every speck of pleasure and appeal from before the actual climax with it. He paid no heed to Janelle at that moment, turning his sweat-soaked body downward, and shed his weight over her. The feelings were enormous, if neither good or bad. Everything that left their bodies was a warm comfort to his or her mate. Keller just wanted to sprawl out, and rub his body against any part of his lover that he could see, but made no attempt, as he hadn't the energy nor breath.

"Keller... oh God... Keller... I just lived my fantasy..." Janelle rested her arms over his back contentedly. "Thanks."

Keller finally turned over on his back, beads of lamentation dipped down his face, and his spotted chest wobbled in rhythm with his sobs. "I feel awful..."

"What...? Why?"

"I don't know..."

"You should feel wonderful... I know I do..." Janelle closed her eyes dreamily, scooting up to his side and purring.

"Maybe I should. I'm sad... it feels like a guilty pleasure, and my body took you for granted..."

"It is a guilty pleasure..."

Keller groaned.

"...but it's also the greatest expression of affection and anyone can give."

"I'm a bad person, I know it! I shouldn't have done that... I'm too young!" the jaguar rolled away from her again, "My mother was right."

"Hey! Don't say that. Being a teenager is about doing the opposite of what your parents tell you. Besides, hormones are generating your mood-swings, now. It'll pass. Don't worry about it, Keller."

He groaned disapprovingly a second time.

* * *

"Mom...?"

"Yes, Kyle?"

"I wanted to ask you something."

"Ok."

"Aaron, Keller and I've been planning for weeks to have a much-needed band rehearsal here..."

"Absolutely not."

"Mom! Come on! We've met here before and it was fine!"

"Yes, you have... but today, you're ill."

"Mom... the flu's not contagious..."

"It is extremely contagious."

Kyle sighed, returning to his room upstairs. Because of this wretched, lengthy illness, he'd missed the best school day of the year. The last one. It was summer vacation now, and the flu was cutting into it. The panther merely shrugged it off, flipping on his bass amp and turning the feedback to 'ten of ten'. He plucked a string, satisfied at the way that the floor shook with it. "A'ight... one, two, three, four..." he slid out his claws for picks, and played the surf-like bass riff for Hot Fire by one of his friend's older brother's band.

Downstairs, Fiona leaned over her the breakfast table, trying to clip coupons. She opened her mouth suddenly, as the intense, low frequency rumbling expelled a metal filling from one of her molars, letting it drop off of her tongue into her orange juice. That was a sure-fire sign for, "KYLE! TURN IT DOWN!"

Kyle couldn't hear her of course. The low, low music was also loosening up the snot in his sinuses, allowing him to breath through his nose for the first time in almost three weeks. Along the same two-week span, he had only talked to Nikki once over the phone, and no one else but his mother and father. He had a cell phone of course, one that he rarely used though. The panther had a paranoid fear of radiation, constantly backing him away from the device aside from absolute emergencies.

Finally, Kyle came to his senses. If he didn't turn down that amp, he'd get vertigo. Nothing more to it. He reached over the side of his bed, deciding finally to flip the power switch off. The feline cuddled his guitar as if it were his own spouse, hugging it close it him before a taking another stab and slumber...

The boy's eyes shot open, and he shuffled upward, furiously searching for what had awakened him. It was the obnoxious polyphonic beeping of the cell phone in his nightstand. He hesitated for a few seconds, then finally picks it up and flipped it open. He held it about three inches away from his ear, as if it were a glowing hunk of uranium. "Hello?"

"What?"

"Hello?"

"Oh... hey. It's Aaron. Did you want to get the band together today? Keller's over here..."

"I can't... I'm sick..."

Aaron laughed, "Oh really?"

"Yeah. Listen..." Kyle sniffed a rope of snot into his nose, producing an unmistakable, gurgling, gagging noise.

"Damn! What did you catch?"

"Just the flu... I've been out of school for like two weeks..."

"Oh... I didn't notice..." Aaron really hadn't noticed. He had spent the last weeks of school in search of a girlfriend, asking anyone possible. It was rather pathetic. Even the really desperate girls rejected him. He had even tried the going gay and failed. "I was kinda busy... catching up on the end of the year assignments..."

It was Kyle's turn to laugh. "Ha! Aaron Spruce doing schoolwork? The apocalypse is upon us!"

"Shut up, Kyle."

"Yeah, ok."

"Well... tomorrow. When your parents are at work maybe, we could meet in my garage... I got a plan for a song."

"Really?" the azure panther sniffed disgustingly again, "What?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow. Show up, got it?"

"Ok."

"See you..."

"Yep..."

Kyle pressed the beeping end button, setting the cursed thing back into his nightstand.

* * *

Kyle dragged his guitar and amp over to Aaron's house that next day, once he was sure that his parents had both left for work. It was a lazy day for them, after all, as they didn't need to leave until about half-past nine. The familiar spectrum of a patch of black, wearing a yellow shirt, a seven-foot-tall spotted monster behind the drum-set, and a little tag-along Neko sitting up on the shelf came into the panther's plain view down the hot summer road. Upon arrival, he waved at the gang, setting down his heavy bass guitar (which, luckily, was actually light that the electric guitar), and plugging in the amplifier.

"You had a plan A.S.S?" Kyle asked casually, drooping his sickly body over the washer and dryer next to the tool wall.

"Yeah. We're gonna play Feel Good Inc. Got it?"

Kyle tilted his head, "Gorillaz? Those guys are stoners..."

"Good sounding stoners."

Nikki's face lit up, "That's my favorite song! Oh, I wished I could see it live... now I can!"

"Settle down Nikki... we've all seen you dance..."

Aaron knew that it was Nikki's song. His idea to play was actually his internal attempt to woo her... he prayed that it would work out. "You know it, don't you Kyle?"

"Yeah. I played it when I auditioned for the band. It's so east though..."

"Ok... ok. Your parts a little simple. Second nature even... but we need you." Aaron flashed a toothy smile, closing his eyes, then his expression reverted to normal, "That reminds me... since you got it so easy..." he grinned even wider, taking in his pointy pink-and-black ears, "How would you like to sing for us?"

Kyle's face lit up. He'd never had a chance to sing before (other than booming "no dice" in one other song). "Ok!"

"A'ight, show us what you've got..."

Kyle cleared his throat, several times, dislodging a glacier of phlegm, gagging on it, then swallowing. "Cities breakin' down on a camel's back-"

Aaron plugged his ears, fearfully, "Woah! Ok... stop. I'll sing buddy." The black panther thought for a short moment, "You have the flu right? That's perfect for the laugh at the beginning."

Kyle frowned, and his ears flattened.

Nikki climbed down onto the surface on which her blue mate was sprawled, taking a comfortable position next to him, with one arm over his chest. "Do the thing."

Kyle snorted, then giggled, "What thing?"

"You know... the bass thing..." the Neko licked his face playfully.

"Ok..." the panther turned on the amp, which was always within his reach, and fingered out the melody without using his claws on the strings.

"Ah! That's so sexy!" Nikki flitted her tail and hugged him tightly, "Do it again!"

He did, and repeated it over. Keller drably patted on his tome and snare, continuing to tap his foot absently.

The blue panther stopped, he and Aaron both looking at the jaguar behind the drums.

"What?" Keller asked, looking up. There were hideous rings of worry under his eyes, and his long hair was frizzed at his cheeks. The all feline usually went wild, and wailed on the poor drums. This time, though, he just tapped them.

"Something wrong, Keller?"

"No." his right arm started to shake as he said this, causing him to unwillingly bash on the right cymbal. He plugged his ears until the sound stopped, then muttered, "Yeah..."

Aaron blinked his dark brown eyes, waiting for a few seconds before blurting, "Well...?"

"It's nothing. Just personal..."

Nikki squeaked excitedly, "You and Janelle had sex!"

"W-what? What the hell...? How do you know that?" Keller yerfed, giving a humorless laugh.

"That's an easy one. Just the way to twitch..." the Neko replied, squeezing Kyle as she said that last word.

"Thanks a lot Nikki!" the jaguar stood up, way up, and dropped his drumsticks in his pocket, "I'll be back for the drums." And he walked out of the garage.

"Hey wait a minute Keller! I'm sorry... I didn't know you were so sensitive..." Nikki blushed, avoiding looks from Kyle and Aaron.

* * *

Keller ran down the street, angry at Nikki, ad hopeful that none of his friends would tell anyone. He sniffed loudly, looking up to the sky, allowing a tear to trace the path of the black-furred lines under his eyes. He realized that he had nothing better to live for, and turned toward Janelle's house, careful not to look back over his shoulder. At the end of the road, he noticed first that everything was quiet. It was still a little early for all of the summer-break furs to be out playing, yet just past the time when the air of morning resided.

The jaguar stepped up to the front door of his mate's house, nervously ringing the doorbell and waiting. A minute or so later, the door swung ajar, and a rather surprised looking snow leopard stood there, rubbing her sleepy eyes and yawning.

"Keller...? What are you doing here?" she asked tiredly, her eyes closing for a while, then opening again as if to refresh her spectrum.

Keller's bottom lip quivered, and a long-flying sack of hormones splattered in his face at last. "J-J-J.." he thought the words in his head, but they didn't come from his mouth.

"Whatcha need Keller?"

The tall boy just gave a whimper, wringing his paws nervously. Finally, he stepped inside facing her intently. With one single, sudden motion, Keller swept the fluffy girl off her feet, spinning around and pressing her against the wall.

"Ah, Keller...!" her morning voice was heavy with affection. Janelle giggled, "Keller are you feeling ok?" she blushed heavily as her cheeks inflated with Keller's breath. He held the oral embrace for almost a minute, hearing only the smacking of their tongues, and loving hiss of their noses. Janelle's eyes opened wide with surprise, just as the jaguar's mouth left hers. She felt slightly dazed, both startled and pleasures in harmony.

She had a very long, fluffy tail, all white and lightly spotted at the base, growing heavier with black specks until the pattern reached the tip. The fuzzy fur made it about at wide as a football at the end, normally peaking from the slit in the back of her pants at the beginning. Snowy leopards were notorious for their beautiful tails, as their patterns were used in the ancient tundra as tartan to identify families and clans. Janelle, suspended in his arms, wrapped it around Keller's back, purring quietly.

"What happened? You come into my house..."

Keller winced. "I'm sorry. I'll leave... Oh God this was so rude! Sorry. Sorry...!"

"You will not. You've made me very happy... but why?"

He flinched again. Might as well give her the lewd truth. "I... I never realized before just how much I'm attracted to you..." he pressed his body against her with lightly increased pressure, snuggling her in place.

"Keller that's so sweet! I love you..." she started to rub her hands in silky, soft movements down his back, prompting him to purr along with her.

The unnaturally tall boy grinned and sniffed up a tear, "I don't feel bad anymore."

"About what...?"

"About mating with you. It felt good..."

"Do you have any idea how much that means to me?"

He shook his head.

"Allow me to explain it to you in a way that you will understand more clearly..."

Keller gulped as she let herself onto the floor, pulling him by the paw down the step Into the cozy den. She rounded around him, pushing him over so that he fell onto the couch, and simpered evilly.

A ruffling of cloth could be heard, and a pair of green cargo pants hit the floor, two drumsticks sliding out of the pocket. "You're shirt." Janelle ordered.

"What?"

"It comes off. Now."

"But-"

"OFF!"

Keller obeyed without further question. Janelle pulled off her own, long pajama shirt, arching her back to flaunt her bust to the boy on the couch. She slowly slid down her comfy sweat pants, her breathtaking tail tick-tocking back and forth behind her. She didn't bother wearing panties to bed, as it was a waste, so she dubbed herself stripped, and worked down Keller's jungle camouflage boxers.

He closed his eyes, jerking his hips as the girl ran her cruelly rough tongue over his sheath, provoking as instantaneous erection. The leopard proceeded in licking her idol in the same place, repeatedly, increasing speed as if it were a catnip toy.

The jaguar hissed, jerking his hips unwillingly again.

Janelle stopped lapping, and placed her tongue at full length on his hilt painting it very slowly upward, until it reached her destination, which was of course, the head. She came to a halt there, nuzzling it with her cheek, and lowering her head back down to his inner thighs. She started to nibble on his leg, giggling quietly as he flinched with surprise.

Keller stroked the back of her head with one paw, slowly starting to work himself with the other, biting his tongue anxiously.

The girl slapped his hand away quickly, scrunching up her kittenish face, "No hands. You've got to be patient..." her snicker turned into an evil grin. She hugged her arms around his waist suddenly, sliding her wet lips halfway down his feline meat. Keller curled his toes, leaning down until his chest pressed against the top of her soft, fuzzy head.

She finished off with a broad lick, continuing it up to her mate's belly. "You're really asking for it aren't you?" Janelle purred, continuing to push her forehead against him.

He nodded, and a line of spit from his mouth dropped onto her bare back. Janelle giggled again, brushing his face briefly with her long tail, and continuing her oral entertainment. She nibbled on his genital head again with her front teeth, not stopping with that until she could feel Keller's chest rumble eagerly.

"Ready?" she asked finally, kissing his dick three times, downward until she found her lips on his condensed scrotum.

He nodded anxiously, almost ready to growl at her in anticipation. The jaguar then sat back against the couch, spreading his arms apart. Janelle opened her maw, wrapping around his penis, deep-throating him at first, then proceeding in pumping her head slowly up and down over his length.

He hissed in through his teeth, then sighed, opening his aching eyes for the first time in several minutes. He blushed, and gave an awkward "Hyuk!"

The two of them had left the front door open, and Aaron was standing in the frame intently. "Keller you dog... you ditched us."

Janelle blushed, and turned around, covering herself quickly.

"Don't worry about it. I can understand why... what you guys are doing beats band rehearsal by two tails..."

"Sorry..." Keller pulled a blanket from an arm of the sofa and threw it over himself.

"It's ok man. Got it?"

"Er... well... I mean I'll come back if you want..."

"No Keller. I was just coming by to... check on you." In truth, Aaron was just curious to see if he and Janelle were actually doing it. He found his answer incidentally.

"It's ok Aaron... I'll come on back. You guys need rhythm don't you?" he gently lifted his mate off to the side, pulling on his pants and spinning his two most trusted drumsticks into his pockets.

"Hey man, I didn't mean to kill your sex drive..."

"It's ok Aaron..."

Janelle grinned, licking a drop of pre from her face, "Do I get to see you drum Keller?"

"I'm not that good..."

"Are you hustling me, Sweetheart?"

"No..."

Aaron piffed his upper lip, "Don't listen to him... he hauls ass. I think he's got a metronome for a brain..."

The snowy leopard giggled, stretching her nude body along the floor. Aaron pulled at his collar.

"So... yeah. Get Kyle and Nikki. How's about I take y'all down to Mac's for a float? On the house..." Keller flashed a metal-mouthed grin, throwing his tall shirt over his shoulders and buttoning it up, watching with amusement as Janelle walked upstairs to dress.

"Wow... unexpected. Thanks Keller! You're not upset about...?"

"Nah. I've come to realize not to be ashamed of close relationship..."

"Amen." Aaron chuckled, heading for the door once the girl was back downstairs.

* * *

Riku clenched her maw, drawing blood from her tongue in agitation. She tossed and turned in her sleep, muttering something unintelligible. She was hugging her pillow tightly, tears flowing down her face, which bore a look of hopeless fear. At the sound of an elongated beep, the vixen shot upward, her eyes open and bloodshot. Her alarm clock read 4'32 A.M. and she had forgotten to reset it for the usual, yearly summertime schedule. She clutched her left breast, attempting to breath more slowly, and slow down her racing heart. Riku wondered why she kept waking up in the night like this. She would always be having a horrid antalgic dream, one that she could vaguely remember, then feel lightheaded in one instance, and wake up. The foxy girl slapped the sleep on her alarm clock, attempting to return to slumber. She did, in about ten minutes, but it was curiously perturbed...

Riku sat in a hospital waiting room, the sounds of her father's crying echoing down the hall. She took no time to regard that her body was only four years old, or any more time to find out what the crying was about. She just waited patiently. The little vixen had visited this strange place while her mother was here, very often as of late. Her father said the mama was just staying at a hotel for a while...

After about four hours of waiting in that boring room, looking at the pictures in magazines from the early eighties, Riku decided to follow the sounds of her fathers not-so-distant melancholia. She traveled down the hall, pushing open the door to that room and peaking inside. She smiled and wagged her bushy tail, as her mother was laying on a bed there. On a side-table, there were few untouched cartons of Chinese take-out, its scent not bothering to travel down the hall. Russell Nushuida (an odd name, yes, but he had vowed to take his bride's surname upon marrying her) knelt down at the white bedside, crying into the sheets and paying no heed to his daughter.

It had been at least a week since Riku had seen her beloved mother, so she curiously padded up to the cot, standing on a stool to look into her loving eyes.

"Riku... my baby..." the loving woman's voice sounded sad, and labored, sounding at barely a whisper.

"Mama? Why don't you sleep at home?"

Yuka Nushuida, Riku's mother, sighed. A tear dripped from her red-furred cheek, making a disturbingly loud thud as it his the disposable sheets. "Riku... hold my paw."

The little girl softly grasped her mother's hand with bother of hers, an air of concern shrouding her innocent face. "Are you coming home mama?"

Yuka's eyes closed halfway, and she summoned her energy to lean closer to her daughter. "Riku... my Sakura... I am going to sleep. I am going to sleep for a long time."

"When will you come home with me and daddy?"

"I'm not coming home Riku..."

"Mama? You can't sleep now. Who's going to make dinner, and tuck me in?"

"Goodbye Riku. I love you..." her grip went limp finally, and the ECG had gone flat.

"Mama?" Riku's face was wearing an innocently hopeful face now.

Russ's weeping turned into a hopeless cry-out now, and he set his face into his spouse's lifeless belly.

Riku shook her mother's shoulder, tugging at her paw in an attempt to wake her up again. "Mama... please wake up..." she didn't know what was going on. An emotion to fit this situation would be a flickering well of sadness, but that which was shrouded by a cloud of innocent confusion. The confusion, the fact that she didn't know that people could die. That was the one that made her feel so helpless. She hugged her mother's limp paw, nuzzling it lovingly, wetting it with her tears. "Mama..." she whispered, and the ECG buzzed again, producing a long, straight beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...

Riku shot upright again, her body covered in sweat. She was awakened again by the peculiar beep. The vixen turned to see that it was again her alarm clock, which read 7'23 A.M. She wiped some tears and sleep from her weary eyes, wondering why she felt so awful, as it was summer vacation. Young furs rejoice at the sound of those two words.

Her brief philosophy was interrupted by the tacky chime of the doorbell from across the hall. She threw the blankets off of her shoulders and stood up to answer it, but stopped at the door as she hard her father walking across the living room and opening the door...

Russell peered at the young man opposite him, raising at eyebrow.

"Hi... is Becky home?" Roderick asked the burly fox, holding up a bouquet of flowers.

"Who?"

"Miss Becky Lapel...?"

"Excuse me? You must have the wrong house..."

"Oh... hmm. This is the address she gave me..." the wolf squinted at the note scribbled on the back of a store receipt. "Yep."

Riku heard Richie's voice all the way from her room, quickly pulling on a blouse and a pair of low-riding jeans. The vixen rushed down the hallway, smiling and pulling her father politely aside.

"Oh, hello. Did I wake you up? I'm sorry..." Rod's ears flattened to his skull, and he tried to cop a peak of a confused looking Russ.

"Daddy... umm. I mean... Father. This is Richie." Riku blushed, trying to grin up her dad's approval.

Russell honestly disliked anyone who took his precious Riku away, but he concealed it, and shrugged.

Roderick charmingly kissed the vixen's knuckles, smiling warmly and inviting her to his side, but not too close. "I came to ask if you wanted to go out this fine morning." His warm smile turned into a hopeful grin. Riku's eyes widened a bit, and she expelled a surprised huff from her nose.

"Er... I would love that...?" she looked to the fox inside the house for approval, and to her further surprise, he nodded. The dull gray wolf presented his flowers to Riku at last, and she blushed, taking him in her paws. The urge to hug them tightly to her chest was very tempting...

The two of them waved casual goodbye to Russell, who took hardly a care that his fourteen-year-old daughter was going out alone with this older boy.

"W-where are we going Richie?" Riku asked once she was convinced that Russ was out of earshot.

"How 'bout Hershey Park?" the boy smiled and rubbed his paws together, "About a ten minute drive from here..."

Riku sighed, "That sounds like fun... but I'm allergic to chocolate..."

"Ge-huggh...!" Rod gulped, pulling at his collar. He'd already bought tickets. Aww well...

"You ok?"

"I'm fine. We could take the scenic route and hit Presidential Hall in Philly..." the wolf licked his lips, "Stop by Art's for a sandwich."

"That's a ways over there..."

"An hour drive. Tops."

"Is it ok with you?"

"Hey I offered, right?" Roderick jingled his keys, opening the door to his patrol car for her.

"Yeah..."

"Let's go then!"

"Right..." Riku had never been to Philly before. On her way over her to Pennsylvania, from Maine, her father considered moving there, but the real estate was far too expensive.

"What should we do first?"

"Feck..." the girl muttered absently, failing to pull the reins on either her mouth or brain.

"What?" Rod mused, starting the car and pulling out of the driveway.

"Sorry... I wasn't paying attention... what should we do first?"

"I'm in the mood for something romantic..."

Riku stiffened, "Nah! No... I meant. No... how about a...?"

"What's the matter?"

She blushed, "Geh... I don't know... what you had in mind..."

"Some pictures taken at the booth, cotton candy at the fair... and the evening up at my place. Sound A'ight?" the boy relaxed as they hit the main road, away from the rather tight turns of the residential cluster.

"No... umm..."

"Can't you talk?" he giggled, though his eyes seemed to be drifting off to the side, until he eventually stopped and pulled the car over. He piffed in disgust, "Becky, just a sec. Wait here, and don't move..."

The wolf drew his gun and bound down the ditch, squinting in the early morning sun. Near the barbed wire fence below, where a pair of younger Wolfen-morphs, colored and statured much akin to, himself were beating someone, obviously defenseless, on the ground. "Freeze! Drop the bat, sir..." Richie was surprised to see that it was not a feline on the ground, but a human. "I said put down the bat!"

The two bludgeon wielding wolves looked at each other briefly, then ran. Roderick growled in frustration, firing two rounds into the air, and provoking the batters to duck down instinctively. "Stay right here." He whispered to the boy on the ground, though he knew well that he wouldn't be walking anytime soon. The officer hoped that his girlfriend wasn't watching him. He didn't want to seem like a complete hard-ass...

Rod held his gun on the two, kneeling down and promptly cuffing them, reciting their rights. Once he was finished he barked, "What the hell do you think you you're doing?"

"Fuckin' hairless ape...!" the now-disarmed and handcuffed wolf to the officer's right muttered, growling blatantly as Richie hoisted them up by the backs of their shirts, and literally tossed them into his patrol car behind Riku. He then called an ambulance, proceeding to wait next to the victim until it arrived.

"Can you tell me what happened?" he said softly, wincing as the boy coughed a tooth from his throat.

"The... those fuckin' beasties... I... gotta cross the road to get to my friends farm... over there."

Roderick didn't take to kindly to the term beasties, but he continued talking to him until the paramedics arrived at the scene.

Furries and humans weren't exactly separated, but they weren't exactly allies either. In most societies, the other was frowned upon, and gang wars erupted. Such was the same within the two races as well. Human's quarrel over nationality, and skin color. Anthros... fight amongst themselves like cats and dogs. Neither situation would be preferable to most, personally, but violence is, and will always be in living nature.

Richie hopped back into the car, placing a paw on Riku's soft shoulder, "Sorry... we have to make a stop at the station."

Riku frowned, "Oh... ok." She thought he was off-duty. He looked at her curtly, the flit of his short whiskers telling his tall as she thought nothing else was able to. That look, the one seemingly set in stone, began to distort.

The wolf's lips turned up into a terrifying grin, "The station..."

After a short drive over to Pittsburgh, Roderick was intently shoving the suspects into separate cells. Riku watched him gesture forcefully to an officer behind a messy desk, who stood up quickly to tend to orders. She placed her hands in her lap, sitting forward intently in waiting. She waited...

What's he doing in there? The vixen asked herself, cautiously leaning forward in the metal-framed chair to pear around the corner of the wall into the cell block.

The vixen asked herself, cautiously leaning forward in the metal-framed chair to pear around the corner of the wall into the cell block.

"Baby?" Richie suddenly werfed into her ear, standing behind her now somehow.

Riku shot forward, startled, and nearly fell from her seat. She blushed, No, no, no! Say something... "Hip!" she flinched as her lips ran off again.

Rod yerfed, one of his floppy ears standing on end for a harsh second, "Why thank you. So are you..." he smiled, and offered her a hand. The fox girl stood up on her own, repeatedly cursing herself.

He can think of the right things to say... why can't I anymore? Again, the lack of feeling of being 'in control' was alien to Riku. She allowed herself to be pulled along the dull, tan hallway by the wrist. She smiled absently as Roderick flaunted a small red key among a few others on a ring, apparently what he had retrieved from the man at the desk.

Again, the lack of feeling of being 'in control' was alien to Riku. She allowed herself to be pulled along the dull, tan hallway by the wrist. She smiled absently as Roderick flaunted a small red key among a few others on a ring, apparently what he had retrieved from the man at the desk.

A heavy door at the end of the hallway, striped precisely along the top and bottom with black-and-yellow caution patters, was the fit to this key. Richie looked around to see that no one happened to be walking by, then pushed it open, pulling the girl inside with him. The tall, gray wolf made certain that the door was shut and locked again before anything else.

Roderick pushed up the light-switch at last, bathing the firing range in its set array of warehouse-grade lights.

Riku's pretty eyes shifted from deep brown to bright green, just as the wolf was looking at her.

Roderick jumped, more than a little startled. "Wow...! That's amazing! How'd you do that?" he took a few steps closer to her, placing his paws on each of her shoulders, making her shake.

She looked to her left, then to her right, then behind her again. "W-what?"

"Your eyes changed colors..." his voice seemed dreamy, as if he didn't need to think to speak.

The vixen shook her head, deciding to change the subject, "Are we going to...?"

"Shoot? Of course..." he backed away from her and stretched. "We've got this whole thing to ourselves; no one ever comes in here in the mornings unless there's a new recruit. Richie stepped up into the booth behind them, peering down at the small black-and-green screen of the simple console. He set it to three quick firing rounds, then piling two pairs of earmuffs, and two pairs of goggles into his arm. The guy stepped back out of the booth, smiling at the first row of human-shaped targets lowered. He placed the goggles and muffs onto his head, leaning down and doing the same for Riku, stopping briefly to lick her cheek.

Rod then returned to the booth, leaving her standing there looking rather confused, and proceeded to dial the code on the weapons locker, carefully handling a pair of plain-looking Glock 9mm side-arms over to the comfortable booths at the range.

Riku quivered as her eyes lazily drafted upon the weapons. A clear vision of the gun which Alex had so often brandished was banded into her mind, the very shape of it contrasting with any other color. These weren't the ones, though. He had used a Russian Sig Sauer; from whence he obtained it, the girl didn't know.

"Becky!" Roderick barked harshly, slapping her harms down, and shoving her shoulder so that she faced down the range.

In her pondering, Riku had been pointing the loaded gun at him. She blushed heavily and muttered, "S-sorry. I wasn't paying attention..."

"This is a device used for killing! Not a toy. Pay attention." The wolf's serious, fatherly expression morphed into a tamed smile, his stylized tail wagging. "Ready?"

The vixen hesitated, then nodded awkwardly.

"Good... fire when ready!"

Twelve shots echoed grimly up and down the range before Riku even made one. The bullet cases rang as they hit the concrete floor, eventually falling into complete silence other than two pairs of breathing lungs.

Richie lifted up his goggles and whooped childishly, "Milk caps, Baby!" he was referring to the fact that one could literally place a milk cap over all twelve bullet holes at once, which were all in the center of the head.

Riku's eyes widened, as she was very impressed at his aim, at the same time adoring his lighthearted attitude. She snickered, turning toward the target down the concrete ambit. The fox-girl leaned over the booth, and squeezed the trigger. The gun recoiled, smacking her clean in the forehead, sending her staggering back, groaning.

The boy sighed, catching her as she rubber her forehead. "Are you ok, Baby?"

Her face turned an embarrassing shade of pink. "Oh... yeah. I'm fine," she murmured as if nothing had happened.

Rod focused his eyes down the range again; the shot had landed in the target's hip. "Not bad at all. Ever shot before?"

"Once..." Riku werfed glumly, remembering a while back when her daddy had taken her hunting. She rubbed her forehead again, her face remaining red as Roderick guided her back to the booth.

"Here..." he said warmly into her ear, causing it to twitch. He pushed up to her back, placing his big gray paws over her slender black ones, over the gun, and taking careful aim with one eye trained over her shoulder.

KA-JINK. The gun sounded again, and Riku looked up, his hands and arms still around her shaking posture. The bullet had landed smack in the middle of the cross painted on the target's face.

The gun sounded again, and Riku looked up, his hands and arms still around her shaking posture. The bullet had landed smack in the middle of the cross painted on the target's face.

"Bullseye..." the dusky-furred wolf whispered, grinning in congratulation to his girlfriend.

Riku gasped quietly as she felt his left paw leave hers, proceeding in a silky, dreamy motion down her arm, stopping at her shoulder. She made a rather stupid noise, either from her mouth or nose, she couldn't tell. The vixen was lead to believe that he wouldn't stop there, but to her great relief, he did.

"Can you make one by yourself now?" he grinned warmly and pressed his cheek against the fluffy triangle of fur at the side of her head, "I'm perfectly fine with help you out a little."

"No thank you. I'll mind my head this time."

Roderick nodded politely, invisibly spinning his own gun on his finger and dropping into the waist-holster that he carried on his belt.

She fired, one. Twice. The first one missing, the second one pegging the target's left abdomen. Riku lifted her goggles, and smiled giddily, "I got it! Did you see that?"

The lupine man laughed, stretching. "Oh yeah. Nice one baby, that's a kill shot." His mind changed to a different, if pressing subject. "Becky, I've been thinking. Your friends seemed like a nice bunch... might you introduce me to them?"

The vixen gulped, ruffling her frilly collar, "Ehem... well, you wouldn't like them."

"Why not?"

She thought for a moment. They would totally blow her secret. Her lie. If that happened, Richie would hate her. The girl ran a paw through her long, reddish hair, revealing a long-hidden white highlight. "You just wouldn't." Shit... is that it? I can do better than that.

"Becky... don't say that, please. I'm not a mean guy, I don't just dislike people." He looked down at his feet, "Well... no offense. They seemed like an odd bunch... is that it?"

Riku decided to use this assumption to her advantage, and nodded shyly.

Roderick laughed almost humorlessly, "All the more reason I want to meet them. Please, baby?"

"Uh... alright." She decided finally that she would have to spill the beans to Kyle and Nikki in advance, and beg them to keep it shut tight.

She was Riku after all. The neighborhood vixen. She'd make it work out if it killed her.

*****

Well, folks... I guess that was it. Number twelve if you will. I apologize that it yields such unsatisfactory product, but oftentimes when I post it, the italics don't turn up. Not to worry though, number thirteen will be on its way shortly. Until then... cest la vie.