New Beginnings

Chapter Two: Following my Heart

Sleep came fitfully on me for that second night, the day after school had started for me. My day only instilled fear of tomorrow in me, as if I knew that if I fell asleep the next day of school would start sooner. Exhaustion prevailed eventually and I rested in sleep's gentle arms until the crest of dawn. Moonbeam nudged open the door to my room, kneeling down and stroking my shoulder. "Sliverpaw my precious... it is time to wake up."

I rolled over groggily, groaning gently. "Oiii... do I have to?"

Shi purred softly. "Aye... you do. Come now... school can't be that bad."

I lied on my back, my hind and forepaws both outstretched as I was partially erected with God's glorious gift of morning wood (that was sarcasm by the way in case you couldn't figure that out.) "It really is... I don't fit in, all anyone cares about is sex, and the fact that I'm a herm makes me an abomination in their eyes." I whimpered softly. "I only made two friends... and one is a teacher."

"Two friends is better than none my sweet." Shi nosed my neck. "You're just new to them, give them a chance and you'll become just another student. Just ignore their lurid looks and try to reach out and you'll fit in just fine." I lowered my head, purring nearly inaudibly with a depressed grimace. Shi noticed my apprehension and nudged my stiffening member. "Would taking care of that make you happier?"

"Moonbeam!" I exclaimed, shocked. "I know we used to do that back in Oz... but Christ... we JUST moved here."

Shi shook hir head roughly, as if coming out of some sort of stupor. "Right, right... I'm sorry sweetie, it's just... that time of the month again."

"Heat?" I asked.

Shi nodded. "Aye... I will be glad when Nightstreak comes off the plane today... shi and I will need to have some time together."

I rose to my feet, cracking my back by leaning far back until my head nearly touched my flanks. We may look like unwieldily creatures, but we are actually quite flexible; we have to be, otherwise some spots on our body would be nearly inaccessible. "Alright then Moonbeam... but close the windows if you're gonna be doing it, a friend might stop by and I don't want him hearing you crying out to heaven."

Shi chuckled and punched my arm. "Found someone you're interested in?" Hir voice slowly lifted and became teasing as shi asked, hir long tail flicking rapidly back and forth.

"Shut it!" I shouted half angrily, but couldn't help cracking a soft smile. "If you must know... he's... okay..." I said, trying to control my choice of words to stay passive and not give away my feelings. He was cute and seemed to be a great guy, not to mention his tolerance. My tail curled upward at the thought, seeing him again would make my day at least tolerable.

"Don't lie to me young lady... I saw you and him on the banks yesterday, you let him take a picture of your tits." As if to emphasize hir point, shi lifted hir own bust. "Either you're a real exhibitionist or else you feel something for him." Shi rubbed hir raven black hair absently, something shi did when shi was thinking hard. "Then again, you had rut nine days ago, maybe you're starting to feel heat."

"I was in my right mind!" I countered. "I just let him take the picture because he really needed money and he cheered me up, I don't LOVE him."

Shi giggled and walked out of the room. "Riiight..." Shi poked hir head back in with a final interjection. "Silverpaw... follow your heart."

I didn't pay much attention to the comment at the time, waving it off with a scoff. I made my way to the bathroom. This is the most obvious room where the retrofitting for chakats was made. The first thing one would notice is that there was no toilet, at least as an anthro would know it. Instead there was a hole mounted on the wall at our lower torso height with a handle and a plastic arm jutting out a few feet ahead, buttons mounted on the end that controlled the bidet. (Obviously we couldn't wipe ourselves, and it was a bit more complicated than this, it wasn't just a hole, there was of course a plumbing system and it was porcelain.) I relieved myself and cleaned myself off good before I headed to the shower, a gigantic walk-in suite. It would be big enough to fit a dozen anthros, but it could house three of us chakats comfortably. The water came from multiple ceiling mounted sources, as well as three controllable wands for the aforementioned chakats to target certain areas as they bathed. There were also floor mounted water jets that washed our lower bodies which we couldn't reach. There were buttons on the sides of the stall that controlled the intensity of these floor jets so that, if we were feeling particularly naughty, we could use them to stimulate our bodies. This wasn't on my mind that day and I showered without a hitch.

Ten minutes later I stepped out, fur saturated, to the dryer station. This was just like the shower stall, except large exhaust fans pointed towards the focal center. I depressed a large red button and they all fired up, blasting the water off my body where it dripped into the floor mounted drains. The system was efficient, I was dry in a mere minute, though it had the unfortunate side effect of causing fluffiness, nothing a brush wouldn't fix. I grabbed a wide fur brush out of the cabinet to smooth down my comically plush fur to its normal levels and I put it back, replacing it with a hairbrush to mend my frizzy silver hair that hung down my back, draping over the point of joining of my two bodies.

Satisfied with my curly locks, I replaced the hairbrush and headed back to my room. An exact replica of my uniform waited on my bed and I shuddered slightly. Tentatively I held up the top, sighing deeply as I knew I would have to wear it again. The way the fabric felt between my fingers I knew that this was a new uniform, not just washed, so Moonbeam had bought more. I took my bra, clipping it around my back, then I slipped on my modest white blouse, buttoning it up and finally I unzipped the elastic torso cover and struggled into that, reaching around to zip it back up. I looked back at the mirror, my heart falling as my good looks faded under the stiff school clothes. I raised my paws to the air to stretch my Latisimus Dorsi and my Triceps before I strolled over to Moonbeam, doing a bit of unpacking and rearranging the house to hir preferences. I gave hir a kiss, which shi happily returned and said goodbye before I set out on the deserted route to school.

The path was same as always, save for the trees having a bit less foliage than the day before. The temperature was fairly warm, at least for those parts, felt about twenty three Celsius. The sky was clear of all clouds and sun bathed the valley in its golden luminescence, even the sky around Helena was pure. My strides became less plodding and springier as I remembered that I now had Tyler to cheer me up. I giggled softly and for once smiled as I thought of him. I knew he was greatly different than the other boys there, his hesitation to take a picture of my breasts showed that he was pure... or gay. I prayed the former.

I again filed into the school with all the other furs. I knew they were saying things about me still, but I tried to ignore them, with much more success than the day before. My mood quickly soured as I walked into Mr. Goldman's homeroom. He spotted me and rushed over with his wide, sickening smile. "Silverpaw! Good morning!"

"Rack off you hack." My mind screamed, though I restrained myself to a soft bow and a polite. "G'day sir."

He nodded. "How was your first day yesterday?"

"It sucked, I wanted to kill myself and you did nothing to help the cause." I thought, but again, what I said drastically differed my thoughts. "It was a bit nerve wracking, but altogether it was a decent day."

"Excellent! I hope your days will get easier."

"I hope you'll die." I forced a smile. "I can only hope."

He let me alone and I stood in my little corner, inspecting my schedule in case there were any changes from day to day. Alas, as I was a transfer student I had no electives, so my classes were the same every day, Biology, Global Studies, Lunch, Geometry and English. My smile widened at Global Studies but withered at English. I noticed a shadow over my shoulder and I turned to see the female husky who had asked if Chakats were herms in Biology class. She was staring intently at my schedule and suddenly saw that I had noticed. She yelped, held her chest and then sighed. "Ack! You scared me there..."

I turned to her. "What were you doing?" She was female, so trying to look down my shirt was probably not an answer.

She giggled softly with an innocent, warm smile. "Sorry, I just wanted to see your schedule, I was interested to see what classes you have." That wasn't an answer I expected. She pointed down to the paper. "You... mind if I take a look?"

I was dumbfounded, but I couldn't see the harm in showing it to her, so I handed it over. Her eyes darted over the page and she pointed out things to herself. "Of course, you're in my Bio class... I knew that. Hmm... Aw you got Wells for Global? He's awesome, you'll have fun with him." She quickly darted her eyes over and flashed a smile. "Oh? You're in my lunch? That's cool... where do you sit?"

I blinked a couple of times. "Uh... Southwest corner table, at least that's where I stood yesterday."

She nodded in understanding. "Ah... I take the other side, explains why I didn't see you." She mumbled to herself with the last classes. "Robertson for Geometry... he's boring... and..." Her eyes narrowed and a look of disgust blanched her face and she whispered for fear of the teacher hearing. "Ew... Goldman for English... I feel sorry for you, what a creeper..."

I shuddered again at the thought. "He's bloody... I don't even know the right adjective..."

"Sketch?" She smiled in suggestion.

"Sketch? What does a drawing have to do with this?"

"Short for sketchy... it's a little slang we have around here."

"Ah, yeah, definitely... 'sketch' then."

She patted my back and handed me back my schedule. "Here you go! See you in Bio." She rubbed her chin as she thought, her tail swaying back and forth. "Hey, when we're working on stuff, you wanna be my partner? Bio... isn't my best subject." She giggled nervously and rubbed the back of her head with a grin.

"Well I'm not the best either... your bio pertains mainly to anthros right?"

"Yeah, but it's not so hard... well, for me it is. I'll try and help you out if you help me. Together we'll only slightly fail!" She joked.

I couldn't help but laugh a little. "Well, alright, I don't see why not... hey, what's your name?"

She sat in the seat next to me, her head in cradled in her paws as she looked over. "Me? My name is Valentina Rustovnik."

"Russian?" I blurted, genuinely surprised.

She nodded with a soft chuckle. "Well yeah, I am a SIBERIAN husky."

I thumped my head, feeling like an idiot. "Oi... of course..."

She shook her head. "And you? I never caught your name."

"Silverpaw, daughter of Moonbeam and Nightstreak."

"Silverpaw... that's a pretty name." Her tail thumped against the desk. "And you're a pretty girl too."

That I was not prepared for, and I thudded against the wall as I fell slightly. "W-wha?"

She laughed. "It's true, you're really beautiful, and you have a rack to die for, you know what some of the 'B' league here would do for that?" She poked my chest playfully. "But besides your breasts, you have some of the most unique and soft fur here, not to mention your cute little face, with those whiskers, who wouldn't go for that?"

"You'd be surprised... most people are scared to go out with a taur, and a herm at that."

She scoffed. "Those people don't have open minds, I think you're a great girl."

I softened slightly at her flattery. "Well... thanks! In my opinion you don't look too bad yourself."

She blushed. "I... You..." She burst out into a fit of giggles. "You just want to fuck a husky."

"You think I'm like that?" I asked, a little disheartened.

She stopped giggling and became serious. "No... I don't. I didn't mean to imply that. It's just the way everyone else is. I want to wait until I've met 'the one'. Before I have sex with someone, I want to find the person who loves me for who I am... not who I am between the legs."

I put a paw on her shoulder and she looked up. "I understand you Valentina... it's how I've felt since I've come here."

She laughed halfheartedly. "Yeah... I'm guessing that for every person that is turned off by you being a taur or herm, another wants to fuck you for the same reason."

"Pretty much." I added and looked up at the clock.

Valentina noticed the motion and inspected it too. "I guess the bell's gonna ring, wanna walk up together?"

"Sure, why not?"

She smiled and got up with me and walked out the door as soon as the bell sounded, taking the nearest set of stairs together. We walked side by side, except on the stairs, where my width prevented us from walking abreast, and she fell back and trailed me until we reached the top and she pulled forward to be beside me again. We took our seats as the bell once again rang, decreeing that any students in the hall were now late. The teacher closed the door and walked to her spot in the front of the room, admonishing us for bringing the class so far off topic yesterday with the subject of my anatomy, as now we were very behind. I declined to mention that she was also asking questions and allowed the conversation to take place.

After our scolding, we returned to work, and after a brief lesson we were assigned to worksheets. As promised, Valentina slid over to my station to pool our resources. As I figured, she was mostly lying when she said she was horrible at Biology, she did the worksheets without too much of a problem, save for a few common sense problems which I had to point out to her. She helped me further my understanding of Biology with a few kind words and some devices that helped her remember. Class went by a lot faster it seemed than the day before, and we parted company with cordial goodbyes and waves. I could officially chalk the friend count up to three.

I felt actually quite happy as I trotted down the stairs to Mr. Wells room. The realization of the next class only heightened my mood, eagerly awaiting being in his cheerful presence. And cheerful he was. He noticed me and grinned, sauntering over and giving me, much to my surprise, a tight hug. My tail wagged rather happily as he released me. "Good morning Silverpaw! How is your day going so far?"

"Wonderful, Mr. Wells." I remarked, though this was actually quite truthful.

"Stupendous news!" He was filing away some paperwork as he talked. I noticed his desk was an utter mess, perhaps indicative of his mental state as well. He looked back over again and flashed another smile. "How about your first day?"

I felt that I could be honest with him and my ears pinned back. "Uh well... pardon my language Mr. Wells... but it was fucking awful..."

He suddenly stopped, dropping a few papers and rushing over. "What was the problem?"

"Everything..." I recounted the events of the day before. "My first period I was bombarded with questions regarding my anatomy, and then on lunch, I cried so hard I didn't even eat anything. Geometry, people were gossiping about me as the teacher droned on and in English..." I covered my mouth, suddenly feeling ill. "Don't even start about English..."

"You have Goldman don't you... I really do despise that man..." He sighed and then lifted my cheek. "Silverpaw, I'm terribly sorry to hear that, if anybody is giving you problems I can call them down to the office and give them a talk."

"Thank you sir... but it's nobody in particular, it's just society... people are either afraid of taurs, or else very attracted to them, I mean... have you seen my breasts?"

"Yes, but we're paid NOT to look at those." He joked but became serious. "So... you're concerned that you're being treated like a living sex toy?"

I only nodded and he shook his head. "If anybody ever starts pressuring you too hard, come to me, I can bring them in for sexual harassment, it's a very serious charge." He patted my shoulder. "I'm concerned about your safety, you can talk to me candidly if something is making you uncomfortable."

I nodded again. "Thank you sir..."

"Silverpaw... when we're not in class... call me John."

I blinked and smiled. "Alright then mate."

He chuckled and waved me back as he began his lesson. There was no less force or vigor in his lesson than the day before and once again I was captivated with history, retold in the words of Jonathan Wells. That period ended far sooner than I would have liked, actually groaning, disappointed, when the bell rang. Mr. Wells chuckled silently at this and gave my back a pat on the way out. "See you tomorrow!" I nodded back at him. "You too Mr..." The class was emptied as I was turning to him, so I smiled. "John."

He nodded once and waved me out. Any mood detriments brought about by Mr. Goldman were quickly fixed by Mr. Wells. Now I was headed to Lunch, my stomachs rumbled noisily, reminding me that I hadn't eaten in quite some time. I grabbed my bag and trotted into the cafeteria, standing by my usual table, just as deserted as the day before. I had scarcely set down my bag when I spied Tyler's cream colored form sauntering to our table. With a soft, rasping scrape he pulled out the chair across from me and sat down. He smiled up at me. "Hiya Sylvia."

"G'day Tyler." I returned the smile with a soft, rumbling purr, my long tail swishing around aimlessly. "How'd it go?"

He instantly knew what I was talking about and pulled out a leather wallet, presenting three twenty dollar bills, a ten, and a five. "They gave me seventy five for a shot of your nipples, they were impressed, thought that I seduced you or something."

In a slight fit of feeling flirtatious I purred louder. "You kind of did... in a way."

Either he did not understand the comment, or he was too scared to act on it. I guessed the latter, I thought I saw a tiny blush, or maybe I just hoped I did. He grinned at me. "Well, I really do have to thank you, this can buy essentials for awhile." The camera still hung around his neck, the lens covered. He noticed me staring at it and he held up his paws. "I deleted it, I swear."

"I believe you." I patted his head. "Though, you probably kept a copy for yourself for those lonely nights." I teased

He declined to answer, looking away a little. I raised an eyebrow, but didn't press him further. Let him have his fun, I figured. He finally looked back at me after taking a bite of his sandwich. "So, how's today going?"

"Much better." I answered cheerfully, taking a large bite of my own peanut butter and jelly sandwich, my stomachs rumbling loudly at not being fed in quite some time, eliciting a giggle from Tyler. I finished off my sandwich, licking my fingers and then chomping about half of the apple in one bite. I swallowed with a loud gulp and lazily rocked it back and forth, stem between my forefinger and thumb. "Mmm... so what about you?"

He wagged his thin tail gracefully as his face contorted into a wide grin. "Oh my god... thank you... things have been so much better. When I came home yesterday, my parents were glad to see I had made friends with someone like you, and the money I got will help us survive at least, I can't thank you enough."

My tail unconsciously wagged behind me and I purred softly as I spoke, invoking a rich harmony to my words. "There may be a way to thank me in the future, if things keep going with me the way they are now."

"What do you mean?" He asked, tilting his head.

I smiled softly, trying to hide my slight attraction to him. "You'll see." This is all I said to him.

He I could tell he was unsure if I was speaking the truth to him, but I could see his whiskers lift and twitch softly as he smiled warmly. I had just started on my Rice Krispie treat when he crumpled up his garbage and leaned onto the table. "So Sylvia... I was wondering, if I were to come over today, would you want to climb that mountain?"

I swallowed the last of the sticky marshmallow concoction with a loud gulp, not expecting that question. "Uh... sure, I suppose." I brushed my garbage to the side as well, taking a drink of water. "But you'll have to give me an hour or two, Nightstreak is coming today and I want to visit hir."

He nodded. "Daughter of Moonbeam and Nightstreak, so... shi's your...?"

"Father." I responded. "But only in technicality, being a mother or father doesn't really matter to us, since it can change, you can be father to one child but mother to another, so it makes really no sense to call our parents by their title, we just call them by name."

"Makes sense..." He nodded at the conversation, trying to take it all in. "I can see why Mr. Wells is so fascinated by you guys."

I smiled back with a loud purr. "I like talking to him, he's a great guy."

Tyler grinned. "Yeah, I've got him third period, he's certainly influential."

I giggled and got up to throw out my garbage, Tyler rising to repeat the motion. He turned away for a second and I imagined throwing my arms around him, dragging him away and just cuddling with him for the rest of the day. I restrained myself from doing so however. I wanted to make sure he wanted this too, forcing it on him might be a bit much.

The bell rang and I wandered to Geometry class. As the teacher droned, I brainstormed ways to hint that I loved him and to elicit a response from him. The period was a blur as I mindlessly wrote down notes while still thinking. It was fruitless anyway, perhaps I'd think of something while climbing. I was so distracted that I once again struck my rump against the doorframe as I entered room 142. Unconsciously I swore loudly as I rubbed my flanks for the second time. "Motherfucker!"

Mr. Goldman winced. "There are many words in the English language you could have used, did you have to use that one?"

I fumed and my eyes darted to the heavy wood door, if I wanted to I could tear it off its hinges and brain him with it, but I controlled myself, barely, focusing on the positive aspects of the day, Tyler would be visiting and Nightstreak would be arriving just about now. I bowed curtly, biting my tongue. "Sorry Mr. Goldman."

"It's alright, just hold your tongue."

"I already am..." I thought dryly but gave another fake smile to him. "I will sir."

Fortunately this short exchange spared me the expense of having to have a full conversation with him and the lesson passed quickly. He was still sickening of course, but if he wasn't talking directly to me, that was fine enough. I took the time today to survey my other classmates and, by the look on their faces, I was not alone in loathing him. I honestly wondered if he had any sense at all. I thought a bit more and I even began to wonder if he even realized how different I really was. Worse still, he had a proclivity for asking every question to me. Not only was this annoying, but it interrupted me every time I was trying to think about something pertaining to my time away. I damn near gave him quite a large portion of my mind a few times, but miraculously I was able to remain silent. I absently wrote down our homework, a bit of vocabulary, nothing mind melting. Seconds later the bell rang and I made a beeline to my locker.

Unlike the day before, I wasn't desperate to get as far away from school as possible, but rather just to get home so I could see the rest of my family. I slung my bag over my back and broke out in a silent trot on the path back, smiling and humming an aimless tune. The trip, due to my urgency took a scant forty minutes and as soon as I entered our house I ran up to my room, shrugged off my pack and removed my clothes, giving my fur a quick smoothing before I sauntered back downstairs. Idle conversations and hearty laughter reverberated up the stairs and my tail swished from side to side as I entered the kitchen. The room was filled with a technicolorarray of chakats, from the brilliant white of Moonbeam to the pitch black and cerulean of Nightstreak, as well as two others, one was a silky furred chakat, with a very evident archer's build, broad shoulders and arms but a thinner stomach. The thing that was really odd about hir though was hir creamy pink fur, save for hir chest. Shi turned to me with sparkling hazel eyes, a smile quickly growing. "Silverpaw!"

"Sis!" I ran up to give hir a hug. "Ah... how've you been Rosecoat?"

Shi giggled. "I've been worried for you, I had a feeling that American schools would be giving you a bit of trouble, after all, nobody here has ever really seen a taur in person." Shi had an eerily accurate sixth sense.

"The first day was rough, but it was alright today, be careful tomorrow."

Rosecoat scoffed at me. "I'll be fine, people may mess with you, but they wouldn't dare start something they can't finish with me." Shi flexed hir arms. Rosecoat was definitely not someone to be trifled with, if shi was angry enough shi could throw you through the wall.

"People won't have to mess with you, you put your body out for auction anyways." I retorted back to hir.

"I'm not the one who decided it would be fun to seduce as many anthros as you could in one day." Shi grinned as shi fired back. Our rivalry, heated as it may seem, was actually quite friendly. Rosecoat and I are bonded sisters, sisters conceived at very similar times, both parents pregnant at the same time. Our age is only four days apart.

Nightstreak interrupted with a hearty laugh. "Alright you two, don't start up already, you just got here." Hir black fur was nearly lusterless, seeming to absorb the light, except for the cerulean patches that intertwined around hir back, those reflected much of the light, giving the deceiving appearance of those patches actually glowing. Shi drew us both close and stroked our heads. "It's so good to see you again Silverpaw."

"Because I'm hir favorite." I stuck my tongue out at Rosecoat.

Finding no way to outdo my little barb, shi changed the subject."So, Silverpaw, have you seen any cute girls?" Ironically despite hir pink fur, shi preferred hir male side, except of course during heat, where our female desires strongly depress our natural inclinations.

I rolled my eyes. "If you're going to start on that already, go find your own girls."

Nightstreak shook hir head. "Come on! You just came here and you're talking about sex. Honestly, how did I raise you girls?"

"You're the one that insisted mating in front of us." Rosecoat shot at hir.

"Point taken." Shi said meekly, blushing slightly.

Moonbeam sashayed over, swinging hir hips. "Oh don't worry about it my love, they're just like that." Shi grabbed hir mate's sides and pulled hir close, licking Nightstreak's muzzle before pulling hir into a kiss, which Nightstreak responded quite positively to, purring in a deep, low rumble.

Rosecoat pointed at them. "See! You just come here and you're thinking about it already too."

Moonbeam broke the kiss with a low seductive chuckle, shooting a glance over to hir. "Rosecoat? Shut up." Shi shot nonchalantly, returning to hir passion with hir lifemate.

Nightstreak tittered softly at the barb to Rosecoat, taking a deep sniff of the air. "I know that smell, it's that time, isn't it?"

Shi only nodded in return and they retreated back to their room silently. I smiled warmly to Rosecoat, drawing hir into a hug. "It's nice to have you back." I whispered sincerely

Shi kissed my cheek, caressing my shoulders. "You too sis." Shi returned the smile planting a little kiss on my lips.

A tiny voice piped up beneath us. "Aww... I'm the only one not having fun." I glanced down, seeing a tiny chakat below us. I breathed a soft laugh, realizing I had nearly forgotten my little sister. Shi was but a cub, having just broken the hundred centimetre mark. One thing that you could never judge a chakat on was hir fur, as the genetics for this were the only thing that wasn't locked in on us, hence, our fur colors, patterns and styles widely vary even within a family. My little sister was perhaps the best example of this. Hir fur was a mild shade of seafoam green and besides this strange quirk, hir fur was long and very, very curly. We would often joke that shi looked like a radioactive sheep. Being a child of six, shi was quite curious and often felt shi was being ignored.

I picked hir up, nuzzling hir cheek. "We see you, you crazy Sheila!"

Shi laughed giddily, kicking hir legs. "I wanna play mating!"

Rosecoat yawned. "Seriously? Come on... we just arrived O.S. like an hour ago Windsoul."

Now, a moment of explanation. Chakats are educated on sex as soon as they are deemed ready, which is generally is very early. Four to six is a common age to start. Windsoul just started the year before with hir male side, which matures first. And by education, we mean they actually start to have sex.

I smiled and mussed up hir fur. "Windy... I know it's cool for you to mate, but we can't right now, I'm gonna have a friend over, Rosy is tired and Moonbeam and Nightstreak need some time alone right now."

Shi grumbled slightly but hir mood quickly lightened again. "Well, maybe one of my friends in school will mate with me!"

Rosecoat and I looked at each other quickly. "Uh... Windsoul... you're six... anthros normally don't even know what sex is at your age."

"Well I can teach them!" Shi remarked bright and innocently.

"Windy..." I admonished gently. "Remember what Night told you?"

Shi thought for a second then lowered hir gaze, speaking reluctantly. "We're different and we have to respect the ways the anthros do things..."

I nodded and went down to hir level. "Your new friends won't know about the things you do, and you can't tell them, you can be really good friends, but you can't mate with them, no matter how much you like them." I licked hir cheek and shi giggled softly.

Rosecoat stepped over to Windsoul. "I promise I'll play with you tomorrow Windy... right now I need some shut-eye."

"You big sis' always run out of energy too fast!" Shi giggled and ran around the kitchen for a few seconds before shi suddenly yawned and swayed a little.

Rosecoat smirked. "You were saying?" Shi picked hir up and kissed hir cheek. "Come on..." Shi whispered softly. "Let's go sleep..." Shi turned to me. "Good night Silverpaw."

I nodded. "Night." I heard soft moans drifting from upstairs as well as muted thumps. "Well... that was fast." I remarked, stepping outside. I once again sat on the banks of the stream. I studied flowers and the grasses as I noticed them. This amount of flora was a shock to me. In southwest Queensland, where I once lived, it was mostly desert, so I had never seen much vegetation. As I was mentally cataloguing the different species I heard a voice behind me.

"Sylvia... there you are."

I quickly swiveled to see Tyler standing there, wearing a warm jacket and an even warmer smile. I cried out and gave him just as warm of a hug, nearly knocking him over. "You came!"

He let out a slight "Oof!" when my body, large compared to his, nearly bowled him over. "Yes, I came, it's not like it's some mammoth achievement."

I cleared my throat. "Heh... forgive me, it's just that I've really grown to enjoy your presence."

"No apology needed Sylvia, there are worse things than having a beautiful girl hug me a bit more enthusiastically than she needs to."

"Beautiful... girl?"

He suddenly blushed deeply and quickly changed the topic. "I uh... uh... was hoping to meet your family!"

I giggled at his bashfulness and perhaps his Freudian slip. "Well, I'm afraid you're out of luck, maybe tomorrow. My sisters are asleep and my parents are having a bit of private time right now."

He nodded in understanding. "So... it's just you and me then?"

"Sure is."

He smiled. "Well, I'm prepared to hike that peak then." He gestured to his jacket. "You want to?"

"Sure, how's the view?"

"Indescribable."

The time when I had stepped outside was 5:30 PM, I had spent a good fifteen minutes there on the bank so it was about 5:45. Already it was twilight, or as the French would say: Entre les chiens et les loups. Assuming that the climb was easy, it would still take us at least an hour, maybe two. That would leave us at about seven or eight o'clock. Assuming we spent just an hour up there, it would still be eight or nine before we came down. This would take our whole night.

Suddenly, something clicked. I would be alone with him. This could be my time to show him that I had more feelings for him than just friends. Nobody watching us, we could say anything... do anything. I had to stop myself before my mind went somewhere I didn't want it. I looked back to him. "We're going to be up there for a long time Tyler, do you want me to bring a bedroll in case we're too tired to come down?"

"That'd be a good idea, thanks Sylvia."

I just smiled at him and snuck back up to my room, taking a spare bedroll and securing it to my back. I went back outside, where he was waiting for me. "Come on, I want you to see the lake at Moonlight, and it won't be safe to climb at night."

"I'm coming! Don't worry, despite our appearance we are adept climbers." I broke off into a trot and ran swiftly to the edge of the mountain.

Tyler tried to keep up with me, stumbling a few times. "Hey! Slow down!" He gasped after me. When I finally stopped, he keeled over, holding his knees, his breath clouding the air. "You run damn fast..."

"We climb nearly as fast, just try and keep up."

He suddenly reached out. "Wait!" I turned back with a quizzical expression. "You're not wearing anything... and I'm going to have to look up to see where I'm going... so uh..." He blushed.

I shook my head. "Don't worry about offending me if you happen to see a flash of that, I don't want to have to wait for you to climb."

"You really sure?" He gulped. "Y-you wouldn't be concerned about privacy or anything?"

"Chakats run around naked, do you really thing we're concerned about privacy?"

"You got a point there..."

I grinned and began to mount the slope, my lower paws rotating and tightly gripping the rocks. I flitted from ledge to ledge with preternatural agility, my tail constantly adjusting for balance. I looked behind me occasionally to see him scrambling to keep up with me. Occasionally when the terrain got too steep for his feet and he had to climb, he looked up for pawholds. It was then when I would hear him softly gasp. When I turned around I would see him averting his eyes with a blood red blush on his face. His reaction got a little quieter each time, until it became just a quiet giggle. Quite frankly, I didn't mind him getting little flashes of my nasty. He wasn't the type to brag about it, and the guy looked like he could use a bit of gratification here and there.

We were about halfway up now and he pulled up beside me. Apparently I was slowing down, something I tend to do when lost in thought. He smiled at me. "Can't slow down now, we're half there!"

I grinned at him. "I'm not slowing down, I was waiting for you to catch up!"

He chuckled. "Sure you were..." He went to pulling himself up another small ledge and his foot slipped on some loose shale. He gasped and clutched at the rock to stop himself from tumbling down the slope for a few metres, but I grabbed his arm.

He looked at me with a look of complete surprise. "Can't let you go breaking something now can we?" I smirked to him and he shuddered with relief.

"Thanks Sylvia, thought I was going to somersault to the bottom and make a fool of myself."

"You don't need to fall off a mountain to make a fool of yourself." I jabbed playfully.

He giggled. "Nah, you're right." We climbed the rest of the way abreast of each other, both smiling at each other. The trip seemed like nothing when he was beside me, trading barbs to each other, for which we would get offended for a second, not look at each other, then just start laughing, knowing that we both didn't mean it. We finally grappled ourselves onto a flat patch of rock, seeing no place else to continue, we knew we had reached the top. It was there that I saw it, a sight that took the air right out of my lungs.

Tyler put a paw on my shoulder. "Beautiful at night, isn't it?"

I nodded fervently. The sight was that of the lake on the top of the mountain, the lake that fed the limpid stream that passed by our home. The evanescence of moonlight refracted on the tiny waves of the placid waters like fleeting light shows upon its surface, meandering stripes of silver and black rambled across the lake, echoing my own fur colors. "It's awe inspiring... like something out a National Geographic..."

He sat down on the banks. "This used to be my spot to just meditate when my life sucked. It was so quiet and serene... I could just sit here and cry..." He looked back. "Eh, you must think I'm pathetic..."

I sat beside him, stroking his neck comfortingly. "Of course not..." I said sincerely. "Things are tough with your family, your father is struggling to support your family and your mother isn't there to help you. It's natural to want to cry."

He peered up at me, his thin tail twitching behind him. "Sylvia... I can't believe how patient and understanding you are."

"My first day was bloody hell Tyler, I do my best to understand other people, even if they don't understand me." I scooted closer to him. "How long ago did your mother die?"

"A half a year ago about... she was driving on a mountain road at night. She didn't see a patch of ice and she just drifted over the edge. She fell about a thousand feet... uh... like three hundred metres... the car was so mangled that by the time they got down to the valley for the recovery effort... there was... n-nothing... nothing left." He began to sob, resting his head on his knees.

I rested my paw on his back. "Tyler... I'm so sorry."

"W-why am I even telling you this? You don't care, nobody cares." He sobbed harder, his tears falling onto the rock below him.

I stroked him, letting him cry into my chest. I just kept him there for as long as he needed. He sniffled after a good five minutes and looked up. "Thank you... I just needed to cry. I had to be strong around the other kids, they made fun of me and called me names when I cried. They had the nerve to call me poor, since my mom was the one who made all the money, she had the expensive job." He wiped his eyes. "You're the only one who really just... listened."

"It wasn't a problem." I said soothingly. He smiled at me, letting out those gasping, half hysterical chuckles of a crying man. He sucked in a bit of cool air and sighed, looking out over the lake. For a minute, the only sounds came from the feeder creek that fed into the stream, rushing down over the mountain. The foaming water crashed in swirling eddies, a reverberating rushing sound echoing around the peak. We sat, entranced for some time before Tyler spoke up.

"Your fur is really pretty in this light."

I started back in surprise, inspecting my fur to see what he was talking about. The way the light streamed through my pelt. It made me glisten, my silver sections shining brightly and my black sections taking on a glossier look. I blushed. "Thanks Tyler..." He just cracked a smile at me, stroking my arm. The faintest hint of a purr emanated from him, which I echoed. My long tail found its way over to his curling and corkscrewing around it.

He tilted his head and looked back. "Oh, Sylvia... your tail got caught on mine... hold on, I got it." He reached back.

I grabbed his arm and he stared at me with a startled yelp. "Tyler, I know..." I closed the distance between our faces slowly.

"Syl... what are you..."

I ignored him and pressed my lips against his, wrapping my arms around him tightly.

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