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Welcome back, my lovely reader~

Did you know I wrote this over a week ago?

That's right, being a writer is my dream job but it has full-time hours and doesn't pay the bills. I want to keep writing these stories for everyone to enjoy and your support on Patreon or Ko-Fi helps make that happen. Supporters even get to see stories a week early to avoid all that pesky waiting. I also appreciate non-financial support like faving, voting, and following me here or on Twitter. Thank you so much for your continued support! Please enjoy the episode.

And with that out of the way...

Welcome back, my lovely reader!

Hello again! Have you been at all curious about the inner workings of the whole competition, the league, the sponsors, etc? No? Well, too bad because you're about to learn about it and you got no choice! Oh, don't look at me that way, you'll still get some sib-love time, so relax, I wouldn't do that to you, my lovely!

Anyhoo, Kai and Kayla are certainly expanding their social circles these days, gotta be careful about that when you've got such a taboo love though, eh? It could be problematic if it ever got revealed, eh?

Let's jump right in!

--*--

Episode 5:

I'm glad to have you as a friend.

With Madeline's gold last competition and only two left, her win of the season was all but assured. All she'd have to do was place in the top five of the following meets. If you're curious, here is the way the points are broken down per placement.

1st - 10 points

2nd - 5 points

3rd - 3 points

4th - 2 points

5th - 1 point

There are fifteen events in the season with two left in the present one, but why don't we jump ahead a bit? Madeline placed second in the following even with Kayla snagging the gold, but Gina had an off day and ended up only placing 4th. This removed all doubt that the bunny was the champion for the season.

On the boy's side of things, the next meet left Jarome with a gold, Hiroshi with a silver, and Kai with a bronze. Kai did a wonderful job but given that particular meet was held separately from the girls, it was difficult for him to fully channel his love for his sister.

The final event of the season was more of a formality for the ladies.Madeline participated but already had her points, likewise despite not placing last event, Gina was assured of her second place position.

This didn't stop the 'Snow Bunny' from putting it all out there for her fans though and when all the fur and snow settled, she had another gold medal for her collection. Gina had taken a silver with Kayla getting bronze to finish the season out.

On the boy's side of things, it was a much closer race and Kai hadn't helped by shaking up the points race between the big three. He came in on barely the last third of the season, but he'd really made a mess of the top three.

Hiroshi had been the favorite to take the season when it started, but once things had settled, it was a tight three-way sprint to the finish. In the end Kai did what he had done since coming on the scene. He shook the points up by finishing in first place on the final event.

Hiroshi finished second with Raul in third. This wasn't enough points to catch the other two boys though. Not only did the favorite not win the season, he ended up finishing third in points. Raul and Jarome actually tied in points, so they had to have a special post-competition board-off as it were.

Both Raul and Jarome dropped in for one more pass right there at the end of the competition. When it all settled, the collie had managed to just eke out the lynx, getting a single point to his total to win the season.

Kai finished eighth, which was very respectable to break into the top ten with only having participated in four of the fifteen events. Kayla finished in fifth place, again not too shabby given she was sitting in eleventh before the last four meets.

--*--

"You can't be serious!" Hiroshi snarled as he slammed his fist to the desk, his other paw holding the cellphone to his ear.

"We told you before, Mr. Yukazama, Gemini expects champions representing our brand."

"It was a two-point difference, and I've used your gear exclusively through my whole career. I understand what the contract stated, but as close as this season was, surely you all see this wasn't just me flopping over and embarrassing your product line."

"That's exactly the point. Miss Lashinger clearly defined herself from the pack, finishing with a commanding fifteen-point lead. You struggled against our biggest competitor and someone with a homemade board. Even that rookie was keeping up with you while using Altima products."

"So that's it then? You're just going to cut me off?" Hiroshi snarled into the phone.

"You are of course welcome to keep using all the gear we provided, if you have a commanding lead at the halfway point of next season while using it, we'll renegotiate with you at that time."

"Ha... you want me to promote your line for free and if I'm lucky you'll-"

"Mr. Yukazama, you can spare me your bruised ego. Those are the terms before you, now if you'll excuse me, I need to reach out to Raul Stallford and Jarome Samson. I wish you luck next season." The call went dead before Hiroshi could say anything to that.

Hiroshi sighed as he rubbed a paw down his face, then looked around his apartment. "Guess it's time to look for a smaller place."

--*--

"Feels a little odd being here. Like I'm an enemy agent that is infiltrating the stronghold," Madeline offered Kayla a grin as she walked next to her down the hall of the Altima training facility.

"You make it sound like you're a spy or something from one of those movies!" Kayla purred out with a smile.

"I am guilty of enjoying those types of shows and games. Sneaky stealthy stuff, cloak, and dagger plot lines." She hummed out and cocked a brow as Kayla stopped and faced her full-on.

"Look, I know you surrendered your cell phone at the front, but I'm being cool and trusting you here, Maddy." Kayla frowned as she folded her arms.

Madeline cocked a brow and lifted an ear at the same time. "I get you, and I appreciate it. I'm not planning anything underhanded, just eager to try out some new gear before it hits the public."

"Okay, don't think I'm trying to butter you up, you better try to kick my tail every chance you get or I'll leave you in the dust next season." Kayla perked her ears, showing a predatory grin before resuming her walk.

"Of course, competition is its own thing and a separate world to me. Even if I were a soulmate with someone, I'd still do my best to kick their ass on the course." Madeline snorted out as she paced back up with the larger female, having to keep her stride a little faster.

Kayla had to actually sign the board out when she collected it before they made their way to the facilities testing area, a large outdoor halfpipe that got routine maintenance to ensure it was competition level.

Madeline of course recognized the one on it right now as the two of them waited at the bottom for him to finish his current run. Kai ground to a halt, careful to not kick snow all over the two girls before pushing his goggles up with a grin.

"Madeline, I don't think we've ever spoken face to face, it's a pleasure to meet you!" The leopard thrust his gloved paw out as the rabbit took it, giving him a firm couple of shakes, her own paw looking very small in his.

"Nice to meet you, Kai. Though as much as your sister blathers on about her 'big brother', I feel like I already know your ass." The rabbit offered him a playful if not lazy looking grin before pulling from his grip.

"Good things, I hope?" Kai laughed out.

"Oh not at all, she does nothing but bitch about how awful you are." Madeline waved it off, speaking rather casually.

"Hey!" Kayla snarled out and put her hands on her hips.

"No take-backs!" Madeline gave her a cocky grin, holding the X3 possessively in her paws.

"Ha ha, I didn't know you guys were such good friends! That's great to see, I'm glad you've got a buddy, Kayla." Kai moved in and gave his sister's muzzle a quick bump with his own before moving to unbuckle his boots from the board.

Both the rabbit and leopardess shared a look at the 'friend' statement, but neither confirmed nor denied it. After an awkward moment Madeline spoke out, "So am I clear to go do this?"

"Yeah, just take the lift up like you would any other pipe. It's just me and Kai today, so no worries of getting in the way of other riders. We'll keep a lazy eye on you and hit the panic button down here if you take a gnarly tumble."

"Oh, this place has its own medical teams? I suppose that makes sense." Madeline gave her a nod.

"Yeah the guy in charge of safety design is also a trained medic, several of the staff also have basic first-aid training, so unless you end up spilling your guts all over the pipe, you'll be okay." Kayla waved a paw.

Kai and Madeline both grimaced at that. "Thank you for that mental imagery right before I drop in, Kayla." The bunny grumbled the words out as she moved towards the lift.

"Any time, Maddy!" Kayla purred out with a wave before smiling at Kai.

Kai waited until the bunny was on the lift to call out, "It's nice to see you with a little girlfriend, Kayla. You never hung out with other girls when we were in school."

"Gee I wonder why... maybe because I was too busy making out with my big brother, the same boy that also snarled and growled to keep other boys from hanging out with me!" Kayla purred and bumped his hip with a grin.

"Hey, I was only trying to keep you safe, Kayla." He bumped her back then they both shared a little snarl before a quick wrestling match ensued. They were tangled up in the snow a moment later, purring and hissing before Kayala managed to roll him over with a grin.

Kai mewed out as he hit the snow, then snarled before getting ready to roll her back over, but then paused as she moved in to lap her tongue gently against the side of his muzzle before giving it a rub of her own.

Kai returned the nuzzle before pulling back and huffing in her face. "Okay, we shouldn't be tangled up in the snow here at work, sister, especially like this."

"Yeah yeah... it's just my seasonal cycle started, and I'm going crazy..." She purred into his flicking ears but after some hesitation as well as a little grinding of her hips, she slowly stood and helped her brother up out of the snow.

The twins composed themselves and a few minutes later, Madeline dropped in from the top of the pipe. The rabbit was clearly a little unsteady on the board and keeping things rather modest on the tricks. Still, her holding back would have easily thrown a sixty or seventy in the points during the competitions.

Madeline came to a grinding halt before them and lifted her goggles up, her red eyes looking entertained. "Gods, this thing is like riding on a knife. It's just cutting through the snow on the approach and hit that wall like it's made of glass!"

"Right? It takes some getting used to for sure." Kai chimed in while giving her a polite smile.

Madeline looked between the two of them before unbuckling her boots and grabbing the X3 up. "I want to get a few more runs on this thing, do we have a time limit? I don't want to overstay my welcome."

"Nah, me and Kai can do this any time we want, go crazy, Maddy, we'll be here keeping a lazy eye on things," Kayla put her paw on her hips and grinned at the rabbit as she explained.

"Alright, I'll try not to take up the entirety of the day then." Madeline gave them a finger gun as she trotted back over to the lift to ride it back up.

"I wonder how Gemini handles training, do they have a facility like this, you think?" Kayla mused as she watched the rabbit ride back up.

"You could always ask, I don't see why she'd hide the information since you've invited her here." Kai shrugged in response before patting his sister on the hip. "I'm going to duck out and grab some water from the locker room, I'll be right back."

Kayla gave him a nod as she watched her brother slip off to the small locker room building a few yards away. It wasn't anything fancy, just a small facility with showers and storage for the riders.

The next run was much cleaner and Kayla frowned as Madeline came to a halt before her, putting her paws on her hips. "Damn... it took me like six runs to get used to the board, yet here you are doing that kind of shit on your second."

The rabbit flipped her goggles up and gave the leopard a smug grin. "Hey, I've got a few years on you, Kayla, you'll be there soon enough."

"Hey, does Gemini have training facilities like this?" She called out curiously.

Madeline rolled her eyes at that. "Sort of. Since they make products for all kinds of sports, their facility is more micromanaging than this. Not a full halfpipe, just a partial one to go up, do a trick on and come down before resetting. Partial skii jumps, grinding area's for trick-style stuff... not a full length course in the lot of the place."

Kayla frowned and folded her arms. "Sounds very uh..."

"Dull? It is. On top of that, you have to schedule a visit and you're limited. It's quite a hassle really and again since they make a lot more than just snowboards, you don't get the intimate course time like you do here."

"Huh... guess once you get so big it just kind of becomes soulless, huh?" Kayla mulled on the words as she flicked her tail.

"It's all a business at the end of the day. We are just pretty show pieces to push their merchandise out. Never commit loyalty to a sponsor, Kayla. That's my best advice to you. Use them for all they're worth, because they'll use you in a heartbeat and ditch you as soon as you're not useful." Madeline snarled the words as she stomped back over to the lift.

Kayla bit her lower lip at that, seeing the jaded look in her eyes. Madeline was popular and good at what she did because she'd been on the tour for a while now. Even Gina had only been in the league for two years now, but Madeline just finished her sixth. She got an early start at fifteen, so she was only two years older than Kayla, but she still had been in the life for over half a decade now.

She heard snow crunching as Kai came back with a bottle of water for her as well. "Think fast, sis!" He called out as he tossed it to her. Kayla snorted and caught the bottle, taking a pull from it before seeing Madeline setting up at the top of the pipe again.

"You look rather introspective, something going on?" He clued right in on her shift in demeanor, of course he would, no one knew her like he did.

"Oh, I was just talking shop with Maddy about sponsors. Apparently, Gemini doesn't have a dedicated snowboard facility like this. They just have a sort of, one size fits all sort of thing going on. Then we babbled about how backstabby they can be," She mumbled.

Both of them shifted their focus to Madeline as she came down the pipe on her third run. "Gods... sometimes I wish I'd been born a smaller cat so I could get air like that, it's just crazy!" Kai huffed out, sounding impressed.

"That's not her size, she's been doing this as a pro since we were holding paws in middle school. When we were putzing around in the snow at fourteen and fifteen, she was busy competing with the adults." Kayla spoke out with respect clearly in her voice.

"Yeah, well we had our paws full in other ways." Kai snarled and gave a quick pat of her rear.

Kayla giggled and huffed up at him with a smug grin. "Your paws were certainly full, you let me know every step of the way when they were getting bigger during my puberty too."

Kai looked like he wanted to say something, but reined it in and withdrew his paw from his sister's backside as Madeline came down to the end of the pipe. She pulled her goggles up and offered them both a childish grin. "You guys just going to dutifully stand here for every run? If I've got clearance I'm going to be doing at least ten or more."

"I expected nothing less, we're just hanging around until you break the X3 in, Maddy. We'll get out of your fur after that," Kayla hummed as her tail flicked lazily.

"How are you liking things with Gemini, Madeline?" Kai spoke out curiously.

She frowned at that and put a paw to her hip, as if trying to find the proper words, then answered him with her own question, "Did you know they canned Yukazama?"

"Wait- Why would they drop Hiroshi? He's an amazing athlete!" Kai clenched his gloved paws into fists at that.

Madeline shrugged and gave him a level gaze. "Gemini want's champions, bronze isn't good enough. He called me to fume about it and I consoled him, but they know they've got him by the sacs too."

"What do you mean, Maddy?" Kayla joined in on the conversation, tilting her head curiously.

"What I mean is, Hiroshi has used Gemini his entire career. You two never stuck with a single brand and like you, I didn't either. I compete on a Glacier, but I own eight different boards and regularly rotate them out. That's why I was able to get this X3 to do what I wanted after two runs."

"Eight? Hot damn..." Kai whistled at that.

Madeline waved her paw. "Anyway... for all his skill. Hiroshi has only used Gemini his whole career and Glaciers are a pain in the tail, they don't ride like other boards, you ever been on one?"

Both the snow leopards shook their heads before she continued, "They have a steep learning curve and it would take him a season or longer to adjust to a new board. For Gemini, it's a win-win. He'll have to keep using their stuff to keep a competitive edge, so they get the publicity, if he sucks it up and does well, they'll offer to resign him, if he doesn't, what have they lost? They still got their gear showed off by one of the more prominent riders."

Kai frowned at that as he rubbed his muzzle. "Still, the points were so close..."

"Gemini is huge, they don't care about the little details like that, Kai. They'll cut me loose once I've outlived my usefulness as an athlete too, that's just how these companies are. Altima will do it to you guys too, it's just an eighties pop song with these guys. What have you done for me lately?" Madeline offered a grin as she shrugged.

"So how do you feel about Gemini, Maddy?" Kayla asked.

"I prefer other boards but they sign my paycheck, Kayla. I don't have to like my boss or my gear to appreciate who butters my bread. They'll love me while I win but once my time is up they'll cut me loose, that's why I make sure to let my fans know I appreciate them and never plug Gemini gear in my personal social media stuff. I always encourage my followers to play around with equipment to find what works for them, not just suck off Gemini constantly." She gave a shrug and wheeled around on her boots, as if she was done talking about it, heading back to the lift for another ride.

"What do you think of all that, Kayla?" Kai asked as he glanced over to his sister.

She gave a shrug. "I'd only had small-time sponsors before Altima. Still, as Andy said, Altima took a chance on us, and invested in us. I'll not give them buckets of loyalty, but I'll trust them to at least play it straight with us, at least for now."

"That's fair. Do you trust Madeline?" He asked.

"Maddy is an honorable competitor, she does it for the love of the sport, for her fans. She's a bitch, but she wouldn't do anything underhanded. I expect we'll be fine, but I also expect her to trash-talk and ride my tail during the competition too." Kayla showed a grin as she pushed a paw through her blonde hair. "As I'm winning of course."

"You're so sexy when you're confident, sister..." Kai pushed close and gave her jaw a little nuzzle.

"Huff... big brother, my heat is kicking my ass... I think we need to leave Maddy to her own devices for a few minutes..." Kayla purred as she gripped her brother's arm and started pulling him along.

"R-really? But Kayla, we're at work!" He hissed out but didn't resist as he let her pull him along towards the small locker room facility, but then perked his ears as she quickly ducked around to the back of the building.

"I've been in the camera room, there's no view back here!" She snarled as she gripped Kai's coat and jerked him down to her, their muzzles pushing together in a heated kiss. Kayla tilted her head to part her maw, pushing her tongue forward, her brother's meeting it.

The two snarled as they kissed, their tongues lazily circling, brushing one another's sharp teeth while the twin's drank in the taste of one another. Kai broke from the kiss and moved right in for his sister's throat. The larger leopard gave small love bites and laps of his tongue, Kayla giggling then moaning as he tasted her, smelling her heady odor of heat fill his nose, her gloved paws tangling into his own blonde locks, gripping them hard.

"C'mon big brother... huff... I'm burning up for you!" Kayla hissed out and quickly tugged her tights down to her knees along with her panties. Her petals were soaked and there was light whisps of steam drifting from her into the cold biting air.

"Gods... as if I could resist with you smelling like that, little sister..." He showed her a grin as he moved right down onto his knees. She gave him an excited grin across her muzzle as he pulled her tights down off her left boot but left them ringed around the right one.

Kayla groaned as he guided her left leg up to rest on his shoulder, leaving her leaning against the wall of the building on one boot, his paws holding her hips as her brother's maw shoved right up against her sopping wet petals.

"Gods! Big... brother... ngh!" Kayla folded her ears, one of her paws tangling into his hair, gripping his rounded blue-white ear, feeling him lap and roll his tongue skillfully against her pearl. Her other paw slapped the bricks of the wall, a whimper filling her throat as he quickly worked her body like no other boy could.

She snapped her sharp teeth together hard, whining out as she tried not to belt out a howling moan when he finally made her crest. Kai just purred nice and loud, sounding like a growl as he looked up at his sister while lapping at that honey she'd given him.

He lapped at her petals for a few more moments, then stood and jerked his own thermal tights down, just enough for that length of cock to spring free, showing her brother was fully slid free and eager for her, precum dribbling from the head of it, steam rolling of his own flesh.

"Fuck... hurry up and put it in before I go fucking crazy!" Kayla hissed out as Kai nodded to her, his paws sliding along her hips, scooping under her rear as he hefted her up off the snow.

Kayla gripped his shoulders, an excited grin on her muzzle as her brother held her against the wall, lining up and then pushing into her tight soaked walls. Her claws dug into her own gloves as she clung hard to him, feeling every inch spread her walls until her brother bumped snug to her core, every bit of him inside as she sighed out in relief a plume of mist escaping her maw as she was already giving in again.

"Fuck... so tight..." Kai hissed out, feeling his sister crushing him as he started grinding and pumping himself, frantic to get it out of his system as much as she was to have her heat relieved a little.

"Oooh... you're so deep, big brother..." She panted into his ear, moaning again as he bumped to her core, her legs locking around him, her tail wrapped around his wrist while he was pumping inside her. Steam was rolling from where they were joined in the cold, her honey dripping off his sacs while he plunged into her again and again, his sister giving little mews of pleasure that made him just want to take her all the harder.

"Ha... ha... hurry up big brother... ngh... fuck me, fuck me, fuck meeee!" She whined the words into his ears with each deep push he made, feeling his thrusts grow more erratic, more desperate.

"Gods I love you... fuck I love you little sister!" He hissed out as he shoved his maw to her own once more. Kayla was happy to take the kiss, her tongue shoved right against his own, feral-sounding snarls filling her throat as she clung to her brother while he pumped inside her, impacting her core, knowing he would be long now.

"Where did those two wander off to?" Madeline sighed as she looked around. She'd already made three more runs but she wanted to hit the restroom and the locker room had a code to get into it.

Looking down it wasn't hard to make out the tracks in the snow going around the building. Deducing as such, she followed them, her large white ears lifting as she heard snarling, her nose twitching as she caught the scent of something in the air. It wasn't until she was almost around the corner she heard a snarling yelp. Biting her lower lip she quickly pushed to the wall and made a very cautious peak around the corner.

"Fuck! C'mon big brother!" Kayla hissed out against his maw before kissing him harder, those strong legs locking around him harder, pulling her brother nice and deep.

Madeline's red eyes widened as she quickly jerked back around to the other side of the corner, her gloves over her maw to keep from gasping out. Her large ears sprang up and jerked in time to both of the twins moaning out in successive bursts.

"Ha! Ngh! Gods!" Kai snarled, panting against Kayla's throat as his hips jerked with each rope he sent into his sister.

"Yes! Mmph! Gods! Big... brother!" She mewed out in throaty gasps with each thick gush she took before she felt him shudder as the last was forced into her. Both the twins let out a moan of relief as Kai shoved a glove to the wall, panting as steam rose from his maw.

"Gods... I love you, Kayla..." He snarled before just flopping back in the snow, his sister giggling and riding him down to perch in his lap.

"Mmm... I love you too big brother... don't sit there too long or your ass is going to go numb again!" She hummed out lovingly.

Madeline still had her paws over her muzzle, blinking as she tried to process what had just happened. Composing herself after a few more moments, she got her heart to calm a little as she tip-toed back around to the front, getting to the door once more.

Taking a deep breath, she shook her head, trying to dislodge those thoughts before clearing her throat and shouting out, "Hey! Where the hell are you two?! I need to go to the bathroom!"

Both of the leopards perked their ears before Kayla hissed out and climbed right up off Kai. "Shit! Damn it!"

"Fuck... uh... at least we finished?" Kai laughed out as he fumbled to pull his thermals back up into place.

Kayla snarled as she clenched and awkwardly slapped her wet panties back into place along with her tights. "Damn it... uh... w-well let's hope we don't smell too much like sex... uh... I'll go around the other way, you stay here so it doesn't look like we're-"

Both of their ears perked as Madeline rounded the corner and put her paws on her hips, looking annoyed. "Are you two back here smoking one like that dumb collie or something?"

"Uh, s-something like that?" Kai laughed out as he rubbed the back of his head with a laugh.

"Code, now, before I piss myself! Fuck!" Madeline snarled as she glared at them, putting on her best bitch-face to stay composed.

"Oh, sorry! It's uh... six, six, one, two!" Kayla hissed out quickly. The bunny snarled and gave a nod before rounding the corner.

"Shit... that was too close!" Kayla sighed and pushed her gloved paw to her forehead with a hiss.

"Yeah, let's not do that shit again when we have someone on the pipe with us... fuck..." Kai snarled and rubbed the back of his own head.

Madeline blinked into the mirror as she swallowed a lump in her throat, trying to process all of what just transpired. She hissed through her teeth and rubbed a paw down her face. "Okay... okay... it's none of your damn business, Mad... but still... damn..."

--*--

After a few more hours, she decided to call it quits, she more or less managed to focus on practicing with the board, she was still a professional after all. After returning the X3, Madeline was seen out by Kayla, both of them standing in the parking lot of the facility.

"Hey, uh... thanks for having me over here and letting me play around with the board, it was nice." Madeline rubbed the back of her head.

Kayla frowned, seeing she wasn't making eye contact with her, something that Madeline always did when she spoke with people. "You okay, Maddy?"

"Huh? Yeah, just tired, I was in there for like four hours or some shit, just wore out!" She laughed and shrugged before offering the other girl a grin.

"Let's get together sometime, Maddy. Just us girls, we can have some drinks or get lunch!" Kalya showed her a grin as well.

"That sounds nice, I'd like that. I don't get much socializing these days." She gave another nod.

"Something on your mind, Maddy? You look like you've got a question or something." Kayla tilted her head curiously.

"Are... you guys really related, Kayla?" She tilted her head curiously.

Kayla laughed at that and put her paws on her hips. "What? Yeah, I'm pretty sure, given we look identical, but also the birth certificate thing and us growing up together. You need me to break out the old family movies for you?"

"Ah, no. I just was making conversation. Anyway..." She turned her back and threw a paw up. "We'll talk more later, Ka-"

"What's wrong, Madeline? Did Kai say something to upset you? Did I?" Kayla called out, starting to sound concerned. She'd never seen the rabbit looking so awkward.

"Uh..." She cleared her throat and then looked over her shoulder, her eyes growing sharp as she focused and spoke out. "You guys are more than, just siblings, huh?"

Kayla felt a lump shove into her throat and whispered out, "Uhm... Earlier, did you-"

"Yeah... I heard you guys... smelled it too." She hissed out as she looked away.

"Oh, my, gods... uh, look, M-Maddy, it's uh-"

"It's uh... none of my business, Kayla. I-" She bit her lower lip then wheeled back around to face Kayla, shaking her head. "I'm going to offer you some advice, then I'm going to pretend like I never saw shit, comprende?"

"S-Sure?" Kayla bit her lower lip, feeling her cheeks burning at realizing she'd been caught with her brother.

"That shit gets out, Kayla... they'll bury your guy's careers. Love is love, I get it, all that proactive bullshit, but the league won't be okay with it, and neither will any of the sponsors. Don't... don't pull that kind of shit like today, seriously... especially once you guys really start making a name for yourselves, you'll shove a dagger right into the heart of your careers. It's not fair, but it's... well that's my two cents, do what you want with it, okay?"

"So you're not going to tell anyone?" Kayla lifted her drooped ears.

"Tell someone? Fuck that! That's your guy's business, far as I'm concerned that stays here between you and me." Madeline showed her teeth as she clenched a fist. "I'm not about to spread any of that around and fuck you guys over. You two are alright, Kayla, just keep it behind closed doors, it's safer there, safer for your careers, ya know?"

Kayla nodded and offered her a smile. "I'm... really glad you're not being so judgemental or anything about it, I really do love Kai, you know? It's not some-"

"Nah it's fine. I never had any siblings, but whatever... you like who you like. Just don't be sucking and pawing all over one another while I'm around and we're good, the same thing I'd ask of any couple. I don't need the PDA shoved in my face."

"You don't have anyone, Maddy?" Kayla smiled at the rabbit, feeling the tension easing.

"I've got my career and that's enough for me right now, Kayla. I'm not looking and don't want anything but to focus on myself, you know? I got toys if I want to scratch an itch. Right now in my life, I need to focus on me, I'll worry about relationships and all that bullshit when I'm not in my prime." The rabbit showed that haughty 'snow bunny' to her as she shoved a thumb into her own chest while speaking.

"I'm glad to have a friend like you, Maddy. Thank you." Kayla purred as she spoke.

"Huh... are we friends?" Madeline folded her ears down behind her head, scratching her own muzzle in thought. "I guess you're not too bad... Yeah, I guess we are... but just don't expect any special treatment. Shit... if anything, expect me to work all the harder to beat your tail at our competitions!"

Kayla grinned and threw her arms open. "Cool, I'd have it no other way! Hug?"

Madeline laughed at that and shook her head. "I don't think so cat, you reek of sex, maybe next time when you're fresher." She offered Kayla a smug grin but then pushed her fist out.

The leopard offered a grin and knocked her own fist with the rabbits. "Alright, maybe next time... bitch."

"Yeah, next time." Madeline threw her paw up in a wave and trotted off to her car.

--*--

"Yes, who is this?" The buck answered his phone cautiously at the unknown number coming through.

"Uhm... Hey, Hiroshi, this is Kai, Kai Hannah!"

He perked his ears a little and clicked his tongue, "Kai... I have many questions but I'll start with, how did you get my number?"

"Madeline gave it to me."

"Okay, why? What do you want?" Hiroshi still had that cool tone but it was clear he was also guarded.

"I'll get to the point. She told us about what Gemini did, I already spoke with our VP Andy on your behalf. Come over to Altima with us, Hiroshi. You can train with me, my sister and even Jarome will be here!"

"Jarome, he didn't take up Gemini on their offer?" Hiroshi asked.

"He was considering it until he found out how they cut you off. Said he'd take his chances with Altima despite Gemini offering to double his rate."

"Loyalty to a brand is never a good idea..." He sighed as he rubbed his forehead, little bumps starting to show where his horns were starting to come in for the off-season.

"True, but no need to give something for nothing to a brand that fucked you either. Yeah, it'd take you time to ween off a Glacier, but you'll have all three of us helping you, man!"

"Kai, you are hitting me out of the blue with this, you can't expect me to just jump to attention and give you an answer so suddenly."

"I can't, and Altima can't offer you what you made with Gemini, but a reduced pay paycheck is better than no paycheck, yeah? I'll text you Andy's number if you're interested and you can go over details with him."

"Why?" Hiroshi snarled out.

"Because you don't deserve that, you're an awesome rider and-"

"We rarely get what we deserve in life, Kai Hannah. If we got what we deserved in life, many of us would have yachts and those that do have them currently would get a guillotine instead."

"Be that as it may... Well, either way, it's another path to consider, Hiroshi, that's all. Bye."

The line disconnected as he stared at the call time blinking a few times before going back to his home screen, a picture of him as a faun with his mother next to him in snow gear of her own, he had on her gold medal from the Olympics she'd won that year. A moment later a text message plipped on screen, shielding the medal showing an unknown number, no doubt the contact information for the VP of Altima.

He glanced around his mostly packed apartment before shoving a paw through his dark hair, sighing as he pulled the text message up. "Gods damn it..."

--*--

"Hey, look who it is, number three!"Jarome called out as Hiroshi plodded over, a brow quirked at the commentary.

"Planning to rub my third-place finish in my muzzle this whole time, Jarome?" The buck hissed out, already looking uncharacteristically surly.

The lynx perked his curled ears, looking confused at the words, then gave a laugh. "What? No, I mean number three as in to round out our group. You, me and Kai! Training buddies, the three Altima guys, all together, like, well like..."

"Like the three amigos or musketeers?" Kai called out with his own grin.

Hiroshi frowned as he looked between the two of them, then at the X3 in his paws. "Let's just... see if I can even ride this thing before we jump the gun here."

"You'll be fine, man!" Jarome threw his arm right over the buck's shoulder, tugging him along to the lift.

Kayla trotted over to Kai as the other two boys broke away. "Wow, Hiroshi is looking like it's that time of the month!" She hummed out with a laugh.

"He's always a little like that, but this is a big change for him, I can't say I blame him for being a little nervous and edgy." He offered his sister a grin, seeing she was dressed mostly casually. "Going out with Mad?"

"Yeah, we're gonna get some lunch then get our claws done!" She waggled her padded-fingers, showing off the large claws in her paw.

"That's great, I hope you two have a good time, I'll be here helping Hiroshi get that X3 broke in."

"You're such a great guy, brother. You can't mind your own business, but it's not a bad thing, I'm sure he'll appreciate it in time." Kayla moved in and gave his muzzle a bump, giving his jaw a quick lap of her tongue before pulling away with a grin.

His paw moved to rub her hip a few times before they parted, careful not to lay the PDA on too heavily. They had taken Madeline's advice in the weeks after what happened, trying to keep the affection to something more 'acceptable' by the public at large.

Kayla gave him a fussy look and frowned. "I wish I could hold your hand, kiss you in public, all the stuff other girls get with their boyfriends..." She folded her ears with an annoyed scowl showing.

"C'mon... it's okay, Kayla. We got each other, and that's enough, it's no one else's business anyway, yeah?" He moved a paw to rub her jaw, scratching under it a little, watching her tail flick about.

"I gueeessss..." Kayla sighed out, lifting her chin to let her brother scratch a little longer before gently pulling away as her phone buzzed in her pocket. "Tch... Maddy is here, I better get moving, Kai."

"Alright, have a good time, sister. Big brother loves you." He gave her a wink.

"Little sister loves you too, Kai..." She hugged him and puffed into his ear with a pant. "And she's going to love you until you can't see straight when she gets you in bed later..." She nipped his rounded ear before pulling away, trotting towards the parking lot, a purposeful sway in her hips knowing he'd be staring.

Of course, he watched those curvy hips and ample rear the whole way until she got out of sight, his heart pounding as he took a controlled huff and made his own way to the lift.

Kai spent the next few hours with Jarome helping Hiroshi get used to a non-Gemini board. It was surprisingly tough on the buck, having to basically learn new ways to approach the pipe, and stick landings, it was every bit as challenging as Madeline said it'd be. However, Hiroshi seemed to rise to the occasion, always picking himself up out of the snow with a determined scowl on his muzzle.

"You know... for one trick ponies, Gemini stuff is pretty dangerous now that I think about it," Jarome called out as they were all sitting around at the top of the pipe, taking a break since it'd been a few hours now.

"Hey, you know that's a pretty racist statement among equines, yeah?" Hiroshi sipped some hot tea as he gave the lynx a flat look.

"Fuck man, can't take two steps without insulting some type of species these days." Jarome sighed and rolled his eyes, rubbing the back of his head.

Kai smiled and shook his head. "We know you're not like that, Jarome."

"Seriously though... really looking at a Glacier compared to other boards, it's a solid good board for what it does, but it's also so different, it's... weird!" Jarome shrugged again.

"It's a new design and it's still under patent so no other manufacturers can come even remotely close to mimicking it. Gemini has a whole legal team dedicated to looking out for any of their proprietary designs being used," Hiroshi said before sipping more of his tea.

"Yeah, get a young kit a Glacier that's just starting out, and you're pretty much ensuring they have to use one for the long term. Unless you're using different boards constantly like Madeline, but she's a savant it seems." Kai chimed into the conversation, a bit of respect in his voice.

"And hot, those red eyes get me sprung!" Jarome purred out with a grin.

"Jarome, shut up, you think anything with a set of mammary glands is hot." Hiroshi scowled at the Lynx.

"Heh... guilty as charged, I just love the ladies!" He purred again and took a sip of his tea.

"What about you, Kai, what kind of girls do you like? Or boys? I ain't here to judge after all." Jarome turned to the leopard, looking eager to gossip.

Kai frowned and perked his ears, feeling his cheeks grow hot. "Uh... I mean... I've been with a few girls now, a fox, a doe, erm... a snow leopard..."

"Hey! Getting around eh? What's been your favorite?" Jarome sat up, showing an eager grin.

"Jarome, get off his tail, it's obvious you're making Kai uncomfortable, not all of us are showboating blowhards that want to brag about our love lives," Hiroshi sighed out with a roll of his dark eyes.

"Yeah yeah, I was just trying to bond with you assholes. What kind of relationship are you interested in, Hiroshi?" The lynx fixed him with a fussy glare.

"My relationship with my X3, I want to improve it so I'm not toppling down into the snow every other pass. I'll get that stable before I worry about chasing tail." The buck snarled in response.

"Come on... what kind of tail do you like though? You're into boys right, the standoff cool guys like you are always-"

"Jarome! Fuck man, remind me never to take you anywhere, okay!?" Kai shoved the lynx on the shoulder and hissed at him.

Jarome gave a laugh like it was no big deal. "Come on, I'm just kidding around. Fuck... Raul never takes my shit seriously at least!"

"Raul is too busy being stoned half the time, he's lucky the league doesn't count that as a performance-enhancing drug." Hiroshi sighed and finished off his tea.

"Isn't it the exact opposite though?" Kai asked curiously.

"Theoretically, but it could be like those people that say they bowl better after a few drinks, you know? Maybe once he mellows out he can 'become one with the flow of the ride'." Jarome offered a playful grin as he air quoted the last of the words with his paws.

Hiroshi offered a snort through his nose at that, the first show of amusement he'd shown this whole time. "That sounds like him, yeah... I take it he didn't take up Gemini on their offer?"

"Nah, it's personal. His dad owns a custom-made board business and after landing that gold, the family biz is exploding. Apparently, they've now got a year-plus long wait list." Kai spoke out conversationally.

Jarome whistled at that. "Wow, bet his pops jacked his prices up for it too, eh?"

Kai shook his head. "Nah, guy said he was just happy to be able to make so many boards. Still, they're more expensive than anything you can buy from a company, but you can tell he loves his work. It's admirable."

"Admirable until the league bans them. The top manufacturers are already putting pressure on them, threatening to pull funding and such." Hiroshi spoke out conversationally.

"Fuck man... why's it always got to be about the politics? I got into this to have fun, not deal with all this corporate bullshit!" Jarome groaned as he crushed the paper cup he'd been drinking out of and tossed it in the wastebasket.

"It's just part of the game, man." Kai sighed as he shook his head, thinking about what Madeline said to him and Kayla about keeping a low profile. "We're just trying to do our part, live out our dreams, to them it's all about making a buck."

"It's not about that for everyone, Kai. Some of us do this to challenge ourselves and pay the bills. It's not necessarily a dream." Hiroshi leaned forward as he met the leopard's blue eyes.

"Yeah? Why are you in this game then, Hiroshi?" Kai asked.

The buck looked to one cat, then the other before leaning back. "My mother got me into this game. I had a board under me as soon as I could walk it felt. You hear the stories about the kids that are groomed up by their parents to live out their dreams? That was me. Win a gold medal at the Olympics for Mom. That was the daily mantra I heard, the aspirations of my mother for me."

"Ah man, I'm sorry to hear that. Do you have fun at all doing this then?" Jarome called out curiously.

Hiroshi shrugged. "Fun isn't the right word, perhaps it's more accurate to say I get satisfaction out of it. Beating my own records, improving on my own times..." There was a hesitation before he continued, "surpassing my mother. I'm not sure if that's her influence or mine though."

The Olympics huh? I've never even thought about them, honestly." Kai mused as he looked into the distance down the pipe before them. "Man... I just do this for Kayla... all of it is for her. I guess... if she got it in her head to go, I'd try as well."

"Dude, you've got it bad, you got a little sister complex or something?" Jarome laughed out loud as Kai gave an awkward mew. Hiroshi gave the lynx a shove, knocking him right off the crate he sat upon and into the snow.

"Don't joke about that, it's none of your business anyway." The buck hissed out then stood up. "Really, Jarome, why are you so crass? Learn some tact, gods..."

"Gods, asshole..." Jarome snarled as he picked himself up, dusting the snow off himself. He then looked back at Kai who was awkwardly looking down at the snow. "Hey man, I was just fucking with you, sorry if you took it personally!"

"Eh? No, it's fine... I mean I love my sister and..." He shook his head. "Regardless, I want to just see Kayla happy, ya know?"

"Think she'd be happy with a guy like me?" Jarome offered him a challenging grin.

Kai snorted and shoved the lynx right back down into the snow again. "You touch my sister, I'll break your arm." He hissed the words with a grin and stalked off after Hiroshi.

"You're both assholes! Oh, my gods!" Jarome huffed and laughed as he climbed to his feet once more, moving to catch up with the two larger boys.

---

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