FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Disclaimer: I own the character Rogue, and he is copywritten to me. I also own the plot of this story. I do not , however, claim ownership of the song "On Your Own" by Two Door Cinema Club.

_ Another Saturday, another careless move tells the world that you're thinking of what to do... A window opens up, and someone calls your name, and then it's clear to all that you don't like this game._

"Rogue."

And now you're on your own...

"Hey, Rogue."

So won't you come back home, to see you're not their kind...

"Take those damn things out of your ears."

And find the strength to find, the strength to find another wa-

My earbuds were painfully yanked out of my ears, my eyes snapping open with a small cry of surprise that died on my lips before it was born. I maintained my poker-face, not like it would matter, though. I had my face covered.

I looked up at the person who so rudely removed my source of entertainment, my dark brown hair draped meticulously in front of my eyes, shielding the windows to my soul from being probed by others.

I was gazing up at my History teacher. He handed my earbuds back to me, and I took them wordlessly after what he probably thought was a moment of brief eye contact and understanding. He believed it to be a taciturn conversation, and it was. I knew what he wanted... but I never met his eyes. I never look anyone in the eyes, lest they know... and they can never know. Ever.

"We have a new student in the class." He said, his human voice booming in my feline ears. Humans were so loud... they were always so loud... but then again... they didn't know I wasn't human. They could never know. They would shun me for who I was, and so I go around, dressed in all black, hood up, wearing gloves, baggy pants, and scarf over my nose, chin, and mouth. The hair is a way for me to avoid having my eyes, unmistakably slitted and feline in appearance, seen by others and risk them knowing. I was the only furry in the whole school, to the best of my knowledge. I had seen others, getting beaten and maliced by other students... human students. They transferred out within a week of transferring in. A new student would only mean one more person to hide from.

I nodded slightly, and looked over to the front of the class where the new student was. My breath caught in my throat for a moment as I stared directly at a person - no, not a person - who towered over everyone. But it wasn't his height that caught my attention. Nor was it the way his eyes caught the fluorescent light and seemed to sparkle as if he were always smiling. It was his fur. Here we had at least a seven and a half foot tall anthropomorphic wolf who didn't even seem concerned to cover up his fur. I guessed he either was someone you didn't mess with, and he was broadcasting that through a subliminal message due to lack of cover-up, which would command respect. Or, he was just insanely ignorant and would be shipped back out within the week.

He nodded at me, a small, nearly imperceptible movement, that only a furry could catch. The knowing look in his eyes told me he knew. He knew what I was...

I am the loner wherever I go. That being said, there are always a large quantity of empty desks around me, even when I do not take up a position in the corner. Nobody wants to know me. Nobody knows anything about me. That's how I like it. But here this person - this wolf - someone who clearly orchestrates attention and popularity wherever he might be, is coming to sit down directly next to me. People are staring. Human people. I tuck my earbuds back into my pocket, turning off my iPod and turning my head slowly to look at him, my lips whispering against the weave of the scarf in front of my mouth as I smoothly exhale just the slightest of breaths. The perfect whisper. The whisper only a furry could hear.

"You should not be here..."

I normally do not speak in class. I normally do not speak. At all. And so I was glad I whispered. But my glee turned into horror as he replied with a full-bodied voice that reverberated in the metal skeleton of the desk I was in.

"And you should speak up. If I weren't a wolf I doubt I would have heard it at all."

Everyone turned and looked. No, they were already looking. But now they were looking closer. They were probing me with their eyes. They had never heard me speak before, other than to give them my name. And my name was Rogue. In fact, they still had never heard me speak before. They hadn't heard anything at all. But now that they know that I did in fact say something, it makes them wonder how I knew how softly to whisper so only this wolf could hear me. I could see it in their eyes. They were connecting dots. Terrible, knowing dots... They would know. And then it would be over.

I heard a whisper from a girl who was sitting near the front of the room, to her friend:

"He's one of them..."

And it was over. I heard the same whisper repeated over and again, from person to person, as stealthily as humans could whisper, like some hideous virus that so quietly spread around a populace before finally erupting into disease. Several jocks nodded at me, and I knew what this meant. It meant that unless I either found a way to turn back time or make myself untouchable, I was going to get beaten.

I mentally applauded the wolf sitting next to me. His plan was very subtle. He would expose my secret in some way, and in turn make it so that I either had to stick around him for protection, or somehow manage to beat every single person who had beef with furries on my own before they beat me. There's only one of me. There are over two thousand of them.

It had gone well. I had actually managed to go through an entire year of school without needing to transfer to a different school for all of my sophomore year. I guess trying for two was just asking for too much.

I inhaled deeply and let out a sigh, loud enough for the humans to hear. I then stood up and took off my hood, something that would have signaled the coming of the apocalypse due to its rarity. My soft cat ears sprang up from their confinement, a dark mauve color on the outside and a pronounced yet gentle yellow on the inside. No, it was not the usual coloring of any known breed of cat. No, I don't dye it either. It just grew that way when I changed.

Some of the people in the class, maybe some people who didn't believe the whispers, had their eyes visibly widen. I took off my black scarf, my mauve muzzle and yellow lower jaw coming into view. The yellow was on my lower jaw, starting right at the edge of my lips and going around my head to beneath my ear. Then it extended downward along my neck, widening once more to encompass my pectorals, and then slimming a bit to include my abs. It continued going downwards to my crotch, where it went between my legs and ended at the base of my tail, which was hidden inside of one of my pant legs. Everywhere else, save for the tip of my tail and a few odd black markings here and there, was that same color of dark, as if overlaid by a thin sheet of black, mauve. I had only taken off my scarf, but I could smell the surprise coming off the wolf. He obviously had not expected this. His grey ears, matching the rest of his coat of fur, pricked up slightly.

I spoke, my words gliding through the air like they were made of oil, sliding over glass. My voice was smooth, like that of a voice practitioner. I could have done a great many things with that voice, great many things that would have put me in a position where fur would have no relevance. But I chose not to.

"Anyone who wants to beat me up for having fur... I'm sorry to disappoint you but you don't stand a chance... save your skin for better bruises." I brushed my hair out of my eyes, the icy blue in those slitted orbs sparsely flecked with tiny specks of gold drawing the breath out of all those who were caught by their gaze. It lasted for an instant, my hair quickly falling back in front of my face, but the effect was everlasting. I knew what had shone in my eyes. In my eyes when I looked at them, reflected a small but cold glint of pure hatred cast within the shadow of evermounting fury hidden behind my irises.

I was bluffing. I knew it. The wolf should have known it. I was afraid, and he should smell it. The humans did not know it, however. I turned towards my history teacher, my words flowing out of my mouth like the thawing of a small stream after a long winter's frost.

"I inform you that I am going to stay enrolled in this school. If anyone has a problem with it, and has the intent to inflict harm upon me, tell them to check if they have cell reception six feet under beforehand. If they somehow survive, they'll need it to dial in a lawyer and an ambulance." I turned back to the humans, my baggy clothing obviously hiding the toned body, visible even though veiled behind my fur, I had underneath. One would think of my as skinny and slim, frail and weak. I would make them an example. "Any of you who want to try and fight me can take your best shot." I turned, hefted up my backpack, and walked out the door into the student courtyard.

I heard at least thirty pairs of footsteps follow.

Shit...