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Chapter Three Biology 101

Afternoons no longer held any fear for Aiko. Gone was the once-familiar depression and crushing sense of loneliness that her receptive psychic ability had previously picked up from Miyatsu. It had been replaced by a growing sense of anticipation as the day wore on.

Miyatsu, with prior notice to and permission from Sakaki, now spent a lot of his time with Aiko after work, learning to read, write and cipher, sharing a meal and relaxing in the evenings at her house before returning to his room at the Centre. Sakaki had at first been a little reluctant to concede to this amount of interaction. However, seeing how his fighting animal's performance improved, he continued to allow the burgeoning friendship, finally grudgingly conceding to Aiko that perhaps a little reading and writing wouldn't do Miyatsu any harm.

It seemed to Aiko, watching Miyatsu determinedly tally up a long list of numbers or work out the amount of change he should get back from a purchase, that he was like a sponge, soaking up all she could teach him about human culture as fast as he could. She found it fascinating to observe his progress, helping to iron out any problems he encountered and applauding his successes.

There was no doubt in her mind that he was at least as intelligent as she was; once a concept was explained logically, he was quick to understand it, although at times Aiko found herself in difficulty trying to explain some aspect of human culture that had little apparent logic, such as why humans bothered to wear clothing in hot weather!

She refused to resort to facile explanations such as: "because that's the way it's always been done." If he knew enough to ask the questions, she wasn't going to fob him off, even if it meant she was stretched to the limit answering things which she'd only learnt herself by inference during childhood. Thanks to Miyatsu, she was being forced to think about things rather than just accept them, and she found the process ultimately very satisfying.

Now and then they would venture into Kagoshima so that she could demonstrate first-hand how services such as shops worked. As a major centre for GMA training, there were many GMAs more outlandish-looking than Miyatsu accompanying their human masters about the streets and in the shops, usually leashed and often muzzled. He and Aiko still attracted fascinated stares from onlookers not only because he was unrestrained, but when it became obvious that he could talk.

"The people look at me as if they think I'm going to attack them at any moment," Miyatsu grumbled to Aiko after one such trip to the city. "Why should they be more afraid of me than they are of other GMAs?"

"I know it doesn't make much sense," Aiko agreed, once again racking her brain to explain the concept adequately for him. "I think it's because humans tend to fear what they don't understand. If you were the regular non-verbal type of GMA they're used to, they'd accept you more easily. It unsettles them that you're not what they expect, therefore they don't know how to react towards you."

His expression was still puzzled as he looked at her. In the gentle light of the overhead bulb, Miyatsu's pupils had expanded and now more closely resembled human eyes than a cat's. "But you don't act that way, Aiko. How is it you aren't scared of me?"

"Well, I'm a researcher. If I find something unexpected, I want to know all the hows and whys. It doesn't leave me time to be scared." She glanced at the clock. "And speaking of time, there's a programme I want to watch soon on television. Can you tell me what the time is now?"

Miyatsu pricked his ears forward and concentrated on the clock. "The short hand is pointing between the nine and the ten," he said, his brow furrowed with the effort of working out the time. "And the long hand is on the four. That means it's... um... twenty minutes past the ninth hour!"

Aiko had to smile at his triumphant tone. "That's right, and Wild Kingdom' is being screened in ten minutes. I thought you'd find it particularly interesting; it's a documentary about wild Pershans."

Miyatsu looked at her blankly; obviously the statement meant nothing to him. Aiko attempted to clarify. "Pershans. They're a subspecies of leopard, like Sakaki's pet, only living in the wild."

Miyatsu nodded. "I know what Pershans are, Aiko. And I'm happy to watch it if you do. But why should I find it particularly interesting', like you said?"

"Because Pershans are your closest living relatives, that's why. They're very similar to the extinct leopard used to create you. Your ancestor's scientific name is Panthera pardus adersi. The Pershans are Panthera pardus pershani."

She watched as comprehension dawned on Miyatsu's face. "So Pershans are like, what, my cousins?" He said it a little breathlessly, his eyes wide.

"Sort of. Researchers believe they were once the same animal, long ago, and then they diverged. At any rate, Pershans are the non-psychic members of your family."

Miyatsu was definitely interested now. "You're right, I'd like to watch that very much."

Aiko turned on the television, then went to the kitchen to warm a bowl of milk for Miyatsu. She made herself tea before returning to sit beside him. He was curled comfortably on the sofa, exactly like a huge house cat, with his paws tucked underneath his body, taking up all the available space. He uncurled himself and sat up, obligingly shifting over enough for her to sit down. For a moment she wondered, if she reached out and stroked the soft fur of his back, whether he'd purr. She smiled at the mental image of a purring Miyatsu trying to fit on her lap, licking her hand in feline affection!

The programme started, showing a sweeping aerial shot of a vast river delta, the banks covered in tall reeds and feathery grasses. Water birds flocked everywhere, and as the camera panned lower, lilies and lotus appeared, with insects hovering over the river, dragonflies and midges, their delicate wings flickering in the hot sunlight. The air was full of the sound of bird calls, the soft whirr of insects, the croak of frogs, and the gurgle of the slow-flowing river underlying all of it.

Then an unseen human presenter spoke:

"Here we are in one of the environments that the wild Persian leopard, more commonly known as 'Pershan', calls home. They are adaptable creatures, living in many areas, from high cold mountain ranges to arid semi-desert, but they feel most at home living along the banks of rivers such as this one, deep in the Matango Nature Reserve."

The camera's gliding movement came to rest in a small clearing amongst the reeds. On the dry grass outside of a den dug into the river bank lay a beautiful Pershan. For a moment it reminded Aiko of the pose her friend had recently adopted, lying curled comfortably with paws tucked under its body. It appeared to be dozing in the dappled shade.

"Our team have been following this family of Pershans for one year now. We are able to get such fine detail because our camera is mounted in the chest of a small robotic bird. The Pershans ignore it, and we can direct it close enough to capture such truly magnificent footage. This is the male, whom we have named Rajah. He is a good example of a wild Pershan leopard in his prime. He has no mane, as such, however he does have a thicker ruff of hair around his neck, of a slightly darker color than the rest of his body fur."

There was shadowy movement from inside the den, and a second big cat appeared, blinking in the light of the sun.

"And here we have Rahni, Rajah's mate. Please note that she has a narrower head and more slender body, typical of the female of this species."

The first Pershan stirred. He opened his eyes, and Aiko could see that they were the same clear sky-blue shade as Miyatsu's. Rajah sat up, and the pair rubbed their heads together affectionately in greeting.

_"Male and female Pershans mate for life. The bond formed is very close. The pair works together in the hunt to bring down prey, and they are observed as being affectionate, some researchers even say loving, mates.

"They spend a great deal of time grooming each other, and one charming characteristic of the species is that they show affection by rubbing their cheek glands against each other, as you can see Rajah and Rahni doing now. This scents their mate, a habit which we believe accentuates their bond.

"These scent glands are one reason that Pershans are now quite rare, as humans used to hunt them to acquire the glands for use in perfumes. The scent is described as a cross between floral and spice and nearly caused the extinction of the animals before the active chemical was isolated and could be synthetically duplicated in the laboratory. Thanks to captive breeding and reintroduction programs, the Pershan is no longer endangered, but is still not common throughout most of its former range."_

Aiko glanced at Miyatsu to see how he was taking this information about his distant cousins. He was watching avidly, staring at the screen as if mesmerized.

There came another movement from inside the den, and a pair of long-legged adolescent Pershans appeared, leading two fuzzy kittens. The babies were beyond cute, all unsteady legs and big eyes.

On seeing their parents, the kittens tumbled over each other to get to them. One began to play with its father's tail, which was tolerantly flicked for its amusement. The other kitten butted between the two adults and tried to rub its little head against both of them before falling over. Rajah gently held his baby down with one big paw and affectionately began to wash the little squirming body with his long pink tongue.

One of the adolescents, a young female, stretched her long back, greeted her parents with a chirrup of sound, then went to the river's edge to lap at the water thirstily. The other, with the beginnings of a male ruff growing, sat down beside his mother, yawned lazily and began to wash himself.

_"Pershans make excellent parents, with typically two kittens born in each litter. Since the pair-bond between the adults is lifelong, the father takes an active role in caring for his offspring. When the parents are not present, for example hunting together, then the babies are cared for by a close blood relative, typically an older sibling. This pair of adolescent siblings are Zarda and Zarzoo. They were born to Rajah and Rahni last year. They will stay with the family unit for perhaps another six months, then most likely will leave to seek mates of their own.

"Pershans usually live in small family groups of two adults, two youngsters from the previous year's litter, and any kittens. They share their range amicably with related adults, usually past litters or siblings that have grown to maturity. In areas where hunting is poor, the groups spread widely to avoid depleting and fighting over limited resources, but in places such as this, rich in game, the population of Pershans can be quite heavy."_

The cat at the river's edge finished her drink and went to her brother, rubbing heads for a second. Aiko could hear their rumbling purrs. The young male got to his feet, and the pair padded off, disappearing into the grass.

"As you can see, even youngsters are adept at hunting. Zarda and Zarzoo have decided to look for food, which will typically be brought back and shared amongst the whole family. They may catch anything from frogs to small waterbirds. Their parents, however, provide the bulk of the group's food, and working together, they can successfully catch animals up to twice their body size."

Aiko smiled as she watched the babies begin to play, mock fighting and rolling over each other with tiny chirrups and growls, while the narrator droned on.

"Although highly affectionate and intelligent animals, Pershans cannot be domesticated once mated, as the bond between mates is unbreakable. Once mated the Pershan will not accept a human owner. If separated from its lifelong mate, it will go into a rapid decline, no longer bothering to hunt or eat. Eventually, if not reunited with its mate, it will die. This decline, known as Pershan Syndrome, was another big killer of captured Pershans before it was recognized as a fatal consequence of separating mated pairs. The practice has since ceased.

"However, if a Pershan is captured when young, before the age when it would find a mate of its own, it can become devoted to its human master. Some experts have theorized that in the Pershan's mind the human master takes the place a mate would have in the wild.

"Whatever the truth of this, the facts are that if a Pershan's master leaves it for any extended length of time, it will pine in exactly the same way that it would if it lost its mate. Typically, it stops eating, loses condition rapidly, and if the master does not return within a reasonable time, the Pershan will sicken and die. This is why most reputable dealers will not sell this breed to a novice, or to an elderly person.

"Luckily, it is amongst the most expensive of animals, so only those people dedicated to its welfare will buy a Pershan."

While their kittens played happily together, the two adults had begun grooming each other. But then Aiko's eyes widened and she peered closer. It was difficult to tell, but their poses, the almost sensual way they caressed each other with their tongues, almost looked as if...

She saw that her suspicion was correct when the male cat let his erect penis emerge from his body. The female rolled playfully onto her back and swatted coyly at her mate's snout. He growled affectionately, then paced around her impatiently as she righted herself and crouched down. She held her tail in a graceful curve to one side as her mate mounted eagerly.

"Mated couples copulate frequently, and like many cat species, they have no set season. They will even mate when they have young kittens still nursing, leading researchers to believe they do it for the pleasure as much as to reproduce."

Aiko felt her face redden. Honestly, who was this dried-up prune of a narrator, prattling on about reproduction? Of course they mated for pleasure! This man must be one of those people who thought that animals were nothing more than instinct-driven automatons, with no emotions whatsoever.

But now she was in a quandary. She was aware that Miyatsu was staring avidly at the screen, and her psychic receptiveness could sense his confusion at the scene being played out.

Oh no, she thought. He's going to ask! And then what do I say?

She felt flustered by her own embarrassment -- she was a GMA researcher, she'd seen animals mate before! But still, she wished the camera would move away from its focus on the now rapidly-pumping male, wished it would give the couple some privacy in this intimate moment.

In the midst of her embarrassment, she saw Miyatsu sit up straighter, and suddenly she felt a wave of understanding emanating from him.

"Of course!" he said. "I used to see the Coatis do that all the time on Shima -- I thought they were fighting! So they're really making babies when they do that?"

Aiko felt relief that he was so matter-of-fact about it. "That's right," she said, although she was aware that her cheeks were still flaming.

"But they already have kittens," he stated. "So why are they making more?"

Rajah had begun a rumbling, yowling sound deep in his chest, muffled somewhat by the fact that his face was buried in the back of his mate's neck, holding the skin in a firm bite, his movements losing rhythm and becoming erratic as he approached climax.

Rahni didn't seem to find his bite painful; instead she closed her eyes and threw her head back, her paws clenching in the dry grass as she quivered against her mate in orgasm.

"It also, um, shows their affection for each other. It's called 'mating'," Aiko mumbled.

Suddenly Rajah's desperate yowling was choked off, and his eyes went wide and unfocused. He gave a final shuddering thrust and collapsed against his mate's back, panting heavily.

"How strange," Miyatsu commented, never taking his eyes off the screen.

Aiko wondered if Miyatsu was perhaps sterile, to make a comment like that. His genetic hybridisation may have made him unable to feel anything sexually, similar to a mule. Before she could say anything, however, he answered her thoughts without realizing it.

"I know it feels good when I touch myself there," he said matter-of-factly, "but I never realized before that you could do it with anybody else." Then he turned to her with concern. "Are you all right, Aiko? Your face has gone very red."

*

It had begun raining again after the programme ended, so Aiko telephoned Sakaki to let him know that Miyatsu would be staying over again at her house for the night, an event that was becoming more frequent during this extremely rainy summer.

But now, as Aiko lay in her bed, she couldn't get the images of the Pershans out of her mind. Pictures of them playing, grooming and mating kept playing out on her closed eyelids. They had looked so happy together. They had their little family unit, close-knit and loving, supporting each other...

All at once, she felt a wave of loneliness. That was odd. Why should she be envious of the family life of a pair of wild Pershans? Why did she suddenly feel so... so isolated?

Another wave of yearning, and she realized without very much surprise that its source was external to her. Miyatsu was right next door, lying on her sofa. She was again picking up on his unconscious emotional broadcasting. She supposed she'd get used to it eventually, however much it made her feel like a television antenna now.

But why was he feeling this way? He'd been fine prior to going to bed; after the television show had ended, they'd discussed mates and families, human ones as well as animal and GMA, and she answered his questions as she always did, as truthfully and simply as she could.

She concentrated, trying for better definition. This was not the depression she used to feel from him before. Instead it had more the quality of bitter-sweet longing. He envied the wild Pershans, she realized. He had no family, no loving relationship with his own kind. Indeed, he didn't even have any "own kind". Seeing a closely-related species like the Pershans so content had made him realise what he was missing -- a mother, father, siblings, relationships with those who loved him. Now that he had the time to consider all he'd learnt, he felt very much an outsider.

Not only that, he only really had two people in the whole world that he could call his friends. Herself and Sakaki. And Aiko still hadn't worked out if Sakaki was as friendly as he made out, or if he was just using his considerable charm to keep his investment happy for future profit.

She sat up and swung her legs out of bed, determined to go to Miyatsu -- and then stopped herself. For what could she do? He might even be embarrassed that she could read him so well, or resentful that she had literally billions of her own species, while he was alone. His question earlier came back to her: "How is it you aren't scared?"

Now she examined it more closely, particularly in the light of how other humans reacted to him. Should she be scared? Physically, he was a six foot seven inch tall mainly-feline genetically modified animal, with the agility, lean muscle, claws and sharp teeth typical of cat-types. He was a functionally strong psychokinetic and telepathic power. Certainly he was capable of hurting a human, or any other creature for that matter. He could tear her throat out with one bite, or break her spine in two. Yes, it would be easy to fear his potential to inflict harm.

But Aiko couldn't find it within herself to fear Miyatsu. Intellectually, he just felt too -- human? No, that wasn't the right word, she thought in frustration. He wasn't human. But she couldn't truly class him as an animal, either. He was her equal in intelligence, even though his life experience up to now had been severely limited. He could reason and apply logic in complex situations and had a level of impulse control that would put some humans she knew to shame. She felt attuned to his emotions and couldn't believe he'd hurt anybody with malicious intent. He had such a guileless, almost nae innocence about him, and Aiko trusted him far more than she trusted Sakaki, despite the human's easy charm and effortless grasp of social niceties. When she was with Miyatsu, it was easy to put aside their biological differences and be easy and comfortable together. She didn't fear Miyatsu because she trusted him. Miyatsu was her friend, the only category she felt she could comfortably assign to him.

She shook her head at herself. How the people of Kagoshima would admire her courage, she thought cynically, with her huge, potentially deadly house-guest in the next room. They couldn't know the usual human/GMA dynamic had been turned on its head in this particular case. This was not a master and slave relationship like most. No, Aiko and Miyatsu had truly become friends, good friends.

And her friend's wistful feeling had not abated. Quietly she slipped out of bed, opened her door and padded barefoot across the room.

Miyatsu's eyes were open; he lay on his side, and the moonlight coming in through the window reflected silver off his cat pupils. He glanced at her in surprise when she appeared and propped himself up on one elbow. "Aiko? What's wrong?"

Aiko seated herself on the tatami-matted floor and looked up into his glowing eyes. "I couldn't sleep." She smiled ruefully. "I was picking up on your emotions again Radio Miyatsu is very loud tonight!"

Miyatsu looked sheepish. "I'm sorry. It's the documentary we watched. It made me realize how far I am from being a true animal. But at the same time, I'm not human either. Whatever I am, I'm the only one of my kind. I have no family, no peers. It's -- lonely. I think I've always felt this way, but seeing the Pershans got me thinking." He grimaced, a faint wrinkling of his nose. "If I was just an ordinary animal, I wouldn't think, would I? It would all be insin... um, what was that word you used, for knowing things without being taught?"

"Instinct," Aiko answered.

"Yes. Instinct," Miyatsu repeated. "Sometimes I don't like being able to think. Not when it makes me feel like this."

Aiko reached up and took one of his paws in her hand. "Friends can be a sort of family," she murmured. "And I am your friend, Miyatsu. We just happen to be of a different species."

He smiled gratefully at her. "Yes. You are my friend. And Sakaki, too. You've both been such good friends to me."

Lying back again, he squeezed her fingers gently, in wordless thanks. "I'll try to keep my emotions quieter," he said. "But -- would you stay for a little longer, Aiko? Just for a few minutes. I was never alone on Shima, but at night now, there's only me." He gave a wan smile. "Sometimes I even miss the sound of the Coatis squabbling!"

Aiko settled herself comfortably with her back against the sofa, thinking of the irony of the situation -- she was holding the paw of the most powerful GMA the world had ever seen because he was lonely!

This close, and holding his paw besides, she felt almost as if she could read Miyatsu's mind. Gradually, as the swirling patterns of his brain calmed, she felt him relax. His thoughts became slow and easy, and Aiko could feel them subliminally, as aware of them as she was of the wavelets lapping and breaking on the beach. After a few more minutes, Miyatsu's breathing became slow, and his grip on her hand went loose as he slipped into sleep.

She sat quietly watching him, the moonlight coming in through the window silvering his silky fur and cat-like whiskers. His profile in sleep still resembled the kitten she had known as a child, although far bigger and stronger now, with a gracefully defined jawline and a long, leanly-muscled neck disappearing under the blanket.

But there was still something of the vulnerable halfling about him, neither fully animal nor wholely human, caught between the two worlds and an outsider in both. Too intelligent to ever be content living as an animal, his only hope lay in managing to cope and live within the human world which feared and wished to subjugate him.

Of course he felt lonely: he was the only one of his kind in the entire world, and one that could never have come about naturally. His situation made her feel a slow roil of anger at her own species, and she became even more determined to help him learn how to live in the culture that had created him. Humans owed him that much, at least.

She was beginning to feel tired herself, her proximity to the sleeping Miyatsu having a soporific effect. She yawned, then reluctantly let go of Miyatsu's warm paw, stood and went to her room, shutting the door quietly behind her.

Sleep did not evade her this time.

*

She woke in the dim pre-dawn light of morning, her body shaking and trembling as she gasped into the pillow in orgasm.

Once the room had stopped spinning and come back into focus, she drew a shuddering breath and slowly uncurled, to lie staring up at the ceiling.

Well. That had been -- unexpected. Usually her erotic dreams didn't take her all the way through to the finale like that; generally she woke up and either continued on to orgasm or let it settle, depending on her mood and how tired she was.

Aiko sincerely hoped Miyatsu was a sound sleeper. She knew he had excellent hearing; if awake, he would have surely heard her gasping as she climaxed. Although their discussion last night had made her realize that he was a pragmatic virgin who regarded masturbation with the same unselfconscious lack of embarrassment as he would eating or drinking, still she felt uncomfortably modest at the thought of him overhearing her private pleasure.

She thought back, trying to recall the dream. With a feeling of resignation, she remembered that it had been about those blasted Pershans again!

She'd been Rahni, and her mate had come out of the den, his fur and eyes shining silver in the moonlight. Her heart had lifted in adoration at the sight of him: handsome and leanly-muscled, with his lashing tail and sweet nature, he was everything she'd ever wanted. They'd groomed each other tenderly, purring and rubbing their cheeks together, reveling in the love they shared. And then... well, Aiko was still feeling the pleasantly languorous afterglow of then.

She pulled a face at herself. Did it count as bestiality if it was just a dream, and she was the animal besides? Maybe she needed another boyfriend if watching a simple nature documentary made her so horny!

Her last serious boyfriend had been during university. He was a class-mate called Hiroshi. Unfortunately, Hiroshi had been as generous as his name suggested, to the extent that he wanted to give himself to every pretty girl he saw. Finally Aiko had ended their relationship, knowing he would always cheat on her otherwise.

It surprised her now to remember how broken-hearted she had been at his infidelities. Perhaps that was why she'd been single since; too wary to risk her heart again, she'd thrown herself into her work, despite Suzu's strenuous attempts to match her up with friends!

Maybe she ought to consider some of Suzu's males more seriously, she thought, even as she made a wry face at the thought of them. Oh, they were all right, she supposed, but there was a uniform sameness about them all that made them uninspiring to her.

She turned over onto her side, preparatory to going back to sleep for an hour, and just for a drowsy moment, felt herself wishing that the Purshan in her dream had been real, and human. Because she could seriously fancy him, if only he'd been the right species...