FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 1

"They're after me" I silently thought to myself, weaving in and out of trees. Hunters had caught sight of me destroying their traps and started shooting at me, quickly sending out their dogs trying to corner me. Instincts took over as I started doing every trick I could think of to get them off my trail. Eventually coming upon a stream, I hastily jumped into it and swam downstream just enough for their dogs to lose my scent. I then crawled out of the water on the other side and darted into the bushes. After sitting there for a while making sure that they were finally off my scent, I slowly crept forward out of the shadows towards higher ground to get a better view of my surroundings.

As I crested the top of a hill I suddenly realized that I was at the edge of a town near where I used to live. The memories of my previous life still easily accessible within my mind. Hunters have been setting up traps all over the forest and I figured that it must be hunting season now. I would have to start being more careful, any more sightings like the last one could lead me to some disastrous results.

I never had to worry about this before now, but it was something that I would have to get used to if I intended to stay alive in this new world of mine. Things weren't always like this though, until about a month ago I was one of them, just some high schooler trying to get by in a society where he was never truly accepted by anyone.

My alarm sounded with a loud ringing while I reached my hand over to turn it off, rolling over at the same time I turned my head and looked at the time realizing that I was going to be late for school. I flew out of bed grabbing my clothes that I had readily sitting on my dresser hastily got dressed as fast as I could and rushed down the stairs. Reaching the bottom of the stairs and running into the kitchen, I was relieved to find that my parents already made breakfast and had it waiting for me by the time I entered. I walked straight for the counter and grabbed a piece of toast that was waiting for me, then thanked them for the food while running out the door.

I started heading down the path I usually follow to school which takes almost 30 minutes to arrive there but it was already 8:10 A.M. and school starts at 8:30 A.M. in the morning. The only way I could possibly make it to school on time was taking a shortcut through the woods, even though my parents have always told me never to go into there due to the wild animals, but I had to do it. I ran as fast as my feet could take me, darting and squeezing through the trees with the occasional fallen log I had to jump over.

"I'm almost there" I silently said to myself as I neared the edge of the forest, but some sudden movement caught me be surprise on the outskirts of my view. I stopped running and focused my attention on the object. What I had seen was a fox with the purest white coat I had ever laid my eyes on, but it appeared to be caught in a hunters cage. Slowly I crept forward towards the captured animal weary that it might strike out at me as I tried to help it, but it just sat there and stared at me.

"I'm going to help get you out of the cage" I said," just don't attack me when I let you out."

The fox unexpectedly didn't move an inch, guessing that it somehow understood my intentions, I fumbled with the latch. It was easy enough to figure out, the person who made it probably never guessed that a human would be trying to help one of the animals that was caught in their cages to escape. I closed my eyes as soon as the door to the cage opened fearful that it might think I was the one who trapped it in there, but when I opened my eyes I couldn't believe it! The fox was just sitting down right in front of me like it had known me for years.

"I've been waiting for you" the fox said suddenly in a feminine voice, almost making me jump in shock as soon as she said it.

"What do you mean?" sounding a little concerned as I said it.

"It's like I said" she spoke again softly, "I've been waiting in this forest for someone like you to help me out of a situation I could not prevent. As a thank you for saving me, I would like to give you a gift."

"A gift?" I said questioningly not knowing what she meant. "I don't know what you could possibly...." I was cut off mid sentence as a sharp burning pain rushed through my body and stopped on my arm. After the pain stopped I checked myself over to see what had happened but was surprised when I got back to my arm and there was a mark in the shape of a paw print that looked like it was supposed to be there.

Shocked, I looked around quickly for the vixen but she wasn't anywhere to be seen. I sat there confused for a moment, not fully comprehending what had gone on just moments ago. The recent memories of what had just happened escaped my mind as I looked down at my watch which was now reading 9:00 A.M. in the morning. I let out a drawn out sigh as I made the rest of the trek to school, knowing full well that I would be getting some sort of punishment for being late.

As soon as I walked through the door to my classroom, the teacher and the rest of my classmates stopped what they were doing and looked over at me. A little embarrassed by the sudden attention I was getting, my teacher broke the tension.

"Your late" my teacher said, unable to possibly comprehend what I had just been through, nor willing to discuss the matter further. "Take this and go see the principal," she handed over a slip of paper and sent me on my way. The principal shook his head as I tried to explain to him what had happened.

"Making up absurd stories just to get out of trouble is no way to act in front of your principal" he said with a stern face. "I'm going to give you after school detention for today, and since it's Friday I'll keep it down to an extra 2 hours, maby the extra time at school will give you enough time to think about what you've done." Realizing that saying anything more would be futile and possibly get me into more trouble, I took the new sheet of paper out of his hand and headed out of his office back to my classroom. The lectures each teacher gave seemed to make the day last longer than what seemed possible. My English teacher had us writing a report on the civil war while my math teacher had us doing complex algebra that I barely had a grasp on as it was.

The bell rang, signifying the end of the school day for most, but I still had to sit out my punishment I had been given. They wouldn't just let us sit there and chat while waiting for our time to be up, they had us work on homework the entire time, though at this points I thank them for it as it would give me time later to do a little investigating of my own. After getting out of the detention that seemed to last forever, I started to head the usual way home going down the street and cutting through some of the neighborhoods between mine and the school grounds. But I was curious as to what I saw and felt earlier that day, I was told over the day during school that what I saw wasn't real and had never really happened at all, but I decided to head back through the forest to where I first saw the fox, sure that I wasn't losing my mind.

It took me almost half an hour of searching before I found the exact spot that I first found her in but when I got there there was no sign of the fox, nor was there any indication that there had ever been a trap there! I continued my search around the area, trying to find anything that was amiss or something that looked out of place but to no avail. Unsatisfied with the lack of evidence that turned up through my search, I decided to head the rest of the way home.

As I walked through the door into my home after an hour of searching on my way home from school, my body started to feel heavier and heavier, the steps it took to get up the stairs felt like an eternity, my vision started to get blurry as I turned the knob on my door and started to take the steps into my room. The feelings of being tired suddenly swept over me like the ocean sweeps over the sand,so I decided to take it easy and that I would head to bed early and try to get a few extra hours of sleep so I might feel better.

Chapter 2

I woke up in the morning unable to subdue the thoughts of what happened the day before as they flooded throughout my mind. Every detail so vivid, almost as if I was still there. What was this "gift" the fox told me about and why was this mark on my arm? I had so many questions but no means of getting them answered. I pushed the frustration aside as I knew that I couldn't stay in bed all day thinking about this and decided it was about time to get up.

As I pulled away the covers and stood up, I was shocked at what I saw in the mirror. My ears have been moved to the top of my head and had been transformed into that of a fox's, but even more frightening than that was the tail sticking out behind me.

"whats going on! When? How? Could I possibly still be dreaming?" I tugged at my new tail and winced in pain as it was indeed real and somehow attached to me. I paced back and forth across my room trying to think of a way this was even possible.

"Breakfast's ready!" my mom yelled from downstairs, sending a shiver down through my spine.

"How am I going to hide this? there's just no way!" Thought after thought went through my mind but nothing I could think of was going to completely hide my new look from my parents. After a few more minutes of trying to figure out a way to hide it and deciding that it wasn't possible, I got dressed and slowly made my way down the stairs towards the kitchen where I knew my parents would be waiting for me. Reaching the bottom of the stairs and entering the kitchen my senses were overtaken by the smell of freshly made eggs, sausage, and toast sitting on a plate on the table where my parents were sitting at.

"There's a plate over there on the counter waiting for you my" father said, almost as if he hadn't seen my new ears and tail.

"Aren't you scared?" I asked them, not sure of how they would respond.

"About what son? nothing that you do would cause us to love you any less than we already do."

"About these" I said, spinning in a complete circle slowly enough for them to get a good enough look of my new self, tugging on my ears and tail again to show them that they were real. My parents just gave me a tender look and didn't seem to be phased at all.

"Like we just said, there is nothing that would make us feel any different about you, and since you don't seem to be making a huge deal about it and freaking out, we will just accept this as the new you." I almost broke into tears right then as I was suddenly relieved that they didn't think of me as a monster or some sort of demon.

"Now grab your plate and eat some food before it gets cold" my mother said. I happily sat down and ate the food, the relief I felt made what I had normally been eating for breakfast taste so much better than I thought it would. After finishing the food, I discussed with my parents what had happened and why I think I look like this now. They nodded after every couple words to show me that they were listening and interested in what I had to say. Once I finished my story I pulled up my sleeve and showed them the paw print on my arm. After that they forgave me for being late to school and actually said that it looked pretty good on me. When I was finished with the conversation I was having with my parents, I got up and went outside.

I decided to go back to the woods where I had first met the fox. As I entered the woods i was overtaken with the feeling of belonging, like this was where I was meant to be. It felt like i've been living in these woods all my life, every tree, every branch, every plant, everything just felt so right. As I continued with my search I came upon the location where I first met the fox. The cage that was once there had disappeared, the hunter probably checked his traps and moved it once he found it unoccupied. Suddenly I heard a rustle in the brush behind me and turned around, unsure of what was coming I backed away slowly from the sound but kept my eyes fixed on the location. The sound grew louder and louder as the object came closer to me. Just when I was about to turn and run away, she appeared from the brush.

The fox that I had saved was now standing in front of me. She looked different however, instead of the usual single tail that all foxes had, she now had three tails elegantly swaying back and forth behind her. I wanted to ask her so many questions but the first one that came out of my mouth was, "how was what happened to me even possible?"

"It's because of my gift to you" she responded. "I have entrusted you with something that most people couldn't dream of. Your body will continue changing until you have been fully transformed into a fox."

I looked at her with disbelief, even though the changes had already started, it was still hard to accept what she was saying as the truth. "Why me?" I asked. "There are probably many more people that deserve this more than me." "

"But it can only be you" the vixen said. "Out of all the people that have passed by me these many years, none of them even paused for a second to consider helping me. But you....you actually took the time to come over and help me out of the cage, not knowing what I could of done when I got out of it. Once I saw you head towards me, I knew that you were the right one to entrust this to." I listened to the fox's story, still confused as how this was possible.

"You said that you have been in that cage for many years? How is that possible? Wouldn't you starve or die of dehydration since you didn't have access to food or water?" I said.

"I was protected" the fox said, "I am a messenger of the goddess Inari. She has sent me on a mission to find one of the few humans who still cared about the world around them instead of being so caught up in their own lives as to be ignorant of things happening around them. When you found me, Inari had told me to give this gift to you as a test to see who you could help with it."

"I am honored", I said "But how am I supposed to help people If am a fox?"

"Not just any fox," she said "you will become one if Inari's messengers as well, and she will guide you along your adventures, as she does with all her children. Now, it is time for me to go, there are other people out there that need the guidance of Inari to save them from making the wrong choice and condemning their soul to hell until they can atone for their sins."

"I have one more question if I may" I asked

"Ask away but mind you I need to be on my way soon" she said.

"How will I know that I am serving Inari correctly? is there a way to tell that I am making the correct choices in helping the people and animals of this world?"

"There is my child. Every hundred years of faithful service to Inari, she will grant you another tail indicating that you are following the right path. There will also be others like me, scattered around the world that you can seek for additional guidance if there is something you need counseling on."

"Hundred years!" I exclaimed, "how is that possible to live that long? Humans don't live even close to that long and the lifespan of foxes are much shorter than that."

"But not a kitsune" she said, "we can live for 900 years or more, you see these tails?"

"Yes" I said, starting to piece together where this was going.

"It means that I have lived for over 300 of your years while faithfully serving Inari along the way." the kitsune said

"That's amazing" I said

"Not nearly as amazing as you think, there are many other kitsune out there that are much older than I am, and with many more tails." she said

"Are you telling me that I will also live as long as that?" I said

"That is correct, you will live as one of us, a kitsune and servant of Inari and follow in her steps to help those in need. How else are you to help so many people?" she explained

"I guess that makes sense." I stated

"Now I must be going, I will see you some time in the future, and you will hopefully be enjoying your new life." And as she said that she turned around and started to walk away, quickly disappearing into the woods.

I stood there for a moment absorbing everything that has been told to me and made my decision to follow Inari as best I can while also enjoying life to the fullest along the way. I turned around and started heading deeper into the woods than I would have ever dared before, but it seemed normal now. I could see the animals around me, watching every step that I took but not running away, even coming upon a pair of coyotes, who under normal circumstances would have run away in fear, now just stood there accepting that I now belonged here and would not harm them.

After exploring the woods a little more It started to grow dark and I knew that I would have to head home. So I went on my way, backtracking the trails I had made until I had reached the edge of the woods and could find my way to home from there. I entered my house and found that my parents were already in bed by the time I got home, so I decided to not wake them to tell them what I had learned. Accepting what I now knew I would become, I headed back upstairs towards my room, stripped myself of my dirty clothes and crawled into bed. My mind started to go blank immediately as I drifted off to sleep. A new dawn was coming and hopefully, I would be prepared for it.

chapter 3

As I lay there asleep in bed, the paw print on my arm started to glow faintly like that of a small candle, my body was starting to change again. A ball of energy formed around my sleeping form and slowly lifted me up into the air, changing everything I had left that defined me as a human into that of a kitsune. A thin layer of fur was starting to grow everywhere on my body. My arms and legs shrinking in size while the bones in my hands and feet changed their shape and form into what would now be my paws. Then my face started to change, my nose and mouth extending forward creating a muzzle, my eyesight and sense of smell both becoming much sharper as they changed. My body was the last thing that changed, slowly shrinking down to the correct size, shape, and proportions. I started to stir as the transformation began to subside. I woke up that morning with a small idea of what happened that night but it wasn't until I crawled out from under the covers and walked in front of my mirror that I fully grasped what had transpired.

Instead of a human looking back at me in that reflection, there was the spitting image of a fox looking back at me, with a coat of fur almost as brilliant as the fox I had seen in days past. My fur was now a shimmering snow white, not that it lacked any color but the colors of the surrounding area seemed to pale in comparison. The explanations that the vixen had told me helped me to accept the changes that had come overnight. It took only but a second to get accustomed to my new body, feeling as if I've lived my whole life as this. I could already smell the breakfast that my parents were cooking downstairs and I could also hear what they were saying.

"I hope he's alright up there" my mother said to my father. "He must have been pretty exhausted last night since he went straight to bed after he came in."

I suddenly realized that they had come into my room to check up on me after I had gotten back home. My ears twitched as I heard them continue.

"I'm sure he's fine, if he needs to talk to use about anything he knows that we will always be there to support his decisions" my father said. Their words helped a lot to comfort me. I took one last look around my room before deciding to head downstairs to eat. As I entered the kitchen and strolled up to the table now needing to jump up onto the chair just to see over the top of it. My parents stared at me not really sure what to say, so I decided to break the tension and tell them the whole story. After I finished I saw tears start to fall from my mothers eyes.

"I knew that you would be leaving your home eventually but I didn't expect it to be this soon." suddenly bursting out of her chair towards mine swinging her arms around me in the process.

"We just wish that you would stay here with your family" she said, "but I know that It's not going to be possible anymore." Her grip on me started to loosen as she slowly backed away, my father getting up to comfort her. I savored the breakfast that they cooked eating it much slower than usual, realizing that this would be my last meal with them. Afterwards we sat there idly discussing what I intended to do from now on, assuring them that I would be fine and they didn't need to worry about me.

When an hour had passed by I looked over at my parents and told them it was time for me to leave. They reluctantly agreed, watching me as I gently jumped down from the chair I was sitting at. My parents walked over and opened the door for me as I slowly made my way over to it. Once I made my way outside I turned around to see that my parents had stopped in the doorway. I finished saying my goodbyes and started to walk away, cutting all ties I had with my previous life I found myself heading back to the forest where this all began. It was time for me to set out on a journey, my new beginning.