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The thing that disturbed Jake the most about the next few months is how little people wondered about Ed's sudden disappearance. He went by his house to ask for him, but his father had just said he didn't come home, probably ran away. He didn't seem to care that his own son was missing and actually dead. The Guard only complained about his car sitting in the street and his dad let them tow it away.

Jake wanted to yell at them all that Ed was dead and they should care, but that would mean he would have to go to jail for it. Maybe he deserved to; he did kill somebody, afterall. But he only did it to stop him from raping that rabbit. He didn't even know the rabbit, but Ed was his friend, right?

Ed was gone and once graduation and the summer passed with no handcuffs, it was time to move on and focus on college.

Jake had put in for a General Morph Studies certificate. A fluff curriculum for undecided students, it was filled with classes like Basic Morph History, Basic Genetics, General Morph Anatomy, General Morph Sociology, along with all the standards like math and literature that all curricula required. Once he figured out what he was going to do, this would give him a head start. He chose morphs, primarily out of guilt. He still felt bad for what he did to Christy and responsible for her running away. He hoped he could at least learn enough about them that he would never make a mistake like that again.

Orientation is intended to give new students an introduction to the basic rules and procedures of the campus, while letting them get familiar with the grounds and maybe make a friend or two to help them acclimate. Jake felt especially alien walking around so many morphs. There were other humans, but he didn't know any of them, either.

He managed to find the registration counter and picked up his info: class schedule, cafeteria card, dorm assignment, campus map, notes from professors about the classes, book list, rules, regulations, procedures, orientation activity list, ....

While he was flipping through it all, someone snatched his tablet from his hands. The oversized fox laughed and mocked him, "Phi Omicron Xi, noob!"

A tall rabbit snatched the tablet from him and shot him a glare that made him step back, then she turned and walked back to Jake. An equally muscular cat behind the fox shouted, "Hey Janice, if you're shopping outside your species, I can give you a better night than that loser."

Without turning back to them or any hesitation, "Take a bath, FUX, you're scuzzing up the campus."

The fox pushed the cat away and they hurried off.

She handed Jake his tablet with a smile, "Hi, I'm Janice. Would you like a tour?"

Jake smiled back and took his tablet, "Thanks. I didn't want to get in a fight with those guys."

"They would rip you to shreds in your own dreams. How about we start with the cafeteria."

She took his arm and they started walking, "Are you local?"

"Um, yeah." He was still a little overwhelmed, but the small talk was a good distraction.

"I came from Perth about a year ago. Spent last year on all dull classes. Can't wait to get into my first law class this year. Its going to be amazing. What are you studying?"

"Just General Morph Studies. I'm not sure what I want to do yet.

"Well that's okay. Maybe we can figure out what interests you."

"Well, some things happened last year that still have me kind of dazed. I'm hoping some tedious schoolwork can help me get through it."

"What sort of things?"

"Well, one friend was raped and other was killed." He hoped he could keep up with that charade.

"Oh, that is pretty bad. Here, why don't you get something to eat, my treat."

He picked out some basics and they sat down to continue talking.

"Did you know your friends well?"

I hung out with the one that was killed a lot. He was kind of an ass, but kept us all together. The fox girl that was raped was more a friend of my sister, but I knew her."

"Oh, a morph. Do they know who did it?"

"Well, I do, but the cops don't."

"Why don't you tell them?"

"She doesn't want to."

"Was it another morph?"

"No, a human. A group of them grabbed her, then one did it."

"That's horrible. How is she dealing with it?"

"I don't know. She ran away from home and disappeared."

"Oh, so you lost both your friends."

He nodded and stared at his drink, "Sometimes I think I lost myself, too."

"Well college is supposed to be all about finding yourself. Leaving behind your childhood, learning new things and growing into something more."

"That's not what it looks like here."

"Well, guys like those have a lot more childhood to grow out of."

"You seem to be doing pretty well."

"I enjoyed my childhood when I was living it, so I feel I can comfortably move on and don't need to try to cram in 1,000 childish mistakes before being labeled adult. Doesn't mean I can't enjoy some childish things." She held up her bag with a cartoon cat hanging from the zipper.

He smiled, "That's cute."

"See, you're not completely lost." She rubbed his hand.

"You seem to be helping."

"Well, let's do something about that." She grabbed his tablet and put her info into his contacts, then sent his info to herself. "There, now you can find me whenever you feel lost."

"You're not leaving me already, are you?"

"Well, I'm supposed to help as many people as I can, but I think you might be a special case that needs extra attention."

"Um, thanks?"

"Well I, I mean you, still need to find out where your dorm is and all your classes."

"Oh, so I guess we need to get going."

"Any time you're ready."

They got up and headed out.

"So, what classes do you have?"

He loaded up his schedule on his tablet and she looked over it.

"Well, most of your classes will be in these two buildings right here. How convenient for you. Unfortunately, every Tuesday and Thursday you will be running all the way across campus, back the way we came and beyond. Your room is of course two more buildings this way."

"Guess I'll be getting some exercise."

"I have a class over there Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well. Maybe you can keep me company for the walk."

"I'd like that."

"This is your building. Would you like me to come up with you?"

"I'm thinking you'll be welcome to visit me any time."

"Not after dark. This is a male only building, so no overnight females. There are no co-ed dorms here, so you don't get to stay in my room, either."

"I didn't know that was going to be an option."

"We'll see what happens," she winked and bumped his shoulder. "You're up here on the third floor. Not much here, just the bed and desk." She flopped on the bed. "You get to decorate however you want, don't forget the ceiling."

"What would I put up there?"

"something you want to look at when you're laying in bed."

He was starting to enjoy the view he had right there: her long legs, slender body, attractive breasts, beautiful smile. He started to wonder what her fur felt like. He walked over and held out his hand. She took it and stood up, very close to him and smiled.

"Is there anything else you would like to see?"

He stared into her eyes, trying to ignore the rest of her body, inches from his, "Anything you have to offer."

"She smiled and grabbed his arm as she dragged him out of the room, "We'll see if there's anything at the theater."

"There are plays at the beginning of the semester?"

"Not stage theatre, movie theater. They play old movies for cheap. I like the old ones, especially before morphs, when they had to use special effects or animation to make them. Its fun to see their vision and creativity. Oh, I should give you some menus of the good places to eat. Absolutely do not go to the pizza place on the other side of campus, no matter what they change the name to. Two years, three names, same guy running it. They keep failing inspections and somehow still make enough money to keep reopening."

"What's your favorite place to eat?"

"Hmm, I like the sandwich shop in the cafeteria for a quick bite. If I could afford it, I'd go to Grace's for dinner, but pick a night they're not too busy or you'll wait till you die of starvation. I guess I shouldn't say that, slander and all, but the one time I went, the food was amazing. I'll be working my whole legal career just to eat there as much as I can. What sort of foods do you like?"

"Oh, pizza's good. I like roast beef sandwiches and chicken nuggets." He noticed she seemed a little disinterested, "My friends think its weird that I like asparagus."

"Oh, I love asparagus. There's a sandwich they make at the cafeteria with asparagus and mushrooms that is just delicious. Maybe they could put some roast beef on it for you."

"That sounds good."

"Oh, they're playing God of Dawn in about an hour. I love that one. Can you believe it was made more than a decade before any morphs? They look so real."

"What should we do until then?"

"Oh, you want to see it with me? Wonderful!" she hugged him and smiled. "We could sit in the circle and talk till then. Then we can come back after the movie and watch the sun set. Its a good spot because there are no buildings for about half a mile to the west, straight down the main entrance road."

"Sounds like a good plan. Should we get something to eat?"

"Right, sandwiches. I can send an order when the movie is over, so they will be ready and we can just grab and get to the circle before we miss too much."

"My treat?"

"Why not, since I got lunch." She took his arm again and rested her head on his shoulder as they walked to the circle.

They found an empty bench and sat to talk, some about school and campus, but mostly about themselves, challenging each other to answer ridiculous or personal questions. The crowds dwindled until they were almost alone in the large grass field. Then she asked one that made him think.

"You don't remember me, do you?"

He looked at her intently, trying to remember if he should be able to. "I haven't known many morphs. My friends kind of ... kept to ourselves." He didn't want to say they were bigoted jerks, but he was wondering why he ever hung out with them.

"Its okay. It was dark and things moved fast and you were thinking about other things."

He started to get worried, "Did I do something to you?"

"What you did was stop something from being done to me."

His eyes widened as the realization hit, "You were _that_rabbit?"

"You saved my life and I'm glad you were there. You are my hero."

"What about that wolf?"

"He did a good thing by helping you, but you are the one that saved me."

"I'm the reason you were there in the first place."

"You were not the one that tackled me and shoved me in the car. You were not the one that cut my underwear. You were_the one that got me out of the car. You _were the one that knocked out the guy that did all those things to me." She put her paws on his face to look in his eyes as they started to tear up.

"But I killed him and I gave them the idea of fucking morphs when I raped Christy."

Her paws drifted away from his cheeks as the words sunk in, "You... raped the fox girl?"

"I hate myself for it and I didn't want to, but I can't undo it. I wish I could do something for her to help her, but I can't find her." The tears fell freely as he relived all his regrets.

She looked at him seriously, "Those boys forced you?"

"Well, mostly Ed, but I couldn't ... I didn't have a choice." He was fighting to keep from running away.

She took his face again, "Shhh, shhh, shhh. Its okay. Its over. Just tell me what happened." Her hero was hurting and she wanted to fix it.

He closed his eyes and caught his breath, then opened them again and she was there, watching him expectantly. He reached up and took her paws, pulling them down from his face, "I don't know why I told you. I didn't want you to hate me as much as I hate myself, but I guess its too late now."

"No. You just told me you raped a morph, then said you were forced. Tell me the whole story, because right now I don't know what to think."

He swallowed hard, "Okay. Ed had been talking about how morphs are just animals all day and then I went home and June had brought Christy home to work on a school project together."

"Christy is the fox. Who is June?"

"My sister."

"Okay, go on."

"Well, I got mad and recited some of the stuff Ed had been spouting all day and stormed out to meet up with the guys. I told them about Christy and they wanted to do something. I said we could catch her on her way home."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I was just thinking scare her a little, so she wouldn't come to my house anymore."

"What happened?"

"We caught her and tied her up and took her into Ed's house. He kept asking about animals. I think I said they don't belong on the furniture and pushed her to the floor. Somebody said animals don't wear clothes and ripped off her dress. I couldn't help thinking that if she didn't have fur, she'd look just like my sister.

"So you weren't all bad, even then."

"But Ed said animals fuck and told me I should do her. I tried to say something, anything that would change his mind, but they pulled her up and spread her open, even told me to pretend it was a girl from our class that I liked. They were crowded around me and I had nowhere to run. I had to, but when it was done, I wished I hadn't." he looked up at her to defend his statement, "not because it was bad, but because I liked it, but she didn't. I wanted to reverse time and instead of tying her up and raping her, I wished I had walked her home and asked her out. She didn't deserve that and I don't know how to fix it."

"You can't."

he was shocked. He thought she was going to be comforting him.

"Rape is very serious. Its not something you can apologize for. You violated her in a way that would make her afraid of her own body. You took away the choice and stole her comfort and confidence."

"But I didn't mean to."

"And its good that you regret it. It means you know it was wrong and will never hurt someone that way again, but there is nothing anyone can do to make it better for her. An apology might give her some closure, or seeing you might reopen old wounds."

"If I could find her, I wouldn't need to see her. I just want to get her back with her family, so they can tell her its okay and they still love her. I hate that I made her run away and tore her family apart."

She smiled and squeezed his hands, "I think you do understand. It sounds like you've figured out what you want to do with your life."

"You think I should devote my whole life to finding Christy? That sounds more like a stalker than a savior."

"There's a project that is mentioned in Basic Genetics and Basic Morph History where all morphs were registered with their DNA. It was supposed to help track matings and make sure nobody bred to close to their own line. It hasn't been enforced in a while. I think the director retired or died or something and people just stopped doing it. You could use that system to help a lot of people, not just morphs. And since she can't change her DNA, when Christy registers, you could let her parents know."

"That actually sounds like a good idea, but how would I do it?"

"Set your major to research or genealogy or genetics, something that would sound impressively related and we'll find out what happened to the project and who you need to apply to to get it reinstated."

"You still want to help me?"

"You are a good person, I've heard it in how you talk about what happened. Despite the damage it caused, you still want to try to fix it, and you saved me. You will always be my hero," She leaned forward and kissed his lips.

At first, he wasn't sure what to think about being kissed by a rabbit, but he quickly realized he liked it and kissed her back. They held each other and kissed until they just fell against each other.

Jake opened his eyes and saw the last of the color fading from the sky. "I think we missed the movie."

"And the sunset." She slid closer to him and cuddled close. "I think we had enough drama and action for tonight."

"Even a little romance?"

She pushed back and looked at him, "We can do with a little more romance." She pulled him close and kissed him.

As they kissed, someone cleared their throat nearby.

They pushed apart and looked. A fox in a uniform with a flashlight was staring at them, "You two should get back to your rooms. You can continue this show tomorrow."

Jake stood up quickly and Janice laughed, "Do you need me to walk you to your building?"

"No, I think I got it." He took her paw and she stood up, then leaned in for one more kiss before she headed off to her dorm.

"Looks like you got lucky tonight. She's a pretty one."

"More than that, I think she loves me."

The fox laughed and continued his rounds, leaving Jake to find his own way back.