Overture to a Fleeting Shadow (SevenS 1)
Behold: the first in a multi-part series of works done in Kaze's mythos, entitled "SevenS." Some day, heavens willing, it may become (in a somewhat revised format) a comic, done by Kaze's talented furry little hands. The idea is that, while the other two works in his series are helpful to get to know the characters, this series will be able to stand on its own.
Do enjoy.
 Kaze gave a muted growl into his pillow, eyes scrunched tight, his muzzle buried somewhat in the puffy object. Sensory overload wasn't all that uncommon when you weren't anticipating so much input, reclining there on your bed when wham! Your brain gets inundated by info and you wish you could close it all out while you get a handle on what's going on.
 However, Kaze hadn't just woken up, though such a scenario would make sense in such a context; rather, Orieon, his studly tiger boyfriend, had just speared the charming grey wolf with his erection, and the position was a fairly new one to them both...so it was definitely more than Kaze had been expecting.
 He was on his front, essentially lying straight up and down with relation to the bed, and Orieon was atop him, the tiger's wider hips placing his massive legs astride those of the wolf below him. The result squished Kaze's rump together somewhat, tightening the canal through which Orieon was so intimately entering the smaller canid. And the effect was pronounced, causing every detail of that heavy, solid shaft to be emphasized to Kaze's senses, while at the same time creating a much more luscious indulgence of sensation upon Orieon's sensitive erection.
 It was slow, sensual lovemaking, what they were doing, and even though it lacked the caution-thrown-to-the-winds nature of some of their more primal encounters, it was worth it. They were past the stage when heady sex helped bring them together--now they were going steady, now they could indulge, for the bond was already there.
 "Ah, Kaze," said Orieon, his body arching up, then down, in a prolonged erogenous rhythm, "Gods, you're so tight...ahhhh..." His deep, rich voice was full of earnestness, not sounding the slightest bit forced or contrived. "It feels so good to be inside you..."
 Kaze, being a definite romantic like that, certainly found the tiger's words more than arousing. "Unh...Orieon...ugh, you're so big...agh, I love how you fill me up so well..." He meant every word of it, too; the tiger was certainly quite well-endowed, and in a more esoteric sense, their mating filled Kaze's awareness with love and passion, just as it made his insides feel so perfectly filled by such a welcome intrusion.
 He had virtually no leverage to thrust against Orieon, but he really didn't feel it was even necessary; that tempo of slow oscillation, coupled with the incredible closeness and intimacy of the position Orieon was using, left him more than satisfied. It was like he was being shown that he was loved by, protected by, and cared for by the tiger all at once, even without that spire of flesh sliding in and out of his body.
 In fact, if Kaze had been counterthrusting, the experience might have ended for him prematurely , as a few select thrusts occasionally hit nerve endings just the right way, nearly triggering his climax; additional fervency would have likely tipped him over the brink, rather than letting him continue to enjoy the experience and let Orieon work up to an orgasm worthy of remembrance.
 This became even more the case when Orieon started adjusting the angles of his thrusts, as well; where he'd originally been mostly moving straight up and down at an angle just oblique to the vertical, he later started swinging his hips back and down, then forward, the motion providing a unique stretching sensation upon Kaze's entrance and hitting those sensitive nerves embedded within in even more new and surprising ways. But the pace he kept the same--unhurried, romantic, sensual. It was a testament to his versatile virility that he could be so lusty and feral during certain encounters, and so erotic and passionate during others--definitely a trait Kaze savored wholeheartedly.
 It was perhaps the longest and yet highest plateau of sexual stimulation Kaze had been on in ages--if ever--in that he felt that he was mere inches from orgasm for what seemed an eternity, yet Orieon's tempo was just right, in that it never jeopardized Kaze overmuch towards hitting orgasm too soon. It kept him in a state of inundation that ruined all attempts at being articulate, leaving his higher thoughts a muddle as various noises of delight trickled from his mouth and were muffled by the bed, Orieon's name punctuating them breathlessly.
 Orieon, too, was delighted by it--certainly by the feelings of slipping in and out of his lover's body, without question, but also by how apparent it was that Kaze was enjoying it--and how strongly, one couldn't forget--and how very romantic the moment was. It was rare that he was able to bond so well on an emotional level with those he'd shared a bed with, as the adoration of others often gave way to concealed personality that did not match up with his own, making so many relationships fall away virtually as fast as they'd begun. But he was, despite his tough-looking exterior, one seeking love at heart, and patience and hope demanded that he'd continue looking. It looked now, however, that he wouldn't have to look any more...
 But there came a point where even Orieon's masterful timing wasn't enough to keep Kaze's body from seizing the climax he so desired, as the body's tolerance eroded naturally over time in the face of such delight. It all started as Orieon began to gently nibble Kaze's neck, his warm breath draping Kaze's neck and cheek as his teeth gently teased at the sensitive flesh there...the first hints of orgasm washed over Kaze gently at first--he could feel it building, more and more, he couldn't hold it back, didn't want to, not when it felt so, so good--and then it was like a thunderous bolt through his body, euphoria coursing through every nerve as a loud, gasping moan hurtled from his mouth unbidden, his seed pulsing from his shaft and sullying the sheets which enfolded it, his arched back and Orieon's continued movement spreading it around in the process.
 Orieon, who was also coming close by this time, saw and felt and heard these subtle cues that lead into that earthshaking, climactic moment, and within seconds of Kaze's body tightening up so richly around his member, it was as though he collapsed into his orgasm, his usual orgasmic roar tripping over itself as he gave a half-grunt, half-moan as the surge of bliss took him by surprise. He rammed that thick ebony spire entirely into Kaze and let it leave his essence there, a fruit of his love for the grey wolf below him.
 They rode it out together, two bodies together on a storm of passion, of love, of pleasure, words a futile gesture in such a moment of pure emotion and sensation. And as it slowly died away, and Orieon let himself down aside Kaze, turning the wolf aside to lie together, their bodies fitting front-to-back perfectly, Kaze found himself blearily wondering--how in the world did he happen across such fortune? Why was it that a tiger crafted from the stuff of his dreams was now the one able to dream aside him? Did he do something to deserve it? He didn't know--couldn't know--but the questions were such a chasing after the wind in light of the striped fact behind him; there was no need to ask such things when the truth was so perfect...
 Consciousness was slipping from him, his energy having given itself over to the orgasm heart and body, and he heard words behind him--"Ugh...gods, Kaze...I love you..." That voice always made him melt a little inside, because it was more than his lover...
 It was his dream come true.
 Orieon awoke early, his circadian rhythm having long been somewhat out of whack due to his highly-variable schedule. The two of them, together in bed, looked a far cry different from the simple yet beautiful togetherness they'd shared in their last moments awake, Kaze having sprawled out considerably compared to Orieon's fairly compact arrangement (in so much as one of his size could ever be termed "compact") and Orieon having turned over, but the fact seemed negligible to Orieon. Sleep, after all, was a tyrant--a gentle one, yes, but a tyrant to faculties and needs alike.
 He turned over and watched Kaze, who was still peacefully sleeping. The fact that he was naked was obscured by the sheets, his bare upper chest and arms the only suggestion of it, and his head was sideways upon the pillow, the very tip of his muzzle a pinch ajar to let him breathe easily from both nose and mouth. The arrangement was fortunate, as it saved him the ungainly drool other creatures might experience in the same state...
 Orieon's thoughts wandered as he watched...he was quite fortunate to have found Kaze, of that he was quite aware. There was something about the wolf--something he couldn't quite put words on, but something he knew was so beautiful, so true and so real--and that something reached deep into his heart, a heart often burned, often taken for granted, and made him feel warm inside...cozy, like it was a safe and happy place, full of comfort and belonging. True, Kaze wasn't ugly--far from it, despite being fairly lithe, he was rather adorable on the whole--and he was far from being ditzy; though he was a touch feminine at times, he knew how to be quite masculine as well and did so when the situation called for it. In short, his unique differences from Orieon rounded the tiger out, in a sense, giving him the parts of life and living that he tended to lack on his own.
 And that was without even mentioning the sex.
 His mind wandered back to the past...relationships he'd had that didn't work out. He'd tried a few tigers in the past, but they all seemed kind of like him--strongly independent, slightly bristly at times, not well suited to meeting people in a bar or club and getting serious with them later, and certainly not when they were two of a kind. The encounters were fiery and intense, but would fizzle when it came to commitment...for a while, there was a bear that had been interested in him, but he kind of creeped Orieon out in a number of ways, and he ended up having to be more blunt than he liked to get the guy away from him...There'd been that one fox who'd all but ground his way through Orieon's pants on the dance floor one night, leaving Orieon drunk on arousal enough to rut the flimsy thing senseless thereafter, but when they started dating, the fox turned out to be so shallow and air-brained that the tiger found it difficult to avoid drop-kicking the creature on the way out the door...A sweet-hearted husky had dated him at one point, but something happened and he seemed to drop off the planet--Orieon never did find out what...
 And then there was Kris. His thoughts faltered for a few moments as Kris came to mind; there was a lot of baggage associated with that wolf. Kris had been gorgeous, studly, not at all lacking in panache or smarts. He wasn't rich per se, but he had enough money to throw some around, and he kept himself rather well with it. Their relationship had started out tentative, as neither of them could seem to figure out who'd be the dominant one without out-and-out asking about it; when they finally did and realized that there was no need for that, things got even better. It was one of the few people Orieon had ever bottomed for, and it was still rare then, but heavens if it wasn't amazing.
 But they'd had something of a falling out. It had been over something silly--one of those arguments that erupts from something small and suddenly gushes forth with all the little slights of weeks and months that have been held back, like a lanced boil. And because of it Orieon had learned something about Kris: the wolf was not one to let go of things easily. Orieon knew when to take a stand and when to let things go--it kept him from too much stress while still preventing him from being stomped upon by others. Yet in Kris' case, it appeared that the wolf only overlooked things as a temporary measure, to try to keep Orieon close to him, only to suddenly unleash a load of backed-up bile when things got a little tense. It simply wouldn't work. A male with less self-confidence might take it in stride, view it as the cost to having such an otherwise amazing specimen to himself, but Orieon was no such individual. He wouldn't stand for it.
 He'd wept, just a little, as their relationship had ended, as part of him missed the dream of the wolf that he'd built while they were coming together during their dates...but the reality of the wolf was like a harsh winter wind, and soon it quelled what hopeful sparks of affection he'd held for Kris, and he moved on. It had to be done.
 He mentally shook himself a little, as he found himself feeling a little morose with the revisited memories. He came to himself and again Kaze's peaceful, sleeping form came clear into his sight. He watched again, and for a few moments his mind was completely at peace, thoughtless, still, the only shifts in it being the sounds of Kaze's breathing, which caressed it like a mild breeze upon a millpond.
 Then there was a surge of emotion--thankfulness, remorse, happiness, wistfulness, hope, joy--all at once, and the flood of it threatened his self-control. His breath caught a little. The memories of the wolf that once was and the wolf now before him were clashing in his mind. They'd continue if he stayed where he was, of that he was certain.
 So he got up as sneakily as possible--no small task, for a male of his mass--and was relieved to find that Kaze remained snoozing peacefully even after the tiger had completely left the bed. There wasn't much for him to do, and it was still early, so he wasn't about to start cooking yet...and he was mulling over the idea of taking Kaze out to breakfast, instead, just as a change of pace. So he went to his computer, down the hall, and booted it up instead, intending to check and see if his boss had e-mailed him back. Kaze was going to be attending his cousin's wedding the following weekend, and he'd wanted Orieon to come, naturally; the drive was a considerable one, so Orieon had asked his boss for the following day off, so that they could stay out there overnight and return leisurely the next day, instead of skipping the reception and driving home in the darkening evening.
 He scanned the list of bolded e-mails, and none of them popped out as his boss, eliciting a mental grumble. But his boss was renowned for taking his time to respond to e-mails, being considerably less technologically apt than his subordinates, so it was no surprise...he manually weeded some spam out, flicked through a chain letter or two from co-workers, and was about to throw out another when the next one to pop up caught his eye.
 The address itself seemed fairly generic, and he didn't recognize it, but the Subject was odd--"Tiger, Listen Up." It was rare that people addressed Orieon by his species, but there was one person who did it pretty often...he opened it and read the body of the mail:
Orieon:
 I've seen who you're with. You know you can do better. It's not too late to think twice.
-Kris
 He read it three times, though the third was almost like a skim, as he practically raced his eyes across it without seeing many of the letters.
 How could--? No, wait. Kris had always been resourceful, he mused, and now the wolf had likely pulled out the stops to figure out who Orieon was seeing. That would be like him, too--he'd seethe for a while, then decide he had to get his fingers back in whatever he wanted. He couldn't leave well enough alone, oh no--he had to have it his way, and he might be stymied for a while, but when he decided he was going to do something, heaven help whatever might try to get in his way.
 Orieon had mentioned Kris to Kaze in the past, but scarcely more than offhandedly--he didn't want Kaze to develop an inferiority complex or something, as Kaze was much more to the tiger on an emotional level than Kris would ever be. Sure, Kris was forward and stubborn, but there wasn't all that much he could do, was there? If he started harassing them unilaterally, Orieon could certainly get a restraining order, if it came to that, but he wasn't sure it would be necessary. He might have just been testing Orieon's resolve...yes, the tiger could see that, it would be just like him to dangle himself like a carrot, trying to set himself up as the better option, as though it would be silly for Orieon to stay where he was. Not today, Orieon mused to himself, and no other day, if I have anything to say about it...
 He closed the mail client, and the tiniest, unprompted shiver tingled along his spine. He stopped himself for a few moments, trying to determine what it meant...but could find no reason. Setting it aside as a random by-product of a sleepy mind confronted with a surprising situation, he thought nothing more of it. He shuffled off to the den to do a few bills--that would certainly be quiet enough not to wake his sleeping lover...
 Ten days later, the evening was just warming up at SevenS, the bar in which Kaze worked, when Kaze's manager, the brusque Texan, called him to the office.
 "Kaze," he said, in his no-nonsense twang, "That blasted night janitor of ours forgot to clean up last night. I'm fixin' to hire us a new one, as this guy's not done us any real favors since we brought him on, and to me, this is the last straw. But tonight we still have the messes from last night to deal with. I know you're a waiter, not a janitor, but I'd like you to do what you can to tidy up the men's room. I've got Roald--" one of the bartenders-- "working on a quick sweep of the main room, seeing as we've only got that one rum-and-Coke oddball so far. If things pick up too much up front, leave what you've done and get to work, but you and I both know that usually takes a while. Got it?"
 Kaze grimaced inside, but kept his face straight and nodded. "Yes sir."
 His boss returned a clipped nod. "That's what I wanna hear, Kaze. You've always done this bar good. Now get to it."
 It was no secret that the restrooms of gay bars tended to host all manner of activities, many on the more illicit side--whether it be drug use, sex between the customers, or occasionally vomit from a somewhat overzealous drinker, cleanup was not always something enjoyable. Thankfully, the night before was Wednesday, and since it was the middle of the week, customers tended to be somewhat more...responsible than on any Friday or Saturday night. Granted, Kaze wasn't exactly intimately familiar with the tendencies of the restrooms, as he generally never had to clean them, but he could still sometimes get a feel for what was going on during the odd occasions in which he needed to use the facilities himself during shifts.
 When he arrived, he found it messy, but not grossly so; it was mostly tracked dirt and spilled water, along with strewn paper towels. He still put on rubber gloves and rolled up his sleeves, all the same; there was no telling what fluids might be on the paper towels, and there was no point in risking getting his work out fit dirty with murky water. He'd seen the night janitor enough to know where the supplies were kept, and he first got together all the trash and bagged it, placing it by the restroom door to be taken out when he went to rinse the mop. He was thankful that there weren't any syringes or smoking paraphernalia amongst the debris; he'd heard horror stories of people contracting diseases from used needles or being fired for smelling of leftover marijuana encountered during cleanups, though he wasn't sure how true they were.
 Mopping took some time, since Kaze was thorough; he suspected that the janitor likely only did a perfunctory job of it most times, neglecting completeness in favor of expeditiousness. But it was sort of therapeutic, in a way; there was only him and the mop, making the floor clean and shiny again, with the repetitive movements of the mop, back and forth on the floor. It gave him time to think, and as it often did, his mind wandered to his beloved tiger. It wasn't especially articulate--not like he was composing an epic ballad of his love or anything--but was instead comprised mostly of fond memories and emotional sentiment, along with images of the past in his mind.
 It made the job go more quickly, and soon the floors were in excellent shape. Then he remembered the toilets, and his grimace was visible this time. He poked his head into each stall, but found nothing particularly out of order--they could probably go another night without full scrubbing, and he hoped that his boss would have found a janitor by then. After all, that was, without a doubt, the least appetizing part of cleaning bathrooms.
 He replaced the toilet paper and paper towels where the dispensers were in short supply, and then wheeled the cart out back, lugging the heavy trash bag behind him on the way. Outside, the sky was lit in that way that the sun, having all but passed beyond the horizon, still seemed to bounce its rays from the sky and onto the land, deepening the usual blue of the firmament. He took the garbage bag and chucked it into their building's dumpster, holding his breath to avoid smelling more of the noxious waft that greeted him than was absolutely necessary, and then returned to the mop cart, setting to the task of rinsing out the mop bucket and mop. He'd just turned on the water when he thought he heard a clatter in the alley way.
 Immediately his senses went on high alert. This wasn't a city renowned for its crime, but still, things did happen--and this was a gay bar, which meant that the chances of a hate-related crime were all the higher. He set the hose on the ground, even though water was still running, and cautiously stepped forward as silently as possible, mentally thanking himself for leaving the bar door open.
 He'd just taken a few steps when something hit him hard in the stomach. It knocked the wind out of him, and he reeled backwards with a wheeze. Then he felt a hand around his throat, and his back hit the nearby wall. He realized blearily that he was just around the corner from the bar--someone just looking out the door would likely never see him.
 His vision was a little foggy with shock and pain, and the lighting was poor in that part of the alley, but he could see clearly enough to realize that he was looking at another canine--a wolf, most likely--who was much larger than Kaze himself, both in terms of height and build. The assaulter was growling almost inaudibly for a moment, but as Kaze was about to reach up to try to claw the hands from his neck, the figure spoke at him, voice quiet but laced with jagged promise: "It would be the easiest thing in the world for me to crush your neck and leave you to choke to death on your own blood. Don't struggle."
 Kaze froze, one hand plastering itself against the wall behind him, in part for balance--the wolf had pinned him at a height slightly lower than that at which Kaze normally stood, and it left his legs with little opportunity to gain leverage. He knew the wolf was right, too--the large male could simply flatten his palm and lean in, and Kaze would asphyxiate. The good news was that if he simply wanted to kill Kaze, he'd have done it already, and if he wanted to rob and kill him, it was certainly easier to loot a body than to struggle with a live victim, so that was out, too...while being robbed wasn't exactly high on Kaze's to-do list, it was better than being harmed. And the wolf couldn't do that much more without moving his hand from Kaze's throat, so there might be an opportunity to escape, if Kaze timed it right...
 It occurred to him as his mind raced that the wolf was watching Kaze, as though sizing him up. He wasn't sure what to make of this fact--perhaps a kidnapping was about to occur?
 The larger male growled again. "So this is what you look like up close...how the mighty have fallen. What does he see in you, runt?!" The last was spoken with a remarkable increase in the amount of aggressiveness in the wolf's tone of voice. His form moved in closer towards Kaze, and the smaller canid flinched slightly, expecting some kind of blow--
 --but instead he felt a massive hand come in upon his groin, squeezing his package roughly. He gave a wheezy, strangled squawk of mingled surprise and protest as his sensitive genitals were manhandled through the fabric of his pants. "Hmm...maybe it's something in here," said the larger wolf. Kaze was filled with dread as he felt that hand rise up along his pants, clearly intending to breach the interior of his pants from above--