Before I start this little story about my day, I suppose I'd best
tell you about the pathetic world in which I live my pathetic life.
        Six years have passed since the so-called 'years of Emancipation'
but I suppose I should start a little earlier than that.
        At the start of the 21st century things were prosperous,
bureaurocratic, 450 billion people shared the one planet or something.
Then, with a whole load of politics and social things, the biggest, most
powerful and democratic country, the USA collapsed utterly and the
terran political landscape changed forever.
        After about fifteen years of civil war, into which the rest of
the North American continent was pulled in, the continent was re-united
under the new flag of the Imperium.
        The Imperium was some sort of totalarian regime, but built up
from all the idealists and stuff to form some sort of 'ultimate' and
incredible country an 'ecleptic fusion of social philosophy'.  It agreed
with a consensus of people who had studiously picked apart every regime
of the past, so people had a lot of faith in the idea.
        One problem the Imperium is that it wasn't a strictly North-
American thing.  In fact, by the very ideals it had used to unite the
continent, the Imperial Council felt obliged to spread the 'free and just
new world order' as far as was possible.
        The Imperium had a massive wealth of natural resources and no end
of proud, battle-hardened troops.  The rest of the (semi-demilitarised)
world didn't have a chance, and within 30 years of war the Earth was the
Imperium.
        The Imperial council however was not entirely happy, as certain
rich nations had decided to evacuate their populations en masse to space
in massive nuclear-propelled ark-things, which were supposedly sixty
years old at the time.  This makes the whole thing sound even stupider to
me, but I can only guess how dumb it seems to you.
        So using the new 'sub-space' technology, the terran nations
spread out amongst the stars.  Dozens of arks from the Europeans, Chinese
and Russians began a ridiculously long journey.  It would take two years
for the British and Europeans, three for the Chinese and the Russians,
they just kept on going.  No-one knows where they are now.
        Anyway, the British arks departed from the rest of the European
arks, abandoning the Union.  The British had been left to their own
defence when their islands were considered indefensible for some reason.
They were just lucky to have gotten their arks away at all.
        A hundred years later, unmanned Imperial probes had found all of
their colonies and the Imperium decided that an invasion was appropriate.
Pretty soon the whole of terran space was fighting each other.
        Four hundred years later, there were dozens of colonies of
various nationalities, including some new ones.  The Europeans had been
mostly conquered by the Imperium, as had the allies of the Brit's, an
insect-like race called the K'ikans who had the bad luck to live in the
area.
        Just when it looked like things were coming to a head, a virus
swept through the atmospheres of all the terran worlds, carried on
commercial traffic.
        I have no idea about the technicalities, but what it did was use
36 hours to transform humans into random 'morphs'.  Humanity was stopped
in its tracks.  The warring nations of terran space had ceased to
function altogether.
        So while terran space slept and changed they were invaded by a
race known as the Withredans, a feline-like, bipedal race with a society
something like a cross between Ancient Rome and late 20th century
Hollywood.  The Withredans, fighting a far-away war, had spotted a great
opportunity for some easily subjugatable worlds.
        GHJ though, an independant and vigilante-type paramilitary,
owning a single ship and lead by a natural born fox-morph (born on some
planet where the morphs were originally created and then left to live in
peace or something), pulled together the last remnants of the human
militaries and gave the Withredans a real fight.
        That fight brought a lot of casualties though, a lot of the last
humans died in the first few weeks and that was only the tip of the
iceburg.
        Faced with the prospect of organised resistance on planets
populated by millions or billions, the Withredans had taken steps to even
the odds.  They brought in some missile carriers and proceeded to drop a
nuclear warhead on every major population center in terran space.
Billions died and only a few million survive today.
        Every government had been killed, most terran cities had been
burnt out, populations were sparse, things were bleak.  GHJ's fox-leader
guy stepped in again, with some GREAT idea about uniting terran space and
maintaining the present level of technology, but also keeping things
small, sparse and keeping social life community and internet based,
removing anything divisive like nationality and so on.  The philosophy
of the 'Terran League' is more complicated than that but that's the gist
of what life is like now.
        These days they called those days the 'years of Emancipation'.
Whatever the relevance was, I though, between the conflict and those few
killed by a random 'adverse reaction' to the virus, am an orphan.  I'm
just another stupid teenager squirrel, who goes to school in Southern
Florida, lives with foster parents I couldn't stand... along with about a
hundred things other things... at least it was a hundred at last count.
        People who said it was a great new age... just aren't me.  If it
hadn't happened, I'd be a teenage human living happily in a populous
suburb of Los Angeles, with a few wars going on over my  head, completely
irrelevant and alien to my life.
        At any rate... you have the spiel now.
 
                             *      *      *
 
        "Are you getting on with that homework?" his step-dad, Kinm,
shouted from downstairs.  Technically 'Kinm' should be Frank Campano, but
a popular 'culture change' movement was just another silliness of the
modern age.  Another was that Grey's step-parents were foxes.  He was
sure they should have been squirrels... not predatory canines, far bigger
than he'd be, even fully grown.  They scared the shit out of him half the
time just by standing too close...
        "Yeah, I'm doin' it," he shouted back, with his irritating,
nearly squeaky voice.  He returned his attention to 21st century USA, the
fall of an unstable democracy or whatever.  He had to wonder what they'd
call the fall of the Imperium.  The fuck up by virus?  No wait, it's
called the Emancipation isn't it?
        Being 15 sucked.  He went to a high school with 800 other young
morphs who all remembered being human children with lots of people
around.  At his age he couldn't get drunk, get stoned or lose his
virginity... well, most morphs of his age did all that regardless, but
that was hardly the point, the point was that being 15 sucked.
        He'd spent whole night doing the damn essay and watching the
crappy Television, the 'provisional' service.  After 6 years, you'd think
that they'd have got more than a provisional service running.  You still
couldn't rely on public transport and only half of the Internet was
accessable at the best of times.
        He cursed his crappy life again and then decided to sleep.
 
        The next day it was the usual routine, get up, or get shouted out
of bed after for sleeping in, as it's otherwise known, then dash into the
shower, pretend to care about fur toning oils, deoderant and brushing
your teeth etc, then getting dressed, pack your school bag, watch some
more provisional TV 'from around the League', then go to school.
        It was a sunny day at least... nice, Florida Summer sunshine.
Which was practically the same every day... crappy, he decided.  He
spontaneously decided that his utter conclusion was that life is crappy.
He also had to conclude that his conclusion was crappy.  He snickered to
himself.
        He walked along an overgrown grass verge, with the pavement being
too hot for his bare feet.  Yet more crappiness.
        "Hey, Grey?" shouted someone across from the other side of the
empty, cracked up road.
"I see you're in full assembly with your vast social circle there,"
continued Phet. The rabbit stood sniggering at his own little joke.
"Fuck you Phet," he replied with as much venom as possible... Phet
sniggered all the more and jogged over, the fucking black rabbit.
"Oh you have to see the truth in what I'm saying."
"Oh yeah, my friends include, now let's see on this one," he pretended to
give it thought for a second, "a deranged black rabbit who's worn the
same t-shirt for a year solid, and ah! that's it."
        His fine sarcastic speech was spoiled only by the high pitch of
his voice, especially with the fact that excitement made his voice slip
faster...
        "Jiffy likes you," Phet commented slyly.
"Maybe," Grey frowned, "but I refuse to confess to liking any vixen
willing to accept a name shared by a condom company."
"No," laughed Phet, "I mean she REALLY likes you."
"Ack!" Grey spat distastefully, "will you stop bringing that up every
frickin' chance you get?"
"I can't, I promised her I would," he laughed aloud, "besides, how could
I live without seeing that look on your face?"
"Fuck you Phet, fuck you."
"You know, one of these days I'm going to take you up on that offer and
then you'd regret it..."
"Oh no, I'm being threatened by my horny bunny friend, see me quiver in
fear of your mighty cock..."
        They rounded a 90 degree corner, Phet glanced left and sighed,
"She's following us..."
"Is she now?" Grey muttered indifferently.
"She looks sort of cunning," Phet attempted to whisper, but the nervous
tone he attempted was shattered with a snigger, "scheming sort of..."
"Shut up Phet."
        Jiffy was gorgeous.  He'd told himself that a hundred times...
perhaps more.  Her smooth curves and sweetly forged face were as enticing
as each other.  Her almost velvety smooth and very well groomed fur had a
perfect ginger colour, and her tight, small garments had reavealed
perfectly white chest fur, covering from the front of her neck, down to
the inside of her thighs.  Every part of her was well rounded and as eye
drawing as her smile.
        Jiffy would have been persued by almost every male in school if
only a third weren't dedicated gays and if not for the presence of a
wealth of other beautiful females.  Only Jiffy however, had Jiffy's
personality.
        He'd never admit that to her, she had been his friend since they
met and he didn't want to venture into that world yet.  Though it wasn't
like you had to be more than a friend to have sex these days, hell, you
didn't even need to be the same sexuality... but he had every intention
of reaching the age of consent, and no intention of humiliating himself
with his pathetic prey-creature nature.
        After a LONG 20 minute walk they had finally arrived in school
and just as usual, his form class-room was buzzing with pointless chat
before registration.  Some female across the room was saying that she had
actually LIKED something on TV last night, someone was boasting about a
rifle he did not and would never really own, et-ket-era.
        Jiffy walked in late, for the tenth day running, looking tired.
It was just typical of a vixen, Grey thought, she'd gotten into season
and she couldn't help but 'play with herself' every fifteen minutes.  She
had probably been in the toilets.
        Casually the fox bypassed her usual seat with a flirty look to
her friends, then sat herself behind Grey, her legs spread, leaning over
the table to breath down his neck.
"Hi there Grey..." she exhaled warmly, "and his friend Phet," who gave a
mock bow.  Grey sighed,
"Jiff, why are you here, again?" he asked nervously, still attempting to
sound tired and disinterested.
        He tried not to smell her.  She was in season, you could smell
her a hundred meters away and her scents were no weaker this close up.
        "I am here," she laughed lightly, "because before you turn 16, I
WILL have gotten you to do something illegal and I know what I'd rather
it be..."
"Big-fat-fluffy-hands-down-there-is-no... chance," he recited, as per
usual.
"We'll see..." she grinned, "anyways, why? are you hoping for someone
else?  Fexl perhaps?"
"Les doe de la frigid?" Grey shook his head, "methinks not..."
        Jiffy leant in closer and whispered into his ear,
"I'll break that front of yours eventually."
"What front?" he protested, indignant.
"The everything is crappy front," she explained cooly, "that front which
you've put up for the last..." she pondered for a moment, "since I've met
you."
"I don't think so."
"I do!" interjected Phet loudly.  Someone on the other side of the room
laughed aloud.  The usual keen-eared audience had passed comment.
        The bell rang out.  Grey sighed, that would have been that, but
sadly Jiffy had English too.  Hanging his head slightly, he got up and
slung his bag over his shoulder and followed Phet out of the room.
        As they made their way along along the corridor, he tried to
spark up a conversation with Phet.
"Was there anything good on TV last night?" he asked.  Phet perked an
eyebrow,
"You really are desperate to forget what she just said, aren't you?"
        Before he could answer, she appeared from nowhere and suddenly,
Jiffy was walking alongside him.  Suddenly she grabbed him by the arm and
began to force him off to the right... before he could protest she
suddenly gave him a rough shove and he suddenly found himself in
darkness.
        He fell down into a pile of utensils and let out a sharp cry as
he and they fell clattering to the ground.  He heard the door slam shut.
        Light slipped into the small room through the edges of the door
and looming above him, he could see Jiffy's outline.  A chill shivered
through him.
"What the hell are you doing?" he gasped quietly.  Jiffy didn't answer...
instead she gave him a toothy grin.
        Then in a sudden rush of motion, she pounced.  Her larger,
predatory form fell upon him with impossible speed and he could only let
out a panicked squeak before she had him pinned.
        He looked up at her nervously.  Any will to fight or scream left
him in a few breaths and he was left with ominous silence.  Fear
smothered his wits.
        Her hands reached tenderly into his shirt... then with a yank,
pulled it open, sending buttons panging off the walls.
        He could feel her hot breath as she leant over him, but he felt
cold.  It was funny, he thought, that he'd never considered how scary
Jiffy could be.  He had forgotten that she was a predator to him and now
his friend of six years was terrifying him.
        He could only lay still as she opened her muzzle and slowly drew
her tongue up his chest to the bottom of his throat...  The act did
little to help his racing pulse.
        Looking up to meet his eyes, she smiled, then pressed her muzzle
against his.  She nipped his nose gently with her teeth... he made sure
to keep still, any slip and he'd cut his own nose against the sharp
instruments...
        Drawing back she gave a light, but wicked laugh and leant
further over him, then nipped his left ear in the same way, then his
right ear.  She nibbled gently at the soft tissue whilst he lay still,
breathing deeply and stinking of the fear that dominated his perceptions.
        Her hand wandered around his waist to grab his buttox.  Then her
hand wandered up to stroke his oversized tail... nibbling at his ear with
increasing zeal.
        Though he barely realised it, his fear was slowly settling into
comfort.  Her other hand crept around to play with his tail and she
moaned throatily.  Long, surprisingly happy moments passed.
        Then, letting go of his tail, her slim hands slipped into his
shorts and levered them down, opon which his tail sprang back a little,
now unsupported.  Her fingers brushed across his, surprisingly, erect
cock.  Leaning down, sliding her head against his as she did, she
affectionately licked the underside of his muzzle.
        Her hand crept back to his ass and she gave him a wicked smile
before tracing her index finger between his buttox.  She stopped when she
found his anus, which sat just below his tail...
        With small effort, she forced it slowly in.
        He gave out a squeak of pain and he was sure that his entire body
stiffened, much to her amusement.  She worked her finger into him,
occasionally rotating her slender digit.  With another toothy grin she
flexed the finger and watched him wince...
        She pulled her finger back and slowly it withdrew, dragging on
the clung-tight anal walls and sending strong, strange sensations through
his body and plunging him into panick.  Then, with a disgusting sucking
noise, her finger was free.
        He lay breathing hard, stunned and horrified and thrilled all at
once...  The sensations had been so intense that he didn't know what to
make of them, the entire concept of what had happened was so unbeleivable
and so disagreeable that it only added to the thrill.  He felt strangely
good for the experience, as though he had just stepped from a fairground
ride.
        Jiffy sat over him and slowly unbuttonned her top.  She pulled it
off in two smooth movements.  She leant over and placed her hands on the
back of his head and pulled it forward, forcing his unwilling muzzle into
her cleavage... he had to admit that the smell was... enticing.  Her
chest heaved with heavy breath as she held his head there.
        She unbuttoned her tight pants with one hand and pushed them
smoothly down to her feet, where she kicked them off roughly.  With that
action, Jiffy was totally naked, her shapely sillouette forming a
striking image in the low light, breathtakingly beautiful for all its
danger.
        She raised herself over him, then lowered herself to press her
muscular vagina lips against the tip of his cock.  The scents of his fear
and arousal were filling air without his permission, joining her own
seasonal musk...  She inhaled deeply and grinned at her results.
        Still holding her grin, she looked deeply into his curious eyes.
"I knew I'd get you one way or another," she whispered.
        Before he could begin to regather the wits for a reply, she let
herself down.  Her weight impaled her slowly upon his cock and he gasped
loudly as she enveloped him.  She was wet, she was warm and the texture
was fascinating.
        She began to ride him slowly and he let out a squirrelly chitter.
She had forcefully taken his virginity and he was happy for it.  The
moment could not be more incredible, more passionate.
        As she increased her pace, he watched her sillouette move.  Every
movement of her looser parts, every detail of her face and ears.  She was
stunning.
        She moaned deeply and grabbed his hips firmly... her muzzle
opened as she turned it into a throaty sigh.  Her teeth glinted in the
light, remining him who the prey was... she leant forward suddenly and
nipped roughly at his throat.
        The movement was shocking, scary, but not entirely unpleasant.
It was thrilling.  She nibbled softy as she rode, occasionally giving a
harder, sharper nip, accompanied with a moan.
        Grey dwelt upon each second, hanging for the next wave of motion,
of emotion, of pleasure, of passion.
        Suddenly he gasped loudly and his head snapped back as some
sensation hit him like a wall of water...  Jiffy moaned deeply and within
moments Grey felt four tiny trickles of wetness at his neck... he gasped
loudly at the sudden stinging.  Then she bit again, harder.  He felt more
warm wetness, more pain...
        Her teeth hung solidly in his skin.  Her tongue brushed his neck
and tasted him, her heavy breath blowing across and causing more pain,
more warmth...
        He moaned, not sure which passion to concentrate upon.  There was
mortal pain and fear, but also erotic pleasure and a deep affection.  The
two messages were both strong and opposed, both thrilling.  Though he
wasn't sure how, he somehow found a middle ground and continued to bathe
in both.
        Her pace increased and her teeth dug in farther, but he didn't
care, he drew heavier breath with every movement, then started moaning
deeply...  His voice breaking and squeaking pathetically, though that
didn't matter... it was meant to be so.
        Suddenly pleasure swept over him in waves...  Unlike any time
he'd jerked off... totally unlike that...  He couldn't help but cry out
in passion as he erupted powerfully into the vixen, who was suddenly
wailing...  He yelled as though he was giving her his soul.  She wailed
as though hers were on fire.
        He was rooted to the spot, he was a melting wax structure as she
fell upon him and wrapped her arms around him in a firm embrace.  They
breathed together, they moaned together, they inhaled their mixed scents.
        They had barely said a word and yet so much had been told...  A
long time passed as they held to one another.
 
        "Why aren't I surprised this happened?" Grey muttered eventually.
"Because," Jiffy replied happily, "you knew that I could force you into
it."  He nodded slowly,
"I'm glad you did," he told her honestly, "even though you scared the
shit out of me..."
"What?" she grinned, "did the big nasty predator intimidate you?"
"You know you did," he answered with a little laugh, "as if you wouldn't
scare me, in the dark, being rough, keeping on top, showing your teeth,
biting, taking advantage of me..."
"I had my fun," she giggled lightly.
        He smiled, his friend of several years was back, rather than the
dark predator that had preyed on him before.
"I've just had a thought..." he muttered, "my shirt is torn, I'm
bleeding and we stink of hormones... how can we go into English late,
like this?"  Jiffy giggled,
"Ahhhwww, you think I'm letting you away that easily!?" she grinned, "I'm
not finished with you yet!"
        She slid down his body, her fur sliding warmly along his... she
was very well groomed, an absolute talent, her fur was practically a
second, velvety skin.
        He felt her tongue brush across the top of his cock-head and he
shuddered with the sudden sensation.
        He frowled slightly,
"Isn't this going too f-"  Before he could finish the sentence, she
snapped her head up, looking him sharply in the eyes.
"Interrupt me and I'll bite it off," she told him firmly.  He shut up and
almost shuddered.  He knew that she could easily carry out that threat.
        She took the head of his cock gentlyl into her muzzle and gave a
gentle, tasting suck.  She moved her head slowly forward and he could
only try to relax as the interesting place that was her muzzle surrounded
his dick.
        Her muzzle was warm and moist with thick saliva and hot, heavy
breath, but there was no ignoring the flesh-tearing teeth that lined her
jaws.  Those teeth scraped gently along the sides of his cock and
produced a pronounced, fearful thrill.
        She brought tongue into play and began massaging his member with
it.  Though as pleasant as it was, he realised that it was surprisingly
strong, the pressure she was applying around the sides of his penis was
more than what he could apply with his fingers.
        His cock surrendered a few trickles of fluid and she moaned
strangely.  Her efforts intensified... it felt good.
        Suddenly, she grabbed his hips firmly and she sucked for all she
was worth.  He gasped, he felt sure that his foreskin would soon be
leaving him...
        His climax came not as a surrender but as a shock, as though he
had forgotten it would happen, inevitable as it was.
        He squeaked loudly and his cock threw its load up into her...
She released an inch of him and felt her breath stop...  She let him
spill into her throat, little by little... then with a muscular movement
that he could most certainly feel, swallowed it.
        He drew breath in rapid, light gasps, trying desperately to keep
the noise down.  He felt so limp... his blood was racing and limbs felt
like jelly.  He wanted to run!  He tried to speak, to tell of his desire,
but his words spilt out too quickly to form any real meaning.
        She sucked at him passively... as though she were but a cub,
sucking a pacifier, she sucked his spent cock.  He took the opportunity
to breathe, to calm down.
        The moment he felt capable, he spoke.
"Jiffy, cool it..." he whispered gently, cautiously, "you're acting a
little... posessive."  She stopped.
        Jiffy looked up... and before he could even start to worry, he
found her eyes.  He saw genuine worry.  He gulped,
"Just cool down a little, Jif," he whispered.  She looked away, then
shook her head.
"I've never acted like this before," she muttered.  He didn't argue.
        She laughed lightly,
"I've just thrown you into a storage room, taken advantage of you...
bitten you, drawn your blood and loved every moment," she shook head head
again.  He sighed,
"Blood, I'm still bleeding," he groaned, rubbing the wet patch,"how can
I go into English like this?  As a matter of fact, I'd better get it off
quickly, or it's going to dry in my fur..."
        Jiffy smiled suddenly, brightening,
"I'll clean it," she told him, then leant her head down to his chest and
began to lick at the blood that had soaked down through his fur.  He let
her to it, wondering what was going through her mind.  She continued
licking relentlessly and began rubbing her nose in his fur as though she
were tending to her own wound.
        He didn't wear a watch but they had been in this cupboard quite a
while... but he just relaxed, her licking was actually becoming soothing.
 
        "That's the best I can do," she sighed eventually, "to get the
rest out, you'll need a good scrubbing in the shower with soap and warm
water.  I'm up for helping you with that too if you want," she grinned.
        "How long are we staying in this storage room?" he asked calmly.
She shrugged,
"Perhaps we'd better leave," she suggested, "go somewhere more private.?"
"Ahhh," he cringed, "shouldn't we get on with our lessons, our vital
education?"
"I don't think so," she replied firmly.
        He couldn't help but groan.  Not content with taking his
virginity, did she feel that she had to take posession of his entire day?
 
                             *      *      *
 
        It had to be well into the afternoon when they finally left the
store room.  It had to have been quite a sight as they had emerged in the
state they were in.  His clothing was wrecked.  The bloodstains on his
neck were still visible, but worse yet, they had been joined by some new
ones.
        His state not only confirmed to passers-by of what had happened,
but also told them who had ravished who.  They earnt a great deal of
stares...  They had, after all, walked straight out into a corridor
filled with home-bound morphs.  They had then of course made a beeline
for the nearest door, aheming loudly.
        Once away from the crowds of staring young morphs, they walked
along hand in hand.  They chatted happily and looked deeply into one
anothers eyes.  They continued on together until they had no choice but
to depart their seperate ways.
        As he made the lonely voyage home, he sighed.  He couldn't have
expected what had happened today, not in his wildest, most untamed
dreams.  If his foster parents asked him what he had learnt today, he'd
have to lie... he couldn't tell them the truth.  They would certainly
decide that what had happened was a wrong and unhealthy act.  He didn't
even want to hear of their protests.
        He thought of the bloodstains in his fur.  How could he explain
those?  He couldn't.  He would make sure they weren't noticed.
        Despite his best wishes, home became closer with every step and
before he knew it, he walked through the door.
        The house was silent...  Good luck was with him.  Neither of his
foster parents were back from work.  He seized the opportunity and ran
upstairs.  He had to shower, quickly.
        He absently threw his shirt at his bedroom before bursting into
the bathroom, leaving the door ajar.  Leaning over the sink, he started
the taps running and began searching hopelessly for the soap... of which
there was none, he remembered quickly.
        He cursed softly and threw water onto his chest and neck, then
rubbed furiously.  After ten seconds, the stains hadn't even begun to
budge.  He squawked in panick and redoubled his efforts...
        The door slammed shut suddenly and he heard the distinctive noise
of Kinm rushing up the stairs.
        "Grey? the fox called, "are you in there?" he didn't wait for an
answer, "hurry up! I'm desperate!"
"OK!" Grey replied promptly.
        The stains weren't coming out without the aid of soap.  He shut
off the taps and thought of his next move.  Perhaps if he exited quickly
enough, Kinm wouldn't notice.  The fox was likely to be concentrating on
his bladder.
        Tensing himself for but a few moments, he opened the door and
stepped out quickly.  Kimn rushed past him to the toilet.  Grey gave a
quiet sigh and walked into his room, throwing himself onto his bed.
        Then the toilet flushed, he heard Kinm groan loudly and mutter
something.  His ears perked up as he heard Kinm approach with a painfully
slow stride.
        Kinm walked into his bedroom and looked down onto the squirrel,
who returned his gaze worriedly.
"Grey," Kinm addresssed quietly, "if you thought I didn't notice the
smell of a vixen on you, you're forgetting what species I am.  I'm very
sensitive to those scents.  I can see bite marks on your neck as well...
not only have you fucked a vixen, but you've mated with her too."
        Grey began to protest, but Kinm stopped his words with a wave of
his hand.
"It's in her smell," he explained irritably, "that is the scent and those
are the marks, she's mated you.  You Grey, are now hers."  Grey shook his
head,
"You can't be serious," he muttered.
        Kinm scowled,
"Who was it?" he demanded, "one of your teachers?"  Grey was instantly
dumbfounded.  As Kinm stared expectantly for an answer, he could only
return a dumbfounded look.  What was he on about?  Mated?  Teacher?
        Quickly the foxes patience waned and he growled softly,
"Who was it Grey?" he asked again.
"Jiffy," he said shakily, "and what are you talking about?" he asked
quickly, his voice speeding up with nervous energy...
        Kinm grunted irritably,
"I'm not stupid Grey," he muttered, "Jiff is only fifteen and so are you.
Neither of you are so mature."
"What are you talking about?" he asked confusedly, "what is all of this
shit about mating?"
"Then again..." Kinm groaned and looked away, "morphs mature a hell of a
lot quicker than humans."
        Kinm looked up,
"Grey," he asked calmly, "have you been having a relationship with her?"
He shook his head,
"She's just a friend, she's never been more than just a friend," he
babbled, "why?"  Kinm frowned,
"If she's just a friend then what happened today?"
"She followed me around a bit," he explained nervously, "breathed down my
neck at registration, just the usual for this time of year," he added,
"then she threw me into a store-room and kinda pounced on me..."
        It took Kinm a few moments to decipher the rapid, squeaky words.
Then he fell silent in thought.  Grey watched the fox worriedly for a few
moments before he spoke again.
"Has she ever looked at you before?" he asked quietly.
"Not really... but actually," he cringed, "she has gotten a little flirty
in the past, but I just ignored her."
"Then you made a mistake," Kinm told him, "you gave her a hunt, a turn
on...  You were the prey and she had to chase you down.  Sexual thrills
from primal instincts, it's a well documented phenomenon among morphs."
        Grey didn't answer.  Kinm continued,
"How long were you with her?" he asked.
"All day," Grey answered honestly.
"Was she dominating, possessive, demanding?  Was she darker than you'd
ever seen her before?"
"Yes," he nodded.  That description sounded about right.
        "Then she's mated with you alright," he sighed, "you do realise
that you now belong to her don't you Grey?"  Grey could hear the words,
but he couldn't beleive them.  Yet the tone of Kinm's voice was deadly
serious.
"You're effectively her mate for life now Grey...  She has an unbreakable
emotional bond to you.  I think this should never have happened so early,
but please try to understand, you can't duck this, you're going to be
with her for a long time.  You're practically her relation now... and
whether or not you stay with her, she'll have a bond with you."
        This was unbeleivable.  Kinm had just unloaded a whole stack of
madness at him and he felt like he was going to swoon.  Part of him was
sure that he was going to wake up any moment, since then he could
denounce this whole experience for the insanity that it was.
        Everything he had just been told was completely indigestible.  He
could not accept what Kinm was telling him, even though it had to be the
considered truth.
        "Listen to me Grey..." Kinm told him firmly, "you're stuck with
this, like it or not, you're stuck with this.  If you try to ignore her
she'll HAVE your attention.  If you try to get away she'll hunt you down
and she'll enjoy doing it.  She'll bite you, dominate you, take you and
love it.  If you do escape from her, by any means... you'll break her
heart."
        In half a day, a massive part of his fate had been decided...
"This isn't fair," he muttered.  He felt his throat tighten and his guts
run cold, he felt terrible... he felt like he was going to cry.
        Kinm knelt down in front of him and put his hands on his
shoulders.
"You're going to have to have to accept this Grey," he laughed lightly,
weakly, "goodness knows what I'm going to tell Fash...  She'll have a
fit.  This isn't just your problem Grey."
        He didn't know what to do.  He could feel despair rushing over
him and part of him wanted to laugh aloud...  His life was taking a
severe change and he had no choice in the matter.  Things were happening
to him that he didn't want, but there was nothing he could do to stop
them.  He couldn't prevent this change.
        As Grey stared off into space, Kinm slowly stood, then left the
room.  Grey was alone with his thoughts.  He didn't want that at all...
 
                             *      *      *
 
        I sat up and made a grab for the remote.  The TV flared into life
and I hoped desperately for distraction...  The provisional service
however, let me down again.  I found himself staring at an imported BBC
documentary on the Battle of Barnards Star...  A historical event, for
which I honestly couldn't care less.
        I turned it off.  I squawked loudly and threw the remote against
the wall and buried my head under a pillow.
        My head swam with thoughts that felt like a shoal of hungry
piranas.  How could my friendship with Jiffy have turned into this
nightmare?  I had never given her any signs, no come on...  I was just
her friend!
        I spent hours with thoughts like that, wondering if there had
been something in my scent or in my body language.  For a while, I was
even sure that this whole thing was just a phase Jiffy was going through.
        However, it was since Jiffy's first season that Phet had held to
his promise of reminding me on her behalf, of the crush she had freely
admitted to having on me.  She had done what was natural to an adult fox.
        I had denied even to indulge her, I had tried to put some
distance between us, but in doing so, it seems I had only led her on.
        Hours passed... such painful hours...  The sky outside darkened,
and so did my room.  I lay there quietly, all the same, just trying to
accept what had happened.  Only as day became night did the idea finally
begin to settle.
        I heard Fash, my step-mother, return home.  After not-very long
there was some commotion.  They were arguing, but I couldn't hear what
they were saying.  I honestly didn't want to know.
        The doorbell rang.   It seemed unusually ominous.  I had no idea
who was there, but for some reason, I was worried by their presence.
        I'm not sure why exactly, but I made my first movements for three
hours.  I pulled himself out out of bed and walked to the door.  I peered
downstairs to the door.  Standing there in front of Kinm was a brown,
female ferret.
        "I'm Jiffy's mother," I heard her say, "and I think we have
something to worry about."  Kinm stepped aside and gestured for her to
enter.  They walked into the living room.  I listened intently, thankful
for my good hearing.
        "It was Jiffy's monthly checkup today," the ferret explained
uncomfortably, "the doctor told me that she by the way she was acting,
she had probably mated with someone.  It didn't take me long to figure
out who," she paused for a second, "from listening to her... at night."
She sounded very uncomfortable, but she pressed on none-the-less,
"she was 'on about' some pretty violent stuff and I'm worried about what
she might do...  I was thinking, if we acted quickly enough-"
Kinm cut her off,
"It's too late," he sighed, "she had him today.  When he came home, he
was covered in bite marks... and he stank of vixen."
"Oh dear..."
"Yeah...  Grey managed to lead her on without knowing it.  He was visibly
attracted to her, but he was evasive...  He gave her a chase," he laughed
lightly, "then she caught him."
        There was no sign of Fash...  I hadn't heard her voice for hours
and for all I knew, she wasn't even down there.  I can only guess how she
felt about then.  I have no idea what she made of that mess.
        The ferret groaned and spoke resignedly,
"I wish I knew what to do... but I don't know what it's like to be an
adolescant fox.  I don't know what to tell her..."
"I'm afraid these are very adult emotions we're dealing with here, Miss?"
"Renforth."
"Miss Renforth," Kinm paused for impression, "the bond she made today is
effectively a permanent one.  This isn't like anything a human could know
when they were growing up."
"Things've been like that for the last six years.  I can't beleive how
quickly she's grown up."
"I know how you feel.  It's been hard enough getting used to your own
changes without worrying about their pubic problems..."
"Pubic problems?  I don't even know what to feed everyone.  Jiffy's poor
father is a chipmunk."
"I have that problem with Grey.  We normally have totally seperate
meals..."
        The conversation continued to float off-track and I couldn't
stand it for a second longer.  I crept back into my room.
        So no-one really knew what to make of this.  There wasn't one
person in the world who could tell me what to do.  I realised I would
just have to live with what life had thrown me, as best as I myself could.