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Chapter 1 - First day at a new school

A black suburban vehicle pulled up to the curb and spat out a tall rangy figure, dressed in black from his head to his hindpaws, with dark gray hair that hung down to cover most of his brown eyes. The black and gray tail and the distinctive black mask on pointed gray face marked him immediately as a raccoon, and a tall one at that, but that was about all anyone noticed about him. The suburban pulled away, the driver not even calling out the open window to the youth as it picked up speed heading off into the early morning traffic.

For a moment, the boy just stood there staring after the vehicle. Then he hiked his backpack higher up on his left shoulder and tightened his grip on the skateboard under his right arm. When he looked up at the building he'd been unceremoniously tossed out in front of, his eyes widened.

Like schools everywhere it was made of some kind of stone (grey in this case) and had the name chiseled out across the face of it right over the front door, St. Mary's. However, that was where all similarities to his last school ended. The facade was well maintained with a beautifully sculpted angel peering down at all the students and staff who were entering the double doors held cradled within her wings.

A large fountain bisected the path to the main doors of the building, surrounded by a garden that was overflowing with so many varieties of flowers that it looked like a wild confusion of colors. The immaculate front lawn was scattered with trees, each surrounded by it's own smaller version of the main flower bed. Students in an obvious uniform (white button up shirts with dark gray bottoms and jackets with some kind of crest on the breast pocket) were lounging against trees, lying in the grass, or sitting on stone benches and talking. Looking down at his worn black jeans with the frayed cuffs and his black hoodie, the raccoon sighed inwardly, heading up the walk toward the door.

A group of giggling girls spilled out onto the walkway just as he reached the doors, and he stepped aside to let them pass, hardly noticing them as more than a momentary obstacle. He slipped into the building moving to the left, out of the immediate doorway, and paused a moment to take in the vaulted ceiling and the much cooler interior.

Well, if the entrance was any indication, it was an affluent school. Skylights dotted the ceiling, letting sunshine into the bright and airy room below. A set of wide stairs lead up to an upper level where railings, decorated with more marble angels, protected the students from accidental falls. Several large halls lead off the main room, each labeled with a small plaque to describe its purpose: Administration (to the left), Library (to the right), Dormitories (up the stairs), Cafeteria (directly across from the main doors), East Wing (diagonally to the left between administration and the cafeteria) and West Wing (diagonally to the right between the library and cafeteria). Each of those last two had several smaller plaques under them.

The walls were the same gray stone as the exterior, as were the stairs, and the floor was covered in two foot square slabs of granite in alternating white and black so it looked like a huge chessboard. A large bulletin board near the bottom of the stairs was plastered with notices about classes and upcoming events, as well as several notes obviously penned by his soon to be fellow students about missing articles. The students moved about the area with purpose, heading into the various corridors, or lounging against the walls and on the stairs. All seemed to be at home here in a way that was hard to explain; it was almost as if they liked being at school.

At least he didn't enroll me in a crap school. I bet this one has a proper pool, too! The thought ran through his mind as he turned dutifully toward the administrative wing.

This area of the school seemed darker than what he'd seen so far. The floor was the same black and white marble, but the walls were a dark walnut wood paneling that seemed to suck up the dim light that came from overhead light fixtures instead of the bright skylights from the main entry. There were several doors leading into rooms. One was clearly marked 'Administration Office,' and it was this door that he turned to, since the others don't seem to offer any clue as to what lay behind them.

Pushing through the heavy wooden door, he found himself in a large room with tall windows that stretched from two feet off the floor to two feet from the cathedral ceiling. Several desks were positioned about the room, each with a cheerful-looking person happily doing some menial task that likely had to do with running the school. He stepped to the left inside the door, as he always did to be out of the way of the flow of traffic, and tried to decide which of the people looked least threatening.

A handsome red fox looked up and smiled at the rangy raccoon huddled just inside the doors. He was dressed in something approaching the uniform the students wore -- dark gray trousers and a short-sleeved white button-up shirt, without the blazer, but it did have the same emblem on the breast pocket.

"Can I help you, young man?" He stood and headed toward the boy, who wasn't in uniform so was likely the transfer student they had all been told to expect. "Are you Kris?" The boy nodded slightly, his fingers tightening into a death grip on the skateboard under his right arm, which only made the fox smile a little more reassuringly. "Well, Kris, I'm Kerris; we've been expecting you. Didn't your father come in with you?" He looked past the boy as if expecting to see the older raccoon, but clearly the youth was on his own. "Ah well, that's alright. I have your class list here, and a list of the books you'll need." He turned to his desk again and picked up a small parcel of papers which he started to explain to the boy. "This is a voucher for a school uniform; you'll need to go downtown to get it, but the directions are on the back, so you shouldn't have any trouble finding it."

Without knowing quite how it happened, Kris found himself liking this friendly fox, his usual shyness melting away under the older male's friendly demeanor. It probably helped that Kerris was doing his best to make a good impression on the boy. He also hoped to give the young raccoon a good impression of the school itself, so he offered to show the kit around the building and take him to his first class.

Kris followed along behind Kerris, curiously taking in the size of the building and the number of students moving around through the halls and classrooms. The fox seemed to want to engage in conversation, so he turned his attention back to his guide.

"I hear you were on the swim team at your old school; are you planning to join the team here as well?" Kerris' ears tilted forward ever so slightly as he waited for the boy's answer. It was just a way to open the conversation. since Kerris knew already that the boy had been scouted by some of the faculty as a possible addition to the new swimming program they were starting this year.

Ears folding back into his hair, Kris nodded slightly. "Yeah; I mean, swimming is my life, you know."

The fox smiled again. The boy was trying to get on the next Olympic team, and he had a good shot at it. "Then you are going to love this." He lead the young boy down the West Wing, through the gymnasium to the Olympic sized pool in the next room. "We have a hot tub and sauna as well." He pointed out the tub at the shallow end of the pool and the door to the sauna at the other end. "Change rooms are through there, all the usual. You'll have your own locker, and the showers never run out of hot water." He couldn't help the soft chuckle at the delighted look on the raccoon's face.

Kris was speechless for a few moments, standing inside the large double doors and just staring at the most amazing thing he'd seen in a long time. Not only was this obviously a new addition to the school as a whole, it was one of the most state-of-the-art facilities he'd ever seen. When the fox chuckled, he shook himself and tried not to stammer as he responded. "I've never seen anything like it! I mean, this is a school right? How can you afford..." He looked at Kerris, then back to the room before him. "Is there a swim coach?"

A sly look came over Kerris' face which he kept hidden from the boy beside him. "Oh, we have a very good swim coach. The school is all privately funded, and our benefactor decided that swimming was an integral part of any young person's education. She patterned the school after those in Japan, so we have a few things that aren't normal for a school in this area." And, the fox thought, it wouldn't hurt the school any to have an Olympic hopeful on the swim team...

Kerris gave the boy the full tour of the facilities, showing him the locker room, sauna, and hot tub, as well as taking a brief look into the coach's office to see if he was in (he wasn't, but that could be handled later). Once he'd made sure the boy was hooked, he continued with the rest of the school. "The only place that is off limits to you will be the dormitories, since you're living at home with your father. The only ones allowed up there are the ones that reside here through the school year, and the teachers who look after them of course."

After the tour of the school, Kerris took the young man back to the administration wing, only they went into a smaller room (one that didn't have a plaque over the door) and sat at a large table. "I thought you might like to see your class schedule; we can change things so that your classes won't affect your training time."

This was new to Kris who had never been somewhere that they treated swimming like one of the main focuses of the curriculum. Football, yes, but not swimming. It was a little embarrassing, being treated like he was something special just because he could swim well.

Once they were both satisfied with the schedule, Kerris lead the young raccoon to his first class. It turned out to be English, which he was taking at a grade level higher than most of his other classes, having already completed the required English for his own level. After Kerris made a brief tap on the closed door, a flame colored rabbit dressed in worn blue jeans, a white button up shirt, and a dark brown tweed jacket with leather patches on the elbows opened the door. "Ah, Kerris; I assume this is the new student we were expecting?" He smiled in a friendly way that set Kris at ease. "I'm Mr. Mitsuda, and this is English." He spread his hand out indicating a room filled with bright eyed students who all seemed to be looking at Kris. "Welcome to our class." He stepped out of the way and slipped an arm around the raccoon's shoulders to draw him into the room.

Mr. Mitsuda's English class was unusual to say the least. No two students seemed to be working on the same book or project, and only a few of them were sitting in the desks that lined the walls. Instead, the room had comfortable-looking rugs with cushions and pillows of all sizes, a plush-looking couch, and a few arm chairs scattered about. Students lounged about where they chose, with their work either in paw or spread out on the floor, or several small tables in front of them. "I'd like to introduce you all to the new student that I told you would be joining us. This is Kris." Unlike the last school he'd been to Mr. Mitsuda did not ask him to say anything about himself to the other students, which earned the rabbit his undying gratitude, as he never knew what to say in those situations.

"Kris, if you would join me for a few moments, I want to see where you are in the curriculum so that we can get your personal study program laid out." For a moment, the raccoon just stared blankly, then a huge smile broke out over his face, and he nodded. The rest of that class period, he spent beside the rabbit at his large desk explaining, where he was when he'd left his last school. At the end of the discussion, they had a challenging program worked out where he would be doing some creative writing as well as studying some of the classics and a few books that Mr. Mitsuda claimed he'd had to fight to get added to his approved list but swore were far better than some of the "classics" that Kris was expecting.

Once they had that worked out, Kris chose a spot against one of the walls with a pillow to support his back and pulled his laptop out of his backpack; being dyslexic had its perks after all. Some of the nearby girls were giggling and whispering (mostly about him), which made it hard for him to focus on what he was supposed to be doing. He gave up and looked up to watch the teacher interacting with another student, also a lepine which fascinated him as they communicated using only their ears and occasional hand or body gestures.

There was something unusual about Mr. Mitsuda's coloring -- it almost looked like he was on fire. Every time he moved, there was a new shift in his fur that changed the coloring slightly. Kris found himself tracing the patterns with his eyes, trying to figure out where one pattern ended and the next began. It was really quite hypnotic.

The bell rang.

Shaking himself, Kris realized he'd lost a whole half hour staring at the rabbits, and his ears flattened into his hair in embarrassment. God, he hoped no one noticed that. His head jerked up as the teacher called his name. "Kris, I'd like you to meet Kittara. She's in your next class and will make sure you get there on time." His large hand rested briefly on the raccoon's shoulder before he gave the pair of kits a gentle push toward the door. "Kittara, try not to talk his ear off, and make sure you introduce him to your next teacher." The rabbit then turned and winked at Kris. "Happens to everyone the first time; try blinking a little more often and looking away when you start to feel like you're drifting." He smiled good-naturedly and turned to clean the lesson off the whiteboard behind his desk.

Ears burning, Kris turned to the girl who was now his guide. She was grinning from ear to ear and holding out her hand to him. "Hi, I'm Kittara, Kitt for short. Don't worry about that; it happens to everyone." She was quite obviously a vixen, but there was something odd about her, and it wasn't just that her mouth didn't seem to ever stop. She didn't have the typical markings that he usually associated with her species; instead every visible part of her fur (except her forepaws, which were black) was the same fiery red with none of the white and black peeking through. She had the most amazing blonde hair that was pulled back in a no-nonsense ponytail and swung freely behind her, brushing the base of her tail. Her eyes were the most captivating sapphire he'd ever seen, and they danced with merriment, not like she was laughing at him but more amused with his fumbling shyness.

The vixen chattered at him about anything and everything, all the way to their next class, which turned out to be math -- his least favorite subject. The teacher seemed to be nice enough -- an older Palomino that looked just months from retirement age and didn't seem overly interested in engaging his students any more than necessary. This gave Kris the chance to look around a little and see what some of the other students were like. He was surprised to find that there were no students sitting in the back of the class and grumbling with that darkness that you usually found in high school. For some reason, all of these kids looked as if they wanted to be here. It was a huge difference from his last school and made him think that perhaps here, he might get away from the bullying that he'd grown used to. As for the class work, he knew most of the things they were talking about already, so he wouldn't have much catching up to do.

The rest of the day passed in somewhat of a blur, the highlight being lunch, when Kris spotted the most gorgeous-looking chestnut horse he'd ever seen, walking through the halls and chatting amiably with the other students. He had a lustrous black mane and tail, strong shoulders and chest, paired with a slender waist, not to mention the cutest butt Kris had ever seen. Grabbing Kitt's arm, he nodded in the direction of that tall shape and whispered, "Who is that?" rubbing his own nose to indicate the horse's white blaze.

The girl was a little startled at being grabbed by her tall shy companion, but once she got a look at who he meant, she smiled brightly. "Oh, that's Coach O'Brien. He's the swim coach. Shame he doesn't go in for girls..." She blinked, then looked up at the younger raccoon. "Wait... aren't you a swimmer? Oh, you should totally have him check you out!" She grabbed the boy's hand and started rushing through the crowd calling out, "Coach O'Brien!" But Kris was far from ready to face that Adonis and slipped easily from her grip ducking into an empty classroom's open door. He nearly closed the door but left it open just enough to overhear the pair talking through the crack.

Kitt's voice calling out, "Coach O'Brien? ... Wait... Kris?"

Then he heard a deeper voice that sent shivers through him. "Kittara, what can I help you with?" He could almost feel the warmth of the horse's smile touching his fur and wanted so badly to open the door and bask in his presence, but he was rooted to the floor.

"Oh, well, we have a new student who's a swimmer, Coach, and I was going to introduce you, but I think he got nervous and bolted. He's kinda shy, you know, being new and all. Anyway, he's a swimmer, and I thought you might like to see how he does and maybe get him on the team for the next swim meet?" It seemed like she never stopped for breath, the way she rattled on almost in a single long sentence with no pauses... It would have been impressive if she hadn't been talking about him. Besides, he was straining to hear that deep voice again.

"I see." The coach sounded like velvet dipped in chocolate to the hiding raccoon. What would he be doing with rustling paper? "Give him my cell number, and I'll meet him at the pool when he's feeling more comfortable." Oh! "We can do a one-on-one evaluation and see where he stands. There are still two spots on the team, and I'd love to have them filled by the end of the week. I've got to get to the office now... I'm meeting with another of the faculty, but see if you can't find him, and make sure he knows that I won't bite, will you?" The last came out as familiar and teasing before he heard the large male moving off down the hall again calling out to someone further along.

Kris leaned back against the wall beside the door for a moment. Thinking about that voice made something deep inside him stir to life, something he was ashamed to admit even to himself. His dirty little secret. The reason that his father had pulled him out of his last school and brought him here in the first place. Kris liked other guys the way most guys liked girls.

Hearing that deep voice and feeling that stirring in his body pulled his mind back to the reason he'd been moved halfway across the country in the first place...

* * * * *

A flash of creamy brown fur, blue jeans, and a red t-shirt sped past him as he looked up into the mouth of the bowl. The mocking laughter that floated back to him made him bite his lower lip. What is the worst that can happen? He thought as he set his foot on his skateboard. A broken neck. A broken back. Paralyzed for the rest of my life! That'll show him won't it? But there was something that drew him to try anyway. He wasn't a coward. He's had far too many bruises and scrapes to call him that, and even a broken bone or two. No, it was the enormity of the task that had him holding back. Besides, if he could shoot the bowl when Sean hadn't yet managed it, he'd have bragging rights for months. As he stood there contemplating the bowl, a slow smile spread over his face.

He looked back at the cougar. There was a dare in Sean's brown eyes, and he couldn't pass it up. The two of them had been playing at this for ages, and now was the time to put up or shut up. Taking a deep breath, Kris nodded and pushed off. His board rolled down the steep incline toward the far wall of the pipe faster then he would have imagined possible. He shot up the far side, managed the turn, and headed right back down again building more speed as he went. The bowl loomed large and impossible before him a full 20 feet high; there was no way he was ever going to make it. But he sped on toward it sliding up the pipe and back down again to build yet more speed. He felt the first stirrings of exhilaration that came over him when he was boarding, the tension in his body from all his muscles working together, the sense of freedom that came with the wind rushing through his fur. Maybe he could pull this off after all...

There it was right in front of him, huge and impossible and yet...

He crouched on his board and leaned in at the last moment toward the mammoth wall in front of him. Shifting slightly back, he brought the front of his board up into the cradle and shot up around the inner curve of concrete and steel. He seemed to hang in the air forever, upside down with one hand on the front of his board and no recollection of putting it there. Then he was over and coming down on his wheels to speed back the way he had come. It took a few moments for it to sink in that he'd done it! He'd finally shot the bowl, done a flip, and landed without any broken bones or even scrapes!

Then Sean was there, slapping him on the back and hugging him as he hugged back. "You did it, man -- you shot the bowl and survived!" They were both off their boards now, not caring that the wheels carried them off to crash against the sides of the empty pipe. "You were awesome!"

"That was... wow, Sean, I don't think I have words to describe how incredible that felt! I can't believe I did it!" He clung to the shorter, slightly older cougar and spun him around whooping with glee.

That's when it had happened.

Neither of them was planning it; they didn't set out to pervert each other or anything like that. It was just two boys excited over a personal accomplishment that went horribly wrong. Without knowing what they were doing, their lips met. Sean jerked his head back, staring at Kris for a long moment. Before Kris could let him go and stammer out an apology, he felt the other boy's lips on his again.

* * * * *

If it had just been that one kiss, that one explainable moment of boyish exuberance, that might have been fine... but it wasn't. They started spending all their time together, not holding hands like some of the girls their age did, but always touching, or pushing or shoving each other. Every time they were alone together, they tried things -- kissing first, lots of kissing. It was like they couldn't get enough of each other, and the feelings that it brought up in Kris were amazing. His groin tightened just from thinking about it.

Then came the worst day of his life: His Dad came home unexpectedly from the gym and caught the two of them on the couch kissing and touching each other.

He blew up!

Called them every name in the book.

Threw Sean out of the house and forbade Kris from ever seeing him again.

Then came this move, to a town so far away that he couldn't dream of getting back to Sean.

The sound of Kittara calling his name again made him shake the memories off and peek out to see if the horse was indeed gone. Satisfied that he wouldn't be making an ass of himself in front of everyone, he slipped silently out and tapped her lightly on the shoulder.

Spinning around, Kittara brought her forepaws up in a defensive posture, looking like she knew what she was doing and that he might be in trouble if he had intended to harm her. The abrupt change in her demeanor had him taking a few steps back, with his eyes widened in shock and his paws up as if to defend himself. "Oh... there you are!" She ran her fingers over her long blonde hair to cover her automatic reaction, but he saw her take a slow cleansing breath before she started to talk again. "Where did you go? I talked to Mr. O'Brien for you; he said to give you this." She held out a small bit of paper with some writing and numbers on it. "It's his cell number. He said, if you want, he'll meet you at the pool and do a one-on-one evaluation of you to see if you make the team!" She actually bounced on her toes as she said this, seeming more excited about the prospect of him being on the swim team then he was, and that was saying a lot.

About then, the bell rang, and she had to stop talking to hurry along to show him where his next class was, saving him from having to reply.

At the end of the day, he ran into Kittara once more as he was heading out of the school. Earlier, she'd passed him off to the next teacher, who'd found him another guide, and so on for the rest of the afternoon classes, but she was waiting for him outside the front doors when the last bell rang. "There you are! How are you getting home? My Uncle says we can give you a lift if you need one." She waved toward a car sitting in the parking lot with a handsome looking fox leaning against the side of it. If he wasn't mistaken, the fox in question was a red fox like she was, but he had the typical white markings on his neck and throat.

"Oh, I was going to 'board home; that's why I brought it." He lifted the ever-present skateboard for her to examine. "It's not far anyway, only a few blocks."

"That's a shame," came a tenor voice from behind him making him spin around to see Kerris heading their way with that same friendly smile. "I'd have liked to hear a little more about you on the ride home." He slipped one arm around Kittara's shoulders and waved to the fox waiting at the car.

Since it was polite, and the two of them were gently insistent, he headed toward the car with them. Besides, he had to go that way to get out of the parking lot anyway. "I, ah... didn't know you two were related, Kerris." The statement seemed harmless enough, and he was trying to be polite after all, so it wouldn't do for him to be silent while they jabbered on.

A sly smile spread over the todd's lips, and his tail started swishing back and forth, in what must have been a canine show of amusement. "Oh, we have someone in common." He didn't say anything else, but the statement made Kittara's tail do that swaying thing, and she laughed.

He didn't try speaking to them again while they made the trek across the lawns to the waiting car. As they got closer, something odd started to occur to Kris. Kittara had said her Uncle wanted to give him a ride home, and Kerris was an older male, so Kris had naturally assumed he was the uncle in question... but from their reactions, that wasn't the case. Now, as he neared the car and a tall lanky male fox, with the typical red fox markings that looked like Kerris' but different as well, pushed off the side he was left with confusion.

Kittara hung back a little, grabbing Kris by the arm and holding him back as Kerris sped up to reach the fox first. Kris was about to ask what she thought she was doing when, to his amazement, both of the male foxes threw their arms around each other and shared a kiss that made his toes curl just to watch it.

For a moment, he was speechless, breathless, unable to move. His eyes widened in shock at the sight of the two males kissing so openly, so publicly, showing such an emotional connection that his heart cried out to share it. Then the reality of the situation hit him, and he pulled back emotionally, quickly looking around to see if anyone was upset or causing a fuss. If his Dad saw this, he'd be livid!

It was so strange to him that the kids and staff around him seemed to take it as normal behavior for two fully grown men to kiss like that. Some of the kids were even looking on with jealousy or that longing that he felt inside himself.

As suddenly as it started, the kiss ended and Kerris was released. That's when Kittara launched herself at the handsome dark haired fox, her arms wrapping around his waist as she too tilted her head up for a kiss. Thankfully, this was something more like what Kris' mother gave him, or he'd have really started to question what kind of place his father had moved them to.

She started talking as soon as his arms came around her shoulders. "Hi, Uncle Mythic! Kerris and I found a raccoon boy wandering lost in the streets, can we keep him?" This got her a dry laugh. "His name's Kris, and he's real shy, but he's good looking, so I thought you'd make an allowance for him. Anyway, he can share Audio's room, right, or you can turn the guest room into another kid room?"

Her incessant babble seemed to amuse the newcomer whose tails started to do that swaying thing. It took a few moments for that to sink in -- yes, there were three distinct tails on the dark-haired stranger who, Kris assumed from Kitt's babble, was the Uncle in question.

At this point, Kerris slipped his arm around the girl again and herded her toward the back of the car. "Enough, Kitt; you can talk his ear off on the drive home. Let him say hello to Kris now."

Until now, the dark stranger hadn't spoken a word, yet he'd already blown apart Kris' worldview. Kris was too busy watching the pair of foxes he had already met to notice what the stranger was doing; they just seemed so ordinary to him, as if they were a regular family. It came as a bit of a shock when a black gloved paw came into his field of vision. He blinked once and followed the paw to an arm and up to a shoulder, where he finally realized it was the newcomer holding his hand out to be shaken. Bashfully, Kris put his paw in the male's and shook politely, "Ah... I'm Kris."

The todd uttered that same dry chuckle and nodded once. "So I gathered. I'm Mythic... and in case you missed it, I'm Kitt's Uncle." His grip was firm but didn't try to break his bones, the way most of his father's friends would have. "You're new to the area, I take it?" His voice was smooth and mellow, music to Kris' perked little ears.

"I... ah... yes Sir; just moved in last week." Something else that was different: This todd didn't hold onto his paw when he started to pull away, almost as if he understood that Kris wasn't used to being touched. He was still caught up in examining Mythic's yellow eyes when someone rudely shoved him out of the way.

He stumbled and nearly dropped his skateboard before he recovered his balance and turned to see a smaller fox with huge ears wrapped around Mythic. "Hi, Papa. I was hoping you'd come pick us up tonight! Can we go out to dinner?" The shorter fox had a piping young voice that made Kris' head ache, where Kittara's incessant babble hadn't.

At that moment, he felt a weight on his shoulder and looked to see Kerris standing beside him. "Audio, that wasn't polite." The older fox said in a tone that made even Kris' ears fold back and his tail creep between his ankles.

For a moment, he thought the boy was going to cry, but then he puffed out his chest and tilted his head up. "Well, he shouldn't have been hogging Papa's time. We don't get to see him enough as it is, Dad." The defiant look in his eyes made Kris tremble and hunch in a little on himself, hoping that whatever happened he wouldn't get caught in the crossfire.

Mythic sighed softly and hugged the boy tighter. "Kerris is right, Audio; there was no need to push him away. We were just saying hello." The lack of an immediate and physical correction for the boy's defiant behavior made Kris suddenly like these men a whole lot more.

"Besides, Audio," Kittara put in, "he's gonna be on the swim team with you, so you better get along with him, or Mr. O'Brien isn't going to be pleased with you." There was an odd inflection on the word pleased, but Kris brushed it off since he didn't understand the connotations.

The boy looked him over slowly and snorted. "Too tall; he'll never cut the water like I do." He shot Kittara a nasty look and shook his head, "Coach wouldn't be interested in a tall freak like him anyway. I've seen a picture of his last partner, and there is no comparison!" Then without another word he headed for the back of the car and got in slamming the door behind himself.

"D-did I do something wrong?" Kris couldn't help staring at the ill-mannered boy sullenly sitting in the back of the car. His head was still reeling. The boy had called Mythic "Papa" and Kerris "Dad," even though he didn't look a thing like either of them, with those big ears and that nearly orange pelt color. Even his tail was different from the two larger foxes, being mostly smoothly furred from base to about an eighth of the way down, where he had a sudden brush of longer white fur. Made it look almost like he had a tooth brush attached to his backside. He was delicate too, in a way that made Kris think he was a totally different species of fox.

"No, he's just jealous of anyone that takes attention away from him. He'll get used to having you around, eventually." Giving Kris a soft smile, she squeezed his paw and headed for the car. As the door opened, Kris heard a snarled question he couldn't make out, to which Kitt replied. "Well, I like him, and he's not as grumpy as you are..." Her words cut off as the car door closed.

A second weight came down on his other shoulder, both settling with a friendly grip, and he found himself looking from Kerris to Mythic in confusion. "He's just a little moody," Kerris answered him. "Don't worry about it; by the time you see him again, he'll have come 'round. In any case, welcome to Layleux." He waved jovially as he headed for the passenger side of the car.

Mythic nodded slowly his eyes on the boy in the car. "He's a troubled young man, but we're hoping that being in a loving family situation will help him learn to respect others as we do." Then he smiled, and added, "Yes, welcome to Layleux. Now if you'll excuse us, I need to get these three home so they can get out of these uniforms." He winked, then walked toward the driver's door and got into the car.

A moment later, he was alone on the sidewalk with nothing but his board and his backpack for company. It seemed that, while he was talking with the fox family, the rest of the students and staff had all made it out of the school grounds. It wasn't until just that moment that he realized the boy had given him the missing piece of the puzzle he'd called Mythic, Papa and Kerris, Dad! The two men were... mated! Not only that, they were taking care of children his age. His father would freak out if he found out about this. Still, there was a part of him that longed for that kind of thing to be acceptable. Then he realized that it was acceptable, at least here at the school.

He stood there in the bright afternoon light and felt like someone had just handed him the keys to himself.

His trip home was filled with lots of long stretches of sidewalk here, he didn't have to think too much about what he was doing and could focus on what he'd seen and heard today.

He made it home with nothing more exciting happening than a light changing to red just as he passed under it. He fished his key from under the collar of his shirt and unlocked the door backing through it with his skateboard in his hands. The cloud of smoke that enveloped him and pushed out into the hallway nearly made him choke and gave him a horrible feeling in his gut.

One of the reasons he was with his Dad and not his mother was because of her profession (which had something to do with other men and a lot of leather). When they split, his father had claimed that her home was an unsuitable place for a young, impressionable mind. What he'd really meant was that he'd take it through the courts and sully her good name if she didn't let him have Kris. He'd even taken a leave of absence from work so they could move and get settled into the new place. Now he was building up a new clientele and contacts, which meant that he was on the go from morning to night and didn't have much time to spend at the apartment.

Kris could never be sure why she'd given in so easily. Would it really have been so hard to fight a little more to spend time with him? Instead, she'd allowed his father to rip him away from the only school and friends he'd ever known and drag him halfway across the world. Enrolled him in a school he'd only just heard of, which admittedly looked like it was going to be better than the one left, and just left him in the care of his father.

His head was too full of the things he'd seen and done today to be paying much attention to what was behind him until he turned to close the door. Then he was confronted with one of his father's friends. A burly black mastiff named Duke who had been hanging around more and more often since they'd moved. Seemed that Duke, who was one of his Dad's business partners, had also moved into Layleux.

He looked into the dog's eyes for a moment, then quickly looked away, turning to go into the kitchen instead of trying to pass the bulky male to get to his room.

Duke followed him. "Hello, Kris. What are you doing?" The large dog loomed over the slighter boy, and Kris got this creepy feeling from him, like he wanted something and didn't care how he got it. Duke hadn't been like this before the move; he'd been more like a kind old uncle who wanted to play with him and joined in on family outings. Mostly, then, he'd seemed lonely; now it made Kris' skin crawl every time he found himself alone with the mastiff.

But Kris was raised to be polite to his elders, so he took a deep breath and turned to face the large dog. "Hello, Duke. I thought I'd get a snack after school. Are you and my Dad watching the game?" Honestly, he didn't know or care if there was a game on, as long as it got the larger male out of his face.

The Dog's face split into a large grin, and he nodded slightly. "Yep, came over to watch it on the big screen, plus your old man's always got some good booze on hand." He reached around Kris to open the fridge.

Suddenly, Kris felt trapped, with the bulk of the dog on his left, the heavily muscled arm behind him, the open fridge on his right and in front of him. He could hardly breathe in the space that was left to him. He looked up into those nearly crystal clear blue eyes and knew he was in trouble. The dog had something in mind, and it wasn't something that Kris wanted to find out about.

He turned to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of the beer that Duke liked best, grabbing a soda for himself, and turned to face the mountain of a man. "Here, Duke, let me open this for you?" He took a half step toward the door out of the kitchen, putting himself closer to the larger older male but it couldn't be helped -- he needed to get closer to get away.

Duke seemed to like the idea of being waited on and stepped back closing the fridge to let Kris pop the top off his beer. Kris left the beer sitting on the counter so it would take the older male a few moments to get it, then headed into the living room figuring there was safety in numbers. He went mostly unnoticed by everyone in the living room, but that was fine by him; he didn't really want this particular group of men to notice him. There were four more of the guys from the gym and his dad, all huddled around the television smoking and drinking and yelling about whatever was happening on the screen. When Duke came, in he immediately took the only vacant chair that was left and started asking questions about what he'd missed.

Kris gave a deep sigh of relief and headed for his bedroom. Most of the guys his Dad brought home were alright, if a little dim. But Duke gave him the creeps. Something about that dog made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, and he couldn't figure out what it was. He wasn't any more muscle-bound then the rest, or any less handsome; he just came across as wanting something every time he looked at Kris. It made his skin crawl.

He was already getting a headache and an upset stomach from the smoke, so he closed his bedroom door and fell onto his bed fully dressed, pausing only long enough to drop his backpack and skateboard on the floor in front of the door.

Grabbing his extension of the home phone from the bedside stand, he dialed a familiar number and listened while the phone rang... and rang... and rang again... then went to voice mail. He sighed inwardly as his mother's cheerful voice instructed him to leave his name, number, and a short message after the beep. He waited for the beep, and left her a short message: "Hey, Mom; Dad didn't tell me that this place needs a uniform. They gave me a voucher for some place in town here called Chitter's clothing." He added in the phone number for the clothing store and hung up. He'd learned long ago never to ask his father about things like that, not if he wanted them done in any reasonable length of time anyway. That done, he picked up his backpack pulled out his new books, and started in on his homework.