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It's part of a novel, so not every chapter can be filled with sex-scenes, folks. Nonetheless I fully expect this to get maybe four views.\n\nNote: I'm just checking to see if the way InkBunny \"previews\" the story is alright. The block paragraphing and complete lack of formatting is not how this story is intended to be presented. I'll likely only have part of the story displayed, and I ask that you download the actual document to see this novel as it was intended.\nThis be the last one I fully post in the preview box.", "description_bbcode_parsed": "Tai's first day of school in downtown New York is a little more eventful than he expected.

This chapter is devoid of erotic material (unless you're a very, very strange person) but contains mild violence and swearing. It's part of a novel, so not every chapter can be filled with sex-scenes, folks. Nonetheless I fully expect this to get maybe four views.

Note: I'm just checking to see if the way InkBunny "previews" the story is alright. The block paragraphing and complete lack of formatting is not how this story is intended to be presented. I'll likely only have part of the story displayed, and I ask that you download the actual document to see this novel as it was intended.
This be the last one I fully post in the preview box.", "writing": "Tai’s Story - Chapter 3.\nBy Kichigai Kitsune\nCopyright 2005 onwards.\n\nDisclaimer: This story contains coarse language, violence, adult themes and scenes of an adult nature involving two young “cubs” (young anthropomorphic non-humans). If you are under the legal age as prescribed by the laws under which you are subject to reading such material, do not continue beyond this disclaimer. \n\n\t\n\tThe next day, Tai woke up later than usual. He rolled over, almost falling from the soft couch, and slowly cracked his eyes open. His foggy brain couldn’t quite recollect why, but he felt last night had been a good one.\n\tUnable and unwilling to move, he stared pathetically at the DVD player beneath the gargantuan television as it winked its green LED screen on and off at him. The digits slowly came into focus.\n\tAccording to the DVD player, it was half-past eight in the morning. It seemed later than that though. \n\tHe sat up and shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs. He felt weary despite his sleep, as if last night had been particularly exhausting, or he’d overslept. Or more likely, he just didn’t really want to get up.\n\tBright light streamed in through the large French windows of the games room, and Tai, from his sitting position under his cotton covers, admired the view.\n\tThe incandescent morning sun had risen, bright and glorious, behind the sky scrapers of the sprawling city. Tai was forced to reluctantly admit that even here in the city the sun rose with its usual impeccable grace.\n\tEntranced by the sun's performance, slowly rising between the buildings, reducing them to nothing but dark, wavering shadows, Tai just lay there. Ears flat. Not thinking. Not moving.\n\tThen he jumped to his feet, heart pounding. Where had Mike gone?!\n\tTai scampered around the couch and started tearing the flat apart in a frantic search, darting from room to room as if he’d find Mike just standing in a corner. He finally arrived, his search fruitless, back at the games room.\n\t\"No!\" His voice was tiny and quiet, but that single exclamation held so much unutterable, inexplicable frustration. \n\tTears welled up and blurred his sight. With a sharp cry, Tai lashed out at an unoffending table. He kicked out with his unshod foot-paw.\n\tThe table didn't really care. It was made of polished oak. Tai's paw however, protested most strenuously. \n\tThe naked little fox pushed aside the pain eventually, after it settled into a throbbing ache, and simply stared long at the floor.\n\tWhy did his friends—no, everybody, do this to him?! Make him think they cared, then slink away? Did he say something to the older boy? \n\tDesolate, Tai slowly walked to his pile of clothes that lay next to the couch. He dressed himself without much vigor, not even really sure why he bothered – what did it matter if he was nude in his own home, alone? Not like anyone cared anyway.\n\tHe ambled to the fridge in the kitchen and yanked the silver monstrosity's door open. Still sniffing, he pulled out the remainder of his apple juice. He spun the top off and adroitly threw it into the bin from five feet away.\n\tJust as he was sitting down on the couch to spend the day with that hated television for his only company, there was a loud knocking on the front door.\n\tTai set his apple juice on the cabinet. \"One second, please!\" he said loudly. Quickly, he rubbed his eyes dry and went to the front of the apartment.\n\tThe door wasn't chained, so he just undid the simple lock and opened the door. Raised in a crime-free area, the kit didn’t even think about it.\n\tWhen the door swung inwards, he was met by the grinning visage of a familiar boy.\n\t\"Mike?!\" Tai cried. \"Where did you go!?\"\n\tMike took one look at Tai and laughed. \"Home, of course!\" he told his younger friend. \"I just live a minute away.\"\n\t\"Don't do that again! Why didn’t you wake me up!?\"\n\t\"I was gonna, but I couldn't bring myself to. You looked so…\" Mike narrowed his eyes and perked his ears forward. \"Have you been crying? Are you alright?\"\n\t\"No, I'm not!\" Tai was shocked at himself for sounding so angry. So forceful. He sounded like a lecturing parent; even though he knew he had no right whatsoever to tell this older fox what to do.\n\t\"What's wrong?\"\n\t\"Nothing...\" Tai decided to forget about it. \"It's just... I was worried,” he lied. “I’m sorry.”\n\tThe bigger boy laughed and playfully shoved his friend’s shoulder. \"Don't be silly; I can take care of myself, y'know.\"\n\tTai sighed quietly and made a weak attempt at smiling. \"Yeah, I noticed.\" He stepped aside. “C-coming in?”\n\t“Sure!”\nAs they walked back to the games room, Mike eyed the slim boy carefully. He was still seemingly locked in thought. \nThe older cub wasn't dense, and he easily could tell that something was wrong. He felt he knew what it was too.\nTai must’ve thought his new friend had left him. After all, when he first met him, he was crying as his mother left him standing alone in the hallway. The last thing Tai needed was to be abandoned again.\n\tEven another kid could see that easily.\n\tThe rest of the day was uneventful, mostly because Mike had to apologize and leave at mid-day. “My dad expects me home for lessons,” he explained, showing genuine regret on his face. “I promised I’d be back before twelve. I’ll see you around, huh? Feel free to drop by whenever you can.” \n\tEraline returned not long after that. The exhausted vixen said hello to her son and collapsed immediately onto the unmade queen bed in the room she’d chosen for herself at random. She was sounding off like a lumber mill in a few minutes.\n\tTai spent the rest of the day, as his mother slept her night-shift away, reading a story book that he’d practically memorized by now. He sat at the side of his mother’s bed, wanting some company, even if it was busy snoring. It felt reassuring to at least be near his mother and kept him from getting too lonely.\n\tHowever, as the day went on and the sun receded below the towering buildings in the distance, Tai began to fear the morning.\n\tFor tomorrow was his first day at another new school. \n\n\tThe first day of school wasn't too unbearable. It never really was. The teasing and torment never started until after a few days at least. Everyone had to learn you were prey, after all.\n\tTai was astounded and bewildered by his new school. The school taught furs of all different ages, from elementary grade to senior high. They had all been crammed into one school. Tai had never heard of a school that did this. Probably since the others had recognized the dangers and difficulties involved and knew better.\n\tIt was extremely unnerving for Tai. He had never been around so many furs, let alone so many students so much older than him. \n\tEspecially of a certain type of them. Many of the students, mostly the seniors, dressed in an extremely odd style. Everywhere Tai looked, there were teenaged furs of all species sporting elaborate, though often cheap-looking, clothing that was excessively baggy, almost hanging off of them, as they swaggered arrogantly around the school. At first, Tai thought it looked silly. Then he realized that these furs were often aggressive. In one day alone, he was witness to a dozen confrontations between students, usually for no apparent reason.\n\tBut it wasn’t until he saw the weapons that he realized just how bad things were. Knives, brass-knuckles, screw-drivers and more.\n\tNext, he spotted guards. Actual security guards. But they were never around when they were needed, it seemed. They seemed to prefer harassing the very students that needed their help. It didn’t Tai long to deduce that they also could be strangely aggressive, and he resolved to avoid them as much as possible.\n\t By lunch-time’s end, Tai was terrified. He had been dropped into a world so strange and threatening to him he found himself contemplating something he had never once considered before. Suddenly, he didn’t want to be here. He couldn’t stay here. For the first time in his life, despite it all, Tai found himself considering truancy. He wanted out of here!\n\tThough… where could he go? There was nowhere! He was trapped! There was nothing he could do. Staying home was impossible, his mom wouldn’t let him. Other adults would just drag him to school too, and wouldn’t the school know if he was absent? Dread started to creep up his stomach, and he tasted what seemed to be metal in his muzzle. \n\tHe sped up, trying to get out of the corridors and into his class quickly after the bell rang. His mind whirring and adrenaline blotting out his senses, he didn’t think to be careful as he turned a corner…\n\tSo he collided with a raccoon teenager, twice his height and garbed in those unusual clothes.\n\t\"Hey, watch where ya goin', little shit!\" the raccoon snapped, roughly pushing the little fox boy backwards with one paw.\n\tBarely keeping from stumbling to the ground, Tai stared up at the irrationally angry teenager. The corridors were almost empty now; just him and the lanky raccoon. Unsure what to say or do, Tai froze directly in front of the raccoon.\n\t“Get the fuck out of my way.” The teenager sneered and pushed the kit aside.\n\tHe stalked on down the corridor, glaring back over his shoulder for a split second before continuing down the linoleum corridor, his gait an absurdly exaggerated swagger. With a chill, Tai realized he had to follow the maniac to get to his own class. He shuddered and walked on, hanging as far back as he possibly could and walking at a snail’s pace.\n\tWhich meant he’d be late, and likely he’d be punished by his teacher.\nBriefly he considered telling an adult what just happened but he was too scared – he knew that’d be a stupid idea; what if the raccoon or his friends decided on some payback? It was too dangerous to make any noise as a new kid. Even Tai knew that. As if they’d help anyway.\n\tHis teacher was hell-bent on making his first day absolutely unbearable. His best hope, Tai felt, was to fade into the background so well that he became impossible to notice, which was hard because he was very noticeable; trying to hide just made him even more obvious. There were discomfiting stares and whispered remarks. \n\tTai knew how it was going to go already. Once they realized that he was a quiet boy that didn’t have the guts to fight back… or the ability to even if he tried. Once everyone realized that. It was a process he’d experienced before in his young life. Several times. Bullies were predictable in a general sense; the severity and spontaneity of their behavior tended to vary, but that was about all.\n\tBut of course, what did his teachers always do? Thrust him into the limelight. Made him the center of attention. “Today we have a new student!” they’d invariably proclaim, as if the others couldn’t tell there was a new kid in the room. \n\tAnother extremely odd thing about Tai’s new inner city school was that they were experimenting with mixing the ages of students within classrooms, which was utterly alien to Tai. The principle was that the younger students would, aside from their own education, also pick up details and extrapolate information from the more senior students. In theory it was excellent. Unfortunately in practice it was a total nightmare that resulted in madness.\n\tSure, Tai could see the second blackboard with its algebra and trigonometry and page references to apparently random books, but with the vast gap in his education, the information was totally useless – after all, there was no guarantee the older students understood it all. The younger students would completely forget the gibberish on that other board in short order. The teacher, having divided his time between the two completely unrelated curricula, was as a headless chicken running around the classroom. Her expression was one of frustration and hopelessness, and she let many students, young and old, know that she was unhappy.\n\tThe senior students- of the eleventh year in Tai's class- took particular delight in making the younger students' lives hell.\n\tThe average second grader could expect taunts, destruction of work and spitballs at inappropriate times.\n\tThe less popular ones had to endure minor assault, theft, verbal abuse and so forth. And that was in class. Outside, Tai wondered what happened to the younger kids who dared to walk the corridors alone. It seemed everyone picked on everyone, as long as they were the same age or younger.\n\tMost of the acts were perpetrated by the Baggypants Brigade (as Tai decided to call them), everyone else having been cowed into submission by the more violent hoodlums. There were indeed a few in Tai’s class of second graders that at least dressed like them, and an even larger proportion of the eleventh graders were too.\n\tOne boy in particular from the eleventh grade, a wolf named Darron as Tai discovered, was definitely the worst. He swore at every opportunity, no matter how inappropriate it was, intimidated everyone every chance he got and tormented anyone he didn't like whenever he felt like it. He was the only one to specifically target Tai on his first day.\n\tIn fact, it was just as Tai was being introduced by the teacher to his new classmates. He made a passing remark about how gay his name sounded. They hadn’t even seen each other at that point.\n\tDarron was a wolf, but he displayed none of the qualities that the noble lupines were once known for. His fur was a stormy grey shot through with white, and his eyes were a dark amber. Though his frame was lean, he was still muscular and quite large, even for a wolf. \nWith everything he said or did, Darron made it very plain that he was here on sufferance.\n\tUnsurprisingly, he had given himself over to the fashion trends that Tai had already begun to dislike: baggy black tracksuit pants that oddly looked rather expensive, a black shirt, and an oversized gray hooded jacket with what appeared to be silver foil highlighting an incomprehensible design on its back; it also looked expensive.\n\tAs the day wore on, Tai struggled to avoid attention from anybody. It seemed possible for once: the teacher was very busy, and the classroom was in chaos. He kept quiet, trying to focus on his tedious worksheet. The background noise in the classroom was almost deafening, but the worksheet was still easy for him – he fervently prayed that none of the other kits would figure out why. Ever.\n\tUnfortunately, when he was finished, the teacher chose then to notice him. \nThe imbecilic fennec praised him, the only second-grader to have finished his worksheet, in front of the entire class. Making sure to note he had gotten one-hundred percent correct.\nNot only did that earn him another gruff remark from the other side of the classroom about how much of a fag he was, but the glares from the other second-graders were venomous. Tai wasn’t used to that. The kits here were very different.\n\tWhen the day finally ended, Tai quickly snuck to the rear of the class, letting everyone else exit first. His teacher barely even acknowledged him as he waited. When he was sure he wouldn’t be caught up in the throngs of kits and teenagers eager to go home for the day, Tai made a break for it. \nHe ran the whole way home, still anxious of this strange new city’s streets, almost glad he actually lived near his new school and thus didn’t need to rely on the dirty yellow school-buses outside, stopping occasionally to make sure he wasn’t being followed; he really didn’t want people like Darron finding out where he lived and that he was alone most of the time, or even that he made his way home alone. His home was his bastion, his haven, the one place he really felt safe in.\n\tWhen he got to the simple, gray apartment building, he began to jog the moment his feet touched the few steps into the lobby. The only time he stopped between then and when he burst through the door into his new home was when he had to stand in the elevator. His heart beating fast, he tossed down his schoolbag, locked the door, kicked off his sneakers, and padded into the kitchen in his white and black socks. Just as he was about to go shut himself in his new room, he spotted it…\n\tThere was a note on the table in their den. The house was quiet. He took that to mean that his mother was out and she had left the little note for him. With some trepidation, he approached the note.\n\tIt said: “Tai, honey. Gone out and won’t be home until very late. We need some groceries. There is a small store near here. I've left money next to this note and on the back I've put directions and the list. The shops will be closed tomorrow, so you must do it tonight. They’re very close, you should be safe. \n\tLove, mom.”\t\n\tTai gaped at the note incredulously. Had his mom gone mad?! It wasn’t unheard of for her to ask him to get some of the shopping, but that was back when they lived many miles to the North West on the outskirts of a little town, not the greasy, labyrinthine New York. This was insane!\n\tStill… he had to admit, she said the stores were close. He could probably handle it.\n\tWith a resigned groan, he emptied his brown school knapsack onto the floor without ceremony and slung it over his shoulders, slipping his slender arms through the straps, before bending over to pull his shoes back on. \nIf only he could say no, if only he could tell her why he really, really didn’t want to be made to do this… let her know that he was too scared to. If only she’d listen. But she wasn’t here, and wouldn’t listen if she was.\n\tTai walked out to the unpleasant hallway again, checking his keys were still on him, and slammed the heavy apartment door. As hard as he could.\n\tIt made him feel a little better.\n\t\n\tThe city seemed oddly dark and damp, even though it was still only four in the afternoon. An obscuring veil of smog had settled over the streets and stifled the sunlight. A pitch black cloud was creeping across the sky, preparing to dump its wet load over the city.\nThe streets weren’t empty, and Tai nervously scanned every fur he saw. He wasn’t used to seeing quite so many others out and about when he walked to the shops.\n\tDouble checking the instructions on the back of his mother’s note, Tai was relieved to see the instructions to turn off the busier road and onto a side street.\n\tIt took him some time to spot it, but he finally located the grocery store. He nearly leapt out of his skin when the bell on top of the heavy door jangled its greeting.\n\tWhen his heart rate subsided, he looked around the shop. It was a small store, more of a deli. Tai liked it almost immediately. It was familiar to him – he was glad to see his mother had picked a smaller store rather than some massive place with hundreds of furs. That was what he had dreaded.\nThe floor was made of creaky wooden boards and the shelves were nothing more than suspended wooden planks. There were a few large refrigeration units in the centre of the store however, filled with meats, ice-cream and other frozen items. Aside from the thrum of the refrigerators the shop was silent. \n\tThe whole store was no larger than Tai’s entire apartment.\n\tAnd it was apparently empty.\n\tTai ambled his way towards the counter at the back of the store and stood on his tip-toes—he could barely even see over the plastic counter top, which was certainly not designed with the preteen customer in mind. There was no one there… just a few more shelves with cigarettes on them and a plaid tartan curtain that didn’t seem to have any purpose.\n\tHe narrowed his eyes and strained to get a little higher. There couldn’t be nobody here; it made no sense. \n\tThe plaid curtain behind the counter, the one Tai thought was just for decoration at first glance, was pushed aside. A surly-looking badger with scraggly fur emerged, revealing the existence of a back-room.\n\tThe badger was muttering to himself, leafing through some documents. The middle aged badger leaned idly against the counter and grumbled, searching through piles of receipts. He hadn’t noticed he had company.\n\tTai, feeling a little shy, tried to catch the badger’s attention by making soft coughing noises—though he wasn’t sure he wanted the attention of this grumpy looking fur. The badger must’ve drowned out Tai’s coughing with his grumbling, because he seemed still oblivious to the kit’s presence.\n\t“U-umm… excuse me sir?” Tai finally said, barely louder than a whisper.\n\t“Gaagh!” cried the badger, jerking backwards and tossing the papers he was holding into the air. He clutched at his chest.\n\tThat in turn frightened Tai, who shrieked and leaped away.\n\tThe two of them, the little fox and the old badger stared at one another. Then the badger started to laugh gruffly.\n\t“Sorry ‘bout that, kid,” he chortled, his surly face suddenly becoming much more amicable. “What can I do for ya?”\n\tA wave of relief swept over Tai and he heaved a great sigh. “Umm, hi.” He showed the badger the list his mother gave him. “My mom sent me to get this stuff. Can you tell me where to find them?”\n\tThe badger lifted a pair of thin-rimmed glasses to his muzzle and balanced them carefully on his nose. They didn’t seem to fit him properly. He squinted through them. “Ah, yes, we’re stocking all of these things, little lady.”\n\tTai felt the skin under his facial fur suddenly burn with great intensity. “I’m a boy, sir…” He stared at his sneakers.\n\t“Oh, I’m sorry, kid.” Unflustered, the badger went around the side of the counter and walked briskly over to a stack of shelves. “Here and on the other side. That’s where everything you want is. Lemme know if you need any help.”\n\tTai nodded. “Thank you.”\n\tThe badger grinned at him and started back towards his back-room. He paused at that tartan curtain and looked over his shoulder as the young fox he’d never seen before explored his shop. He had a strange accent to the badger’s ears. Possibly west-coast? Hard to tell. “Mmm,” he mumbled to himself. He didn’t normally like kits alone in his store, but this one seemed alright. \n\tWhen the badger was gone, Tai continued to scan the shelves, fingering the canvas strap of his knapsack. \n\tThe door jangled open and he managed to stop himself from spinning around to snatch a glimpse of the newcomer. As it turned out however, it wasn’t a single newcomer.\nThe group banged the door as they entered, talking loudly to one another. Their shod paws hit the wooden floorboards heavily, making resounding thumping noises with every steps.\n\t“Hey man, check this shit!” one of the rambunctious newcomers said in that aggravating manner that was already making Tai feel nauseous every time he heard. Tai heard footsteps clomping towards the counter. It was almost as if the group was attempting to be as offensively noisy and annoying as possible. “This place has ‘em cheap as hell.”\n\tTai turned around slightly just in time to catch sight of a skunk, clad in urban wear and a smirk, reach behind the counter and deftly filch six or so packs of cigarettes.\n\tThe skunk noticed Tai was looking and his expression suddenly went cold. The observant kit had startled him, and he clearly didn’t like that. “What the fuck you lookin’ at?” he demanded.\n\t“N-nothing!” The kit turned back to the shelves instantly.\n\tHe could feel the skunk’s eyes boring into the back of his skull, but he refused to turn. He found himself holding his breath.\n\tThe middle-aged badger came out from the back-room and instantly his expression grew angry.\n\t“What are you boys doin’ here?” he demanded, eyeing them furiously. “I’ve told you not to come here anymore.”\n\t“Chill,” a mocking voice said from behind Tai. His blood froze as he recognized the less-than-melodious voice of Darron, the wolf from school. “We’re not doin’ anything.”\n\tTai stole another look over his shoulder and saw Darron, a skunk he recognized from school and he also recognized that raccoon that almost bowled him over after lunch. It didn’t really surprise him that they were all friends.\n\t“You ain’t up to anything, are you?” said the badger. “No trouble from any of you.”\n\t“You got it. Keep yer shit together.” Darron laughed and turned. He stopped and did a double take, a sneer spreading across his face as he recognized Tai, who was staring resolutely at the shelves.\n\t“You intend to buy anything?” \n\t“Naw, just thought we’d waste your time.” Darron turned to leave. “Was just letting my friend here see your low, low prices.”\n\tThey all snickered.\n\tTai’s stomach lurched. He couldn’t let this happen. His conscience was shrieking at him to tell the badger what he’d seen, but he knew he’d be dead if he did. If not today, then tomorrow, or sometime this week, they’d get him if he…\n\tFinally, just as the door was swinging back open, Tai clenched his fists and whirled on the group. \n\t“Sir, that one there stole some of your cigarettes!” he cried, pointing straight at the skunk, whose eyes widened comically in shock. Tai immediately wanted to change the past; he’d yelled his accusation about twice as loud as he meant to. Part of him wanted it to be a pathetic whisper that no-one actually heard.\n\tEveryone stared at the little fox kit, dumbfounded.\n\t“Y-you can’t prove shit, you little-!” the skunk declared, finally regaining his wits.\n\t“Did you, Wayle?” The shopkeeper asked in a deathly quiet voice. His eyes narrowed dangerously.\n\tDarron and the skunk, Wayle, started advancing on the now trembling Tai, paws held as fists. Darron was smirking, but Wayle looked furious and embarrassed.\n\tThen the raccoon made a serious mistake. Blocking the store’s entrance, he dipped his paw into his oversized hooded sweater, and Tai’s heart flip-flopped in his chest. “Oh crap!” he mentally whimpered.\n\tWhatever he was reaching for, Tai didn’t find out. There was a movement from behind the counter and a voice barked the simple command to not move. The four youngsters all froze immediately, slowly turning to gaze at the badger and his furious expression.\n\tAnd his twelve-gauge shotgun. \n\tThe terrible sound of the weapon being racked tested everyone’s bladder control.\n\t“I don’t think you want to be doing that,” the shopkeeper grated. “Not in my store.”\n\t“Shit!” Darron cried, spinning on his heels and powering right into the raccoon, who collapsed onto his backside. His paw flew from his sweater and a large knife was sent skittering across the floor, but the wolf didn’t even slow down.\n\tFollowing Darron’s example, everyone, including Tai, who was bug-eyed with fright, bolted for the door.\n\tAs one, the four of them, wolf, raccoon, skunk and fox, burst out into the side walk. They collided, tripped over one another, and fell to the concrete pavement.\n\tThe door to the shop slammed shut heavily by itself and the four on the ground struggled to regain their breath and their wits.\n\tDarron was the first to recover. His eyes clicked upwards, locking onto the little fox boy’s face. His features suddenly set in a snarl of fury. Immediately, he slipped a sharp bladed knife out from his baggy track-pants and lunged with his free paw towards Tai.\n\tWith a startled cry, Tai hauled himself to his paws and leaped backwards. He actually felt the lupine’s claws touch his chest, lifting up the front of his t-shirt, and he narrowly avoided getting caught then and there.\n\t“Come here, you little shit!!” Darron roared, his maw opening and displaying fearsome, cigarette yellowed fangs. The three teenagers all jumped to their feet and made for the fox kit, whose instincts kicked in at the last moment and he leaped agilely to the side.\n\t“W-wait, please!” Tai tried to plead, backing away as all three of the older furs advanced on him.\n\tThe skunk, Wayle, lunged for him, trying to grab the fox’s head-fur.\n\tAgain, Tai pulled backwards. He slammed into the store’s concrete wall, winding himself.\n\tThe fox looked around wildly. His last second dodge had placed him in between all three of the vicious, apparently murderous teens, and he was backed into the wall. He was surrounded. The kit’s heart was thumping ferociously in what seemed to be his ears. Darron’s paw lashed out and Tai barely managed to twist out of reach and dash past the teenager’s outstretched arm.\n\tHe started sprinting off down the street as fast as he could; for the first time ever, literally running for his life. \n\t“Get after that little bitch!” cried Darron, taking off after the speedy fox kit.\n\tDarron was fast, nearly catching up to Tai as they went down the street. However, Tai suddenly pitched sideways and turned onto the main road, his turning circle far smaller than the longer legged teenager.\n\tTai ran through the noisy yet slow traffic before running straight down the median strip. Baffled faces stared at him from the safety of expensive cars and lining the sides of buses.\n\tDarron and company slowly but determinedly picked their way through the various cars and trucks, reaching the middle of the road to see their prey speeding into the distance.\n\t“Don’t lose ‘im!” Wayle yelled unnecessarily as they started after him.\n\tYet again, before they could catch him, Tai suddenly skidded to a stop. He hurdled a waist high traffic barrier from a standstill and ran straight towards an expansive building complex – there were dozens of furs there, and an expansive parking lot with hundreds of cars. He needed to find help. Already he was feeling a pain in his chest and his throat was scorched.\n\tDarron and Wayle had no trouble leaping the low barrier and heading across the road, but the raccoon’s left foot-paw snagged on the top and he tripped headlong onto the rough bitumen.\n\t“Dumbass!” Wayle cried at his friend, himself narrowly avoiding an oncoming truck. The horn-honking was nearly deafening, and there were outraged furs shouting from their cars. No one got out of their comfortable vehicles to help Tai though.\n\tTheir prey had already reached the shopping mall’s side entrance, no more than two-hundred feet away. Darron put on a burst of speed, leaving his friends far behind. The sensor doors barely opened wide enough for Tai to squeeze through at a dead run, though he banged his shoulder painfully against the metal edge of the door.\n\tDarron had to skid to a stop and wait for the doors to open far enough for him to squeeze through, giving his prey a split second’s further lead. He burst into the mall, snarling and swearing to himself in frustration. \n\tGlancing briefly back the way he’d come, he saw Wayle ignore the entrance and continued to sprint through the parking lot.\n\tBack in the mall, Tai neatly skipped onto and over a small wooden bench occupied by two old aardvarks and landed just as neatly on the other side. Darron had to slow down yet again to get around the bench, which he wasn’t sure he could jump without falling right over the startled old couple.\n\tHis little paws pounding hard on the floor, Tai saw two paths; he could head down a service corridor and hide in the toilets that were advertised by the sign on the roof, or he could keep going and hope someone would help him eventually. \n\tSomething told him hiding in the toilets wouldn’t work. He’d have to come out, and Darron would be waiting—Tai did not hold much hope for the idea of someone intervening and saving his neck. So the young fox kept running. There were many furs around him, but he didn’t trust a single one to come to his aid.\n\tIt was so difficult to breathe; he doubted he could cry for help. \n\tHe saw the ‘wet floor’ sign propped against a bench just in time and gasped. He tried to lock his feet and stop, but he was already on the slippery surface almost slipped. Panicked, he tried to walk on, shortening his steps and progressing slowly.\n\tDarron caught up, ignoring the warning sign. He extended his paw. “Come here, bitch!” he growled before his legs suddenly seemed to repulse one another like magnets and he slammed face first onto the floor.\n\tTai’s sneakers encountered traction abruptly and he was thrown to the floor, where a quick roll prevented skinned knees. He took one look at Darron, gingerly lifting himself back up, and bolted once again. \n\tThe kit tore into a fruit store, with Darron somehow back on his tail again. The teenager was incredibly tenacious.\n\tAn overweight tiger stepped backwards in shock as Tai ripped straight past her. The feline accidentally struck a shelf and littered the floor with apples.\n\t“Stupid kid!” she growled, shaking her fist at Tai.\n\t“Sorry, ma’am!” cried Tai over his shoulder, feeling compelled to apologize in some way. \n\t“Oh, shit!” shrieked Darron before his legs suddenly flew into the air and he was planted firmly on his backside once again, courtesy of a rogue apple. He let out a nasty bark of pain.\n\tWithout waiting for his pursuer, Tai exited the store hastily, too scared to laugh. The other patrons of the store found it slightly funny though. At least until Darron shoved one of them viciously out of his way and continued the chase.\n\tThe fox ran up the escalator, squeezing through the throng of furs, and finally burst back outside on the top floor car park. He stopped and started panting, head bowed. He briefly wondered where the hell he was going; this was a dead end, it seemed. He scanned the signs: there was one saying “Street Exit”. It made no sense to Tai- a street exit from the roof parking- but he didn’t care! That was his exit.\n\tHe cast a glance back at the glass doors he’d just came through and saw that Darron had already caught up, glowering at him with extreme loathing.\n\tThen he turned to the car park exit, paws pounding the concrete, seeking a way out. When he finally noticed the ramp leading down, and tried to make his way to it, it was too late. He froze as Wayle briskly sauntered into view, coming up the ramp.\n\tWayle upped the pace. As he passed a snake of stacked shopping carts, he grabbed them and shoved them hard. The huge metal snake, connected by elastic ropes, didn’t break; instead it swung out and neatly blocked the ramp. The skunk strode purposefully towards the petrified fox.\n\tTai’s eyes shot wide and he looked around frantically. He was screwed; the teens just knew the area too well.\n\tThe glass doors slid open quickly and Darron limped outside. “Yeah!” he taunted, baring his yellowed teeth. He drew his knife. “Nowhere to go now, huh?”\n\tTai was still looking around like a terrified feral animal, ears perked and fur on end. The street exit was blocked by the trolleys and he couldn’t jump over them, even if he got around Wayle.\n\tBack into the shopping mall? The doors were too narrow; Darron would snag him easily. He didn’t even want to consider what would happen next.\n\tWhen Tai’s eyes fell on the concrete barrier at the edge of the roof, in place to prevent people falling to the lower level car parks, he knew there was no other way, except maybe in an ambulance. He regarded Darron’s snarl with horrified eyes; either way, he was screwed. \n\tTai had no clue where the idea had come from, and in normal circumstances he’d have considered it insane. But these were not normal circumstances. He couldn’t just let these teenagers do what they wanted, surrender the way he usually did – they could kill him. \n\tHe turned on his heels and bolted straight at the barrier. At the last second he leaped up onto it and kicked off.\n\t“Holy shit!” Wayle cried, sprinting to the edge. “He’s crazy!! The kid is fucking crazy!”\n\tThe kit had misjudged how high he was. With a scream, he fell over a dozen feet to the lower level. Even though the fall lasted less than a second, he automatically scrunched his eyes shut. \nThere was a resounding, bone-jacking bang, and Tai forced his eyes open just in time to see an explosion of toiletries, cereal and more, flying high into the sky to and raining down all over the parking lot. \nHe had landed in a shopping cart. He looked around wildly, winded. An old mouse was staring at him in utter horror.\n\tTai thrashed about, struggling to get out of the cart. For some reason, his body didn’t respond well, and the cart was absolutely packed with destroyed shopping.\n\t“Get out! Get out!!” The old mouse was squealing. She started flailing at Tai with her handbag, which wasn’t helping at all.\n\t“W-wait, stop!” he pleaded, trying to fend off sallies of handbag blows.\n\tWith a desperate twist, the little fox pulled himself out of the cart and collapsed to the floor in a heap. \n\tStill in shock, the elderly rodent scooted away, pushing her cart away from the distressed fox child.\n\tTai couldn’t see his pursuers, but he knew with near-certainty that they were rushing back downstairs to continue the chase, so he scrambled to his feet. Rattled badly and in shock himself, he struggled to stand.\n\tThe moment the young fox put weight on his left ankle he collapsed heavily to his side, banging his elbow on the blacktop. He screamed as the most searing pain he had ever experienced ripped through his leg. He toppled onto his hands and knees, the sheer agony blinding him briefly. It didn’t stop – it only got worse.\n\tAll he could do was scream some more. \n\tHow was he gonna get away with… he didn’t even want to consider that he might have snapped it! He could not have broken his ankle! \nThe pain was unbearable… but fear drove him on… he had to move! \n\n\t“Shit, we have to get down there!” Wayle cried, turning and sprinting for the entrance to the mall. “He could be-!”\n\tHe slammed hard into a huge, immovable object and collapsed onto his black and white tail. \n\tWayle slowly looked up, raising his eyes slowly. He’d just crashed into a six and a half foot lion with a ferocious face and sporting a very inauspicious uniform.\n\tIt was a cop.\n\tDarron tried to run, but was tackled to the ground by an athletic leopard.\n\t“Darron and Wayle,” rumbled the lion, glowering at them. “Never would’ve guessed.”\n\tThe leopard slapped handcuffs onto Darron’s thick wrists and hoisted him off the floor. Despite their predicament, Darron was arrogantly calm. He didn’t resist. “You’ve been told before to stay out of here,” he said coolly. “You’re in deeper shit than ever before. Drawing a knife on a little kid, thievery, disturbing the peace, assault? Great stories to tell your bum-buds in prison, huh?”\n\t“You’d know all about bum-buddies, Officer Dick!” Darron squirmed around and spat full into the officer’s face.\n\tThe leopard absently wiped it off, but his face had grown livid.\n\t“Cool it,” the lion told him, having restrained Wayle.\n\t“I can’t wait until he’s behind bars,” Richards growled. “I think he can’t either. For all his talk of gay cops, he’s the one in a hurry to get into those prison showers.”\n\tRichards mockingly read the two their rights- even though he was certain they’d heard it enough already. \n\t“Weapons offences, three counts of assault, about a ton of damage,” the leopard was counting them off on his paw as the two pseudo gangsters tried to leer threateningly at him, although they weren’t very intimidating in their present state. “Hope you didn’t think those trolleys were cheap. Assaulting a cop, concealed weapons, attempted assault with intent to-”\n\t“Wait!” The lion suddenly said. “Where’s that kid you were chasing? The fox?”\n\tDarron smirked. “Dunno. Probably dead. The little shit took a trip off the roof.”\n\t“You threw him off?!” The lion demanded, appalled.\n\t“What are you crazy?!” Wayle said shrilly. He eyed his lupine friend in shock. “H-he jumped. The fuckin’ little maniac jumped. We weren’t gonna hurt him, just scare him a bit. We didn’t know he was going to jump!”\n\tThe lion called them something that doesn’t bear repeating and took off.\n\n\tTai stumbled a few more steps on one leg then fell to the ground once more, the pain over-riding the fear and he knew he couldn’t press on. He knew now where he got the injury. He’d smacked it off the metal edge of the shopping cart; he could already see bleeding under the skin when he gingerly he lifted his pants and parted the fur; an uneven line of deep bluish-purple that seemed to be slowly widening. A terrible bruise the likes of which he’d never seen before.\n\tTears flooded his green eyes, obscuring his sight and he just gave up there and then, surrounded by a small group of staring furs. Not one of them lifted a paw to help him, they just gawped stupidly at him.\n\tHis paws clenched into fists and he bit deep into his lip.\n\tHe hated them. All of them! He hated every last stinking one of them. Some walked right past, intentionally diverting their gaze. Some just looked at him curiously. But none made any move to aid him. He didn’t know why…\n\tThe little fox curled into a ball and lay on the bitumen, sobbing quietly. He hated this city. He hated everyone in it. This was just his third day of being here and this had happened to him. If Darron and his friends wanted to beat him up, they could do it. He didn’t care anymore!\n\t“Hey!” a loud voice called. Tai could hear heavy footfalls and he knew someone was coming close. He half expected to be trodden on.\n\tThen someone was at his side. Touching his arm.\n\t“Are you alright?” a deep voice was asking.\n\tTai couldn’t even breathe properly to reply, so he just lay there, cradling his leg and crying.\n\tThe deep voice rumbled quietly. “Can’t believe they just left you here… come on. Got to get you to the hospital, okay?” \n\tTai was suddenly scooped up like a doll and he felt himself being carried away. Whoever it was that had picked him up was even kind enough to avoid hurting his leg any more.\n\tExhausted, hurting and scared, Tai didn’t try to struggle…\n\n\tDarron and Wayle were taken to the police station in another car, but Richards and his partner, the leonine Jameson, gave the injured fox pup a ride in their patrol car.\n\tOfficer Jameson sat in the back alongside the kit; which he vaguely remembered he wasn’t meant to do. “Are you alright?” he asked.\n\tThe little one had huddled up against the door and was still sobbing softly. He’d been hurt badly and scared witless, and he didn’t seem inclined to really trust even the ones who tried to help him. His leg was propped up sideways on the back chair and sudden movements sent a frazzle of pain up his leg. “Y-yes, sir…” he replied weakly, exhausted.\n\tThe cop was worried. This little kit was breathing shallowly and his ankle was obviously damaged. The terrified boy hadn’t let them touch it or even get a look at it. There was no way he was alright.\n\t“How did you know where I was?” asked the kit suddenly. He’d barely spoken since they’d picked him off the floor, but as his crying subsided he’d become slightly more talkative. Which was good, because he was yet to tell them his name. “I didn’t call anyone.”\n\t“We’d had a few descriptions from people in the mall,” replied Richards, not taking his eyes off the road as he tried to navigate the mall’s labyrinthine parking lot. “You’re kinda easy to see.”\n\t“I-I am?”\n\t“Never seen a tawny fox before.” The car suddenly jolted to a stop, and Tai was thrust forward in the seat. “Geez, damn! Watch where you’re going, lady!”\n“We had reports of a ‘little fox-girl’ being chased through the mall, while we were eating lunch at the food court,” Jameson took over. He coughed. “Oh. I mean, we can tell you’re not a girl.”\n\tThe fox pup smiled wanly. “It’s okay.”\n\tRichards looked out the side window as they pulled out onto the road and whistled. “You jumped off that?”\n\tThe kit lowered his eyes again. He shifted slightly and winced, clearly fighting the urge to cry some more.\n\t“We’re gonna take you to the hospital for that,” Jameson said. “Do you know a way for us to contact your mother or father?” The fox pup shook his head. “Any siblings we can contact?” He shook his head again. “Well, why don’t you tell me where you live and I’ll go there after we drop you off?”\n\t“My mother is out at work for the day. I have my own keys.”\n\tJameson frowned. “So, she just left you alone? All night?”\n\tSuddenly, the fox looked up and his eyes were wary. Even slightly scared. “No, my, uh, neighbors look after me,” he lied awkwardly. “Mom’ll be back later tonight.”\n\t“So, why don’t you tell me where your neighbors live, and I’ll get them to pass it on?” Jameson said softly.\n\t“I-I’d rather you didn’t.” The fox boy shook his head.\n\t“We have to. Unless you can tell us why we shouldn’t?”\n\tThe boy told him reluctantly and suddenly fell quiet. He sat there, staring at his injured paw, ears limp. \n\t“We won’t call social services, kid,” the lion told him after a minute, unable to bear the silence. “You won’t get in trouble. I don’t know why you were involved with Darron and his friends, but I won’t involve the S.S. lightly.”\n\tThe fox suddenly giggled. “The ’S.S.’?” he chortled. “Isn’t that the Storm Troopers?”\n\t“You mean from the human empire? Into ancient history are you?”\n\t“Yes sir.” \n\t“What’s your name anyway, kid?” The lion extended a paw. “My name is Mark. Mark Jameson.”\n\t“Um, Tai.” The pup shook the paw hesitantly.\n\t“What, no second name?”\n\t“I can’t pronounce it.” Tai looked away shyly.\n\tJameson laughed. “Alright, that’s fair enough, we’ll figure it out sooner or later. So, Tai, do you want to talk about anything?”\n\tThe little fox blinked. “Like what, sir?”\n\tThe lion shrugged, his big russet mane dancing around his head. “I dunno. Whatever you want. But you can stop calling me ‘sir’. I’m only twenty-five; my partner there has twelve years on me.”\n\tTai smiled. “Okay. Do you like history?”\n\t“I studied it in college for a year, actually,” responded Jameson. “Didn’t do too well.”\n\tAfter a moment, the kit smiled and sat up straighter.\n\tRichards piped up from the front seat as the patrol car finally emerged out onto the main road. “Mark, if you complain about this later on, I’ll pour beer all over your head,” he deadpanned, still watching the road. “And I mean a lot of beer. You have to deal with it.”\n\t“What?” the little fox asked, looking from the lion to the leopard with innocent curiosity. “Deal with what?”\n\t“You were saying?” prompted Jameson smoothly.\n\nChapter Three – Fin. \n\n-- By Krazy Kitsune/Kichigai Kitsune\nCopyright 2005 onwards.\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "Tai’s Story - Chapter 3.
By Kichigai Kitsune
Copyright 2005 onwards.

Disclaimer: This story contains coarse language, violence, adult themes and scenes of an adult nature involving two young “cubs” (young anthropomorphic non-humans). If you are under the legal age as prescribed by the laws under which you are subject to reading such material, do not continue beyond this disclaimer.

\t
\tThe next day, Tai woke up later than usual. He rolled over, almost falling from the soft couch, and slowly cracked his eyes open. His foggy brain couldn’t quite recollect why, but he felt last night had been a good one.
\tUnable and unwilling to move, he stared pathetically at the DVD player beneath the gargantuan television as it winked its green LED screen on and off at him. The digits slowly came into focus.
\tAccording to the DVD player, it was half-past eight in the morning. It seemed later than that though.
\tHe sat up and shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs. He felt weary despite his sleep, as if last night had been particularly exhausting, or he’d overslept. Or more likely, he just didn’t really want to get up.
\tBright light streamed in through the large French windows of the games room, and Tai, from his sitting position under his cotton covers, admired the view.
\tThe incandescent morning sun had risen, bright and glorious, behind the sky scrapers of the sprawling city. Tai was forced to reluctantly admit that even here in the city the sun rose with its usual impeccable grace.
\tEntranced by the sun's performance, slowly rising between the buildings, reducing them to nothing but dark, wavering shadows, Tai just lay there. Ears flat. Not thinking. Not moving.
\tThen he jumped to his feet, heart pounding. Where had Mike gone?!
\tTai scampered around the couch and started tearing the flat apart in a frantic search, darting from room to room as if he’d find Mike just standing in a corner. He finally arrived, his search fruitless, back at the games room.
\t"No!" His voice was tiny and quiet, but that single exclamation held so much unutterable, inexplicable frustration.
\tTears welled up and blurred his sight. With a sharp cry, Tai lashed out at an unoffending table. He kicked out with his unshod foot-paw.
\tThe table didn't really care. It was made of polished oak. Tai's paw however, protested most strenuously.
\tThe naked little fox pushed aside the pain eventually, after it settled into a throbbing ache, and simply stared long at the floor.
\tWhy did his friends—no, everybody, do this to him?! Make him think they cared, then slink away? Did he say something to the older boy?
\tDesolate, Tai slowly walked to his pile of clothes that lay next to the couch. He dressed himself without much vigor, not even really sure why he bothered – what did it matter if he was nude in his own home, alone? Not like anyone cared anyway.
\tHe ambled to the fridge in the kitchen and yanked the silver monstrosity's door open. Still sniffing, he pulled out the remainder of his apple juice. He spun the top off and adroitly threw it into the bin from five feet away.
\tJust as he was sitting down on the couch to spend the day with that hated television for his only company, there was a loud knocking on the front door.
\tTai set his apple juice on the cabinet. "One second, please!" he said loudly. Quickly, he rubbed his eyes dry and went to the front of the apartment.
\tThe door wasn't chained, so he just undid the simple lock and opened the door. Raised in a crime-free area, the kit didn’t even think about it.
\tWhen the door swung inwards, he was met by the grinning visage of a familiar boy.
\t"Mike?!" Tai cried. "Where did you go!?"
\tMike took one look at Tai and laughed. "Home, of course!" he told his younger friend. "I just live a minute away."
\t"Don't do that again! Why didn’t you wake me up!?"
\t"I was gonna, but I couldn't bring myself to. You looked so…" Mike narrowed his eyes and perked his ears forward. "Have you been crying? Are you alright?"
\t"No, I'm not!" Tai was shocked at himself for sounding so angry. So forceful. He sounded like a lecturing parent; even though he knew he had no right whatsoever to tell this older fox what to do.
\t"What's wrong?"
\t"Nothing..." Tai decided to forget about it. "It's just... I was worried,” he lied. “I’m sorry.”
\tThe bigger boy laughed and playfully shoved his friend’s shoulder. "Don't be silly; I can take care of myself, y'know."
\tTai sighed quietly and made a weak attempt at smiling. "Yeah, I noticed." He stepped aside. “C-coming in?”
\t“Sure!”
As they walked back to the games room, Mike eyed the slim boy carefully. He was still seemingly locked in thought.
The older cub wasn't dense, and he easily could tell that something was wrong. He felt he knew what it was too.
Tai must’ve thought his new friend had left him. After all, when he first met him, he was crying as his mother left him standing alone in the hallway. The last thing Tai needed was to be abandoned again.
\tEven another kid could see that easily.
\tThe rest of the day was uneventful, mostly because Mike had to apologize and leave at mid-day. “My dad expects me home for lessons,” he explained, showing genuine regret on his face. “I promised I’d be back before twelve. I’ll see you around, huh? Feel free to drop by whenever you can.”
\tEraline returned not long after that. The exhausted vixen said hello to her son and collapsed immediately onto the unmade queen bed in the room she’d chosen for herself at random. She was sounding off like a lumber mill in a few minutes.
\tTai spent the rest of the day, as his mother slept her night-shift away, reading a story book that he’d practically memorized by now. He sat at the side of his mother’s bed, wanting some company, even if it was busy snoring. It felt reassuring to at least be near his mother and kept him from getting too lonely.
\tHowever, as the day went on and the sun receded below the towering buildings in the distance, Tai began to fear the morning.
\tFor tomorrow was his first day at another new school.

\tThe first day of school wasn't too unbearable. It never really was. The teasing and torment never started until after a few days at least. Everyone had to learn you were prey, after all.
\tTai was astounded and bewildered by his new school. The school taught furs of all different ages, from elementary grade to senior high. They had all been crammed into one school. Tai had never heard of a school that did this. Probably since the others had recognized the dangers and difficulties involved and knew better.
\tIt was extremely unnerving for Tai. He had never been around so many furs, let alone so many students so much older than him.
\tEspecially of a certain type of them. Many of the students, mostly the seniors, dressed in an extremely odd style. Everywhere Tai looked, there were teenaged furs of all species sporting elaborate, though often cheap-looking, clothing that was excessively baggy, almost hanging off of them, as they swaggered arrogantly around the school. At first, Tai thought it looked silly. Then he realized that these furs were often aggressive. In one day alone, he was witness to a dozen confrontations between students, usually for no apparent reason.
\tBut it wasn’t until he saw the weapons that he realized just how bad things were. Knives, brass-knuckles, screw-drivers and more.
\tNext, he spotted guards. Actual security guards. But they were never around when they were needed, it seemed. They seemed to prefer harassing the very students that needed their help. It didn’t Tai long to deduce that they also could be strangely aggressive, and he resolved to avoid them as much as possible.
\t By lunch-time’s end, Tai was terrified. He had been dropped into a world so strange and threatening to him he found himself contemplating something he had never once considered before. Suddenly, he didn’t want to be here. He couldn’t stay here. For the first time in his life, despite it all, Tai found himself considering truancy. He wanted out of here!
\tThough… where could he go? There was nowhere! He was trapped! There was nothing he could do. Staying home was impossible, his mom wouldn’t let him. Other adults would just drag him to school too, and wouldn’t the school know if he was absent? Dread started to creep up his stomach, and he tasted what seemed to be metal in his muzzle.
\tHe sped up, trying to get out of the corridors and into his class quickly after the bell rang. His mind whirring and adrenaline blotting out his senses, he didn’t think to be careful as he turned a corner…
\tSo he collided with a raccoon teenager, twice his height and garbed in those unusual clothes.
\t"Hey, watch where ya goin', little shit!" the raccoon snapped, roughly pushing the little fox boy backwards with one paw.
\tBarely keeping from stumbling to the ground, Tai stared up at the irrationally angry teenager. The corridors were almost empty now; just him and the lanky raccoon. Unsure what to say or do, Tai froze directly in front of the raccoon.
\t“Get the fuck out of my way.” The teenager sneered and pushed the kit aside.
\tHe stalked on down the corridor, glaring back over his shoulder for a split second before continuing down the linoleum corridor, his gait an absurdly exaggerated swagger. With a chill, Tai realized he had to follow the maniac to get to his own class. He shuddered and walked on, hanging as far back as he possibly could and walking at a snail’s pace.
\tWhich meant he’d be late, and likely he’d be punished by his teacher.
Briefly he considered telling an adult what just happened but he was too scared – he knew that’d be a stupid idea; what if the raccoon or his friends decided on some payback? It was too dangerous to make any noise as a new kid. Even Tai knew that. As if they’d help anyway.
\tHis teacher was hell-bent on making his first day absolutely unbearable. His best hope, Tai felt, was to fade into the background so well that he became impossible to notice, which was hard because he was very noticeable; trying to hide just made him even more obvious. There were discomfiting stares and whispered remarks.
\tTai knew how it was going to go already. Once they realized that he was a quiet boy that didn’t have the guts to fight back… or the ability to even if he tried. Once everyone realized that. It was a process he’d experienced before in his young life. Several times. Bullies were predictable in a general sense; the severity and spontaneity of their behavior tended to vary, but that was about all.
\tBut of course, what did his teachers always do? Thrust him into the limelight. Made him the center of attention. “Today we have a new student!” they’d invariably proclaim, as if the others couldn’t tell there was a new kid in the room.
\tAnother extremely odd thing about Tai’s new inner city school was that they were experimenting with mixing the ages of students within classrooms, which was utterly alien to Tai. The principle was that the younger students would, aside from their own education, also pick up details and extrapolate information from the more senior students. In theory it was excellent. Unfortunately in practice it was a total nightmare that resulted in madness.
\tSure, Tai could see the second blackboard with its algebra and trigonometry and page references to apparently random books, but with the vast gap in his education, the information was totally useless – after all, there was no guarantee the older students understood it all. The younger students would completely forget the gibberish on that other board in short order. The teacher, having divided his time between the two completely unrelated curricula, was as a headless chicken running around the classroom. Her expression was one of frustration and hopelessness, and she let many students, young and old, know that she was unhappy.
\tThe senior students- of the eleventh year in Tai's class- took particular delight in making the younger students' lives hell.
\tThe average second grader could expect taunts, destruction of work and spitballs at inappropriate times.
\tThe less popular ones had to endure minor assault, theft, verbal abuse and so forth. And that was in class. Outside, Tai wondered what happened to the younger kids who dared to walk the corridors alone. It seemed everyone picked on everyone, as long as they were the same age or younger.
\tMost of the acts were perpetrated by the Baggypants Brigade (as Tai decided to call them), everyone else having been cowed into submission by the more violent hoodlums. There were indeed a few in Tai’s class of second graders that at least dressed like them, and an even larger proportion of the eleventh graders were too.
\tOne boy in particular from the eleventh grade, a wolf named Darron as Tai discovered, was definitely the worst. He swore at every opportunity, no matter how inappropriate it was, intimidated everyone every chance he got and tormented anyone he didn't like whenever he felt like it. He was the only one to specifically target Tai on his first day.
\tIn fact, it was just as Tai was being introduced by the teacher to his new classmates. He made a passing remark about how gay his name sounded. They hadn’t even seen each other at that point.
\tDarron was a wolf, but he displayed none of the qualities that the noble lupines were once known for. His fur was a stormy grey shot through with white, and his eyes were a dark amber. Though his frame was lean, he was still muscular and quite large, even for a wolf.
With everything he said or did, Darron made it very plain that he was here on sufferance.
\tUnsurprisingly, he had given himself over to the fashion trends that Tai had already begun to dislike: baggy black tracksuit pants that oddly looked rather expensive, a black shirt, and an oversized gray hooded jacket with what appeared to be silver foil highlighting an incomprehensible design on its back; it also looked expensive.
\tAs the day wore on, Tai struggled to avoid attention from anybody. It seemed possible for once: the teacher was very busy, and the classroom was in chaos. He kept quiet, trying to focus on his tedious worksheet. The background noise in the classroom was almost deafening, but the worksheet was still easy for him – he fervently prayed that none of the other kits would figure out why. Ever.
\tUnfortunately, when he was finished, the teacher chose then to notice him.
The imbecilic fennec praised him, the only second-grader to have finished his worksheet, in front of the entire class. Making sure to note he had gotten one-hundred percent correct.
Not only did that earn him another gruff remark from the other side of the classroom about how much of a fag he was, but the glares from the other second-graders were venomous. Tai wasn’t used to that. The kits here were very different.
\tWhen the day finally ended, Tai quickly snuck to the rear of the class, letting everyone else exit first. His teacher barely even acknowledged him as he waited. When he was sure he wouldn’t be caught up in the throngs of kits and teenagers eager to go home for the day, Tai made a break for it.
He ran the whole way home, still anxious of this strange new city’s streets, almost glad he actually lived near his new school and thus didn’t need to rely on the dirty yellow school-buses outside, stopping occasionally to make sure he wasn’t being followed; he really didn’t want people like Darron finding out where he lived and that he was alone most of the time, or even that he made his way home alone. His home was his bastion, his haven, the one place he really felt safe in.
\tWhen he got to the simple, gray apartment building, he began to jog the moment his feet touched the few steps into the lobby. The only time he stopped between then and when he burst through the door into his new home was when he had to stand in the elevator. His heart beating fast, he tossed down his schoolbag, locked the door, kicked off his sneakers, and padded into the kitchen in his white and black socks. Just as he was about to go shut himself in his new room, he spotted it…
\tThere was a note on the table in their den. The house was quiet. He took that to mean that his mother was out and she had left the little note for him. With some trepidation, he approached the note.
\tIt said: “Tai, honey. Gone out and won’t be home until very late. We need some groceries. There is a small store near here. I've left money next to this note and on the back I've put directions and the list. The shops will be closed tomorrow, so you must do it tonight. They’re very close, you should be safe.
\tLove, mom.”\t
\tTai gaped at the note incredulously. Had his mom gone mad?! It wasn’t unheard of for her to ask him to get some of the shopping, but that was back when they lived many miles to the North West on the outskirts of a little town, not the greasy, labyrinthine New York. This was insane!
\tStill… he had to admit, she said the stores were close. He could probably handle it.
\tWith a resigned groan, he emptied his brown school knapsack onto the floor without ceremony and slung it over his shoulders, slipping his slender arms through the straps, before bending over to pull his shoes back on.
If only he could say no, if only he could tell her why he really, really didn’t want to be made to do this… let her know that he was too scared to. If only she’d listen. But she wasn’t here, and wouldn’t listen if she was.
\tTai walked out to the unpleasant hallway again, checking his keys were still on him, and slammed the heavy apartment door. As hard as he could.
\tIt made him feel a little better.
\t
\tThe city seemed oddly dark and damp, even though it was still only four in the afternoon. An obscuring veil of smog had settled over the streets and stifled the sunlight. A pitch black cloud was creeping across the sky, preparing to dump its wet load over the city.
The streets weren’t empty, and Tai nervously scanned every fur he saw. He wasn’t used to seeing quite so many others out and about when he walked to the shops.
\tDouble checking the instructions on the back of his mother’s note, Tai was relieved to see the instructions to turn off the busier road and onto a side street.
\tIt took him some time to spot it, but he finally located the grocery store. He nearly leapt out of his skin when the bell on top of the heavy door jangled its greeting.
\tWhen his heart rate subsided, he looked around the shop. It was a small store, more of a deli. Tai liked it almost immediately. It was familiar to him – he was glad to see his mother had picked a smaller store rather than some massive place with hundreds of furs. That was what he had dreaded.
The floor was made of creaky wooden boards and the shelves were nothing more than suspended wooden planks. There were a few large refrigeration units in the centre of the store however, filled with meats, ice-cream and other frozen items. Aside from the thrum of the refrigerators the shop was silent.
\tThe whole store was no larger than Tai’s entire apartment.
\tAnd it was apparently empty.
\tTai ambled his way towards the counter at the back of the store and stood on his tip-toes—he could barely even see over the plastic counter top, which was certainly not designed with the preteen customer in mind. There was no one there… just a few more shelves with cigarettes on them and a plaid tartan curtain that didn’t seem to have any purpose.
\tHe narrowed his eyes and strained to get a little higher. There couldn’t be nobody here; it made no sense.
\tThe plaid curtain behind the counter, the one Tai thought was just for decoration at first glance, was pushed aside. A surly-looking badger with scraggly fur emerged, revealing the existence of a back-room.
\tThe badger was muttering to himself, leafing through some documents. The middle aged badger leaned idly against the counter and grumbled, searching through piles of receipts. He hadn’t noticed he had company.
\tTai, feeling a little shy, tried to catch the badger’s attention by making soft coughing noises—though he wasn’t sure he wanted the attention of this grumpy looking fur. The badger must’ve drowned out Tai’s coughing with his grumbling, because he seemed still oblivious to the kit’s presence.
\t“U-umm… excuse me sir?” Tai finally said, barely louder than a whisper.
\t“Gaagh!” cried the badger, jerking backwards and tossing the papers he was holding into the air. He clutched at his chest.
\tThat in turn frightened Tai, who shrieked and leaped away.
\tThe two of them, the little fox and the old badger stared at one another. Then the badger started to laugh gruffly.
\t“Sorry ‘bout that, kid,” he chortled, his surly face suddenly becoming much more amicable. “What can I do for ya?”
\tA wave of relief swept over Tai and he heaved a great sigh. “Umm, hi.” He showed the badger the list his mother gave him. “My mom sent me to get this stuff. Can you tell me where to find them?”
\tThe badger lifted a pair of thin-rimmed glasses to his muzzle and balanced them carefully on his nose. They didn’t seem to fit him properly. He squinted through them. “Ah, yes, we’re stocking all of these things, little lady.”
\tTai felt the skin under his facial fur suddenly burn with great intensity. “I’m a boy, sir…” He stared at his sneakers.
\t“Oh, I’m sorry, kid.” Unflustered, the badger went around the side of the counter and walked briskly over to a stack of shelves. “Here and on the other side. That’s where everything you want is. Lemme know if you need any help.”
\tTai nodded. “Thank you.”
\tThe badger grinned at him and started back towards his back-room. He paused at that tartan curtain and looked over his shoulder as the young fox he’d never seen before explored his shop. He had a strange accent to the badger’s ears. Possibly west-coast? Hard to tell. “Mmm,” he mumbled to himself. He didn’t normally like kits alone in his store, but this one seemed alright.
\tWhen the badger was gone, Tai continued to scan the shelves, fingering the canvas strap of his knapsack.
\tThe door jangled open and he managed to stop himself from spinning around to snatch a glimpse of the newcomer. As it turned out however, it wasn’t a single newcomer.
The group banged the door as they entered, talking loudly to one another. Their shod paws hit the wooden floorboards heavily, making resounding thumping noises with every steps.
\t“Hey man, check this shit!” one of the rambunctious newcomers said in that aggravating manner that was already making Tai feel nauseous every time he heard. Tai heard footsteps clomping towards the counter. It was almost as if the group was attempting to be as offensively noisy and annoying as possible. “This place has ‘em cheap as hell.”
\tTai turned around slightly just in time to catch sight of a skunk, clad in urban wear and a smirk, reach behind the counter and deftly filch six or so packs of cigarettes.
\tThe skunk noticed Tai was looking and his expression suddenly went cold. The observant kit had startled him, and he clearly didn’t like that. “What the fuck you lookin’ at?” he demanded.
\t“N-nothing!” The kit turned back to the shelves instantly.
\tHe could feel the skunk’s eyes boring into the back of his skull, but he refused to turn. He found himself holding his breath.
\tThe middle-aged badger came out from the back-room and instantly his expression grew angry.
\t“What are you boys doin’ here?” he demanded, eyeing them furiously. “I’ve told you not to come here anymore.”
\t“Chill,” a mocking voice said from behind Tai. His blood froze as he recognized the less-than-melodious voice of Darron, the wolf from school. “We’re not doin’ anything.”
\tTai stole another look over his shoulder and saw Darron, a skunk he recognized from school and he also recognized that raccoon that almost bowled him over after lunch. It didn’t really surprise him that they were all friends.
\t“You ain’t up to anything, are you?” said the badger. “No trouble from any of you.”
\t“You got it. Keep yer shit together.” Darron laughed and turned. He stopped and did a double take, a sneer spreading across his face as he recognized Tai, who was staring resolutely at the shelves.
\t“You intend to buy anything?”
\t“Naw, just thought we’d waste your time.” Darron turned to leave. “Was just letting my friend here see your low, low prices.”
\tThey all snickered.
\tTai’s stomach lurched. He couldn’t let this happen. His conscience was shrieking at him to tell the badger what he’d seen, but he knew he’d be dead if he did. If not today, then tomorrow, or sometime this week, they’d get him if he…
\tFinally, just as the door was swinging back open, Tai clenched his fists and whirled on the group.
\t“Sir, that one there stole some of your cigarettes!” he cried, pointing straight at the skunk, whose eyes widened comically in shock. Tai immediately wanted to change the past; he’d yelled his accusation about twice as loud as he meant to. Part of him wanted it to be a pathetic whisper that no-one actually heard.
\tEveryone stared at the little fox kit, dumbfounded.
\t“Y-you can’t prove shit, you little-!” the skunk declared, finally regaining his wits.
\t“Did you, Wayle?” The shopkeeper asked in a deathly quiet voice. His eyes narrowed dangerously.
\tDarron and the skunk, Wayle, started advancing on the now trembling Tai, paws held as fists. Darron was smirking, but Wayle looked furious and embarrassed.
\tThen the raccoon made a serious mistake. Blocking the store’s entrance, he dipped his paw into his oversized hooded sweater, and Tai’s heart flip-flopped in his chest. “Oh crap!” he mentally whimpered.
\tWhatever he was reaching for, Tai didn’t find out. There was a movement from behind the counter and a voice barked the simple command to not move. The four youngsters all froze immediately, slowly turning to gaze at the badger and his furious expression.
\tAnd his twelve-gauge shotgun.
\tThe terrible sound of the weapon being racked tested everyone’s bladder control.
\t“I don’t think you want to be doing that,” the shopkeeper grated. “Not in my store.”
\t“Shit!” Darron cried, spinning on his heels and powering right into the raccoon, who collapsed onto his backside. His paw flew from his sweater and a large knife was sent skittering across the floor, but the wolf didn’t even slow down.
\tFollowing Darron’s example, everyone, including Tai, who was bug-eyed with fright, bolted for the door.
\tAs one, the four of them, wolf, raccoon, skunk and fox, burst out into the side walk. They collided, tripped over one another, and fell to the concrete pavement.
\tThe door to the shop slammed shut heavily by itself and the four on the ground struggled to regain their breath and their wits.
\tDarron was the first to recover. His eyes clicked upwards, locking onto the little fox boy’s face. His features suddenly set in a snarl of fury. Immediately, he slipped a sharp bladed knife out from his baggy track-pants and lunged with his free paw towards Tai.
\tWith a startled cry, Tai hauled himself to his paws and leaped backwards. He actually felt the lupine’s claws touch his chest, lifting up the front of his t-shirt, and he narrowly avoided getting caught then and there.
\t“Come here, you little shit!!” Darron roared, his maw opening and displaying fearsome, cigarette yellowed fangs. The three teenagers all jumped to their feet and made for the fox kit, whose instincts kicked in at the last moment and he leaped agilely to the side.
\t“W-wait, please!” Tai tried to plead, backing away as all three of the older furs advanced on him.
\tThe skunk, Wayle, lunged for him, trying to grab the fox’s head-fur.
\tAgain, Tai pulled backwards. He slammed into the store’s concrete wall, winding himself.
\tThe fox looked around wildly. His last second dodge had placed him in between all three of the vicious, apparently murderous teens, and he was backed into the wall. He was surrounded. The kit’s heart was thumping ferociously in what seemed to be his ears. Darron’s paw lashed out and Tai barely managed to twist out of reach and dash past the teenager’s outstretched arm.
\tHe started sprinting off down the street as fast as he could; for the first time ever, literally running for his life.
\t“Get after that little bitch!” cried Darron, taking off after the speedy fox kit.
\tDarron was fast, nearly catching up to Tai as they went down the street. However, Tai suddenly pitched sideways and turned onto the main road, his turning circle far smaller than the longer legged teenager.
\tTai ran through the noisy yet slow traffic before running straight down the median strip. Baffled faces stared at him from the safety of expensive cars and lining the sides of buses.
\tDarron and company slowly but determinedly picked their way through the various cars and trucks, reaching the middle of the road to see their prey speeding into the distance.
\t“Don’t lose ‘im!” Wayle yelled unnecessarily as they started after him.
\tYet again, before they could catch him, Tai suddenly skidded to a stop. He hurdled a waist high traffic barrier from a standstill and ran straight towards an expansive building complex – there were dozens of furs there, and an expansive parking lot with hundreds of cars. He needed to find help. Already he was feeling a pain in his chest and his throat was scorched.
\tDarron and Wayle had no trouble leaping the low barrier and heading across the road, but the raccoon’s left foot-paw snagged on the top and he tripped headlong onto the rough bitumen.
\t“Dumbass!” Wayle cried at his friend, himself narrowly avoiding an oncoming truck. The horn-honking was nearly deafening, and there were outraged furs shouting from their cars. No one got out of their comfortable vehicles to help Tai though.
\tTheir prey had already reached the shopping mall’s side entrance, no more than two-hundred feet away. Darron put on a burst of speed, leaving his friends far behind. The sensor doors barely opened wide enough for Tai to squeeze through at a dead run, though he banged his shoulder painfully against the metal edge of the door.
\tDarron had to skid to a stop and wait for the doors to open far enough for him to squeeze through, giving his prey a split second’s further lead. He burst into the mall, snarling and swearing to himself in frustration.
\tGlancing briefly back the way he’d come, he saw Wayle ignore the entrance and continued to sprint through the parking lot.
\tBack in the mall, Tai neatly skipped onto and over a small wooden bench occupied by two old aardvarks and landed just as neatly on the other side. Darron had to slow down yet again to get around the bench, which he wasn’t sure he could jump without falling right over the startled old couple.
\tHis little paws pounding hard on the floor, Tai saw two paths; he could head down a service corridor and hide in the toilets that were advertised by the sign on the roof, or he could keep going and hope someone would help him eventually.
\tSomething told him hiding in the toilets wouldn’t work. He’d have to come out, and Darron would be waiting—Tai did not hold much hope for the idea of someone intervening and saving his neck. So the young fox kept running. There were many furs around him, but he didn’t trust a single one to come to his aid.
\tIt was so difficult to breathe; he doubted he could cry for help.
\tHe saw the ‘wet floor’ sign propped against a bench just in time and gasped. He tried to lock his feet and stop, but he was already on the slippery surface almost slipped. Panicked, he tried to walk on, shortening his steps and progressing slowly.
\tDarron caught up, ignoring the warning sign. He extended his paw. “Come here, bitch!” he growled before his legs suddenly seemed to repulse one another like magnets and he slammed face first onto the floor.
\tTai’s sneakers encountered traction abruptly and he was thrown to the floor, where a quick roll prevented skinned knees. He took one look at Darron, gingerly lifting himself back up, and bolted once again.
\tThe kit tore into a fruit store, with Darron somehow back on his tail again. The teenager was incredibly tenacious.
\tAn overweight tiger stepped backwards in shock as Tai ripped straight past her. The feline accidentally struck a shelf and littered the floor with apples.
\t“Stupid kid!” she growled, shaking her fist at Tai.
\t“Sorry, ma’am!” cried Tai over his shoulder, feeling compelled to apologize in some way.
\t“Oh, shit!” shrieked Darron before his legs suddenly flew into the air and he was planted firmly on his backside once again, courtesy of a rogue apple. He let out a nasty bark of pain.
\tWithout waiting for his pursuer, Tai exited the store hastily, too scared to laugh. The other patrons of the store found it slightly funny though. At least until Darron shoved one of them viciously out of his way and continued the chase.
\tThe fox ran up the escalator, squeezing through the throng of furs, and finally burst back outside on the top floor car park. He stopped and started panting, head bowed. He briefly wondered where the hell he was going; this was a dead end, it seemed. He scanned the signs: there was one saying “Street Exit”. It made no sense to Tai- a street exit from the roof parking- but he didn’t care! That was his exit.
\tHe cast a glance back at the glass doors he’d just came through and saw that Darron had already caught up, glowering at him with extreme loathing.
\tThen he turned to the car park exit, paws pounding the concrete, seeking a way out. When he finally noticed the ramp leading down, and tried to make his way to it, it was too late. He froze as Wayle briskly sauntered into view, coming up the ramp.
\tWayle upped the pace. As he passed a snake of stacked shopping carts, he grabbed them and shoved them hard. The huge metal snake, connected by elastic ropes, didn’t break; instead it swung out and neatly blocked the ramp. The skunk strode purposefully towards the petrified fox.
\tTai’s eyes shot wide and he looked around frantically. He was screwed; the teens just knew the area too well.
\tThe glass doors slid open quickly and Darron limped outside. “Yeah!” he taunted, baring his yellowed teeth. He drew his knife. “Nowhere to go now, huh?”
\tTai was still looking around like a terrified feral animal, ears perked and fur on end. The street exit was blocked by the trolleys and he couldn’t jump over them, even if he got around Wayle.
\tBack into the shopping mall? The doors were too narrow; Darron would snag him easily. He didn’t even want to consider what would happen next.
\tWhen Tai’s eyes fell on the concrete barrier at the edge of the roof, in place to prevent people falling to the lower level car parks, he knew there was no other way, except maybe in an ambulance. He regarded Darron’s snarl with horrified eyes; either way, he was screwed.
\tTai had no clue where the idea had come from, and in normal circumstances he’d have considered it insane. But these were not normal circumstances. He couldn’t just let these teenagers do what they wanted, surrender the way he usually did – they could kill him.
\tHe turned on his heels and bolted straight at the barrier. At the last second he leaped up onto it and kicked off.
\t“Holy shit!” Wayle cried, sprinting to the edge. “He’s crazy!! The kid is fucking crazy!”
\tThe kit had misjudged how high he was. With a scream, he fell over a dozen feet to the lower level. Even though the fall lasted less than a second, he automatically scrunched his eyes shut.
There was a resounding, bone-jacking bang, and Tai forced his eyes open just in time to see an explosion of toiletries, cereal and more, flying high into the sky to and raining down all over the parking lot.
He had landed in a shopping cart. He looked around wildly, winded. An old mouse was staring at him in utter horror.
\tTai thrashed about, struggling to get out of the cart. For some reason, his body didn’t respond well, and the cart was absolutely packed with destroyed shopping.
\t“Get out! Get out!!” The old mouse was squealing. She started flailing at Tai with her handbag, which wasn’t helping at all.
\t“W-wait, stop!” he pleaded, trying to fend off sallies of handbag blows.
\tWith a desperate twist, the little fox pulled himself out of the cart and collapsed to the floor in a heap.
\tStill in shock, the elderly rodent scooted away, pushing her cart away from the distressed fox child.
\tTai couldn’t see his pursuers, but he knew with near-certainty that they were rushing back downstairs to continue the chase, so he scrambled to his feet. Rattled badly and in shock himself, he struggled to stand.
\tThe moment the young fox put weight on his left ankle he collapsed heavily to his side, banging his elbow on the blacktop. He screamed as the most searing pain he had ever experienced ripped through his leg. He toppled onto his hands and knees, the sheer agony blinding him briefly. It didn’t stop – it only got worse.
\tAll he could do was scream some more.
\tHow was he gonna get away with… he didn’t even want to consider that he might have snapped it! He could not have broken his ankle!
The pain was unbearable… but fear drove him on… he had to move!

\t“Shit, we have to get down there!” Wayle cried, turning and sprinting for the entrance to the mall. “He could be-!”
\tHe slammed hard into a huge, immovable object and collapsed onto his black and white tail.  
\tWayle slowly looked up, raising his eyes slowly. He’d just crashed into a six and a half foot lion with a ferocious face and sporting a very inauspicious uniform.
\tIt was a cop.
\tDarron tried to run, but was tackled to the ground by an athletic leopard.
\t“Darron and Wayle,” rumbled the lion, glowering at them. “Never would’ve guessed.”
\tThe leopard slapped handcuffs onto Darron’s thick wrists and hoisted him off the floor. Despite their predicament, Darron was arrogantly calm. He didn’t resist. “You’ve been told before to stay out of here,” he said coolly. “You’re in deeper shit than ever before. Drawing a knife on a little kid, thievery, disturbing the peace, assault? Great stories to tell your bum-buds in prison, huh?”
\t“You’d know all about bum-buddies, Officer Dick!” Darron squirmed around and spat full into the officer’s face.
\tThe leopard absently wiped it off, but his face had grown livid.
\t“Cool it,” the lion told him, having restrained Wayle.
\t“I can’t wait until he’s behind bars,” Richards growled. “I think he can’t either. For all his talk of gay cops, he’s the one in a hurry to get into those prison showers.”
\tRichards mockingly read the two their rights- even though he was certain they’d heard it enough already.
\t“Weapons offences, three counts of assault, about a ton of damage,” the leopard was counting them off on his paw as the two pseudo gangsters tried to leer threateningly at him, although they weren’t very intimidating in their present state. “Hope you didn’t think those trolleys were cheap. Assaulting a cop, concealed weapons, attempted assault with intent to-”
\t“Wait!” The lion suddenly said. “Where’s that kid you were chasing? The fox?”
\tDarron smirked. “Dunno. Probably dead. The little shit took a trip off the roof.”
\t“You threw him off?!” The lion demanded, appalled.
\t“What are you crazy?!” Wayle said shrilly. He eyed his lupine friend in shock. “H-he jumped. The fuckin’ little maniac jumped. We weren’t gonna hurt him, just scare him a bit. We didn’t know he was going to jump!”
\tThe lion called them something that doesn’t bear repeating and took off.

\tTai stumbled a few more steps on one leg then fell to the ground once more, the pain over-riding the fear and he knew he couldn’t press on. He knew now where he got the injury. He’d smacked it off the metal edge of the shopping cart; he could already see bleeding under the skin when he gingerly he lifted his pants and parted the fur; an uneven line of deep bluish-purple that seemed to be slowly widening. A terrible bruise the likes of which he’d never seen before.
\tTears flooded his green eyes, obscuring his sight and he just gave up there and then, surrounded by a small group of staring furs. Not one of them lifted a paw to help him, they just gawped stupidly at him.
\tHis paws clenched into fists and he bit deep into his lip.
\tHe hated them. All of them! He hated every last stinking one of them. Some walked right past, intentionally diverting their gaze. Some just looked at him curiously. But none made any move to aid him. He didn’t know why…
\tThe little fox curled into a ball and lay on the bitumen, sobbing quietly. He hated this city. He hated everyone in it. This was just his third day of being here and this had happened to him. If Darron and his friends wanted to beat him up, they could do it. He didn’t care anymore!
\t“Hey!” a loud voice called. Tai could hear heavy footfalls and he knew someone was coming close. He half expected to be trodden on.
\tThen someone was at his side. Touching his arm.
\t“Are you alright?” a deep voice was asking.
\tTai couldn’t even breathe properly to reply, so he just lay there, cradling his leg and crying.
\tThe deep voice rumbled quietly. “Can’t believe they just left you here… come on. Got to get you to the hospital, okay?”
\tTai was suddenly scooped up like a doll and he felt himself being carried away. Whoever it was that had picked him up was even kind enough to avoid hurting his leg any more.
\tExhausted, hurting and scared, Tai didn’t try to struggle…

\tDarron and Wayle were taken to the police station in another car, but Richards and his partner, the leonine Jameson, gave the injured fox pup a ride in their patrol car.
\tOfficer Jameson sat in the back alongside the kit; which he vaguely remembered he wasn’t meant to do. “Are you alright?” he asked.
\tThe little one had huddled up against the door and was still sobbing softly. He’d been hurt badly and scared witless, and he didn’t seem inclined to really trust even the ones who tried to help him. His leg was propped up sideways on the back chair and sudden movements sent a frazzle of pain up his leg. “Y-yes, sir…” he replied weakly, exhausted.
\tThe cop was worried. This little kit was breathing shallowly and his ankle was obviously damaged. The terrified boy hadn’t let them touch it or even get a look at it. There was no way he was alright.
\t“How did you know where I was?” asked the kit suddenly. He’d barely spoken since they’d picked him off the floor, but as his crying subsided he’d become slightly more talkative. Which was good, because he was yet to tell them his name. “I didn’t call anyone.”
\t“We’d had a few descriptions from people in the mall,” replied Richards, not taking his eyes off the road as he tried to navigate the mall’s labyrinthine parking lot. “You’re kinda easy to see.”
\t“I-I am?”
\t“Never seen a tawny fox before.” The car suddenly jolted to a stop, and Tai was thrust forward in the seat. “Geez, damn! Watch where you’re going, lady!”
“We had reports of a ‘little fox-girl’ being chased through the mall, while we were eating lunch at the food court,” Jameson took over. He coughed. “Oh. I mean, we can tell you’re not a girl.”
\tThe fox pup smiled wanly. “It’s okay.”
\tRichards looked out the side window as they pulled out onto the road and whistled. “You jumped off that?”
\tThe kit lowered his eyes again. He shifted slightly and winced, clearly fighting the urge to cry some more.
\t“We’re gonna take you to the hospital for that,” Jameson said. “Do you know a way for us to contact your mother or father?” The fox pup shook his head. “Any siblings we can contact?” He shook his head again. “Well, why don’t you tell me where you live and I’ll go there after we drop you off?”
\t“My mother is out at work for the day. I have my own keys.”
\tJameson frowned. “So, she just left you alone? All night?”
\tSuddenly, the fox looked up and his eyes were wary. Even slightly scared. “No, my, uh, neighbors look after me,” he lied awkwardly. “Mom’ll be back later tonight.”
\t“So, why don’t you tell me where your neighbors live, and I’ll get them to pass it on?” Jameson said softly.
\t“I-I’d rather you didn’t.” The fox boy shook his head.
\t“We have to. Unless you can tell us why we shouldn’t?”
\tThe boy told him reluctantly and suddenly fell quiet. He sat there, staring at his injured paw, ears limp.
\t“We won’t call social services, kid,” the lion told him after a minute, unable to bear the silence. “You won’t get in trouble. I don’t know why you were involved with Darron and his friends, but I won’t involve the S.S. lightly.”
\tThe fox suddenly giggled. “The ’S.S.’?” he chortled. “Isn’t that the Storm Troopers?”
\t“You mean from the human empire? Into ancient history are you?”
\t“Yes sir.”
\t“What’s your name anyway, kid?” The lion extended a paw. “My name is Mark. Mark Jameson.”
\t“Um, Tai.” The pup shook the paw hesitantly.
\t“What, no second name?”
\t“I can’t pronounce it.” Tai looked away shyly.
\tJameson laughed. “Alright, that’s fair enough, we’ll figure it out sooner or later. So, Tai, do you want to talk about anything?”
\tThe little fox blinked. “Like what, sir?”
\tThe lion shrugged, his big russet mane dancing around his head. “I dunno. Whatever you want. But you can stop calling me ‘sir’. I’m only twenty-five; my partner there has twelve years on me.”
\tTai smiled. “Okay. Do you like history?”
\t“I studied it in college for a year, actually,” responded Jameson. “Didn’t do too well.”
\tAfter a moment, the kit smiled and sat up straighter.
\tRichards piped up from the front seat as the patrol car finally emerged out onto the main road. “Mark, if you complain about this later on, I’ll pour beer all over your head,” he deadpanned, still watching the road. “And I mean a lot of beer. You have to deal with it.”
\t“What?” the little fox asked, looking from the lion to the leopard with innocent curiosity. “Deal with what?”
\t“You were saying?” prompted Jameson smoothly.

Chapter Three – Fin.

-- By Krazy Kitsune/Kichigai Kitsune
Copyright 2005 onwards.

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