FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Ken wasn't sure how long he'd been lying here, awake. There wasn't even a trickle of light creeping in from behind the blinds. The ceiling, as distant as the stars in the heavens, was so dark it might as well have been the night sky. He certainly couldn't tell the difference without his glasses on. There wasn't anything to make out anyway, he bet. Nothing but some bland white plaster. He was fairly certain he'd fallen asleep a couple times, not that he remembered being tired enough to. Maybe he hadn't slept. He could believe that too. It should have been easy, being on such a big pillow by himself. Gawking about the vast and vacant bed's landscape gave him a feeling like no other. One that was entirely new and still viscerally familiar. He had felt weak, powerless, blind, empty, and lonely, but never this. Never so... small.

He had known he was little, but talking with other students and teachers, tutoring Rufu, taking classes, and walking to school, it had all just been normal. Out of his mech or in someone else's hands, he'd never felt quite so helpless.

Even yesterday, after Rufu had carried him away, he'd tried to follow his parents' advice and apologize to her. It wasn't like he wouldn't mean it either. He couldn't deny the truth anymore. Her parents were monsters. Even then, she barely responded to anything he said, as if she wasn't listening. Maybe the damage was already done. Maybe the time to apologize had come and gone, and he missed it. Maybe.

He sighed. Their last date felt like ancient history, even though it had only been a few days. Or had it? Had he lost track of time? Ken reached over himself to grab his yutri. Holding it up to his face, pale light from it lit up a small portion of the room. He couldn't make out the numbers. Too blurry. "Gaagh, fuu..."

He was too tired to even finish swearing. Setting the device down, the human fumbled and groped in the dark until he felt the case for his glasses. Clicking it open, he took the frames out, and unfolded them to set upon his face. Then he grabbed his yutri again and held it close. Five in the morning. It was only three o'clock? His arm thumped back to the bed, slapping the yutri down. Staring up, the ceiling wasn't much clearer than it had been before. Maybe worse. It was too far away for his prescription.

The frown that settled on his face was heavy. Rufu said she loved him, but now he wasn't so sure. He meant it, but did she? Everything he did managed to upset her now. His parents' advice rang in his head again, and come to think of it, she always preferred when he spoke his mind before. They had to talk. Today.

Thumping resounded down the hall outside made Ken furrow his brow. Pushing himself to sit upright, he watched the door with a feverish anxiety. This seemed far too early for them to be up and about. He had to check the time again. Five. When did it become five? Still, since when were they crawling around at--

The doorknob turned, and the room was awash with light. Ken's poor eyes nearly burst from the intensity. All he saw was white, transmogrifying into flickering red-blue stars, until that slowly gave way to the last thing he wanted to see: a grumpy, early morning Mildraff. She was dragging her paws into the room, spine drooping, fur spiking and sagging in her spotted night clothes. As she dragged her dreary glare down to him, she lumbered over his bed. The way her shadow sucked the new light out of view made Ken try to scramble away; a futile effort. Her hand rushed towards him like a train, fingers splayed, and his lungs pleaded for breath. The heavy digits curled around him. His arms were pinned. He was entombed in her fist, pressed wholly into her palm pad, and could hear nothing but his own rushing blood. He was hers.

~~

Rufu sat at her desk chair staring at the duffel bag on the floor. It was half full of clothes, packed neat and tidy. She wasn't sure what she was doing, but she had gone the whole night without sleep. Her mother had lost her job! It had taken its sweet time to sink in after the incident in the dining room, but Mildraff had been out of a job for several days now. With no plans, and nothing else lined up, she'd just been sitting around! As far as Rufu knew, her mother hadn't even tried filing for unemployment yet. How were they going to pay for food? The bills? The house?!

The teenager rested her face in her hands with a groan, rubbing it. What would she do? Loath as she was to admit, she depended on them. She lived in their home. She ate their food. If her mother wasn't making any money, then their future was going to be dire. Dad didn't want to suffer the indignity of cooking anything people other than himself wanted, and who knew if any other job would have her mother. Herself though? She did have her fighting skills, but who would take her on those alone? She had her much-improved grades...and a bucket load of species stereotypes to keep her from dreaming too big with them. No hobbies to monetize, either. What would she do, knit for a living? None but the most desperate of professional rings would take in someone like her. So young and inexperienced, so feral and full of self doubt, drilling those same platitudes they told the beginners into her head just so she didn't tear some dull-hooved scrub's arm from its socket on accident.

She snarled. The thought of them rejecting her out of hand for those reasons was feeling more and more like a sick joke. Fighting was in her nature and damn her attempts to quell it. It was the one shred of her 'heritage' she had any affection for. What did that make her, then? An automaton following its biological compass like they wanted her to be? She'd rather die! She did it because she enjoyed it. Taming, controlling, mastering, overcoming. If her body was a weapon, then she was the one at the helm. She wasn't an animal. She wasn't them. Wasn't Mildraff. They shared blood and blood only.

"Wait a minute."

Blood? Like the kind Mildraff couldn't even look at when she clawed Arkebo's cheek? Every day she yammered on about being a 'real asishi' and how many wimps and losers she'd beaten in her glory days, but Miss Real-Asishi runs to the sink at the first sign of blood? Some role model. 'Real asishi' wouldn't be bothered by that. Most humans wouldn't be bothered by that. It was like someone too afraid to have an electric fireplace telling firefighters to toughen up. The girl at practice who ate hay every lunch had more stomach than her!

Then again, she had to consider, was she herself much different? She still caved and intimidated Arkebo into submission, even after so many years spent reigning herself in. It was disgusting. The same thing her mother did all the time. Mildraff always swore it was natural, and that Rufu should take what she wanted. As long as what she wanted lined up with what her mother wanted. That was the trouble, though, wasn't it? What did she want? Freedom? From what, them? The half-packed bag was becoming a more intimidating sight by the second. From being an asishi? Fat chance of that. What about Ken? She wanted Ken safe, yes. So why did she leave him alone again?!

Her frustration came to a boil, and she screeched to high heaven, smacking her palms to her head in protest to her own stupidity. She left him at her parents' mercy. Again! They could come in and grab him any second. Her special little guy. Her smart, sweet Kenny. He needed her. So why? Was it her? Was it him? What sickness had infected him and made him turn away from her? Why--

She lost her breath. Her arms lost all feeling. This whole place stank. Her mother stank, her father stank, and she and Ken were starting to stink like them too. With that thought, her legs and back came to life. Fresh blood flowed to her head and washed her mind clean, and she stood. Rest would come when she was worthy of it. Right now, she needed a change of clothes, some morning exercise, and some calories before she passed out. The day was young, so in that moment, she promised herself that the day would be hers. She was not in the mood to lie to herself.

~~

It was a little odd, Ken thought, how he had become so used to sitting on hard surfaces lately. His legs folded up in a tight circle on the wood 'floor.' He slouched forward to brace his arms on them, making up for the lack of back support. The Arkessens' living room lounge table was an increasingly familiar discomfort; just one more checkmark on the ever growing list of reasons why coming here was a terrible idea. Even Rufu didn't make things much better.

The family's cruddy, dated display was playing a commercial for some new fur-care product from Lupin - the lupari home world. They were using humans to test softness before and after. Ken wasn't sure how accurate a measurement that could possibly give. All non-humans were pretty soft to touch, and he was sure another lupari would know better. He was a tad jealous, he admitted to himself. If playing with fur in commercials was a viable career path, then boy, was he missing out. Strange. When was the last time he did something similar with Rufu? It couldn't have been that long ago, surely. She was right there, anyway. Sitting on the opposite end of the couch behind him. It was maybe a valen between them, but the gulf from the edge of the coffee table to the side of the couch felt like the Grand Canyon to him right then.

He thought, for a moment, that Rufu was watching the display, but after a little while it registered that her eyes were on him. She was watching him. He had to tell her about being grabbed, though the memory made him swallow and shudder. Rufu's shoulders slumped and she turned her attention to the display. She had caught him shuddering. Shit, shit! "R-R-Rufu--"

A groan echoed through the house, cutting him off. Mildraff, angry and exhausted. She was trying to find a new job, and the calls must not have been going well. Ken bit his lip and quietly turned his attention back to the show, as the commercials ended. It was a favorite of theirs, Void Ops. The show followed the story of a small fictional spec-ops squad in the United Armed Forces that consisted of several different species, often wrapped up in internal affairs. Rufu always enjoyed the action, while he liked the dedication to real strategy and, admittedly, a bit of the drama. Even after fifty years running and recasts galore, the show was still ploughing ahead. Ken guessed it was just hard to grow tired of a classic like this. There was always a real, if small comforting feeling about it being there, like the showers he took after the workouts he and Rufu did together.

The current episode seemed to be one of the few lighter toned ones. The various members of the squad were incorrectly remembering past missions, making for a clip show that was actually humorous, as they redid scenes from past episodes by spoofing themselves. He half-wondered if some of these were bloopers, until it cut to a clip from a showdown with a rynar terrorist where all of the squad were suddenly dressed in bright, color-coded spandex and doing ridiculous choreographed poses. The rainbow explosion going off in the background put Ken over the edge. He cracked up and couldn't stop. However, he was laughing alone, and nobody was laughing after he realized that.

As his guffaws quieted to awkward chuckles and then to silence, a lone glance towards Rufu told him she was thoroughly unamused. No smile, not even a quirk of her lip. His face fell. Something was bothering her. She almost definitely misunderstood his shuddering earlier, but, even if it wasn't that, any number of things to pick from might have been trawling around in her mind. He opened his mouth, right and ready to cut through the bullshit, only to be overpowered by a furious yowl and the clunky, weighty slam of plastic. Ken's mouth shut again. Rufu, on the other hand had noticed and leaned forward in her seat. "Kenny, what were you going to say?"

At the open invite he started again. "R-Rufu wha-what's wr--"

"Yeah?! Well you can LICK my FILTHY TAINT, you fleabitten mongrel!"

Mildraff was louder by the minute. Rufu eyed the ceiling angrily as her mane bristled. Swallowing his nerves, the young man finished, "...wrong?"

His girlfriend looked back down at him in confusion, her expression uncomprehending. She didn't put it together. He shook his head. "N-n-nevermind."

With that, it was back to watching Void Ops for him. Rufu leaned a little closer, looming over him from behind.

"Kenny--"

"Maybe this place will have some sense," Mildraff growled.

Rufu rumbled like an engine, before lapsing into silence herself. Ken saw her shadow recede from over him, and could hear her claws kneading at the carpet below. Remembering the unfriendly spears on the ends of the digits that had snatched him this morning made him queasy. The show. The show. He had to focus on the show. Maybe it would help him forget. The human squad member had been asked by his guardian, a lupari, predictably, how he remembered the missions in question after he had smarted off to the others. The camera switched to paws-eye-view, staring up at the other squad members, unable to see over their waists like a human on the floor. Their words were replaced by odd sounds, like trumpets with a cap over them. What came through was a 'wah wah' noise in place of words.

"I feel like I've seen that gag somewhere before..." Ken muttered.

"Hmm?" Rufu grunted.

"Oh, ah, just seems famil--"

"You better hope I don't find out where you live you flat toothed, declawed, vegetable eating FILTH!"

Ken's shoulders slumped. If that was how she acted then no wonder she couldn't find a job. At least she didn't work with humans, he was grateful for that. The way she had just grabbed him out of nowhere? That was the kind of nightmare scenario he had only seen in fiction: TV villain stuff. Focus, Ken. Don't think about it.

"Mrr..." Rufu growled. She was shuffling uncomfortably. Her agitation would be easy to read even if he didn't know her. How could he help, though, when he seemed to be the source of so much distress for her? Speak up!

"Loud, i-i-isn't she?"

Rufu's eyes flickered from the display to him. "I-" she began.

"Hello, yes! Match-Nodalds? Did I say that right? Are you hiring?"

Rufu scowled and settled with, "You'll go deaf," before she stared off in another direction.

After that, it was tough not to choke on the lump in his throat. He brought his gaze down to the table beneath him as his fingers fidgeted with each other. There had to be a way to break through this ice. He licked his lips and tried to swallow, but that lump was still there. "M...m-m-"

"What's with you and them?" Rufu abruptly asked.

Ken turned his head back up to meet his girlfriend's gaze. His brow furrowed, and he shook his head. He couldn't make heads or tails of what she was asking. "M-me and...who?" he blurted.

The asishi sighed, "You and my p--"

"What did you just call me, you little insect? If I ever see you I'm tearing that lump of scrap you call a mech a new asshole, AND GUESS WHERE I'M SHOVING YOU!"

Ken barely had a second to register the building growl in Rufu's throat, before she slammed her hands on the table. The impact bounced him on the wood, and he scrambled away from her on instinct until his hand grasped at nothing, the edge of the table forcing him to stop.

"CAN I NOT JUST HAVE SOME PEACE AND QUIET FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE?!" Rufu roared, teeth bared.

For one dreadful moment, she sat there, boiling in fury, and Ken could do nothing but watch. Instincts he'd thought long dead began begging him to run. Rufu had him in her sights. Her lips slowly fell over her teeth again. Her ears and mane folded back down, and her mouth opened and closed a few times until pawsteps and another voice intruded.

"If you want some peace come give me a hand in the yard."

Arkebo was standing there, tail thrashing about and clearly agitated. He was not a pretty sight. Bandage strips covered his right cheek, mud crawled from his boots to his shorts like crumbling, brown leggings, and a scowl was stuck on his muzzle.

"It's a mess out there," he confessed, "and at least we won't be able to hear her."

Rufu had turned back towards Ken. In the quiet, he started seeing the sadness in her every move, She hadn't meant to scare him. He didn't want to be left alone in this home again. "D-don--"

He barely squeaked out a sound before another of Mildraff's screams came in and drowned it out. "WHY IS EVERYONE ON THIS PLANET SO DAMN USELESS?!"

Rufu's powerful form trembled and she stood, saying only one word. "Fine."

Then she was gone. Again.

~~

If there was one thing Rufu hated more than any of the other chores that needed doing around the house, it was raking. The trees in their yard didn't die in the winter, no. They stayed active and alive, which meant that leaves were not a seasonal problem to deal with. These overgrown twigs lost their leaves all year long, and never, ever, did her parents opt for an easy way to handle them. A mulcher? Too expensive, they said. A leaf blower? Sure, they would have to blow them all out into the street, but that kind of brazen rudeness wouldn't be anything new for her parents anyway. Again, though, it was more money they weren't willing to spend. Gather them all up into one big pile and light the little bastards on fire? Okay, that one was a fire hazard, but it probably beat them having to rake and bag all the leaves for the garbage to pick up. Long and exhausting work. It was not as if Rufu didn't have the strength or energy for it, but the task was so monotonous. She had done this so many times growing up that she would be quite happy if their trees keeled over and died. These two didn't deserve them anyway.

"Come on, you can go faster than that!" Arkebo barked.

Topping off the entire thing, she had to deal with him. Looking up from the leaves she was diligently raking together, she saw her father standing beside a half-filled industrial garbage bag, a box full of more bags by his paws. If he thought that it could be done so much better, then why didn't he do it himself? That was a thought she had to keep locked in her head. She didn't need a repeat of yesterday.

She steadily gathered the leaves together into a pile almost as high as her knee. A bag ruffled in front of her, tingling her ears, leading her to see her father holding it open. "Alright, alright! That's enough! You don't want to overstuff the bag, musclehead!" he reprimanded.

Rufu grit her teeth, holding back a growl and dropping the rake off to her side. From there, she bent down and scooped up a portion of the leaf pile with her bare hands -gloves weren't worth the cash- and heaved it up into the bag. Over and over she repeated this, trying to gather up every last leaf in the pile, until the bag began rustling again. She darted upright to see her father was tying it closed. Her shoulders slumped, and her ears hung to the sides of her head. As he struggled, growling and groaning, to tie the ends of the bag together in a tight knot, she dropped the leaves back to the ground. Arkebo stepped back from the bag, panting. "Alright, haul that off to the curb," he ordered.

Rufu snatched the top of the large black garbage bag and hoisted it up, scowling. Her arm bulged a bit, which surprised her. The weight of the leaves stacked up. She had no doubt that what she held in her hands could topple a human building, but she'd tossed a neishor before. This was nothing. She could hear her father shout, "And hurry back!" while she was stomping off to the curb.

The fleeting thought of clubbing him with the bag of leaves almost made her smile, but the violent urge just tugged her frown down deeper in the end. She had to be better than them. By the time she'd dropped it off and made her way back, Arkebo had a new one open and waiting in his hands. "Took you long enough," he chided.

Her fingers curled up tight and tense. That self-satisfied fake casualness, it was a sheer powerplay, nothing less. She was starting to think this was revenge for yesterday. Silently, she made for the rake, but as she was bending down her father cut in again. "Hey! Finish with the pile you already made!"

Rufu glared at him over her shoulder before returning to the leaves she'd dropped and scattered. The thought came again -club him across the face, that'd be fun- before she obediently gathered the leaves back up with her hands.

"Honestly, you'd think we raised you with a better work ethic!" Arkebo sneered. "You would have a man like me by now if you did. Little miss single."

Of all the banal, disgusting- Deep breaths. Stay calm. Discipline. Do not bend in the face of adversity. This was testing her more than she thought, but after she had dumped all the collected leaves into the bag, she once again returned to the rake. Then she began to pile the leaves up again. The summer sun already had her paw pads sweating. The humid air was making her sluggish, and her very fur betrayed her by collecting heat. Time for the old Bubba special. She opened her mouth to pant like a lupari.

"Stick that thing back in your mouth! We do not do that!" Her jaw clenched shut, and her mane fluffed up partway. Her father's jagged, toothy snarl came out full-force, "Hmmph. You look ridiculous. Start acting like your species before you attract more 'friends' like that human."

"He has a name," Rufu finally answered back.

"Who does?" Arkebo asked.

She glared at him. "You know who. Now say it!"

Arkebo rolled his tongue in his cheeks, an old way of saying, 'whatever.' "Ben, sorry." He did not sound sorry. "But honestly, why are you friends with him? Isn't he just your tutor?"

She knew better than to answer that. She just kept raking. Arkebo's brain, what little of it there was, finally seemed to be kicking into gear, as he curiously asked, "Why would your tutor stow away in your backpack to follow you home?"

She kept her mouth shut and finished raking together a new pile of leaves, as tall as the last. Rufu hoped ignoring the question would bore him enough that he dropped the topic. Unfortunately, once she gathered a bunch of leaves in her hands, her father closed the bag, preventing her from depositing them. "Rufu Arkessen, answer my question."

Her instincts railed at the gall of the male, and she growled. Arkebo took a step back, ears suddenly alert. Still, he pressed. "Why would anyone do something so stupid for you?"

Rufu's mane stood upright, sticking out the back of her clothes once more. She trembled trying to contain her anger. Anger at herself for missing the answer to that question for so long, when it was so, so obvious. Discipline. She tried to remember it. Control. She couldn't snap. Not again. Arkebo hunkered down, and his eyes ricocheted everywhere but at her. He cleared his throat. "Ahum...m-maybe Ben could answer my question instead?"

"KEN!" Rufu yelled. "His name. Is. KEN!"

Dropping the leaves, she snatched her father up by the collar. His paws scrambled in the air, unable to find purchase. He grabbed at her hands but was unable to budge their steely grip. "W-what?!" he yelped as he squirmed helplessly in his daughter's grasp.

"His name is Kenneth Drummond, and if I ever hear you mess it up again then I'll rip out your teeth, and shove them down your throat with one of your greasy faloofas. UNDERSTAND?!"

"A-a-a-a-a-a-alrightalrightalright!" HisnameisKen, hisnameisKen!" Arkebo sputtered.

Callously, Rufu dropped her father onto the dirt, and stormed towards the front door. She was tired. It was hot. She stunk, and she really didn't care what her parents had to say about taking a shower anymore.

~~

"You nasally little tail-tugger! Put your boss on right now before I- Hey! You are not going to hang up on me--"

Ken had stuck his fingers in his ears for so long they were starting to ache. So much shouting. Through the walls, over his shoulder. He could scarcely believe he had enough willpower to stop himself from crawling behind a book and hiding. He'd have preferred it, really, but hiding from them meant hiding from Rufu too. Then again, maybe he was just here for his own pride. The lines were blurring on that front.

"RAAAAHH!"

Mildraff bellowed, and something tore. The sound was like crumbling brick at a construction site in both tone and tenor. Then, vibrations and tremors ominously ran through the table, and shook his very bones. Mildraff's footsteps. Sweat rolled down his brow. The possibility of her taking her inadequacies out on him seemed eerily real.

"Ingrates. Mongrels! VERMIN!"

Ken could feel wind rush over him. Something was coming, flying through the air to land right on top of him. He was breathless, dumbstruck, as his limbs acted on their own and carried him to the edge of the table, as far from where he had been sitting as they could go. Her yutri and charger, complete with the single story outlet the device had been plugged into, landed with a horrifying crash right where he once was. The forsaken thing had missed him, but plaster debris flaked off and smattered him regardless. The scratches it left on the table ran deep. Those long white smears could have been red if he hadn't moved. Before he could collect himself, Mildraff flopped down onto the couch, and all but kicked the table in her frustration. Ken went sliding back across the hard wood surface, his innards lurching from the sudden movement.

"My stomach..." he moaned, hugging his belly. His vision swam as he tried to right himself. His guts felt like mush. She'd launched him twenty feet across the table without even knowing; who knew what else she would do? If only he'd talked to mom and dad for longer. Last night might have been the last time he would see them, and he just didn't know it yet.

For a moment, the only sound filling his ears was Mildraff's heavy breathing and the show on the display. Ken cautiously, as if moving any faster would draw her attention, sat back up. He watched that crazy asishi, ignoring all else. She wasn't looking at him, though. Instead, she snarled at the show.

"What is this garbage?" she muttered. "Can't believe this old junk is still on the air."

He was not surprised that she had shitty taste in media too. Everything about her was shit. Everything about this family except Rufu was a giant pile of rynar dung. Mildraff finally took notice of him, and he froze stiff.

"You watching this trash?" the asishi asked, even as she snatched the remote and started flipping through channels.

Why yes. I am. Bitch, he wanted to say, but he knew better than to voice it. Mildraff wasn't finished yet, it seemed. "Hmph, must be nice. Being able to just sit and watch whatever you want all day. Play games. Practice being 'cute,' or whatever you little hukars do. Yep, not working a day. That's the life."

It took every ounce of effort he had to hold his scowl at bay, but he kept his face passive. Even so, he couldn't stop himself from correcting her. "I-I do have a job."

A mocking asishi laugh ripped loud and proud out of Mildraff's throat. "School doesn't count as work."

"I deliver packages. It's part-t-time, but it's work." Ken did his best to keep his voice level.

"Pff, part-time...good luck finding a real job, you little insect. No way you'd last five days busting your teeny tiny ass like a real woman."

She kicked her legs up and rested her paws on the table before him. A wall of festering stink washed over the human, forcing Ken to cough and sputter. He dragged himself to his feet and walked to the far end of the table to gain some space. That asishi, she wasn't even pretending to have done that on accident. He wouldn't let her do this to him.

Pointedly, he sat down with his back to her, facing the display and that annoying political talk show she seemed to like. "Hmph, anyone ever teach you manners?" Mildraff grumbled.

Ken wanted to ask her the same thing, but he wasn't stupid enough to do it. He stayed silent, but that only seemed to mat the asishi's fur more. "Hey! What do you know about my daughter?" she asked. "You're friends, aren't you? Anything she's up to?"

Ken squinted over his shoulder at her. "What?"

Mildraff growled. "What is she up to? She never tells us anything unless we drag it out of her. If her grades are so good now, what are her prospects?"

"Y-you mean she doesn't t-talk to you?" he asked, feigning ignorance. There was no relationship between these two; like hell Ken was letting her mother learn how lost Rufu felt.

Mildraff frowned and pulled her paws back to lean forward. Her w fell over Ken, as her head hung directly over him. "Does she talk to you?" she pressed.

The human was sweating, his stomach suddenly upset again, but he stood his ground, "No."

The asishi glared at him long and hard before leaning back into her seat. "Hmph...Well, she might be on the job hunt herself, soon."

Ken hummed quietly and said nothing.

"It's past time, the lazy runt. That girl's been sucking away my time and money for too long."

Nothing still. Ken was simmering and seething beneath, but Mildraff would not rile him up. Still, she continued, "She's in for it when she rings them, bug. They'll see her for what she is behind those trophies. A no-good, lazy lout who's already past her prime and ready for a wake-up call. Sound familiar? Who'd want to hire someonel like that, eh?"

His fist trembled. "Y-you..." he whispered.

She smirked and flickered an ear. Her hand curled around it in a mocking display, as she leaned back over him. "What was that?" she asked. "Speak up dear, these old ears aren't what they used to be."

"You're projecting!"

Mildraff jerked back, mouth agape. "Excuse you?!"

She slammed a hand down on the table, almost knocking him on his back, and a single claw began scraping across the lacquered surface rhythmically. The wood peeled away in unruly curls, exactly the way that he imagined his skin would if he took this much further. Despite it, some spring of hope within him refused to bow to the threat. This had been boiling over in too long for fear to shut him up. "Yo-you-you don't ca-care about Rufu. You're ta-talking about--"

"Ta-ta-talk-k-k-king about who?" she jeered with a snarl.

"You!" he shouted. "You're the only thing you ever talk about! You can't even insult Rufu without insulting yourself!"

A deep rumble built up in Mildraff's throat, resonating through the surface beneath Ken. Her claw was halfway into the table at that point. "Then can I insult some four-eyed, stinking, stuttering HUKAR who doesn't know when..." She brought her finger closer. "To..." The sharp keratin blade was so close. "Stop..." She raised it in front of him. "TALKING?" A blunt knuckle pushed him onto his back.

She thumped him hard, her claw thankfully missing him. His head swam a bit from hitting the wood. His glasses fell off his face and broke. It was a threat. A reminder. Her finger alone was stronger than him, and even barely restrained, she could do this much. But he refused to cower. He still wouldn't relent. This fire had been building in him, and it would not be put out so easily.

"Stinking?" he slurred, as he dizzily pushed himself back up onto his elbows, rubbing his aching head. "And when's the last time you took a bath?"

She stopped dead. Ken felt his heart sink into his gut. He, of all people, might have made her so angry that she completely blew a gasket. She was fuming. Even through the blurriness of his natural sight he could see her terrible looming form heaving with anger. "A bath, huh? You like those?" she retched.

Mildraff clamped her hand around him before he could think, and she stormed off with him in tow. The grip was stronger than before. He couldn't breathe, he could feel the tightness against his lungs. His body was freezing, as each uncaring, unremorseful swing of Mildraff's arm sent all the blood rushing to his feet or his head. He felt delirious. His guts ached. Everything was muffled but the thumping of the asishi's footsteps. This was it. Rufu, Mom, Dad, he'd failed them all. If only he hadn't been so stupid. So, so stupid.

The fist opened, and Ken landed on something smooth and hard. The surface was a bright silver, pristine and untouched, and cold as all hell. Lights swam before his eyes, blurring the pristine surface, as his head reeled from the trip. What was this place? It must have been the cleanest thing he'd seen here, so they must not have used it much. His body was numb, which might have saved him some pain from the landing. His hands flew to his mouth to hold in his lunch. He looked up, disoriented, and saw a silvery blur, capped by a deep, dark hole. It can't be.

"Here. Enjoy!" Mildraff said.

Drains long dormant groaned and creaked, and a stream of water crashed down from the blur of silver above him, enough to wet the soles of his shoes instantly. He panicked and tried to crawl, scrambling after Mildraff, but the sink walls were too steep and his limbs too sluggish. He slipped back down to the bottom of the basin. The water was rising quickly, soaking through his jeans. Desperately, he flung himself onto the plug and tried to pull it off, but the thing was solid metal. He couldn't lift it. He was going to die here. In a sink.

"M-Mildraff!" he cried. "Don't leave me here!"

~~

Rufu stomped through the halls of the house with a grimace etched on her face. Her clothes constricted her as tight as her school uniform. Uncomfortable and stinking, like the rest of this damn place. She turned a corner and saw her mother exiting the hall through the opposite end. Already through with looking for a job, was she? Of course she didn't stick with it.

In her ears, she picked up the sound of running water. One would think she would care about the water bill when no one in the house had a job! It didn't matter, though. She was heading for the bathroom anyway.

Slamming the door behind her, she quickly made for the running sink and turned it off, but the sight of what was in the sink made her eyes nearly bug out of her head. Her little boyfriend was to his hips in water and moaning in pain, clothes soaked through and hair dripping.

"KENNY?!" She quickly plunged her hand into the sink to unplug the drain.

"R-Rufu!"

"Hold on, hold on!" she urged as she flung herself down to the cabinet below the sink.

Ripping the door open, she yanked a hand towel out and set it on the counter. She lowered her hands into the sink with all haste for him to climb on. Then everything stopped. Ken did nothing but stare at her and shiver. It was the same look of fear he gave her back in the living room. Her shoulders slumped. So after all this time, he saw her the way the other students did too? Just another violent asishi. She grit her teeth. What had changed so much over the last few days that he looked at her so differently now? Had her parents succeeded in stealing her Kenny away?

Rufu felt a small weight in her palms, and returned herself to reality. Ken had crawled into her hands. Slowly, she lifted the human up out of the sink. He was shivering, but she was thankful the water had been cold rather than boiling hot. Depositing him on her towel, she waited for him to climb off her palm before pulling her hands away. He didn't start drying off, so much as pulling the cloth up around himself to warm up. With a frown, she asked, "What happened?"

"W...W-wha...What happened?" Ken asked her back.

She felt a growl behind her throat at the attitude. "Yes! How did you wind up here?" she asked.

He looked around for a moment with his little mouth hanging open, like he couldn't believe what he heard. His glasses were gone too. Great. He only had the two pairs. If he lost both then he was stuck without them now.

"Y-you l-l-left me alone!" he shouted.

Rufu's fingers splayed taut. He was blaming her? "I'm not the one who dropped you into the sink, Kenny. One of my 'oh-so-respect-worthy' parents did it!"

"Respe-..." Ken sounded disgusted, like he wanted to gag. "I-it happ-pened b-because you left me there a-a-lone! Y-y-you knew what mood-d she was in, and you, w-wen...y-you wanted to leave!"

"Of course I wanted to leave!" she shouted back. "I couldn't stand all that screaming!"

"N-no!"

"No, what?!"

"You...y-y-y-you want to le..." he was breathing hard, struggling to say his nonsense. "You w-wanted t-to leave me!"

Rufu shook her head, flabbergasted. "What are you even-- why would I want to leave you?!"

"B-b..." Ken rolled his lips up tight, trying to force the words. "B-b-b...b-bec-cause y-y..."

"Spit it out!"

"Because you're ashamed of me!"

The world seemed to fall away around Rufu when she heard that. Not a sound came from her mouth, though it trembled. Her ears drooped and her mane fell limp. It wasn't true. It simply wasn't, but she'd made him think that? She dropped to her knees, and rested her chin on the counter. This close, she could see the shimmer of tear tracks on his cheeks. "Oh, Kenny...I'm not ashamed of you."

He lowered his head. "You've been acting like you d-don't even want me around," he muttered.

"I don't want you around here. It's dangerous."

"And that's why you thought it was a good idea to leave me alone? Today? Night after night? On the furniture? In a massive empty room?" he asked.

"I'm sorry..." she whimpered. She closed her eyes to keep herself from looking at him, and to hold back her fledgeling tears. He was right. There was no excuse for it. She knew what this place was like, and she just kept leaving him. A tiny hand came to rest on her nose. She opened her eyes, allowing a few tears to stain her own cheeks, and looked into his little green pinpricks. They didn't need those glasses for them to look so clear to her now. "I...I thought you were on their side..." she murmured.

"No! God, no! They're horrible! They're...they're monsters!" Ken exclaimed. "I didn't see at first, because...I guess I didn't want to."

A short laugh left her, which confused Ken greatly. He would stay confused as her tongue slid free and pushed his legs out from under him before he could blink. He shouted just before she felt his miniscule weight drop onto her tongue. Then she pulled him against her lips, curling the tip of the wet muscle around to press him into a kiss. How relieved she was to feel him relax into it, into her. After a moment, she unfurled her tongue and carefully slid him off onto the towel again.

"I love you, Kenny."

Sitting upright, the saliva-slathered human smiled and answered back. "I love you too."

"Right then!" Rufu stood up. "You're sleeping with me tonight! And anyone who says it's more dangerous than for you to sleep on your own can kiss my ass!"

"Isn't it more dangerous than if I slept on my own, though?" Ken abruptly asked.

Rufu smirked down at the smiling human, hands on her hips. "You little pervert."

He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well then, I guess my little pervert wouldn't mind watching his girlfriend take a shower?" she asked, as she started to pull her shirt up.

"Fuck that, I'll join you," Ken answered.

"That's my Kenny."