FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"I don't understand. Where did he get off to?"

Soaring high above the city, Michiru wondered out loud to herself. She's been looking for her canine companion most of the morning. He hadn't been at the co-op when she woke up, and judging by the lack of the warm, fresh smell of coffee this morning, he hadn't been there most of the night.

Neither Gem or Melissa had seen him, either. Even for Shirou, this was a bit odd.

It had been a couple of years since the city had suffered through the Nirvasyl Syndrome incidents. Over time, Michiru had come to view Shirou as her mysterious, way older brother. Even though they had partnered up to solve a number of crimes and catastrophes since then, she still knew very little about the closed off wolf. He'd opened up a little over time, but only about as much opening up as a Beastman famous for two word sentences could open up.

That aside, it was still odd of him to disappear like this. Typically, someone knew where he'd gone off to. At the very least, the Mayor would be able to drop a few hints to let her know he was safe wherever he was; but even the Mayor was legitimately clueless about his whereabouts this morning.

Michiru had already checked downtown, the plaza, police station, even the medical center. But there had simply been no sign of him. Her next stop would be the docks. He had been spending quite a bit of time down there recently, scoping out some suspicious activity he'd picked up on.

Getting closer to the port, Michiru could hear the sound of an argument between a man and a woman. Well, to be honest, it sounded more like the woman was just yelling at someone who would calmly reply back. Michiru recognized the first voice almost immediately. Marie Itami, the mink.

With a heavy push of her wings, Michiru angled for the private docks. The sound of a rather annoyed Marie getting louder as she approached the very same dock she'd first arrived to Anima City a little over three years ago. Even from high above, she could clearly make out the annoyed mink who was busy pointing an accusing finger at another Beastman, shouting that he'd ripped her off.

That was rich, coming from her of all people.

Michiru swooped in low, landing a few feet away from them with practiced precision. She took a moment to take in the scene before her, taking stock of the increasingly annoyed Marie and the rather amused looking... wolf? that she was pointing at.

At least, Michiru thought he was a wolf. He certainly had the stature and appearance of one, but the coloring of his fur was way off. Instead of the usual gray and silver colors found on most wolf Beastmen, this guy had a lot of earthy brown and black all over him, plus his ears seemed a bit more pointed than any wolf she'd seen so far.

"Michiru! I'm glad you're here! That man is trying to rip me off!" Marie was quick to accuse, hoping Michiru would back her up.

"You would be the expert on that, Marie." The Tanuki replied, rolling her eyes and ignoring the glare thrown her way. "What's going on here?"

"He said, he'd pay me fifteen hundred dollars to smuggle him into the city!" The mink shouted, turning her glare back towards the male. "But all he gave me was fifteen bucks!" She finished, holding up a clenched fist with two scrunched up bills.

Michiru eyed the bills for a moment before she started laughing, causing Marie's glare to return to the Tanuki girl. "And what exactly do you find so funny?" She asked, her voice raising sharply at the end.

"You got played." Michiru laughed, walking up to the mink. "That's fifteen _American_dollars. Which equates to?" She asked, leaving the sentence hanging in the air as she watched the realization wash over Marie's face.

"Fifteen hundred yen... He tricked me! He said he would pay me fifteen hundred to smuggle him in and flashed these bills at me. I just assumed he was going to pay me fifteen hundred American dollars!" The mink sputtered, turning her attention away from Michiru to the outline of where the wolf had been standing a few moments ago.

He'd managed to sneak away while her ire was on the Tanuki.

"Damn it. Where did he go?!" Marie shouted, scanning all around for the wolf.

"That's karma for you." Michiru laughed, patting the mink on the shoulder before turning to a more serious topic. "You haven't seen Shirou around, have you? I haven't seen him all morning, no one seems to know where he is and he isn't answering his phone."

"What's the information worth to you?" The mink shot back slyly, leaning forward towards the other girl.

"I'll help you track down that wolf who played you?" Michiru offered, jabbing a thumb over her shoulder towards the direction she thought he'd left.

Marie sighed, pulling her pack off he boat and jumping down onto the dock. "Haven't seen him. He was down here yesterday checking out some cargo ship. Thought it was one of Flip's boats, but it felt off. Either way, last time I saw him he was heading home from here. That was around 9PM, yesterday."

"That's... troubling." Michiru replied, touching her thumb to her chin in thought. "The house didn't smell like coffee this morning. He makes coffee every morning when he gets up. So my best guess is that he didn't even make it back to the house last night. Marie, I think something happened..."

"I'm sure he's fine." The mink replied, starting to walk towards a car she'd tucked away between two of the buildings. "He's the big bad wolf, after all."

"Yeah..." Michiru trailed off, looking out over the water.

"So! About our deal?" Marie pushed, leaning on the hood of her car.

"Right. I'll take to the sky and see if I can find him. I'll call you when I do!" Michiru replied, transforming back to her wings as she quickly bolted up into the sky. The wolf couldn't have gotten far, right? He was on foot, likely didn't know the city. He'd be easy to find.

Or so she'd thought.

She'd spent an hour searching the city for the newcomer, but hadn't had any luck in finding him at all. It was almost like he'd managed to disappear into thin air.

"What is with all the wolves in the city going missing today?" She wondered to herself, coming to land softly on the rooftop of the co-op as the last bit of the sun settled under the horizon. Michiru had spent a full twelve hours searching for Shirou and the new wolf, but hadn't managed to find either. The Tanuki would be lying if she said she wasn't worried about the silver wolf.

Her hand landed on the knob to her room when she heard Melissa and Gem talking to a male voice downstairs. She couldn't make it who it was. The voice was certainly heavy enough to be Shirou's.

Turning from her door, Michiru made her way downstairs. Walking into the main hall her eyes landed on the same dark toned wolf from the docks. The one Marie had been dealing with. Puffing out her cheeks, the Tanuki jabbed her finger at him. "You!"

"Me?" He replied, feigning hurt with a hand over his chest.

"Yes, you! I spent all afternoon trying to track you down!"

He blinked, a beat passing before the realization washed over his face. "Oh! You're the raccoon girl from the docks! The one that was helping me escape that weasel!"

"She's a mink." Michiru replied, a little faster than she intended to. Damn, Marie was wearing off on her. "What are you even doing here? Why did she have to smuggle you into town? What? Are you wanted or something? Who even are you?"

The wolf just smirked at her while she rapid fired questions at him, waiting for her to finish.

"I'm looking for someone." He started, his eyes briefly falling to the floor before he looked back to her. "A friend of mine. Someone I lost contact with a while back. The last I heard, he was living here in the city. I'm worried something happened to him, so here I am."

"And why couldn't you just enter the city normally? We've got open borders with the mainland now. There's no need to sneak in."

"I'm not exactly here legally." The wolf admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. "I applied for the passports and all that, but Japan really doesn't like letting American Beastmen into the county. Even with all my connections I wasn't able to secure proper entry. So I had to sneak in."

"And you did all that for your friend?" Michiru asked, eyeing him suspiciously. A few years ago she would've believed that story without a problem. But her time in Anima and with Shirou had made her suspicious of others.

"Yeah." The wolf replied, adjusting the weight of his pack on his shoulder. Michiru hadn't noticed it until now. The single bag slung casually over one shoulder. Did he really travel all this way with just that one bag? "We grew up together. In America. We served in the war there. Afterwards, he joined up with a group that would send people across the globe to provide aid during a disaster. A few years ago he came out here after the city suffered through those attacks and ended up liking it so much that he never left."

He turned his attention to Gem and Melissa. "Look, I'm not looking to cause trouble for anyone. I tricked the girl at the docks because I knew she was going to take me for a ride. I heard good things about this place from my friend and I was hoping I could stay here. Hotels require ID and documentation... I can pay for my room. But I understand if you say no, given that I'm not here legally and it would be a risk."

Gem and Melissa exchanged a glance with each other. "It's no problem." Melissa started. "We are here to help all Beastmen, regardless of their, well, immigration status. Just try not to get into trouble while you're in town, ok?"

The wolf bowed, akwardly given he was an American. "I really do appreciate this. I won't stay longer than I absolutely have to."

Melissa waved him off. "Stay as long as you like. Michiru here can show you up to one of the vacant rooms and get you squared away for the night. She helps us around here, and unfortunately our social worker isn't available today."

As if it hit her in the face, Michiru remember that she still hadn't found Shirou. "He never turned up at all? No phone calls? Nothing? Not even a Kuro sighting?"

Gem shook his head. "Nope, nothing. It's really quite odd."

"Yeah..." Michiru trailed off, making a mental note to call the Mayor before bedtime. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong. "Anyway," She began, taking a breath. "Let me show you up to your room, as well as where the kitchen and showers are. Is that alright with you, Mister..." The sentence hung as she realized she didn't know his name.

"Gabriel." He filled in the gap. "Gabriel Lass."

Michiru made a face. "What kind of name is that?" She asked, the words leaving her mouth before she realized how it sounded.

"Mine." He laughed, beginning to follow her as she led him down the hallway.

She showed him the showers and kitchen, pointing out where everything he'd need was before bringing him upstairs to the rooftop. "The only other room we've got open at the moment is across from mine. It can get a bit drafty up here, but the rooms are really nice. Can't beat the view of the city."

"This is fine." He replied, looking over the layout of the room before dropping his bag on the floor before taking a few steps in. "This will do nicely." He said to himself, already shrugging off his jacket. With his back turned to her, he began to unbutton his shirt, letting it falls off his shoulders and onto the bed.

Michiru gasped and quickly looked away, through her eyes slowly wandered back to him as he stretched out his back and arms. She couldn't help but notice the numerous places on his back where the fur was parted by scars. He'd been through a lot by the looks of things.

Gabriel had looked over his shoulder and caught the Tanuki starring at him.

"Something wrong?" He asked, picking his bag up from the floor, pulling a fresh shirt from within it.

"You're back. All those scars..."

"It was a war." He replied matter-of-factly. "I got injured. Kept fighting. Survived."

"I'm sorry." Michiru said, turning her eyes from him. "I didn't mean to pry." She'd heard about the war in America that had broken out between the Anti and Pro Beastmen groups. It wasn't all that different from the same war they'd had in Japan. Honestly, not much separated the two countries when it came to their treatment of Beastmen. Other than that Japan had actually taken steps to protect them. America was still figuring that part out.

"It's alright." He chuckled, "Most people ask me about my fur coloring or something. It's nice to be asked about something different for once."

"Well actually, now that you mention it..."

"I've got the body of a wolf but the coloring of a coyote. It's not unheard of for us hybrids to end up like this. I'm a Coywolf."

"Wait, a hybrid? But that's impossible."

"In nature or naturally, yes. But in a lab..." Gabriel answered, trailing off as he fought back the memories of where he'd been born. "Well... Let's just say that my country didn't outlaw lab testing on Beastmen as fast as the EU or Japan did."

"That's awful." Michiru gasped, bringing her hand to cover her mouth. "I didn't mean to bring back painful memories or anything like that. I've just... never seen a hybrid before. I was always told they didn't exist, that it wasn't possible."

"Yeah, well... I really should start to settle in. I've been traveling in less than ideal conditions for a few days now. I'd love to just sleep in a normal bed tonight." Gabriel said, pulling the blankets off the shelf and placing them on the bed. His ears perked as a thought entered his head. "You said you guys were missing your social worker?"

"Yeah. A wolf friend of mine. Shirou Ogami. He's kinda been missing most of today. A little odd for him."

"I'll make you a deal." The coywolf said, turning to face her. "I'll help you find your friend if you help me with my search as well. We can work together. I've got some useful skills and you know the city."

Michiru nodded. "Sure. Hopefully we can make some progress tomorrow because I had no luck today at all." She said, taking a step back towards the doorway. "Anyway, get some sleep alright? We'll set out at first light."

The coywolf nodded his agreement. "At first light." He echoed.