FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Ayumi had only been in the States for six months. After a ten hour flight and numerous further hours dealing with immigration and customs before and after the flight, Ayumi had finally taken her first truly independent steps onto American soil. The culture shock had been immediate and almost crippling. Many things seemed similar, but unfortunately, the similarities were usually superficial. She had a relatively firm grasp on the English language; it was something her father had insisted she learn, since international business required multilingualism. But she quickly realized that the English she knew and the dialect used in Los Angeles, California were miles apart. Everywhere she went, she had to ask furs to speak more slowly and more clearly, just so she could understand what they were saying. The slang was the worst part, because furs would use words that didn't exist in the dictionary in lieu of words that Ayumi actually knew. She managed to get an apartment easily enough, and the bank she had transferred her money into had an online account service, so she avoided too much confrontation, but even so the frustration and helplessness had been almost overwhelming. She ended up spending most of her time hiding in her apartment, reading and watching movies in her native language, only venturing out into the cold, foreboding world of cultural conformity when she needed something.

All her frustrations finally came to a breaking point one afternoon over something that shouldn't have been a big deal. Ayumi had gone into a Wal-Mart to stock up on groceries and other necessities. The shopping itself went without much trouble; she could read English perfectly well. But the problem started when she got to the cashier. She was already nervous, since cash registers were where she usually got into trouble with her accent and her lacking language skills. Naturally, that day had been no different.

The cashier, a white female lop-eared rabbit, rang everything up and told Ayumi the total. She slid her debit card and entered her PIN as she always did and waited for the machine to confirm her identity and to give her a receipt. But this time, it didn't. Her stomach clenched a little as the cashier frowned at her screen and then turned back to Ayumi and said something completely incomprehensible.

Ayumi shook her head and leaned forward. "Excuse me?"

The rabbit leaned on the counter and blew a bubble through her gum before repeating herself. "'Tsays 'at's an unauth'rized amoun'. Yer card 'snot workin'." She reached up and tossed a drooping ear over her left shoulder, revealing her name tag: "SAMANTHA."

Neither piece of information helped Ayumi in the least. The rabbit's slang accent was too heavy for Ayumi to even begin to guess what she had said. Turning slightly red under her fur, she lowered her voice a little and asked, "Could...could you speak more clearly, please? I...I am not very good at English."

The cashier sighed heavily and looked back at the screen again while answering. "I said yer card's not working. Somethin' about an unauthorized amount or something like that. Yer account's probably empty." She blew another bubble and started to pick at her claws while she waited for Ayumi to do something to fix the problem.

Ayumi, however, was completely flabbergasted. Samantha's words had made a little more sense this time, but what she was saying did not. Empty? How could her account be empty? As she struggled to make sense of everything, she heard someone behind her in line mutter something about how much they hated furs who held up the line. The fur behind them suggested that if foreigners were going to live in this country, they should at least learn the language. Ayumi was simultaneously furious and frightened. It wasn't her fault that this had happened! It wasn't as if she had come in here intending to slow down the line with a card that didn't work. And she had learned the language! That didn't change the fact that something was going on here that was beyond her control, no matter what language she knew. However, at the same time, she felt a flash of fear sail through her. "What am I going to do?" she asked herself out loud in Japanese. She needed all these things, some of them rather immediately. But if her card didn't work, and she didn't have another, then what other choice did she have than to just leave everything here and walk out? On the verge of tears and with a horrible clenching sensation in her chest, she prepared to leave.

"Mondai wa zentai? What's wrong?" Ayumi's ear suddenly pricked backwards at the sound of someone speaking Japanese! Surprised, she turned around and looked to see who it was. An obviously Japanese red fox vixen with blonde and red streaked headfur stood just behind her in line, with a concerned look on the face behind her mirrored sunglasses. Ayumi stuttered a little and responded in a storm of Japanese, the language that, until now, she had only been able to speak to herself.

"I don't know. I was just trying to swipe my card to buy all this stuff, but for some reason, she's saying my card won't work. She thinks my account's empty, but I know that's not true, because I have...well, I know I have enough." No sense telling a complete stranger that she had the equivalent of 180 million dollars in an illegally created account. "I don't know what I'm going to do, though, because I need all this stuff, but I don't have enough cash on me to pay for it all. I guess I'm just going to have to leave it here, find out what's up, and come back."

The red fox thought for a moment. "How much do you have?"

Ayumi checked. "Um...thirty...five, no, seven. Thirty-seven dollars in cash."

"How much do you need?"

Ayumi checked the display again. "Sixty-nine thirty-six. I guess I'm thirty-three dollars short." Ayumi had an unconscious idea of what the vixen was about to do, but she consciously dismissed it because it just wasn't something furs did in America. Her father had taught her that much. America was a cutthroat society of self-centered furs bent on protecting their own assets, even at the expense of others'.

The vixen held out a credit card to the cashier. "I've got both of these, Sam. Hers and mine. Ring 'em separately, though. She'll want a receipt."

Samantha shrugged again, throwing her other ear over her right shoulder. "Suit yerself." The rabbit took the card and swiped it, paying for Ayumi's purchases before swiftly ringing up the red vixen's meager haul and swiping the card again. Then, she handed the separate receipts to each vixen.

The red vixen smiled at the rabbit. "Thanks, Sam."

Samantha shrugged. "Whatever. You're holding up the line."

"I'll talk to you later, Sam. Come on." The other vixen picked up her bag and one of Ayumi's. Ayumi, still stunned and a little disbelieving of what had just transpired, picked up the other three bags and followed the other female out of the store.

Once they reached the parking lot, Ayumi caught up with her savior on the sidewalk out in front of the store. She spoke in Japanese, hoping the other vixen hadn't just been guessing inside the store. "Why did you just do that? Who are you?" Neither question was angry; Ayumi was far too shocked to be mad. But the other vixen's face immediately fell, and an angry look replaced the small smile that disappeared.

"Hold on a second. I just did you a huge favor, and you can't even manage to pull out a thank you? You could at least pretend to be gracious until I get out of sight. Of all the-"

Ayumi quickly cut her off, shaking her head fearfully. "No, no, that's not what I meant. I'm not trying to...of course. Arigatoo...domo arigatoo gozaimasu. Thank you so much, you have no idea how much you've done for me today. I could never repay you, but I'd like to try. I was just curious about what your name is...and why you helped me." She looked at the asphalt sheepishly. "I didn't mean to sound rude; it's been a stressful month."

The red vixen smiled warmly and nodded. "I understand. And I'm sorry I snapped at you. I guess I was just a little worried about how you were going to react. Some furs get suspicious when you try to do something nice for them."

Ayumi smiled. "I can imagine. My name's Ayumi. S...Shimizu Ayumi." She suddenly realized that if this stranger was actually Japanese, she would immediately recognize the Saruwatari name and probably have a few rather embarrassing questions to ask, questions that Ayumi wasn't keen on answering right now.

The other female smiled and offered a paw. "Kagatsu Murasaki."

Ayumi raised an eyebrow as she shook Murasaki's paw. "Murasaki?" It was Japanese for 'violet,' and a fairly unusual choice for a name.

The red vixen nodded and chuckled softly. "Yeah, I know, it's sort of strange, but what can I say? I've got strange parents. They are both American citizens who are trying desperately to cling to their fading Japanese heritage. I'm only half Japanese, and I guess they figured by giving me as odd a Japanese name as possible, I'd be closer to my 'homeland.'" She rolled her eyes, as if to emphasize that no matter her name and appearance, she would always consider the States as her home.

Ayumi giggled. "I'm just the opposite. My parents are Japanese citizens who wanted me to have as vague a Japanese name as possible, so it would be easy for furs from other nations to say it."

Both vixens laughed at the thought. Then, Murasaki cleared her throat and nervously asked, "So, uh...I guess I'll just give you my number and head home, since I doubt we're going to the same place."

Ayumi shrugged. "I guess. Where do you live?"

Murasaki motioned in a general direction. "About six miles that way."

"Ah. You drove, I presume?"

"I wish. My car's in the shop. I walked here today."

"Really?" Ayumi beamed. Suddenly, she had a chance to start making up for Murasaki's help. "I could give you a ride home."

"Oh, I couldn't possibly ask you to-Ok." Murasaki pretended to protest for a moment, then immediately accepted Ayumi's offer. "Where's your car?"

Ayumi grinned and pulled out her keys, poking the remote. "Listen for it."

Across the lot, Dan roared to life, and the top started to retract. Ayumi had parked him in the spot backwards and he was facing the store front. His daytime running lights came on with blue LED highlights and blue neon underlights as the radio suddenly came to life and began broadcasting a heavy rock beat across the parking lot.

Ayumi chuckled softly and looked up at Murasaki, who looked back at her with an incredulous expression. "That car is yours?" Ayumi nodded and Murasaki shook her head. "Chukisho. How can you possibly run out of money and still own a car like that?" Murasaki seemed to immediately realize the rude presumptiveness of her question and apologized. "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to assume-"

Ayumi waved the apology off. "Forget about it. I'm just as confused as you are, trust me. Probably more so. But I'm not making payments on Dan, anyway. My father bought him for me, and he paid everything up front. I've been making enhancements for the past year and a half, and the result is what you see before you." The pair reached the car and Ayumi reached into the backseat and put her bags on the floor.

Murasaki did the same on the other side. "Yeah...wow. This is...amazing." She looked at the car for a moment in confusion. "Wait, the wheel's on the wrong side."

"Technically, this is the right side. It's a Japanese model."

"Cool...was it hard to get used to driving around here?"

Ayumi shrugged. "Not really. The hardest part wasn't that I was sitting on the wrong side of the car, but more that I was driving on the wrong side of the road. Some of those are tough habits to break. Got used to it eventually, though. It would have been real hard to get my international license if I hadn't."

"I imagine so. Man...leather interior, convertible hardtop...even racing style seatbelts. Classy." She gently ran a paw up and down the leather headrest of the passenger side seat. "You know, I've always dreamed about owning a car like this, but it's almost as good just getting to sit in one." Ayumi jumped over the driver side door and motioned for Murasaki to do the same. The red vixen examined the door. "Just jump over it? What, do they not open or something?"

Ayumi giggled. "No, they do. I just like hopping into my car. But if you really want to..." Ayumi pushed a button on the center console to open the passenger side door. The customized Lamborghini-style door opened outwardly a few inches before arcing up and out of the way.

Murasaki's dumbfounded face reappeared as the door slid past it. "Chukisho. You are the luckiest car owner in the world." She tentatively sat down on the black leather seat. "His name's Dan?"

Ayumi pushed the button to close the door again and nodded. "Yep. 'Bullet.' It's quite appropriate, as I think you'll soon discover." Ayumi watched Murasaki for a moment. The red vixen was sitting in the chair like she thought she would lose any appendage that brushed against anything but the leather. "You know, you can touch things. You're not sitting in a museum."

"I'm afraid to. Anything I break will probably cost ten thousand dollars."

"Twenty, at least." Ayumi giggled at Murasaki's horrified expression. "But don't worry about it. I didn't buy the car to sit in and stare at. I bought it to enjoy. So please, enjoy. Push buttons. Turn knobs. Do whatever you want. Anything you change can be changed back, and after what you did for me back in the store, the least I can do is let you enjoy a ride in a car worth 121,200,000 yen."

Murasaki swallowed nervously and reached out to press a button with a strange symbol over it. Suddenly, the video screen of the embedded radio system slid out of its hidden slot and came on, displaying a video of the Blue Male Group performing the song that was pouring out of the speakers. Murasaki gaped at the screen and then smiled. "You like the Blue Male Group, too?"

Ayumi laughed. "Do I!" She pulled out of the spot and drove off towards Murasaki's home.