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Before long, Nessi and Singar began roughhousing like cubs with Aki pretending to cheer them on, and by the time the villagers had all finished their meals and were beginning to amble on back to their homes, Sean's spirits were quite lifted.

'Time to go, I think,' he noted with a small grin as the assembly slowly but surely thinned around them.

Aki and Nessi got to their feet, dusting themselves off and still grinning widely. 'Yeah, I'd say so. Besides, Spotty here couldn't take another beating, anyway.'

'Oh, bite yourself, Tailsy,' shot back Nessi, her fur still ruffled despite her efforts to pat it down. 'Not my fault I'm not a tomboy like you.'

'Hey, don't blame me just 'cause you act like you're fifty all the time.'

'I do not! You're the one who won't grow up!'

'Oh, please, at least I know how to have fun ...'

They continued bickering as they slowly followed the rest of the villagers out of the town square and down the street, Sean and Singar exchanging a wry look at the behavior of their respective companions.

They were halfway to Aki's hut when Sean heard a small commotion behind them; he looked around. There was Ticus the bull, walking indolently up the road behind them with a smug look on his face, and behind him was a hare whom Sean thought he recognized from earlier at the market, looking pained as he slowly picked himself up off the ground with help from a nearby villager, looking very much like he'd just been tripped. Several of the nearby villagers called angrily after Ticus, but he ignored them nonchalantly, a look of renewed interest on his face. Sean noticed he was now staring unmistakably at the back of Aki's figure. Once again, she was too involved with Nessi to notice anything, but the overly keen look in the bull's eyes made Sean's skin crawl.

Confident that Aki wouldn't notice his momentary absence in the midst of her ongoing snark contest, Sean casually hung back long enough for him to arrive to Ticus's side. The bull was either too focused on the foxgirl, or else there were too many villagers passing them by for him to notice Sean in particular, but he was only made aware of Sean's presence when Sean cleared his throat, just loudly enough for Ticus to hear.

'So, was it worth it?' Sean said in a casual voice.

The great bovine glanced askance at him, a look of clear hostility on his face. Sean was unruffled.

'Waiting all day just to push some old guy over for telling you off earlier?' he continued in the same neutral tone. 'Did it feel good?'

'Yeah, kinda,' Ticus grunted. 'Whaddaya want?'

'Oh, nothing much,' said Sean in a low voice. 'Just wanna make sure you're not gonna try and do anything stupid.'

Now Ticus turned his head to face him as they walked. 'Like what?' he intoned with forced menace.

'Like hurt my friend.'

Sean's voice and demeanor were perfectly composed, and though Ticus continued staring daggers at him for a moment, he soon realized his intimidation wasn't obtaining the expected results. He merely turned forward again, forcing a gaggle of villagers to disperse as he walked through them without pause. Sean became aware of how conspicuously isolated they were in the middle of the street, with nearby villagers taking care to stay away from the bovine.

'You like her, huh?' Ticus said, eyeing Aki's backside again as she walked ahead of them with Nessi, both still embroiled in their endless taunting.

'That's what "my friend" means,' said Sean coolly. 'And I've seen how you behave. The rest of the village might put up with your bullshit, but I won't. You and your pals leave her alone.'

He was staring back at Ticus now with an intensity to match the bull's own. Ticus looked somewhat taken aback at being spoken to like this, but his aggressive manner quickly returned.

'And who're you to tell me what to do?' he sneered.

Sean kept his eyes locked onto the bull's. 'You don't wanna find out.'

Something must have carried through Sean's gaze, for the bull looked more unsettled than before, and even his cockiness had lost some of its confidence when he recovered.

'I'm not afraid of you,' he blurted out defiantly.

'Good for you.'

Sean gave him a pat on his thick bicep, then lengthened his strides to catch up with Aki, leaving Ticus to stare after him in silence. He couldn't tell whether or not he'd gotten through to the great lumbering idiot, but at least he rationalized he'd given Ticus a fair warning. He felt completely unimpressed by the bovine's bulk; if anything, the guy was probably too slow and clumsy to provide much of a challenge at all. Sean was used to evaluating potential opponents in physical and psychological terms like this, though he had to admit he'd never done it over anyone else - a girl - before.

His train of thought was interrupted as they reached another intersection, at which point Singar practically had to wrestle his mate away from her continuing bickering with Aki, which had apparently turned into a minor brawling match during Sean's absence. Both femmes promised to reprise the offensives the next day as they went their separate ways, and Sean vaguely wondered if Kovida would be amenable for another lengthy chat.

He was jarred right out of his thoughts, however, when he and Aki finally entered the hut only to find Kira facing away from them and undoing her breastcloth. He quickly flashed back to the previous night and realized he had completely forgotten about the nude sleeping. His awkwardness returned in full blast, exacerbated even more when Aki just walked right past him and promptly let her loincloth fall along her legs, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination. She predictably glanced over her shoulder with another little grin, which widened as Sean did his utmost best not to lay his eyes on either of the naked vixens. He vaguely wished his robe hung just a little bit looser.

'You're gonna have to get used to it someday,' Aki said in a sing-song voice as she dropped her garments onto her cotside table as her mother did the same across the hut, both of them unable to resist glancing at Sean with cheeky smiles on their muzzles.

Sean gave a low grunt in response, still facing anywhere but in their direction as he stepped over to his cot, very happy to see the thick blanket there, all warm and opaque and waiting for him to hide beneath ...

'Sean, look at me,' came Aki's voice from behind him.

Sean remained facing his cot, trying to think of a response, of something to do.

'I mean it. Sean, turn around and look at me, now.'

Her tone was surprisingly serious, and before Sean could help it, he'd turned around to face her. There she was, standing in nothing but her fur only a few feet from him, looking him in the eyes with a small, yet oddly solemn smile.

She remained quiet, perhaps hoping to break him out of his discomfort, and Sean was just as silent as he did as she asked, trying and failing to keep his eyes from wandering from her own. He just couldn't help but take in her figure, her curves, her traits, the contours of her coloring, the way the paler fur descended from her muzzle and covered her chest and navel on its way down to -

SHE'S SIXTEEN!

He blinked hard and quickly looked away again, suddenly feeling quite hot. Though he was staring at the wall, he could've sworn he'd seen a little more color than usual in Aki's cheeks, too.

Eventually, Kira gave a quiet but curt little cough that worked suitably well to snap them out of their now-mutual discomfiture. They both turned away promptly and climbed into their cots while Kira went around extinguishing the candles, Aki lying on her back with her bushy tail trailing down the side of her cot while Sean rolled himself in his blanket.

He missed his dream-killers more than ever, albeit for an entirely new reason.