A Year To Love - Chapter One

Story by Cederwyn Whitefurr on SoFurry

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A young female Fur Seal is washed ashore after an accident, and is discovered by a hermit-like man, who befriends her and she in turn, repays his kindness.


A Year To Love (c) Cederwyn Whitefurr 25th January, 2012 All Rights Reserved

Gliding effortlessly through the azure seas, the seal was as content as it'd ever been - fishing had been good, many tasty snacks had been caught and devoured - and with a full belly, it became playful, twirling and twisting through the cool water. Picking up a piece of old bone in its jaws, the seal exhaled through its nostrils, watching as the concave bubbles drifted towards the surface. Happy beyond anything it could recall, it felt joyous exhilaration, as it spiralled up towards the surface, its dark eyes gazing through a membranous sheath over its eyes, at the sparkling sunlight that shone down into the crystal clear waters. Its dark furred head breaking the surface, the seal blinked, the protective sheath over its eyes sliding back, as it blinked away the stinging salt water, then before it knew what was coming, there was a deafening roar.

Its eyes narrowed as it spun its head about, then its jaw dropped open, the ancient bone falling from its slack muzzle, as its brain struggled to make sense of this thing that bore down on it, only a few dozen metres away. With a flash of recall, the seal screamed and instantly tried to dive - its frantic mind screaming a warning - a warning its muscles were a touch too late to respond too. For the strange beast was a power-boat, a thing all seal's had long learned to be wary of...but its reactions were a fraction too late, and with a sickening thud, the craft swept over the barely submerged seal, the bow smacking with a loud crash onto the back of the seal's head, tearing open a long, ragged gash that instantly turned the sea around it into a crimson coloured haze.

As it spun helplessly in the boats wake, its mind lost all sense of direction and even instinct, before it involuntarily gagged, salt water rushing down its throat - flooding its lungs, and as the sunlight dappled down through the sea above it, the seal gulped a few times, the air trickling from its lungs, as there come a blinding flash - and darkness....

*

How long it was unconscious, it had no memory, but the surrurations of the waves hissing against a cold, sandy shoreline, washing around the seal as it retched and coughed, barely out of the wash of the outgoing tide. Fate, or maybe just luck, had somehow brought the unconscious seal to this seemingly abandoned little cove, and as it blinked, the dried salt water forming a stinging crust on its eyelashes, it blinked and its eyes adjusted to the surroundings. It found itself laying amongst the flotsam and jetsam that commonly washed ashore, bits of weathered and swollen wood, kelp, the occasional dead fish or squid...and as it blinked again, it noticed the shoreline shone a silvery colour, under the light of a full moon. Moonlight bathed the small bay in a pale glow, the phosphorescence in the waves sparkling as the swell crested slightly, then broke with a hiss on the wet sand, before sliding back out to sea. It frowned, its eyes narrowing, as it twisted itself this way and that, before the sharp pain forced it to gasp and lay still. Memories, fragmented and splintered, lay like disjointed puzzle pieces in the seal's mind, as it tried to remember what happened, but nothing would form out of the hazy images in its mind - all it knew, was something...a shark? Some bit of human refuse...something...had struck it over the head, and by the way the wound now felt, a sharp, throbbing ache - it wasn't life-threatening...

As it closed its eyes, it gave a low, moaning cry, more of confusion and bewilderment, than of pain - as consciousness slowly slipped away, bring the seal a blessed darkness into which she fled willingly.

*

A man, dressed in ragged cut off jeans and a loose flannel shirt, wandered the beach, idly stopping to look at interesting bits of wood, or other things, as he whistled a tune he'd picked up somewhere, his sense of purpose and enjoyment of life evident in the way he walked - completely at random, no set destination, just a moonlight stroll along the damn sand. He paused, as in the distance, he thought he saw something move - and as he frowned and focused at the distant form, it just appeared to be a washed ashore log or something...until it uttered a low, moaning cry - that the stiffening sea breeze swept away.

He broke into a short jog, quickly closing the gap between himself and whatever this...thing...was - then as he got within thirty-three, he realised what it was. It was a young fur seal, its hind flippers ensnared with kelp - and it appeared lifeless, but as he drew close - cautiously approaching, as seal's were notorious for being easily startled, he expected it to twist towards him and bark a warning. Watching for a few seconds, he saw this seal's eyes were closed - maybe it was sleeping, but he clapped his hands together, to draw its attention, and got no response. He could see it was breathing, so it wasn't dead - but as he knelt and looked closer, he saw the nasty gash on the back of its head and neck,which was clotted with sand and a few errant strands of kelp.

"Oh you poor creature - " he moaned, as he fearfully reached out and touched the seal's shoulder.

It lay comatose, completely oblivious to the man, who grew a little bolder and rubbed a hand lightly along the seals furred flank.

"I can't leave you here like this - " He muttered to the seal, as if expecting it to understand. "Let me get you home, I'll try to clean that wound and I got some antiseptics and.."

With a grunt, he dug his arms beneath the seal, then crouched and scooped its unconscious form up, before adjusting the dead weight and carefully making his way back down the beach, to his secluded and very private home.

*

He lay the seal on the bathroom, first laying down a dozen towels under and around it, then very tenderly trickling water over its head and neck, dislodging some of the bloodied sand, but other parts were in deeper, and he sighed, before reaching for a finely bristled brush.

"This is going to hurt.." He whispered, stroking the seal gently. "Please...please don't wake up until I've got this clean..."

Thankfully, the seal didn't wake...

*

With a squeal of fright, the seal twisted and thrashed, gazing about with wide eyes at the high walls of the strange thing it found itself in. Water sloshed everywhere - as it twisted and wriggled, dislodging the wet towel from the back of its head and neck, then screaming with a loud, piercing cry of alarm. He backed off as he released it had awakened, so as not to further risk frightening this beautiful young fur seal. After her initial fright, she blinked and looked about, obviously seeking some way of escape - never having been anywhere near a humans habitation before - let alone inside one...

He sat down, then leant against the wall, so he wouldn't appear so threatening to her, and he watched as her dark, soulful eyes tracked every movement he made. Not knowing how best to deal with an obviously terrified seal, he tried the simplest thing he knew, and held his hands before him, palms outwards - in what he hoped was a sign of non-aggression. For a few more minutes, the seal looked both afraid and angry, before it shivered the length of its body, then something, some almost instinctual something - told it, this human - had helped it....

"Hey...there we go...come on, easy now girl - " He whispered, slowly lowering his hands and speaking in a faint whisper, knowing the slightest noise or even a movement, could terrify this seal and make it panic.

Blinking her large eyes, she seemed to frown at him, before flicking her glance left and right - almost as if scanning for predators, her fear slowly relenting as he watched her.

"You're alright....I won't hurt you." He appealed to her, speaking to her as he would a strange dog, then sighed and leaned back against the wall. "You don't understand a word I'm saying to you - do you?"

With a brief twitch of a fore-flipper the seal turned its attentions back to him, staring with a look that he felt bordered on intelligence. Well, of course, his mind told him. Seal's are intelligent species after all - this one...something - odd - seemed to hint that she may be more than she first appeared. Her gaze, unblinking, stayed rock solid on him, a minute tremble still rippling through her body, as she stared.

"I'm Alexander...Alex..." He smiled, then touched his chest, indicating himself. "I found you washed ashore down on the beach. You...oh, this is silly, talking to you like you understand me...."

Her eyelids closed in a slow blink, before she twitched her whiskers and continued watching him.

"I found you - and brought you back here. You have a very nasty head-wound, I tried to clean it as best I can, and I...I admit, I don't know much about your kind - I just did what I hoped was right. I won't...I won't hurt you...I promise."

He nervously shuffled closer, sliding himself across the tiled floor, and surprisingly, getting within touching range, before she uttered a short, threatening bark, and tried to shy away from him.

"Hey...okay...come on girl, it...its alright - I won't hurt you - I just...I...gods - what will I do wit you? I don't know much about your species - sure, the occasional fur seal comes ashore here, but I try to keep my distance, I know many of your kind...well - you don't think much of we humans, and honestly - I don't blame you! I don't have a lot to deal with them myself - that's why I prefer to live out here...."

She stared at him, slowly trusting her instincts about this human, and listening to every word he said, even though much of it was incomprehensible to her, it was more the soothing tones and non-threatening posture, that began to win her faith, that he would not hurt her.

"You're lucky you know - you could have drowned...by the look of the injury, and I'm just guessing - you got hit by a boat or something. A lot of seals and other poor animals, aren't so lucky you know - how you come to be here...well, that's in the lap of the gods, out of my hands, but I promise, I'll try to look after you...as best I can."

He hesitantly reached out a hand, holding it as non-threatening as he could, for her to look at, then to his surprise, she trembled, then gazing at him with large, soulful eyes, she made the leap of faith, and cautiously nuzzled his fingers, as if saying thank you - for her rescue....

*

Weeks past, and he spent countless hours with her, often just talking to her, as she slowly healed from her injury, and came to trust him more and more. He brought her fresh fish and sometimes squid, which he caught himself, holding the food out to her with trembling hands - knowing from looking when he had first brought her to his home, just how sharp her teeth were. It had taken a while, but she eventually trusted him enough to take the offered food from his hand with a delicate movement, then she would held it in her mouth, before flipping it into a more easily swallowed position and then gulping it down. Their bond slowly grew into one of more open trust, and she would frequently follow him from a distance of a dozen feet or so, when he went down to the beach, or just around his house.

She trusted him enough, over these few weeks, to let him pet her from time to time, but she always maintained that cautious look - ready to flinch away or snap at his fingers, if he got too friendly. He respected her wishes, and never tried to make her submit, even though he was growing increasingly curious about her, sometimes, sitting for hours, as she slept in short, sporadic bursts - she would awaken, to see him sitting almost within touching distance, just watching her.

One day, she sidled close to him, her flippers scraping against the thick carpet, and she nuzzled his hands, her soft fur warm to the touch, and he blinked, not expecting her to be so forthcoming with her trust - not yet anyway. He sat as still as he could, letting her sniff and nuzzle his hands and wrists, before she gazed up at him, then leaned forwards and to his surprise, pecked his cheek, her hot, fish-smelling breath washing over him - before she twisted away and resumed watching.

"Well..." he blinked. "That...that was unexpected? Was that some sort of - oh, I don't know - was that you trying to say thank you? You're most welcome! I'm glad you're doing so much better, than when I first found you. I don't know much...but I think you're healing nicely, you're certainly eating a lot more...so that's got to be a good thing...."

He took a gamble, and lay down on his side, the seal watching him intently, before she scratched her neck with a hind-flipper, then lay on her side, almost imitating him, as she continued watching. He laughed, something he rarely did since living alone on this quiet beach, and she frowned, her whiskers twitching at his laughter.

"So..." he finally finished laughing, then tried to get serious. "What shall I call you? Do seals even have names?"

He scratched his chin thoughtfully with one hand, then smiled at her and shyly reached out, tenderly touching her neck with his fingers. She blinked, then stretched her neck out in acquiescence, allowing him to give her a gentle scratch under the chin.

"I still do not know what to make of you - " He told her, as he stroked her cheek, feeling her coarse whiskers. "You...oh I don't know - you just seem...different. You're a wild, and young, fur seal, yet you're slowly getting used to living here - with me...and we've been down to the shoreline more than once...yet you don't seem to want to return."

She frowned at him then uttered another short, sharp oark sound, that to him, made no sense what so ever. She shook her head, then nuzzled his cheek again, once more giving him a wet, smelly kiss on the cheek.

"I...I don't understand - what do you want? Are you hungry? Thirsty?"

She just gazed at him, then cautiously crept a little closer, before nuzzling him again - then to his surprise, she lay her head on his lap and let him lightly stroke her shoulders. He did not know what to make of it, this wild, young fur seal acting almost as if it belonged more in an aquatic zoo or something - but feeling the faint trembles beneath her thin fur - he knew this was an act of trust - a trust that could so easily be broken forever, if he frightened her. He carefully caressed her neck and shoulders, before shyly stroking her left fore-flipper - and she uttered that strange, almost strangling bark sound - as if warning him, but he stroked her flipper and she slowly relaxed. He lifted it slightly, looking at the complicated webbing and bone structure - idly noting the fine claws that tipped each of the flippers 'fingers'. He suspected such things were used for scratching and grooming - what little he saw seal's do, and he carefully placed her flipper back down and resumed stroking her just along her shoulder. As he caressed her, she seemed to grow more and more restful, slowly turning herself so he could tenderly stroke her chest and with more than a little nervousness, he rubbed her belly, watching as her muscles trembled and quivered beneath her dark fur.

"You like that?" He asked, as he carefully slid his second hand down to the first, and pressed a little firmer, rubbing his hands up and down from her chest to mid-way down her belly.

Lying still, the seal offered no comment on whether she did, or did not approve, just laying with her head resting on his lap, her eyes closed and her breathing slow and steady.

"You know - " He whispered, then started a gentle massaging type movement with his hands. "I - I know you're a girl seal...when I brought you home, I was washing the sand and stiff off you and I - I mean...not intentionally...but I..."

He swallowed, then suddenly felt her tense, her eyelids snapping open like dark shades, as she stared up at him - her gaze almost one of questioning intent.

"I didn't...I mean - I didn't do...you know...anything..." he laughed nervously, as if thinking she must be reading his mind. "I know a little...biology - about seals and..."

She frowned, then squirmed and he pulled his hands back from her belly, until she seemed to sigh and slowly closed her eyes again. He felt like a fool, talking to her the way he did, but he'd been living alone for many many years, only the occasional trip to the store a few dozen miles away, for some food supplies and such, his only human contact. He lived almost completely off the grid, no phone, internet, nothing - he used kerosene lamps for night lighting, on the rare nights he felt he needed some light, often easily navigating his house in the dark. He kept a well stocked supply of assorted foods in tins and long life packaging, sometimes fishing or gathering assorted shellfish and crabs, to supplement his diet. He lived alone, for the most part - no surviving family, and no close friends - just the way he preferred it. Humanity often made him exasperated and annoyed - with their almost endless plundering of the ocean's depths for food, oil and other resources, he knew humanity couldn't live well if they all returned to the more simpler way of living - raising livestock, growing vegetables and fruits, etc - but the less he had to do with humanity in general, the happier he was for it in the long run. As if sensing his sudden melancholy mood, the seal opened her eyes and gazed up at him, her own eyes like pools of liquid night, and in her gaze, he seen his own reflection, sad, weather-beaten and confused, before she blinked slowly, then closed her eyes again, as if trying to tell him to just let it all go, stop worrying so much, she trusted him - and without his kindness and gentleness, she would have surely died - so that all that mattered, he had saved her, and she was indebted to him for doing so.

*

One night, as he was showering, as was his want to do in the privacy of his own home, he sat on the small bench in the shower, masturbating himself. He was daydreaming of his long lost love, how they had had such dreams and hopes for a long, happy life, and they had both enjoyed a very pleasurable sex life. His clenched hand stroked slowly up and down his impressive penis, as he use d the webbing between thumb and forefinger, dragging it sensuously over the slightly ridge head of his penis. So lost was he to his fantasies and the pleasures - he did not hear the slight squeak of the door, not the rustle of the shower curtain.

"Oh..that feels so good - " Alex murmured, as he tilted his head back and began masturbating faster and faster.

His hand began its upstroke, when suddenly there was a wet slap, and his eyes flew open, right as he seen the seal looking up at him - as bold as anything, standing on all four flippers, in the shower with him, her waterproof coat making the shower water sheeting down her smooth fur. He gasped, as she blinked, then with no warning, dove forwards and then her muzzle dropped - and he screamed in absolute terror, as he felt her muzzle slide down his penis, until her chin brushed his scrotum. His mind melted, as the seal tightened her lips around his well wet penis, then began a strong sucking motion, her throat muscles working harder and harder, her hot breath washing against the thick pubic hairs.

"Oh...what...no!" He gasped, his body trembling. "No! Stop...oh god...please...please stop - you...you don't - "

Ignoring his cries, the seal merely closed her eyes and resumed sucking, her tongue sliding over and around his penis, and him shrieking helplessly, a part of him sickened by what she was doing, another part screaming in ecstasy - yet another part, knowing how sharp her teeth were, yet not once, did he even feel so much as a single nibble. Her sucking grew almost frenetic, as she pushed her head down and he felt the tip of his penis pressed against the back of her throat, as she slurped and suckled like she had done it all her life. Never had he had oral pleasure like this - her tongue, her powerful muscular contractions of her cheeks and her throat...never had he even dreamed such mind-crushing ecstasy could exist - or even contemplated receiving a blow-job from a seal! For nearly five minutes, he fought the urges, his scrotum screaming for release from the pent-up orgasm he fought to withstand, as the seal continued sucking, oblivious to his hands on her shoulders, and his cries and moans. Her muzzle wrinkled as he gasped and tried not to thrust against her muzzle, the first few dribbles of what promised to be a massive orgasm spurted from his penis, and she paused, then pulled her head away, seconds before he came in strong, powerful spurts, that spattered over the seal's back and rear flippers. He could not have controlled himself if he tried, so overwhelming was the orgasm when it struck - it was, by far, the greatest he had ever experienced.

When at last he managed a weak semblance of self-control, he moaned and shuddered, slowly looking down at the seal who twisted her head around, looking at the sticky semen on her back and hind flippers, before turning her gaze back to him, uttering a low, coughing oark sound, then nuzzling his shins.

"Oh god - " Alex gurgled, then without thinking, he reached down and cupped the seal's head in his shaking hands. "Why...how...did you - "

She lay her head in his hands, gazing up at him with a look of confusion, then she seemed to shrug and nuzzled his hands again. Barely capable of holding himself still, he gurgled in post-orgasmic pleasure and picked up the discarded cloth - then wiped away the semen from the seals back and hind flippers. She watched him with a look of curiosity, then nuzzled him again and slapped one fore-flipper against the shower floor.

"You...my god - why did you...I mean...how...how does a seal...WHY did you - " he stammered, lost for words, trying to understand why and how she had done what she had done.

With her dark, soulful eyes gazing up at him, she merely blinked away the water that tricked down over her eyelashes and nuzzled his hands again. She knew why she had done what she did, he had been so kind to her, so gentle, compassionate and caring - he had, above all others, saved her life - and that alone, was a debt she promised herself, she would repay, in any way she could.

To Be Continued