New Horizons - 1
#2 of New Horizons
New Horizons
Written by: Ashura L. Kusanaga
[Author's Note: I'mmm baaaaaaccck! This story is pretty much in the same style as the first one, "Furry Dreams". It is written like that as well; that being in the style of an autobiography. It will continue from where it was with my last Ashura series. If you haven't read the first series, "Furry Dreams" by me, then do so before reading onward in this story.]
An intercom beeped and said that the airplane was about to land. A city called "Yiff City", DC. It would be home, some of the passengers said. I didn't want to hear it though. I wanted to know that my sister Abby would be taken care of. To have a proper burial that was. The Kusanaga way. I wanted to know that the other twin sister, Kait, and any cub she might have from our brief encounter, be safe as well.
There wasn't any reason that any of these things would become true. My skill in telepathy seemed to have died with the destruction of that labratory. So finding out the future, even by "cheating" was out of the question.
"Curses! I mustn't think of that place...!" I thought to myself. "The more I think about it, the more I get angry."
I wasn't certain of anything as of recently. I figured that there'd be no chance we would make it through that day, let alone that coming evening to be sure. I needed too many things-- including money --to ensure Kait's survival, Abby's burial, and our other primary needs of shelter and food.
"Are we to become vermin?" I wondered inside my head. "Are we to live day-by-day, hoping to get our food stuffs before we actually needed it?"
"Ashura?" said Kait, tugging on my arm. We hadn't bathed in... I had forgotten how long. Kait and I were dirty, and Abby.... I had put a thick woven blanket over and around her body, so that no one would see... the wounds. The way I had wrapped it made it seem as though she were sleeping deeply, and to my luck, no one was none-the-wiser. Kait's pulling hastened a little.
"Yes, Kait" I said returning from my thoughts.
"We landed" she said nonchalantly. I saw her eyes wander to Abby, and she held fast to her tears. She looked away before her emotions got to her even more. I turned her face towards mine, and wiped the tears off of her cheeks.
"Let's get off this thing, and find a place to make things right in their accord" I whispered to her, softly kissing her lips.
Kait sniffled, and helped me and Abby get up. She hugged me from my side with a little squeeze, and walked closely with me like a mated couple would. We had to stick near by to each other.
Carrying Abby was by far one of the most defining moments that I'd always remember even if age claimed my memory in my later years, decades from now. First things first. We needed shelter. The cold east coast wind of D.C. bit into our fur as we stepped onto the movable stairs. As soon as Kait and I made our way towards the entrance of the airport, she spoke up.
"Ashura? Something seems familiar about that white-ish, yellow-ish rabbit in cargo shorts over by the stairs" she whispered to me.
I chanced a look, and noticed the rabbit she'd just described. He didn't seem to much taller than myself, maybe his ears led to his extra height in my eyes. Kait was right, though. The rabbit did seem familiar.
"Kait, let's wait for a second, so he's about to pass... I've got that same feeling as you, like we know him" I said in hushed tones. Just as I'd kind of planned, the rabbit came near our direction. But he spoke to us, instead of us starting the conversation.
"I feel like I know you..." he said, as he stopped a mere five feet from us. He didn't even look at us until he'd finished his sentence. A burst of memory hit me.
"You're Salem, correct?" I inquired. "Docter Adam's son?"
There was a small tone of hate in my voice. The male rabbit slowly nodded.
"Yes, but no longer" he said, as he stepped towards us. What was he up to? 'No longer'?
"What do you mean by that?" I said. My voice lost its hatred, even as he approached. Something told me he wasn't a threat, but it felt like something huge was near us as he approached. Like there was more to his appearance than he let on.
"Yeah, what do you mean?" Kait spoke up. Salem looked down at her briefly with a look of sorrow on his face.
"My father was the reason we're like this, though, I wanted this change for myself" Salem continued. He beckoned us to walk with him. "You see, even though I knew of things that were happening to you, your family, and the others not related to you, I could do nothing, nor did I know everything that went on in my father's labs."
"So, you knew, and yet you did nothing!?" I asked him. Again, he frowned.
"You know nothing of what my father could've done to you..." he murmured. I put out my free paw, and stopped him, before I turned around and faced him. The bubbling rage began to surface again.
"You're father is the reason we Kusanaga, and we Lyotsu are almost extinct!" I roared, which caught the attention of some other Furries and Scalies; and caused Kait to hold onto my arm tighter, making my anger fade. "And yet you say, 'no longer'... how come?"
"I say, no longer, because of what he did to my sister and myself during the last week of being in the lab, before you... um... yeah... whatever you did...."
We continued walking, my head still hurting from that psychic... 'thing'.
"I'm sorry, I won't ask what he did to you two" I said quietly. "Although, even though he's dead... I'll never be able to forgive his legacy and memory for what he's done to us. It's cost the lives of us Kusanaga, and us Lyotsu. My mother, my father, and my... little sister, Abby here, will never get to see what things I've done for myself.
"They won't get to see my two cubs, and become grandparents and an aunt respectively. They won't get to meet my mate, Kacey. They will never be able to see freedom. And it's all because of your father! I forgive your family, but I'll never... NEVER forgive your father!" I was crying at this point, and I had to sit down, just to set Abby down, and let my emotions out.
Salem sat down, as well as Kait. Kait put her arms around me again, and Salem simply put one of his paws on one of my knees. Kait was also crying, though silent; Salem was simply, downtrodden. My tears kept coming, and each fell to my paws or my lap. And for the longest time, I wanted to stop, but I couldn't. Everything was taken away from me. I had no money, no shelter, and no family left, except Kait... and Fiona, if she wasn't found and captured.
"'In the midst of sadness, one shall find hope for another, and that one, in turn, will find hope for another, and this is the cycle that is begetted from life and death, from death and life... when one falls, one shall rise'... my sister told me that once" Salem said. He reached down to touch Abby, and then he rested his paws on my shoulders and Kait's shoulders. "Though this one will sleep eternally, her spirit will live on in your species' place of afterlife."
Kait frowned at Abby, and looked up at Salem, with a nearly hopeful and happy expression on her face. Her expression, and the news from Salem's 'skill' brought me closer to Kait, and brought me much happiness.
"I do not have a place to stay, friend, but I will aid you in finding one... I hear there's a great place near the entertainment nexus in Yiff City" Salem said, helping us to our feet, and out of the airport.
We had found the place really easily, but I still needed peace of mind, that Abby would be given the correct way to be taken care of in her time of death. Salem's 'skills' helped us yet again, as we found a quiet haven in a place called Y.S. inside the entertainment nexus.
It was several hours before I had built the raft, found the nessessary herbs and plants, and placed Abby onto the raft. Kait and I had remembered all chants to be said in our clan's ancient dialect, and plant and blood markings to be placed on viewers, helpers, myself, and of course Abby. Kait thought a moment, took off a necklace she was allowed to keep at the labratory, and placed it onto the raft and kindling. Salem had nothing to really offer except fire, a psychic-based skill he said he picked up from his father's gene tinkering.
I stepped into the water, and Kait followed me as well. We went onto opposite sides of the raft and got ready to push it out to the middle of the lake. I leaned over as far as I could, and made another set of markings on Abby with my pricked thumb. Before I pulled away, I gave Abby a soft kiss on the forehead, before getting ready to push. Even though it seemed I had no more tears to shed for my departed sister, my eyes and cheeks were moist and irritated from the tears that were constantly falling. With a heavy heart, and a grunt from myself and Kait, the raft began drifting away. A small burst of fire came from Salem's paws, and the raft caught fire a little bit.
Another burst of memory hit me... and then some.
"Now remember, when I get to twenty, you'd better be hidden... one... two... two and one half..." I said, as I peeked a little.
"No peekin', brother" Kait said.
"No peeky, brubber" Abby mimicked.
"Can we go swimming, Ashura?" Abby asked, while Kait absent-mindedly sucked her thumb.
"Sure, just get into your swimming suits, and you can" I smiled. Both of them showed their happiness in a gleeful 'yay' and went inside to change. Not but a few minutes later, they came back out, and played in the pool.
"Good night, Ashura, we love you" the twins said simultaneously.
"I love you both too, and a good night to you... and a good night to you as well," I kissed Abby's forehead, then kissed Kait's forehead, and proceeded to humor them one last time that day. "-And good evening all you little stars up there."
At that, they laughed, and turned over.
"It hurts, brother" Abby tearfully said, cradeling her bruised knee. I bent down and kissed it.
"Is that better?" I asked, and she nodded.
"Thank you, Ashura" she returned with a smile.
"He's coming around, sister" whispered a voice. A familiar one at that. Kait?
"I hope he doesn't die" whispered another voice. Abby?
I opened my eyes. I was laying in bed. The same one I woke up in that morning. I tried to sit up, and failed. I was sore from not moving, I guess.
"Kait? Abby?" I asked, not believing my eyes. They nodded, but they weren't smiling very much.
"I can't move, help me up" I said.
"My chest... there's nothing there from the surgery... but how long have I been out?" I asked. The two pre-teens hugged me.
"We don't know, but at least you're up, brother" said Kait.
I stopped the twins from following me for a second, and went over to the chart.
"'Day 47: Five seems to have recovered fully, showing no signs of the emergency surgery that took place 46 days ago..."' I read out loud.
"You've been out a while, brother, but mom and dad haven't come back from the isolation chambers yet... so we've been looking after you since that day" said Abby. I turned back towards them, and looked at them.
"We've all changed, brother" said Abby. She handed me a mirror, and I held it up. I almost dropped it.
"What about our parents again?" I finally spoke up. Abby shifted uncomfortably, and Kait answered.
"They're in the isolation chambers... they've been there since your surgery... they must've been awfully mad at the docters" she explained. I smiled, and sat on the bed, and they followed suit.
"We'll just have to stick together until they return then, okay?" I said patting their backs. They nodded.
"Kayo, eeso nai, oooo... kra-nah, eesa, taynah-ooooo... farewell, Abby... may y-you reach the ancestors with ease..." Kait said, she and myself sideling over to each other, arm around each other.
The raft was a good twenty yards out, when the whole raft was fully lit. I saw something fleeting and white-ish mingle among the grey smoke before it disappated with the rest of the smoke into the sky.
"Yes... good bye, and farewell, Abigail..." I whispered solemly.
"I've gotten lodgings from the inn keeper there for free," Salem said to us later that day. He was pointing to a lodge-type place-- if you could call it a lodge --in the distance.
My thoughts had wandered away from Abby's burial, as I knew that Kait, Salem, and myself performed the ritual correctly. At the time, I thought about including Salem in our stay with us, and thought about what our future would be like.
Salem's father had died. Our family was practically gone, too. I guessed our only hope was to stick it out together while we looked for stability. And that was far off....
[Author's Request: Since this is the first chapter of the second story, I would expect normal feedback. However, I've been out of practice since I've last written. So, as a request, I would like some suggestions, helpful comments/criticism, and requests from yourselves. You see, in the past, my stories have captured the imagination of certain individuals, and these individuals helped shape a better story when I was out on my luck/skill. So, in closing, and again, please... I would like to see comments, and anything else that would be nice/needed/cool/artsy/yiffy/whatever. Thank you.
-Ashura L. Kusanaga.]