Hey Everybody, I know this story is kind of slow getting out but I've had a lot on my plate lately. I just got this back from the wonderful Editor Novastar and hope you all enjoy it! This chapter actually contains sexual content and is for Adult viewers only. This is a M/M Story. I hope you all enjoy I had a great time writing this chapter. As always I love comments, questions, suggestions, ideas, constructive criticism and the like, so don't be afraid to drop a comment! =D Now onto Chapter 2 of The Nature Of Life Series.

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~The Nature of Life~

Chapter 2 - A Secret Romance; The Danger of Flowers:

I was woken early by Tyrus being a bit noisy as he prepared his gear for the hunt and travel. I stumbled out of bed into the main room that served as both the family room and kitchen to see Tyrus packing his pack and sharpening a few hunting spears. He said nothing but looked up at me for a brief moment before returning to his sharpening. I sat down in the seat next to him and rested my head against his shoulder. In the early morning I tended to be more affectionate towards my brother because of the fact that I was still really sleepy. He didn't always mind, but sometimes it did annoy him. Today was just a lucky day where he happened to not mind. I had fallen asleep on his should and after a good amount of time had passed Tyrus shook me off of him and finished packing up his gear; It must have been late morning, at least a good hour or two before noon.

"Well I'm off little brother, you be good now, alright?" He said to me, a slight concern lingering in his voice.

"Sure thing. Good luck on your hunt!" I said, a bit cheerfully now that I had gotten a bit more sleep.

Tyrus nodded and walked out of the side cavern we called our home, headed to the surface with his buddies for their hunt. I reluctantly got up and cleaned up the rest of the house a bit as well as bathed myself and changed into a new outfit for the day. I wanted things, and myself, to look good when Kaio came over. It wasn't long after I finished getting ready that he arrived, cautiously poking his head through the door clothe.

"Arian, you here?" he asked, in somewhat of a hushed tone.

I came out of my room, smiling at him, "Come in." I stated.

The wolf entered, walking over to me and wrapping his arms around me, pulling me into a soft hug as our lips met in a long, undisturbed kiss. I blushed deeply, closing my eyes as I enjoyed the moment, a moment that happened rarely for us. After our lips parted I looked up at Kaio and smiled, he stood at least a good, couple inches taller than myself.

"I've missed that.." I stated, a sad, soft smile playing on my muzzle.

Kaio held tightly to me, "I have too... it's not fair, I wish we didn't have to hide this, I wish I was able to just kiss you in public and be with you without worrying about anything."

I kissed the side of his muzzle, sighing sadly, "I know, I wish for the same, maybe one day? But right now things like this aren't viewed as ideal and it could get us into a lot of trouble..."

He sighed as well, still holding to me. Days like this were rare for us, days where we got to spend time alone together. We kept our relationship hidden from the world, because even though a lot of the things that started the Great War had been forgotten or forgiven, being in love with the same sex was still seen as something wrong, and many of the Colony populations didn't agree with it. There were always rumors of couples who had been put to death or banished because they were together with someone of the same sex. Although Kaio and I took great precautions to avoid these same mishaps, at times it weighed heavily on us when we wanted to be close to each other and couldn't be.

I smiled at Kaio, a devilish grin began to form. "You know, we have the whole place to ourselves tonight..." I teased.

Kaio blushed deeply, wrapping his arms around me from behind, "Can we... er... have sex? I mean, uh.. if you want to?"

For being the dominant one in our relationship, Kaio was genuinely shy when it came to speaking about sexual things. I of course could talk about such things with perfect ease and often teased him.

"Hm... well, I dunno..." I quickly turned around and groped his crotch, which made him blush heavily.

"You don't seem all that excited, so maybe we'll have to some other time?" I teased him, my grin only growing wider. Of course by groping his crotch I could feel him stir and I could definitely tell he wanted to do things.

"Aww c'mon Arian... don't tease me so much..." he blushed more and a soft moan escaped his throat as I rubbed over his crotch area, in the hopes of getting him aroused quickly.

"But teasing is what I do best remember?" I said as I gave him a long, loving kiss.

As I thought, he got aroused rather quickly. I helped him strip out of his clothes as we headed to my bedroom. He pushed me down on the bed gently and began to strip my clothes off, kissing up and down my neck. We both lay there on the bed, completely naked and kissing each other like mad. Our passion intensified and our breathing started to become quick and ragged with need. After all, this kind of thing happened very rarely and we took full advantage of the time we got to spend together. I stroked his member lightly, which was now fully erect, as he kissed my neck. When things got heated up he lost his shyness and tended to take on the more dominant role. As he hovered above me I slid down until I reached his member, taking it into my mouth. The scent was godly and the taste made me want him even more.

I only took the first inch or so of his member into my mouth because after I did he began to thrust himself into my mouth, gently at first. As time passed he began to speed up his thrusts, which made the both of us moan. He was already leaking pre and I made sure to swallow all I could, I loved the taste.

Hours of foreplay passed, fingering, blowjobs, kissing, almost everything we could do before we finally decided to end our night of pleasure with some actual sex. I raised my rump into the air, lifting my tail so that Kaio could place his member at my entrance, which by this time was stretched enough so that he could be as rough as he pleased. He slid himself into me a bit gently at first, soon sliding all the way into me with the exception of his knot. He began to speed up his thrusts, causing me to moan in absolute pleasure. He grabbed onto my hips as he continued to speed up, thrusting in and out roughly. From the hours of foreplay we were both tense and knew that it wouldn't take either of us long before we came. I could feel him tense up more, causing me to tense up as well.

"Ah, Arian, I'm so close!" He said through strained pants and moans.

I moaned loudly in response and he started thrusting even faster and finally thrust his knot deep inside of me. Both of us moaned loudly, he released his load deeply inside of me as he continued to make short, fast thrusts into me. The tension in my member was too much to restrain any longer and white streams of cum shot out, soiling the sheets of my bed. We both remained still for a while and eventually Kaio pulled his softened member out of me. The both of us collapsed on my bed, kissing each other lovingly, Kaio sliding his tongue into my mouth as we shared a few last passionate kisses. We cuddled close to each other under the sheets of my bed, finally closing our eyes to sleep for the rest of the night.

"I love you so much Arian..." Kaio said, a deep blush covering his face.

"I love you too Kaio, more than anything." I rested my head against his chest as the two of us slowly drifted off into a deep sleep.

As the new day began I stared at the handsome wolf laying next to me, an extremely peaceful look covered his face as he slept and it always made me happy. I let his sleeping continue for about another half hour before I finally decided to wake him up. He was usually just a tad bit grouchy in the mornings when he was woken up, but he always smiled back when he saw me, hovering over him with my silly smile.

We both got dressed into the clothes we had been wearing the previous night, having decided we'd go up to the surface today to do some exploring together. We made sure to take our hunting gear with us just in case we needed to defend ourselves from the beasts on the surface. Most of our Colony liked to use spears and throwing axes, but I had taken a fondness to the bow and arrow. I was a decent shot, but still had a lot of skill to gain.

After we left my place we resumed the normal appearance of two really good friends who were just going out to hunt, instead of two lovers going to spend an early afternoon together. We both did a good job of fooling all eyes who looked our way. It amazed me that we continued to fool everyone around us, but even so it was essential to our survival. We led ourselves along the tunnels that led to the surface world, making sure to secure our masks before we got to the upper tunnels where the air began to get toxic.

The world above our own was deadly, but it was also beautiful beyond comparison. The first step out of the tunnels was grass, which was nice and comfortable to one's bare paws. The both of us were a bit blinded by the light at first, but over a short span of time we got used to it. All around us was the beauty of nature. The trees that over the centuries of time had grown to be massive and tall enough to reach the clouds, the flowers and plants that grew at the base of the trees varied in numerous colors of reds, purples, yellows, blues, oranges, and even blacks. You could tell the air was toxic by the fact that there was a foggy haze to how the air looked. A smog that was more prominent during the morning and early afternoon hours. By a bit after noon the fog would clear up. You could usually only see a good 15 feet in front of you with complete clarity before things began to haze out.

We walked along a seldom traversed pathway that not many colonists knew about. This meant that the chances of others coming across us would be greatly lessened. Most of our time together was usually spent just exploring the landscape, adding routes and landmarks to our own personal, secret map we had made. I usually marked and used it to figure out where I could find certain herbs in the wild. I also used it to know which areas were particularly dangerous and where to stay away from. Upon walking upon a new path that we were marking we stumbled upon an old water well that was surprisingly still intact.

It was a stone brick water well with wooden beams that created a roof over the well, there was also a wooden lever attached that probably moved in order to bring up a bucket of water. Over the centuries the area and the well had been covered with a moss like plant and smaller trees surrounded the area in a circle. Sunlight shone through between the gaps of branches and leaves, allowing streams of light to be visible in the somewhat foggy air. It was a beautiful sight and it made me smile to myself.

"Wow! look at this place!" I said to Kaio, "It's surprising that this place has survived all this time and still stands."

Kaio seemed to be fascinated by the place as much as I was, "It is rather interesting." he stated, "Hey, look over there!"

He pointed past the well to a place hidden by the ring of trees. It seemed to be the foundations of a building that had fallen into decay. I walked closer to the area, along with Kaio to see that it had at one point been an old cottage house. All that was left of the building was the stone foundation and some rubble on both the outside and inside, everything else had either decayed over time or simply vanished.

"I wonder who used to live here..?" Kaio questioned, "I wonder what their life was like... before the Great War..."

I smiled at Kaio, "Yeah, I wonder too. I don't think everyone was bad during the time of the Great War... there were probably nice people who got affected by it regardless of their stand."

I wore a bit of a sad smile as images involuntarily began to race through my head. I saw an elderly couple, kind, caring and happy, looking off into the distance. Then suddenly there were soldiers wearing strange uniforms and masks. I saw the terrified elderly couple run into their home, husband trying desperately to defend his wife as the soldiers broke into their home. There were no questions asked, only gunshots and screams as the elderly couple stood together, holding each other for the last time. They fell to the ground, no longer living, lifeless on the cottage floor. Kaio snapped me out of it and I realized he had been shaking me a bit and calling my name, worried about me.

"Hey! Arian! Are you ok Hon? You went all silent and then you didn't respond to me..." there was concern deeply rooted in Kaio's voice.

"I'm fine Kaio... I just, well..." I trailed off, frowning deeply as I tried to restrain myself from tearing up.

"You had another vision of the Great War... didn't you?" he asked.

I nodded my head, frowning at him, "Yes..." I said silently.

Ever since my first trip to the surface world I had been getting these strange visions. Sometimes in random places, like the old city ruins, fields and buildings, I got visions of things that happened before and during the Great War. I couldn't even begin to explain why it was happening. I never told anyone this, not until Kaio had come into my life. The first time we met I actually told him about it, ever since then he's supported me and talked about it with me.

He pulled me into a soft hug, frowning a bit, "Want to talk about it?" he asked.

I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the painful vision, "Not right now... later." I promised.

"Alright." He held me for a while and then let go after I seemed to be doing better.

We left the area shortly after that and headed on our way back to the Colony, having felt that we had explored enough today.

"Hey, go on ahead, I'll catch up in a sec, ok?" Kaio said.

I smiled at him and nodded, "Alright, don't be too long." I said back.

Kaio walked off the trail, and I continued on my way towards the Colony. Kaio had noticed a rose bush off the path and wanted to surprise Arian with one of its beautiful flowers. The roses were a beautiful red color with a purple tint, something that was not so easily found in rose colors. The thorns on the rose stem were everywhere and seemed sharp. Kaio carefully bent one of the stems and succeeded in breaking the stem with the rose. Unfortunately a few of the thorns had dug themselves into Kaio's paw, forcing a bit of blood to leak from his paw and fall onto the ground.

"Shit..." Kaio said to himself as he headed back to the path to catch up with Arian and give him the rose.

Kaio soon caught up to Arian and smiled at him, "Hey!"

Arian turned to face him, "Hey what took y-" I paused and frowned as I noticed the rose in Kaio's hand.

"Please tell me you didn't get cut by the thorns!" I said worriedly.

"Well... yeah, I got stuck by a few thorns as I was getting this for you..." he said, his ears flattened a bit on his head when he felt he had done something wrong.

"Look, I love the fact that you got me the flower, but the thorns are toxic! We need to get back to the Colony as soon as possible!" I wasn't mad at him at all, just extremely worried about him.

The two of us began rushing back to the Colony after I explained to him that the thorns carried toxins. I was usually extremely careful when I harvested roses. If you got cut by the thorns at all they released the toxins into your blood. Rose thorns also caused short term paralysis or strain of the muscles, allowing movement to be nearly impossible in the healing time, which is why he would need to stay at my place for the next few days. I had come across it a while ago when a patient came to me after feeling extremely sick after picking the rose for his lover, much like Kaio had done for me. I did have a remedy, but Kaio would probably be out for the next couple of days with a fever because of this.

We rushed into the Colony and took off our breathing masks when it was safe. Kaio was still carrying the rose, but he held it at the top, away from the thorns. I thought that it was sweet of him, but had I known he was going to I would have warned him not to get cut by the thorns. We raced down the spiral to get to my place, passing many a curious fur that wondered why we hurried so quickly. By the time we were half way there, the side effects began to take place, his vision was blurring and he complained that he felt sick.

We finally reached my place and I dug through my pack until I found what I was looking for. I pulled out a bottle and poured two capsules into my paw for Kaio, I had him swallow them with a drink of water. I felt his forehead and frowned when it felt hot to the touch. I led him to my room and had him lay down on my bed. I went back to the kitchen and noticed that he had left the rose on the table. I carefully de-thorned the rose, placing the thorns in an unmarked bottle and then put the thorn-free stem into a glass of water and set it on the middle of the table. I got a cloth of cold water and went back into my room to take care of Kaio.

"I'm sorry... I just wanted to get you a nice flower..." he said a bit faintly, struggling to keep himself awake.

"I know hon, and I appreciate it... You'll be fine now, just rest, ok?" I said back to him.

"Ok..." was all he muttered as he closed his eyes.

"You'll have to stay here a couple days, I'm going to go explain to your parents, I'll be back soon, I promise." I said as I held his paw.

"Ok hon... I'll try to get some sleep..." Kaio once again closed his eyes and began to drift off into sleep.

I left the house, heading towards Kaio's place to explain the situation to his parents. Kaio's place was a bit larger than mine, in fact his family lived in the higher, mid-range levels because they were wealthier. When I arrived at Kaio's I had to knock on the wooden door. I was greeted at the door moments later by Kaio's mother, Lucinda.

"Oh! Arian dear, it's good to see you, Kaio's not with you?" Lucinda questioned, a bit of concern in her voice.

"Well, actually, Kaio is the reason I'm here..." she gave a confused look and waited for me to continue.

"We went out hunting today and, by accident, he managed to get pricked by some rose thorns. Rose thorns are toxic, but don't worry, I've got him back at my place and I've given him a remedy." I tried to keep the extreme tones of worry for Kaio out of my voice, in the random case that she might suspect something.

"Is he doing ok?" Lucinda seemed to be worried greatly, like all mothers worried about their sons when they received bad news.

"Yes, he's fine, he's resting right now and I'll keep watch over him for the next couple days till he gets back on his feet. I can't move him until he gets better, otherwise he might get worse." I smiled at her to reassure her that he was fine.

Lucinda smiled back at me, "You take care of him Arian. He's so happy around you."

She gave me another knowing smile, which made me wonder if she knew about us. I didn't press the matter though and instead I said my goodbyes and headed back to my place to take care of Kaio. I frowned suddenly as I realized that Tyrus would be back tonight, and if Kaio was here, I would have to explain to him the situation and pray that the next couple days he didn't notice our relationship. I waved away the thoughts and took my focus back to Kaio, getting him better was my main concern right now.

When I arrived back at my house, I found Kaio still asleep on my bed. He was out cold, but breathing normally, a very good sign. I checked his forehead which was still hot to the touch and grabbed a new, cold, wet cloth to replace the previous one. After a while I got tired and laid down next to Kaio for a quick nap and it wasn't long until I was out. In the time that I slept I simply dreamed of the days when Kaio and I could sleep together like this without fear of being discriminated against, but for now that's all they were, dreams.

I slept for about two hours and then forced myself to wake up, knowing that if I slept any longer Tyrus might come home and find out about us. I ran up to the market place upstairs and bought two soups, one for myself and one for Kaio. When I returned home Kaio had woken up and was looking around for me, he was still in bed however.

I quickly went over to him and smiled at him, "Hey, I brought you some soup if you're hungry?" I asked, a light blush on my face.

"Starving actually... what did my parents say?" he asked, gazing hungrily at the container with soup in it.

I opened the lid and put a spoon in the bowl, Kaio had just enough energy to sit up and take the bowl. He began to devour the soup, which today was a chicken noodle soup.

"Well, your mom answered the door. She was worried about you and told me to take care of you." I paused, recalling her knowing smile, "Kaio... does she know about us..?" I asked, seeming a bit nervous.

Kaio paused from eating and looked over at me, "Well... I haven't told her, but maybe she does suspect it?"

I shook my head and frowned a bit, "I think she does. But even if she does suspect it, I have the feeling that she's ok with it."

Kaio sat in silence for a moment, thinking it seemed, "Maybe I'll talk about it with her when I'm feeling better..? I mean... if you're ok with that..?" He looked at me, those gorgeous emerald eyes gazing into mine.

I blushed and smiled at him, "Yeah... just be careful about it though, ok? I just don't want anything to happen that might hurt us..."

I got closer to him and hugged him gently, letting go after a moment to let him finish eating. I ate by his side, making sure he was ok and watching him go back to sleep. Not long after that I heard Tyrus just getting home, which made my ears perk up a bit as I prepared to explain the situation to him. I got up and left my room, heading back into the kitchen to see Tyrus.

"Hey! How was your hunt and journey?" I asked, trying my best to mask the worried tones in my voice.

"It went well, did some trading while I was over at the other Colony and got some new hunting gear. You been keeping out of trouble?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

My mind drifted onto the previous nights 'fun' and the troubling events of earlier today and it made me smile to myself, "Well I've been trying, haven't been doing a very good job of that so far though."

"What happened?" Tyrus asked with a bit of a stern voice.

I sighed a bit and then looked back towards my bedroom, "Well, earlier me and Kaio were out hunting and he managed to accidently prick his fingers on a few rose thorns. He's in my bed, he'll be here for a couple of days before he is fully healed and able to move completely on his own." I explained, hoping Tyrus would understand.

"Rose thorns?" he questioned, he didn't understand plants like I did.

"They're toxic if they break the skin. They can cause temporary paralysis or muscle strain." I explained.

"Other symptoms are fevers, they can be fatal if the proper cure isn't administered within a time limit." I explained further.

Tyrus seemed a bit annoyed by the extra presence that would be here for a few days and he sighed, "There's no way to move him?" he asked.

I shook my head, "No. Moving him could be dangerous, so I wouldn't dare risk it."

"Alright then, but you're responsible completely." Tyrus said, an agitated tone lingering in his voice.

"I've already informed his parents of the issue, I'll take care of things." I reassured.

Tyrus yawned and headed towards his own room, "I'm going to take a nap, it's been a long journey back and I'm tired." he stated, "Oh, and don't touch my stuff! I'll take care of it later." He added, giving his normal 'don't you dare touch anything' glances after noticing I had been eyeing his new hunting gear.

I sighed and crossed my arms, "Fine. I won't touch anything."

After a few short minutes Tyrus came back out, "Changed my mind, I'm gunna put my stuff away first and then just go to bed."

I nodded at him and watched as he put his stuff away then left to his bedroom. It wasn't long before I determined that he was asleep and I went and laid next to Kaio. Risky? Yes, but well worth it. I knew that Tyrus was a deep sleeper and I always woke up earlier than him, so it should be no problem. I cuddled close to the sleeping Wolf I loved so much, he still felt feverish, but hopefully by the morning that would be gone. I soon drifted off into a deep sleep myself, thoughts invading my mind as I slept.

'Love, something that is wonderful, something that should be experienced by all fur-kind. Sadly many a fur is persecuted because of their love choices, because they decide to be with someone of the same sex or someone of a differing race. For the longest time fur-kind has struggled to understand that love should not be challenged but accepted. This was one of the reasons the Great War started, the reason that so many innocent furs lost their lives. Live with tolerance, live with love, live with peace, accept all as they are and allow them to do the same. In doing this the world takes one step closer to becoming better, to becoming a world free from hate, to reconnecting with our loving Earth Mother.'

~End of Chapter 2~