FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I forced myself to open my eyes. This simple deed was rewarded with a shooting pain through my skull. I closed by eyes to the blinding, piercing light, and tried to remember what had happened. For a while, I couldn't remember a thing, and then the flood of memories hit me like a truck.

I sat up and looked around. I expected to find myself in some sort of prison cell, deep inside the casino. Instead, once my eyes adjusted to the copious amount of light, I found myself on top of a low, firm bed, in the center of a small, neat room. My surroundings were Spartan to the extreme, with only some Japanese paintings lining the white walls. But it was cozy and well-lit, and made me feel somehow at peace.

Until I remembered I had just been beat-up, shot, pushed off the top of a forty-story building and hit by a car. My body seemed to remember this at about the same time, and let me know with pain blossoming everywhere inside and outside my body. I lay back down and put my left paw over my stomach. It brushed against rough linen. Feeling around that area, I found that my stomach had been bandaged where I'd been shot. I tried to feel it with my other paw, but quickly realized my arm was immobilized in a sling.

I slowly sat up again and inspected myself. Bandages covered the majority of my body, and circled my head as well. I took off the bed's sheet that had been covering me, and discovered I was wearing no clothes save for my boxers. I looked around the room quickly. A fresh, clean white t-shirt and a new pair of jeans lay at the foot of the bed, on the ground, apparently meant for me. I swung my legs over the side of the bed and slowly got up.

My body protested, but I forced it to finally stand up straight. The ceiling was so low, the tips of my ears almost brushed against it. My feet, bare except for bandages, felt the floor's strange texture. I looked down, and found it was covered in thin, tightly bound bamboo mats that formed a geometric pattern. I forced my feet to ignore the strange sensation and picked up the clothes. The jeans were a little baggy and the shirt was tight, but it felt good to finally have some clean clothes on. I looked around the room and saw a wooden door a few feet away. It seemed to be the only way out, since the room had no windows. Curious yet cautious, I walked over to it, turned the knob quietly, and opened the door just enough to peer through.

The room beyond was about fifty feet by seventy feet. The walls, thankfully taller than those of the room I had woken up in, were plain white, and many strips of fluorescent light bulbs covered the ceiling. There were a few pillows laid out against the wall, apparently for sitting on. There was nobody in the room, so I stepped cautiously in. The floor was covered in thin, spongy mats. As I stepped in further, I also saw the wall behind me was covered in mirrors. It almost looked like one of my childhood superheroes' personal training dojos.

There were two other doors that led from the room: one on the wall to my left, and one on the wall across from me. Wanting to explore more, I headed to the door to the left.

"Hey!" a powerful voice shouted from my right. I must have jumped nearly to the ceiling. I spun around and raised my fists as best I could, ready for a fight.

A short, old fox stood in the doorway I had not chosen. He stared at me with clear, gray eyes that seemed to peer straight into my soul. The fur around his muzzle was also gray, showing his age. The rest of his fur, poking out from underneath black shirt and blue jeans, was a rusty red. Though he probably came up only to my shoulder, he was as intimidating as any gun-toting gangster on the streets.

He moved over to me with surprising speed. I raised my fists a little higher, not yet sure if he was friend or foe. He deftly grabbed my not-broken wrist with a vise-like grip and pulled me toward the closest pillow along the wall. "What are you doing? Why you up?" he said in a heavy Japanese accent. "You need rest. You sit here." He sat me down onto the pillow.

He let go of my wrist and started walking back to the door he had come from. "Don't move. I get tea." He disappeared through the door, leaving me alone once more. I soon heard water boiling in a kettle, and the clinking of cups. As I was starting to feel light-headed again the old fox came in again carrying two steaming mugs. He set one down in front of me, and motioned for me to pick it up.

"Drink," he said, "you have had nothing to eat for last two days." I picked up the cup as he raised his in toast. I nodded in thanks, and greedily downed the whole thing in one gulp. It seared my tongue and throat, but it felt so good I didn't care. I had not realized how thirsty I was. Whatever herbs the old-timer had put in there also had a reviving effect, and I was soon over my feeling of seasickness.

The old fox sat in a sort of kneeling position in front of me, silently sipping his tea. I politely let him finish before blasting him with questions.

"Where are we?" I started.

"Wherever you want." He said simply.

"What do you mean?"

"Where we are does not matter. We are safe. You are safe."

I was silent for a moment as I tried to decipher this. Quickly giving up, I continued down my mental list of questions. "Who are you?"

"My name is Hattori Sandayu. You may call me Mr. Hattori."

"Alright," I said. "I'm Tyrus. Question: how did I get here?"

"I brought you here after I found you dying. You are very unwise, doraneko," Mr. Hattori said with a slow shake of his head.

"Dora-what?"

"Doraneko. It is what you are. Anyway, I found you dying in the street, I take you here to heal." He noticed me involuntarily putting a paw over my stomach. "I removed the bullet and set your arm. Permanent damage is unlikely for either. You should be better in a few months."

I looked up to meet his gaze. "Thanks, but you would have been better off leaving me to die. Now the Pack will be after you for helping me."

He finally put his cup down on the floor. "They will not find us, doraneko." He sat for a moment, thinking. "You fight the Pack. A noble cause, but foolish. One person cannot do it alone. You are lucky you escaped in one piece."

I winced as I tried to move my right arm. "More or less."

Mr. Hattori took the two cups and stood up. "You may stay here as long as you need. I know you want to fight the Pack more, but you must rest first. Heal your bones."

He helped me off the pillow and stood me up. "You are tired. You must sleep now. More time for questions later. Okay?" I nodded, and he patted me on the back, like we were old friends. To tell the truth, I was feeling pretty sleepy. I have no idea if it was another effect of the tea or if I was really that tired, but I don't even remember going back to the room with the bed. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in that room again. But this time, something was different. After a while laying in silence, I realized what I was feeling: another thing I had never felt before in my life. Safe.