FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter six

It felt good to take a shower, I hadn't had one since the orphanage. But as good as it felt, I was shocked by the amount of dirt that washed out of my hair. For the first few minutes the water running down my body was almost black. I didn't use any of the shampoos stacked up, I may have been living in a decent building, but I wasn't going to go all clean and girly now.

I paused for a moment as I looked at a small shelf in the shower. It had a few razors on it, which in itself I guess wasn't odd. Well, it wouldn't be if there had been a girl living here. I had heard that most girls did that, shaved everywhere. The thought of that sounded dreadful though. I mean, I could see the appeal and all that. But really, I didn't feel like I needed to shave my legs. But the fact that there were razors in a house where one of the boys wasn't old enough to grow facial hair, one had a beard, and the other was about seven, wasn't really the weird thing. It had fur it in. Whoever had used it, I assumed Ryu by the color, hadn't bothered the clean it out well. I couldn't help but giggle at the thought of Ryu having fur. But the amusement turned to horror as I wondered what parts of him the fur would be growing on, and I quickly stepped back from the shelf and out of the shower, deciding I was clean enough. And naturally, the first thing I did was step back into a towel rack. Because I couldn't not break of trip over things here, apparently. The towel rack crashed to the ground and snapped.

"Wonderful." I muttered. I didn't bother trying to fix it, to much trouble. I sighed, though, and picked up one of the towels that had scattered the ground. I wrapped it around myself and walked over to the counter, where a pile of nicely folded clothes were waiting for me. I didn't realize till after the fact, though, that in order for them to be waiting for me, someone had to have come in while I was showering and put them there.

"You have got to be kidding me." I said to myself as I starred at the pure white shirt and skirt that were laid there. I thought about just putting my old grimy cloths back on in protest, then thought of a better idea. I rubbed the white skirt on my old ragged jeans till they were a dirty white color. But I left the shirt clean as I had no problem with wearing it. I put on the clothes and walked out out of the bathroom. Simon eyed me as I came out, he instantly noticed the dirty skirt and frowned.

"If you didn't like the color you could have just said so."

I glared at him.

"I said no skirts, Simon."

"I know, I just had to see how you would react." He tossed me a pair of black jeans. "Are theses more to your liking?"

Just then, Ryu walked out of his room and starred at me for a moment. He then bursts out laughing. My cheeks flushed red and I threw my wet towel at him. He jumped back still grinning but walked off. I yelled some not so nice things after him, which made Simon cringe and glare at me again. I looked at him then stepped back slowly and went into the bathroom to change. When I walked out I tossed Simon the skirt.

"I'll not be able to return this now, thanks a lot, Cinder."

There was a hint of sarcasm in his voice and I couldn't help smiling innocently at him. As much as he liked to act annoyed at me, I couldn't help but kind of like him. He didn't seem to take things too seriously, and was likely much more inclined to put up with me than most of the adults I'd met.

As I started walking towards the couch to sit, I looked at a clock hanging over the main door and blinked in surprise. It was three in the morning, and no one seemed the least bit tiered. Not even Rue, who was following Ryu again now like a lost puppy.

"Dose anyone sleep in this place?" I say to no one in particular.

"Ryu rarely sleeps, but it is strange for Rue to be up this late." Simon answers.

"And what about you, Simon?"

"How can I sleep when I have so much cancer stuff to cure?" He said and winked at me. Judging by the amount of movies stacked by the TV and the three laptops all open to different online games, work was the last thing on Simone's mind. I yawned and laid back on the couch, it had been a long day. The events of the last few hours had all but made me forget the events that had led me to this place. A memory of Snow flashed through my mind and I pushed it away quickly, hoping no one noticed my sudden drop in mood.

"I'm going to bed." I said abruptly and walked off towards Rue's room, where the bed Simon had set up for me was.

"You better be off to bed too, Rue." Simon called. Rue nodded and followed me into her room. I felt a little awkward, sleeping in Rue's room. Or in a bed in general. But I climbed into the old bed thing Simon had pulled out. He had put new sheets on it, though, and I decided it was the nicest thing I had slept on in years. Rue climbed into her bed and pulled the covers over her head. I sighed and got up, as the lights were still on and Rue didn't seem to be inclined to turn them off. I flipped them off then looked over at her bed. It looked.. Normal. A blue nightlight cast her bed in a faint blue light, not that it was really needed. The moon shone bright in the sky through the skylight.

I went back to my bed and laid down over the covers, starring up at the stars. Suddenly my world had changed. I was sleeping in a nice building, on a bed, under the stars. Which was something I never had imagined happening to me. I smiled faintly to myself as my eyes closed, and I murmured a soft goodnight to Rue, even though I was sure she was already asleep.

"Night, Rue."

The next day, I was awakened by the smell of food. I got up and stretched out on the bed. My hair was a mess, the new clothes Simon had gotten me looked wrinkled and dirty because I had fallen asleep in them, and I didn't realize where I was for a good thirty seconds.

Rue had already gotten up and made her bed, something I had no intention of doing. I never saw the point when they'd make us do it in the orphanage. It was just going to get messed up again the next night. So why shouldn't I leave it pre messed up in the way I fancied?

I walked out of Rue's room and into the kitchen type place where Simon and Rue were sitting around one of the stainless steel tables. Dishes scattered the table and the smell of bacon was fresh in the air. I had rarely had bacon when living on the streets, and had only sampled it twice when I was in the orphanage. And I wasn't sure if it smelled amazing or revolting.

"Cinder, nice of you to join us. Come and sit down." Simon called. I sat down next to Rue at the table. There was a plate of pancakes in the center along with a plate of bacon and some eggs.

"I'm hope your not a vegetarian." Simon said around a mouthful of eggs. I made myself a plate of bacon and eggs and munched on them. Ryu was nowhere to be seen.

"Did Rue make this?" I asked.

"She did, I told you she was an excellent cook."

I smiled at Rue.

"That she is."

Rue blushed and turned away, though I could tell she was smiling.

"And were is mister Ryu?" I asked, "He doesn't seem the type to leave bacon lying around."

"Interesting that you should say that, Ryu is actually exactly the type that would leave bacon lying around. You see, because he is infused with animal DNA, he finds the idea of eating the flesh of animals repulsive."

I starred blankly at Simon.

"Ryu is a vegetarian...?"

"He is, and so is Rue."

"Then... Why did she make bacon? Or rather, why would you even have meat here?"

Simon sighed.

"I like meat. And so we keep a small amount on hand at all times."

I shook my head in disbelief. Living on the streets had made me enjoy food, regardless of what it was. I couldn't imagine not eating any meat.

I glanced to the side and saw Ryu walk out from somewhere or another. He glanced at what I was eating and gave me a distasteful look. I made a rude gesture at him and went back to eating.

We finished eating after some interesting conversation and Simon gathered the plates and loaded them into a dishwasher I hadn't noticed was there. Rue walked off, she was holding a stuffed rabbit in her arms. I realized that the reason she had a rabbit was likely because she was infused with rabbit DNA, or something like that. I hadn't gone to school in years and I hadn't the slightest idea of how it worked, but I found it rather interesting. According to Simon, Ryu could see in the dark as well as a cat could all the time, and had all around better sight. He also had the sense of smell of a cat all the time. When he was angry or just experiencing a strong emotion of any kind his cat ears and tail came out, which Simon refused to explain, but hinted that it was agonizingly painful. Ryu also had the hearing of a cat and much better balance than he did before.

Rue on the other hand, was a completely different story. According to Simon, she was not suppose to have any part in his experiments. He never said what happened, but she seemed to have gotten a small dose of the serum. When she ran she moved faster than I would have thought possible at her age, and when her ears came out there wasn't much you could do that she couldn't hear. And I'll admit, she looked adorable in rabbit ears.

It might not have been the best conversation to have over a meal, especially since I had just woken up. But it was interesting none the less.

I sat at the table for a while, mostly awake now but still kind of grumpy. Which was clearly apparent when jumped up and yelled at Ryu. He was walking out of Rue's room with my old ratty clothes, a disgusted look on his face. He threw them unceremoniously on a pile of dirty clothes by a washing machine. I started towards him, irritated that he was messing with the few things that were actually mine. But Simon put a hand on my shoulder.

"I told him to, Cinder. He doesn't hate you with all his heart and soul like you seem to think."

I looked back over at Ryu and his face seemed to change for a second then went back to normal. I wondered what had gotten him worked up, maybe there was a dead mouse in my clothing or something, but it was gone quick enough so I didn't think much of it.

"So, Simon." I started, knowing I was most likely not going to get an answer.

"Why are you letting me stay here? Am I not a threat to your safety? You seem to be completely fine with a street rat living in your home. Not to mention that you told me about your little cancer scam."

"I've lived with worse." Simon muttered to himself then seemed to realize that he had said it out loud.

"Err, right." He started slowly. "I'll admit this is not the first time I've, uh.. 'Adopted' an orphan, or street rat. Both Ryu and Rue were orphans. Rue has lived here, or rather with us, for most of her life. And Ryu has been living here for several years now. It was not that strange to me to adopt you as well." I thought about this for a minute. "You aren't some child predator snatching orphan children off the streets are you...?" Simon laughed at that. I chuckled as well and did my best not to show what I was really thinking. So Ryu was an orphan to, adopted sort of in the same way I was. Actually no, I was not adopted. That is something I would not let happen. Something kept nagging at me though, both Ryu and Rue were orphans, and both of them had ended up as part of Simon's experiments. Well, according to Simon Rue was not suppose to be part of it, but she ended up in it anyway. Did that mean Simon intended to use me in his experiments as well? Before I could stop myself I blurted. "Simon, do you intend for me to be part of your experiments?" Simon looked at me quizzically. "Do you want to be part of my experiments?" He asked in response. Now this was a question I was not expecting. After hearing about all the advantages Ryu and Rue both had, the improved senses and all that, found that I did want that for myself. According to Snow though, most of my senses were better than other peoples already. And while he may have just been trying to make me smile, I had believed him. Improving on those, though, was something that interested me greatly. I wasn't so sure about the idea of a tail though. "Yes, I suppose I do rather like the idea of it." I replied. Simon seemed amused by this. "Good, I was hoping you would say that. Also Cinder, I want you to know this. The serum is a life changing thing. You would never be normal, never be able to go out in public without a hat. Never be able to wear skinny jeans ever again. Also there is no telling how it would affect you, it affects everyone different." He told me rather bluntly. Witch I suppose was good. He was straight with things, didn't say things to try and confuse me. The earlier cheerfulness from his face disappeared and he cursed under his breath. It quickly returned though. Before I had a chance to ask him about that he slapped me on the shoulder. "Well, I should probably let you know we will be leaving soon, so put on some real clothes and brush your hair or whatever you want to do." "Wait, were are we going?" I asked, blinking. "Training." Simon said cheerfully and walked away without explaining further.

I was thinking about following him and trying to squeeze a bit more info from him than just 'training', but before I could Ryu walked up to me. "So now you know, ehh." He said as he stopped a few feet away from me. "Well you wouldn't tell me anything, so I thought I'd go to Simon." "Simon had no right to tell you anything about me." He hissed, his ears poking through his hair. "You don't need to get so touchy about it." I snapped. Me hand moving towards my knife, which I had gotten from Simon's room. He just left it sitting on a table. Like I wasn't going to get it back. Ryu noticed and shot me an evil grin. "Do you really want to fight me?" I pulled out my knife and Ryu crouched like he was going to pounce. I was about to swing my knife, the butt of it, I was not going to try to kill him, when there was aloud knocking from the front door and the sounds of a woman yelling. From the corner of my eye I saw Simon jump, a panicked look of his face. "How did she find me!" He whined. Before he had time to react the door flew open and a woman stormed in. "You." She said pointing at Simon. "You blew off our date." Simon winced. "Err something came up... A breakthrough, ya a breakthrough I swear." The woman's eyes left Simon and pinned themselves of me and Ryu. "What is that doing here." She said pointing to me distastefully. Simon cleared his throat. "Windy, this is Cinder. Cinder, this is Windy." Simon said as he shot me a 'put away your knife right now or you will regret it for the rest of your life' look. I slipped my knife under the bracelet and turned to Windy. "I take it you and Simon know each other?" I said, then felt really stupid for saying it. "Simon, for your sake this better not be your 'breakthrough'." She hissed, doing a better job at doing so in a threatening manor than Ryu. "You said you were not going to pick up anymore strays." Simon sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I missed our date. I was getting ready to go when Cinder err... Dropped in." Thinking back on it, when I had 'dropped in' Simon had been playing video games with Ryu. I doubt the date had even crossed his mind. "Simon, you owe me. Dinner Friday night. I pick the restaurant, you pay for everything." Simon groaned. "What time?" "Seven." And with that Windy walked out the door and slammed it behind her. We just stood there in silence for a minute, stunned at what had just happened. Then Ryu burst out laughing. Simon glared at him then at me. "What were you two doing? Cinder, I thought I took that knife away from you. And Ryu, you know better than to be baited." Ryu shrugged and walked into another room. Rue came out from under the table, how she had gotten under there I had no idea. "Simon, I told you you had a date last night." She said, looking up at him. Simon sighed again. "And now I have one this Friday, what fun. Well anyway, Rue, go get dressed if you would. We will be leaving in fifteen minutes."