Falling into Place
#15 of The Zoo
Author's Note: Happy Belated 4th of July to all my American readers (and happy belated Canada Day to all my Canadian readers if I have any). This is the next chapter of everyone's favorite (I hope) story. But since we have two holidays so close to each other, I figured I should reward you all with a little tour of the next story I have planned. (Don't worry the Zoo isn't over yet.) It's going to be down below after the chapter. As always, rate, comment, favorite, throw me a shout, and tell all your friends. And don't forget, the line for the tour starts down below.- AK.
Ibuki woke up and stretched careful so as to not hit the white lion which slept next to her. It was far less roomy sleeping in Dulion's twin sized bed, but in many ways it was more intimate. She gave a small kiss to Dulion's forehead and slipped out from under the covers. Ibuki found her way into the bathroom and jumped in the shower.
As the warm water hit her fur and then her skin, Ibuki replayed the prior night's events. For a brief moment, she felt...accepted. That couple didn't care what or who she was; they treated her like she was normal. And Dulion treated her well. It made her feel wanted. Maybe that was their first date after all. She just wondered how she was going to tell him.
When she finished her shower, Ibuki grabbed a towel from under the sink and wrapped it around her body. She walked out of the bathroom and was greeted by a rush of cool air on her fur not covered up. She moved over to the bed where Dulion was still sleeping and sat down and but a hand on his arm. Dulion rolled over to get more comfortable.
"Rude." She thought with a laugh to herself.
There was a slight tap on the door of Dulion's apartment. Ibuki took a few steps to the door, ready to answer it before realizing that it would a bad idea to answer the door in a bath towel. She quickly threw the clothes she had worn the night before and went to the door.
When she opened it, she was greeted by a child; a female cat lycanthrope. There were tears in the poor things eyes.
"Can I help you?" Ibuki asked.
"Yes." Said the girl sniffling and stifling her tears. "My name is Cassie. I am looking for Mr. Dulion. I need to talk with him right away."
"Is everything alright?"
The little girl looked at Ibuki for a moment before tearing up again and shaking her head. Ibuki put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Shh. Come in. I'll get him for you."
Ibuki led the girl to the kitchen and gave her a tissue to dry her tears. After asking the girl to wait there for a moment, Ibuki went to the bedroom where Dulion still lay sleeping. She gently roused him from sleep. His groggy blue eyes looked up at her.
"Good morning." Ibuki said sweetly.
"Morning." Dulion answered. "I need to take a shower. Care to join?"
Ibuki smiled. Either Dulion was coming out of his shell, or he was still 90% asleep. Ibuki knew which one she would bet on.
"Two problems with that. One, I already took a shower; and two, you have someone here to see you. A little cat-girl named Cassie."
It took a moment for Dulion to process what Ibuki had said. When he did, he jumped to attention.
"Cassie? Here? What happened?" He said rapidly.
"I don't know. She's in the kitchen waiting for you. Might want to get dressed before you see her though."
Dulion threw of the covers and threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. He looked at his hands and moved his fingers as although the arm was new.
"Good, still a lion." He said to himself.
"What does that mean?" Ibuki asked.
"She doesn't care for humans." He said. "Cassie is the little girl who I had to talk to yesterday at the station. The girl who was..."
Dulion cringed. Ibuki shot Dulion a confused glance. She had already guessed at who Cassie was but why was Dulion so hesitant to...then it hit her. She walked up to Dulion and put her arms around his neck.
"You do know you don't need to protect me right?" She said to him.
"I don't know what you mean."
"I mean from what my father did. He's a glorified sperm donor. My mother is a glorified surrogate. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Still I feel bad because..."
Ibuki kissed him to shut Dulion up.
"Don't. Yeah, it sucked, but I'm over it. Besides if I didn't have all of that happen to me, I wouldn't be here with you."
Dulion chuckled.
"You amaze me. Two days ago, we're friends plus. Now we're...I don't even know."
"We'll talk later. For now, go help Cassie."
Dulion nodded and headed towards the kitchen. Ibuki resisted the urge to follow him in. It didn't seem like Cassie was eager to have more people around her then necessary.
***
When Dulion stepped into the kitchen, he was greeted by a small pair of arms wrapping around his rather larger frame. When Cassie broke her embrace, Dulion went down to his good knee to be eye level with her. the fur around her eyes still wet, probably from crying.
"Hello Cassie. Is everything ok?" Dulion asked.
The cat-girl in front of him stared at him blankly for a moment before shaking her head viciously back and forth.
"Ok, well why don't you sit down and tell me what's going on, okay?"
Cassie nodded and moved towards the table while Dulion went to the refrigerator to get himself a bottle of water.
"Would you like something to drink?" He asked Cassie.
"Do you have Orange Juice?" Cassie asked.
"I think so."
Sure enough there was a carton of Orange Juice with just enough in it to fill a glass. Dulion gave Cassie the glass and unscrewed the top off his bottle of water before sitting across from Cassie.
"So what's wrong?" Dulion asked. "It must be pretty important if you came all the way to see me."
Cassie Nodded, but didn't say anything. Rather she took a gulp of her orange juice so large that she almost finished the entire glass.
"I...I'm...afraid." She said. "I... I heard my dad talking to my mom and..."
Cassie didn't finish talking. She merely shuddered and began to cry. Dulion got out of his seat. And put what he hoped was a comforting hand on Cassie's shoulder.
"Shh." He said soothingly. "It's going to be alright. I promise you nothing bad will happen."
"Dad...said to Mom that...he...he wanted you to take over WILD when we were in the police station. He said that you would help us. But he told me you said no...and I heard him and Mom say that their only choice was Avery. They said they were not going to let me talk in court and that Dad would say the police made me say Avery did those things to me. I...I woke up earlier than my parents and I came here. I didn't know what else to do."
Dulion opened his mouth to say something but a buzzing in his pocket cut his thought short. He apologized to Cassie and looked at his phone. He recognized the number quickly.
"Good morning Agent Maxwell." Dulion said. "I was just about to call you."
"Jimmy." Agent Maxwell's voice said on the other line. "Bad news. Cassie went missing today. We're getting a search going and..."
"Don't bother." Dulion said. "She's here. In my apartment. Surprised me this morning."
"Well, at least it's not a kidnaping. I'll be over with her parents ASAP okay?"
"Negative." Dulion said. "I'll call the D.A. We have a bigger problem than we thought. Oh and Maxwell?"
"Yeah?"
"Better bring A DYFS agent we can trust over here, too."
***
Dr. Tennant warmly shook the FBI Agent's hand as well as the bespectacled DYFS worker. Even though he didn't approve of WILD's methods, Dr. Tennant couldn't help but be wary of any government officials snooping around the Zoo. He was sure no one had anything to hide, but still it wasn't a welcome intrusion.
"Thanks for your help, Doc." Agent Maxwell said. "Have you been told what is going on from Dulion?"
"I have." Dr. Tennant said. "His room's down the hall, first floor due to his leg."
"Thank you." Said the DYFS worker who seemed stiffed than the drink Dr. Tennant would likely need after this.
"If I may ask," Dr. Tennant said, "what is going to happen to the girl?"
"That's up to Mr. Selwell over here." Agent Maxwell said.
"It depends." Selwell said. "If the child is afraid I could ask for a temporary placement. Though Agent Maxwell informed me that she has some trust issues. That will make things harder but I'll see what can be done."
"Trust issues?" asked the Doctor.
"Doesn't like humans." Agent Maxwell said. "After all the crap her parents probably told her combined with what happened to her, I can't say I blame her."
"Could she stay here?" Dr. Tennant asked. "I would be happy to look after her until this is all settled."
Agent Maxwell looked at Mr. Selwell who sighed.
"It would be a bit unorthodox. But this entire situation has been. I'll sign off on it only with daily visits from me and access to background reports that you have given to your advisor."
"That's not a problem. No one has anything to hide here."
Mr. Selwell nodded.
"Very good. I'll make sure it clears with Mr. Dulion and my superiors after our meeting. Door down the hall you said?"
"Yes, you can't miss it."
With a nod and their thanks, Mr. Selwell and Agent Maxwell both left Dr. Tennant's room and headed to Dulion's. Once they were gone, Dr. Tennant picked up his phone and called Jayson.
"Hi dear." Jayson said when he answered the phone. "What's up?"
"I hope you're sitting down." Dr. Tennant said.
"I am. Why what happened."
"Well...I just agreed to act as a foster parent."
Jayson let out a sound of glee on the other end.
"That's great! How long have we been talking about adopting!? Is it a boy? Girl? Details, man! Details, details, details!"
"Calm down. It's a girl. And it probably won't be an adoption. She's just...well she's afraid of her parents and..."
"Well if she's afraid than I don't see why..."
"You know it's not that easy. It's the girl Dulion talked to, you remember me telling you about that, right?"
"Yeah. Poor thing. And she's afraid of her parents now too? I think we may be just what she needs."
"I do too. It's just...I don't want us to get our hopes up to high just yet."
Jayson was silent for a moment.
"Well, for whatever time she's with us, we'll be the best parents she's ever had. I'll see you when I get home. I love you."
"I love you too, go work hard."
"Good-bye." Jayson said with a laugh before hanging up.
Dr. Tennant sighed. He had always wanted to adopt a child; a desire which Jayson and him shared. However, thanks to whatever trait was more hated, being a lycanthrope or being gay, it never worked out. Perhaps this was their chance to finally have a family, and then... Dr. Tennant went to the desk where he worked and unlocked the only locked drawer. The drawer itself was empty save for a tiny box. Dr. Tennant took the little box in his hand and opened it. A shimmering gold ring sat staring at him, Jayson's size.
"The world has changed so much so quickly." He said to himself. "Perhaps now, after all this time, things are finally falling into place."
***
"So where is Cassie now?" Ibuki asked as she carefully poured a cup of tea and handed the cup to Dulion.
"Staying with Dr. Tennant and Jayson." Dulion answered. "The DYFS agent was all too willing to have her stay here once they say my records."
"And what about her parents?"
"They've already been notified. Told that this is only temporary for now provided that they stay on the up and up and Cassie doesn't feel threatened anymore."
"So what do you think? Is Cassie going to be staying here for a short time or a long time?"
Dulion shook his head.
"I can't say for sure. If she's that scared though, it may be a while. I feel awful for her. After all of this...and now she can't even feel safe around her parents. I just wish I could...you know...do something."
Ibuki placed her hand on Dulion's.
"You've already done everything you can and more." She said. "Now just try and rest. You look exhausted."
"I blame you for that." Dulion said with a grin.
"Aww poor thing. I tire you out?"
"In the best possible way."
There was a moment of silence as Ibuki and Dulion drank their tea and enjoyed each other's company. There was something about the human with the cane who sat before her that she was at a loss to explain. It were the moments like this; just sitting alone enjoying tea together or waking up next to each other that she felt this sense of serenity.
"Everything okay?" Dulion asked her. "You seem like you're staring into space."
"Yeah I was just thinking...why do you like me?"
"What?"
"You heard me, why do you like me? We're so...you know different."
"We're not that different. Both came from families who hate us for the most part, save for one or two people. Forced here because we really had nowhere else to go."
"And we're both lycanthropes."
"That's true, even if you're a bit more open about that than I am. But the real reason I like is you is simple enough. It's because on some level, you like me. For some inexplicable reason when I first came here, you took an interest in me. You cared about me despite me being new here, even when I was pining and dating another girl. When I was lonely or afraid you were there to help me and in my life I haven't had that many people willing to do that."
Ibuki got up from her chair and gave Dulion a small peck on the cheek.
"That was adorable." She said.
Dulion laughed.
"Well, turnabout is fair play," he said. "so tell me why you like me, I mean if you do at all."
"Of course I like you." Ibuki said. "What happened last night wouldn't have happened if I didn't. That and, this is going to sound weird, but you were really shy at first and I wanted to see you when you were comfortable. And when you're comfortable, you give off this glow. It makes people want to be around you. But most of all, you have the biggest heart of anyone I've ever met."
Dulion stood from his chair, grabbed Ibuki with his free arm and kissed her deeply. The two of them stood interlocked for a moment before an annoying buzzing on the table forced them apart. Ibuki grabbed the phone next to her cup.
"Anyone good." Dulion asked.
"Blocked number. That's odd. Hello, Emi speaking. "she said as she answered the phone.
"How does it feel to be nothing more than a whore who gets naked for money, bitch." Said the voice on the other end, a male's.
"Who the hell is this?" Ibuki said angrily.
"Stupid little slut." the voice said with a laugh. "What's a matter? Daddy says he misses you. We'll be seeing you soon. What fun we're going to have. It'll be like a family reunion."
Ibuki ended the call and dropped the cell phone on the table. Dulion walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Who was that?" he asked her. "What's going on?"
"I don't know." Ibuki said, shaken. "He just called me a slut and a bitch and said that my dad will be seeing me soon. Just a prank call."
"You sure about that?" Dulion asked.
Ibuki stared into his eyes for a moment before shaking her head. She tried to open her mouth to say something, anything but the words wouldn't come. Dulion wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. Ibuki did all she could not to cry. She had cried too much these past two days, but the tears came anyway.
Tour Line starts here!
_Welcome! Please come aboard the boat, there is room for everyone, I assure you. Yes, even you at the end, please come. Everyone here? Great! Let's set sail! We're going to a small remote island in the Pacific. On this island a new manor has sprung up seemingly out of nowhere. It shouldn't take us too long...in fact we're already here. Please watch your step as you get off the boat. I hear sharks are know for being aggressive in this area. Also please note that all cell phones have been disabled. This is part of the mystique of the manor. Now as you go in, please check all bags, purses, and firearms at the front. They will be taken care of, I assure you. Also please note the chandelier hanging in the main hall. Looks like it could use a little tightening. The manor is well stocked with food to suit all pallets and drinks to please even the drunkest of spirits. But don't eat and drink too much, wouldn't want you to get sick or food poisoning. Let me draw back the curtains a little to let in some light. The hangman's knot makes for the perfect cord to open them. There we go that's better. So here we all are, a little preview of things to come. Thirteen individuals will be arriving very shortly; our guests of honor, if you will. They come from all walks of life, all with one thing in common; a desire to relax and put the hustle and bustle of life behind them. The only problem is that when you leave your life behind, there's no guarantee that you'll ever go back. So please join me soon here in this manor for an adventure that I hope will take your breath away...permanently. _
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