FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Story by Lightwolf21

Cover Art by Lightwolf21

Keith and Light © Lightwolf21

Housepets! and characters © Rick Griffin

Some characters © Valerio and used with permission

Collaboration with Valerio, since I've used the settings of his stories for the most part.

If you have not read Valerio's fanfics ... *Spoiler Warning*

This story series I'm planning on doing is militaristic in nature focusing on sniping and therefore WILL include weapons use mainly for training purposes(yeah, OK, I lied initially), a little blood (upped the rating, ended up with more blood than initially planned, but still not too graphic), and semi-harsh language (I've kept the language censored or PG, darn, heck, etc.). Reader discretion is advised.

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Prologue

The man snuck through the doorway to the living room, quietly closing the door. The white wolf stirred in its sleep beside the living room armchair. The wolf awoke as the man leapt on him, grabbed him and restrained him, causing the wolf to start yelping, "Hey, let me go!"

"It's time to get what's coming to you," the man said in a sinister voice.

"No! Not that ... NOOOO!" screamed the wolf as the man carried him into the other room and dropped him with a splash.

Some of the tub's water was sent over the edge and onto the floor.

"Aaaack! Let me out, Keith!" the wolf called out while being attacked by fingertips and shampoo.

"Light! You're getting a bath, whether you like it or not," Keith replied while washing the wolf.

Keith didn't know why getting a bath was such a big deal. He, himself, bathed once a day. He also didn't know why he'd taken such a liking to what many considered a very dangerous creature. On one of his missions, he'd come across the wolf, near its end, suffering from a bullet wound. It was amazing he was able to see it at all, the pure white wolf against the pure white snow. Ironic, he thought. The only reason he'd seen it was because of the blood. Using his basic military knowledge of first aid he'd miraculously managed to save its life. He would only find out later, the implications of such an action.

A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.

"Just a minute!" he called out towards the front door.

"Light, you're going to finish washing yourself, understand."

Light looked at Keith with a pouting face. "Fine, but I don't have to like it."

"Good boy." Keith said while closing the bathroom door. He walked to the front door and looking through the peephole saw a man in a military police uniform.

Oh great.

"Can I help you sir?!" Keith shouted through the door.

"Lt. Greyfield?!"

"Yeah?!"

"I've been sent to give you a message!"

He sighed. He'd retired ... before, and it seemed to be getting more and more difficult to stay that way. He unbolted the door and opened it, staring at the uniformed man's eyes. For some reason the man couldn't return the stare.

"Here is the paperwork I'm supposed to deliver, Sir." he smirked, handing over the envelope.

"What's wrong?"

"You have a little something..." he said indicating to his face.

Keith felt around his face and found the lathered shampoo on his cheek.

"Oh." he replied looking at it.

The MP gave a salute, and was lazily returned one by Keith, after which he turned quickly and walked down the stairs of the apartment complex.

Keith closed the door behind him and walked into the living room looking at the envelope.

Just then, Light walked in picking at his ear with the tip of a bath towel. "Who was that?" he asked.

"Looks like we're going to be moving somewhere else for a while."

"What do you mean?"

"I just got another assignment."

"Well, how do you know we'll have to move? It looks like you haven't even opened the envelope yet."

"I haven't, but c'mon. You know how these things go."

Light took the envelope and opened it.

"You know ... opening someone else's mail is a tickleable offense."

"What do you mean, by th-" but by the time he realized it, it was too late and Keith had begun tickling him and he continued until he was barely able to breathe.

"Ahahaha ... ha ... I wish ...heehee ... I wish, you'd .... hah ... take this ... heh ... more seriously." He said between breaths.

"Oh, lighten up, Light."

"I see what you did there." He retorted, looking down at the contents. On the paper there appeared to be several yellow and blue rectangles of on top of one another. "Oh great, they used that animal proof inking, darn this color deficiency we have."

"Haha, who's high and mighty now." Keith responded from the kitchen, making a couple of PB&J sandwiches for the two of them. He was actually a little jealous of the wolf's ability to see very well at night. When he returned to the living room, the wolf was sitting on the armchair.

"C'mon Light, no eating on the furniture."

The wolf hesitantly got to the floor and sat on the rug, munching the sandwich his master had handed him. Master was the correct term, wasn't it? Light knew about humans and the pets they usually adopted; but their situation was ... different.

---

When he'd first met the dying wolf, Keith approached cautiously, knowing that the wolf would not be very trusting to someone dressed very strangely with a rifle slung over their shoulder considering it had just been shot. "Do you need help?" Keith asked.

"Yeah," the wolf replied.

Keith was surprised at the directness of his answer. "Do you want me to help you?"

"Are you the one that shot me?"

"No. I don't shoot animals." he said with a sincere face.

"Then what's that for?" he asked weakly, gesturing towards the rifle.

"Shooting things other than animals."

"Heh, is that so?" he paused a moment, trying to think of what this man could have meant by that. He didn't like the idea of being indebted to a human, but it seemed like he didn't have much of a choice at this point.

"Alright, help me." the wolf said in a soft voice, wincing.

Keith cautiously approached the wolf, the snow crunching beneath his feet. He knelt beside him, being careful not to get any blood on his clothing, got out a first aid kit and went to work. He didn't know it at the time, but in saving the wolf's life, the wolf was obligated to return the favor. It was a law growing up in his pack, to owe one's life to someone that saved yours. After he'd patched the wolf up, as best as he could, he carefully lifted the wolf off the ground; he seemed so light.

"My name's Keith." The man said carrying the wolf towards his initial destination. "What's yours?"

"I haven't picked it yet." the wolf replied.

"Well, that's a strange name." the man said smiling.

"Are you serious?!" the wolf gasped. Wincing from the pain.

"Haha. I was just kidding. What were you thinking of picking for a name?"

"That's what I was doing out here; trying to decide." The wolf was finding it strange to be able to have such a casual conversation with this human for some reason. "...until this happened" he pointed to the freshly bandaged bullet wound "Nice job, by the way; with the bandages."

"That's it!" the man exclaimed. "What about, 'Bandages'?"

The wolf rolled his eyes.

"No good, huh? Well, how does 'Light,' sound?" the man asked, thinking back to the moment he picked up the wolf off the snow.

The wolf didn't say anything. Keith looked down. His eyes were closed.

Keith was worried for a second but calmed down when he felt the wolf breathing on his hand. "Alright, get some rest, Light." he whispered.

---

Light tried to speak through the sticky peanut butter on his sandwich. "Mwhad isth thmis?"

"Sorry, we were out of the grape jelly. I could only find strawberry." He handed Light a glass of water, then picked up the envelope's contents and read them out loud, for Light's sake.

"Lt. Grayfield,

A letter has been received by the Marines regional office located near Babylon Gardens. -

" "Hey that's nearby!" Light interrupted.

Keith cleared his throat and continued.

"- The contents of which read:

'To the Babylon Gardens Marines Regional Office:

My name is Martin Foster, but please, call me Martin. I am in need of military services. I am the new manager and owner of the Lucky Charm Grove for the Abandoned and the Ferals located in Babylon Gardens and I feel the police forces are inadequate to ensure the safety of the wonderful pets that reside here, and future abandoned animals that may need to reside at my shelter. Please send your top sniper to meet with me so that we may discuss business. I have requested that this letter be unreadable to a house pets eyes, because I wish this information not be known to them as to prevent inciting fear and/or possible breaches of security.

Your immediate response is appreciated,

Martin'

As we cannot offer military services to a civilian or private company, we have responded to his letter with the proposal of registering through Retired Marine Mercenary Services (RMMS), which have instructed us to forward Mr. Foster's letter to you. Please contact Mr. Foster with your response at [email protected] as per RMMS' instructions.

Thank you,

Carwin Croffie Haster

Chief Warrant Officer, US Marines"

"They really wrote a novel there, didn't they?" Light said, after swallowing the last of his sandwich.

"I've read shorter," Keith agreed. "This Martin guy intrigues me. He's going to all this trouble asking for the improbable, and with animal color coding protection, no less. He either really cares about animals, or is trying to hide something."

Light looked at him quizzically. "Wait, why would he protect the letter from animals' eyes, but not humans'. And what kind of animal shelter needs military trained personnel guarding it?"

Keith shrugged.

"Well, what do you want to do?" Light continued.

"I want to meet him. Get your collar; we're going for a ride."

"Didn't the letter say to contact him by email?"

"Haven't I taught you better than that?"

Light reflected on the training he went through as a military dog under Keith's care. He had learned nearly every element of sniping from him, apart from actually firing the weapons, and much of it under the radar of the higher-ups, when they were still in the marines. Since their team had proven effective many times, Keith was finally able to get him a military working dog position, as a spotter, in a human/canine sniper team, the first of its kind. Light remembered something he'd heard Keith say.

"The best way to get to know someone is to see how they act when no one is watching them, or when they think no one's watching them."

"Well, it isn't exactly sniping101, but true, nonetheless. Let's go."

As soon as they'd left the apartment, Keith noticed a letter in his mailbox. "Light?"

"Yeah?"

"You picked up the mail today, right?"

"Yeah, I just noticed that, too. The letter?"

Keith picked it up and looked at it. It wasn't in an envelope or anything, it was just a handwritten note that read

"Don't even think about it. - Martin."

"Well, looks like Martin's done his homework," Light said with a smile.

"RMMS must have sent him my address. Well if he knows me as well as I think he does, even after leaving me this note, he should still be expecting me, whether I respond or not. But, what he won't be expecting ... is you" He said, patting Light on the shoulder.

They continued through the apartment complex to the parking lot and got into Keith's Honda Civic. (What? You were expecting a Ferrari?) Certainly, if you wanted to hide a needle in a needle stack, such a simple car would do the trick. Light instinctively scanned the interior, taking notice of the locations of the vehicle's vital components.

Keith noticed. "Light, you're doing it again."

"Oh, sorry."

"Nah, don't worry about it. It's only natural. But please, try to relax for now." He started up the car and began the drive towards Babylon Gardens.

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Thanks again to Rick Griffin for Housepets! and Valerio, for letting me use some of his characters and his collaboration.

Don't worry. I do plan on having some of the characters from Housepets! in this series.