Fox Life

"Shush," Kyro told Iris when she started complaining in his grasp. He didn't seem to be aware of how embarrassing this was going to be to her.

Luckily, they didn't meet anyone in the elevator, and there was nobody outside it, either. It was strange, what with now being the time everyone returned home, but Iris didn't mind that. All she cared about was that the lack of people would remain the same for a while more.

She shifted her head to all sides, listening as hard as she could. There didn't seem that anyone was near the cars, but to the right of them, she could hear the buzz of voices. They weren't loud enough for her to decipher them, but she was certain that there were people there. This instantly made it into a direction she didn't want to go.

Kyro put her on the ground, and she lay down right away, refusing to move. He couldn't tolerate this for long and would go back home, right?

"Are you back to this?" he asked, rolling his eyes. Then, without a care, he started dragging her away.

Kyro didn't plan to let the little fox win. Since it ate his dinner, it was going to have to suffer a bit. The way it cried as he pulled it through the grass beside the sidewalk tugged at him, but he closed his heart to that noise.

Every step or so, he sneaked a glance back, but the fennec was adamant on not moving. The smells and sights outside didn't seem to have excited it into exploring the surroundings, either.

'What should I do now? Going back home seems a bit premature, but I can't really keep dragging it around like that.' He turned around and raised the fennec up. The little animal gave him a look that said he was wasting his time and fell back down again. It was as if it's bones were made of jelly and couldn't hold the body properly.

"Don't play with me," he told the little devil when he heard footsteps behind himself.

"Kyro, hey! I haven't seen your around. Did you get a new pet?" a middle-aged woman asked, her voice hearty and cheerful.

When he turned around, it took him a couple moments to recognize who was speaking to him. This was… Rachel? And she lived… in the next house, third… or was that fourth... floor. Oh, and she also had a—!

The fox beside him burst into action the moment the giant mastiff ran up to its side to sniff it. Jelly-like legs were gone like they'd never been the moment a threat was detected. At first, the fox veered closer to him, but once it noticed that the dog was close to him too, it dashed backwards, as far as the leash would allow it.

"Oh sorry, sorry!" Rachel apologized, dragging her overexcited dog back. "Bobby, sit. Sit, I said! That's more like it. Now stay like that. Sit!" She released a long breath, brushing imaginary sweat from her forehead. "I thought I taught him well, but every time he sees a 'new friend', all his lessons go out the window."

The woman laughed as well. "Not much. So what do you have there? I haven't seen you around lately."

"Found a fox around so decided to adopt it. This is her first time out so we're having a bit of trouble."

As he said that, he looked back at the fox who was sitting a couple meters behind him. It wasn't shaking in fright, but there was something about its pose and expression that he didn't like. "Come here," he called, but it was as if the fox didn't even hear him. "Moment," he told Rachel and walked back to the fox.

"Are you all right?" he asked, but the little animal was still staring straight ahead, seeing something that he wasn't. "Did you get really scared?" Uncertain of what happened, he picked up the fox.

It didn't react at first, staying still. Then, their eyes met, and the little body started shaking uncontrollably. The fox released a distressed sound and dug itself into his arms, hiding its face between his chest and hand. As it shivered like that, its ears folded up near the head and all of its fur stood up.

"Hey, hey, it's fine, it's fine," he murmured as the dog barked, stroking lightly the back of the agitated fox, but it didn't seem to be noticing his attempts to calm it. The shivering was growing worse instead of going away.

"I'm really sorry," Rachel said, genuine regret in her voice. Kyro looked up to see her stepping away with a pain expression. "I was coming over to greet you, thinking you had Lucy with you, and didn't restrain Bobby. I—"

"It's fine, don't worry about it," he reassured her. It really wasn't. He himself should have been more aware and told her to pull Bobby back. "Nothing happened here. Just a little fright." He smiled lightly. "It's really young, so it must have been terrified by Bobby when he came barreling over."

"I guess, I'm still sorry, though. If there's anything…"

"It's nothing. I'll just bring it home now and let it calm down. Guess we'll have to catch up some other time."

The woman smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, was nice seeing you around."

"Sure, you too." Then, without wasting another moment, he walked back toward his apartment building. "It's all right, the dog is gone. Shh," he whispered to the little fox in his hands. "We're going home and you'll be safe there, okay?"