Fur-al High

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

The next morning was full of grief from Shiori again, and Shinzuu started to consider going back to practices every night again. He couldn't believe that the week has been going by so fast. Sunday is going to be the first track meet of the season, and the coach was really mad at him, still. However, Shinzuu was confident he'd still be allowed to compete. He made it to the school early and laid his head onto his desk. The previous night still plagued Shinzuu and his heart raced at the thought of Veronica finding out about his past.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Veronica groaned when her radio alarm clock went off and woke her up. After lying there for about five more minutes, she finally got up. She grabbed her uniform and went into the bathroom, taking a quick shower before changing into her uniform. She went downstairs and had a bowl of cereal, then went back upstairs and brushed her teeth. Finally, she went downstairs, grabbed her bag, and put her shoes on before heading out the door. She walked to school at her normal pace and realized as she entered the gate that she hadn't tied her hair like she usually did. She noticed her hair-ties were still on her wrist so she removed them and tied her hair in their usual loose pigtails. She walked inside the school and made a stop at her locker then headed to her homeroom.

[Goblin Cat 😸]

Schad wasn't too thrilled about the rest of the day. She wasn't trilled actually until it was lunch time. It was the only time when the teachers weren't going on and on, and when there was no work. She felt starved by the time she got to the cafeteria, and headed to get her usual seat after getting her food, ignoring a few whistles from gay guys along the way. She wondered where Reno was when she saw he wasn't there. Boredly, she played with her food. She didn't have much of an appetite.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

At lunch, Shinzuu sighed and did like he normally does and waited for all the females to exit the room. After they did, he went straight up to the roof and laid up there for a long while. Shinzuu closed his eyes and let the small breeze brush through what little fur he had exposed in combination with the mild sun that they were getting. Hopefully, this would be enough to clear his mind, as if he could be as lucky. Not even a minute went by when the sun was suddenly blocked. Shinzuu opened his eyes to find a few boys standing over him. "And what the hell do you guys want?" The boys were in a group, all behind what can be assumed as their leader, a white fox who had his hair died red and made into a small pompadour, and was chewing on a toothpick. "I heard you gave my cousin a hard time at the hospital earlier this week." Shinzuu sighed as he stood up, "Oh, that little sleeze rat was your cousin? No wonder he was such an (censored). Tell him that the next time he disrespects a girl, that it only be his mother." The fox spat out the toothpick and took one hand out of his pockets and made the hand signal for "get him". The six boys behind him rushed Shinzuu, trying to grab his arms and hit him. Shinzuu backed up, avoiding all the grapples and swings. He ended up backing into the fence on the border of the roof and put his hands up similar to a boxer's, though he really only copied what he saw on TV. Shinzuu feinted to the right  to dodge another swing and struck back with as strong as a punch as he could make, not knowing how it would turn out. It connected with the first boy in the cheek and knocked him out cold. Shinzuu was completely surprised, but his hand hurt right away. Taking advantage of his surprise, the others grabbed Shinzuu and held him fast while the other three punched at his gut and face. Shinzuu reacted instinctively and jumped, using the grapplers' grip to swing up and kicked two of the guys away. He turned and then bit down on the other boy's hands, drawing blood and forcing him to let go. Once Shinzuu's right hand was free, he brought the arm around and punched the other grappler out. He took the same position as before and went in with the other 3. Shinzuu took a couple shots, but he knew he only needed to get in one hit. Within a minute or two, all 6 boys were down and out, leaving their leader standing there in front of him. The fox was holding a cleaning mop that had a rectangular, metal head. He rushed up to Shinzuu and took a hard swing while Shinzuu was still a little dazed and hit square on his head. Shinzuu's head went down from the impact and began to bleed profusely. He grunted and quickly grabbed the fox's swinging arm at the shoulder before he could recoil back. "You know what, Kagatou? You're just as despicable as he is, it must run in your family. Basketballs can take a lot of pressure so as not to pop. If I can pop them, i wonder what it does to your arm?" Shinzuu tightened his grip on Kagatou's shoulder and dug his thumb into the socket joint just above the armpit. Kagatou release the mop almost immediately and tried really hard to get Shinzuu's hand off as he panicked and winced in pain. With a quick jerk, Shinzuu swung the arm to one side, popping the arm out of the socket. Kagatou yelled in pain before he was punched and knocked out. Shinzuu's hands tremored furiously as the adrenaline continued to force his heart to race, coupled with just being shaken up by the fact that he had just been jumped. He checked his hands, and they were all bruised up, probably from throwing such strong improper punches. Shinzuu staggered over to the stairs from the roof and closed the door behind him, sitting against the railing. He sat there dazed, the blood still streaming down his face and onto his uniform from his head.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Veronica left her homeroom at lunchtime, putting her things in her locker and then heading to the cafeteria. She didn't feel hungry so she just looked around to see if she could find Shinzuu. All she saw that she actually noticed though was Schad sitting by herself. It made her wonder where Reno was but her mind was more focused on where Shinzuu was. She started walking back through the halls when she remembered the day where she had seen him on the roof when she was outside. "The roof...of course..." She walked to the door that opened to the stairs to the roof. She climbed the stairs and when she got near the top she spotted Shinzuu. She had started to smile until she saw the blood running down his face, causing her to run up the rest of the stairs that separated him. "Shinzuu! What happened to you?!" She exclaimed as she ran up the stairs. When she reached him, she examined his head and grimaced. "Come on, we've got to get you to the nurse." She made him stand up and put his left arm around her shoulders and put her right arm around his waist, just in case he had trouble standing and walking since he was losing blood, and started down the stairs.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shinzuu groaned in his daze as Veronica helped him down to the second floor and to the nurse's office. He was laid down onto one of the two beds in the office and had his head covered by a towel by the nurse. "grrr.... dammit..." The nurse sighed as she walked over and turned the towel off of Shinzuu for a second and inspected his scalp. "What the hell did you get yourself into this time, Mr. Katame? It isn't practice time yet, and you've never been brought in for a head injury. *sighs* and it looks like you're not going to tell me, either. Miss Smith, you want to tell me what happened to him?"

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

The worry was quite obvious on Veronica's face as she watched the nurse deal with Shinzuu. When the nurse addressed her, she snapped out of her zoned out state. "I...I don't know. He didn't tell me what happened when I asked him either..." She said as she glanced at the nurse's face. "All I know is that I was wondering where he was and I remembered seeing him on the roof one day when I was outside, so I took a chance and went up the stairs to the roof to see if I could find him. He was sitting against the railing at the top of the stairs by the door when I found him. I didn't bother to look to see what was on the other side of the door... I was too worried about him..." She would face-palmed herself because of the last thing she said if the nurse hadn't been looking at her. She felt stupid and embarrassed that she had just confessed her worry when Shinzuu would obviously be able to hear her.

[Goblin Cat 😸]

Her day continued to be uneventful as went through the motions of her normal day. She seemed to be more bored because Reno wasn't around... In art class, she couldn't even muster the mental prowess to sketch something. She had seemed to be like a rock until school let out and she found herself sitting on the sidewalk, staring off aimlessly. She wasn't quite ready to walk yet. She didn't quite feel up to walking home alone yet.

[Srgntcuddles]

Reno's plane landed late in the night. He took a cab back to the hotel, it was such short notice he didn't even pack anything. He paid the cab and sighed walking back to his room. Walking in Alexia called over to him. "Hey, Reno. How was your flight?" Reno put on his usual happy face to try and hide his sorrow. "Oh, it was fine." "You never told me what you were doing, what was it?" "I went to see a friend...'e was...Sick. That's all. Anyway, it was a rough flight, I'm gonna turn in. Talk to ya later, Alexia." With that he waved and walked off. "Night, Reno." Reno walked into his room and closed the door behind him. His room was clean, even though he left it trashed out of anger. He went over to his nightstand and pulled a picture from a drawer. It was a picture of him and Nero, with Reno putting bunny ears behind him. Reno looked at the picture with a soft smile as he thought back on the good times he had with Nero. But the smile faded and he fell onto his bed crying.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

The nurse sighed and waved Veronica away. "It's fine, child. You're free to head back to your homeroom. Lunch is almost over, I'll keep him hear and watch over him." Shinzuu spent the rest of the day in the nurses office and was then moved to the hospital at the end of the day. With the news, the track coach visited him before the end of the day, notifying Shinzuu that he had missed too many days and was kicked off the track team. The basketball coach did the same and Shinzuu became very depressed as he was loaded into the ambulance.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Veronica didn't want to leave Shinzuu there by himself and she didn't like being called 'child' but she did as the nurse told her. She glanced back at Shinzuu as she went out the door then got her stuff from her locker and went to her homeroom. She had to force herself to focus during her classes the rest of the day. She went to the nurse's office after her last class, expecting Shinzuu to be there, but when she got there the nurse told her that he was just sent off to the hospital in an ambulance. She left the nurse's office and sighed. She went through her normal routine of reading and then going to practice. She had already decided when she talked to the nurse that she was going to visit Shinzuu at the hospital so when practice was over she got her things from her locker and headed to the hospital. She lucked out when she got there because there was a different woman at the reception desk. She asked what room Shinzuu was in and headed to the room the receptionist told her that he was in. When she approached the door to the room, she took a deep breath before she entered slowly. "Hey Shinzuu. How are you doing?" She said softly with a kind smile on her face.

[Goblin Cat 😸]

After a while of sitting, she gathered herself and walked home by herself noticing that Reno's room was still empty, or so it seemed. She plopped down on her bed and pulled out her laptop, browsing the net a little while before she got bored. After that, she just layed on her bed... Until she fell asleep. Her dreams were odd that night... It seemed like all the bad things in her past had chased her down and berated her in dreamland.

[Srgntcuddles]

After awhile of lying there Reno got up and took a shower. It wasn't a long cry, he couldn't even get many tears. He was never good at crying, even for major things like this. Reno couldn't help but to think of times with Nero. After he got out of the shower he had a thought. "Nothin is goin' my way...I...What if I end up getting my new friends killed? I'm no good with people...I can't 'ave friends...Or family...Or anythin' nice...I 'ave to be alone...Anyone who gets close to me dies...I like them, so I should stay away...I 'ope they're not dead already. Maybe it's too late...? I can't go to school...I'll end up seein'em there. But I 'ave to...And...Schad's right next door. Maybe she still thinks I'm gone and won't try to knock on my door to walk to school. What if she does? Just leave early...I better get some sleep then..." While thinking he brushed his teeth, dried off, put on his boxers and then fell into bed. Shortly he fell asleep.

[Shinzuu Katame: Her Tolfy]

Shinzuu groaned as he still laid on the hospital bed. Lucky for him, because of his head injury, the bed had to remain propped up so he could turn to see Veronica without straining himself. Shinzuu's depression was written all over his face and he merely turned back over to looking up and closed his eyes. "I'll be fine in a couple days. I'll be out by tomorrow. I'm sorry, but I'd like to be alone. I'm just not feeling right, right now." The sedatives, mixed with his depression, started to really kick in and he started to slowly doze off.

[Vee Katame: His Wolfy]

Veronica frowned when Shinzuu said he wanted to be alone. She had made the effort to walk to the hospital and visit him just to end up being rejected when she got there. She had noticed how depressed he looked but she didn't know why he felt that way, but she just thought that maybe he was thinking about his father. "Maybe he hates me now because I live in his old house...maybe he feels like I'm taking over his old life..." She thought and as she was thinking she noticed the change in Shinzuu's breathing. She slowly and quietly walked over to the bed. "I'm sorry...for everything. Maybe it is best if I just leave you alone...being around me seems to just cause you pain. I like you, but I can see what all this is doing to you..." She said softly, not really thinking he would hear it anyway. She raised her hand and was going to take his hand and squeeze it but she just laid her hand on top of his gently for a second before pulling it away. She turned away from the bed and sniffled slightly. As she left the room, she started singing "On My Own" like she had the day she had spent lunch outside because of the fan girls, her voice was barely audible. She went home, had supper, and watched TV with her parents in silence. She then went to her room, changed into her pajamas, went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, then crawled into bed. She fell into sleep quickly where none of her dreams were happy. Most of them consisted of her sitting in the dark by herself.