4

4. Open Your Eyes to Reality

        "A number of different problems," Karu stated to himself.
        Currently, the teen was outside the household in which he resided, thinking over what Aaron had said the previous day. If he was understanding everything right, then something threatening to not only this world but to his own life was going to happen. He knew he would have to get to the bottom of this if he wanted to figure out what was going on at the least. He dug into his pocket for the little device Aaron gave him and held it before himself. As he held it he did as he was instructed, bringing Aaron to mind before putting it up to his ear. Surely enough he would hear a ringing noise.
        "Hello?" Aaron answered on the other end only a brief moment afterwards.
        "Hey Aaron, it's Karu, I wanted to ask you something," Karu responded holding the little cellphone-like object.
        "What's up Karu? I hadn't thought after only a day something would come up," Aaron replied with a brief laugh.
        Karu offered a brief snicker of his own before talking again.
        "You said one of your friends told you all this was going to happen. You wouldn't be able to tell me who it was and where I could meet them, would you?" Karu asked, scratching the back of his head somewhat.
        "Why are you interested in that, Karu? I can handle all the hard work, you just relax," Aaron replied promptly.
        Karu waited a moment, looking up ahead of himself now. He turned around to see that a familiar face was peeking at him from one of the windows of the house. He would blink a few times as the girl in the window waved to him. He would idly wave back before speaking back to Aaron.
        "Well I wanted to see if I could help, I have the feeling that staying here in this house isn't going to help much. Plus it's been a dream of mine to visit another world so I wanna explore some," Karu grinned.
        Karu could hear a sigh through the device before Aaron replied back.
        "Well I suppose it wouldn't kill you to enjoy yourself at least. Her name is Nekuila, she's the leader of an anthro society that resides on the east coast of the continent. You'll need a ride over there it's a good two day drive from the city and then once you leave town its pretty much nothing but plains until you hit the coast. It's not the fastest way but I can't have you using our teleportation system out of hand, it uses far too much power. I will warn you though..." Aaron paused briefly.
        Karu looked to his side as if trying to look at the device.
        "Warn me of what?" Karu asked hesitantly.
        "Unless you have a strong will, it's best not to look directly at her," Aaron replied.
        Karu was speechless for a few moments as he thought about the possible outcomes of what this person was like. Supposedly she must have been appalling to the eye, or maybe she had a stare similar to that of the fabled Medusa from the history of his own world.
        "I'll keep that in mind..." Karu replied, "Thanks for your help, I'm gonna get going then."
        Aaron replied with a simple 'OK' before closing the line. Karu looked at the ground from the porch he sat on. From behind him the front door of the house swept open.
        "So this is where you were," shouted an angry Nina.
        Karu spun around in surprise looking up, being met with the view of a rather nice, in his own mind, sight of seeing Nina's lace underwear.
        "So mature underneath..." Karu dazed a moment.
        Nina, who had her arms crossed at that moment blinked pushing her skirt between her legs.
        "Karu, you jackass pervert!" She scowled, winding her hand up for a punch.
        Karu blinked looking at her raising his arms in retreat.
        "W-wait, I didn't do that on purpose you just appeared out of nowhere, damnit!" Karu protested.
        Nina stopped herself mid swing and glared at him. After rationally thinking the situation over she calmed.
        "Anyway, I came to tell you that in a couple days, momma's taking us on a retreat to the east. And because I don't trust you in my house alone, I'm making you come with us," she hissed at him.
        Karu looked up at her confused for a couple seconds before a grin smeared over his face.
        "Just you, huh?" He laughed under his breath, "Fine by me, it works in my favor actually because I need to head that way."
        Nina cocked her brow when he finished speaking.
        "Why do you need to go to the east?" Nina asked.
        Karu looked at her, holding himself silent. Nina tilted her head confused.
        "You wouldn't care so why does it matter?" He answered her getting up.
        Shortly after standing he would stretch and head toward the exiting gate of the front yard, near the street.
        "I'm just gonna go for a walk for now, I figure if I'll be stuck here, I should know my way around at least," he stated.
        Nina stood there in the doorway to her house folding her arms together and sighing. From the side window the black haired vixen peeked from the window watching as Karu disappeared around the corner, her ears slowly lowered and she vanished from where she stood.
        "Momma, I'm gonna get you! Give me back my underwear!" Snow screamed as she chased her rambunctious mother through the manor.
        "Ha ha haaa! You have to rescue them from me if you want them back!" She teased, making a turn down a separate hallway.
        As she did Snow realized that her mother had gone down another hall at the last moment and attempted to turn only to misstep and slide on the hard floor. This miss step quickly took her to the floor. Nekuila peeked back around the corner to see her daughter laying in a daze on the floor. A brief laugh escaped her mouth as she walked over and placed her hands on her hips, the younger feline's underwear hanging from a finger on her left hand.
        "Now, dear...you can't be laying like that on the floor, you'll get sick," Nekuila sighed some.
        "You're one to talk momma, walking around butt naked all the time, even in the winter..." Snow retorted as she sat up rubbing a sore spot on her head.
        Nekuila snickered some, and in respect to her bouncing her heaving chest would do the same.
        "Well, well, for someone so trained in combat you sure are a klutz yourself to just trip from running like that," Nekuila spoke as Snow rose to her feet.
        "Well if it wasn't you I was chasing..." she whispered walking up to her mother.
        As she approached Nekuila welcomed the young feline into her arms. Snow leaned in against her mother's large bust, relaxing there.
        "Don't sweat it, honey. One day when you're older, I'm sure you're training will have paid off," Nekuila whispered, rubbing over the back of Snow's head.
        The feline smiled, the long extension protruding from her lower back waded from side to side over the floor.
        "Also, I smell a new person from you...is it another boy?" Nekuila asked.
        Snow looked up at her mother, a bit confused for a moment.
        "O-oh, yea, Miss Sabrina has a boy staying with her, he's from another planet, I should have asked sooner, but do you think you can help him?" Snow asked.
        Nekuila thought for a moment, having known Sabrina for a while now it was strange she had a boy in her household, but then it hit her.
        "From another world you say? I wonder if he's anything like that first boy who came here," Nekuila wondered, folding her left arm under her breasts as she rubbed her chin with her right hand.
        Snow looked up at her mother in a bit of confusion as she stood there.
        "More than one person has come here from another world?" Snow asked.
        Nekuila nodded, walking down the hallway, Snow following close behind her.
        "What were the other people like, I want to meet them, momma!" Snow exclaimed excitedly as she pulled on the mother's arm some.
        "Settle down, sweetie, settle down. Besides, one of them you've already met, but I'll let them tell you when its necessary," Nekuila finished in a whisper as they entered the foyer of the building.
        Snow sighed but then realized what she said.
        "I've met one already?..." she questioned.
        Meanwhile, back on Earth at Karu's middle school, class continued on like usual. Carra, Karu's secret love obsession, continued to look toward the seat where her crush sat. Empty, Karu's desk set there.
        "I hope he's okay he's been gone three days now...if he isn't careful the school's gonna get on him about it..." she thought to herself.
        Suddenly the bell rang and the students all began hurrying to gather their supplies together and start their class chores.
        Carra was putting away books when Karu's only friend, Alex, approached her.
        "Hey, you're Karu's secret girlfriend right?" He asked plainly.
        Carra's head jerked up to look at him. Embarrassment smeared all over her face.
        "I-I wouldn't say I'm his g-guh-guh-girlfriend..." she started before being interrupted by Alex.
        "Well that aside...you wouldn't happen to know where he is would you? We were supposed to meet a few days ago and he never showed," Alex explained.
        Carra could only shake her head briefly before facing her desk's surface.
        "I do believe it's weird that he hasn't been around lately...do you suppose all the bullying he's gotten pushed him to far?..." she wondered.
        Alex shook his head.
        "Nah, he's too hardheaded for that," he said with a brief moment of confidence.
        "Yea, I guess you're right. There's no way he'd do that," she reassured herself with that statement.
        Back at Karu's household, his father paced impatiently back and forth in the living area. Suddenly the phone would ring, and as if his very life depended on it he rushed for the phone to answer.
        "Karu! Are you okay?!" He exclaimed into the receiver.
        There was a brief moment of silence before speech came back to him.
        "Sir, this is the city police. We have no leads on the whereabouts of your son, yet. We can only continue investigation another four more days before calling off the search," spoke a woman.
        The father sighed and nodded, trying to relax as he stood there.
        "Understood, please let me know if you find anything," he said calmly.
        The receptionist on the other end replied with a quieted 'OK' before getting off the line.
        Karu's father, Justin, sighed yet again after setting the receiver back on its dock. He walked back to the couch in the living area setting down before putting his head in the palm of his hands.
        At the end of the day, Karu would find himself laying out on the couch as his new official location to stay at. Midnight was just passing by and he was idly staring up at the ceiling as he laid there. A familiar face would suddenly appear over his own. A small but inviting smile within the faint light of the night told him it was Yuri. She would rest her hands over his shoulders and he just lay there still.
        "Hey, Karu, I heard you were going to meet someone on the east of the continent," the fox stated leaning over the couch's back.
        He simply nodded as he glanced up at her. He would spot her eyes, appearing almost black in the dark room.
        "One of Aaron's friends says they know whats going on best, so I'm going to go and check it out for myself," he explained.
        Yuri nodded slowly and leaned over the couch, a bit intrigued.
        "Do you plan on going with the others? The east is a pretty long walk from here," she whispered as she reached her hand down playing with his side idly.
        Karu lay there flinching a bit as she pushed and rubbed his torso with her finger. He then sat up to move himself some.
        "Well I hadn't thought about it really, Nina was saying something about how the family was going there and I figured I could use that to get there, but if there's a faster way, I'm all ears to suggestions," Karu replied rubbing his now slightly sore side.
        Yuri smiled some as she moved around to the couch to set beside the boy.
        "Well, I could always rush us there, I'm much faster than any vehicle you'll find," she leaned against his shoulder.
        As she spoke and moved simultaneously, Karu shuffled in his seat as she sat next to him. Soon he would feel her body against his own, in his head his sense of touch focused on that soft feeling of her breasts being squeezed between their bodies.
        "So what is it you're trying to find out?" She asked curiously again pressing her finger up against the boy's chest.
        "W-well, I was told by Aaron that this person probably knows what's.. gonna happen.." he started to explain before his eyes wandered.
        Eventually his gaze wandered down into her cleavage for the moment before he fell back.
        "S-sorry!" He exclaimed covering his eyes with his right arm.
        Yuri snickered some as her ears flickered about, leaning in closer.
        "Quiet, someone might hear you if you aren't careful~" she whispered, "As for what's gonna happen, well, we should definitely find out, I'll make sure you get there fast."
        Karu smiled looking at the vixen with an assured expression.
        "Yuri, thanks. I don't know what'll happen with the family here, though," Karu stated, "I'd like to make it there as fast as I can, though."
        The vixen moved herself over onto his leg, her body laid up against his right side as he lay against the couch at an angle. Her dark blue eyes, once again blackened by the shade of the night as she stared at him with a hint of her affection toward him. She would take notice to his hand falling onto her back as she lay over him.
        "Say, Karu, I know it's a bit soon to ask because you just got here and all, but is there anyone you love right now? I was hasty to make you mine but I must ensure you feel the same way," she whispered.
        Karu's face wasn't far away from being completely bloodshot due to the situation, he would answer with uncertainty in his voice.
        "W-well, I wouldn't say there's anyone I love right n-now..." he replied, though he knew subconsciously he was denying his crush on Carra from back home.
        The vixen smiled, a sigh escaping her mouth.
        "That's good to know, I would like to know if it's possible for you to consider me," she whispered in his ear.
        "There's no harm in that I suppose, but I need time before I take a leap like that okay?" He replied, looking up into her deep ocean colored eyes.
        The vixen nodded and sat back up, fixing her hair as she settled on the chair.
        "Well you know not to hesitate to ask me if you change your mind, okay?" She started to say, "It's interesting, you were only here a few days and already you've been thrown into a fire it seems like."
        Karu looked at her as she got up from the couch then realized what she was talking about.
        "You don't happen to know what's going on do you? Everyone's speaking in riddles and all I'm gathering is that my being sent here was bad...and I mean really bad," Karu sighed.
        The vixen looked over him from behind the couch, her finger rubbing her chin some.
        "Well, all I do know is that if if your coming here by this unknown force caused something big to happen. It's probably related to the Helio Crystals," she explained.
        Karu looked at her as if she were speaking a foreign language.
        "Helio...Crystals?" He asked, wondering what she meant.
        "Yes. I can't give you a lot of details...I don't know much about them myself. If that man you've been seeing knows, I'd ask him," Yuri stated with a smug grin.
        Karu nodded in confirmation.
        "That helps a lot actually. I'm going to find out what's going on...especially if I'm going to be a part of it," he stated, laying down.
        Yuri simply grinned and wandered off back to her own bedroom hidden within the house.
        The following morning, Sabrina wandered into the living area. Passing by the couch she spotted Karu laying down, asleep still. Grinning she walked around to the front of the couch she sat next to where his torso was. Looking at his face she thought out loud to herself.
        "How cute it would be if you were my little brother," she stated out loud.
        As she sat next to him, her hand stroked over his cheek. His head would roll away somewhat from the feel, a look of discomfort on his face. Iruka could only laugh some. Scooting down the couch she would lean over his torso to lay on him for a bit simply to relax as she played with his messy red hair. After she laid on him Karu would fidget some, breathing harder due to the additional weight on his chest. It was only moments afterwards that he would awake and see the black hair out of the corner of his eye.
        "I definitely need to find somewhere else to live or I'm gonna end up somewhere weird... aren't I?" Karu asked plainly as he stared at the ceiling.
        "Nonsense,  I was just thinking about having a brother...you would be a great little brother to have, Karu. Fun to tease but also nice to be with," she whispered as she stroked his hair back.
        Karu was silent for a moment. Hearing her say that got him thinking about his own brother that had disappeared from his family some years back.
        "You don't want me as a brother. I'm a pain in the ass," he commented with an assuring grin, "Besides, you have Sarthe right?"
        Iruka tapped him on the head as she sat up, pushing her hair back behind her head.
        "Well he's never around and he always acts like he never needs anyone around him, plus he gives off a creepy vibe unlike you," she stated.
        Karu thought back to his own brother for a moment, his own brother seemed the same way always having defiant glares and not really caring for much of anything. Though when he met Sarthe, Sarthe definitely talked a bit more than his brother.
        "Karu?" Iruka called him as she watched him space out.
        Karu shook his head and looked at her.
        "Is there anything I can even do?" Karu asked again, it seemed like no matter where he turned he was going to end up back on that square.
        Iruka looked at him with a bit of concern, unsure of how to answer his question. Karu looked over at her with a grin on his face.
        "It's alright, you don't have to worry about me," he commented as he got up from the chair brushing himself off.
        "Are you going out?" Iruka asked abruptly changing the subject.
        Karu nodded and fixed his jacket, he hadn't realized until now he was wearing his school uniform. This meant he'd need a change of clothes now.
        "Well...I guess I can ask something of you Iruka," he turned around to her.
        Iruka looked up at him, straightening up in her seat.
        "What is it?" She asked him, curious.
        "You wouldn't know of any clothing shops would you..I kinda need a change of clothes," he replied looking at his slightly battered uniform.
        Iruka chuckled softly as she jumped up from her seat.
        "I'll take you shoppin' for some clothes this evening okay? It'll be fun just the two of us!" She exclaimed as she hurried over to him, "I'll even get some things myself for you to see."
        Karu stared at her in shock as she rushed to him and as she whispered into his ear.
        "I'll even let you pick out a few if you'd want to," she taunted, running her finger up his chin.
        All he could do was grin, not minding that.
        "I'll look forward to it," he replied throwing her off slightly, not prepared for that kind of response.
        Iruka sighed some fixing her her from the surprise and leaned in to kiss the boy's cheek.
        "Anyway, Mr. Hotshot, I need to go run some errands. I'll be back in the evening waiting for you okay?" Iruka stated as she headed into the kitchen.
        Karu nodded, figuring the best task for him was to head to the organization to find out about the Crystals he was told about at night.
        "I gotcha, I'll try and be back this afternoon after I do what I need to," Karu nodded to the oldest sister.
        Iruka pulled a few bottled drinks from the fridge and Karu simply relaxed wondering about what he'd heard. After a brief silence both of their heads perked up to the repeated blowing of car horns coming from outside.
        "Who in the hell is doing this at this hour in the morning..." Iruka scowled moving to the front door.
        Out of curiosity Karu followed her to the front door.
        When she opened the front door she was confronted with the visual of a bright red sky. Aaron was sitting in his personal car window down as he yelled out to Karu.
        "Come get in the car! We have to get you to the organization quickly!" Aaron exclaimed from his car.
        Iruka looked down at her brother-to-be as he stared, confused.
        "Go Karu, you're needed, obviously," Iruka stated giving him a gentle nudge.
        With that nudge, Karu snapped back to reality and ran toward the car. Turning back to wave at Iruka.
        "We'll definitely go out shopping if not now, a bit later!" He yelled back to her.
        Iruka simply grinned as she waved to Karu. Somehow though she knew it was going to be a while before she saw that boy again.
        Karu ran around to the passenger side of the car and got inside quickly.
        Aaron waited until he was inside before kicking the gas, the tires on the ground began screaming as the car pulled away.
        "Woah! Wh-what's the problem Aaron!?" Karu asked grabbing onto something as he feared for his life.
        Aaron remained quiet before one of his hands rose to his forehead for a brief scratch.
        "It's begun and we need your help Karu...you're the only one who can do this..." Aaron spoke calmly yet with a hint of urgency.
        Karu, still grasping onto the nearest bolted things stared over at him.
        "Starting?" he stuttered.
        Aaron nodded as the reached the organization building in record time.
        "This red sky you see right now? A phenomena is going on and we need you to participate without question...afterwards we will...I will explain everything up to what I know," Aaron stated as he disregarded where he simply parked near the main entrance, "Will you help us?"
        Karu tried to settle himself from the car ride itself a bit before he was able to answer.
        "I...I guess if it'll really mean something..." he answered.
        With that reply Aaron got out of the car. Karu followed shortly after him.
        "It would appear that what we were hoping wasn't going to happen, has happened. In that regard we've assembled a small team that you, Karu, will have to trek with. I know you've said before how you want to know what's going on. Well, I hope you have strong shoulders because you're going to be the epicenter of this whole thing," Aaron explained as the two walked into the main building.
        Aaron seemed to aimlessly wave around to people as he heard greetings. Karu looked at the CEO with a confused, shocked and disturbed expression on his face. Obviously what was going on now seemed to be of highest importance to him and to hear that he was the main focus point of it all unsettled him.
        "A team? Like body guards?" Karu questioned, thinking that he was going to be the lead of this group of people.
        As the two of them boarded a teleportation pad, Aaron nodded waiting until they were launched to their destination before explaining again.
        "Correct, we suspect that within a short period of time you will be subjected to a high level of power similar to the one that brought you here. If that's the case, my teams will be able to both work on a way to get you home but also aid our search for the Helio Crystals," Aaron stated.
        As soon as he heard the words 'Helio Crystals', he nodded.
        "Someone told me you might know something about them, are they really that important?" Karu asked.
        Aaron paused wondering who he could have known that knew about the crystals as well, but shrugged it off, it was probably one of the girl's he was residing with.
        "Yes, it seems that the activation of these crystals has occurred. Now that they have, a notorious group, better known as RF, will be searching for them. We are  still unsure as to what their intentions are at this time. We hope to find out before it's too late," Aaron stated as he moved toward his main office.
        Inside his office stood a group of people who all turned to face the pair. Karu glanced at them all wondering what was going on.
        One of the group approached the two of them with a wide ecstatic grin on her face.
        "Hi you two! Aaron you took so long to get here I was super sad!" She exclaimed.
        "Easy, Maria, easy. I'm only one man. I can only do but so much," he replied, hands shaking in front of him.
        Maria puffed up her cheeks in a displeased manner then pulled back folding her arms.
        Aaron made his way across the room to his desk.
        "Thank you all for coming here, as you may have guessed, a pretty big job has come up and Karu here will be who you're working with," Aaron stated.
        The group all looked toward Karu. Some of them of disgust, some of interest, others just uninterested.
        Behind the group the door would part open and another male would walk in but something was different, each step sounded like metal was hitting the floor.
        "Apologies for being late, I had an issue I needed to deal with," spoke a familiar voice.
        Karu turned around to Zsentih walking in. His hand then rose, pointing awkwardly at the android.
        "H-he's gonna be one of my body guards?" Karu asked looking back at Aaron.
        Aaron glanced at him wondering what was wrong.
        Karu rushed up to Zsenith, poking against the android's abdomen.
        "If he's gonna be watching over me, I'd like to request he be the only one. Also I'm going to meet that woman you were talking about so I think one tagging along will be fine," Karu stated.
        "You just want Zsenith with you?" Aaron asked leaning back against the desk.
        Zsenith stood there seemingly un-phased by having his gut jabbed at by the teen's finger.
        "Yea! I mean whatever's happened so far hasn't really started yet...so I figure I wont need this many people watching over me," Karu explained.
        Aaron looked at the rest of the group who looked to one another, most of them not wasting a moment to forward their desire to exit the plan.
        "Well whoever would like to stay on the operation shall stay those who want to go, may do so now," Aaron held his arms out to his side.
        As soon as he said that the room began to clear until only two people remain, Zsenith himself, and a female clad in a uniform similar to Zsenith's.
        "Well, they didn't seem enthusiastic to help," Karu folded his arms looking back at the woman who decided to stay, "And what might your name be?"
        The female turned her gaze to Karu's before looking away immediately. Zsenith walked over and put his hand on the girl who seemed nearly half his own height though, she would actually be about Karu's height.
        "This is Izzy, she's a subordinate of mine in the fighter's division. Don't let her timid expression get to you, she could put you down in an instant," Zsenith commented.
        Izzy's head nodded forward as Zsenith held her. Her hand would clench the cloak that flowed around her hips.
        "Teacher, he seems rude," she spoke softly as she moved to Zsenith's side.
        "You'll be fine, he's harmless, if a bit clumsy," Zsenith replied.
        Karu felt insulted after hearing this and turned back to Aaron, who was laughing under his breath.
        "Well now that the introductions are done. Karu, Zsenith and Izzy, you three will have the task of heading out to the eastern island to see my friend, there she will fill you in on what all is going on. Zsenith, I need you to take double duty and watch over Izzy, as I recall she's still in training with you?" Aaron stated.
        Zsenith nodded as Karu's jaw dropped.
        "Wait you're gonna send me off with only two people, one of which is still in training?!" He exclaimed in complaint.
        As soon as he finished a bullet whizzed past his head.
        "Don't you underestimate me, human," Izzy commented.
        Karu sunk his head some.
        "Tch...spiteful, so when are we going?" He stood back up.
        Aaron smirked holding up a remote.
        "Right, now, have fun kids!" He answered as the three disappeared off in a flash of light.
        As they disappeared Aaron stood upright only to be crossed with a black edged and white bodied sword against the front of his neck as he felt one of his arms being held behind his back.
        "And who might this be?" He asked in a calm manner.
        "You have been invited by Qkuill  to show up on Mackai for a negotiation. Be there five days from now at high noon. If you refuse, I've been given orders to bring your head on a platter to her highness," spoke a woman with a lower than usual sounding voice.
        "Geez you guy's can't just knock can you?" Aaron asked calmly. "I guess I have no choice but to come then."
        "Wise choice. I shall see you regardless," she replied darkly before disappearing.
        "Haah, I just never get a break," he walked over to his desk, "I suppose I should start getting things under way."