His Friends (18)

"Come," Kyro called, and Iris reluctantly followed after. She didn't want to accept this, but she was even more afraid of Lucifer deciding to 'help' her move again. Was that why Kyro had brought him out?

There were no answers coming, so she slowly walked through the grass, looking around for any dark shadows in her vicinity. But Lucifer seemed to be gone. Once she ran away from him, the cat simply left. She thought she saw him once behind the trees, but on a second glance that way the place was empty.

While walking Kyro met a few people he knew, and they all exclaimed at how cute she looked. It would have been nice had they not all sought to touch her. Because of that, she had to try to dodge them while on a leash, and it was a tiring proposition.

"Do you want to sit down for a moment?" Kyro asked, and she looked up at him. Did he just hear her thoughts? That was a bit disconcerting. "Let's go here, there's a quiet corner on this side."

When they rounded the corner, Lucifer came over to greet them. He meowed loudly and led them toward a bench that was almost at the edge of the lake. This place wasn't exactly cared for and the plant life was thick, stealing the sandy beach that might have been here, but that was probably why this place was so empty.

"Have you seen a lake before?" Kyro asked, and Iris looked up at him with narrowed eyes.

How could she not have seen one? She might not have traveled much, but a lake was something everyone encountered at some point. They weren't exactly rare.

"Try stepping in, there's a bit more water here than in your bowl." As he said that with a smile on his face, motioning her toward the lake, she suddenly remembered how she looked. It was entirely normal to expect a baby fox to not have been near a big body of water.

'Should I play around then?' It didn't sound like a bad idea. The weather was hot these days, so taking a swim should be a nice change of pace.

The leash pulled at her nerves, but she ignored it and came to the edge of the water. There were no waves here, but slight wind still played on the surface. Carefully, she reached out with one foot.

'Aah!' It was freakin' cold!

She instantly retrieved her paw and took a couple swift steps back. Shouldn't water in the summer be hot? Why then she almost lost her foot to frostbite?

Lucifer went past her and stepped into the water. He tasted it, then began touring the shore, never going farther than up to his knees into the water.

"See? It's not that bad?" Kyro said. He also came closer and tested the water with his hand. "Really warm. Won't you try again?"

Iris didn't really want to, but since both men were suggesting it, she gritted her teeth and came closer. After another try, she had to admit that the water wasn't exactly freezing and she might have overreacted. It wasn't hot, though.

Still, she forced herself to enter it with Kyro's constant encouragements. Her fur felt weird all wet, but she put it to the back of her mind for the moment and focused on the novel experience she never thought she'd have to encounter - swimming as a four-legged animal. It wasn't hard, and she soon caught the hang of it.

By then, she had also gotten used to the water's temperature and no longer wanted to get out. Swimming around, she soon zeroed in on Lucifer who was still barely in the water. With a grin on her face, she ran out of the water and circled the big black monster.

The cat noticed her actions, but didn't think much of them. Scoffing, he turned around and returned to his examination of the stones under his feet. For some reason, they seemed to really fascinate him.

Iris pounced on the cat. Her small claws went into the fur on his back, doing zero damage. The only discomfort Lucifer felt was her landing with all her weight on him, but that was enough for him to turn and hiss at her in anger. She then dashed into the deeper waters and mocked him as she swam away.

The cat hissed at her a few more times, then backed away and started walking around with more wariness.

After swimming a bit more, Iris grew bored again and circled the cat once more. This attempt was well-observed by Lucifer, but she didn't think he'd really hurt her, so she pounced on his back the moment she thought she had a chance.

Her target jumped back, evading her, but this resulted in it stepping deeper into the water. Lucifer meowed in discontent as he stared at his now wet legs and underbelly. Before he could run away, though, Kyro stepped into the water and sent a wave his way.

The cat screeched in fury, then rushed at Iris.

'Wait, what?' She jumped in place, then began running in another direction. The leash had a set distance, however. The moment she rolled over her head, unable to advance forward, she rose to her feet and ran sideways, returning into the water.

To her surprise, Lucifer followed after even when she started swimming. The evil cat was clearly intent on catching up to her, no longer even caring about its image now that its fur was all wet anyway.

'Help!' she screamed at Kyro, but he just stood up to his knees in the water and grinned at them. He clearly wanted to see who would win this race!

Furious, Iris started paddling like her life depended on it. In no time, she was behind Kyro. However, Lucifer was no slouch either and was right on her tail. 'Hey!' He actually even made a grab for it with his teeth, pulling out a few hairs.

With a squeak, she increased her speed, swimming around Kyro to put him between them. For the moment, this was her only solution, even if it wasn't working—the crazy man was having too much fun at her expense to save her from the perilous situation.

"Wait!" he suddenly said, but it was already too late. At that moment, he tried to take a step for some reason, and it became a prelude to disaster.

His legs were bound by two rounds of the leash right then, so when he tried moving forward, he couldn't. Not well anyway. He pulled on the leash, and Iris suddenly found her air supply blocked off; she was buried under the water.

Fear flashed through her mind, and her muscles burst forth with the power of desperation. For an instant, it helped none, the collar keeping her submerged, but then it relaxed and she burst above water and took a couple deep breaths as her little heart worked overtime.

Her body was then swept out of the water, and she found herself pressed against Kyro's chest. "Sorry about that," he murmured to her in a breathless voice. "I wasn't thinking."

She looked around and saw that he was actually sitting in the water now. A part of her mind said that it was funny, but the majority of her brain was occupied with making sure her lungs were working properly. It seemed like a more pressing issue.