8 Nobody's Pet (1)

When Iris woke up, she found herself curled up by something warm. She lay still for a time, eyes closed, but then she remembered that she was a fox now, and she had certainly fallen asleep alone.

While dashing out, she made a noise, which sounded just like a scream. Was there any sound she could produce that didn't sound like someone was ripping her soul out? She was losing her hope on that. There really didn't seem to exist anything of the kind.

"What's wrong?" asked a sleepy voice, and Iris turned left to see a large human face next to her own small form. Her first instinct was to run, but she restrained it and instead examined the person before her in detail. So far, she hadn't found the time to do that, and now was as good a moment as any.

He had short dark brown hair that was mussed up charmingly after the night's sleep. His eyes were lidded, looking at her from beneath long lashes in a disarming confusion. For a moment, Iris couldn't do anything but stare at him, spellbound. Since when were such handsome men real?

She'd seen he was handsome before, in passing, but close up, he was a damn stunner. Was he a model or something? Such beauty shouldn't be legal. No wonder she had come to his place on their first meeting!

Laughing at her own silliness, Iris took a step forward. She bumped her nose against his cheek, making sure he was real. It seemed to be the case, so she sat down to enjoy the view. Maybe the universe wasn't as bad as she'd thought. At least it had given her some eye candy to enjoy while going through her punishment.

The man patted her head. "Good morning," he said, turning on his side to see her better. It also gave Iris a better view, so she was perfectly happy with it. "Did you sleep well?"

She nodded absentmindedly in answer, and only when she did so did she think of how that must look. There was surprise on the man's face, but it soon went way. It didn't seem like he paid any heed to her weirdly human answer to his question.

'I need to be more careful,' she suddenly realized. So far, she'd been acting as a human-turned-fox, and if she continued on this path, it might attract a lot of unwelcome attention. She had no wish to end up in some laboratory, with scientists picking her brain apart to figure out how she could think of herself as human.

"Are you hungry?" the man asked, and Iris made some noises, then stood up and rushed away. If she was an animal, she would certainly want to figure out where she was, right? It should be suspicious how unconcerned she was with her surroundings, not sniffing and exploring everything there was to her new domain.

With this new goal in mind, Iris rushed to the end of the bed and looked around. Her eyes roamed over the walls, the floor, staying on the windows for a bit. Everything was spotlessly clean and beautiful, but there was a definite lack of furniture here. The room consisted of only a bed, a wardrobe, a bed table, and a chair by the side to put the day's clothes before going to sleep.

What kind of minimalistic design was this? Could he not afford the furniture? But no, that didn't make sense. His apartment was huge, the living room alone was the size of two of her own apartments. His bedroom didn't have much, but everything seemed new, shining with the gleam of expensive stuff.

Puzzled, she jumped down and sniffed around for the sake of appearances. Her sense of smell was much better now, but she couldn't recognize any of what she smelled. If only becoming a fox had really come with a handbook…

Whatever. She turned around, staring at the man while trying to understand why his place was so lacking. He seemed to be around twenty-five, maybe a bit older, but shouldn't be in his thirties yet. Yesterday, he had been wearing a three-piece suit, the evidence lying discarded on the chair, so he had to be working in some kind of company, and probably not as the lowest rung grunt.

Why then? Was he simply disinterested in his place looking the least bit homy? Lived in?

He chose that moment to stand up, and Iris dived out of his way, right beneath the bed. She might have decided to treat him as the universe's way of easing her suffering, but she wasn't yet ready to see him half-naked. This was way too early!

=_=''