270 The Return (2)

The flight was both long and happened in a flash. Tired from all the work, Kyro fell asleep right away, but Iris couldn't close her eyes. The day before, everything had still seemed far in the future, too distant to care about, yet she was already in the plane. With every passing minute she was getting closer to her…

Her what? It wasn't home anymore. Should it be delegated to only have the name of hometown? But then, what about the place she studied?

She was going to meet Aunt Maddie. It had been so long and yet not long enough since they last saw each other. What would she even say, 'I'm back?' It was all so unbelievable, so hard to process.

Iris caught her tail and worried the hair there. Was everything going to be all right? It had been around half a year since she had disappeared without a word, but it felt like a lifetime ago. She couldn't even remember what it was like to not be able to turn into a fox on a moment's notice.

The minutes passed like hours, with Iris coming out with worse and worse scenarios about what would happen once they landed, but the moment still came too soon. When the pilot announced for them to prepare for landing, a shiver ran down through her. She wasn't yet ready to face her old life!

Kyro woke up at that moment, and Iris jumped in his hands. At least he was still here with her. It would have been a thousand times worse to return by herself.

Once they walked out of the plane, Iris looked around with trepidation. They were in an area of the airport prepared specially for private aircraft. She didn't recognize it at all, but her imagination didn't mind it. Deep within her, there was a weird sense of returning to somewhere that was too familiar for words to describe

The air was the same, and the land too; the signs around them, and the people they passed by screamed of familiarity as well. Iris knew it wasn't real, just her twisted perception, but somehow even the places she hadn't been to suddenly were homelike when in comparison to what she had seen in the states.

On the way outside, Kyro didn't speak much, to not weird anyone out by talking to his pet like a human, and Iris was fine with that. She needed a moment to take in everything. It just hit her that she was probably going to meet her classmates. And could visit the graves of her parents.

For a moment, she just closed her eyes and breathed deeply. She both anticipated and dreaded what was to come next. It wasn't going to be easy to explain herself to anyone, especially the university staff.

"You okay?" Kyro suddenly asked, and she looked up at him, then nodded. "There's a hotel nearby, so I'm gonna sign in and you can change back."

Iris wasn't certain she wanted to do that, but didn't say anything. It was something that had to happen.

The hotel was only a couple streets over, so Kyro chose to walk. He wanted to move a bit after sleeping through the long flight. As he did that, Iris watched their surroundings to see if she'd recognize anyone. Yet the sheer amount of people around made it impossible.

In some half an hour, they were getting close to the hotel Kyro had booked. On the way, he stopped by a shop to buy a few clothes for Iris while she waited outside like a good pet. It was a warm day, and she lay down on the pavement, basking in the sun.

But moments later, a shadow fell over her. She raised her head, annoyed, and whined in a shrill voice, but the person before her didn't move. To make it worse, he even crouched down with a hand extended to touch her.

Iris instantly jumped to her feet and backed away, screaming. Her voice attracted a lot of passers-by, but no one came close. They just looked over for a second, then walked away, rushing to wherever they needed to be.

The man took a step forward, his beard quivering as he smiled from ear to ear. "Hey, girl," he said in a voice filled with emotion. "I didn't think I'd ever meet you."

His hand went forward again, and Iris backed away more. What was the creep thinking? She could run away since Kyro hadn't put a collar on her, but she didn't want to separate from him.

"Come on, don't run. I never thought I could meet someone like me, yet here you are! I can't believe it…"

Like him? What was he talking about? Iris lowered her head closer to the ground while remaining posed to dash away. There was only one thing the stranger could mean, but that was impossible.

"What are you doing? Move!" Kyro called out upon coming out of the shop and striding over. While the man stared at him in surprise, he scooped Iris up, and she relaxed in his embrace.

"Hey, wait! I want to talk to her!" the man shouted out, realizing that Kyro planned to leave just like that. "Do you even know who you're treating like a common animal?"

Kyro stopped, turning around to face him at those words. Iris could feel his muscles tighten, and her own heart picked up its speed. Before it was only a suspicion, but now she was certain - the man knew that she was more than just a fox.

Yet how? And what did he want?

"Wait, you actually know?" The man's eyes widened, then he laughed heartily. "That's good, good!" He slapped his hip, shaking his head .

When he noticed that Kyro wasn't sharing his amusement, he calmed himself, though the wide smile didn't leave his face. "I'm like her!" he said pointing at Iris with unbridled excitement. "I never thought I'd meet another person like my family, but here you are! It's amazing!"

Iris froze at his words. She stared at him, unable to wrap her head around what he'd just said. He was around twenty-five, with dark brown hair and lively green eyes. Dressed in a shirt and jeans, he looked like any young adult of his age and not a shape-shifting weirdo.

"Ha! I bet you've thought the same, that you're alone like that!" He laughed again, then clapped and grinned at them. "Come! Let's talk, and then I'll introduce you to my family! They won't believe it when I tell them I met someone like us!"