Anon-san’s Escort
Part 2
The drive from the airport had a peculiar feel to it. As I took a seat in the passenger side of our roomy rental car, the air felt charged with tension. Shiori drove us to my accommodations in short order, mostly keeping her eyes on the road. I noticed her occasional sidelong glances when she thought I wasn’t looking, but when I turned my head, her eyes snapped right back to focusing on the road. I couldn’t have guessed what she was thinking, but from the bashful smile that had been fixed on her muzzle since we left the airport, I could make a guess. 

That, and the fact that her quick, careful peeks at me never seemed to stray above my waist.
“Shiori.” I said, trying to cover my grin with a contemplative hand on my chin. “Could you explain to me exactly what your role in this is? You said that you were going to be my guide and translator, but is that where your responsibilities end?”

 Shiori seemed to startle a bit at my sudden inquiry. Her fluffy tail flicked nervously in her lap.  “My superiors simply said that I am to look out for you, help you get around and generally take “good care” of you. They clearly see you as a potentially valuable asset, Anon-san. Although…” Her ears slumped as she trailed off.
“Although?” I asked, eyebrow raised.
“I-it’s nothing.” She stammered.
“It doesn’t sound like nothing. C’mon Shiori, you can tell me. If I’m going to be around for a while, we might as well be comfortable around each other.” I gave her a brief pat on the shoulder.
Shiori’s lip trembled. “…I um, you know that I wasn’t the first choice to be your guide. I was put on the case when my colleague fell ill. But, well, I don’t think I should be here at all, with you.” Her hands tightened on the wheel as we came to a stop at an intersection.

“What makes you say that, Shiori? You seem perfectly fine, to me. Better than fine, in fact!” I tried to flash her a confident smile, but her eyes were on the road, and downcast besides. She looked like she was about to break down in tears, poor thing.

“No, you don’t understand. I haven’t been a very good employee lately. You see, I…” She sighed.

“Shiori, you don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to.“ I said. Shiori was trembling now, and I was already feeling the pangs of guilt in my gut for pushing her. 

Shiori just continued as if I hadn’t said anything. “A few months ago, I lost my father to lung cancer. I was devastated, not just because I had lost a precious part of my life, but also because he was the only relative I had in Tokyo. I have my inheritance now, but that’s no substitute for my father. He kept me strong, Anon-san.” The tears really were flowing now. “And with him gone, I because an emotional mess. I became a liability at work, and they put me on leave to recover. And what did I do with that time? I ate, and ate until I-“ She stopped and looked down at the wheel, only to see my own hand placed gently on top of her paw. 

I wanted to say something, anything too make her feel better, but the second my hand touched hers and I felt her plush warmth in my palm my mouth went completely dry. I licked my lips, searching for any words of comfort or wisdom, but it was no use. I just looked up, into her beautiful blue pools and realized suddenly that she was staring right back at me. 

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as our gazes locked. Shiori’s were puffy and red by now, but no less gorgeous, though they were a bit hard to see through the water starting to pool on the edges of my vision. I’d had to undo my safety belt to reach over to Shiori, and I noticed her own seat belt straining against her breasts as the breath hitched in her chest. Shiori adjusted her hand on the wheel to squeeze my own, and for an eternity we sat there, connected.

That familiar redness slowly spread across Shiori’s face. I could feel her heartbeat increasing through her grip, and my eyes widened as she began to lean in. “Anon, I…”

“HOOOOONK!”

We both let out a yelp as the truck behind us honked its horn. A string of angry Japanese came from behind us, likely demanding we move our fucking car that had been sitting at a stop sign for the last couple of minutes. Shiori yipped and slammed a foot on the gas, rocketing the car through the empty intersection with a hard left turn. 

“Holy fucking shit!” I yelled as I pitched forward, remembering too late that I wasn’t belted to my seat. The world went dark as my vision was filled with the velveteen fluff of Shiori’s tail. My hands flailed, seeking purchase on the dash or the armrest as I tried to sit back up.

“Anon-san!” Shiori squeaked, her voice a mixture of shock and concern. Her tail, immediately wiggled and snaked around my head, seemingly with a mind of its own, and just as I was starting to pull myself up, I was dragged down into a face full of Shiori’s pillowy lap. 

“Eeek!” I heard Shiori’s muffled voice through the plush perfection that enveloped my head. The scent of Japanese plum filled my nose once again, tinged with the unmistakable smell of a woman. Gasping for air, I drank in the smell and felt my head spin. “Ffffffuck…” I mumbled in to the doughy mass of fox as I felt the car lurch once more.

I could have died happy there, but after a few seconds, I the vice-like grip of Shiori’s tail released my head, and as my head lolled to the side, soaked in sweat, I looked up at my escort, wondering in my daze if she was okay.

Shiori’s hands were covering her face, and she began to whimper pathetically. Behind her, in the window was the high rise hotel I was slated to stay in, shimmering in the sunset. Shiori’s black fur gleamed gold in the dying light as she peeked at me through her fingers. Suddenly, she let her hands drop as she reached out to pat me down. Her ears were down and her whole body seemed to scrunch inward as I sat up in my seat. “I’m so sorry, Anon san! Are you injured? Please tell me you’re okay!” Her eyes were wide and the tears were threatening to flow once again. 

It didn’t matter, for I had already reached nirvana. I didn’t have to look in the mirror. I already knew there was a rivulet of blood dripping from my nose. My countenance was one of enlightenment, my eyes glazed over. “Shiori.” I said.

Shirori stopped her coddling instantly and moved as if someone had forcefully straightened her back. Her ears perked back up, lightly brushing the ceiling of the car. Her eyes focused on mine, and in that moment she looked like a blood hound waiting for orders before a hunt. “Yes?”

“It’s fine, Shiori. There’s no need to worry. How about this? You go ahead and check me in. We don’t have to mention this accident, and your superiors don’t have to know, okay? Go on, everything is going to be okay.”

The second those words left my mouth, it was as if a ten ton weight had been lifted off of Shiori’s fuzzy shoulders. She balked for a second, her mouth working to form words, but then I blinked and she was already out of her seat.
Shiori left the car fast enough to leave it rocking, the air echoing with her frantic “Arigatou!”. I adjusted in my seat, finally moving the hands that were folded calmly over my lap. I wiped the blood from my nose and looked down. “Holy mother of yiff.” I chuckled under my breath. I had never been this hard in my life. I looked over my shoulder, catching a glimpse of Shiori’s bountiful backside and tail bouncing through the sliding doors of the hotel. 

I let out the breath I had been holding. My shoulders slumping, I looked at my luggage in the backseat. “I’m gonna need to carry that up, or I guess get some of the hotel staff to move it. But that’s for later. Right now…” I looked back down the towering inferno that was threatening to pop the button on the front of my pants. “Yeah, that needs to be dealt with.”

…

Several minutes and many napkins later, I was just pulling on my sweet as fuck kemono friends pajamas as I shot Shiori a text. Nothing special; go on home, we can tomorrow so we can plan out my schedule for the week over tea. I set my phone charging on the kitchen counter, and decided to poor myself a glass of cherry cola. Reaching into the freezer, I found that my ice bucket was completely empty. “Well damn.” I grumbled. “Eh, the ice machine is right down the hall. Might as well fill her up.” I said to myself, picking up the freezer burned bucket.

I felt a chill drop down my spine as I walked down the dimly lit hallway, the uniform design on the walls and ceiling unnerving me slightly. This was already so different from my cozy little flat back in the states. I missed the warm colors of my shitty wallpaper and the soft squeak of the old floorboards beneath my feet. A little tune played from the speakers of the hallway, some kind of stereotypical oriental riff. That was kinda nice, actually. Stopped the place from reaching Kubrick levels of spook, at the very least. 

These were the thoughts that rattled in my head as I filled up my bucket. The ice machine’s light was comforting in this strange new place. Twice I could have sworn I heard the sound of squeaking footsteps coming down the hall, but shrugged it off. “Big spooks or no, this is just a regular hotel, right?” As I flipped the ice machine off, and turned around to head back, I was stopped dead in my tracks.

Before me, wearing pajamas that may have been a size too small, was an familiar mass of black fur. Her pajama pants had pictures of the PS1 logo, and her tight black t-shirt held an image of the Vib-Ribbon box art, of all things. Her hair was down, and I could see now that it reached billowed down to her waist like a black velvet curtain, framing her womanly curves in the pale light of the ice machine. She fuzzy pink slippers on her feet, and in her paws was a little cup of matcha green tea ice cream. Her face was a mask of absolute shell shock, the little plastic ice cream spoon stuck to her bottom lip, which looked just about ready to drop to the floor. 

“Shiroi!?”

“Eeehhh!?”

<==TO=BE=CONTINUED==(OvO)