Ch.1

The fox clan and the hound clan have been at war for thousands of years. Oh, didn't I mention? These 'animals' are spirits. Appearing human for the most part, but having ears and tails like their respective animal. No one from either side remembers how this war began, but at this point no one even cares. But this isn't a story just about a meaningless war. This is the story of two young, brave, innocent souls, and how they helped bring peace to their home lands.

"Are we there yet?"

"Not yet dear, just be patient." The young queen chided her daughter.

The royal fox family had three members. The mother, 'Lilvana', was a young woman with long orange hair that was tied in a plait that came down to her waist, flowers decorated it all over. The father, 'Vixous', was a slim man with the build of a runner. His hair was a dark silvery colour. The final member was their daughter. A small thing with orange hair like her mother's that was only just reaching her shoulders. She had refused to wear a dress and so instead wore the formal attire of the fox clan's warriors. This young little tomboy was the princess of the fox clan, 'Todeal', or 'Tod' as her friends called her.

The family of three was on its way to the bird clan to appeal to them to join them against the hounds. Tod didn't have any interest in that sort of thing. Being only 500* years old and still a child, she was more concerned about the lack of playmates she was going to have over the next few days. The carriage pulled to a stop outside the castle and the family was greeted by a small sparrow.

"Hello, your majesties, and welcome to our kingdom. I am Dinky and I will be your guide."

They followed the sparrow for a while as he rattled off various facts and figures about the castle that Tod neither understood or cared about. Eventually she spotted a small courtyard and slipped away from the parents to play. Little did she know, she wasn't the only one who was bored and lonely.

On the other side of the castle, the hound royal family was also visiting the bird clan for the same reasons. This family also had three members. One was an old dog who was the chief of defence in the royal family and thus was often called 'Chief'. Chief was a grandfather, his son had recently passed away from illness. Next was the now widowed queen 'Dixie', a former singer who the king had loved very much. Her son was a small child of 550, whom she and her deceased husband had named 'Copper'.

Copper, starting to really get sick of this 'Boomer' guy going on about things that didn't even make sense, suddenly he caught a whiff of something. Being a hound, Copper had a very good sense of smell, but this was something he'd never smelt before. Copper took a quick glance at his family before wondering off to investigate. He could always smell his way back anyway. Copper followed the smell to a small courtyard.

"What are you doing?" Came a small voice.

Copper looked up to see a spirit he didn't recognise. Their hair was about shoulder length and they were wearing some kind of martial arts uniform of red and gold, their eyes were a ruby red. They had pointy, red-ish orange ears that were tipped black, and a long bushy tail with a white tip.

"I'm on the trail of something." He said.

*Tod's POV*

Tod tilted her head at the animal in front of her. She'd never seen an animal like him before. His hair was a golden brown and his floppy ears were a dark brown. His tail was short and tipped white. He was wearing something that looked like a foreign military uniform.

"Trail of what?" She asked.

The boy shook his head, still sniffing. "I don't know yet." He continued to sniff until he came right up to her, nearly butting heads with her. "It's you." He made a small howling noise.

Tod giggled. "What'd you made that sound for?"

"We're supposed to make that noise when we find something we've been tracking."

"Well I'm Tod, I'm a fox." Tod introduced herself.

"My names Copper. I'm a hound dog."

"I bet you'd be good at hide-and-seek. What to try Copper?" Tod asked hopefully.

"Can I use my nose?"

Tod giggled. "Sure. Now you close your eye and count, while I go hide."

Copper turned his back to her and covered his eyes with his hands and started counting. While he did Tod dashed off to hide. They didn't realise it, but from the balcony above the courtyard, a middle-aged owl was watching them in fascination, as Tod hid behind one of the trees and Copper stopped counting.

"Well I'll be. A fox and a hound, playing together." She chuckled to herself. "Just when you think those two clans are beyond hope. Now isn't that the sweetest thing?"

When you're the best of friends

Having so much fun together

You're not even aware, you're such a funny pair

You're the best of friends

Life's a happy game

You could clown around forever

Neither one of you sees, your natural boundaries

Life's one happy game

Copper and Tod continued to play until Copper heard his Mom calling and Tod heard her parents. Just as Copper was turning to leave Tod stopped him. When Copper turned around to ask her what was up, he saw her pull out one of her jewelled earrings. It was a small dangling earring with a ruby in the shape of a teardrop. Tod put the earring in Copper's hand and closed his fingers around it.

If only the world wouldn't get in the way

If only people would just let you play

They say you're both being fools

You're breaking all the rules

They can't understand your magic wonderland

Hu-hu-hu

"In my culture when we make a friend, we give them a small token, so that even if we're far apart, we'll never forget each other." Tod explained.

Copper like the sound of that custom. He reached up and pulled his pocket watch out of his pocket. It was a small thing only about the size of a ping-pong ball, with a simple lid design. He fiddled with the chain to fashion it into a kind of necklace and put it around her neck. They heard their parents call louder and so went their separate ways. On his way back, Copper clipped the earring to end of his ear. When his mother asked about it he smiled and said: "A friend gave it to me". When Tod's mother and father noticed the new pocket watch necklace, they asked her where she'd gotten it. But all Tod would do was smile and say: "I made a new friend".

When you're the best of friends

Sharing all that you discover

When that moment has passed, will that friendship last?

Who can say if there's a way?

Oh I hope . . .

I hope it never ends

'Cause you're the best of friends

* Animal spirits age, a lot slower than humans. To them 500 years is equivalent to 5 years of a human's life span, and when they hit adulthood their biological ageing slows to a fourth of what it originally was. And they live to be about 50 000.

This first song is from The Fox and the Hound movie. Just had to have it in here.