Chapter 9

Sly smiled from ear to ear as if he was on cloud nine the next day. The reason behind this was because he had kissed Aerith last night while the two had been sharing their pasts with each other. And even though he had enjoyed getting to know the young woman last night something was still bothering him as he asked himself, "I wonder what Aerith would have said if I hadn't of cut her off with that kiss last night?" The raccoon would have pondering the question for a while, but once he saw the brunette looking out a nearby window he added, "But…I guess I can worry about that matter later." He then proceeded to walk towards the human and while he did this he ended with, "Hey Aerith, so what did you think about last night? You probably weren't expecting me to be so good when it came to kissing am I right?"

"Well, to be honest I wasn't really expecting you to do something like that." The young woman replied, as she turned to face him. Once she had done this she added, "But I guess it was only very surprising to me because….I'm not an ordinary human. Or at least I wasn't up until I came here."

The hazel eyed raccoon tilted his head slightly while he asked, "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

The thief's ears flicked once he heard the healer let out a sigh before she explained, "You see I'm not only just a human, I am also the last of another race of humans which were known as The Cetra." Her gaze then went back towards the window as she went on with, "This race of human was able to bring life to nature making anything grow even in places that were said to not be possible."

"Um okay, so do you know how you lost that ability?" The anthro raccoon asked, as he rubbed the back of his neck in confusion.

The young woman let out a light giggle before she replied back with, "No, I have no idea. All I know is that I can no longer hear the planet speak to me." She saw the anthro raccoon tilt his head to the side obviously in confusion which caused her to sigh lightly while she added, "Please there is no reason for you to worry about something like that. Like I told you it's obvious that I'm just a normal human now." The brunette then began to walk up to him only to walk right by him. And as she did this she ended with, "But honestly…..I'm okay with being normal."

"Well, I don't know if you're normal since you can use healing magic." Sly pointed out, while he turned to look at her.

"Anyone can learn magic if they take the time to do so." Aerith replied, before she turned to look at him also. She was about to leave the room but stopped when she felt the raccoon grab her hand. This caused the young woman to turn only to see the thief staring at her as she went on with, "Sly is something wrong? Did I tell you something that confused you?"

"No, you didn't confuse me….that much." The raccoon reassured her, as he brought her closer to his body. The brunette soon after felt that same hand leave hers before cupping her chin while he went on with, "What I want to know is what do you think about being with a guy like me?"

A light blush spread across Aerith's face before she let out, "Oh….um, is there any particular reason as to why you're bringing this up?"

"Oh come on beautiful, I know you're interested in me. Not that I could blame you though." Sly commented, while he brought his face a bit closer to hers.

An unfazed look came across the young woman's face as she responded back with, "It seems someone is very confident in their looks."

The raccoon leaned in even closer until his muzzle was right up against the brunette's left ear before he said, "Yeah, but even though we've only known each other for a while now you obviously know I'm not a bad guy." He then moved his head away from her ear while he added, "And besides you seem to have no problem with what I do for a living…unlike another woman who I tried to have a relationship with."

After the thief had said that though he saw a curious look was on the healer's face as she asked, "I know it's not any of my business. But what exactly happened between you and your ex that would cause you to say something like that?"

A heavy sigh was released from the anthro's mouth before he explained, "She and I had a disagreement on my job. And it probably didn't help that she's the head cop around here." Memories started to flood the raccoon's mind as he went on with, "She would try and catch me so that she could put me behind bars. But I was always able to get away. I would even treat our little chases like a game."

"By the way you're talking about her she must have a special place in your heart." The human pointed out, as she gently moved herself away from the thief.

"Yeah she does." The hazel eyed thief admitted, while he turned his gaze away from the young woman. He then continued with, "But I know it's been over between the two of us for months now. And I'm finally ready to move on."

When he looked back over at the green eyed human he saw an unconvinced expression on her face as she asked, "You do realize that saying you're ready to move on is completely different compared to actually doing so, right?"

A grin spread across the anthro raccoon's face as he answered back with, "Oh believe me I know it's easier to say that rather than taking action to prove it. But if you think about it I already proved that I'm ready to move on when I kissed you last night."

"Well, if you're serious then why don't you and I go out sometime?" Aerith suggested, while the thief saw her smile at him warmly.

"Hey now, I'm supposed to be the one to ask you out on a date." Sly playfully shot back, before he retook her hand again. He brought it up to his lips and kissed it. After he did this he released her hand and continued with, "So how about we have our first date tomorrow night then? I know a pretty nice restraint we could go to."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea Sly." The young woman replied, before she turned away from the raccoon and walked into the next room.

The thief waited a little bit until he knew the brunette was a good distance away before he shook his head sideways while letting a light chuckle and commented, "Yeah, she totally digs me."

A/N: You know I'll be honest I'm not too happy with how this chapter played out. Of course this is just how I feel about it. I will hopefully have the next chapter up sometime soon.