Three Years Later:

Needless to say, Louis and I were pretty infamous at school. We were known as "the rebels", or in other words, two of the only herbivores- save maybe for elephants, rhinos, and hippos- who weren't afraid of carnivores. It was a little more understandable for Louis since he was a red deer, but me… I think that weirded animals out more than anything. A little white bunny who didn't hesitate to approach a lion or tiger? Growing up on the commune, this was a daily occurrence, but herbivores here treated it like this was some grave taboo. Even the carnivores got all flustered when I approached them. All this made making friends that first year fairly difficult.

Things were different for Louis. After some time, he developed some friendships and even joined the drama club. Of course he and I stayed as close as the siblings we were, but he started to like school life. Because he wasn't scared of carnivores, even challenging them from time to time, he gained a lot of respect from the student body and teachers. He had admirers and those who looked up to him- usually herbivores and smaller carnivores. Did all this attention go to his head? Perhaps, but he hid it really well. He was still as soft-spoken and classy as ever. Plus he never expressed any interest in any girls besides well… you know.

All this made the commune very proud. They were already preparing for both our futures and going to give us the choice if we wanted to return or not. I did, or at least I thought I did, but I wasn't so sure about Louis. He didn't like to talk about it, no matter how much Bagheera and Akela nagged him. Ah well, I wasn't too worried about it; he'll do what's right for him when the time comes.

As for me, well these past three years have been… eventful to say the least. Girls hated me with a vengeance; probably because I was a guy-magnet. Oh, how do I say I was popular with the males on campus without sounding conceited? I won't lie- I knew how beautiful I am, most likely one of the most beautiful girls here. The guys knew it and Louis knew it. The confessions came flooding in first year; all from herbivores. This surprised me, since I knew some carnivores had crushes on me too. But one girl told me once that carnivores don't date herbivores, period. Seems like a strange rule; one I didn't get. Eventually however, I just accepted that this was the way things were and moved on with life. Or at least I did until I met him.

While Louis joined the drama club, I joined the gardening club- mostly because it didn't have any other members. The older I got, the worse the bullying became. Louis did what he could to stop it, but some of the girls were unrelenting. It got to the point where the only one I wanted to hang out with was Louis; I didn't want to get a boyfriend for the sake of not being alone. Besides, this wasn't permanent. Soon I'd be back on the commune with Bagheera and Baloo again- my family. A part of me hoped Louis would come too but I'd never ask him. He had to decide that for himself.

Where should I start this story? So much happened in that last year of school. Let's start in winter, right after the first snow fall. This was something Louis and I looked forward to each year back in the forest. No matter how old we got, playing in the snow never got old. We woke up that Sunday morning and ran to window; then we ran downstairs to the front door. Both the male and female door fell open around the same time. The biggest smile rolled across my small face. "It snowed!"

Picture if you will the ground covered in a pure, thick, white sheet. The air was crisp and pleasant; it stayed in you as you breathed. While the other girls from my dorm glanced out cautiously, I sucked in a deep breath. Then, still wearing my pyjamas, I threw myself onto the cold blanket laughing hysterically. That's how Louis found me, rolling around on the ground playfully in the snow. He immediately joined me and all our dormmates ogled the two of us like we were crazy. After a minute, we leapt to our feet and started to run around barefoot, just like we used to as kids in the forest. I ran first and Louis chased me.

"Haru! Louis! You two get back here! You'll catch your death of cold!" Louis's dorm parent yelled out at us. Of course we didn't listen, continuing to run to the hilly part of campus. This was the closest we'd felt to home since we'd been back last summer. "Haru!" Louis called out for me, still laughing! "Louis, come catch me!" I played along, beginning my decent down the slope. We'd been running so fast that it was no surprise when I slipped, sliding down the rest of the way. Louis followed suit, sliding down along with me. Snow flew up all around as we went down quickly.

Once we reached the bottom, our bodies slowly came to a halt. There, laying with our backs on the fresh winter's snow, our classmates found us laughing uncontrollably like children with our arms stretched out at our sides. After that playing in the snow became fashionable. That's something Louis and I never grew out of- we always knew how to have fun with each other.

That day was when everything began, without any of us realizing- the day that would change all our lives.