A/N: OK, I'll make this chapter pick off from where the last one left off with Katt meeting up with Fox. There isn't much I can say about this chapter really so let's get started.

Disclaimer:

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Chapter 16: Feeling is First?

Fox had picked up Katt on the side of the street and began to wonder, "What were you doing? You live in the opposite direction."

Katt wasn't thinking of Fox at that moment. She wanted another 'perfect' moment with Shane. As a result she didn't quite hear Fox. "What?" She listened to Fox repeat the question. "Well, I was…I don't know anymore."

Fox didn't say anything. She looked a little troubled and he wanted to ask what was wrong, but she had an 'I don't want to talk about it' expression on her face. It was then he realized that he was in Shane's part of the neighborhood. Now that he thought about it, it didn't surprise him that she was here. "Are you still letting Krystal and Shane get to you?" He suddenly asked.

"What do you mean? I was just here to visit Shane, nothing more."

Fox kept his eye on the road and didn't look at Katt as he talked. "It doesn't seem like 'just a visit' from the look on your face. Something happened." Fox said but didn't push to know what it was. The only thing Fox could assume is that it involved Krystal.

They reached Katt's house and Fox dropped her off. "Don't let it bother you so much." Fox said before he drove off.

Katt walked up to her door and went inside her home. She walked upstairs and rested on her bed, thinking about that kiss. It really was too perfect to be real. 'Dammit!' She thought. She rolled over on her back and stared at the ceiling. She wanted Shane now. She couldn't believe it herself.

***

Fox was driving home and he felt a little betrayed. He felt like Katt had lied to him and that made Fox a little upset in his mind. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Katt was jealous of Krystal. He didn't want to think of what she went to Shane's for. She probably made a scene or something.

He got out of the car and walked in the house and greeted his father. He then walked upstairs immediately. He closed the door to his room and locked it, and then went fishing through his closet. There were several papers stacked up from as far back as second grade. It wasn't that Fox thought it would help him later on, it was because he was a pack rat at times.

He found his old yearbooks and looked through them and remembered what he had to go through sometimes. He wasn't one to gloat about it but he could even admit that in his past the girls always ran after him. Except for the ones that he liked, that is. It was ironic how he could have any girl EXCEPT the one he wanted. It had taunted him since he was in the seventh grade. Of course at the end of this eighth grade year and a bit of freshman year there was Fara, but she had moved.

Fox wasn't open with many of the girls he met. They all liked him but the never liked them. Then when there was a girl he liked, they never like him back. "It's never any different." Fox sighed and began flipping through his seventh grade yearbook where this cursed had befallen him. The memories never ceased, and Fox would be damned if he had been a different fur.

"Fox…" His father called and the young vulpine immediately put away his yearbooks. Fox stood up and walked downstairs to his father calling. As Fox got down the stairs the door was wide open and in the doorway stood none other than Krystal.

"Hey." Krystal waved. She walked in as James closed the door and walked off. Fox was at a stop on the stairs and waved her up to his room. It was obvious something was wrong.

They were back in Fox's room and he once more gone rummaging through his closet to find any other years books as if Krystal wasn't there.

"You seem agitated." Krystal said and Fox suddenly stopped and sighed. Krystal was very nervous about being with Fox now, but at least she actually came.

"I'm a little disturbed." Fox managed to say. He found his freshman yearbook and opened it up to Fara's picture. The picture was in black and white but it was seeing her face that made Fox smile. He turned and saw Krystal leaning over his shoulder. "Oh, sorry…didn't mean to ignore you."

"No, that's okay. Who's that?" She said pointing at the picture of Fara, since that was obviously who Fox was staring at. "Old girlfriend?"

"Yeah…" Fox smiled. "She was my entire world." He closed the yearbook and put it back where he found it.

"What happened to her?" Krystal asked.

"She moved away. I wish she'd have stayed longer."

"You must miss her a lot. It seems like she meant a lot to you."

"She did. Too bad I won't see her again. At least it doesn't seem that way." Fox sighed. "You know, I really hate who I am."

'You hate who YOU are…' Krystal wanted to say but she didn't. She was very nervous about being there and it obviously showed to Fox. "Why do you hate who you are?"

Fox stood up and backed out of the closet pushing Krystal back as he did so. He closed his sliding closet door and turned to look at Krystal. "It's not like you to come to my house like this…so why are you here and not with Shane?"

"What do mean 'not with Shane?'" Krystal blinked. "Of course I'm not with Shane right now. Why would I be?"

'Of course she's not with Shane, Katt was just there.' Fox thought. Maybe he really was getting jealous of Shane. "It's just that you two seem like you're going out all over again."

"Well, we're not. That's crap that got out of hand." Krystal said defensively. "We're just friends, that's all."

"You act like so much more." Fox said.

"Well, I guess that would give off some ideas when you think about it. But it's just fur talk. We're just friends. We basically just made up if you want me to be honest."

Fox sighed. "You're lucky to have him." Fox slipped out. 'Did I just say that?'

"What's that mean?"

"Forget it, it's not something I'm going to talk about." Fox shook his head.

"Oh come on, tell me."

"You probably wouldn't understand it." Fox used that same excuse.

"Everybody says that! You know I would be able to understand if you just told me!" Krystal snapped.

'Did she just snap at me?' Fox thought. That's not the only thing that surprised him. He was having a conversation WITH Krystal in HIS home. "Hey Krystal…" Fox began. She turned to face him. "…Why are you so quiet?"

'He just had to ask a question--' Her thoughts were interrupted by Fox talking again. "I can see you thinking now. Every time I ask you something you look the other way and start trying to think of a response. Just say what's on your mind…I won't get mad."

"I'm quiet because I never know what to say. I mean, what if I say something stupid?"

"What could you possibly say that's stupid? What would be stupid is not saying anything at all." Fox said. "But I guess it's because you're really shy right?"

"That too."

Fox sat down on the bed and patted the seat next to him. "Let's talk. Vulpine to Vixen. Fox to Krystal. Just you and me."

She sat down and grew nervous again until Fox pulled her into a hug, which surprised her. "Relax. You don't have to be nervous around me. Not with my luck anyway…"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it."

"No, talk to me." Krystal said. "You're disturbed. I'd never seen you even BEGIN to look like you were when we came up here."

Fox sighed, "Maybe later."

"Why not now? Why later?"

Fox didn't respond to that and he sighed again. Fox had finally learned that anyone could be persistent when you kept something from them. "Have you ever wanted someone and you knew that you just couldn't have them?"

She looked down at her feet. "All the time."

"Well, that's all I'm going to say about it." Afterwards he rested on his back. "Guys would give anything to be me. They think I'm lucky because I could get any girl that I wanted…except the one I wanted."

That didn't make sense to Krystal at all seeing as how Fox contradicted himself, but she knew what he was saying. "But Fox…you CAN have any girl you wanted." She said.

His head perked up. "I know I COULD but I CAN'T."

"No really. It could take a while but…"

"But what?"

"Give it time. You can't expect her to coming running to you. Maybe you should try to find her."

Fox sat up and put an arm around Krystal and began to rock back and forth. Maybe she was right. She was obviously very smart and whatnot. 'Does that mean I could have you?' He wanted to say but the words wouldn't come out. They seemed stuck. "So why are you here?" He substituted for his thought.

"I just came by to say hi and see what's up." She dangled her feet. Her nerves were talking again.

Fox brought his arm down to her waist and slipped it around her. "But that's not all is it?"

She moved her paw down to his and held it gently caressing it with her thumb. He certainly was no Shane to her, but his touch was soothing. No, she hadn't come to say hi, she really came to ask him about Shane and how he'd changed but the moment was still good.

Fox returned her affection by pulling her into a nice hug. His mind was suddenly filled with her and no one else. If he only he could find the words.

The vixen brought her feet onto the bed and rested on Fox's shoulder. The difference was that her mind certainly wasn't on Fox. It really was on Shane, and by what Fox just told her she didn't want to make it worse by saying that he'd basically 'Lost another one.'

And she really did feel nothing! Her crush on Fox evaporated into thin air, yet she was here with him now…when she finally found the courage to actually go to his house and speak to him…there was no feeling she had left, and she knew that if she told him that it would probably hurt. She knew that Fox liked her too. 'He can always fall back on Katt right?'

"I better go now." Krystal said, "I have to get home."

"You want a ride?" Fox offered but Krystal declined.

"I want to walk on this one."

***

"It meant nothing…absolutely nothing!" Shane tried to tell himself. But it did mean something to him and he couldn't put his finger on it. Shane paced around and stopped for a moment. "But I haven't done anything wrong." Shane suddenly spoke. "I'm not going out with anybody…so how could my actions be wrong?"

But if Shane knew Krystal the way he thought he did…she definitely wouldn't see it that way if she really were feeling something. However, Shane didn't like to keep secrets and knowingly enough Katt would tell Krystal anyway. 'No she wouldn't…' Shane shook his head. He knew BOTH of them better than they knew each other. He knew he was part of the game. "That's all it is!" Shane screamed. "It's all a damn game!" They were in what seemed like a competition for two foxes and he was giving them both the satisfaction. Shane suddenly felt like he was being used to make the other jealous…and he knew that wasn't true.

He picked up the phone and started to dial Fox's number thinking 'Game Over' but he immediately put the phone down. 'Fox is part of the game too…Game over for Katt, means game over for Fox. Game Over for Fox means game over for Krystal. Game over for Krystal means game over for me.' His eyes shifted. What did it matter if the game was over? Shane didn't exactly approve of it, regardless of the satisfaction he was getting. It was just like he said, 'someone is bound to get hurt.' "At this rate that someone is Krystal…" Shane whispered. But it wasn't just Krystal…they were all hurting themselves.

Shane picked up the phone again and once more put it back down. He felt like he was trying to call Krystal for the first time. If there was one thing Shane wasn't going to see it was anyone get so hurt that they couldn't recover from it. It was obvious now that SOMEONE was going to get hurt no matter what.

"Just a game. The game is 'The Fox is Mine' so why has this game turned into dramatic TV show?" He thought to himself. He felt like he was on some cheap soap opera by kissing his best friends 'girlfriend' so to speak. 'Next we'll be sleeping with the others boyfriend of girlfriend or something like that.'

"This isn't worth it." Shane said to himself and dialed a random number. He punched in the keys on the phone without even thinking and was waiting for the rings to be done. "Hi we can't get to the phone right now, leave a message, bye." That was Krystal's number. He hung up without leaving a message and tried a different number at random. Before the phone began to ring he slammed it down. "Instead I think I'll go for a walk in the park."

***

'Why do I waste my time?' Fox thought after Krystal had left. He was still taunted by his curse. Regardless of what Krystal had said it was only this thing that furs and humans often times called 'hope.' In Fox's eyes it wasn't real. He knew she was just saying all that to make him feel better. How much longer would he have to suffer from his curse anyway?

His father then patted him on his shoulder, "Phone."

Fox went over to the phone and picked it up with the most depressing "Hello?" the world had ever heard.

"You don't sound so good, something up?" It was Katt and her voice made Fox a little happier…and a bit down at the same time.

"I'm just having one of those days." Fox lied.

"We're still going to Bill's right?"

"Is that all you called for because--"

"Well, Shane thought we could all go as a group." Katt threw at him before anything else could come flowing out of his mouth.

'As a group?' That would give a moment for some things to come together at least. At least if they were all in a group they'd be able to figure out who likes whom. "Sure we can do that, and we'll have a good time."

"Good. I wanted to reach Krystal about it but she isn't home yet…do you know where she is?"

"She just left my place."

Silence ensued on the other end for a moment. "How long ago?"

"About five minutes ago you could say." Fox made a rough estimate.

"Well, I better call her when she gets in. Until then, tell me what's wrong. What makes it 'one of those days?' What's bothering you?"

"I'll be fine, don't worry about it."

"Fox, usually when I hear my friends say 'I'll be fine, don't worry about it,' that usually means 'I'm not fine and please pay attention to me.' Something isn't right in the world of Fox McCloud."

"You just never let the moment grow silent do you?"

"I'm Katt Monroe I don't have to let anything happen without reason…except a couple things."

"I see…Well, I don't really want to talk about it."

"Fine, be that way." Katt huffed. "So anyway…"

"Listen, I've got to go now, I'll see you tomorrow." Fox said and hung up the phone. He wasn't really up for talking at the moment.

***

The gazebo in the park was where Shane always went to think. The game has to end at some point but Shane wanted a 'Perfect' game in the end where everybody wins. Well, if you were insane that would be a way to say it. But Shane knew it was inevitable. Oh well, it wasn't much for him to worry about.

He'd actually been thinking about that kiss. Now Shane had grown to realize one thing…that kiss wasn't real. He felt absolutely nothing for Katt while he was lip locked with her. He was openly ready to say that there was no feeling for Katt…and that kiss is what gave him that conclusion. Her lips weren't Krystal's and they probably never would be to him. Regardless of how long and deep the kiss was it was easy for Shane to say how meaningless it really was to him.

Shane now had something new to add to his list of morals…if you could call all them that. Just because feeling is first…doesn't mean it's true.

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A/N: OK well that's done with…the chapter that is. Not too much more to go, and there isn't much to cover in between so the next chapter will probably be Bill's Party, and we'll see how things go for the gang there.