Chapter Twenty-One

The Ebbing Storm

In the confines of Nick's bathroom — which were still warm and steamy from recent use with the strong but-still sweet scent of masculine fox enticing — Judy slipped out of her black, carrot-print underwear and let it drop to the floor slightly self-consciously, while moving her paws in front of her puffy-furred, silver chest. Naked and vulnerable, she turned the knob in the shower cubical and, a moment later, hot water started gushing out, to which a contented sigh filled the noise with Judy stepping in the stream of sanitation.

This was by no means the first time Judy had showered around Nick's place for, even though her apartment had communal showers, she had always preferred to cleanse herself privately. Judy had decided, the first time she had used his shower, she wouldn't lock the door. It was not a decision she had taken lightly, mind you, as she had stood just inside and in front the bathroom door with her paw on the lock for quite a period of considerations. Eventually, she had come to this consistent conclusion:

Nick was fully aware that she was in the shower and, because of this, he wouldn't come in. Because of this, the only function the lock had would be to stop him from doing something he wasn't going to do anyway. This, and the fact Nick would be able to hear if the lock was clicked, meant that locking it would only serve to show Nick that she didn't trust him not to come in — which she did, of course — and so, within the first week of meeting the fox, Judy had displayed Nick just how much she trusted him, by stripping naked in his house out of sight and leaving the bathroom door unlocked. This show of trust was never mentioned by the fox — but it was one which Nick was always grateful for.

Now, however, things were different. Stood beneath the heat of the shower, her paws rubbing all across her body, Judy tried to picture what life would be like right now if the bathroom door opened and Nick sauntered in, bare to the fur; tried to imagine what she would do when the fox would slid the shower cubical open, and his large, red paws would reach out towards her craving body... She was still deliberating whether to follow the teachings of her parents or her own wants and desires — but, she knew, if Nick came in through that door, wearing nothing but the lazy, charming smile she had fallen in love with — there would be nothing she could do to resist him...

And Nick, who was stood just outside the bathroom door with his paw on the handle, wanted nothing more than to join her. The fox took another deep breath as he tried to steady his mind. As each moment passed, Nick tried to force himself to step away from the door and to go about his business like the gentlemammle he should be — but bare and basic desire prevented it. Nick wanted her — wanted her body — and had done now for almost a year; as much as his mind tried to steer him away, his body, driven half-mad with desire, pulled him on and his mind was starting to give in to the cupidity of inevitability sinful.

After all, we came close just now, and the only reason she stopped it was because I stank. Well, I'm clean now, and so is she. So, why can't we?

Because it's just wrong! You told yourself you wouldn't let your animalistic desires overrule your judgment. Well, that's what's happening right now.

Surely just a look wouldn't hurt. It's not like Judy's gonna want to break up with me for just taking a look.

And if she does?

No... she—

Look! It's possible, it is entirely possible — heck, it's more than likely — that Judy is going to want a romantic partner who can 'control' himself, who can respect her privacy and—

"Alright! Holy Vixen, is my mind always this whiny?" The fox started back with surprise as he realized his thoughts had come aloud. He turned and looked self-consciously about the room, then turned back to the door. Nick agreed with himself fully — going in was a bad idea. Not only might he upset Judy and make her think he was just a sex-driven creep, but she might also feel as though he was taking advantage of the fact she was a 'rabbit', and expecting her to 'behave' in a certain way just because of the common beliefs about 'rabbits' and their 'multiplying'. It was decided. Nick would not go in. He should walk away now and—

His body acted without seeking permission from the mind. It raised a paw and tapped on the wood sharply half a second before Nick could stop it.

Inside, Judy was rubbing her paws across her chest to work the suds in deep. She didn't know when she had started to, but in the course of washing, the rabbit had closed her eyes and had initiated imagining as if it was Nick's paws doing the rubbing around the areas of her flat breasts and underbelly sensitive. It wasn't a very good impression because her paws were half the size of Nick's, they were unpadded and didn't smell of fox — but just thinking of Nick as she fondled her body was enough to fill her with blissful, sensual excitement.

Lost in the thoughts of how Nick might embrace her, how it might feel for his body to press against hers, the sound of knocking startled her and she replied automatically, "Come in."

Outside, the fox grinned. Inside, a paw shot over the rabbit's mouth as a deep red blush worked right across her face and down her back. Before Judy's mind had time to shift through the shock and rectify her answer to an instruction of wait, while she covered herself, the door was already opening.

Covered in suds, Judy rushed to grab a towel before Nick could come in, as one of his large paws appeared around the slowly opening door, but she overtook his own haste, and was about to step out and cross the room, when the cold air hit her. The chill sharpened her senses and it made everything more real. She was naked and Nick-Nick— was about to join her... in fear and excitement, Judy backed against the wall and beneath the shower head. Unfortunately, therefor, allowing all the suds to drain away, leaving her without even a blanket of soap to cover herself with.

Judy shrank back as a large, red tail swept into the room for an instant, legs and paws moving to try and cover all the most intimate of areas unconquered.

It was one thing to fantasize about Nick... and it sure was quite another for those fantasies to come true.

A black snout appeared and the door edged forwards a further inch. Judy's mouth moved, forming the start of a thought of an attempt of the first syllable of a potential word, "N-N— NN-Ni…" And then the door stopped, and the casual calm of Nick's voice cut clean through her tremulation.

"Hey Carrots, I'm putting some food on, you want some?..." When Nick didn't get a reply, he decided he should try a little teasing, "Hopps? You in there? Hopps?" Briskly, the door opened another inch and Judy's reply — a hurried and garbled string of words — rushed out of the rabbit with all possible impatience.

"Arrgh wait! I would, yes, yes please, Nick, yes I would like some, some— some 'food' I mean! Not... please, Nick, thank you..."

Judy could hear the grin when Nick, again, spoke, "Alright then. One 'Carrot' stew coming right up." And then, with a click, the door was shut. Judy slowly slipped down the wall as the anticipation left her body — the adrenaline rush leaving her drained — and, outside, Nick snickered before pacing towards the kitchen awaiting.

Turning the dial on the oven, Nick started to heat the main compartment. He took out an imitation-stake pasty for himself, he could get real chicken and fish, but things like bacon, lamb and beef were mostly imitation... or those that weren't were illegally bought from the black market due to obvious of reasons. Then he took out a carrot stew for Judy for which he knew for sure that at least the carrots were still real, despite doubts of possible augmentations of fakeness technology was able to produce in this day of age. He added a few other odds and ends to build up a decent-sized meal. The bathroom door clicked behind him, he turned and the love of his life stepped into view.

"Hey, little Bunbun," he teased, "good shower?"

Briskly, Judy crossed the room. She had no change of cloths with her, and putting her stinking and sweaty cloths back on after a shower would have just been foolish. So, she slipped into Nick's dressing gown. The gown was black and hung several feet below her feet, thus dragged on the floor behind her. The band was too long, so the rabbit had wrapped it around herself twice before doing up the knot. The sleeves had been folded up to suit her arms-length so many times that it was torso thick. There was also too much material overall and so it flapped off her body loosely, and Nick deceptively hoped it didn't slip and reveal anything in particular-risqué interest to his sharp eyes.

In this state, Judy crossed the room towards the fox and smartly smit him on the chest. "That's for coming into the bathroom while I was showering!" It wasn't a hard punch, and Nick only bent over in pain to be playful. His mouth at an irresistible level, Judy shot her paws out to grasp around his neck before she pushed her lips up against Nick's. "And that's for coming into my life."

The jolt caused by the surprise of the affection had Nick's arms slip around Judy's waist. His mild pain forgotten, a smile broke upon his muzzle. Leaning forwards, their mouths joined a second time, then a third. The fourth moment tho was sweetest of all, lingering on long after all the rest had died off into the catharsis of this final seal.

After that, the fox pushed himself forwards, cupping Judy in his arms and falling ahead slowly, steadily, to the floor, using a knee and an arm to keep the movement slow. He lay her down upon the floor, tucking his warm tail beneath her to protect her from the cold of the tiled floor, while his head lowered towards her, stopping a mean inch above her tender fleshy lips. Emeralds gazed upon sparkly amethyst.

"Well, Hopps, you did it."

"What did I do, Nick?" she breathed in question.

"You broke it— my past I mean. I don't know why I held on so tightly to what's already gone by, I nearly missed what I have now. I can't ever thank you enough for showing me what really mattered: You."

"Nick, I—"

"But I promise, Hopps. Now I have you, I'm not ever letting go." Judy smiled. Beneath the red fox who smelled so clean and whose fur was so vibrantly red and smooth, she had never felt more content, more elated, more loved. The warmth of his body, the softness of his touch, the scent in the air and the unusual but appealing taste of his lips as they pressed against hers yet again — Judy knew…

Life, was good.

…

Pale eyes gazed upon the cityscape of Zootopia. It was nighttime now — safe to enter. Having left the refuge of the old lumber-shack he had called his home, the albino white wolf stepped yet further towards the city. His stomach was full with the sweet and tender fresh meat of coney; his groin still tingling with warmth and carnal satisfaction of her heat. His head was alight with the brisk memories of her moans and cries, her begs and sobs... and his white coat still sanguine with her essence.

Stripped naked, the wolf's gleaming, muscular, snow-like body paced to the edge of the bank, where the river which surrounded the city of Zootopia laid. The now parted clouds allowed the weak moonlight to shine down upon the glistening waters, which the white wolf walked towards, and then — with the grace and delicacy of baptism — slipped into. The coldness that surrounded the albino wolf both sharpened and stimulated his senses, just as it washed the blood of his food-cum-sextoy from his tarnished fur. He walked until the water was around his shoulders — detached to the freezing temperature — and then, submerged his head.

Raising a moment later, he dragged his claws through his fur and across his ears, roughing it with more water, until the red which coated him drained off his temple and into the unclue'd water beneath. Ducking his head again, he pushed himself through the cleanness of the icy stream, roughing and smoothing all his body, until he was pure once more.

He stepped out shortly after, dripping, allowing his fur to dry naturally in the chill, night air, his fur now as untarnished as the soul within. His heart, though black, was light in his chest; his soul was free of guilt and his mind unburdened from remorse. No regrets. No conscience.

His mind was like none other, it was... different. The white wolf who stepped out of the crystal-water was not only ignoring the painful coldness that surrounded him, but incapable of feeling it. All emotions — love, guilt, empathy, all of them — arise from a complex combination of chemicals released into the brain, and yet — in his case — the wolf's mind was not able to make these connections, these reactions. Only base emotions — anger, envy, lust — were known to him. Remorse, love, even physical pain were fruits unseen and hidden, foreign and nameless.

His body was like none other, it was... wrong. Counting for appearances only, the wolf might only have appeared to be an unnaturally athletic predator — with muscles which looked as though they could out-wrestle a bull, and a body a clear foot taller than any wolf one would ever come face to face with — but the sense of wrongness went far deeper. His body and muscles were all vast and cumbersome-looking, yet the wolf's white frame moved with a deft delicacy — a graceful and deadly swiftness — the culmination of perfect balance, precise moments and practiced efficiency.

And his eyes... his eyes were like none other, they were piercing, cold, shriveled, slit — savage.

The savage wolf pulled some city-cloths from an old crate by the water side and pulled them on. The savage wolf dressed hurriedly and then dragged a tarpaulin off from covering an old, one mammal rowing boat, which he dragged towards the edge of the river.

It was a heavy craft, and the bow dug deep into the dirt. The weight of the boat and the drag of the bow in the earth would have made it impossible for a lone mammal of the wolf's size to yank on his own... yet there was not even a twitch of strain on his snow-white, sharp features — or a flicker of unease in his pale, slit eyes — as he dragged it effortlessly towards the water's edge.

He set the boat into the water, slipped in, took up an oar and started to row towards the city of Zootopia, the city of wonders and limitless possibilities... while, within a shack not far from the river, flies buzzed around the rotting, half-devoured corpse of a of a young, female rabbit defiled.

…

Author's notes:

Hesitance jumps around your mind,

Grooms decision thus chosen blind.

Your thoughts most succulent of snack,

All delivered by luscious feedback.

So don't hide like a tiny shrew,

Thus share that belovable review!

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