- What lies ahead, what lies behind -

Chapter 1: His ideals Pink. Vibrant. Colours.
It's all he knew while he was a child, still exploring his ideals, wearing clothes not fit for him, and such. Leo was a very.. interesting child,
to say the least. He used to wear dresses, put make up on, wear bows to school, despite the habit of being bullied which those exact things caused him. He couldn't care less, despite what he felt inside, He felt like an outsider, an outcast, an *abnormality*. "Why am I like this?",
He asked himself over and over again, never seeing the end of it, and neither did his peers. The ideals just kept stretching, causing him to gain an irreplacable reputation of being known as "The Husky who wears dresses". Sure, the title is not that bad at first sound, or to anyone.
But to Leo, it cut him deep, each and every time he heard it once he stepped into the school grounds. Students would either point fingers at him,
whisper and gossip various lies about him to others, or just straight up confront him and physically torment him for hours on end. He'd usually come home with no bruises or the variety, but mentally he was left more scarred than every other day.

- 10:00 PM, Thursday night. -

"..Ugh." Leo sighed, walking into his room and closing the door with a weak hand. "Another terrible day, as usual. What do I expect anyways?"
"I'm just another outcast to society anyways." He murmured under his breath. He knew that what people said to him was true, but he didn't know how to change his ways. "Why do I keep trying to fit in anyways? I'll never be able to, no matter how much effort I put in." Leo exclaimed,
his breath hitching in his throat as he paced around his room before he came face to face with himself in the mirror. His palm balled up into a fist, and he quickly took a table-cloth from near, covering the whole mirror so he wouldn't have to face himself and damage his mental even more.
"For hell's sake.." He said with a slight annoyance in his tone, walking over and laying on his bed. His bed was soft just like his pink fur,
and his soft heart. "Why do people keep picking on me? I'm not doing anything to them, I'm just living life like I want to.." He whispered to himself, his eyes glistening a bit as tears started gently flowing and he curled up in his sheets, sobbing quietly as he didn't want to endure this any longer. A minute or so of Leo's barely audible sobbing, he heard a gentle knock on the door, and he exclaimed with a soft "Come in."
A moment later, his door to the room opened, and a slightly tall female Husky with a similar appearance to Leo came in with a concerned expression.
"Leo.. are you alright? I thought I heard you crying while passing by your room." She said. This was Leo's older sister, Kana. She's soft hearted just like Leo, but with a bit of toughness and responsability sprinkled ontop. "Y-Yeah.. I'm.. I'm fine." Leo exclaimed, his shaky voice saying otherwise. Kana sighed, her eyes softening up as she walked over to Leo and his bed. She sat on the edge, close to Leo as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Leo.. You can tell me if something isn't alright, you know? I'm your older sister, I'm here for you." She said with a direct but gentle tone. Leo kept quiet for a few seconds before sitting up and wiping his tears with his thumbs, sniffling softly. "I-.. I just, don't know, sis.."
"Everyone bullies me and treats me differently just for the way I dress, and it's so unfair.." He muttered, his tone weak. Kana nodded, pulling him into a warm embrace as she wanted to comfort him as much as possible. Her hand ran sooth circles across his back in a gesture, as she spoke to him. "Oh Leo.. What did I tell you about listening to those jerks? They aren't worth your time, little bro.. I'm just happy you're acting as yourself, just like how I told you." She said with a gentle smile, before pulling away from their embrace. Leo sniffled a bit more and sighed,
looking up at her with soft, red eyes from all the tears he let out. She looked at him with a soft smile, taking his hand in hers, and speaking once more. "Leo, listen. None of the words they spew out of their mouths are true, you know that, don't you? What others say doesn't define you,
you define yourself, you're the only one with the authority to do so." He said, her voice encouraging as she pressed their foreheads together,
trying to soothe his worries the most possible. Leo just sat there in a quiet trance, not knowing what to say but deeply enjoying the comfort of his sister. In a short moment, he murmured under his breath ".. Thanks sis.." He smiled. She smiled aswell, ruffling his hair softly as she pulled away. "No problem bud, it's my duty." She nodded, looking at him with genuine affection for her smaller brother, symphatizing with his pain.
"Well, it is quite late, I should get back to bed, I have college afterall. You should do the same." She explained. Leo looked at her and nodded,
laying back down onto the bed and covering himself with his sheets. Kana smiles, kissing his forehead softly, and before she could walk out of his room,
Leo with a soft voice told her "..Good night, sis. Love you." Once Kana heard this, she smiled widely and responded ".. Heh, love you too, lil bro.
Good night." And walked out of his room, closing the door and turning off the lights. Leo laid there in his bed, his mind fuzzy as he closed his eyes and ventured off to dreamland for the night.

- 9:00 AM, Friday morning. -

Bzzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzz-

"Ugh, what a pain.." He exclaimed as he whacked the alarm clock, sitting up on the bed.
"What time is it anyways..?" Glancing over to the clock, he saw that it's 9AM, then yawning in a short moment as he got up.
It was time for that grueling, gross school of each passing day. Leo got out of his bed, stretching his limbs as he fixed his hair, which was messed up from all the various positions he slept in.
"Hmm, what should I wear today..?" He muttered to himself while rummaging through his closet. "Ah, what difference does it make anyways..?"
He scoffed, clearly annoyed with the fact that they're gonna bully him again today, just like every time. Shrugging it off, he took out a nice and comfy sweater, with a pink bow tailored into it. As he got dressed, he lifted up the table-cloth from his mirror he put on last night, and once in a while his tail started wagging as he looked at himself, actually happy with how he looked as he smiled. He put his books into his backpack, placing it on his back as he got out of his room. Coincidentally, Kana just happened to be in the hallway, and when he saw her, he immediately ran up to hug her.
Kana felt surprised and was caught off guard by this gesture, but when she felt her little brother's soft fur against hers, she turned around and hugged him back.
"Somebody is in a good mood today, are we?" She smiled, noticing his wagging tail.
"Yeah, maybe. I'm just.. actually happy with how I look today."
She smiled, her tail slightly wagging too. "Awh, that's what I absolutely love to hear! and yes, that sweater looks so cute on you."
As she said so, she ruffled his hair lovingly.
"H-heeey, don't mess up my hair, hehe.." He giggled, playfully nudging her hand off.
"Fineee, but I'll mess with ya once I get home, lil' bro. I gotta get going, see ya."
"See ya Kana!" He hugged her before letting her off, and she waved at him, walking out of the house.
As he waved back, he went into the kitchen and ate his breakfast, which Kana specially made for him since their parents were out of town.
After finishing up his breakfast, he got out of his chair, taking the keys of the house and walking outside, locking it, before he went to the train station.
A few minutes pass, and Leo is already at his destination. He sits down onto the bench nearby the station, ocasionally glancing at his phone while waiting for the train to come by. It's sunny in Brisbane, as it always is. Just as Leo closes his eyes for a second to hide from the sun, the train appears and he sighs, not wanting to go to school because of the unbearable people there. Getting into the train, he looks around for a seat near a window, spotting one and making his way over, settling down and placing his backpack in his lap, as he watches the train start up and start moving again.
As he sits in silence, he watches the passing terrain as the train speeds in the other direction, he thinks to himself: "Why do I have to be the outcast always? Why can't it be someone else?" As these thoughts run through his head, he's interrupted by a train hitting a bump in the rails, he's immediately woken up from his thoughts, and he shakes his head, wondering why he thought that way.
"It's fine, If I could endure it all this time, I can endure it today aswell.." He reassured himself, hoping it'd actually take his mind off of things as he pondered through the train's windows.

20 minutes or so pass, and Leo is still in the train. This is the usual time he's on the train, since the way to his school is quite long. He doesn't mind the length, since it keeps him away from school, but only temporarily since he obviously knows he'll eventually get to school and go through all the bother-
some things once more. He despises school, more than anything, but he's a very good student with straight grades, but the fact that he gets bullied constantly is more than enough to make him hate school. The teachers love him, for being such a hardworking student, and they don't mind how he dresses at all, they actually compliment him, which is one of the only good things he gets out of school, in a small list. He wanted for all of it to be over.
Just so he doesn't go through this, again and again.. and again.. and *again*.. But he knew he had to keep going, for Kana, for his family.. for himself.
He brushed the thoughts off with a deep sigh, pondering to himself again. Another few minutes pass as he's sitting on the train, and he closes his eyes,
thinking about some things, when he senses someone sitting down next to the seat beside him. He immediately opens his eyes and fixes his posture, trying to seem normal for the other passenger. The person sitting beside him notices Leo's immediate change in behaviour, and they scoff playfully, smirking.
"You don't have to stiffen up immediately as I sit down, y'know. Relax." The passenger reassures him with a pat on the shoulder, and Leo nods, easening up his posture. He thinks to himself as he looks at the person beside him, who is seemingly a male border collie. He doesn't know the person, but..
He greatly appreciates the kind gesture. As he looks at the stranger with a smile, the stranger notices his glances and Leo immediately turns away, blushing out of embarrassment at why he did that. The stranger chuckles and says to Leo "Heh, nice sweater you got there. What's your name?".. "Uh, Leo.."
"Nice name you got, Leo. I'm Josh." Josh nodded and turned his head away. Leo softly smiled and went back to looking out the window, as he pondered..

" Maybe it *can* get better.."

END OF CHAPTER 1