Crouching Skunk, Hidden Desire
By: Amanda Taylor

"I never knew that Tokyo was such a lovely place," Pepe Le Pew said. He was on his annual vacation and he chose Japan to see the sights and (with hope) to find that mate that he ever so desired to be in his life. As he was taking photos, a black streak zipped by the window and with a heavy thud, landed on top of the bus. With curiosity, Pepe stuck his head out of the window and looked on top of the roof. It was a ninja and he was holding a bag of gems in his hand. The Japanese police were after him too.

"Stop where you are Sukonku or we'll shoot!" one of the policemen shouted shouted. Ignoring the policeman, the ninja threw a smoke bomb on the ground and ran away. The tour bus driver stopped to catch his breath after the suspense and wiped the sweat off his brow with a handkerchief. Meanwhile, Pepe still with curiosity in his heart, decided to ask one of the officers about the ninja. Sadly, his odor hit they're nostrils and they ran away.

"They must have gotten scared of the ninja," he said to himself, "This is a great opportunity to get some respect and maybe a little bit of pocket money from the reward." He ran to bank to exchange his franks for Japanese yen and went to a near by spy shop to buy supplies for climbing the rooftops. After buying his supplies he went to the police station to see how much the reward was. But when he went inside, his smell went through the station and the police people ran out with gas masks on they're faces.
Next to the Chief's desk on a wall was a poster about the mysterious ninja.

It said:

Name: Sukonku Safaia Tsukino.
Age: 20
Gender: Unknown, assume to be male.
Reward: 1,000,000 yen
Bring back alive

Pepe began to think to himself for a bit. Gender unknown? Maybe that ninja is a beautiful girl skunk after all the ninja has a tail. He ran to his room to get an early sleep to be ready for nightfall. It was 12:00am. Dressed up as a cop, he got all his gear ready to capture the ninja. He made his way by leaping from rooftop to rooftop to the jewelry store and surely enough, Sukonku dashed out of the store with a bag in his right hand. Using rope and hook, the ninja climbed to the roof.

"Halt! In the name of the law!" Pepe shouted. Ignoring him, the ninja dashed by him and made his get away. Pepe followed after and in just a few minutes grabbed Sukonku. But when he grabbed him something was odd. Instead of feeling a normal flat chest, he felt something else. Sukonku turned around and punched him, screaming, "HANDS OFF!" but doing so ended up ripping the ninjas shirt revealing that she hand her chest bandaged up. "Excuse a' moi, are those breasts?" Pepe asked.

"I guess you now know my secret don't you?" she said. Pepe turned around, grabbed Sukonku by her waist, and stared deeply into her brown eyes. "Oh Mon Cheri, you are so beautiful. How did you ever get this way?" He said kissing her 5 times on the lips. "Well if you let go of me, I'll tell ya." She said. She wiggled her way out of his arms and sat down. She frowned and sighed sadly. Pepe sat down next to her and held her hand. He knew she was sad as she began her story:

I use to be a spy for the American government. They sent me to Japan disguised as scientist to check on some rumors about illegal animal experimentation's. When I arrived, I saw animals in cages and in glass cylindrical tubes containing mutated animals. One of the scientists escorted me to a room containing they're latest project: creating anthropomorphic animals by mixing human and mammalian DNA. Some of them didn't survive the mutation process and died.

About a week later, they had me experiment on creating a mutagen that would turn people into skunk human hybrids. Suddenly, the alarm went off and the other scientists ran to the viewing screen to see what the problem was. Another spy from the government had been sent but this time to plant a bomb to destroy the laboratory. We had only 5 minutes to evacuate before the bomb went off. As I was about to head out the exit, I got worried about the animals. I ran back to try and save as many of as I can.
I also grabbed the skunk mutagen as evidence to what the scientists were doing. But alas, as I reached the exit once more, the explosion's impact knocked the air out of me and made me go unconscious. Through my dream, I felt as though I was sinking into a watery abyss, with small creatures nipping at my body. When I thought I was a goner. The creatures swam away. When I woke up, I had a big discovery. Besides washing upon the shore of one the Japanese beaches, I had become a blue female skunk hybrid.

"And that's the whole story." Sukonku said, "It's also the reason why I wear a mask to hide myself from people." Sukonku cried. Her tears burned down her cheeks and fell on her lap as she sat down. Pepe gently brought his black hand by her eyes, wiped away her tears, and sat her on his lap. To comfort Sukonku, he hugged her and stroked her cheek. Sukonku blushed as Pepe comforted her and caressed her. Pepe kissed her forehead. "Come away with me," Pepe cooed in her ear.

"Come with me to Paris and stay with me. I promise to protect you from anyone who would try to harm a hair on your head." With joy, Sukonku snuggled up to Pepe and kissed his cheek. Pepe smiled at his new friend and dreamily sighed. He knew that if he made his far, he'd finally have his life long female soul mate that he always wanted to have. Suddenly the sound of police sirens was heard in the distance. Pepe lifted Sukonku in his arms and they ran off to the hotel he was staying at.

The hotel Pepe was staying at was one of those kinds where rich people stay. The lobby was huge. It has like one of those buildings that the emperors of ancient Japan had, but it still had a few modern accommodations. Since Pepe was staying there, everyone had to wear oxygen masks to filter out the smell. Pepe checked in and grabbed his key-card to his room. He slipped it through the slider next to his door and with a beep, the door opened and the happy pair went inside.

Pepe set his love on a chair by the dinner table and went to the phone. "What would you like to eat Cheri?" Pepe asked. "I'd like to have some sushi and some jasmine green tea please." She asked. Pepe ordered the food and sat at the table next to Sukonku. "Oh!" Pepe said, "I forgot." He dashed to his closet and brought out a candelabrum for the table and lit the candles. The bellhop came and served the sushi out to them on the traditional wooden tray.
As Sukonku was eating, Pepe was having a hard time trying to use his chopsticks.

"You can also eat with your fingers if you can't use the chopsticks." Sukonku giggled. The sushi they ate had flying fish roe, zucchini, crab, salmon, mackerel, and grilled fresh water eel. They were also given 2 free bowls of Miso soup. After eating they've fill, they sat on the couch together. Pepe grabbed Sukonku and held her in his lap. "Sukonku," Pepe cooed in her ear.
"Yes, Pepe." She replied. "Would you like to take a stroll with me in the hotel's tea garden?" he asked.

Sukonku nodded her head and they walked out, hand in hand. When they entered through the gates to the garden, Sukonku gasped with amazement. The tea garden was gorgeous. It was full of bamboo, Japanese maple, cherry trees, and other sorts of plants and trees. There was also small lake with koi fish swimming in it and pink water lilies floating on the water's surface.

Pepe and Sukonku sat on a bench near the lake and stared at the stars. Sukonku smiled and snuggled up to Pepe. Pepe looked back at her and said, "I can't stand it anymore!" Pepe grabbed her and tilted her.

"Your hair and eyes are like sweet chocolate.
Your fur is like the blue sky and the turquoise sea.
Your cheeks are like the pink color of spring roses.
And your lips are like...are like..."

Before Pepe could finish his sentence, he kissed Sukonku passionately on the lips. As they kissed, they're ears perked up to the sound of rustling in the bushes. Then with a gust of air and loud "thunk" against a cherry tree, was a ryu shurkin with a letter attached to it. Sukonku ripped off the letter and threw the shurakin at a nub where a tree branch once was, hitting the center of it like a target in dart game.

The letter said:

Sukonku-san,
You have dishonored ninjas everywhere by breaking the most important rule: Falling in Love.
The only ways you can give us back our honor is if you die, your lover dies, or if you move away from Japan. The choice is yours.
-Ryo Miagawa

"I have already made my decision," she muttered silently. Just like Pepe did to her, she dipped him and kissed him passionately. Pepe was so happy that he grabbed her and dashed to the airport right away. As they were to go on board, Ryo Miagawa and the rest of the Shin Ryu clan surrounded them with swords and tack stars readied. "Leaving so soon?" Ryo asked. He made a hand gesture to make his clan to stand down.

"Before you leave, I'd like to have one dual with you Sukonku." Ryo said pointing his finger at her. The clan formed a circle to watch the two duelists start. They unsheathed they're swords and started to clash. As they're swords hit, tiny sparks went into the air. They battled for an hour and with a swift blow, Sukonku stabbed Ryo's shoulder and pulled out her sword. "You fight with passion." Ryo said.
"Please strike me down and give me a quick death." Ryo said. Sukonku cleaned the blade of her sword and set it back in the sheathe. She ignored his request and went on the plane with Pepe. As they flew away to Paris they knew that they were going to live happily ever after.

The End