Okay, so, first things first!

Apologies for the long time between last chapter and this one. I had my life pass by and just forgot to finish chapter 4. Here it is and I will make my best to continue publishing more constantly!

Onwards with the story!

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Chapter 4

"Another weird day in my weird life"

I groaned as a ray of light woke me up from a peaceful slumber. My head felt heavy as I registered what was happening. Slowly opening my eyes, I looked around. I recalled the events of the last day, slowly remembering everything that had happened. It seemed as if I wasn't going to be able to live a normal day ever again.

My life seemed screwed up. What if I told you that I was living in a world of anthropomorphic animals, turned into a fox and another fox had just taken me in his house? You'd call me crazy, and I wouldn't blame you. I'd call myself crazy.

Still, here I was, looking at the wooden ceiling and wondering just how much my life was weird and how much weirder it was going to get. If I happened to find that this was just a dream I would hate my mind for making me go through all this thing…

I slowly stood up, leaving the bed and stretching. I smiled as I stretched, going for the door. My paws still felt weird as I opened the door and stepped into the hallway. I made my way downstairs, wondering what the heck I was supposed to do now. I mean, was he going to help me indefinitely, or kick me out in a week? Or expect me to work for him or something?

Questions and more questions… they made me hungry!

Speaking of hungry, I had just entered the kitchen. It was a very plain and simple kitchen, with a small table on the side. It was obvious he lived on his own, although the tidiness of it made me doubt that a little. Maybe he had help on cleaning the house, or he might just be of those that really clean up after themselves while living alone. Maybe he'd expect me to help around the house? I was very bad a cleaning!

That's when I spotted the letter on the table. Just a simple piece of paper with something written on it. I took it with my paws (that still felt weird!) and read it.

Michael,

I'm out for work. I placed breakfast on the fridge. Be back at 6.

Gideon

Huh, it appeared that he had not woken me up like last morning. Maybe he thought I needed the sleep?

Not that I didn't. Sleeping in had definitely I proved my mood from last night.

I looked at the fridge; I was pretty hungry. I made my way to it and opened it. Inside I saw a sandwich and took it out. I placed it on the table and sat down, eyeing its contents.

Blueberries, weird. Literally, a blueberry sandwich. If I was back home I'd be seriously concerned about the one that had done this, but here I was really unsure of what to make of this. I knew that blueberries could be eaten by foxes, but this felt too much; for breakfast? What now, blueberries for dinner as well? I was sure there had to be something else to eat.

I groaned and stood up, heading again for the fridge. I opened it and stared at its contents, unsure of what I could eat. There was a small plastic container that caught my attention, so I fished it out and placed it on the table. I rapidly opened it and smiled. Fish.

Although fish wasn't my main choice for breakfast (seriously, who does?), I quickly took another plate and placed the fish in it. It was already cooked, so I just needed to warm it up. The microwave's buttons beeped as I placed the time and it started rotating. I then took a glass and filled it up with water, drinking it down rapidly. I was really thirsty, and I'd just noticed.

The microwave signaled that it was done, so I took it out and went to sit down. As I took the first bite, I smiled. It was really good! I quickly ate more and soon enough it was finished. I smiled as my stomach felt full, eyeing the sandwich. I may eat that one later though, so I roamed around the kitchen until I found a plastic bag in which I wrapped the sandwich. I left it in the fridge again and sat down on the table, this time unsure of what I could do now. Gideon hadn't left anymore apart from the breakfasts down the letter, so I was completely confused as to what I could (or should) do.

Sighing, I stood up and went to the kitchen door that apparently led to the backyard. I went outside and couldn't help but chuckle at what I saw. It was now obvious why the blueberry sandwich.

The backyard itself was pretty big, I'm not sure how big, but I could definitely make out that it was fairly large. The catch was that most of it was filled with blueberry bushes. They were all neatly lined and it was obvious that they were also very well cared of. The yard was enclosed by a small wooden wall, tall enough to jump. Maybe it was just there to mark the land and not to stop other from going in. Not that one surely had to worry about that, this place looked very calm.

I then made my way inside again. I now knew how the surrounding of the house looked. There were no other houses in close proximity, although I could see them in the distance across crops and fields. Gideon seemed to live outside the town, but probably close enough to go work there.

I was now in the entrance hall, again unsure of what to do next. I'd already wandered around the house, checked the surroundings, eaten breakfast and probably wondered about life all the time.

That's when I decided to sniff my clothes.

What! Did I really smell like that?!

I sniffed again and mentally groaned. Maybe due to the hair and the fact of being an animal I was smelling pretty horrid.

I needed another shower. ASAP.

I went upstairs and And then entered the bathroom right next to the room I had slept in, then rapidly turned on the water. There was a towel by the shower, so I didn't need to worry about that. I slowly undressed and smiled as I saw steam coming from the water. I slowly entered the bathtub and felt the water run down my fur. It was a very strange sensation, and one that is very difficult to explain. It was like I suddenly was heavier and I seemed to thin up.

I tried not to take long in the shower, especially considering that this wasn't my house after all. The most interesting part was when I cleaned my tail. I didn't know but I found that is seemed to be very sensitive. It also became like a lump of hair when it got wet. Nothing like the splendid tail I used to have, no, wet it looked very funny. The other day I showered I'd not cared much about paying attention to myself, but rather simply ti be fine with the shower so actually feeling my new body now that I had an (slightly) more open mind was a rather interesting experience.

I finally turned the shower off and took the towel. That proved to be one of the hardest things, since drying up when your body was completely covered in fur proved to be a slow and very wet process. I even thought of trying out the dog way, shaking around to see if some of it went off my body. In the end, I simply decided to use the towel.

As I finished drying up I looked up and spotted a mirror. It was just a normal mirror, and definitely there wasn't anything that I would find interesting about it. No, I looked at it interested due to the fact that I'd not seen myself yet.

Huh, talk about establishing priorities on knowing this new body. Looking at myself hadn't even crossed my mind!

I know that it probably wasn't that big of a deal, but I was really curious as to how I looked. I mean, I was an animal, which probably would be kind of weird knowing that I was looking at myself; still, I didn't think it was correct to keep living here without knowing how I looked.

I slowly walked towards the mirror as if it were an animal that could give me another panic attack until my form finally became visible. I stopped once I was right in front of the mirror, slightly unsure of how I should react.

I mean, I did look a little like the Gideon the fox, but only because we were both foxes. I was definitely thinner and shorter, than much I'd guessed without looking at a mirror. My fur was a lighter tone of orange and seeing the white and black parts of my fur made me think that I…

I actually looked pretty cool.

Slowly touching my face, I watched as my paws felt the fur. I was pretty short, now that I could finally see that. My face also looked way younger than Gideon. I wasn't sure exactly how young, but I wasn't sure. I hadn't seen another fox apart from my host, and I had a feeling that not many foxes lived around here to help me define how young I looked. However, by my shirt size and my slightly high-pitched voice I was starting to suspect I was no longer the age I used to be back in… earth? Home? My world? I don't know how to even say that.

I slowly opened my muzzle and saw the teeth. I mentally smiled. Now they did look pretty cool (when they weren't on an animal that wasn't me). My paws moved forward and I saw the claws. All in all, I have to admit.

I look awesome.

That, I had to admit. I still missed my real body though, and I still needed to define what I was going to do. There had to be a way for me to return home; I just didn't know how yet.

I proceeded to put on my clothes and look at myself once again. The clothes looked pretty bad on me, I guess due to the fact that they were for a pig and not a fox. That reminded me about the night I had stolen those, which sent shivers down my spine.

That wasn't going to go from my mind easily, sadly.

I slowly made my way out of the bathroom, not before looking at myself one last time. I then made my way down the stairs and to the kitchen, taking the sandwich and placing it in a bag. I may as well just got outside and look around the town, else I was going to get really bored. I really didn't want to get bored.

I opened the front door and look around. The town was nowhere in sight, but if I remembered correctly it was going left on the street GIdeon's house was located. I could see other houses some distance away. It definitely seemed pretty peaceful out there. His house was very calm, and the feeling it gave me was one of peace and quiet. It was definitely what I needed due to my current… predicament. Away from the big scary city or the little town that's not-so-scary but still full of animals.

I strolled down the lawn and into the street. It was probably going to be a long walk, but I wasn't going to complain. It wouldn't do anything bad to me either, doing some exercise wasn't going to hurt.

It took me half an hour before finally reaching the town. I'd passed a couple of big houses, most seeming to be inhabited by large bunny families. I also noticed that whenever I caught a glimpse of one, they'd immediately go away and try to evade me. At first I'f simply ignored it, but after some time I grew a little bothered by it.

Still, I finally reached the town. It was just as I remembered, and now that I was a little more calm and less desperate I could feel the panic attack controlled by my conscious self. I smiled and walked down the main street towards "Gideon Grey's Freshly baked pies."

I nonchalantly opened the door and was greeted by the sound of a bell announcing my entrance and the most delicious smells my nose has ever had.

"Coming!" came the voice that I recognized as the fox that had taken me in his house. I saw as Gideon came out of the back and looked at me a little surprised. "Michael!" he said, smiling. "It's nice to see you up and about."

I smiled. "I came to thank you for…" I felt slightly embarrassed. "For yesterday. I mean, I was stealing from you and you still helped me." He chuckled.

"Think none about it!" he said. "It was my pleasure." I still wasn't used to his southern accent, but it actually made me this fox feel more… likeable, in truth. He seemed genuine, and that made me almost forget he was an animal.

Almost

"No, really, thank you Gideon," I stated sincerely. "If there's anything I can do to repay you, anything, just tell me and I'll do it."

He seemed to ponder on that for a moment. "Well…" He rubbed his head. "Mind looking at the store for a few, I need to go out for an hour or so, and I normally need to close the store."

I nodded. "Sure thing!"

"Okay, so, if a customer arrives just tell them I'll be back soon and to leave their contact. I'll reach them once I'm back." He walked to the door. He turned around once and I could see some nervousness betraying his cheerful self that I had known so far.

I would be if I was leaving my store to someone that had tried to steal from me a day before…

He stepped outside as the door closed. I saw him hop on his truck and drive away.

Okay… So, I was now on my own and taking care of a store. If My life wasn't weird already, this definitely did. I was pretty surprised as to why the fox had agreed to let me look out for the store.

Not that I complained though. It made me feel useful and gave me a way to repay him.

I moved slowly to the back of the counter and stared at a clock the hung over the door. So, an hour shouldn't be that long; I could look for something to do. My eyes scanned around, but I could only see various types of desserts and delicious food all around. I considered for a second eating one of the pies (the blueberry one I had eaten last night had been completely delicious) but I opted not to. I still wasn't sure how my relation with Gideon was. Maybe he was just going to make me go, maybe it had just been a one time thing and I'd need to leave that day; or maybe he was going to help me further. This was definitely pretty confusing.

My thoughts were broken by the sound of the doorbell reaching my ears. I immediately stood straight and looked at the animal that had just entered. I chuckled inside at how I had reacted, but focused on the customer.

It was a bunny wearing a large hat with its ears coming out through two small holes. The bunny had a happy expression when… she? He? I have no idea yet how to know.

"Where's Gideon?"

Definitely a she.

She looked at me confusedly and I could feel she was slightly on edge.

"He went to make some deliveries. I'm watching over the store while he's away," I said. She seemed suspicious and I wasn't liking it. By then my mind had begun to develop the possibility that foxes weren't very well seen.

But that'd be ridiculous. Who'd treat someone like Gideon bad. It was probably my imagination.

The rabbit oh'd and then approached the counter. "Okay, then i guess if you're a friend of Gideon, you're a friend of mine." (Funny way of making friends) "name's Judy, Judy Hopps."

I felt her approach and the moment she approached my confidence in controlling my panic attacks seemed to break for a second and I almost stumbled back.

Then as I was trying to regain my senses from the surprise she reached out.

And touched my arm.

And I fell backwards.

Have I ever said pies hitting your face isn't comic at all? It's more of a "ouch" followed by not being able to breath because there's pie in your nostril and finally you open your eyes only to realize that they were covered in pie.

"Oh my god! I'm so sorry!" the rabbit said as she moved to help.

I extended my paw. "Wait!" and made a gesture for her to stay back. She stopped, confused. I slowly uncovered my face from the pie and saw the mess I'd made and immediately felt terrible. I could only see Gideon arriving and seeing that and kicking me out.

"Oh no, Gideon's not gonna like this," I said worriedly. Judy shook her head.

"I'm sure it's fine. It was an accident, and my fault. Here," she said as she reached for her wallet. "I'll buy that pie." She seemed hesitant as she extended her hand towards me but I steered myself and grabbed the little green paper, then stared at it.

"I… don't really know how much the pies are," I said as my hand rubbed nervously the back of my neck. What a great shopkeeper I turned out to be.

Judy chuckled. "It's fine! I buy his pies all the time. That's the exact amount."

Her cheerfulness reminded me of the little bunny I'd seen last night. Indeed act, the two looked alike, now that I thought about it. Now, all the rabbits seemed to be similar but these two seemed to have striking similarities. Hadn't Katy told me her sister's name?

"Is Katy your sister by any chance?" I asked curiously. Judy's ears perked up and she stared at me curiously.

"Yes, how do you know?"

Smiling as I remembered my talk with her sister, I said "I met her, she spoke very highly of you. Said she wanted to follows her dreams."

Judy smiles warmly. "Yes, she's a dreamer like me."

Just then, the bell at the entrance rang again and in came Gideon. He saw Judy and smiled before he saw the pie splattered on the ground and myself covered in it.

"What happened?"

My ears immediately betrayed my worry as they fell flat against the back of my head. Thankfully, before my worry became too much and started my all so common panic attack Judy intervened with a polite apology.

"I'm sorry Gideon, I walked in and accidentally startled him. It was my fault."

Gideon chuckled and shook his head. "It's alright! Don't worry about it. It's only a pie!" He looked at me. "How're you holdin' up Michael?"

"I'm… managing," I chuckled nervously. "Sorry, it's the… uhhh…"

"Don't worry, it ain't your fault," he smiled. "So Judy! What can I help you with? I heard you were back from the city. Glad you dropped by!"

They began to chat. Honestly, it was good not having the attention on me at the moment as I was starting to feel sticky and my fur was feeling terrible. Honestly I was more ashamed for making a mess on Gideon's store than I felt nearing a panic attack. Suddenly I heard something that made my ears perk up.

"...night howlers?" I heard Gideon's voice.

Judy nodded. "Yes. I actually wanted to see you. You see, over at the ZPD we came upon some evidence and I'd like to know if I could ask you some questions tomorrow with my partner."

"O… but of course! Anything to help you Judy!" Gideon said sincerely. Judy smiled cheerfully.

"Thank you Gideon! Tomorrow at the bunnyburrow sheriff building, I'll be there all day writing some reports so any time you wanna drop by." The two then exchanged goodbyes before Judy turned to me.

"Nice meeting you. What's your name?"

"My…" i stuttered. After everything had calmed down and the two had distracted from me I was honestly not expecting to be addressed. "Michael. Name's Michael." Judy nodded.

"Nice meeting you Michael! See you around!" And with that said the little bell at the door sounded and she left.

I quickly apologized to Gideon to which he simply said not to worry. The rest of the evening went by pretty fast, and in truth I got a bit bored. There was only this question that kept going around my head.

Night howlers. That sounded like something not so good. Or maybe it was? I'd read it in the newspaper and then Judy, who I could guess was some sort of cop or detective had also spoken about then and apparently Gideon had something that she wanted to ask him about them.

By the end of the day Gideon appeared tired so I helped him around with closing the store and soon we were back at his house.

"Thank you for keeping the store open while I was out delivering," he said once I began to go to the room he had borrowed me for the while.

"It was nothing! Sorry I ruined a pie though."

Gideon chuckled. "It's fine." He climbed the stairs once I reached the top. "Tomorrow Im gonna be preparing some pies. Want to help?"

I nodded. Of course I would help. It's the least I could do!

"Sure! I'd like to!"

The older fox smiled tiredly and was about to pat my head before he stopped as he noticed my short breaths. My eyes seemed to be wide open and my blood felt cold. I was mentally slapping myself and I hated it! I quickly forced my eyes closed and tried to control myself.

He stopped himself. In truth, at this point I knew he cared and I knew he wanted to show his affection in some way, even though I had stolen. And he had trusted me so much. In truth I hadn't ever felt a need for physical affection. I mean, my parents said a dog by our side was all we needed to be happy so in truth I'd never thought physical affection as something important. But I seriously wanted a hug. Or something.

Yet…

I couldn't.

Gideon took his hand back. I was unsure on what to say. Sorry Gideon, sorry I'm afraid of animals and if you touch me I'll feel like I'm dying? Of course not. I stood still. My heart was racing and my body was shivering. I wanted it to stop. I just couldn't!

"Good night Michael," I heard him say as I felt him go into his room. Once I heard his door close I sighed as my body stopped shaking.

"Night Gideon…" I said silently as I entered the room.

...

Well, what a great way of ending a day, ain't it?