The Boy and The Squirrel [Part One]

There once was a boy with golden blonde hair that lived in a house close to the forest. Everyday, he would come down from his room and play with all the furry animals he could find living in his spacious backyard.

One day, he discovered an injured squirrel stumbling aimlessly around the trees. He picked it up and brought it back to his tree house not far away. He cleaned and repaired the injury and put the squirrel back on its feet. It was only then that he noticed that there was something peculiar about that particular squirrel. Its tail was fluffy just like all the other squirrels, but on its head was a fall of thick hair covering half of its face.

"Hmm..." the boy thought. "Maybe it's that hair of yours that's blocking your vision." Thinking that it was the best thing to do, the boy reached in his first aid kit for a pair of scissors, intent on cutting off the unneeded distraction.

Seeing the suspicious looking instrument on the hands of the boy, the squirrel quickly jumped back and did an amazing kick with his two hind legs, flinging the scissors out the window.

"That's odd." the boy said, looking at the squirrel that looked very relieved. "I've never seen squirrels do *that* before."

Although still a little suspicious, he decided on ignoring the bizarre display. He picked up the squirrel and carried him down the ladder. Upon reaching the ground, he gently laid the squirrel on the soft grass and watched it.

Finding an opportunity for freedom, the squirrel quickly ran towards its haven. Unfortunately, the misguided squirrel ended up face first on the tree, injuring his little head yet again.

The boy, very concerned about his new patient, quickly ran to the squirrel and picked it up. He looked at the injury and decided to bring the small creature back home.

The following day, the boy got a visit from some friends of his. The boy, however, was still asleep, unaware of his visitors. The three were very excited and decided to surprise their friend. Just as they were making their way to the door, one of the boys decided to go down and check on the breakfast being prepared.

The two, not wanting to wait any longer, opened the door and found something very odd on their friend's bed.

"Quatre! There's a rodent in your bed." The boy with black hair practically screamed to the top of his lungs.

The blonde boy named Quatre woke up abruptly and frantically searched for the so-called rodent that had invaded his bed. Realizing that he didn't know exactly what a rodent was, he stopped his frenzied search and looked quizzically at his friend.

"There! There it is!" the boy answered, pointing to the squirrel that immediately hid behind Quatre.

"Wufei, it's just a squirrel. What's a rodent anyway?"

"Well, ..." the other started explaining "...rodents are..." but stopped, realizing that *the* rodent was behind his friend. "All I know is that *that*..." he said, pointing to the squirrel "...is a rodent. I've read that it can make you sick. It has a lot of germs."

"Wufei," Quatre said. "You read too much."

By this time, the other friend with thick brown hair beside Wufei noticed the 'rodent' behind Quatre's back. His eyes aimed for the small creature and caught a glimpse of the squirrel suspiciously sticking out his little tongue at Wufei.

"Are you sure that rodent is normal?" he interrupted, not taking his eyes off the creature.

"It's not a rodent! It's a squirrel! ...And I think that it's normal and I like it the way it is." defended Quatre.

Heero's eyebrows went straight up when he saw the little squirrel hug Quatre's back with its little paws although the blonde boy was oblivious of it.

"Umm, Quatre, ..." He was just about to voice out his suspicions when another person entered the room. It was another one of Quatre's friends. His braid vigorously moved around his back as he jumped in the bed.

"Nice to see you again buddy. The mean old chef kicked me out of the kitchen. Can you fire him? He told me to bother somebody else, so here I am. Wanna play downstairs? ..."

The newcomer went on and on, but quickly stopped as he saw the furry animal behind his friend. The creature had its paws over its small ears, seemingly annoyed with the noise.

"Hey, you're a funny one!" the braided boy said as he picked up the animal to inspect it.

"Duo, be careful!" Quatre told him, making sure that his friend did not crush the squirrel.

"This squirrel is weird." he said "What's with the hair? Ewww! Is he mutated or something?"

Offended by the remark, the eyes of the squirrel went large. The now huge eyes started to shake with tears threatening to fall.

"Awww!" The four said in unison. Without another word, they picked up their new found friend and brought him out to play.

Over the years, the squirrel became part of the boys' games. It would often indulge the humans by doing its acrobatic stunts in the branches of the trees. It was always pleased at the applause, but what he enjoyed the most was the attention given to him by the blonde boy.

Time moved on and soon, it was time for Quatre to leave home and attend his new school. It would be months before he would return and so he decided to say goodbye to his long time friend. Both boy and squirrel parted sorrowfully, treasuring the years of friendship they shared.

Several months later, Quatre returned home only to find his furry friend missing. He was disappointed because of his loss, but eventually, the boy got over it and continued on with his life.

The squirrel, on the other hand, had gone on an important mission, unknown to the boy, that would bring them together again under more normal circumstances.

The squirrel had spent days climbing the top of a high mountain, seemingly searching for an unknown presence. Upon reaching the top, he breathed in deeply and called out someone or something in his tiny squirrel voice.

"Mother Nature, can you hear me?" He yelled as hard as he could.

"Yes little squirrel." A loving voice answered. "Which one are you?"

"I'm the squirrel named Trowa."

"Ah, yes," the voice said "... the one with the weird hair."

"Eh?" the squirrel asked, thoroughly confused. "Umm, anyway, I wanted to ask you if you could make me human?"

"And why would you want that?" The voice quickly asked.

"Umm, because I want less fur?" the squirrel said.

The loving voice then laughed hysterically, causing a few raindrops to fall on the ground.

"Unbelievable Trowa! I think that you, of all squirrels, would come up with a better reason. Now, what's the *real* reason you want to become human?"

The squirrel, reluctant to answer, blushed furiously despite the thick coat of brown covering its body.

"I...umm... think I'm in love with a human."

Silence followed his answer. Not knowing what was to come, the squirrel fidgeted and silently hoped for a positive answer.

After what seemed like forever, Mother Nature finally answered.

"Of course I would never refuse you anything, Trowa. ...but if every squirrel in the world asked for the same thing then there would be an abundance of humans. That would be very chaotic. ... but" The voice seemed hesitant "... since you have proven yourself to be a very obedient animal many times, I will grant you your wish."

The squirrel Trowa sighed with relief.

"Before we go any further, though, I would like to warn you that there are consequences to this. You will have to face the same hardships humans have. You will have to relearn everything you already know as a squirrel. You will also have to find the one you love all over again. This time, you will be in your human form. You are not allowed to give away your secret. After all, we wouldn't want every creature on Earth coming up to this mountain shouting for requests. I think that my invisible eardrums can only take so much."

With the approval confirmed, Trowa jumped joyously up and down as he slowly turned into a human.