The sky was blue, except for a few cloudlets slowly creeping towards the horizon. Bright rays of sunlight warmed the earth for one last time before the beginning of winter. Most trees had already rid themselves of their leaves and now stretched their bare branches towards the sky, leaving enough room for the sun to shine through.
Down at the bottom of the forest, animals were busy preparing themselves for the long months of hibernation or dearth. Mice, rabbits and hedgehogs scuttled about collecting food, while squirrels jumped from tree to tree to do the same. It was lonely up there, because most birds had already left this part of the country to migrate to warmer realms. That was always an important sign. When the birds left, all the other animals had to gather provisions. In everything else, they didn't care for each other; except the predators for the prey and vice versa. Nature wasn't very loquacious. It worked without every part communicating with every other part.
Tom knew this as he walked through the forest, every now and then touched by a warm ray of light. Humans thought that animals could talk and that they cared for each other, forming some kind of confraternity, but he knew better. Everyone of his kind knew better, for they listened to nature. Sometimes they found it difficult to live with humans because they made so many strange assumptions. But they had all been human once, and they knew how to behave.
He breathed in the fresh air and analysed what it said. It whispered to him the secret hiding places of a group of rabbits and two families of mice miles away. It talked about squirrels in the trees above him, hoping that he wouldn't see. And it screamed in his face the presence of Sheela next to him. Her scent was by far the most appealing, sweet like lavender and fresh like pine needles. Every time she moved her head, her dark brown hair added a shot of citrus to the mix.
Being aware of her like that made it hard for Tom to concentrate on their conversation. All he could think about was touching and smelling and tasting her. He remembered the last time he'd done that, the soft tangency of her skin, the taste of her lips, her hands all over his body... He shuddered.
"Tom,” asked Sheela, "are you listening?"
He turned towards her and saw in her smile that she knew he wasn't paying attention to her words, although her voice always woke the butterflies in his stomach. Her sense of smell was as good as his and he was sure that her nose was filled with the bitter stench of his pheromones. He blushed.
She laughed and pushed him away from her playfully. "Oh, Tom, you're hopeless!” Then she bounded down the path through the forest, giggling.
He laughed and started to run after her. After a few meters he let his backpack slide off his shoulders and fall to the ground behind him. Then he jumped forward, his body a horizontal line. Although it happened in a matter of seconds, he felt every moment of it like in slow-motion. The prickling of his skin where fur sprouted out. The changing of his limbs to form four legs with strong muscles and paws with sharp claws. The transformation of his human torso to the streamline feline body. Tom loved this feeling, when his body adjusted to his senses and he could be free again. His front paws striking the earth, he growled and redoubled his speed.
Sheela looked at him over her shoulder. Then she, too, loosened her knapsack and threw it at the next tree. Tom watched her and once again wondered how it was possible that they could change forms so easily and without pain, but their clothes would always vanish as if they had never existed. The need to take spare clothes everywhere he went had bothered him for a long time. Where did they go?
Then Sheela had transformed and the look of her black fur, appearing slightly blue in the sunlight, drew his attention away from that question. She waved her tail, exposing her sweet ass, and his hormones started running wild. He revealed his pointed teeth in a queer cat's smile and started pursuing her, knowing that he'd soon get what he longed for.