"Hey? You up yet? There's only so much sunlight in a day and we are burning through it Shadow! I want to get you over to this beautiful waterfall under the rocks for a bath, because, no offense Shadow, but you really stink." I walk over, nudging the prone body on the floor with my paw.

"Leave me alone, I said. Why are you still doing this? A bath? Come on. First the water, then the food and a bed, now you want me to take a bath?" I look back at him, letting out a deep sigh, already half way out of my den.

I head back towards him, stopping a foot or so away. "Not only do I want you to take a bath, but to be certain you get clean, I am going to bathe you myself. Now, are you going to get up an walk, or are you going to force me to carry you like I did last night? You know I can do it too." I look down at his face, scrunched up in frustration, obviously towards me not listening to him. Nonetheless, he does as I say, dragging himself to his feet, completely unmotivated. He stands there, a vacant look in his eyes as he watches me walk toward the mouth of my den again. "Now, come on. You need to get cleaned, and I'm sure you're still hungry, after all, all you had last night was a few berries."

He dutifully follows along, trailing behind me like a whipped dog. I glance at him behind my shoulder, wondering what he could have done in his life to have been treated so poorly to think letting himself die is the only solution. He's actually kind of cute, in a way. Filthy, matted fur, still definitely looking like a shriveled up rag doll from near starvation, but underneath all that, I could definitely see that he was quite handsome. I blush, looking towards where I'm leading us, hoping to not get hit by a low hanging branch, or let Shadow see my face.

Eventually, we come across the waterfall I had told him about back in my den, the water cascading down the rocks and into the shallow pool. There are other pokemon lazing about in the water, some underneath the waterfall as well, mostly small little groups and families, bath day for some, an enjoyable summer day in the water for others. "See that Shadow? All these other 'mon enjoying their lives, the wonderful day, the pristine water. They aren't wallowing in self pity. They aren't trying to let everything go. They live on, no matter the pains they face, because that is life. Without pain, you wouldn't know the good times when they come around."

"Am I here for a bath, or a life lesson?" he asks me, the pain in his voice evident from being surrounded by all the smiling pokemon.

"Oh, lighten up Shadow. If you don't want to tell me what happened to you, fine. If you want to sulk, go ahead. But I am taking care of you, until I can make sure you are no longer a danger to anyone, yourself especially. So, because of that, while you are holing up in my den, sharing my food, and sleeping near me, you will be clean, and you will be well fed. Now, get your furry little butt into that pond, and get under that waterfall so I can clean you, because I know you aren't going to do it willingly."

He grunts, pulling himself begrudgingly into the water, heading towards the waterfall. He climbs under it, the water quickly soaking into his fur and drenching him, making his already matted fur look even worse when soaked. I smile, glad he's finally complying, following him into the water. He's slightly bigger than me, although it doesn't show much with how sickly he looks, the water in the pool only barely reaching his chest, but going up past my chest on me. I move towards him, the water from the falls drenching my coat as I join my new companion under the falling water.

"There, see? That's no so bad, now is it? Now, I'm going to get you all cleaned up, and get all these tangles and knots and leaves from your fur." He turns towards me, one eye closed, and the other one half closed and full of irritation, trying to keep the water from getting in them. I laugh at the look on his face, sitting back on my haunches and reaching up with my fore-paws and rubbing his head, letting my claws rake through his fur, scraping the knots and dirt in his fur out, letting it get washed down with the falling water.

I work my way down his body, scraping through his fur, his head first, making sure to be careful with his ears. I work around his ears, rubbing them a little, watching them twitch in response to the gentle cleaning. I move down, done with his head, moving on to his neck to get the fur clean around his shoulders. I stop on his shoulders for a moment, rubbing them softly, yet firmly after I get his skin and fur clean. I dig in with my pads, rubbing in slow circles, smiling when I notice him leaning back into my rubbing, sensing the apprehensiveness coming from him as he does so. I keep rubbing for a while longer, letting him enjoy what must be some of the only intimate contact he has had in a long time, still refusing to read his thoughts though.

Finally, I decide it's probably best to move on, not wanting to get stuck on his shoulders for too long. I move down further, rubbing across his ribs, my claws raking through the fur on his hips, stringing out the last of the dirt caked into the fur on his back. I do his tail last, taking extra care with the furry appendage. I rub up and down it, scrubbing it so it gets nice and clean, the fur on his tail starting to get fluffy under my care.

"All done with your back, now, turn around and lay on the rock so I can get your chest and legs" I command him, nudging him with a foot to get him to comply with my wishes. He does so, seemingly without complaint. At least, no complaint that he voices out loud. He lays down on the rock, his paws dangling in the air above him, and I reach out, starting to scrub each limb, from the joint all the way up to his toes. I finish his legs, then move on to his chest, glancing at his face and catching him looking at me, pointedly looking away when he notices his watching had been caught. I chuckle softly to myself, scratching his chest, working my down, avoiding his sheathe area, not wanting it to get too awkward.

I smile nudging him again. "Alright Shadow, I'm done. Now, will you be so kind as to wash me?" I ask him jokingly, getting the answer I expected, nothing. "Ha! Be that way. I am dirty though, and I'm going to clean up a little." He barely looks at me from his spot on the rock, and I start scrubbing myself clean with the water of the falls, ignoring him for the moment. I finish scrubbing myself, leaving my back for the falls to hopefully wash, as I can't reach my back on my own.

"Let's just stay here for awhile, I've got nothing better to do today, and based on you trying to kill yourself, you probably didn't make any plans for today either, so let's just relax in the falls." I sit back, resting on a rock of my own next to Shadow, who is still laying on his back, too unmotivated to have moved at all. I glance over at him, catching his eye for a brief moment this time before he manages to turn away.

I laugh softly to myself, the gentle roar of the falls drowning out the soft noises I create, making it so I don't have to worry too much about him hearing me laugh at him. I close my eyes, relaxing in the rush of water pouring over my head, just letting all my worries flow away with the water, sitting there in silence for a long time, what seems like an hour passing by in a flash. Just as I get ready to say it's time to move on, the reverence created by the silence of the falls is broken when Shadow speaks up.

"It started when I was a pup. We had the biggest, and the closest clan in the whole forest. My clan had old fashioned ideals, meaning the clan leader was the strongest eon in the clan, and was the alpha. He was in charge of making decisions for the clan, for guiding it. Protecting the clan was his duty. The clan leader since before I was born was my father. I looked up to him, ever since I was an eevee. I grew up, with some kind of illusions of grandeur I guess. So sure I would be the next clan leader when I grew up, that's how I acted. I picked fights with the other whelps, trying to prove I was the strongest pup in the clan. I threw my weight around, my head quickly swelling with how many battles I won, only losing once. After that one loss, I trained harder, pushing my young body as far as I could, forcing myself to become stronger, eventually beating the one that beat me."

He stops, and I wait for him to continue, completely engrossed in his story, smiling happily that I've proven to him enough that I can be trusted that he's sharing his story with me. I sit there, waiting for what seems to be an eternity for him to finish, long enough that it appears he may have lost interest again, not wanting to continue.

"The one that beat me though, his name was Kyson" he says suddenly, finally continuing his story, and I give him my rapt attention, not wanting to interrupt him, wanting more than anything to hear the end of his story for some reason. "I think, somewhere along the line, I actually... fell for him. I started to want him. Almost more than I wanted to take my father's place."

"But there are rules. The rules set up by the first leaders of the clan, generations ago. The rules upheld by the clan leader. By my father. I did end up getting him though, for after all, I was the die-hard future clan leader who got what I wanted. Let's just say, he didn't quite want it though. I thought he had the same feelings for me, but he didn't. After I beat him for the dozenth time, I decided to just take what I'd wanted for so long. So I did. We were alone, as battles such as this normally didn't have an audience. After our battle, with him lying in the dirt, I approached him. I tried to get him to agree that he had feelings for me, but he refused. Tried to claim he didn't. I got angry, and took him anyways. I left, shortly after that."

He stops again, glancing over at me, every ounce of concentration on him, as he clearly has more to his story than just that.

"I left, going out by myself into the forest to train even harder, knowing Kyson would go straight to my father with what I'd done, and if I ever wanted to show my face again, I would have to have to go back strong enough to beat my father. So I did the only sensible thing. I chose to seek out and evolve into an umbreon so I would have a type advantage. Like you, my father was an espeon. So that's what I did, I found my evolution, and felt I was powerful enough to face my father and become the next clan leader in place."

"I don't know what happened. I guess, after meeting you, I have some inkling of a clue as to why. He must have found some way to get around his dark type weakness like you. He beat me. Horribly. There was a reason he was the clan leader after all, but I never expected him to be THAT powerful! I went in expecting to win, so I never considered what would happen if I actually lost. It was unthinkable! And now I had to suffer the consequences. Just as I feared, Kyson had gone to my father, and told him everything. So there I lay, in front of the whole clan who had come to witness me challenge my father, battered, bruised, disrespected, humiliated. He banished me. My own father, the one I respected above all, banished me from the clan, and forbade me from going back."

"So here I am. You wanted to know so badly why I want to die, there you go. I'm alone in this world, destroyed the family I was a part of, and obliterated any chance at a relationship. So after that, I don't have anyone in this world to call mine, no one to love, and no one to love me. Are you happy? Now that you finally know my big secret, can you just leave me alone so I can crawl back into the forest and die, please?"

He rolls over, flopping into the shallow pool beside the rock he was resting on, completely giving up on life.

I walk over to him, hopping off my rock and approaching him. "Stupid."

He looks up at me, the look on his face even more devoid of life than when I first encountered him, his life story simply reminding him of why he wanted to give up on life in the first place, clearly believing I'm going to forsake him like all the others before him. "You're really stupid, aren't you Shadow? You think mistakes define us? You learn, you live, you move on. If you don't learn from your mistakes, then they will control you. They don't define you, they create learning opportunities. If you refuse to learn from them, that's when you have given up on life, not the other way around. Everyone deserves a second chance. Have you learned your lesson?"

I walk over to him, not wanting to, but inadvertently feeling pity for the umbreon lying in the water. I nudge him with my paw, looking down at the pitiful ball of fur. "Get up. Now" I command, not waiting for response from him, grabbing him psychic and hoisting him to his feet.

"You are not alone. I know we've only known each other for a day, but I trust you. I want to give you a second chance, when no one else will, I will be here for you. After all, get some food in your belly, a little water and sleep, a nice bath, and you're actually pretty cute. For an umbreon of course. So move it. We're going back to the den, and I'm showing you exactly why you need to keep living."

I head off back towards my den, completely ignoring his complaints and protests, not even caring what he says, just fed up with everything he has been doing for such a simple reason. Wanting to kill himself for making a miscalculation.

We arrive back in my den after awhile, dry from the summer heat by the time we arrive back at the den, and I place him on the ground inside the den, intending to show him what he has given up on.

"Alright Shadow, you've been wallowing in your own self pity for too long, and you need to snap out of it. I think that's why I came across you in the forest, so I could help you. You need help, and I'm going to provide it. So sit back and enjoy it." I walk close to him, flipping him over so he's on his back, and laying on top of him to pin him down. I kiss him, lining my muzzle up with his and locking his lips with mine, understandably getting a very surprised snort from below me. He wrenches his lips away from mine, looking up me with pure incredulity, unable to comprehend my actions.

"What are you doing?!? Why would you kiss me? You just met me." He stares intently at me, awaiting a response, but I don't respond, not at first, blushing heavily down at him as our eyes meet. "I told you, I could tell that under all that dirt, and despite the fact that you clearly had not eaten in a week, and you were little more than a shriveled up piece of meat when I found you, that you were quite a sexy one. After giving you a bath, I am even more sure of that, that you, are honestly the cutest umbreon that I have come across. It would do me no greater pleasure than for you to allow me to show you just why mistakes need to be learned from, and why you need to learn.

I stare down into his eyes, finally catching his gaze, the first time all day he's looked me directly in the eyes without looking away. His eyes are beautiful, for the first time as well that I notice that, a beautifully deep azure blue, a total contrast to his midnight black fur, yet a wonderful compliment. His eyes seem to glow when they aren't the dead and lifeless orbs that I've seen so much of the past day. I get lost in them, staring down into the blue depths, recognition in his eyes when he can tell that I am being serious about it.

For the first time since I met him, he smiles. It brightens his face, seemingly bathing it in a glow, which upon further inspection, reveals something I had not seen up until now. His rings are red all right, all but the one that is right on his forehead, which is actually glowing a brighter gold than the normal rings of his species.

"See? I think if you can forgive yourself, then others can start to forgive you, and then when that happens, maybe, just maybe, you can find someone to care for you. If you'd like, maybe you could even stay here with me, and I can help you with actually forgiving yourself."

His eyes start getting wet, filling with tears that slowly start falling out, rolling down his face and getting absorbed into his fur.

"There, there, there is no more need for you to cry. I think, from all this time, you just needed someone to love you. Is that what you really wanted from your father?" He looks away, shame on his face.

"Well, I wasn't actually next in line. I had two older brothers that were in line before me, but I had hoped that if I could prove myself stronger, then maybe he would choose me to succeed him. I probably would have too, if he had not banished me. All my life, all I could hear was how great my brothers were, how strong my brothers were, how much the clan would improve if one of my brothers took over. I was left in the shadows, forgotten by everyone, no matter how strong I got, or how many clan members I beat." His eyes go dead again, but I am having none of that.

"Hey! Snap out of it Shadow. You are going to sit there, and you are going to stop crying, remember?" I lower my head down, nuzzling up under his to force him to look up, nuzzling into his chest while I'm at it. I lift my head up, grabbing his lips with my own again, kissing him deeply enough to show my intentions. I murr softly into our second kiss, hugging him softly yet firmly enough to prove I'm not letting him go anytime soon. I break the kiss soon after, looking down at the umbreon beneath me with a content smile on my face.

"We just met yesterday, but this is going to be something to help you recover. So sit back, and enjoy it, alright?" I scoot down his body, going towards his waist, glancing up and seeing that look on his face that says he's hopeful, but terrified of hoping, which I set about to quickly wipe from his face.

I reach his nether region, catching him with the tip poking out just that little bit, enough so that I have something to focus on, obviously having been turned on by the prospect of my promise.

I take it into my mouth, sucking gently, practically sucking it out of hiding and drawing it into my mouth, lavishing on the taste of his member. Soft suckling can be heard in my den, the rod in my mouth quickly growing moist from my saliva.

"There, that should be good. I don't really like the taste of cum, I've had it before. So I don't really like people finishing in my mouth, I hope you understand. I may be gay, but that doesn't mean I have to love drinking down that slimy stuff."

"That's alright, you're the first one to ever do even this much for me" he admits, quickly growing love in his eyes as our gazes meet again, him knowing full well why I would do this much for him. I continue, sliding back up his body, my own erect member completely forgotten as I squish it between us, laying my entire body weight on him. I kiss him again, creating a tight seal as this time my tongue snakes it's way into his mouth, our tongues meeting and duking it out inside the tunnel created by our muzzles.

I break the kiss begrudgingly, wanting to move on to the next part more than I want to keep kissing him. I pull myself up just a little more, enough to be above his member. It's not the biggest I'll have taken, but size isn't all that matters. At least I know I will be able to take all of it to give him the most pleasure I can. I use my tail, the forked tip working his member a bit before using it to lift the rod up, aligning it with my tailhole.

I press back, the rod pushing for entrance into my hole. His face lights up with expectation, hope filling his eyes and making them shine. He nods his head in affirmation, the hope on his face mixed with pleading. I lean back, pushing my hips down to swallow his rod into my tailhole.

I let out a soft pur, my chest rumbling against Shadow's, sliding back all the way and taking it entirely into myself and swallowing it whole. I groan, his rod smaller than average but still filling me up nicely and hitting enough good spots to fill my body with pleasure as I squeeze down on his rod, my tailhole rippling as I clench and unclench my muscles to stimulate the base of his rod. I glance down at my new lover, his eyes shut tight in pleasure, and I smile inwardly, glad to see something else on his face besides pain.

I lift up my waist, effectively fucking myself on his rod as I plunge it in and out of my hole. "How's that Shadow? Do you like fucking my ass?" I ask him teasingly, getting an almost imperceptible nod as a response as I pick up the pace, speeding up slightly with my thrusting. I sneak my tail in between us, rubbing my own forgotten rod with it, stimulating the tip and masturbating myself with the twin tipped appendage.

With the wonderful pounding I'm giving myself on his rod, and my own work on my member fueled by the experience of multiple lonely days in my den, I quickly bring myself to orgasm, slamming myself down on his rod throughout my own climax.

My rod erupts, splattering Shadow's chest with my seed painting it white, causing him to let out a cute little yelp while my hole squeezes down on his member, forcing his own climax to crash through his body, flooding my insides with his cum.

My tongue flops out of it's hiding place, panting slightly from the exertion and drain of energy that struck my body after being flooded with the endorphins of my climax. I collapse on top of him, kissing him again with my cum smearing into his fur.

"Heh, sorry about that," I apologize, "I think you may need another bath after this. I sort of stained your fur."

"Don't apologize. Just, if you're going to do that, you have to promise me something." He starts, his member sliding out of my hole with a 'plop', most of his sperm trapped inside me where it was deposited.

"Sure, Shadow, what is it?" I ask of him, already sure I know what he wants though.

"If I promise to change, will you let me stay? Here, I mean? With you? I don't have anywhere else to go, but I want to keep doing this with you."

"Silly umbreon, haven't I already said it? I don't want you to change who you are, you're fine just the way you are now, just brighten up a bit. I'm not going to leave you anytime soon. So get that thought out of your head, alright?"

He closes his eyes, starting to cry again, using my fur as a towel to soak up the moisture leaking out, hugging me tightly as I stroke his head, letting him cry. "Didn't I tell you there's no need to cry anymore? How many times do I have to say it? You are done crying, and you are done looking for acceptance. I've found you, and I'm not letting you go." I can feel him nod again, a muffled "alright" coming from the fur on my chest that his head is buried in now.

"Now, I don't know about you, but I haven't eaten since I forced you to eat yesterday, and I'm hungry. So, let's go get some food, okay?" I crawl off him, getting up and stepping aside, noticing the rather large splatter of semen on his chest almost immediately. I try to stop it from escaping, but despite my best efforts, I start laughing at the spot of my cum marking him as mine from this day forward.

"I think we probably need to head back to the waterfall, after all, I'm stuffed full in the wrong end, and we look like we just played in some oddly colored berries. Come on Shadow. I'm hungry."