You stare dumbfounded for a brief moment. Did she just do what you thought she did? Instincts rise up, you chit-chit in reply and bound out after her. You pause briefly on the roof and look about before spying her in a nearby tree slyly smiling at you. She flicks her tail again. You leap for the tree and bound up. Just as you catch up to her, she bounds off.
You chase her from tree to tree. She always seems to keep one step ahead of you. At some point, you lose sight of her, pause and look about, flicking your tail inquisitively, chittering in hesitation.
You suddenly scree in surprise as something drops on top of you, tussling with you as you roll down the branch towards the trunk. The assailant grabs your tail, tugs it a couple times, crying out “Chit-Chit”, tosses it over your head and bounds up the trunk. You look out past your tail to see Cleo’s tail vanish in the foliage. Again, you give chase. Eventually, the surprise ‘attack’ repeats itself. And again, you give chase. You realize you’re enjoying this. It sends thrills through your entire body.
Then you decide to add to the fun. You drop back and let her lose you. You bound up above and instinctively flatten yourself against the trunk of the tree. You note to your own amazement that your pelt blends in with the trunk. Natural camouflage! You remain as still as possible despite your racing heart. You willfully calm your breathing. Eventually, Cleo works her way back looking for you. When she is directly below you on another branch, you let yourself drop.
She’s caught totally off guard and screes in panic/surprise as you turn the tables on her, tussling down the branch to the tree trunk. You can’t help gigglechittering. You tug her tail a couple times, throw it over her head, cry chit-chit, and this time you lead the chase.
You have no idea how long the two of you play this game of tag until finally, she seems to slow down a little and lets you catch up with her. She dangles from a tree trunk by her front paws and raise her tail. You know what to do instinctively, leaping at her, grabbing onto her shoulders with your front paws, and mount her, thrusting several times in quick succession. It’s all over before you realize it’s started. Exhaustion overtakes you and you start to loose your grip. You feel momentary panic as you start to slide off her and begin to fall. She quickly reaches over and grabs your forepaw and helps you to a nearby branch. You collapse into a ball and lay there panting for several minutes. She drops down next to you and snuggles up to you while you rest. You realize she’s panting just as hard and must be just as exhausted. You breath in her heady scent and stare at her in a combination of surprise and mixed motions. You’re not sure what to say. It then occurs to you how strong she must be to have been able to hold both the combined body weight of both of you by two paws AND then grab you with one paw and lower you down to the branch while holding your combined weight with only one paw!
She chitterpurs quietly and speaks softly drawing you out of your private thoughts. “Not exactly what you expected, huh?” She pauses a moment. “Me neither. There is no doubt we’re not human anymore.”
You nod. “To be honest, I think I enjoyed the chase/tag thing more than the actual coupling”
She gigglechitters and nods. “Yes, the coupling was almost a disappointment compared to the chase.” She shrug/flicks her tail. “But maybe that’s how it is with our species, huh?” She licks your cheek, which sends thrills through you. “I honestly had no clue what to do. What exactly is ‘proper squirrel courting rituals’ anyway? Then I remembered the squirrel scene from Disney’s ‘Sword in the Stone’, and figured even though it was just a cartoon, it was worth a shot.” Again she gigglechitters, but suddenly falls silent as she looks down.
You look down with her to find you’re directly over one of the large cat enclosures. There’s a tiger staring up at you. It yawns, blinks a moment and growls softly. In your head you hear, “For a moment there, I thought I was going to have a snack.” It wanders off leaving you two alone.
Cleo looks at you, “I need to remember next time to be more careful of where I choose to let you catch me.”