[Nathan]

     I turned in my sleep, slowly waking to the smell of bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes and other breakfast foods. I slowly sat up, sniffing the air, and stretching before slowly opening my eyes and looking around.
     I saw Katie cooking at a range on one side of the tent, so to speak. I turned to see Courtney still sleeping, as she reached out towards me, wrapping her arms around my neck and pulling my head to her breasts. I heard Courtney moan softly in her sleep, as she cuddled my head into her breasts. I slowly picked up her arms, and slid out of her grip as she slept, smiling at the sight of her sleeping.
     I then realized I was still a girl, and naked at that, and began immediately looking for my clothes. I glanced towards Katie, her tail wagging as she continuing cooking and apparently humming happily to herself.
     "Any idea where my clothes are?" I asked.
     "Oh, they shouldn't be too far, I believe they were tossed over there," Katie said, pointing to a spot on the floor without turning to look in my direction.
     I looked towards the spot, seeing my clothes in a pile right there on the floor. I picked them up and slowly began to get dressed, putting on my bra and panties first. I couldn't recall when I had put on panties, but I figured I had borrowed a pair or something, as it suited my female form for the moment, rather than wearing men's underwear. Then I put on my pants and t-shirt, both of which were quite loose on my small feminine frame, so I tightened the belt around my pants, to keep them from falling down.
     After I finished dressing I saw Courtney stir in her sleep. I gazed to her body, realizing something about her appearance that I just didn't even think about until now.
     The fur covering her entire body was black in color, and the hair on top of her head was purple and pink in a striped sort of fashion. She had piercings just about all over her body too, all along her ears, and in eyebrows. Her nose was pierced also, and from this angle I could see that her belly button, nipples, and even clit were pierced as well. There was also a chain going from the ring in the top of her right ear connected to the piercing in her nose. I looked away from all the piercings noticing her wearing a crimson headpiece covering her forehead and going all the way around her head, just under her cat ears; a leather spiked collar; armbands around her upper arms; and bracelets around her wrists. I looked downward, seeing she was wearing a black leather belt around her waist. Looking down even more I saw the last noticeable detail about her appearance, which was the black leather chaps she was wearing which had been taken off when we were making love last night.
     I continued staring at her for a moment then walked over to the range where Katie was standing and cooking. I sniffed the air, enjoying the smell of food.
     "I didn't know you cooked," I said, closing my eyes as I sniffed the air some more.
     "You never asked, nor was there really any chance to know up until now," Katie said.
     "Good point," I said, stepping next to her at the range looking to the food. "When will breakfast be ready? Not meaning to rush you either."
     "I'm just about done actually," Katie said.
     "Really? Cool," I said, my mouth really watery with the sight of all the food.
     I went and sat down by a low table on one end of the tent, sitting cross legged. I realized Courtney was still asleep, and moved over, shaking her gently to wake her up. She still didn't seem to wake, so I leaned forward and placed my lips upon hers, hoping to basically kiss her awake. I felt her hands grab the sides of my face and pull me into her lips deeper. I opened my eyes wide in surprise, and let out a little moan as I began kissing her more.
     Eventually I pulled away from her lips, staring down at her. I guessed she had been awake the whole time as her eyes were now open and she stuck her tongue out at me in a playful manner, but I decided it would be best to ask than assume something.
     "You were awake the whole time?" I asked.
     "Yep," Courtney said, smiling. "Waiting for you to try something to wake me up, the kiss was a nice surprise though."
     I blushed at what she said, and the fact that she has been waiting for me to try something to wake her up the whole time.
     I kept quiet, embarassed as Katie set the food on the low table. I moved back over to the table, and sat down at one end of the table. Katie and Courtney sat down on different sides of the table and I began to grab some food. I looked to Katie and Courtney who began to eat without a word, so I started to dig in, figuring I'd speak with them later if they even wanted to talk.

     We finished breakfast without saying a single word to one another, and I got up and grabbing the dirty plates.
     "I'll do the dishes," I said, walking over to the sink.
     "No need, just put them on that panel there," Katie said.
     I looked over to a strange-looking panel and stacked the dishes onto it. Once I did that the dishes just disappeared, and I stepped back in surprise.
     "That device is what replicates dishes, never any need to clean them," Katie said.
     "Yep," Courtney agreed.
     "That's an interesting device I must say, perhaps you wouldn't mind if I took it to my ship?" I asked.
     "Well, I do believe we said you could take anything from the ship you wanted," Courtney said and giggled.
     I felt stupid that I forgot about that whole part, and slapped my own forehead.
     "Don't hurt yourself," Courtney said.
     "Sorry," I said.
     Courtney giggled as I apologized, and I looked at her funny as she did.
     "Did I say something funny? I'm sorry," I said.
     "Stop apologizing," Courtney said.
     "S-," I started, but stopped myself.
     Courtney inched over to me and sat down on my lap, and began to kiss me. I opened my eyes wide in surprise, and pulled away from her lips, pushing her away a little bit.
     "What are you doing?" I asked.
     "Kissing you," Courtney said.
     "What about Katie?" I asked.
     "What about her?" Courtney asked me back.
     "Well, after last night and all that, I mean, what will she think seeing you on my lap like this?" I asked.
     "Oh, that was just that one time for her," Courtney said.
     "Really? Oh...and you?" I asked.
     "Well, I feel drawn to you," Courtney said, giggling a little.
     "Drawn to me?" I asked. "Err, nevermind, not my business really."
     Courtney giggled as I said that, then kissed me again. I couldn't help but blush deeply.
     "So, you have anyone, girl or guy, in your life?" Courtney asked me, after pulling away from my mouth.
     "Well, yeah, or rather...there was..." I said, looking down.
     "What happened?" Courtney asked, wrapping her arms around my neck.
     I sat there, silent, unsure how to really answer her.
     "Well, how about I jog your memory?" Courtney asked.
     "Huh?" I asked, looking at her, one eyebrow raised.
     "This crystal, it's special," Courtney said, grabbing my right hand, and turning it so my palm was up.
     Right there, for all to see was the shard of the Life Crystal embedded into my skin.
     "So...you noticed that huh?" I asked.
     "Does it turn you into a guy when touched on it by a guy?" Courtney asked me.
     "Um...no, more the reverese, I'm really a guy," I said, blushing a little.
     "Really? Wow, but oddly, I sort of suspected, you just...felt like you were a guy," Courtney said.
     I thought for a moment there, about what she said, and then shook my head, as I realized something.
     "So you've seen someone else with a crystal like this? Most likely a girl who turns into a guy whenever touched on that crystal by a guy?" I asked.
     "Yep, you could say that," Courtney said.
     "Who is it, if you don't mind my asking?" I asked.
     "Well...me," Courtney said.
     I looked down at her wrist, seeing the wristbands, wondering if the crystal shard was embedded into her skin underneath. I reached for her wristbands, and then stopped myself.
     "Is the crystal there?" I asked.
     "No, it's here," Courtney said, pointing to her forehead, moving the headpiece up a little bit, exposing the crystal shard embedded into her forehead.
     I opened my eyes in surprise, staring at the crystal shard. As I continued to stare at it, I felt weird, my eyes seemed to cross, and blur, then began to focus, and right there, I saw Jilly. Only thing is, she was sitting in the Park on the Infinite, like she had been before I took her home. I tried looking side to side, to look around, but couldn't, as my body moved towards her.

     "Nathan, I wanted to tell you something," Jilly said.
     "What is it?" I asked.
     "I can't love you anymore," Jilly said. "I don't want you to get hurt cause of me."
     "What are you talking about? Hurt me? What do you mean?" I asked, looking at her.
     "I'm human, my home is on Earth, I already gave up my powers, I'm powerless. I can't stay here, and I can't expect you to live on Earth with me," Jilly said. "You have to find all those crystal shards, you can't get tied down by someone like me. You can find someone else to fall in love with, someone who can stay with you no matter what. You must forget about me and what we shared together, for your own good, and for both of our sakes."
     I felt hurt, no more than hurt, but I didn't know what it was called. Jilly was clearly breaking up with me even before our relationship could really begin.

     My eyes became blurry again, then re-focused, and there sat Courtney. I looked around, confused, not knowing what just happened.
     "So that's what happened," Courtney said finally. "You must of suppressed all that, forgot it all, I'm sorry for bringing that all up."
     "Huh? That was...a flashback?" I asked.
     "Yes hun," Courtney said.
     "I'm sorry, I mean, with all that, you no doubt don't want to put yourself in position where you might get hurt either, after apparently having seen all that yourself," I said.
     "Oh, that's fine baby, I don't mind, it's in the past," Courtney said, kissing me again. "Can you feel that though? It's as if...our crystal shards are drawn to each other."
     "Is that what that is? Some kind of connection there...hmmm," I said.
     Just then Katie cleared her throat, as if trying to get both of our attention.