Chapter 1

[BL]

I was the biggest, most venomous, and most dangerous snake in the Everwood Forest. Day in and day out, I did nothing but eat and sleep. I was wasting my snake life away. That was until I met Snowy, a cool, elegant little fox.

It was love at first sight. I was completely, utterly bewitched.

I disguised myself as a harmless little snake and tried to get close to Snowy.

My venomous fangs, I hid them. My vertical pupils, I forced them round. My razor-sharp scales, I coated every single one in mud.

That was right. I was nothing but a dumb, silly, harmless, freeloading little snake.

Then, by accident, I discovered that Snowy was intersex. Snowy felt deeply ashamed of his body.

But after I said, "Snowy, you have two... I also have two... We're a perfect match!" he stopped feeling ashamed. While trying to break free and flee from me, he yelled at me to get lost.

*****

I was the king of the forest, standing at the top of the food chain. I was invincible, but I was lonely. How utterly, utterly lonely it was to be invincible.

Every day, I stayed inside my enormous cave. Every day, I did nothing but sleep and eat.

Snake life was so unbearably dull. If I had never met Snowy, I think I would have lived out my entire life that way. No pursuits, no hobbies, no special experiences, nothing worth remembering, right up until death.

My encounter with Snowy was destined by the heavens. I never went out to sunbathe. The one and only time I went out, I met my fated one.

That day, I was nestled in the dirt. Golden sunlight fell on me, warm and cozy. I was half-closing my eyes. Not far ahead, a damned rock blocked my view. I had found that rock pretty annoying before.

But suddenly, a snow-white little paw poked out from behind the rock. So white, so elegant. It caught my gaze in an instant, and even that stupid rock looked a lot more pleasant. Pink paw pads, sharp and sleek claws.

I stared at that elegant, clean little paw and wondered, who could possibly own such a perfect foot?

All of a sudden, with a whoosh, a snowy figure leaped high and landed on the rock. A fox of absolutely cosmic, devastating coolness burst into my line of sight, and burst right into my heart.

My heart was blasted to pieces in that instant. I was in love.

Snowy stood on the rock and gracefully lowered his head to lick the fur on the back of his paw. The clouds parted, and the sunlight filtered through the forest leaves, soft and gentle on his body. His snow-white fur seemed to glow.

A large amount of liquid rapidly built up in my mouth. I swallowed it down without changing my expression.

Snowy leaped lightly onto a tree. His ice-blue eyes gazed down at the ground, free of sorrow or joy, like an untouchable deity. But I was no good snake. I was nothing but a crazed devotee coveting Snowy.

I didn't think about the question of gender. I didn't think about the question of producing offspring. Still less did I think about the question of cross-species love.

Anyway, I was just a snake, and a snake didn't need to think about so many things. I just wanted a me to have once existed in Snowy's life.

Oh, no. Snowy spotted me. He immediately leaped to a higher treetop and looked at me warily.

I was so frantic that my snake tail nearly tied itself into a knot. Suddenly, an idea flashed through my mind.

I fiercely buried myself in the mud, making myself all dirty and dusty. My originally razor-sharp scales were coated in thick mud, greatly reducing my dangerous look.

I retracted my venomous fangs tightly and clamped my mouth shut. I worked hard to enlarge my pupils, forcing them round.

My body was huge? That didn't matter. I folded myself into a pile, the shape of a cow patty. That made me look much smaller.

Snowy was drawn in by my baffling performance. He tilted his head, his eyes no longer so guarded.

Greatly encouraged, I imagined myself as an earthworm and shook my head wildly, drilling into the soil. The dirt quickly loosened under my drilling and formed a hole.

My snake head was covered in mud, and with my unnaturally round vertical pupils, I looked very dumb, like some unenlightened idiot.

Snowy jumped from a higher branch to a lower one. He was no longer afraid of me. The way he looked at me was like regarding a mentally challenged creature.

"Are you... okay?" Snowy asked tentatively.

At that moment, my whole body trembled. A numbing, tingling sensation rushed from my head to the tip of my tail. Snowy's voice was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard.

I pretended to be startled by Snowy's voice and jerked my head back. From my patty-shaped snake body, I poked out a pair of eyes to look at Snowy.

"Who are you? Can you please not hurt me? I'm just a harmless Shadow Viper. I don't taste good. Please don't eat me."

In front of Snowy, my acting skills came to me effortlessly. I could do anything for Snowy.

Snowy looked at me hesitantly, as if judging the credibility of my words.

A cool white fox like Snowy had never appeared before in the Everwood Forest. The foxes there were all orange. So Snowy must have come from somewhere else.

I guessed Snowy had no idea what a Shadow Viper was, because I had no idea what a Shadow Viper was either. I had made up the name Shadow Viper.

There was no such snake as a Shadow Viper in the entire world. I just wanted to stay by Snowy's side forever like a shadow, so I called myself a Shadow Viper.

Snowy hesitated a few times, then cautiously jumped down from the treetop, landing at a distance from me. It was a distance from which he could advance or retreat, attack or defend.

"What kind of snake is a Shadow Viper?" Snowy asked.

Fantastic. Snowy had no idea what a Shadow Viper was.

I pretended to be startled by Snowy's jump and twisted my "clumsy" snake body, shrinking back. I forced my two eyes to focus inward, forming a perfectly cross-eyed stare.

"I don't know what a Shadow Viper is. My mom was a Shadow Viper, so I'm a Shadow Viper."

This statement fit my current idiot-snake persona very well.