Coexistence

Chapter 1

She woke up to the sound of her alarm beeping.

Rummaging for her phone under the blankets she found the source emitting the offending noise and brought the device to her face. Tapping the screens stop button and placing the phone on her bedside counter, she moved to pull her bed covers off her body and stepped out of bed. Raising to her full 5'1" height she let out a yawn and raised her arms above her head to stretch.

Today was an important day for Hitoka Yachi. She was tasked to work on a solo commission for an up and coming company and was to meet their CEO and go over the brief.

She was getting dressed in her bedroom when she glanced at her monthly calendar hanging on the wall. It had today's date circled in red, and starting tomorrow there was a week marked which she estimated would be when her pre-heat would start and end.

She had been maneuvering through pre-heats since puberty and had become comfortable enough hiding her scent in all types of environments. When her body started showing the signs of pre-heat she would follow through with the appropriate steps. Steps that allowed her to live her normal life and not have to hide herself away in her apartment for a week.

Opening her bedside counter drawer, she pulled out a clear PET plastic packer bottle and a small round metal container.

Hitoka takes scent suppressant pills daily which completely suppresses the identifying scent of the user when not in heat or pre-heat but is only eighty percent efficient when they are in heat or pre-heat. She also daily applies a clear balm below her nose that nullifies alpha pheromones from entering her system. The balm works successfully at eighty percent when she is not in pre-heat and is fifty percent effective when in pre-heat.

Done with her morning ritual of ingesting the gel pill and distributing the balm under her nose she finalized her outfit and went into her bathroom to curl her hair. The twenty-three year old was not one for wearing make-up, but she still wanted to look a little more polished for today's meeting, so she applied some mascara and tinted lip balm.

She ate a light breakfast then grabbed her black briefcase and headed for the door. At the entrance she slipped on her shoes and made sure to have everything she needed before leaving her apartment and making her way to the train station.

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Hitoka checked the clock on her computer screen, it read 10:45 am. Deciding that it was time to leave, she logged off her desktop and made her way down to the lobby.

Exiting the elevator, she went into the restroom to quickly check on her appearance.

Standing in front of a full body mirror she looked over her outfit. Her white long sleeve button up shirt was still crisp and clean. The shirt was tucked into her black pencil skirt and paired with nude pumps. Her long hair was pulled into a low side pony-tail. The blonde hair falling over her left shoulder had been slightly curled. Walking closer to the mirror, Hitoka leaned forward to get a better look at her face. The tinted lip balm she applied earlier was holding strong even after her coffee, and her mascara was not flaking off.

Satisfied with her appearance, Hitoka left the restroom and made her way to the front desk. She greeted the receptionist and started talking amicably with her, while she waited for the client. It was a couple minutes after they had started talking that a man walked through the building entrance doors. 

He was wearing a red hoodie and black Adidas track pants, paired with sneakers. It was a very casual look. His black hair with blonde ends were tied in a messy bun behind his head.