A New World Being

[Gracefulskai]

This is something that I wrote for my Creative Writing class.

The New World Being
Prologue

On December 21st 2012 Earth became a scary place to live. The moment the clock hit midnight anything that ran on electric completely shut down all across the world. It was the first world wide black out in history. Everyone thought it was the end of the world, they were half right. It wasn’t the end of the whole world; it was the end of their own worlds. No one really understands what happened. New creatures started popping up all over the world. Creatures with powers that were only told in books that people read to escape reality. Most of the creatures seemed to be a confused as the people of Earth were. For the first two months following the black out everything was eerily silent on Earth. No crime happened, no work was done, and everyone stayed indoors hiding. Those who believed that there was going to be an end of the world had stash to allow them to hide. Then one day, exactly two months after the black out the first kill happened. A human girl who had been hurrying to bring food back to her family, it was believed that this girl was killed by a creature. There were gash marks looking like a giant tiger got her around the jugular, but whatever this creature wanted it wasn’t her. She was found two blocks from home, dead with only those marking and nothing else. All her food was scattered around her and her money was still on her; since that that the creatures were deemed demons to the governments. The hunt began, but it was a massacre for the humans, they had no idea what they were dealing with. They thought mere bullets would kill them, and found that thought was their down fall.
   
   Earth became nothing but a blood bath. Once the hunt began, more and more humans were found dead. This time, they were dinner not just simply a kill. Whole families would be killed in their home, not being able to defend themselves. It wasn’t under one ‘demon’ came forward offering information on the creatures that the war started to turn around. Kendra Alexandra, She was a vampire, one of the creatures that were actually hurt the worst because of how much folk lore was on them. She told the governments about all the other creatures in exchange that her vampire clan was to be protected. The government accepted the demand and the war turned an ugly flip. She told them about the werewolves, the witches and wizards, the mermaids, the zombies, the immortals, and many more beings that only the oldest folk lore talked about and some not at all mentioned in the old books. She told them about humans that had the ability to sense supernatural beings, to protect themselves and the people they cared out. They were beings that were considered blessed because they were shielders. The strongest of them could block an entire army from sight, but one thing was their down fall. If they didn’t have their abilities up, then creatures with high senses could find them. With the help of Kendra and her clan, the government was able to hunt down these blessed to help them, the blessed was forced to use their abilities to help hunt down the remaining supernatural beings.
   
   This ugly war ended two years after the first kill. The government had taken out what they thought were all the supernatural. They then turned on the blessed first, killing all of them that they knew about. They believed that their powers were too demon for them. So they were the last to die in that war. The vampire clan that Kendra had saved went into hiding when the government killed off Kendra. Things started to calm down, the human’s lives started to become normal again. People started to go back to work, or find work. They started believing it was safe to live in the open. Both sides of the war suffered badly, the human population was cut in half, and the supernatural’s population was down to 1/4th of what it had been originally. Soon things became normal to the humans, the horrid beings were put back in their minds, forgetting, ignoring the bloodshed that had occurred. What the people didn’t know was that the beings had infiltrated the government in their last effort in staying alive. It was those that called for a stop on the war, demanding that everything had been wiped out. Officers came back from hunts saying they found nothing; it took half a year of searching and finding nothing that the war was called off. When things calmed down, a certain house was built up. This house collected beings that needed a home. They would find supernatural beings that either causes too much trouble in the human world. They would bring them back to this home, document the type of creature, the level of their abilities and send them to a safe haven that would be suitable for them. This home was organized by supernatural beings that had high ranks in the human society. Home was run by a group of natural hunts, blessed that out lived the hunt, vampires who couldn’t fit in anywhere else, and others who helped out.

Chapter One
21 years after the Hunt.

   The wooden floor moved but made no sound as her bare feet moved across the hard wood. The room she entered was an odd one. No sound could be heard in the room; not even her breathing could be heard. There had been a ton of noise before she entered the room, but now it was as if no one was within a 50 mile radius. To top that off, it was pitch black. She couldn’t even see her own hand that she knew was inches from touching her nose. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting the room engulf her, letting the room silence her. When she opened her eyes, her eyes glowed red, but that only allowed her to see her hand but not a foot farther than that. Not even her red eyes could penetrate the void. She actually jumped in surprise when the silence was broken by a cat’s soft purr. The purr was straight ahead of her, it didn’t echo through the room, letting her know that the room wasn’t as empty as it felt.  Red eyes traced the area she could actually see, but nothing was there, all she could see was black. A hand slipped into a side pocket and pulled out a little metal cylinder. A small button on the back was hit and a small line of light came from the front. The moment the light hit the floor, the purring stopped just as sudden as it had started. The light slowly made a big circle around the far corner of the room, only revealing a small triangle table that fit perfectly in the 90 degree corner. A large purple candle sat on the table, with a picture frame of a couple holding each other. The light moved under the table, but nothing was there.

She moved the beam across the wall, showing a medium brown colored couch up against the wall, right next to the table in the corner. There was a deep pink blanket draped across the back of the couch, and two matching square pillows on either end. The walls were bare; they hadn’t had the time yet to put anything up. There was an oak computer desk pushed up against the left hand wall; the computer desk looked lonely with nothing on it. The floor was entirely hard wood floor, and then the light shown under the desk, where a mass of pink sat tangled together. It was the pink rug that had been sitting in the middle of the room. It looked as if some animal had dragged it there and used it as a bed of some sort. She smiled, knowing now what to do. She clicked off the light, but the room still stayed in his vision, mapped out in his mind.

“Come on now, everything is okay. I’m not here to hurt you.” Her soft voice floated through the room. Tempting, encouraging whatever was in the room to come out of hiding. Silence spread out for a couple of minutes before the sound of front paws hitting the hard wood floor but no other sounds after that. The woman in the room knelt down; she had to push the folds of her red cloak that surrounded her body away. Her white hair came forward, but she left it hanging around her shoulders and neck. She extended her hand out towards the sound, her finger tips stretching out.

“It’s okay; I’ve got a nice place for you to stay. You can stay there as long as you like. I promise, no one will leave you and you won’t be alone. You won’t be bothered by anyone, no one will be scared of you, you won’t be hurt, don’t worry.” Her encouraging voice floated around again. Her finger tips felt for something that couldn’t be seen by the human eye. Silence again before there was a flicker of electric at the tip of her fingers and the purring started up again. The electric seemed to spread out from her finger tips and take the form of a small animal. The long tail of the animal moved slowly back and forth, and each time it whipped back to the other direction, a small electric light flickered at the tip. The creature’s ears were pointed straight up, as if it heard something weird. The body moved between the two spectrum's of this world giving it a transparent look, making it hard to tell exactly what it looked like. A smile spread across the woman’s face.

“Hey little guy, come on. I’ll take you to your new home.” Her voice was still soft; as if she were afraid she’d break the creature with her voice. There was a small meow sound that echoed the room, and the electric cat jumped into her arms. She stood up and allowed the cat to curl into a small ball in the corner of her left elbow. After a few seconds, the electricity faded and the animal came into focus. It was a kitten, but not your everyday kitten that ran the human streets. This one was unique, like all the creatures of the other world. The ears were two different colors, the right one black and the left one orange, its long tail was all black but tipped with orange. The body was all black with one long strip of orange down the spine and each paw looked as if it was dipped in orange paint. Its eyes looked up at the woman. The creature’s eyes were the same color as hers, a dark red that seemed to shine with no light to reflect off of it.  The red eyes slowly closed and the animal’s body relaxed in her arms.

It was like someone took the veil off of the room. Once the animal was relaxed the spell broke. The noise from outside of the room came flooding in with no notice. The moonlight broke through the window, shinning the silvery light all over the floor and the empty computer desk. She tilted her head when she heard the conversation from somewhere in the house speed through the door cracks.

“I don’t understand what she can do. She’s just a girl and a very odd one at that.” The husband’s voice was brassy and loud, not a care in the world of the people who could hear him.

“Oh Gregory, just give her a chance. You never know. She said she could help, I believe her.” The wife’s said in an alto pitched voice.

“She just showed up at our door. We didn’t even get a name for heaven’s sake! For all we know she’s the one who caused all of this weirdness.” She could hear him stand and pace about the room, obviously trying to calm his nerves.

“If she was causing this, you’d think we’d have seen her lurking around the house or something. I don’t think that. She’s a good girl, don’t worry. Everything will be fine.” The wife’s voice was softer now, trying to calm her husband before his anger took away his rationality. There was a sigh and the moan of a chair as Gregory took his seat again. 

“If you say so…” The sentence trailed off, leaving whatever he was thinking in his own mind.

The woman looked down at the animal curled in her arms and around the room. She knew that the Nekoma were dangerous if they were in a bad mood. This was only a kit; his powers couldn’t have developed all the way. If it had, then this night might have been a lot harder. She had never seen a Nekoma; they were rare beings even before the hunt had occurred. She couldn’t believe she was only a baby one; she couldn’t help herself from smiling down at the small creature curled against her. She then closed her eyes, relaxed herself and when she reopened her eyes they were a dark green color with a swirl of yellow around the pupil. She then walked out the door, leaving the room back to how it used to be before the little guy decided to make it his new home.

Gregory and his wife looked up when she entered the living room. Gregory sat in a huge faded orange chair. He stood and she could see the imprint that his body left behind. Gregory was a large man himself, his face was like a box, all edges. His dark eyes were smaller than they should have been, but that didn’t make them any less intense. The wife stood up from her wooden rocking chair. She had placed her book on the black coffee table that divided the room. His wife was much smaller than Gregory. She was dainty standing next to the giant. Her soft blonde curls fell perfectly around her heart shaped face. Her eyes were a light blue and softened when she saw the orange and black bundle that was curled in the woman’s arms. When Gregory saw the bundle, he crossed his massive arms across his chest and his eyes became narrowed.

“Wha-” He was cut off by his wife stepping forward in front of him.

“So, this was the cause of all this huh. He’s adorable, never would have thought. Thank you for helping us.”

“Mary.” Gregory said softly, his arms back at his sides. Mary turned to him and her hands went to her hips.

“Do you honestly still believe she-” The girl stepped forward, making both Mary and Gregory turn to her.

“It’s okay, I’m used to people being unable to accept me. Please, don’t fight. Yes, this little guy was all the trouble. He was just scared, and when he found this warm place, he decided to make it his home. I’ll be taking him back with me, so you don’t have to worry.” She stepped forward, and using her free hand she took Mary’s hand. “Thank you for allowing me to help… You are blessed.” Mary’s eyes sparkled when she smiled at the mysterious woman. She smiled back, released Mary’s hand and then turned toward the front door. Her hand had turned the door knob when Gregory spoke.

“Wait…” his voice hesitant and soft. She stopped and looked back. “We never got your name.” He tried to smile at her, but it looked more like a grimace on his face. She smiled never the less.

“My name is not important. Forget this, forget me. Go back to your life and forget all this weirdness.” She smiled, her eyes flashed red and then she was gone. The door shut softly behind her, and then it was as if she had never been there in the first place.
Mary looked to her husband, but he just stared at the door, as if in a daze. He slowly looked at her and his eyes seemed to come back into focus. He looked around the room, completely unaware of what had just happened.

“W-what…” He seemed to stumble over his own tongue. Mary just smiled and helped him into his chair.

“It’s okay Gregory. You just sort of spaced out there. Why don’t I get you a glass of water, darling.” Gregory just nodded and then relaxed into his chair as he had done thousands of times.

“Make that a cup of coffee Mary.” He yelled back at her and picked up the TV remote and clicked to his favorite channel.
Outside the front door, the woman smiled, shook her head softly and pulled the hood of her cloak over her long hair and continued down the paved drive way and down the street. She walked forward, not seeming to have a destination. She cuddled the kitten to her chest the whole way, by the time she ended up in front of the large castle like building; the sun had started to rise. It was a brick house, with two small towers on either side of the building. The entire house had a huge stone wall surrounding the place; with a black gate at the front of the long gravel drive way. She walked up to the gate and a portion of it opened, but the whole thing still stood tall and unmoving. She walked straight through and up to the front doors. The front doors were black as well, and pushed into the wall, a good foot of brick and metal panels on all sides. The doors opened when she reached them and a man loomed over top of her.

“Hello Fred. William wishes to see me, yes?” She walked past Fred, who blinked two large black eyes in response. He was a creepy man, even to her standards. He was roughly seven feet tall, with short black hair that seemed to never be brushed. It was a mass of tangles around his face. His eyes looked bug like with how big they were compared to his diamond shaped face. He always wore brown, it didn’t matter, and he always had his dark brown trench coat that had to have been tailor made to fit his square shoulders. He didn’t speak a word if he could help it, and with silence he just shut the door behind her and sat back in his swirly chair and looked back at the monitor that had a video stream of the grounds.

She continued down the main hallway to a spiral stair case that went all the way up to the top floor and through the only pair of doors that were ever unlocked. Sitting behind a desk that could have been confused with the same desk that the president of the United States sat behind, was a man who held an air of confidence that even the president couldn’t hold. His blond hair was neatly pulled into a low pony tail; his dark green eyes stared down at a piece of paper that was on his desk. He wore a tailored business suit, dark grey today with a pitch black tie and a white shirt underneath. His finger nails were trimmed to a length that any mother would think was just a bit too long for a male, but he wore it nicely. He looked up at the noise of the doors closing and a small smile spread across his face, showing that his canine teeth were a bit longer than any human’s should have been.

   She could remember the first time she met William. He had found her sitting the middle of a kids play ground. The night sky had been pitch black, no moon light to guide ones way home. She had been kicked out of her home, only sixteen years old, sitting alone on the swing set of the play ground. Her black book bag had been sitting next to her on the ground, waiting. She had no plans; she had no idea where to go from there. Her father had caught her walking through the house without any light, her eyes as red as blood. She had no clue then that she was different than her family. Her father had shouted and hit her; she could still feel the sting of his large hand against her cheek. He told her to leave or he could call the police and they would kill her. She didn’t have a choice; she had grabbed her only book bag, threw clothes in it, threw what little money she had saved, her only picture of her mother and her and left. Leaving her old life behind her, but she soon found herself sitting on a swing set in the middle of the night waiting for an idea to come to her. Where was she going to live? What was she going to do for money? She had no answers to her questions. It was then that she felt the presence of someone else. She looked to her right and sitting on the swing next to her was William. His long blonde hair was left down, damp against his face. Her dark green eyes were staring at her, searching for something she knew not. He wore a suit, all black, except the white tie that had a small dark red stain on the very tip of it. He was completely still, his hands sat perfectly placed in his lap. He just looked at her, not saying a word, and she looked back their eyes holding each other’s.

“I’m William.” He said, his voice was soft, floating. “You are?” He extended a hand to her, his nails perfectly trimmed back to the tips of his fingers. She looked at him with unease, not sure if she should run or stay. She couldn’t help but keep looking at the red stain on his tie, wondering if it was blood.

“Are you going to kill me?” She asked too quickly to stop herself. She put a hand over her mouth, embarrassed that she couldn’t keep such a question to herself. He merely laughed and she could feel her entire body give a shiver, as if that laugh had ran its finger up her spinal cord. He watched her, his lips turned up into a genuine smile, his eyes sparkled with no light to dance off of.

“No silly child, I’m not here to kill you. I’m here to offer you something.” She raised her eyebrows at him, not sure if she should believe him.

“And that offer is?” She had asked.

“Ah, Skai, pleasure as always.” His voice broke her away from her memory, pulling her back to the here and now. He gestured to one of the cushioned chairs that always sat in front of the desk. The rest of the room was eerily bare considering this was the room this man spent most of his time. There was nothing else but the desk that held a computer and a small pile of folders on either side. The two chairs and the two large windows that the desk was perfectly placed in-between. Skai pushed her hood off as she walked forward and took a seat in front of the William. The kitten in her arms moved and looked up, his red eyes looked at William and then to Skai. Skai just petted the animal and he relaxed again and closed his eyes. William stared at the kitten for a minute before looking back at Skai.

“Is that a…” His question trailed off when Skai merely nodded.

“Fill me in.” He crossed his arms onto the desk and looked at her.

“This little guy was able to cloak an entire room already. No sound or light was able to penetrate through its spell. But he hasn’t fully learned to do the same from the inside it seems. He’s still but a child.”

“Any trouble?”

“Not a bit, he came pretty easily to be honest. If he was older… he would have been a lot more trouble.” She looked down at the purring kitten in her arms and imagined the little guy older, bigger, and much more deadly with how much power it could have. He was a Nekoma, one of the rarest and more powerful creatures of the supernatural world. He could control electricity, sound, light, and even someone’s own mind. The range of his powers comes from a long line of evolution for his kind, but they soon died out from wars raged between each clan. Only another Nekoma could kill him, they were immortal to anything else. To think that she held one in her arms, it certainly was something else.

“Yes, but clearly it is still a kit… do we know where it came from?” William asked, but Skai could only shake her head no; there had been no sign of any other presence anywhere near the home. It seemed that the Nekoma had curled its way into the vacant room to find it a almost perfect place to sleep and say home, until the home’s residents came home that is.

“Okay… and the memories?” He asked. Skai looked up from the kitten and stared at William for a minute.

“The husband has no memory of me or that this little guy was ever there-”

“And the wife?” He voice took a tone deeper; he was annoyed with her beating around the bush. Skai narrowed her eyes at him.

“She was blessed; you couldn’t have even done it.” Skai’s voice was firm and cold. William leaned back in his comfy black chair. The blessed were almost immune to anything that dealt with mind control or memory erasing. Not even the most powerful wizard could penetrate through a well shielded blessed.

“Ah… Yes, well, they are still around. Rare though. I wonder how she’s escaped the hunt…” William pondered out loud.

“I wasn’t able to confirm until I touched her hand. She’s obviously good at hiding it. She didn’t even seem worried that I knew.” William raised one sleek eyebrow and then smiled.

“Well I guess she can take care of herself then, no need to worry.”

“I would post someone around the area just to be sure, just in case someone was watching…” Skai looked down at the little guy for a second. “Or in case someone else picked up on this guy’s power. She may be able to guard her mind from someone, but if someone captured her, she could be tortured for information.” William seemed to think about that for a second before nodding and turning to his computer. A few quick clicks and a second of typing and then he looked back to Skai.

“Done. Now you can drop that guy off with Sarah. I’m sure-”

“If it’s alright with you, I’d rather take care of him myself. There was no trouble because he seems to trust me. We wouldn’t want to make him scared…” She raised her eyebrows at him, wondering if he’d go along with it. It was a long stretch, even for her. This Nekoma was a rare species, something worth studying to find out more, and should be placed somewhere it can grow up without worry of it being killed. William looked at her for a second before nodding. Skai stood, not caring if that was all, she didn’t want him changing his mind. She walked to the door before she suddenly froze and turned around quickly, William stood within centimeters of her. He raised his hand and gripped the tip of her chin, staring down into her eyes.

“I’m glad you came back.” It was a whisper, like a song on the wind. He leaned forward, his eyes never leaving hers, but before his lips touched her she turned her face away.

“I only came back to help little guys like this, to help lost souls…” Her eyes went to red eyes that stared up at her, curiosity in the kitten’s eyes. “I didn’t come back because of you. So don’t get any ideas.” Her eyes came back to William, narrowed and cold. “So please just allow me to do what I’m good at and leave it at that.” A pained look went through William’s eyes, but didn’t stay long before he released her chin and walked away.

“Do what you like Skai, but I will always be here for you, never forget that…” He was back at his desk and staring at the same piece of paper before Skai could blink.

She couldn’t help the memory that pulled forward, the last time she had seen a glimpse of emotion across that man’s face. The day she had left Home.

She had been tired of being poked and prodded. Apparently she was a supernatural being that no one knew about. She had two human parents, or so everyone thought so. Skai couldn’t ask her mother for she had been dead for some time now. Her father would have called the cops the moment he saw her. And Home had only given her more questions than answers. It had been two years since she had gone back with William from that school yard. She had been pretty much locked up in her room all day and night, only coming out to be tested or for training. Her training had included all kinds of weapons handling, basic and advanced hand to hand combat, and work on controlling the powers she knew about. 

One day Skai just couldn’t take it anymore. She had taken her old book bag, the same from when she left her father. She threw what little she had in it and then ran away for the second time in her life. This time she had an idea where she would go. She had decided to travel, see the world. Find out what she wanted in life, but she still found herself in that same school yard she had been years ago. Something had pulled her there that she knew not. She sat in the same swing, two years later. It had been a pitch black sky again, no clouds in the sky, no moon light shinning down on the ground. That time, she had felt him coming, she had felt him walk up to the swing set and sit down.

“William.” Skai had said, but refused to look at him. She heard a soft sigh before he spoke.

“Skai, what are you doing?” It was a simple question, one which he already knew the answer of. Skai looked over at him, with his long blonde hair pulled back into a simple braid, his dark green eyes narrowed in tension; his hands gripped the swing set chains. He didn’t look happy; his mouth was tight together, showing no emotion on his face.

“I left a note.” It was all Skai could reply to his question as she stared at his face. His lips twitched into a smile that didn’t quiet reach his eyes. The way his smile was shaped and the way his eyes stared at him, she could feel her blood try to crawl out of her skin.

“A note. You left a note. Come on Skai, I thought we became more than a note. Why didn’t you just come to me?” William spoke through clenched teeth, trying to hide whatever emotion was boiling underneath his surface. Skai looked away from him, not wanting to see his face.

“William, I’m sorry, but I have to leave. I must. Don’t ask me to explain why.” Skai said and she stood up, swinging her book bag onto her back. She turned to look at him, but he was already standing right in front of her, moving too quick for her eyes to pick up on.

“I understand. Home will always have your room available for you, when or if you choose to come back.” William said before he grabbed the back of Skai’s head. Skai looked at his face, broken, open; there was a look of pain across his face. Sadness that she had not wanted to look upon, pain she didn’t want etched in her heart forever. William leaned forward and pressed his lips against Skai’s. His lips were warm, and tasted like white chocolate, red wine, and a hint of metallic. She loved the taste of him, but she couldn’t bring herself to admit it. He pulled away, leaving a lingering taste of chocolate wine on her lips. His face was controlled again, emotionless. He bowed to her, his arm making a wide sweeping motion.

“May you have a journey, may you find your way. Goodbye Skai, until we meet again.” He then turned and left, leaving her standing there alone to watch his figure fade away.

She shook her head, shoving that memory and the pained look to the back of her mind and left the room. She made her way down a flight of steps and then down another hallway. She finally made it to a set of doors that were a plain white. She opened one and slipped in, shutting it softly behind her. She rested the back of her head on the door, letting go of the tension in her body. She felt the kit in her arms move and then jump from her arms and onto the floor. She watched the little guy scope out her room, moving first to the door leading to the bathroom, he peaked his head in there before moving away and sniffing at the dresser next to the door. He seemed pleased by the cleanliness of the room as he moved across the fluffy white carpet.

He jumped up onto the bed, moving along the edge of the queen sized mattress to the two gray pillows. He used his front paws to massage the pillow, feeling if it was suitable enough for him. He looked at the double doors across the room; he jumped off the bed and walked over to them. He didn’t even try to open the door; he just walked straight through the doors. Skai quickly walked over, opened the doors and stepped out. The sun was up in the sky, but there was still a pale pink and purple spread out across the sky showing the morning hadn’t been around for too long. Skai looked down at her little friend who just sat on the edge of the balcony overlooking the massive court yard the castle had wrapping it’s self around the home. Skai smiled and leaned against the guard rail.

“Beautiful isn’t it. When you look at this, you wouldn’t think there would be any evil in this world.” She sat there for the minute before a yawn forced itself out of her mouth. She leaned down, scooped up the creature and walked back inside. She shut the doors, making sure they were both locked, before pulling the pitch black curtains across to block out some of the sun light.

Skai then walked to the bed and placed the kitten onto it. He stretched, his back arching up in an angle that only a cat could do. Skai smiled pulled her cloak off and tossed it onto her computer desk chair. She watched the kitten walk up to the same pillow he had been testing before, turned in circles trying to find a comfortable stop before laying down. He looked up at Skai, watching her now. She smiled and sat down onto the bed.

“Now, I wonder what I should call you…” She wondered out loud. The kitten tilted his head.

“Well, you could call me by my name…” The voice of a young boy came into Skai’s mind. It was a weird sensation, giving her a tingling feeling in the back of her head. Her eyes widened and she started at the kitten.

“Did you just-”

“Why act so surprised? You know what I am; you should know what I can do. This is the only way I can communicate. Our species minds are more evolved than even yours, but sadly our voices are not so evolved.” Skai blinked at him, she had not been aware of this ability.

“Why didn’t you speak to me before?” The kitten seemed to smile, showing his already pointy fangs.

“I needed to know I could trust you. You should understand that.” Skai stared at him for a second before nodding.

“Okay, so what is your name then?” She asked. The kitten stretched out his paws, then laid his head between them, staring at her.

“It’s Koji. My mother was a traditionalist.” He shut his eyes and relaxed his body. Skai nodded and then curled under the sheets, leaving her comforter at the bottom of the bed. She shut her eyes and sighed.

“Well Koji, this is Home.”

“Not much to look at.” Skai laughed a little at that.

“Yes, not really, but we do good here.”

“You sure about that?” Skai opened her eyes and looked at Koji, who was in turn looking at her.

“No, I’m not, but I wasn’t lying. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Skai said and closed her eyes again. She started to drift when she felt fur against her face and a purring sound. Koji curled up under the right side of her face and against her neck, laying his head right on her neck.

You are touched, special. I would never have left with you if I didn’t feel that you were indeed good. I will not let anything happen to you either. The tingling feeling left the back of her head and she peeked down at Koji. His breathing had evened out and he was already fast asleep. She smiled and then she too fell into her dreams.