His mother’s loving eyes looked down at him like he was the only thing she could see. She was so beautiful with her big sparkling eyes when she looked at him like that. “Kit, no matter what you have to promise that you’ll always look after your little sister, never let each other become separated,” she told him.
“Of course, mom, you can count on me, I’ll be the best big brother I can,” he told her as he held her close to him. He was more than content, he was happy. He could laugh and smile like he meant it. Then he heard somebody calling his name from far off, but they were getting closer.
“Kit, it’s time to wake up, Kit,” Ayano told him as she shook him awake. For a moment he clung desperately to the dream because he knew what waited just at the edge of thought, he knew what would greet him when he woke up. When he slept the world was always so kind and peaceful, the world that awaited him was cold and unforgiving. In the world Kit was going back to everyday was a fight to stay alive for one more day so he could live another day.
Ayano was there, and Kit had just promised his mother that he’d always look after her. He couldn’t leave her alone in that cruel world, even if it was painful to wake up, he had to. Slowly he sat up and shook the fog out of his head. He looked around and saw the cramped room was just as dingy as it had been when he’d gone to sleep. All of the rooms at the shelter were depressing, but they were better than what he’d have gotten outside, they only come with one bed and he had given that to Ayano because he couldn’t stand the thought of her sleeping on the floor.
His little sister was too good for that place, not just the shelter, but the world as a whole. She looked up at her with her big brown eyes, they shined so bright with the joy and innocence of her youth. She was only four years old, but already she was the most important thing in the world. She had their mother’s eyes, and Kit envied her that.
It’s hard to see the weasel parts of her through her distinctly vulpine features, she was lucky that way, if you didn’t look too hard you almost couldn’t tell that she’s a hybrid. It was a curse in this world to be born to parents of different species, you don’t ever have a place in society because people shun you. He was actually similar to her in looks at least, if you didn’t look really hard the weasel parts of them were hard to see, but they were still there, the only distinctly weasel feature to them were the tell-tale mask pattern around their faces. Without this they’d have been able to pass themselves off as very small foxes, parts of their features would always be at least slightly off, but nobody would have questioned it.
Kit tried hard not to analyze what he saw in front of him but he couldn’t help it. He r eyes were a little too hollow, her body was a little too thin. He could tell she was hungry, though she would never have admitted to it. She was smiling brightly as she stood there in her brand new school uniform. That was her first day of elementary school and she was so excited to be starting. She must have woken up hours ago already, and it was only 6 then.
Sleepily, Kit walked across to the small bathroom and turned on the shower. The shelter showers were almost always cold because the water heater is probably only 30 gallons and they had over 20 rooms, not to mention the cost of fuel was crazy. Still the cold water was just what he’d needed, it woke him up almost immediately. He didn’t linger long in the shower, the only good thing about his sister waking up so early was that she’d gotten warm water. Unthinking, he’d taken a second to look in the mirror as he was relieving himself. He saw his father’s eyes looking at him and the old hatred came rushing back in an instant. Kit had always hated his own eyes because they reminded him of his father.
Technically, Ayano and Kit were homeless, they had been for almost two years now, but most nights they had managed to get a room at the shelter, they had a pretty strict “first come, first served” policy. They didn’t charge anything and during the day the two of them had class, but they had to take all their things with them when they left in the mornings because if the two of them didn’t get there in time the next night they would go to whoever got the room. In his school bag Kit had a set of work clothes for the grocery store he worked at and his school uniform, after that there wasn’t much room for his books, luckily the school had allowed him to use his locker early. This was also his first day of high school. He hadn’t had Ayano’s sense of wonder for school any more, it was more of an interference with his schedule than an escape, but education was mandatory by law until at least the age of 16.
The grocery store he worked at was run by an old couple, they couldn’t pay him much, but they always had steady work and it was better than nothing, most of the time Kit and his sister could get by for two weeks on what they gave him. They were a kind old couple for hiring him when he was still underage, and also because they were willing to look past the fact that he was a hybrid, which would have made getting a job difficult for him even if he was of age.
After he dressed he looked into the cramped bedroom and saw her sitting there laughing about some secret wonder and looking around the room anxiously. She caught him staring at her and gave him the same smile she always did, he quickly contorted his face into a smile because he didn’t have it in him to rain on her happy mood. At times he used to think about giving her to the orphanage, it would have required him to separate from her, but she was young and cute enough that she could probably get a family to take her in, but then he would realize the cruelty behind such a plan. For a time she would be happy and they would love her, but when she turned roughly his age and stopped growing, they’d know her for what she was, and then they would inevitably leave her somewhere. Hard as our life was, it would have been cruel to let her know that kind of happiness just to have it taken away. Besides, if he’d given her away... she was his reason for going on. He was so selfish sometimes.
After hesitating a moment to make sure that he was clean enough, he joined her in the main room as they gathered our things. As she picked up her backpack she turned to him. “Do you think that today is the day dad will come back?” she asked him, her voice still full of hope.
“It could be,” he told her trying to feign confidence. He didn’t have it in him to tell her that he wasn’t coming back, that our father had abandoned them. Two years ago our mother had passed away from an illness, it was hard on them, but even harder was the realization that our father had left them, not when she died, but when she’d gotten sick. He was 12 years old at the time, and now, suddenly he had to look after both his sister and his ailing mother. For a while he’d dreamed that he would come back for them, that they’d be a family again, the same way that Ayano still did, but after a while he’d been forced to wake up and realize that he was never going to come back, because he didn’t care. He hadn’t seen him in over two years now, and as far as he was concerned if he ever saw him again it would be too soon... He hated him. He who had given them his damned mask that marked them as what they were, that took away our place in society, why should he get to leave and live whatever life he had when they were stuck living hand to mouth, battling everyday just to survive.
“We should probably get going to breakfast,” Ayano told him and it roused him from his thoughts of the bastard.
“Yeah! You’ve got a big day today,” he told her as he tried to put some excitement into his voice. The shelter was serving oatmeal at breakfast that day. Ayano and he got theirs and sat down at a table and though it was set up so that eight people could sit there, nobody came anywhere near them, it wasn’t unusual anymore, nobody wanted be called a freak lover for associating with them. Sitting next to them, talking to them, anything like that would earn them the label and suddenly society would treat them differently. Ayano finished her breakfast in about three minutes and he could tell she wanted more, but there are no seconds at the shelter, so he slid her half of his bowl. He was still hungry, but she needed it more than him. She looked at him for a moment, she had to know, but she didn’t fight him over it, she just took the bowl and ate.
“Do you have everything?” he asked her as she finished her breakfast. She just rolled her eyes as she looked at him, like she would possibly forget by now, this was our daily routine.
“Of course,” she said in an exasperated tone. She held onto his hand as they walked outside. The street was one of the hardest places to be, because in public people would give them a wide berth, spit at them, or shout slurs our way. they tried our best to ignore it, but it still hurt. When they got to the school all the other kids and their parents looked at them like they were some sort of circus act, he kept his eyes straight ahead as they walk, Ayano was looking down and away from him. He could tell that all the stares made her uncomfortable, but they couldn’t let it show. She held his hand as they walked into her class
“I’m going to be waiting for you after classes get out. We have to hurry to the shelter so we can secure a place for the night, after that I have work but I’ll try to get back as soon as I can so we can celebrate your first day and you can tell him all about it. Be nice to the other students and act polite to your teachers, ok?” he told her as he dropped down to one knee to look her in the eye, everyone in the room had stopped to look at them, but Ayano tried to act like she didn’t notice. He r long black hair fell down over her shoulder like curtains and often she used to try to hide her eyes from him when he told her stuff like this.
“Will you get a cake?” she asked him shyly. She liked cakes the best.
“I’ll see if they don’t have one left over when I leave,” he told her with a smile. Before he leave he dig out his wallet to give her money for lunch. As he opened the bill divider he saw he was down to only two bills. He gave her the last bills before digging around in his pocket for some change. It isn’t much, maybe enough for her to buy a sandwich and get some water, but she needed school supplies and he’d spent most of what he’d had on those. He tried not to let the worry show on his face... payday was 3 days away. If he was lucky maybe they’d have some groceries at the store that were passed their sale dates, but still hadn’t spoiled.
“You promise you’ll be here when I get out?” she asked him nervously, he could tell she was scared of having to walk home alone, scared of being left here with all these strange kids that were gawking at her.
“I promise,” he told her. his heart was breaking at that moment, she was scared, but he couldn’t protect her from this. He leaned forward and cupped the back of her head as he pulled it forward to kiss her on the forehead. “Have fun,” he told her hopefully. She just nodded.
“I love you big brother,” she mumbled shyly before he pulled away. He was so worried for her as he left her at school, the first day could be the hardest, because things most likely wouldn’t go as she expected. She’d seen so many scenes of kids going to school making friends and having fun, but she didn’t understand that being a hybrid would ostracize her from her peers. If they were a fox, or even a ferret... they would be just like every other kid, but they were both a “ferrox” and so they didn’t belong anywhere.
Along the way to his own school he caught a glimpse at a bank’s clock tower... He was going to be late. He started running because, while he didn’t think much of school, he couldn’t afford the detention being tardy would have brought. He was cutting along pretty good when somebody ran into him from behind.
She was a fennec about his age, she looked a little flushed, but she’d toppled over in her haste. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she told him in this bell-like voice as she jumped to her feet and helped him up (that was a new experience for him). She was dusting herself off when another fennec came up behind her.
“Hurry up Renka, we have to go or we’re going to be late. I told you we didn’t have time to stop at the dog park,” she told her irritably.
“Uh... yeah, sorry Kisara, but there were so many dogs there and they were all so cute... I just couldn’t leave,” the first one apologized. “Sorry about that, but we’re in something of a hurry,” she told him as they both dashed off. He was left standing there stunned. The first one had been so soft when she’d run into him, and she was really cute. Her eyes hid behind thick glasses and her long blonde hair was tied back in a braid, it was designed to give the impression that she was plain but he got the distinct feeling that she was really cute underneath all of that, not to mention that when she’d run into him she’d felt like she had a lot of muscle... except for her breasts, which had been the softest of all. He could tell his face was probably red. The other one had looked a little different, with these beautiful aqua colored eyes with a ring of brilliant orange around the center, and raven black hair put into a messy version of pixie style cut. Despite that they probably could have passed twins, except the second one wasn’t quite so well endowed... maybe a b cup... if he’d had to guess.
After he managed to shake his head out of the clouds and get back to what he was doing he realized that he was going to be even later for school now. He never knew how, but somehow he managed to get to his first class JUST before the bell rang. The morning classes went about the same as they always had. He sat there in the back of the class trying very hard not to draw attention to himself, which was hard considering that every eye in the room wandered over to him at least once during the morning. Most of them pitied him, and this was without knowing the whole homeless part. He tried very hard to keep that little secret from the rest of the school. He didn’t need people to pity him, and those that didn’t pity him, would have certainly used it to humiliate him, which they did anyway, but this was something he wanted to keep hidden.
At lunch he sat on one of the benches looking out over the gardens, it was a peaceful place to sit and usually people left him alone when he sat there, but on that day somebody came up to him. “Is... is this spot taken?” the soft voiced girl asked him. He looked up toward her for a second, avoided making eye contact before turning his head back down.
“No,” he told her as he stood up. In this society, somebody asking a hybrid to sit on the bench meant one thing... that the hybrid had to get off the bench. He walked off to sit beneath one of the trees without looking at her. he sat under the tree for a moment before he realized he wasn’t alone.
“What was that all about?” the irritated voice called down to him, she was lounging on one of the lower hanging branches. He looked up again without meeting her eyes.
“She wanted to use the bench,” he answered as he started to stand up and move to another tree.
“It’s kinda rude that you keep walking away like that. If you want to be alone then just tell people,” she commented.
“What?” he asked her, genuinely confused.
“Well, Renka was trying to be nice about it, but she wants to make friends,” she answered.
“Trust me when I say that you don’t want to be friends with me,” he replied as he turned to walk away again.
“No arguments from me, but Renka does,” she answered indifferently.
“It’s ok Kisara, don’t try to force him into it or anything, if he doesn’t want to it’s fine” Renka told her with a dejected look.
“It’s not that I don’t want to, but you don’t want to. Making friends with me would be a mistake,” he told her. He was trying to get it across to them that he was not the type of person they wanted to be their friend.
“Why not?” Kisara pressed him. He always hated this part of conversations, sometimes his heritage wasn’t readily noticeable, but eventually they would figure it out, it was easier to just keep people away. Nobody’s feelings got hurt this way.
“You might not have noticed it, but I’m a ferrox, er... a hybrid,” he told them as he kept his gaze averted. Making eye contact tended to make him a target, he kept his shoulders slumped forward so that they didn’t get the idea that he was proud, pride could be bad too. He looked at the ground, a pose of submission was very helpful in avoiding the scorn of others, plus they wouldn’t see it if he started to cry, tears were dangerous... some people stop when they see them, others are just encouraged by them.
“So?” Renka asked, her voice was too innocent, she didn’t know what that meant.
“Around here, being a hybrid is an open invitation for all forms of abuse, and choosing to associate with one will only put you in the crosshairs with me. Friendship can only withstand so much stress from things like this, so it’s just better if it doesn’t happen, you don’t get treated in a demeaning way, and I don’t get hurt when you decide to walk away,” he tried to explain politely.
“I get it. It’s hard for people to stab you in the back if you always show them your front... not a bad tactic for preventing betrayal,” Kisara commented logically.
“That’s such a lonely way to live,” Renka commented as she cupped her hands over her mouth in what he guess was pity.
“For a hybrid, it’s the only way to live,” he responded to her. This wasn’t going at all how he’d expected it.
“I welcome anybody to hassle me,” Kisara told him in a confident voice. He knew this was only going to cause him pain later, but he decided he’d sit down under the tree.
“I’m Renka, this is my sister Kisara,” Renka told him politely as she shook hands with him.
“Kitsutachi Sunahama, but you can call me Kit,” he told her in a resigned voice.
“So Kit... why don’t you have anything to eat?” Kisara asked him. He blushed when she asked about it because now he really didn’t want them to know about the homeless thing.
“I... forgot it back at my house,” he told them as he ducked his head. Luckily they didn’t get the chance to probe him further because the lunch bell rang and it was back to class.
All afternoon I couldn’t help but think about them. How long would it be before they decided it wasn’t worth it? How would they create the gap between them, nobody ever just walked away... they always had some prank that would only humiliate him further. Before he knew it, class was ending and it was time to collect Ayano.
She was so happy when she came out to see him waiting there for her. “How’d it go?” he asked her as he put a smile on for her.
“It was GREAT, there were so many kids and I was kind of nervous at first, but then we started playing freeze tag, and you know what? I won the first game, and I made like... a MILLION friends!” she told him proudly. She wasn’t like him yet, she knew that adults said mean things to them sometimes, but she didn’t know that someday soon kids closer to her own age would do the same. Odds are that she’d be confused the next day, because those kids would go home and talk to their parents, and eventually somebody would say something like “you didn’t make friends with that little HYBRID girl, did you?” That’s how it’d started for him, parents telling their children about how he was going to grow up to be a criminal.
Statistically speaking it was true, Hybrid children were over 3 times as likely to go to jail, the leading cause of death for young hybrids between the ages of 13 and 30 was homicide, about half the time it was at the hands of another young hybrid, the rest of the time it was at the hands of some purist sect that wanted to purge the world of hybrids and “mutt mates”. The latter was a slur for people who befriended hybrids. The point is, hybrids were considered prime recruits into gangs, because they were impressionable and desperate for structure and companionship.
“And what about your teachers? Did you get along with them?” he asked her.
“Ms. Johnson is SUPER nice,” she told him. A young teacher then, he could tell because the young teachers always tried to pretend like what they were didn’t matter, but that would change soon enough when they realized that they couldn’t change the way their students think. When that time came, if they were nice... they’d just pretend they didn’t exist.
It might have been cruel, not telling her, but he didn’t want to have to be the one to explain how the world worked to them... He would shield her from this later in life, but for now this was a cold truth to the world, and she would have to learn it for herself.
Kit wasn’t very lucky that day, when he showed up they had just given away their last room for the night. The night wasn’t supposed to be too cold, but he still worried about what they were going to do, used to be they’d go to the park and sleep on the benches, but lately the cops had been policing the parks pretty regularly looking for vagrants like them. Kit’s mind flashed to his usual spot, he went there whenever they didn’t have a place for him. After work he’d drop Ayano off at the girls shelter. She didn’t like it there, but she knew better than to argue when Kit dropped her off, and they always had plenty of beds for one more girl.
When they got to the store, the owners had some small tasks that she could do, and when Kit asked they had a spare cake that had been made in the morning and was about to go bad, not to mention a few loaves of bread that were stale but weren’t molding yet.
Kit was about halfway through his shift when his life got really difficult. He was restocking the cereals in aisle 7 when Kisara and Renka turned down the aisle, followed by what appeared to be a 27 year old black wolf, a relative maybe, and maybe a 24 year old tibetan fox in tow.
“I want beef surprise!” the wolf insisted rather vehemently. He was wearing this strange outfit, it was all black and fit him somewhat loosely.
“Daisuke, I promised Hitomi that I’d make butter chicken in curry tonight, you’ll just have to wait until tomorrow,” Renka told him politely.
“But we had what she wanted last night,” he argued.
“That’s because you were late getting home,” the tibetan fox replied in a soft, shy voice, she didn’t seem to be interested in it. Her outfit was a very traditional and reminded him of the things that martial arts masters wore in movies, a white top, and loose fitting black pants. Her long brunette hair was mostly tied back except for her bangs and a few stray strands on either side.
“You spoiled him too much Renka, now he’s going to bitch the whole time,” Kisara said irritably. Kit turned his head away quickly, not wanting them to notice him while he was at work... that would be hard to explain. He had a bad feeling when somebody tapped him on the shoulder then.
“Excuse me sir, can you tell me where I could find the spices?” Renka asked Kit.
“They’re in aisle 3 beside the cooking oils,” Kit told her as he turned around, it was store policy and common manners to look at a person when you were speaking to them.
“Oh, hey Kit, what’re you doing here?” she asked him.
“I work here, I’m a stock boy,” he told her shyly.
“You know this kid?” the wolf asked her impatiently.
“We met him at school today,” Kisara commented offhandedly. The tibetan fox remained silent, but she looked at me calmly.
“We’ve got fresh cuts of chicken over in the meats and I think the produce truck came in today so if you look around you should be able to find everything you need,” Kit told them helpfully, it was always polite to offer suggestions and again part of his work. “I’ve got to get back to work if you don’t mind, if you need help finding anything just let one of us know and we’ll get right on it,” he told them with a smile, he put his hand up to scratch behind his head because he did want to stay and talk. ~
Once they had left the same lane Daisuke turned to look back down the aisle, the kid had a group of guys moving in on him, and they didn’t look friendly, but it wasn’t any of his business and he didn’t want to intrude on the kid’s affairs.
He’d only looked the kid in the eyes for a second, but what he’d seen was a strong spirit that while broken, would only take so much. He also saw that while he wasn’t emaciated, he wasn’t healthy either, there were rings beneath his eyes that lent themselves to a hollow appearance, and his cheeks were sallow. The complexion of his fur, while barely noticeable, wasn’t as glossy as it should have been. All this lead Daisuke to conclude that he was probably homeless, or living at a shelter of some kind.
Daisuke added in that the kid was a hybrid race, and probably bullied on a daily basis by pretty much everybody and it really didn’t paint a good picture for the kid’s future. “Hey, girls... about your friend, don’t get too close to him, for your own good,” Daisuke tried to warn them.
“He said something like that today, that it would be bad for us to get close to him... that people would look down on us and stuff,” Kisara commented offhandedly.
“I’m sure they would but that’s not why I’m worried about it, he’s a bigger danger to thsoe around him than anybody else,” Daisuke told her.
“What’s wrong Daisuke?” Renka asked him curiously.
“He saw it in his eyes. He’s got a strong spirit, that might be broken, but isn’t going to be that way for long. He worries that some day soon something is going to happen to push that kid over the edge and that he’ll take matters into his own hands,” Hitomi remarked.
“What?” Kisara asked in a confused voice.
“If that kid keeps getting pushed around, I could see it in his eyes that he’s going to get a gun, and when he does he won’t hesitate to use it on anybody nearby... before he turns it on himself,” Daisuke told them. He didn’t like talking about a kid that he barely knew like that, but all of the warnings were there, this bad feeling stayed in his gut for a few minutes before he moved on. ~
He turned to head down the other end of the aisle, but just then another face he recognized appeared at the other end.
This face wasn’t nearly as friendly to Kit, Kit tried very hard to avoid the notice of the honey badger and his flock of followers. He failed. “Well if it isn’t Sunahama. I was so upset when you got assigned to a different class today,” he said as he positioned Kit with his back to the racks, the other three came in around him so Kit had no place to run.
“Oh... yeah. With the new school year I guess we are in different classes,” Kit replied meekly.
“How come you never told me you worked here?” he asked as they stepped in closer.
“It must have slipped my mind,” Kit answered as he slumped his shoulders, looked away, and started to cower.
“You trying to hide this from me freak? Thought maybe if I didn’t know that you’d get away from me for a little while? So, you’re stock boy here, huh? I guess that means that you have to restock when things like this happen,” the badger said as he slid his hand behind a column of cereals and pulled them all out onto the floor. Kit immediately bent down and began scooping the fallen boxes into his arms to replace the shelves. The badger turned and gave a smile to one of his lackeys and the four of them began pulling entire rows of boxes off onto the ground and generally creating a mess. Kit felt lucky when he saw that the girls had already left the aisle. After he finished cleaning up the cereal aisle the store owners told him he could go home for the night.
He quickly changed in the employee area and left through the back entrance into the alley with Ayano. He was trying to get away before the girls and their escorts (or whatever they were) came out, however he’d all but forgotten about his other encounter, so when they came to the alley exit they were surrounded on four sides, he set his stash of food on the ground off to the side. “Ayano... run for the shelter and don’t look back, I’ll be waiting for you tomorrow,” Kit told her. She was frightened by the sudden appearance and it was plain to see. “Ayano, just do as I tell you,” Kit told her before he gave her a slight push in the direction of the shelter. She hesitated for a moment but then she looked in his eyes and did as she was told.
“Where you goin?” the badger asked her as he loomed over her.
“She’s just a kid Raph... just leave her alone,” Kit told him tensely.
“She’s a freak just like you,” Raphael responded.
“She’s four years old, even you can’t take any joy in hurting her... just, just save whatever you have for her and use it on me,” Kit pleaded with him.
“Run mini-freak, and don’t come back,” Raph told her after a moment of thinking it over. Ayano slipped past him quickly and he didn’t try to block her, the tension in Kit’s shoulders slackened. He was cornered again, there was nowhere to run, and this time it wasn’t going to be about harassing him. “This is how we handle mutts in this neighborhood,” Raphael said as the four of them closed in on Kit.
The first shot was to his gut and it knocked the wind out of him, he fell backwards onto the ground and after that it was just a rain of hits and kicks. After a few minutes they backed away from him. “Are you ready to be done?” Raph asked him.
“Yes,” Kit said after a second to spit the blood out of his mouth.
“Yes what?” Raph prodded him.
“Yes please,” Kit said hopefully.
“Wrong!” Raph shouted as they jumped him again. “Are you ready to be done? Say ‘yes master’,” Raph demanded of him.
“Y-yes master,” Kit said as he tried to slowly pick himself up off the ground.
“Kneel,” Raph told him. Kit sank to his knees. “Clothes,” Raph told him.
“What?” Kit asked... this was new.
“Take off your clothes,” Raph told him.
“Please Raph, these are all I’ve got,” Kit groveled.
“It seems he doesn’t hear too well... take his clothes,” Raph told his lackeys. One of them hit Kit across the face as another began tugging his pants down by his ankles, the third ripped his shirt down the front. Kit rolled over into a sitting position, now he was wearing his boxer shorts, his socks, and his shoes.
“Get up big brother, fight back!” Ayano told him as she darted back around the corner, there were tears in her eyes.
“Ayano, get out of here, go to the shelter,” Kit told her sternly as he looked up from the ground. He didn’t care at this point if they knew he was homeless so long as they didn’t hurt Ayano. One of them stomped hard on his nose and he heard a loud crack and thought maybe it was broken, the pain was blinding.
“HEAD DOWN!” Raph demanded.
“Sorry,” Kit whimpered as he looked up from the ground, he put his hands over the bridge of his nose trying to stop the blood from gushing out, now the tears were starting to flow. In four years Ayano had never seen this side of him, she might have seen the wounds but never had she seen his gutless half. A deep sense of shame penetrated everything he was.
“Leave my brother alone!” Ayano yelled at them as she ran down the alley and tried to push Raph.
“Look at this, the little girl’s got more balls than you do Sunahama,” Raph said with a laugh, he laughed right until she pushed into his waist and he fell down. Raph started to get up and the look on his face had lost all humor. “See now, that’s not nice little girl,” Raph said as he put one of his huge hands on her shoulder... Kit knew what Raph was doing, but he couldn’t stop it. He was going to use the hand on her shoulder to hold her down for a hit to the solar plexus. ~
Daisuke had been standing with the girls and Hitomi when he saw the little girl come running past the front store of the window, she looked a lot like that friend of the girls that he’d met a little bit ago. Something inside told him things weren’t right. That same gut feeling came back to him the moment he’d seen her.
“Hey, does your friend have a sister?” Daisuke asked Renka suddenly as he turned to her.
“Uh... I don’t know. I never got the chance to ask him,” Renka shrugged as she added the eggs to the conveyor belt.
“I was just wondering that myself, remember that little girl we saw handling the produce? She looked a lot like him,” Hitomi commented in her same shy, almost disinterested voice.
“Why you askin’?” Kisara asked him.
“I just saw that little girl go running by the front of the store and I got this weird feeling,” Daisuke said as he shook it off. He helped Renka by grabbing onto their groceries. “I’ll carry the bags,” he said as he wrapped one arm around one of the paper bags and knelt down to wrap the other one in another hand. As they exited the store the little girl came running past them again, and then he heard somebody say something at the alley, and what sounded like a grunt. Then he saw the little girl dash into the alley after whatever was going on. For a second he stood up straight and looked after her.
Then he heard a teenager’s voice shout at her, and a moment later she shouted something back, but he couldn’t make it out. He dropped the grocery bags as his danger sense began to tingle again and took off after the little girl. Hitomi was one step behind him, moving with the same cat-like reflexes. She stopped for a second as the muscles in her legs coiled tightly, a second later she catapulted herself onto the roof, she was cutting off one avenue of escape if somebody tried to run. Even after losing a step she managed to keep pace with him as he turned the corner, but she stopped there and crouched down, to lie in ambush if she had to.
When Daisuke got to the edge of the alley there were three kids standing over by the girls’ friend, who was bleeding from several places, the worst was probably his nose which looked like somebody had stomped on it rather hard. He got there just as the little girl pushed the badger down. He stood there for a moment, right up until he saw the way he put his hand on her shoulder... martial arts had taught him that he had to pay attention to how gestures were done, how the muscles performing it worked, so that he didn’t misread it. He was holding the little girl down. He jumped into action as soon as he understood that they were about to turn on the little girl.
One of the unspoken rules of martial arts are that you don’t attack kids, and if he read this right, the badger was going to put the full weight behind this next punch. At the last second Daisuke decided to intervene. Technically what he was doing would go against another rule of martial artists... that masters only fought other masters, but he couldn’t just sit by and let them hurt the little girl, especially not if they did her like they’d done her brother. ~
Kit didn’t even see the wolf coming, one second it looked like Raph was going to hit Ayano, the next second Raph was toppled over on the ground and the black wolf stood there looking down at him. “What the FUCK!?” Raph shouted as he lifted one of his hands up to touch his eye which was just starting to show a bruise. “You lookin’ to die old man?” Raph asked as slowly he got to his feet, as he did so he reached into his pocket and pulled out something, a second later a blade flashed out at his hand.
“As if it wasn’t courageous enough that you attacked a guy four on one, you turned on a little girl? I must say that your bravery is commendable,” the wolf told him. He pushed Ayano so that she was standing behind him now, and Kit let out a breath as he saw that she was safer.
“I’m gunna gut you, you old bastard!” Raph said as he started forward.
“You really should be careful when you play with knives, you might hurt somebody... like yourself,” the wolf answered him in the same calm voice.
Then Raph stumbled back just as the wolf’s entire arm blurred and there was a loud smacking sound, Raph turned and his other eye was starting to blacken.
“THAT FUCKING HURTS YOU OLD FUCK!” Raph yelled at him as he tried to stab at him. This time it was like his entire body flickered and a moment later he wasn’t standing as he had been, he’d shifted so Raph’s knife, aimed at his stomach, breezed just to his left, away from Ayano.
“Please, I barely even hit. Really this is a waste of my time, but if you insist on pursuing this foolishness then I might be forced to seriously hurt you,” the wolf said calmly.
“GET HIM!” Raph called out to the other three as they all tried to surround the wolf, he didn’t even try to move as they encircled him.
“Now this is ALMOST worth my attention, but honestly do you really think this is going to change things? Last chance, walk away while you still can,” he told them in a bored tone.
“KICK HIS ASS!” Raph commanded in an angry voice. It was over in a flash, one second they were surrounding him, the next they were all laying on the ground crying out in pain.
“They never listen,” the wolf said in an almost remorseful tone. “Hey, you, kid... you gunna be ok?” the wolf asked as he turned to Kit.
At first Kit thought that maybe he was going to come after him soon, but he didn’t move forward. “Yeah... is my sister ok?” Kit asked back as he shakily tried to stand up.
“Don’t get up, you’re hurt pretty bad,” the tibetan fox said in her soft, soothing voice. A second later Kit collapsed in a heap. ~
“Daisuke that was completely irresponsible of you... you’re a master, you might have seriously hurt them!” Renka chided him as she came into the alley.
“Yeah, you should have let me take care of them,” Kisara added irritably as she followed her sister.
“They were going to hurt the girl,” Hitomi answered plainly. For a moment there was a stunned silence from the girls.
“You should have hit them harder,” Renka said after a second.
“Or let me hit them harder,” Kisara added.
“Is the kid gunna be alright?” Daisuke asked Hitomi.
“His nose looks fractured, the rest of his wounds appear to be mostly superficial,” she answered him.
“Alright, you girls help him back to his house, Hitomi and I can clean up here,” Daisuke told them.
Renka turned to the little girl who looked awestruck, but was otherwise unharmed. “Where is your house at?” Renka asked her kindly.
For a second she looked like she was debating whether or not to tell her. “We... we don’t...,” she started shyly.
“I thought not, he looked a little too hollow... take them back to the dojo and explain the situation to your uncle... looks like we’re going to have people boarding at the house for a while,” Daisuke told them.
Kit was still half naked when the two girls tossed one arm across each of their shoulders and pulled him up like that. “What’s all this?” Hitomi asked Ayano as she pointed down at the things her brother had been allowed to take with him.
“Huh? Oh, those are the things the store owners let us take with us. They’re past their sell-by date but they’ll still be good for a day or two,” Ayano told them when she saw all of it.
“We’ll let the kid explain all this when he wakes up,” Daisuke said as he started slapping one of the kids on the cheek to wake them up. ~
When Kit came to he was laying in a soft bed in an unfamiliar room, it was too nice to be at a shelter, and not sterile like a hospital bed, he had to wonder for a second where in the hell he was. The door outside the room opened up as the same tibetan fox he saw with Renka and Kisara entered the room. “Oh, you’re up, I was just coming to check your bandages,” she told him. As he looked down he noticed that his body was covered in bandages where he’d been hurt. “Looks like your nose wasn’t fractured, just scraped or something, it was bleeding pretty bad at first, but it stopped,” she said in her usual soft voice.
“Where am I?” Kit asked her.
“The Kazumi dojo, we brought you here after we found you passed out, your sister said you didn’t have a place to stay, so you’re going to stay here tonight,” she told him. Gingerly, Kit lifted himself out of the bed, his body ached for a moment, but if he moved slowly he found he could move. “You probably shouldn’t be moving around when you’re so injured,” Hitomi told him.
“It’s ok, I’ve taken worse than this,” He remarked as he located his school shirt on the nightstand and slowly pulled it on. “And I won’t have to stay here tonight, we can find someplace,” he told her, he hadn’t met her eyes since he’d woken up. He felt this sense of vast shame... they’d all seen him at his worst. “Why did you get involved back there, now those guys are going to come back,” Kit told her.
“They would have come back anyway. You don’t understand it though do you? You did everything they asked, you bore it in silence for a long time I’d wager, and yet they always came back eventually. You thought that if you played along and didn’t cause a ruckus that eventually they’d give up, but you were wrong. They’ll keep coming back BECAUSE you play along,” Hitomi explained to him.
Before Kit could answer the door was open and people were coming in. “How is he?” Renka asked Hitomi cautiously before she saw him standing.
“He’s awake... and moving,” Hitomi answered her.
“You should lay back down, you shouldn’t be moving around when you’re so beat up,” Renka told him.
“I’ll be fine,” Kit told her as he limped over to Ayano who was standing there speechless, she had that worried look on her face. She threw herself at his waist and wrapped her small arms around him as tight as she could, he could tell she was crying again. He grunted when she collided with him because it hurt.
“What were you thinking telling me to run, big brother?” Ayano asked him through her tears.
“I didn’t want you to get hurt, and I was too ashamed to let you see me when I was at my worst,” Kit told her as he tried to reassure her.
“I tried to run away, but I was so worried about you. I knew you were going to be hurt, and I didn’t know what to do, but I couldn’t just leave you there by yourself,” Ayano cried to him.
“Ayano, I’m fine, I promise,” Kit told her.
“You’re NOT fine. You only say you’re fine when you’re hurting. Why do you do that? You always put on a smile and act like everything’s alright for me. Why don’t you just tell me when you’re hurt or scared. I don’t need you to protect me. I’m a big girl now,” Ayano scolded him.
“I just don’t want you to worry about me,” Kit told her truthfully.
“I DO worry, because you’re my big brother... and you’re the only family I’ve got left,” Ayano answered him.
“Hey, dad’ll come back,” Kit tried to reassure her again.
“He’s not coming back, I’ve known he’s not coming back for a long time now, but I know that you want me to hope that he will, so I ask you every morning,” Ayano confided to him.
“You knew?” Kit asked her, he was genuinely shocked.
“How could I let you tell you that before now? If I’d said that you’d just brush it off and try to make me believe he was, but we both know that he’s gone. You’re all I’ve got now big brother,” Ayano told him.
“Old man says dinner’s ready,” Kisara told them the whole room as she came in. Kit had forgotten that there were others still in the room. Renka had these big huge doe eyes, like maybe she’d just seen a puppy dressed up in pajamas or something. “Did I come at a bad time?” Kisara asked as she looked around the room.
“Sorry to inconvenience you, we’ll take our leave now,” Kit told them politely with a bow before he dragged Ayano behind him and headed for the door. The black wolf, Daisuke stood in his way when he got there.
“You’re not goin’ anywhere,” Daisuke told him firmly.
“I appreciate the gesture, and the bandages, but I don’t need your pity,” Kit told him with a stern look.
“The way I see it, you owe me,” Daisuke told him as he didn’t move.
“I’ll pay you back for the bandages as soon as I can,” Kit answered him.
“I saved your ass today, after something like that I have a responsibility to look after you, besides you’re friends with Kisara and Renka, which makes you important to them,” Daisuke told him.
“He’s not friends with me,” Kisara threw out almost immediately. Before Kit could say anything quite possibly the biggest Fennec he’d ever seen entered into the room... he was massive, and he looked like a golem. His looked to be roughly middle aged, with hard eyes and a scarred complexion.
“Oh, our guest is awake, everything’s ready,” he said in a kind old voice.
“We won’t be staying,” Kit told the newcomer.
“Young man, I’d have to disagree with you there. You’re in no condition to be going anywhere on your own, you need time to heal,” the old man answered him.
“I’m fine,” Kit told him with a smile.
“Do you always hide your worries behind a smile like that? It’s not healthy,” the other answered him.
“I’m fine,” Kit said with more force behind his voice.
“What about you, are you fine? Would you like to stay for a nice bowl of curry?” He asked as he looked past Kit to see Ayano. At that moment Kit’s stomach growled loudly. He was a little embarrassed but he tried to act like it hadn’t happened.
“I wanna stay, big brother,” Ayano told him. Her eyes had a pleading look to them, the kind of look that always overpowered Kit’s resistance.
“Alright... we can stay,” Kit finally relented.
“Glad that’s settled, you’ll stay with us during your training,” the old man told him joyfully.
“Really? He can train here?” Renka asked in an overjoyed tone.
“Train?” Kit asked in a confused voice.
“You better not get in the way of MY training,” Kisara told him in a threatening tone.
“Train?” Kit said again, and finally Daisuke filled him in.
“It was decided that since you’re going to get your ass kicked every time if you don’t change, and that the only way you would have seen to change was to get a gun and start killing people, that you’d train here and learn how to defend yourself,” Daisuke told him.
“I don’t have time for stupid things like training, I have to work,” Kit told them.
“uhm... about that... after the situation at the grocery store, it seems like the owners got a call from one of the father of one of the kids we beat up, I guess he was really big into the food business, anyway he bought the store from them for a huge price... and fired you,” Renka said in a nervous voice, she sounded shaky as she said it.
“They........ fired me?” Kit asked in a shocked voice. He’d always liked working for the old couple, they’d always been so nice to him and his sister, but he’d also known that things were pretty dire for them, on the one hand he was upset that he’d been fired, but he was also glad that he had helped their situation in some way.
“So, if you look at it that way... we owe you, and staying here with us is really the only way we could pay you back,” she argued softly.
“If you stay here we’ll look after you and your sister, get you new clothes and all that for free, but in return we have to know that all our hard work isn’t going to waste, you train here with us and we teach you how to look after yourself and we look over your studies. In short, you stay here, but you have to devote yourself full-time to improving yourself for when you leave here,” the old man laid it out for him plainly.
Kit was speechless for a moment. They were offering to help him, not since his mother had died had anybody ever offered to help him, but they didn’t seem to pity him, it was more like... friendship. Kit hadn’t had a true friend for as long as he could remember. “Why are you doing this?” Kit asked them suspiciously after a moment’s thought.
“Renka told us that you didn’t trust people easily, that you always expected the worst out of them, but I never expected this,” Daisuke commented.
“If you expect the worst out of people you aren’t disappointed when that’s what you get,” Kit answered him tentatively.
“You could always look at it as getting your sister off the streets and into a real home, even if it is only temporary,” Hitomi said softly off to one side.
“So? Can we stay? I mean, forever,” Ayano asked him, her eyes were shining. He didn’t know what to say, he didn’t want to do this because he still expected it to turn out different than she expected, and when it did it would hurt so much more, but at the same time she wanted it so much he could tell.
“We can stay,” Kit finally relented.
“Look at me, where are my manners? Here we are talking about you living with us and you don’t even know all our names. My name is Perrin Kazumi, I’m the elder at this, the Kazumi dojo. I believe you’ve already met both of my nieces Renka and Kisara, the fellow standing by the door is Daisuke Takahata, and the young lady who bandaged you was Hitomi Arakida,” The elder indicated as he pointed to each of them in turn.
“I’m Kitsutachi Sunahama, you can call me Kit, and this is my little sister, Ayano,” Kit introduced them both.
“Their names are weird just like ours,” Ayano remarked. She was right, in that area most of the names were like John Smith.
“It sounds like your parents might have come from the west... that’s where we all came from,” Perrin explained politely. “Anyway, we should get going before the food gets cold,” he nudged them all to the kitchen politely.
