Very carefully, very carefully. I looked over at the woman leaving her baby's stroller for a moment to get something from the farther shelves. The coast was clear. When I was sure the woman wasn't looking, I ran up to the stroller. The baby looked up at me and gurgled happily, but that wasn't what I was here for. I took the blanket, juice and everything else; it only took me a couple of seconds.

As I was starting to walk away, the woman was strolling up her child's stroller. I was out of the grocery store when I heard her shriek, "AH! Who stole my baby's things?" No one paid any attention to the girl with the dirty hoodie, walking into the park. It was the middle of the day, so no one but a couple of elderly couples was there.

Their eye sight was so bad that they didn't see me climb into one of the trees and lie down. One lady was underneath me, feeding bird seed to a flock of pigeons. Gah, pigeons are just rats with wings, I thought bitterly. They did make a nice meal once and while, though.

After a little while, the woman got up and walked away, the pigeons following her like dogs. I napped in the tree for a long time, because when I awoken, the sun was going down, the sky no longer a calm blue. It was alight with reds, pinks, oranges, yellows, purples and dark blue. Quickly, I scanned the area. Nope, there was no one there.

Slowly, I climbed down from my branch, and kept checking behind me. Geez, aren't you the paranoid one. The sky got darker and darker as I walked, my hands in my pockets. Autumn was coming to end, with winter knocking on the seasonal door again. This would be my second winter Free. Time moved so quickly when I didn't have worry about those things, the- no, I thought, don't think about that.

Instead, I looked at the bar in front of me. While everywhere else was nearly deserted, the bar was always as populated like a fair. It was the best place to snatch money from drunkards. There had been no real food in the baby's stroller, and I hadn't eaten in days. My stomach growled loudly, like a reminder. I know, I know.

As I walked in, I pulled my hood down, and took off my hat, letting my hair fall onto my shoulders. They were a chocolate brown, wavy and slightly in soft curls. I unzipped my hoodie, and tied it around my waist.

Now I looked more like a girl. The moment I walked into the bar, I smelled the strong alcohol, urine, and vomit. A bartender was working overtime, passing out so many drinks her arms were a blur.

Several drunks stumbled around, some talking with a few hot chicks. A very ugly man with blood shot eyes, and a beer belly was trying to coax one young girl to sit on his lap, but she got up, disgusted, and walked on over to her girlfriends. Perfect. I sat in the seat next to him, and just played with my finger nails, peeking at him once in a while, and giggling. He seemed enticed. "What'z a yong girl like you doin' out here so late?" he asked, his word slurring.

I shuddered as he put his hand on my leg, and memories flashed through my mind. All I wanted to do was run out of there, crying, "Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" But I forced a smile, and said seductively with a wink, "Looking for hot guys like you." This guy took it, fish line and sinker. Heck, he was gobbling up the bobber! I leaned in to kiss him on the cheek, and sent my hand down his pocket. I don't know what his perverted mind was thinking, but all I did was grab his wallet, and jump up.

"Oh no, I have to go! Bye bye," I said quickly with a wave of my hand. There's the trick, be too fast for their drunken mind to comprehend until moments later. As I ran out of there, stuffing my locks into my hat and zipping my hoodie back on me, I felt nauseous.

The memories started coming back, and I stumbled, clutching my heart. It was pounding so hard that I thought it would come out. Just when I reached the park, my park, I vomited. I didn't care who saw me, or what happened to me right there and then, but I had to get it out.

The memories died down, and flowed out of me along with the vomit. With a few coughs and spits to get out the taste, I ran to my tree. It was huge, with big branches, and, in the summer and spring time, huge leaves that could conceal an entire village. Luckily, only a few animals and I lived in it as our home.

When I had reached a large branch that was very high up, I looked in the guy's wallet. Though he had spent most of his money on booze, there was about a hundred and fifty dollars. I squealed with joy. A hundred and fifty dollars could feed me for a really long time! As I hugged the small wallet with joy, tears crept out of my eyes.

They weren't joyful tears, I'll tell you that much. "I know, I've got to feed you," I told my stomach, rubbing it. I climbed back down the tree and joyfully skipped to Starbucks, a place I hadn't robbed anyone at. Another good tip; never buy anything at a place you've stolen something at.

There was a strangely long line, but I waited happily, periodically jumping up in the air, earning me a few stares from the older costumers. When I had finally reached the counter, a woman with a bored stare gazed at me. "What will you want?" she asked with the most unenthusiastic voice I have ever heard. "I would like a coffee, pound cake and muffin please," I said, happily awaiting my meal. The smell was heavenly, and I nearly passed out from the hunger.

She handed me the food, I handed her the money, carefully checking the change, and then ran out of the store. "Food!" I yelled as I ran. Who cares about the people sleeping in their homes? At least they had had something to eat. I ran all the way back to my tree, passing the stinky vomit puddle, and scrambled up it. The wallet was in my pocket, the coffee in one hand and the warm breads in another.

The moment I was sitting on a branch, and I devoured that food so fast I barely tasted it. Then, once I relished on the sweet taste of the cake and muffin, I chugged the coffee down. It was bitter, but made me alert straight afterwards. "Oh god, I ate too much," I moaned. A slice of cake, small cup of coffee and a muffin made me overly full.

That doesn't sound good. Everyone used to call me, "The Stomach," because I could eat so much, which made it hard in the first couple of months I was Free, but I slowly began to learn how to ignore the rumbling stomach.

As I climbed down the tree, I noticed that the moon was full and high in the sky, shining like a diamond. The sky was no longer flaming, but a cool, mellow dark blue, the darkest blue. There were no stars, of course. The lamps in the park shone brightly, hanging over empty benches.

Nighttime is my time, I thought, with a grin. Something rustled in a tree above me, and I turned towards the sound, to deal with it if I had to. But no, it was merely a small squirrel, jumping from branch to branch in a playful manner. The cold wind rustled the nearly empty branches, taking away some of the leaves. I zipped my hoodie all the way, and continued walking. Maybe I should go dumpster diving. People throw away the most amazing things. But, I always checked for a body. One time I had found one accidentally, and totally freaked out, screaming bloody murder.

As people began to crowd, I jumped out, and ran to a pay phone. I had a few quarters and had called the police. It was in the news the next day, and the police wanted to find the person who had found the body. Needless to say, they never found me. I approached a dumpster, and opened the top. Very carefully, I put my hand inside and tried to find a hand, foot, leg, or something of the sort.

Nothing. I breathed a sigh of relief. As I jumped in, I noticed the smell. It was absolutely revolting, smelling of rotting things and moldy stuff. I stuck my nose under my shirt and tried to find anything useful. The top was open, so the smell wafted out, and the light from a nearby lamp was a great help.

I had found a soiled blanket, a ripped shirt, a milk carton, and a sock. The sock and shirt were too small for me, but I could sew them together to the blanket, to make it thicker. The milk carton could have a use. I got out and closed the dumpster lid, very quietly.

There was no weirdos around, just the occasional late night workers, and alley cats. I walked back to the park, and once again, paranoid-me looked around. Just as I was approaching my tree, I saw someone on one of the benches. I placed my treasures in a bush, and walked on over to the figure.

It was a boy, with a violin case near his feet. He was laying down, his chest rising and falling in a steady beat. His face was looking at me, so I stuck mine near his. Tip: if you want to find out if someone is asleep, stick our face really near there's for a long time, and see if they twitch.

He had dark blue hair, which framed his boyish face and long eye-lashed eyes. I waited. And waited. And waited. He didn't twitch or stir. As carefully as I could, I slid my hand down his pocket, and tried to find a wallet or cash of some sort. He had nothing except a phone number written on a napkin. Then, I turned my attention to the violin, which rested underneath the bench.

Always looking at his face once and a while, I opened the case quietly, and looking inside. What I saw was beautiful. The violin was a gorgeous chocolate color, with a delicate bow on the other side, pure white hairs attached to the bow. And underneath the violin was cash. I lifted the violin up and put as much cash as I could into my pockets.

Then, I snapped the case closed, and slide it soundlessly back under the bench. A hand grabbed my hood, and pulled it down to uncover my hidden face. "What the hell are you doing?" the boy yelled, now fully awake. He pulled my hood closer to him, which my face followed. "Who are you and what are you doing to my violin?" he shouted.

I struggled away from him, and ran like a scared rabbit back to my tree. Caught! I was caught! It was unbelievable; I had never been caught! And I was so sure that he was asleep. "You come back here!" the boy roared, running towards my tree. I was already half way up when he started climbing.

I knew this tree well; he didn't. None the less, he could climb the tree almost as well as I could, and just as I was packing my belongings into a bag, he was on the branch under mine. "You stole something from me, so give it back!" he growled.

I climbed higher and higher, until I was as high as I could go, with the boy close behind me. I panicked. There's nowhere else to go, I thought, looking around.

Then I saw it and jumped; a branch on the neighboring tree that I could land on. The boy looked at me in surprise as he saw me sailing down wards, and then landing on another branch. It knocked the breath out of me, but I was up within seconds. As I was climbing down that tree, I heard the boy land on the branch as well, but instead of climbing down, he dropped down onto the ground, landing as graceful as a cat.

My feet hit the ground seconds after his did. I ran towards the park entrance, going as fast as my skinny legs would let me. The boy was close behind me, and grabbed at my arms and bag. After a couple of tries, he managed to grab my bag, and pulled me down onto the ground.

"Give me back the money you took," he growled, pinning my arms to the ground. I literally hissed at him (a talent I had acquired from spending a lot of time with the alley cats) and kicked him as hard as I could. But he held his ground. "Let me go!" I growled, turning my head to bite at his hands.

He moved them out of my range, and looked down at me with triumph. "Give me back what you stole, the hard way or the easy way." He looked at me with his deep blue eyes, and I gave up.

Or so he thought.

His grip tightened on my hands, and he looked deep into my eyes. "I'm not playing," he said menacingly. I just glared at him. "One word; never," I whispered at him with a smirk. His eyes became dark, and at that moment, I decided to head butt him.

No one wins in a head butt, I'll tell you that. But at your hairline is one of the strongest bones in your head, so, though it may hurt, you'll hurt less. The boy keeled over and I stood back and ran as fast as I could, out the park, and into the streets.

Eclipse: Hiya my peeps! Eclipse here with her new and improved story! I haven't written a Shugo Chara story in FOREVA! So please be nice if it sucked!

Ikuto: Soo… who was it who head butted me?

Eclipse: I'll reveal the mystery girl later, but she's someone you know quite well. Her hair is a different color than it was in anime, but that's cuz it darkened over time. Guess at who it is!

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