She was running, they had beaten her, threw her out, and chased after her for the thrill of the hunt. But she was fast, faster than the dogs that were chasing her. The pain was pounding through her body and pushed her through the woods, her panic kept her vision sharp and her reflexes quick, but the blood loss was pulling at her consciousness, bidding her to slow down, to stop, to sleep.

. . .

She was now roughly an hour away and she could still hear the shrill howl of the hunting dogs following her bloody trail. The wind had picked up and it was starting to mist, unexpectantly she plunged down into a heavy flowing river, It was freezing but the heat of the remaining blood shielded her from the cold of the water, at least for a few minutes. Soon she began to shiver and struggle against the currant, trying desperately to get out of the water. A root was sticking high out of the water and she was able to grab a hold of it. Pulling herself up she found that she had weakened significantly in the past hour, her clothed felt as if they were made out of lead and she could hardly feel the branch with her fingertips from the cold. It took her a moment to catch her breath but her vision cleared and she looked up, through the trees was a bright welcoming light. What was it? Could it be a safe place? Or was it filled with superstitious people, ready to kill her or to keep her away. She was afraid at first but given her immediate situation, she felt, though, as if there was no choice, she would surly die anyways if she were to stay out here. It took her a while to limp through the trees, and she came upon a very large house. The doors were huge and there was not a cobweb in sight. She lifter her torn wet cloak over her head to cover her ears, and pulled it tight around her, attempting to hide the blood that had not washed off in the river. She knocked.

Not a few moments later the door opened and a tall, very handsome looking man stood there. "Sir," She said, trying not to tremble " I was passing through and I had fallen in the river, I am cold and I have no place to go, may I come in and warm myself for tonight? I promise that I wont be a bother, I-" "Let her in, Sebastian." A small but strong voice replied behind the man. The man blinked slowly and moved away from the door, giving her room to enter. She walked through the doorway but she kept her eyes down. Her eyes were special, they were green and glowed yellow at night. They were the eyes of a jinxneko demon.

"What is your name?" asked the boy. There was a slight hesitation before she replied "I don't know…" the boy looked confused, " you don't kn-" " I mean, Cat, my name is Cat, short for Catherine." Her eyes were still trained on the floor. " Sebastian take, Catherine, down to the spare servants room." He eyes her suspiciously." Yes, my lord…"

. . .

The man names Sebastian had lead her down to a small room with a comfortable

looking queen sized bed and an attached bathroom. She was grateful for that, and kept the door ajar as she entered it. There was a small basin and a pitcher full of water, and a tub longer than it was wide. The thought came to her on how to use these things. She wasn't used to bathrooms. The cage she was kept in was dirty and only the rain only washed it out. She was never fed enough to really worry about going to the bathroom. The only time it stunk badly was when people threw rotten food at her. The man who had captured her as a child enjoyed watching her suffer, and enjoyed watching all the superstitious townsfolk rant and rave about how the jinxneko was unlucky and should be killed. Only few pitied her and tossed edible food her way. That is how she stayed alive. Until her owner became incredibly drunk and decided to play a game of 'chase the cat'.

It took her a moment to figure out the tap, and she turned the hot water on. It actually surprised her that hot water could come out of the same pipe that the cold water did. She pushed the thought aside, thinking 'only the rich…' Gently she started to peel off her clothing. First her cloak, which was easy compared to her underclothes. They had dried to the healing wounds and caused her more pain as she tried to rip them off without reopening the wounds. Slowly she got into the hot tub and using her bloodied shirt she started to scrub the blood off of her skin. The water tinted a rusty dirt color. As she washed she thought about the boy and the question he asked her, what was her name? She had never before been asked that question, for as long as she could remember she had no name other than 'demon'. The only thing she could think of was Cat, because of her neko side. She noticed then how much her head hurt and how much her eyes stung. Cat closed her eyes for just a moment, blood from her torn ear dribbled down her face, the warmth of her spilling blood and the hot bath was just too much.

. . .

meanwhile…

"Sebastian" young Ciel said, as his butler was buttoning up his nightshirt and tucking him into bed. " I do not trust this girl, something seem odd about her, I want you to keep an eye on her." " yes, my lord…" replied the butler, and he went off.