"Is it morning already?" I said as I rolled over on my side and turn my head to get a good look at the window.

No matter how tightly shut the blinds were, the morning sun always managed to leak through filling the room with a soft warm orange color. I pulled the covers over my head and closed my eyes. I just need five more minutes, I thought. I guess I would never get them because soon after I felt a weight on my shoulder and something nudging at the back of my head.

"Okasan, I'm hungry, kyu."

I groaned and moved the blanket off my face staring into the blue eyes of an albino fox. It looked more like an over grown Siamese cat. Well almost, his socks were the normal reddish brown that a normal fox would have, his ears and tail looked as if it was dipped in the same color paint. He hopped over my shoulder and nudged my face.

"I'm hungry, kyu. Asagohan tabetai desu, kyu!" He asked in his softest voice. Though he was the size of an adult cat, he was still just a baby and needed a mom figure to take care of him.

"Fine Kitskip, I'll get up and get you something to eat."

He jumped up and down in my bed as I slowly sat up and let the covers slide off the top half of my body. I wore nothing but a simple blue and black striped undershirt and plain black panties. I crept off my bed and opened the blinds. The sunlight was slightly painful to my eyes but they quickly adjusted. The sun had barely made it over the trees, which meant that it was still early in the morning and I had time to wonder the streets and take Kitskip for a nice long walk.

"Oi Kits, let's have a great day today." I said picking him up and heading for the bathroom.

He looked up at me and nodded happily, "Hai!"

After a quick shower and some breakfast, I decided to wear my baggy jeans, black gym shoes, a black short-sleeved shirt with the words 'bite me' and a picture of a sushi roll on it. We left through the window, using the emergency exit ramps as walkways to get from building to building till we finally reach the last building and had to climb down. I didn't feel like bothering the other people that I live with.

My cousin is a neat freak and hates having to deal with animals. Needles to say, one of the unspoken rules of the house was no pets allowed unless they were fish. To me having a fish just didn't appeal to me, even as a kid I didn't like having fish as pets. Yeah, they were nice and calming to stare at but once they got big enough I ate them out of boredom. When I told her that I wanted a ferret she held her nose and looked at me as if I had lost my mind.

"Avalon, are you crazy? I don't want no rat smelling up my house." She complained.

"It's not a rat, though it is part of the rodent family." I said back

"There for it's a rat." My cousin argued with me

"No, there is a difference." I continued.

"I don't care what the hell it is," She said infuriated. "No pets!"

I had to keep quiet when I found Kitskip all alone by a dumpster. I guess his mom was wondering around and got nabbed by some kids in my neighborhood. That's always the case with some animals around here. Most of them grew up either without a mother, a father, or missing both parents.

How do I know this? As clichéd as this may sound I can talk to animals. Not like 'the powers fell on me one day and I could suddenly talk to animals', no. It was more like ear training, since I was a kid. The only thing that would seem like magic is the fact that sounds slowly turned into words. Another thing people never seem to notice is that animals are intelligent creatures and they can speak English better the most of my graduating class.

"What shall we do today Kits?" I asked as I touched the ground.

"Aisukurimu," he shouted.

"Hai hai, I get it." I giggled.

As much as I wanted to get some ice cream too, I couldn't shake the feeling that it might have to wait. When we turned the corner into another alley way a car drifted out of another alley too close for comfort then sped off. It kicked up a lot of dirt and it got into my eyes.

"Watch it you bastard," I coughed.

I felt Kitskip trying to crawl up my leg and felt something hot graze my face. 'Shit!' I lowered my body and held him close as a hissing sound died followed by loud popping sounds.

"Are you ok?" I asked him.

His tiny body was shaking and I quickly soothed him and told him that it was over. Oh was I so wrong, the same car came back down the alley and stopped.

"Me and my big mouth," I sighed. I didn't move and I was careful to keep him fully covered in my arms. "Gomen, bare with me, ne?"

I felt him nod as I slowly pulled a scarf out of my pocket to cover him with it. As long as they don't see him they won't stay any longer than they need to. I slowly stood up watching the car carefully.

"If it isn't my favorite alley cat," a voice said. The front door flew open and a tall dark male stepped out.

"What do you want now, Calvin." I hissed at him.

"Now now," he said raising his hands up. "I just wanted to pay you back for all your rude comments."

I clenched my jaw and slid a foot back preparing myself to run if I had to. 'Just a bit longer,' I thought hoping that Kitskip could hear. I was waiting for the right moment, and then I would take off and run.

"Let's celebrate our reunion." He said stretching out his arms, "The day you finally become mine."

"I told you before, I'd never date a second rate bastard like you!" I spat and turned on my heels and ran down the alley. It's a good thing I didn't have much in my pockets otherwise, it would have fallen out.

I reached the end of the only to find it blocked off by another car and two more people that followed Calvin's idiocy. I slid to a stop and looked for a way out. There was an opened dumpster to my right and stacks of wooden crates under an emergency exit ramp. I had to think fast before I was surrounded on all sides. I took a deep breath and ran towards the crates.

If I was going to make it anywhere, I'd have to move fast and think faster. I jump up on the stack of crates and jumped up and reached out with my right hand. I stretched my arm as far as I could but my fingers only grazed the cold metal.

'Shimatta, think think,' I ordered myself. I'd have to find some way to dance around them as soon as I landed. I could their footsteps as they inched closer to get into position to catch me. I couldn't help but to land between them. I placed my right arm back over the baby fox, and staggered back as if I twisted my ankle and kneeled down. "Hey man, what's wrong with her?" one of the guys asked stepping closer to see.

"All women are the same," the second thug snorted. "Probably got tired of running and hurt herself."

"I don't know," the first thug said standing over me. "This could be serious."

I sprang up suddenly making contact with his chin. As he fell back holding his face I raced towards the exit, jumped on the hood of their car, then lunged into the streets running. There was only one place I could go to that would keep me safe. I moved Kitskip onto my shoulder so he can breathe and kept running.

I didn't think twice as I rounded the last corner down some stairs and busted thru the back door of a purple and black building.

"Okasan! Abunai!" No soon had I heard him speak and I opened the door I ran into a tall black figure and fell back releasing the fox.

"Oh man." I rubbed my nose with my eyes shut and started yelling. "Alanni, where the hell did this wall come from?"

"Well, if you would use the door like a normal person, you wouldn't be running into people." He answered.

"People?" I finally opened my eyes to get a good look at what I had run into.

The tall black mass was a man. He had long sleek black hair and wore black sunglasses. His face was well defined, as if it was carved from cream-colored stone. He could scare a child easy, even with the small smile that he had on his face; despite this, he looked mature and sexy. He reached out a hand to help me up and I didn't say no.

"You're not hurt are you?" His voice was smooth, deep and heavily accented. He sounded Asian.

I shook my head 'no' and gave him my best smile. 'I've seen him before, but where?' I thought as I slowly pulled my hand away. The only thing that broke my stare was the sound of a whining Kitskip at my feet.

"Gomen, nani wo tabetai ka? (What would you like to eat?)" I knelt down to pick him up and held him close to me. He whispered what he wanted and I couldn't help but giggle.

"Nihon jin desu ka?" (Are you Japanese?) The man asked.

I shook my head "Iie, watashi wa amerika jin desu." (No, I'm American.)

He raised a brow. "Sou desuka? Ja, hajimemashite." (Is that so? Well, it's nice to meet you.)

"Alon," Alanni pointed towards the door at his back. "If you can't use the door the right way, I'll start making you go through the front."

"Don't call me that, I just had a rough morning." I said scratching Kitskip behind the ear. "Anyway, we're going up for a bit to get some food from the café."

"You know there are no pets upstairs." He folded his arms and stared at me.

"Then get me some food," I looked over at the tall man, "and stop being rude to your guest!"

He held up his hands and smiled again. "I should be going before they come after me and drag me into the studio."

"Ok, just come see me when you guys are done." He got up and went to go shake the tall man's hand. "It's nice to be able to have you guys perform here later on. I'm looking forward to it."

My eyes widen. Perform? Is he talking about that band that's from Japan? It all began to click in my head. He was able to speak to me in Japanese fluently. I was frozen in my spot staring at him once again.

'No, it couldn't be.' My throat felt swollen, my mouth was dry, and my heart was pounding. I had just run smack into a musician, and was too stumped to even apologize properly. Kitskip nipped my finger and I ran upstairs to order our food. When I came back downstairs the tall man was long gone and Alanni was sitting at his desk looking through an old photo album.

His desk was unusually clean, normally there would be two or three cameras, pictures scattered all over, negatives, new film rolls, and unmarked bottles. When he wasn't tending to the café, he was out taking pictures of the world around him. He was able to balance these two jobs with the grace and stamina that even the professional workers get jealous of him. I sat my fox pet on the ground so I could sit the food on his desk and grabbed a chair for me to sit in.

He didn't look up from his book but he sighed, "You ran into Calvin again, didn't you?"

I rubbed the back of my head. "How could you tell? I never said anything."

"Well, by the way you entered the back door." Alanni sat the album down and looked at me. "You usually knock and then enter, with a big smile on your face and the mutt there at your feet."

Kitskip didn't bother to wait for me to pick him up. He hopped up on my lap and ate the fish fillet. I moved some of my hair around. "I must be a magnet for troublesome people." I sighed, "I hate my life."

"Just don't go back there. Go somewhere else, get out, have some fun for once." He opened up his photo album and pulled out a picture of me and him making faces in the café, that was over a year ago.

"She's not here anymore. I can't be young and foolish forever." I said sadly.

Alanni shook his head and place the album back on his side of the desk. "You've been there for too long."

"Well, can I stay at your place then?" I folded my finger together and looked at him with pleading eyes.

He chuckled, "Not tonight kiddo, Bremen is going to be here and I can't leave the shop tonight."

My eyes widen once again. "They're coming here?" I could feel the excitement in my voice.

"Yeah, you're more than welcomed to help out if you want to." He smiled at me "Give you a reasonable excuse to be out all night."

I couldn't say anything, I was too stunned to speak and the little kit could feel it. He got on his hinds and licked my nose.

"Ookasan? Daijoubu?"

I hugged him close to me and jumped out of my chair and started dancing. My favorite band was going to be here of all places, and I can meet them, I can talk to them. I gave Kitskip another quick hug and sat him on the chair and ran around the desk to glomp Alanni.

"Thank you so much!"