-Chapter 1-

"Huh?! Why did I give birth to a cat?! That's impossible! We have to get rid of her, one way or another!" a young woman said. She was holding in her arms a small infant.

"I don't know, honey... But we could put her in a box or something. I just know someone'll take her." a man's voice suggested.

"Good idea. I don't want my kid to be a cat-girl."

It was all true, the infant was female. She had a set of tiny, almost hairless cat ears sticking out of her head. She had a small but elegantly long tail that connected to her spinal column and protruded from her backside. She had no other teeth but two tiny cat fangs. Her first cry was, "Mew! Mew! Meow!" But the most appalling abnormalty was her claws. They weren't long enough or sharp enough to do any harm yet. Her eyes were lovely blue orbs, but laying in the very center of the orbs were dialated pupils, much like a cat's.

Her parents decided to set her in a box near an arcade's dumpster. Someone would surely find her near an arcade.

Now, exactly fourteen years later...

A raven-haired adonis walked into the arcade. "Hey, Andrew! Set me up a nice little coffee, will ya?"

"Wow! I don't think you've ever been this early before, Darien! New record set, here!" A tan-headed boy around Darien's age set out black coffee on the counter. Then he walked outside the arcade and set out a fish and some chicken on the ground.

"Looking for a picnic today?" Darien teased.

"No, but there's this girl, you see. She's-"

"Say no more! I'm just glad you finally got yourself a girlfriend! But here's some advice: Never leave a girl eating off the sidewalk, okay?"

"Well, it's not like that... She's, uh... Well... She won't eat it off a plate. And I've tried many times to feed her myself, but..."

"She hates you that much?"

"Darien, I'm serious! She's not normal!" Andrew sighed. "I can't really explain. You'll have to see her for yourself. She should be here any minute now."

"When you say 'not normal', do you mean wierd?"

"Sort of... Let's just say she gives a whole new meaning to the word 'wierd'."

"That bad?"

"I-I wouldn't exactly say bad, but... A lot of people hate her guts, though I've never seen her do anything to deserve- Oh, there she is! Quick, look!" Andrew said the last part as though he only had a few more seconds to live.

Darien turned to find himself fixated on a blonde-haired girl with blue eyes. But he suddenly realized what his friend meant when he said 'not normal' and 'wierd'.

The girl was eating the fish and chicken straight from the floor of the sidewalk. She was bending down and eating it like a cat. But whenever a person walked near her she scrammed. Then, a few minutes later, she'd be back and gobbling up the dish. She was dressed in rags and was obviously homeless.

"Why does she look half cat? Is she a cosplayer?" he asked.

"That's what I was trying to tell you! I don't think those ears or tail are fake. If they are, then she's had them on for way too long! Besides, they're too realistic to be fake."

"Really? You're saying she's not human?"

"I honestly can't say... But anyone who comes here will tell you, she hates people. And no one really knows anything about her life. For all I know, today could be her birthday."

Darien stepped outside the arcade and the girl suddenly froze, almost as though she was mortified. He took another slow step towards her. She didn't move, except for the fact that her tail swished back and forth and her ears shot up at him. Her eyes also dialated to a circumference that no human could ever hope to accomplish.

"I won't hurt you. It's okay..." he whispered. He took yet another step towards her.

That did it. She scurried up a nearby tree.

When Darien started to climb the tree to follow her, he nearly wet himself when she hissed at him. So instead, he went back to get her some food that she left on the ground when she ran. He tried to hand her the food, reaching up to her as he did. "Here..." he softly said.

She swatted at him with her claws. "Get away from me!" she frustratedly yelled.

"You can speak?!"

"Of course I can! Now, shoo!" she retorted.

"Why should I?"

"If you don't, then I'll tear your eyeballs out of your skull!"

"Heh heh heh..."

"What's so funny? Don't you fear me? Aren't you disgusted by my appearance?" she questioned.

"No, no, no! I mean, it's true that I'm not scared of you. But you don't disgust me! It's just funny how sassy you are, that's all."

"Well, don't give me that crap about 'you won't hurt me'! You humans are all alike! Every last one of you!"

"Maybe you haven't gotten to really know us."

"Yeah right. How do you think I got to be where I am now? Huh?"

"..."

"Exactly! So you're still going to say I should trust you more? The only reason I lived this long is because I hate you!" she screamed the last part, with tears streaking down her cheeks. She finally slashed him with her claws. "Let that be a warning to you."

This made Darien hop down from the tree. "Yow! You know, that's why no one likes you! Right there! And if you want to live so bad, GET A JOB!"

Andrew was waiting for him to return. "So how'd it go?" He looked up to find his friends cheek bleeding, five red gashes trailing down his face.

"Not very well..."

"You got scratched. That's what happens when people mess with her, I guess. But it's only natural..."

"What are you talking about?"

"Put yourself in her shoes for a moment. Everyone hated her and distested her solely because of her looks. Anyone would get mad and distrustful when everyone looks down on them like that."

"Yeah..."