Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or any characters involved in the series. I only own Karla, and other OC's that may appear later on in the story.
Nine Lives, a Thousand Plans
(A/N: This is a prequel to my story "A Cat's Instinct".)
Chapter 1: A Loss of Innocence
Our story brings us to a small house, well, it's more like a shack really… It's roof
is torn, and the shingles have large chunks ripped out of them, as if a monster had bitten them out of a savage hunger.
Inside, a young boy sat in a corner, his face streaked with tears and their salty tracks all the way down to his small chin.
"Get back here, you little dog!" his father yelled, a bottle of half-finished rum in his hand, as he staggered around awkwardly, looking for the boy.
Upon spotting the small, dark-haired youngster, a fire was instantly ignited in his eyes.
"There you are, you little brat!" he yelled, the words heavily slurred as he grabbed the boy roughly by the scruff of the neck.
The boy started to cry, as the father threw him heartlessly to the ground.
"There, on the ground where you belong!" the angry drunk yelled, as the boy bled slightly by a cut he had received when his arm hit the splintered wooden floor.
The mother then came out, seeing the boy's injuries.
"Kakar, stop it!" she cried out, trying to protect her son, "Kuro is hurt!"
"Kuro… that mutt is all you care about! We never should've let him live. I told you that he would never amount to anything! He's just a street rat, and he should live like one!"
Kuro sobbed silently, his shoulders shaking with harsh sobs, but Kuro's mother refused to give in, a growl rumbling in her throat, whether by rage or nervous anger, no one really figured it out.
"Get back woman, you're just as bad as the brat!" Kakar said, staggering backwards.
"Look, what he made me do!" Kakar said, "He's bad luck I tell you!"
He kicked Kuro, making the young boy cry harder.
"Kakar, stop it!" Kuro's mother pleaded, as she pounded her fists harshly against her husband's muscled chest, "You're drunk again!"
Kakar then turned to his wife, and hit her with the back of his hand.
She fell backwards into a wall, where she crumpled to the floor.
Kakar then looked back at Kuro, who cringed on the floor, pure terror in his eyes, mostly caused by his vulnerability to his drunken father.
He wanted to cry out for his mother, but he knew better than to make that mistake again.
He just whimpered softly, pulling his knees to his small chest, pressing his shirt closer to his body.
Young Kuro seemed like a cornered puppy ready to be put down at the pound.
"Outside, now!" Kakar demanded to Kuro, who slowly stood up.
"Stop wasting time!" the man yelled again, only his voice much more firm and fierce.
Kuro shot up, and headed to the backyard.
Kakar took out a belt, made of harsh leather, and it had hardened with age, and taking it in his hands, he struck the boy with it.
Kuro held in his cries of pain as he always did when his father beat or whipped him.
After a few minutes that seemed like an eternity, Kuro's father backed off and headed into the house.
Kuro, however, didn't follow his father, but headed into a small dog house, that was in the back yard.
They hadn't owned a dog in a long time, but Kuro used it as a kind of retreat from personal problems.
Kuro sat on the ground, utterly relieved that his father hadn't used something else against him, such as the bat or his rifle.
It had rained the day before, so when Kuro crouched onto all fours, he found himself covered in sticky mud and dirt.
He heard yelling from in the house, and he went faster into the dog house.
He retreated into the corner, and covered his ears, trying to block out the fighting, but there was one sound that pierced through all the yelling of his father.
A loud, high-pitched howl, which resembled one of a wolf, rang from the house.
Kuro's spine shivered at the sound, as it seemed to resound through the entire neighborhood.
Gathering all the courage he could muster, he stood up, to see a Navy truck pull up in front of the house, and there was more chaos as men came out of the truck fully armed in uniform and everything.
Soon the yelling was accompanied by gunshots and then everything just stopped.
For a few, almost blissful five minutes, everything was silent, and the Navy truck pulled away.
Kuro stood, fully expecting his mother to come out and see if he was alright, or his father to stagger out and beat him again, but none of that happened.
After some hesitation, he ran into the house, and looking around, he was startled and sickened by what he saw.
((A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. THere will be more to come, and for my reviewers on "A Cat's Instinct" I am writing the next chapter presently, so please read and review))