"Hey you little brat!"

Three thugs, each fairly larger than the average male, entered an alley way and weren't too happy seeing a stranger on their turf. The small child that was crouched in front a cardboard box looked back at them with a dull stare. Her eyes were not normal. They were fairly large and cat like, the irises were black, and her pupils were a vibrant blue. She looked each of them over, scoffed, then turned back to the box. Being scoffed at wasn't something the thugs liked.

Not too far down from that exact alley, a young girl of about 18 walked out of a convenience store after purchasing a certain item. As she made her way down the street, the heavens opened up and it began to pour down. People ran for cover of nearby buildings and their cars, but only a few, such as this one girl, continued to walk on unfazed by the weather. She didn't even have an umbrella, but being wet was such a trifle matter to her. As she walked along, she quietly sang to herself,

"Rain rain stay today, thank you for coming yet another day."

She softly repeated this verse as her boots splashed in the puddles that had begun to form on the sidewalk. The only thought on her mind, was the cardboard box filled with kittens and their mother that was in a nearby alley. She made it her duty to stop by at least once a day to feed and take care of the abandoned felines.

As she got closer to the alley, she could hear some non to pleasant sounds over the din of the rain and thunder. As she rounded the corner of a building and in to the alley she heard a sick cracking sound and watched as a man about ten times the size of the small child that had just broken his arm, fall face first into a dirty puddle of water after receiving a karate chop to the back of his head. The child was about the size of a 12 year old, and had a head of dark hair that was sticking to her face because of the down pour of rain. She wondered how the small girl was fighting with such a visual impairment.

"Fuckin brat," another cursed as he ran for the small girl.

The girl tossed her head to the side a little, uncovering a pointed ear. It twitched a bit before she made her move. The thug came at her directly from her right, fist raised and ready to strike. Quicker than she'd seen anyone move, the girl turned to face the man, dodged his fist, grabbed his wrist with her right hand and pulled him down to her level. As he fell off balance, she delivered a straight uppercut to his chin that knocked him back, and as he fell, he hit his head off the concrete wall of the building behind him, knocking him unconscious as well.

The third figured he was going to be the smart one and reached into his pocket for a weapon. Without hesitation, the girl that had just entered the alley dropped the bag and ran forward towards the thug. She had the element of surprise, seeing as his back was turned to her and no one had noticed she had been watching. She was at a slight disadvantage height wise, but she knew her strength wouldn't fail her. Grabbing the man around his waist, she kicked the back of his right leg to get him off balance to lift him off the ground before she dropped him backwards on to his head, successfully knocking him out cold. The blade of his knife softly clanked on the hard ground at it fell out of his hand.

"That was close," the girl said. She went back to her fallen bag and picked it up. As she turned to go back into the alley, she quickly held her palm to defend against the punch the little girl had aimed for her stomach. She hadn't even heard the girl run up on her. Good thing she had such great reflexes or else she probably would have been out cold like the thugs.

"Are you friend or foe?" the small child asked. A bit of her hair had fallen from her face, showing the older girl her strange, cat like eyes.

After a beat, the girl responded, "Foe if you don't lower your fist." She wrapped her hand around the small fist her palm. "Friend, if you let me pass so that I can feed that family of cats you were protecting." She raised the bag in her left hand up so that the child could see it and shook it. The child's ear twitched again and she pulled her fist from the older girl's hand. She reached for the bag but the older girl pulled it from her.

"It's not for you, it's for the kittens and their mommy."

The older girl stepped around the child and walked over to the box. The child followed closely behind and stood over her shoulder as she pulled the cans from the bag. The kittens meowed loudly and scrambled all over each other to try to get to the girl, knowing exactly what those cans mean. They stopped at the edge of the box, not wanting to step out into the rain.

"Calm down calm down, there's enough for all of you." The girl smiled as she pried the lids off the cans and set them inside the box. She placed the last can in the back of the box for the mother, who meowed softly and began to eat. As she pulled her hand back, she knocked something over. "What's this?" She grabbed whatever it was and pulled it out of the box. "Is this yours?" she asked the child as she held up the book.

The child nodded. "Can you read it?" she asked.

"Um…hard to say what with the rain and all, I don't want to get the pages wet." She held the book between her legs so that it wouldn't get wet, and petted the kittens. They purred and rubbed against her hand. She smiled and reached in to pet the mother who gently licked her fingers. "You're welcome," the girl said softly.

The child watched silently as the older girl took care of the kittens. After a few minutes, the rain slowed to a drizzle, then stopped completely. The girl stood up from the box and pulled the book from her legs.

"Well?" the child said, looking up at the older girl.

"Hm? Oh, your book." She opened it up to the first page and stared at it for a minute. The child stared expectantly, her heart fluttering in her chest.

"Agase?" the girl tilted her head as she stared at the word. "…What kind of language-?" When she looked over the edge of the book to look at the small child, she took a step back in surprise. The child was smiling up at her with such a goofy grin and her eyes had grown with such happiness she thought they were going to consume her face.

"My name is Fana," the child said.

"F-Fana…"

She nodded vigorously.

"Well then…hello Fana…I'm Hanai," the older girl said.

"Hanai!" The girl shouted happily. "Hanai Hanai Hanai Hanai Hanai!" she chanted as she danced around her in circles.