A/N: This is my first FanFic I've written and was pretty nervous. Wasn't even sure if I was going to post it or not. Whole idea started as little bugs scurrying in my head. What's funny was for a while, I was living out of my phone with all sorts of notes( I actually still am) and decided to let my friends have a look and they liked it. So big shoutout to Sandman7734!

Anyway; this is a 3 arc story about the different phases of my Femshep Kitana. She is Earthborn and a Sole Survivor. A lot of Kitana's attitude on Earth is a reflection of my own attitude, as she constantly has to fight just to stay alive. This is a Femshep/Liara story. I'm hoping to go a bit deeper into the Akuze incident in a new approach that I haven't seen done yet. (And if you've been on my page, you'll know I read A LOT of Femshep/Liara).

Well, lets insert the coin and have a good time, hopefully. i do not own any of these...Know what? YES! I do own all this! I AM ZEUS! Jk, I OWN NOTHING! All characters and names are property of Bioware and Microsoft.

Kitana shot awake, but held herself completely still, forcing her head against the barrel of her shotgun for stability. She had been using it as a pillow. The early morning Earth air was brisk and chilling, sweeping over her tattered shirt, blowing through the holes and caressing her smooth skin, raising the hair covering her neck and arms.
Something was here.
Her teal eyes began sweeping the area, though it was hard to see anything in the pre-morning darkness. She just sat, waiting, hardly breathing. Her dark chestnut colored hair matted to her sides, restricting the left and right side of her eyesight. She closed her eyes and focused her hearing but other than the usual outside noises of animals, looters and various sky cars swooshing by nothing stirred in the tiny apartment. Her eyes were finally adjusting to the blackness, allowing her to use the slim ray of light from the moon and neon signs outside, and was able to get a better image of the room before her and make out the sparse broken furniture, green carpeting and yellowed walls. She continued to lay flat on her back, barely letting a breath heave her chest. She only had one option left before her: if two senses had failed her, she would have to rely on her third, knowing it wouldn't. She slowly allowed the morning air to waft into her nostrils. Her breasts began to slowly rise and fall as various smells began to drive into her sinuses as she started sniffing the air. Three distinct smells automatically registered in her mind:

rotting mold, exhaust fumes and…Sand.

The distinct smell of pure cut, fresh opened Red Sand wafted from somewhere in the apartment. Instantly her eyes narrowed and she coolly sprung herself into action, survival instincts grinding into overdrive as her biotics flared around her body. Though she wasn't particularly useful with them, it did make for a threatening display. In one fluid motion, she flung herself straight up in the air, flipped herself and landed on all fours, with nothing more than a hushed swoosh of air, shotgun already in her hand, its barrel raised in front. Safety already off as she never had it on. Even when sleeping.

She tightened her hearing once more as adrenaline coursed through her body, enhancing her senses that had failed before. She focused on the hallway and rooms ahead of her. Shuffling. Scraping. Muttering. She already had an idea as to what she was dealing with. A Sandy. They were no real threat; just a person who would break into apartments or vacant houses, appease their base desires, crash it off for a while and leave, searching for their next fix. She slowly started rising, tensing every muscle, as she started strafing throughout the room, making her way to the hallway.

Every step was carefully calculated and precise. She made damn sure her toes and ball joint took the impact, not allowing her rough, dried heels to scrape the carpeting. Sandies, while not dangerous, were incredibly paranoid and were known to be somewhat volatile in their high state.

First hand encounter with that shit.

She thought bitterly as she recalled many of the foster families and "clients" she had been with. She rounded a corner, still stalking on her toes and ball like a bird of prey. She heard more scraping and stumbling. She was close. All her senses could confirm this. She could practically taste this fuck, his odor was so pungent. She cocked her gun once. A warning. The shuffling stopped immediately.

"Please…I…I just needed."

The idiot was stumbling over his own words, he was so tweaked. She let out an inaudible sigh. She didn't let her defenses down but she was confident enough to allow her thin heels to come to rest on the carpet. In as deep of a voice she could manage, she ripped out at the Sandy, trying to hide the squeaking of her 13 year old voice.

"I don't know who the FUCK you are and I couldn't give a Turrian's CUNT! You will drag your half dead ass out of here before I finish the job YOU started!"

She remembered when she would flinch at the harshness in her voice. She had long gotten over it. There was a quick fumbling as the intruder began collecting his things.

"Please Mista…I didn't…didn't mean no harm. Just needed a place to chill. Ya let me stay and I could make it worth yur while."

Kitana just smirked. She knew she wouldn't have been able to survive with guns and a tight ass alone. Threats were nothing unless delivered in a tone that carried promise. She had forced her voice to deepen and sound as harsh, cold and intimidating as possible. Of course it also helped that the asshole was high. Rather than respond verbally, she fired a single shot into the roof, emphasizing her earlier warning.

Wood splinters, dust and mold spores cascaded down from the hole and dispersed in the air. as the splinters fell, they began catching in her hair and causing her eyes to twitch as the dust began to settle. The man let out a yelp and string of muffled curses, breaking a lamp as he made a hasty retreat. Stumbling could be heardas he leapt out of the ground floor window, impacting with the concrete. She cocked her gun once more to reload and turned back to the room that had been her refuge for the past two nights.

Time to move on now. More of those bastards will probably flock to this place. This was Kitana's rule. Never perch in a place after Sandies break in. I really liked this place too. She stopped and looked at an old fashioned digital wrist watch. 6:37. Only twenty more minutes or so until the sun would be fully risen. Once it was sunup, she would begin her daily rituals of food foraging, drug running and anything else that would ensure survival.

Ok, so I just got done reading what I posted before and realized that FF decided to be funny and delete some words here and there. This is a re-post of my original chapter. Everything is the same, just with a few words added to make the sentences sound better.