Please correct me if I am wrong:

Okiru-Wake Up

Onee-Chan-Older Sister

Ohaiyou Gozaimasu-Good Morning

Kayu-Rice Porridge

Moushiwake arimasen-Formal way of saying 'I am sorry'

Yen-Japanese currency

Baka-Fool; stupid

Kun-The honorific for a male friend usually

Unn-Yep

Hai-Yes

Arigatou gozaimasu-Formal way of saying 'Thank You'

Paper Flowers and Cat Whiskers

Two: Morning Encounters

"Okiru, Onee-Chan! Okiru! Okiru!"

I yawn, stretching out my arms and slowly lifting my eyelids to the alarm clock. In glowing green letters, it has 8:12 A.M. I rub my left green eye and use my right hand to push myself up to at least sit on my butt. Willow has a tiny note-book with a paw on it, blinking at me while sitting on nothing but the air in front of my nose. "Whaaat?" I whine. "Can't you see how early it is?"

"Yes," she yawns softly, stretching her arms back behind her fuzzy head, "but I can't stop the clock sadly. You have work, remember?"

Oh yeah. I need a new job. I scratch my cat ears like a cat would and swing my legs off the bed, the black tank slipping off my shoulders constantly. Willow shakes her long, white hair around a little, twitching her whiskers before flying up next to my face as I slid on a black-turtleneck with baggy sleeves over my purple head. "So, what's on today's 'To Do List'?"

Willow stares at the light-blue pages with stick-figure fish at the edges. "First is breakfast and then we move to finding a job. You'll try to get that done right away as usual and get paid. The rest is either sleeping or fish~"

I chuckle and pat her head with one finger, the other hand reaching down for my black-leather mini-jacket with a purple water-lily stitched onto the back. "What about fish, seeing we slept enough last week."

Willow flies laps around my head as I shrug on my jacket and slip on my black, baggy pants and black hiking-boots. No, I never really had that 'this goes perfect with this' gene. That ALL went to Julia, whom of which I never got in contact with. I tuck my tail into the pants and hide my ears under a black cap with 'Suck Bullet' on it. Williow struggles to hand me the holster seeing she's only five inches. I pluck it away and check the caliber, muzzle pointed at the ceiling, to find it empty. I nod and set it back in the holster, grabbing some magazines and ammo boxes and storing them in my four pockets, walking out of the small apartment.

"Ah, Ohaiyou Gozaimasu!" the Apartment Complex manager waves as I walk casually to the door. "Trixie, could you help me unload some Kayu ingredients?"

"Moushiwake arimasen, but I need to hurry down to the Coffee Buck and check out Sweeper listings," I bow.

The manager (or Mr. Miyamoto) nods with his usual, cheery smile and walks back to behind his counter, opening his book and scribbling down some numbers. Willow clings to my cap as I shove out the glass doors, the sunlight temporarily blinding me. I hold my forearm over my eyes until my sight recovers from its slight daze. I finally set my arm down and calmly walk the thirteen minutes to Coffee Buck. Willow stares with curiosity as I enter, the steam of brewing coffee filling my nostrils. So I gag a little and step in completely, shutting the door. Bulky men are crowded around a bulletin board, most with scraggly beards or dressed up like 'hip gangsters' to look tough.

"Hello dear," the elderly woman waves. "I can see you're looking for a little something," she nods her head to the board.

I simply nod, slipping into a chair at the counter. I place three yen onto the counter. "Hot milk please."

Apparently, the men aren't used to people asking for hot milk because they all turn to face my shadowed expression. "Milk?" one snorts like a hog. "You know there's coffee."

"Yeah, I'm not a Baka," I snap. "I prefer milk to be entirely honest."

Willow sits on the back of my folded hands on the counter, playing with the long, black and purple nails. "Hmm," a man sits next to me, his back against the counter edge. "Well, I like milk to, just not the kind you're ordering…"

"I'd prefer if you don't sexually harass me," I state.

"Now, now, I'm just poking fun!" he hugs my shoulders.

"Three," I count. He laughs. "Two," I continue. His hand shifts down my back. "One…" He grabs my tail. "YE-OWW!" I jump up, holding my tail. I glare at him and kick him across the face. "RESPECT THE TAIL, JACKASS!"

"T-Tail?" someone mutters.

The guy falls to the ground and I pick him up by the scruff, tossing him out the window with one hand, sending him crashing into the street next to a man in a white suit, green hair brushed neatly down to his shoulders. He simply glances at the man before entering, cool and collected. His right hand is clutching a suitcase and his left hand is in his pocket. His hat is slanted to hide his face. Willow giggles mischievously. "Time for some fun~" she sings, flying over.

"Wait Baka!" I hiss.

"Baka?" the gentleman looks up.

Willow freezes as he catches her eye. "Crap…" she sighs.

"Uh…" he points to Willow. "What is that?"

Everyone else blinks. I grab Willow and scowl. "That's not important."

"Oh, so small, flying people aren't important?" he snaps. "I'm sorry, but that seems pretty odd to be seeing!"

"Hey Sven," the woman waves as she re-enters, setting down the milk in a clear glass. "How's Annette?"

"Good," he sits down on the seat next to mine.

I sigh and slump back onto the black leather, grabbing the milk and pouring half down my throat, setting it down and placing Willow on the edge. She beams and jumps in, swimming in the milk. After a few minutes when the glass becomes three-quarters completed, the group of men start up their chatter and the gentleman eyes me. "What?" I ask, not turning to meet his face.

"Who are you?"

I sigh and turn my head, dropping my hands onto the counter. I lift up my cap with my right hand and bow my head, the cat ears twitching. "Name's Trixie. If you need a mercenary or sweeper to help out," I replace the cap and point to my face with my right thumb, clicking my tongue, "it'd be me you want around."

He laughs. I mean he laughs. "What's so funny?" Willow grabs the glass edge, kicking her legs to get over it and falling butt-first onto the counter, soaked in milk. "Onee-Chan's serious."

"Y-Yeah," he pats my back harshly. "Okay. Got ya'."

I narrow my eyes and huff. "God Almighty. Is every damn person the same?"

I swallow up the rest of the milk, not minding the small white hairs, and slam it against the counter, stomping out. "Hey, now, it's not meant to be insulting!" he calls.

I roll my eyes. Willow beats my head with her note-book. "Onee! Chan! The! Job!"

"Oh we'll try it tomorrow!" I hiss, my nails digging into my palm.

We walk for twenty minutes arguing about whether I should go back and get a job. I eventually come to the point it's useless now seeing we're probably going to get more luck catching pigeons on a roof. Willow huffs and digs for her egg in my pocket, dragging it out and putting it in my hand. "Well, I'll get some 'Z's," she giggles. "See you next semester, Onee-Chan."

"What…WHAT SEMESTER? I DON'T GO TO SCHOOL!"

"Eh, she's stupid. What do you expect?"

Willow pops out, hugging the voice's nose. "Ikuto-kun!" She then points to me with a paw. "Onee-Chan's slacking!"

"I'm pissed," I point out. "I get the liability to slack for a day and stretch out my tail!"

In so, I drag out my tail. My friend, Ikuto Tsukiyomi, chuckles, sticking a hand in his midnight hair. "My," he smirks, "Trixie pissed. That's something I only dreamed of seeing."

"Oh shut up," I walk over, flicking his nose. "Anyways, where's Yoru?"

"Off doing whatever," he walks past me, jumping from this roof to the next with his hands casually in his pockets.

"Shouldn't you take better care of him?" I follow, hands at my sides. "I mean without him, you're just one of those boring people who don't look for anything in life."

"Oh?" he turns. "And you aren't?"

I blink and look down, rocking on my soles. "Oh shut up. I was starting out alone, remember?"

"Unn," he nods, "I remember. So, why don't you show me you're not by getting a job?"

I scowl as he smirks. "Oh go rape that kid you're always muttering about."

"Amu?" he chuckles.

"Hai."

He laughs, eyes shut and mouth wide. "I'll go do that actually. You just get a job," he prepares to jump onto the ground. "Wouldn't want you thrown onto the streets."

I roll my eyes as he jumps, Willow flying laps around my head once again. "Job, job, job~"

"Oh fine," I leap off the roof myself, landing on my feet and the tips of my fingers. "If it shuts the two of you up."

"Yay! Arigatou gozaimasu!"

So we track our way back as I think of ways to get Ikuto-Kun back. We find the door open. Willow yawns, so I pluck her in my fingers and tuck her in her egg, holding it for a second before tucking it safely in my pocket. I enter Coffee Buck to see the same gentleman sitting there, a little card on the seat I was in saying 'Cat Woman'. On the other side of him is a twenty-three-year-old with honey-gold eyes, his hair light brown and wild. There's a bell tied around his neck and a tattoo of the Roman Numeral for '13' (XIII) below his left collar-bone. He has a blue jacket that only goes down to the end of his pectorals, the sleeves rolled up a little and ending at the middle forearm. Although I'm honestly not sure what those circles are…I have to guess meat saucers, as ridiculous as it is. His top is your basic white, long and what seems like a tank (I'm not a fashion-person as I have said) and black pants with a light-brown holster around his right thigh.

"Oh, there she is!" the gentleman points to me.

I blink and look behind me. Sadly, all that is on the street is tumble-weed, and even that passes by quickly. I look back and that guy I shoved out the window pops up. "Hey you!" he pokes my chest, my position still and unmoving as my expression is 'oh really?'. "What's with shoving me out the window?"

"You. Grabbed. My. Tail," I hiss. "Respect it, and that ugly face of yours might be able to cling to the humanism it has left," I shrug. I walk over to the chair and stick the card on the gentleman's hat. "Of course, you had to try and grope my junk, so now your face is completely and utterly that of a pig's ugly ass."

The guy with meat saucers on his jacket covers his mouth, shaking a little to show laughter. The gentlemen laughs as well. "Shut up!" the guy towers over me. "What made that big mouth on you? Huh?"

I smirk, removing my cap and twitching my ears. Everyone in the shop excluding the gentleman freezes. "I'm simply known for that," I chuckle. "Now, either stop bugging me, or I'm going to have to claw your pig-ass face off."

I raise my hands and Willow pokes her head out, gleaming. "Yay~ CHARACTER CHANGE!"

My nails lengthen and glisten with the reflection of the direct sunlight. A slight breeze rolls in due to the window and my hair stirs slightly. "Like I said," I set my hand down, Willow pouting and returning my claws.

The man blinks and takes three steps back, staring at me. I sit on the chair carefully, making sure I don't sit on my tail. "Heh, you're funny," the gentleman chuckles. I hear a loud grumble and the gentleman, meat-saucer-jacket, and I stare at his stomach. He laughs nervously and rubs the back of his head. "Okay, so I'm hungry. I'M ONLY HUMAN!" he collapses.

I laugh. "Oh don't sweat it. I'll get you something."

"Really?" he beams, right in front of my face.

The meat-saucer-jacket guy tugs the back of the gentleman's suit-jacket, making him sit down. "Sorry about him," he faces me. "He's like this."

I chuckle and shrug. "Eh, I don't mind." I stare at the counter, seeing my reflection. "I only really mind being alone, so…"

Willow scowls and starts peddling her legs to shimmy out of my pocket, flying onto the counter where my reflection's nose is. "Onee-Chan, I'm here!" she reminds, crossing her arms and pouting.

I turn to see the guy staring at her, chin on the counter and his eyes blinking. I chuckle. "Oh yes, I have to explain my 'sister' here," I sigh.

"That'd be nice," the gentleman stiffens. "But what do you say to explaining," he grabs his fork and knife, "after breakfast?"

Willow dead-pans and I laugh. "I guess we could make that work."