"No no!"

I saw images of my father's car crashing off the road. The police coming to our house, telling mom and me that dad was dead. And all that was left of him from the remains was his red scarf.

Crying over and over because I would never see my father again.

"Daddy please come back! Don't leave us! Noooo! Daddy!!"

"NOOOOO!!"

I opened my eyes that were dripping with warm, salty tears.

I looked around to see I was back in my apartment.

Why do I keep having that horrible dream? Are they trying to tell me something?

I thought as I crawled out of bed wiping away my tears. As soon as I stood up my alarm clock rang out startling me out of my thoughts.

"What time is it?"

I look to my alarm clock and to my surprise it was already 7am.

"AAHHHH! I'M GOING TO BE LATE!!"

I yelled out as I sprang to get ready with 15 minutes left to get to work.

I sniffed my clothes on the floor and I scrunched my nose in disgust at how badly they stunk.

It was late summer and I didn't have any clothes for the season. So reluctantly I slipped on a long sleeved shirt and pants.

"It's not appropriate for this weather but it will do."

I said as I quickly changed and slipped on my father's old red scarf. This I always wore no matter where I went.

I decided to skip breakfast and was about to put my shoes on when I remembered I forgot to say goodbye to dad.

"Bye daddy I love you. Wish me luck today!"

I said at his smiling picture on my entrance table.

I slipped on my shoes, locked my door behind me, and ran downstairs from my seventh floor apartment.

"Gonna make it! Gonna make it! Gonna make it! Gonna make it! Gonna make it on time today!"

I started chanting as I ran as fast as I could down the sidewalk towards my workplace at the dry cleaners.

I was working there full time to save enough money to go to medical school. I wanted to study to be a nurse to help all kinds of cats someday.

I was so excited about my goals that I didn't realize I took a wrong turn until it was too late.

I didn't recognize anything and no matter how much I backtracked I kept getting lost.

"No! No! No! No! Not today of all days! If I don't find my way back I'm going to late and possibly fired! My boss already warned me!"

I screamed in sheer agony as I tried to find my way back. As I was scrambling down the sidewalk I halted when I heard noises coming from behind a old looking shrine.

What neighborhood is this? I don't recognize anything.

As these thoughts came up in my head I heard the sound of fighting on the other side.

"Whatever's going on over there I better back away..."

"Hey! Get back here! Haya's gonna get- No! No! Hikaru don't jump over the fence!"

I heard another cat shout before a figure leaped out over fence and startled me. At least until his hoodie came off and I saw his blue hair blowing in the wind.

He was so handsome. He landed gracefully on twos beside me.

"Hikaru! Get back here!"

He silently grunted in annoyance and started running. I shrieked in surprise as his arm went around me and before I could do anything he took off with me.

"Hey let go of me! What are you doing?"

He said nothing as he ran with me against my will. As he ran I looked behind us to see a whole bunch of angry cats chase after him.

"Why are they chasing after you?"

"They want to fight and I'm not in the mood today! I'm trying to lose them!"

I turned behind again to see their continous pursuit on the both of us.

"Hey why don't you knock something down so you can lose them?!"

He simply nodded and kicked some trash cans down as he ran past them. Some of the cats behind us tripped on them while the rest continued the chase.

"Quick run into that alley!"

He nodded again and ran into it only to come to a halt because it was just a dead end.

"Sh*t! Now what?!"

He said in annoyance as he put me down.

I tried to think of something to hide but my mind went blank. They were nearing us fast and I had to think quickly. I could only think of one thing.

"Hey pull your hoodie down and kiss me!"

He looked at me in surprise for a split second but he simply nodded and did what I said.

With a swoop he pulled down his hoodie and his lips met mine. He put his arm around me as I opened my eyes just a bit to see the angry cats look at us briefly and then kept running.

Once I was sure they were gone I stopped kissing him.

"There I think they're gone."

"Yeah."

The blue haired cat said before he started to walk away.

"Hey where are you going?"

"They left. So I'm going to go away now."

"Oh well umm, hey wait a minute! Why did you take me with you? I was just standing there minding my own business. What did I have to do with any of this?"

"They would have trampled you if I left you there. It was just good manners."

I wanted to say more but he already answered my question so I said nothing except.

"Well thank you then."

"I gotta get going see you."

"Bye."

As he walked away it suddenly came back to me what I was doing.

"Ahh work I'm going to be late!!"

I said I ran out of the alleyway only to come to a halt in about 5 seconds to see my workplace right there.

"I'm here! Ugh I'm so sorry I'm late-"

"Oh hey Misaki. And what are you talking about? You're 5 minutes early."

"I am?!"

I turned to the clock to see I was in fact early.

"Oh well since I'm here I better sign in then."

My coworker friend Nana just shook her head in amusement and continued with her task.

I signed in and put on my apron and tied up my hair to get to work.