The high pitched shrieks of excited children rang across the playground, as autumn leaves fell silently to the ground.
"Miss Sohma! Miss Sohma!"
"Calm down," Kaiya laughed, as the group of first graders swarmed around her legs, "Calm down. Now, has anyone managed to tick everything off on their Fall Finders lis-"
"-But Miss Sohma!" cried a blonde haired girl in dungarees, tugging at her teacher's sleeve, "There's a cat!"
The children laughed and squealed with the excitement of the playground visitor, and pointed towards the picnic tables. There, watching the hysteria with a look of boredom, was a cat. Kaiya's smile faltered, as an uneasy feeling clenched her stomach - the orange cat, its tail snaking lazily across the tabletop, was staring directly at her.
It's time to come home.
Kaiya squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block the thought from her mind. Her home, a short drive from the school in Seattle, WA, suddenly felt more like a house. A prison.
"Miss Sohma, isn't it cute?"
"Oh..." she muttered, startled from her thoughts. She looked down at the children then back at the cat, and gasped. There, licking its paws, was not an orange cat but a tortoise shell.
"Come on children, it's time to go inside." Kaiya stuttered, ushering the group together and towards the door, ignoring their protests. As she turned to shut the door on the autumn sunshine, she glanced at the picnic area to find the cat had gone
Rubbing her temples with her fingertips, Kaiya made a note to get more sleep.
The school bell had signalled the end of the day four hours ago, and Kaiya swung her front door closed behind her, exhausted after working late on projects and tests.
Her apartment was small but welcoming, and smelled of the pork stew that had been simmering gently throughout the day. She was home. It felt like home, she told herself.
Slipping off her shoes, she padded down the hallway towards the kitchen, her stomach rumbling. Memories hung on the walls: a graduation, a laughing group of teenagers and a sombre looking couple, with Kaiya stood between them. Her aunt and uncle.
The couple lived a short walk from her apartment, within a grid of properties belonging to the Sohma family. Although Kaiya lived alone, she was always under their watchful eyes.
After spooning a generous helping of stew into her bowl, Kaiya sighed contentedly as she sank onto the sofa in front of the TV. It was only once she had begun to eat that the phone beside her rang.
"Hello?" Kaiya mumbled, around a mouthful of stew.
"Kaiya." The voice was quiet, but commanding.
"Oh!" Kaiya chewed quickly then returned the phone to her ear. "Oba-San! How are you?"
The older woman on the end of the phone, sighed at her niece's manners. Ritsuko Sohma, like most of the Sohma family, was serious and stern.
"I was just calling to ask how you were." Her tone was foreboding.
"I'm fine. I'm really enjoying my placement at the new school." Kaiya answered, wearily. "Thank you for the recommendation."
"Your mother and father would be proud."
The words caught Kaiya off-guard - her aunt barely mentioned her parents, and her uncle practically recoiled if they were ever brought up.
"And the work," her aunt continued, "it's not too much?"
"No Oba-San," she answered, then thought back to the orange cat. She mentioned the incident and asked whether her aunt thought lack of sleep was the cause.
"Don't be stupid. A trick of the light," Ritsuko scolded and Kaiya felt her cheeks heat. "Now what I was calling about - a friend of the family has space on a new course at the Univeristy..."
Kaiya sighed and looked at the clock - 9pm. She doubted she'd get that early night she needed.
As the clock struck midnight, sleep was not forgiving. Kaiya dreamt, and tossed and turned.
"Wait, Ane-Chan!" he cried, struggling to pull his backpack onto his back. His eyes were sleepy and he still wore pyjamas, but Kaiya had pulled his coat around him and stuffed his orange hair into a woolly hat.
"I know," she whispered reassuringly, trying to keep the urgency from her voice as she guided his arm through his bag loop. "We have to be quiet. You have to keep up once we're outside. Don't let go of my hand, okay?"
They were crouched in a thicket of bushes behind the main house, sheltered by the skeletons of blossom trees now bare in the winter moonlight.
Kaiya's dark hair caught a glimmer of light and revealed the faintest hint of copper. The boy, ten years her junior, shared the same deep brown eyes - which were watching her nervously as she tightened his scarf.
He slipped his hand into hers as she straightened up, his face set with a determination only a six-year-old could have, given the circumstances. She gave it a squeeze.
"Let's go."
They stuck to the shadows of the estate, stopping whenever Kaiya held up her hand, tilting her head to listen.
Soon, they reached the border of the estate, and the huge walls that surrounded it. Kaiya slipped her own bag from her shoulders, then swung that and the boy's over the wall with a grunt. She turned to him and cupped her hands, gesturing for his foot. Full of trust, he stepped into her hand and was hoisted atop the wall, Kaiya soon following.
"Now, I'm going to jump down and you have to jump," she whispered, ducking her head to look him in the eyes. "I'll catch you. I'll always catch you."
As she swung her leg over, ready to jump, she heard a yelp.
"Ane-Chan!"
The boy was being pulled from the wall by two men, as more emerged from the bushes, fire in their eyes. A third reached for her ankle as she struggled to grab her young companion's wrist, both crying out to each other as they writhed and struggled against their attackers.
She didnt know what happened next. She was on the floor. There was shouting. She was being dragged through the estate.
"Kyo!" she screamed, as the orange haired boy, his hat lost in the struggle, was dragged out of sight.
"Kyo!"
Kaiya sat bolt upright in bed, the sheets bunched around her ankles, tears staining her cheeks.
"Kyo..." she whispered.