"Dude, don't you think that was a little weird?" Rigby couldn't help asking the blue jay as they attempted to relocate the boxes cluttered around the guest room. "What was a little weird?" Mordecai responded with a grunt of effort, lowering a heavy box and tucking it under the bed slyly; if Benson didn't notice it, it would avoid the hassle of having to carry it all the way upstairs to the attic. "You know, how that cat girl supposedly came through the TV?" Rigby plopped down lazily on the bed and swiped his hand against the comforter to get rid of the lumpiness. Mordecai wiped the dust off from his hands onto his jacket and sighed. "Rigby," he started to say, leaning up against the wall in exhaustion. "Stuff like this happens all the time. The only difference this time is that it would've happened anyway; it wasn't just another one of our screw ups, so can we just drop it?"

"Why are mad dude? Besides, don't you think it was just a little weird when Benson and that cat chick were staring at each other like that? I think they dig each other man,"

"First of all, I'm not mad; I'm tired. Second, Benson isn't digging anyone, he was probably about to piss his pants."

"But Benson doesn't wear any pants!"

Mordecai groaned with annoyance and stared down at the raccoon bearing an irritated expression. "Dude! I said just drop it! Now get off your lazy butt and help me move the-"

Just then, Kairo waltzed through the open door accompanied only by the shadow cast behind her. Her maroon tail calmly waved behind her, as if wishing the staircase farewell. "Hey guys," she tried to say nonchalantly, struggling to disregard the scratchy sweatshirt Pops had given her not too long ago. "How is it-" Kairo took a good whiff of a cloud of meandering dust and sneezed in a quick, small burst. She sneezed just like a cat. "I'm gonna laugh so hard if you drink like a cat at the dinner table," Rigby commented with a sneer. "Shut up!" Kairo retorted and trying to glare at him from behind her mat of hair before recovering her purpose. "Now why the heck am I up…Oh yeah! Skips asked me if you're ready to bring up the dre-" In the midst of her sentence, Kairo eyed the scenery of the room and froze.

This guest room seemed so familiar, how all of the miscellaneous boxes created limitless passageways and trails snaking across the room. The dust looked more like stardust, a star crushed beneath the foot of space, and wafted slowly down to the ground. Everything that the sun touched through the open window was a shade of gold or yellow, making everything look absolutely breathtaking.

Everything except the shadows.

"Why do you keep on doing this Kairo? Amelia loves you!"

"Mother, I can't handle feeling this…rejected!"

"YOU'RE NEVER HERE! HOW WOULD YOU KNOW!"

One by one, Kairo felt the broken memories unwillingly obscure her vision of the room and send shivers of fear down her knobby spine.

"Ma! Emmie! Siera! Pony! Wake up, there's a fire!"

"I told you I'd shut you up if you told someone – I MEANT IT!"

"I said sorry sheriff! Please, please!"

"Umm, Kairo?" A concerned voice spoke behind her. But Kairo couldn't hear anything. She was too engrossed by the traumatizing images that were flashing before her eyes to interpret anything occurring in reality. Her face went numb, and she couldn't even feel a warm tear roll down her cheek.

"Ah, just the right size."

"I don't like your parents, little girl. They're bad people. You deserve wherever you end up."

"You've killed them, my dearest daughter. You murderer."

Someone grabbed Kairo's shoulder, and caused her to freak out and shout before flipping around. A stunned Benson took a quivering step back and dropped his clipboard at her reaction. Kairo sighed loudly. "Jeez, dude, you scared the CRAP outta me!" she exclaimed after an awkward silence, before feeling more than one pair of eyes on her. She looked over her scrawny shoulder. Mordecai and Rigby eyed her as if she'd grown another head.

Benson eyed her as if she'd grown three.

Kairo shrugged and laughed it off, hoping it would urge the others to look away. It actually worked, to her surprise, for all but one. Benson took a step closer. "Have you been…crying?" he asked quizzically. Kairo shook her head. "No, why the heck would I be crying?" she gave out a small, fake chuckle. Just as she brought her hand up to wipe the wetness from beneath her eyes, Benson did the same. Their hands brushed against each other for a split second, luring their gazes to each other's faces. Their eyes scanned one another's for a brief moment of time, before both of their faces flushed red and they jerked back their hands.

"No, just the allergies, and the, uh, dust…"

"Yeah, the dust can really be…"

"…Yeah…"

Benson and Kairo looked down at the ground, feeling their faces slowly fade back to their normal state, only to have them redden with anger as Rigby hopped off the bed and let out a victorious shout. "OOOH! I told you Mordecai! I told you they we-" Mordecai nimbly punched him in the arm to silence him and turned his attention back to his boss. "Don't worry dude. The room's almost done; we just have a few more boxes to move is all." Hearing his employee's frantic effort to keep from getting yelled at, Benson regained his position as well as his clipboard. "A-alright, get it done ASAP, preferably before Skips comes up with the dresser. Got it?"

"Got it," Mordecai said, flicking Rigby in the ear to get him to respond. "Gah! Yes, got it, sheesh."

"Oh, and one more thing," Benson added, pointing to the bed. "Get those boxes out of under the bed and carry them up to the attic or your fired!"

As quick as a flash, Mordecai and Rigby hopped off the bed and started dragging the boxes out. Benson turned around to face Kairo, only to see the empty space where she was not one minute ago.

After splashing her face with ice cold water, Kairo inspected herself in the bathroom mirror, carefully taking note on what features have changed and how drastic it was. The cat ears and the tail were a given, for they had already been pointed out by a certain annoying raccoon. It shocked her to see that the color of the fur was dark red. The pair of ears looked as if they were previously painted purple, then doused with red paint after realizing that no cat had purple ears. The red was a rich, mesmerizing dark – blood red. And yet, for jumping up the scale from 14 to 17, nothing really changed. And if they had changed, it was to the subtlest degree. Kairo pointed out how her nose was a little rounder, and her cheekbones were a tad higher. Her hair was still the same old, dusty-looking black, and her neck looked like it had been stretched out, almost two inches longer. She had to nudge her hair out of her eyes to see that there was no slits that the cats eyes usually had, and that they were the same washed out, boring gray color that they were before. Gradually, she moved her gaze down her body. The small, petite shoulders belonging to the Kairo that was fourteen were still intact, and to her figure's demise, it remained almost exactly the same.

So much for my hourglass. She thought to herself as she grimaced at her diminutive body. Then she sighed and wondered about what else could've been worthy of loathing. Just as her mind comprehended the supposedly sarcastic question, her attention drifted from her shortchanged figure to her arms, still concealed by the gray sweater Pops had given to her. She rolled them up with no hesitation. Sure enough, the wounds were still there, in worse condition than when she obtained them. They were splattered with blood and random bruises, which made her seem inhuman.

Inhuman. The word bounced around in her head like a bullet ricocheting off the items it touched. The first person that came to mind was Amelia.

For some weird reason, Benson came to mind second.

A gentle knock on the door caused Kairo to flinch and aggressively yank the sleeves down to where only her fingertips were visible.

"Um, yah?"

"Are you okay? Dude, you've been in there, for like, an hour." It was the use of 'dude' that helped Kairo confirm that it was Mordecai. She half expected Benson.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She managed to say through the door, all the while thinking: I've been in here for an hour looking at myself? How narcissistic of me. She opened the door, and Mordecai took his hands out of his pockets.

"Hey, for dinner, Muscleman brought over-"

"Who's Muscleman?" Kairo couldn't help but ask. "You'd best wait to introduce yourself," Mordecai said as his expression turned into disgust. "Anyways, he bought some grilled cheese sandwiches from Cheezers. You want one?" He asked, pointing his thumb in the direction of the stairway. Kairo looked away from him as she responded. "No thanks, I'm not hungry." Kairo's stomach growled hungrily. Mordecai chuckled. "Dude, you're starving,"

"Maybe she's anorexic," Rigby snickered as he waltzed behind Mordecai and into his room. "Shut up, Rigby." Mordecai called after him. "Jus' sayin!" Rigby called back.

"Alright, alright." Kairo said, putting her hands up in surrender and then leaning against the doorway. "Later. I'll have one a little later." Mordecai shrugged and walked back down the stairs. "We'll save ya one!" he called. "Kay, thanks!" she called back, standing at the base of the stairs. She looked down where she was. At the foot of the stairs.

"I love you sissy." Kairo took a step back and leaned against the wall, shaking her head furiously to get rid of the pesky recollections of her tumbling down the attic stairway. Noticing that this only hurt her head more, Kairo took in a deep breath and stumbled to her room. She was glad to see that all of the boxes had been moved out, and the dust was no longer drifting around everywhere she turned, despite the few specks visible in the sunlight. Kairo closed the window shut and yanked back the curtains, dramatically darkening the room. That's more like it, she said as she jumped onto her bed and rested her throbbing head against her plump pillow. I'm just gonna rest my head for one minute, she told herself, snuggling deeper into the pillow in hopes of ridding the headache. Just to get it on straight…

When Benson questioned the whereabouts of Kairo at the dinner table, he'd received more responses than he was hoping for. "Is she coming down to eat any time soon?" He asked, eyeing his employees as he held in his hands a greasy grilled cheese. "Well, she told me she was gonna come down a little later." Mordecai said with food in his mouth. "You wanna know who else was gonna come down a little later?" Muscleman asked before sticking the entire grilled cheese into his mouth. "Mah Mowm!" he said, with the unchewed sandwich still resting in his cheeks. He high fived with the ghost sitting next to him before diving into a pile of cheesy curly fries before him. "Why, if she doesn't come down here to eat soon, I'm afraid that Muscleman might finish her food for her!" Pops added as he cut his sandwich into bite sized bits with his fork and knife.

"Pshh, who cares where she's at? Besides, she's probably taking a cat nap!" Rigby laughed at his own ridiculous joke before being hit upside the head by the blue jay sitting next to him, causing the sandwich to fall out of his hands and onto his napkin. Benson swallowed another bite of the sandwich. He couldn't possibly take any of his employees seriously. All but Skips, who probably knew more than he did. "Skips, you seen her?" The yeti shook his head and responded blandly. "She's had a rough day; I wouldn't be surprised if she's asleep by now."

"Hey Benson?" Rigby asked, trying to keep from eyeing his boss in an inappropriate manner. "Why are you wondering where Cat Woman is? She's just like us: annoying and skittish." Mordecai hit him upside the head again, and Benson set down his sandwich. He was no longer hungry.

"Her name is Kairo, not Cat Woman. Actually, if my nosy employee really wants to know, I'm worried about her."

"Worried?" Rigby snapped. "Why? She's doing just fine."

"No, she's not. Didn't you see her in the spare room today? She…" After trying to scavenge a word to describe her actions, he shook his head. "You know what? Why do you care?"

"No, I asked why do you care?"

"Okay, why do you not care, Rigby? Why do you not like her so much?"

"She's a freak show! Now answer my question!"

Skips whistled loud enough to get everyone's attention; especially trying to get his fuming boss's focus. "Listen guys. We're going to have to adjust and learn more about her before making assumptions." He eyed Rigby with indescribable vigilance. "Do you understand, Rigby?"

"Yeah, yeah, fine." He said carelessly, now prodding his sandwich with his finger. "Kairo's in her room," he added, suddenly ashamed that he called her a freak show.

"Thank you, Rigby." Benson said sternly. He stood up and scooted his chair in before taking his napkin and the crusts of his sandwich and throwing it away. He was about to walk up the stairs when Skips called his name.

"Yeah, Skips?"

"Aren't you supposed to be using your crutches?" he asked, Mordecai and Rigby chuckling quietly. Benson sighed. "Yeah, yeah, hold on a sec," He stumbled up the stairs and walked toward Kairo's door, which was slightly creaked open. He didn't hesitate to gently push it open a little more and poke his head through it. And, ironically, Kairo wasn't balled up like a cat. She was sprawled out smack dab in the center of the bed, the blankets pushed all the way down and drooping off of the bed. In her arms, she squeezed a spare pillow. Benson couldn't help but to smile. He quietly tiptoed in and pulled the covers up, and gently placing them over her. He stopped when he saw her face, a mix of fear and pain. What could she possibly be dreaming of that caused her to look so afraid? Benson shook of the question and headed back out, looking at her over his shoulder one last time before closing the door.

Author's Note:

Hi guys. First off, and I'm not just saying this to say it, thanks so much for reading/commenting. I truly appreciate the input and I am thankful for your opinions and your time spent reading this. This is just the beginning you guys, in the future there will be several important events taking place, most of which will be placed into most of these several categories: action, adventure, drama, suspense, tragedy, friendship, family, romance, humor, horror, and anything else you can possibly think of.

Once again, I truly appreciate the fact that you're reading this right now.

Yours truly,

Kati (a.k.a ToxinAngel969)