The first emotion that Kairo felt consume her when she placed her bare feet upon the cold concrete steps was fear. There were so many unfamiliar faces, which gazed down on her repulsively, and an eerie town she didn't even know existed right next to her home. The home that was no longer standing, that is. Her ash-smudged feet was evidence of her whereabouts a few minutes earlier: the ruins of the majestic three story house that used to stand up proudly over the rest of the hills. The house that used to kiss the sunset when the day was done and over with. There wasn't necessarily a sunset anymore, for the sky was a sickly gray; it was as if it were on its knees filled to the brim with remorse, holding in all of its tears and praying for forgiveness.

But what Kairo had done was unforgivable. And she knew it.

At this time, the young girl's eyes matched the sky, though there was still a glimmer of hope barely visible behind the somber lifeless shades. She clung onto her dirty nightgown and glanced down on it, noting how it was previously spotless. Now it was smeared with dark ash and blood seeped into it from her torn skin, which the sheriff still hadn't cared to tend to yet. Kairo's angelic face was a sheet of curiosity and despair. Little did she know that it would remain that way for a while.

"Is this the gal that'cha want me to take in, sheriff?" Said a low, frightening voice. Kairo blinked her eyes several times and regained awareness of the scenario at hand; standing in front of the small town's police station in the middle of a cold autumn day, waiting for the sheriff to clear up where she was going to go for the time being. At first, the inquisitive girl didn't know what was going on; Where were her parents? Why was she here? And why was the sheriff looking at her as if she were a vile creature rather than a little girl? Then it hit her like a speeding bullet, the memories of falling with the oil lamp in hand, burning the house down, and watching her father fade into the background like a shadow. All at once, the tears overwhelmed her. "I sorry, offica! I sorry!" The five year old exclaimed as tears trailed down her pale face. The crisp, shady uniform that the sheriff had on was straightened out by a pair of equally shady hands, and the sheriff looked down on her. He scoffed to himself as she tugged his arm gently. "I sorry offica! I didn't meanta burna down! I tripped, I hadda oil lamp and-" the sheriff carefully looked down the dark street to ensure it was deserted. When he was convinced it was, he brought his gloved hand up and backhanded the girl across the face with as much force he could muster. The girl tumbled over and rolled down the concrete steps, skidding to a halt at the bottom.

The sheriff turned his attention back to the man with the low, frightening voice. "Are you Jonnithan Diuggards?" he asked, wiping his hands off on his uniform as if ridding of the grimy remnants of a creature he had slain. He inspected the man before him, disregarding the child slowly dragging herself up the steps with a bright red mark along the side of her cheek, surprisingly still conscious.. Jonnithan was obese, looked like he hadn't washed his clothes in months, and clutched in his pudgy hands a beer bottle. "Why, yesser, dat be me, sheriff." he said. At this, the sheriff pulled up the girl by the back of her nightgown carelessly. "This is the girl I was telling you about. The one with them high-and-mighty parents. She's under your guidance now."

"But sir," replied the man. "I ain't no foster parent! Can't ya take her to Synthia?"

"No, I don't need to send her at the orphanage yet. She's yours for now. Keep her in line until I get back. Got it?" The sheriff took a step closer and leaned into the drunkard's face, appearing as intimidating as ever. "Keep her IN LINE. Got it, Jonni?" The repulsive man nodded violently. "Y-yessuh!"

"And be sure not to pull anything unbelievably stupid, got it Jonni?"

"Yessuh!"

The sheriff tossed the girl to the foul man as if she were a rag doll being thrown into the open street. The man grabbed her wrist with his free hand and flipped around on his heel, all the while talking over his shoulder to the sheriff. "Don'tcha worry suh! I'll be sure to keepah in line for yah suh!" he repeated as she dragged Kairo across the empty street.

Kairo pulled up the bottom of her nightgown up to her knees in order to keep from tripping on it while trying to keep up with the hustling man. "Wait! Wait! Where my daddy? My daddy left before I setta on fiya! Where he? Where he? Is he lookin fo me?" She cried as he hulled her along the street without responding. She looked over her shoulder to get one last glimpse of the man who struck her, the man that was repeatedly called "sheriff". Sure enough, he was still standing in the same place, posed the same way, looking the same direction. The only difference was the demonic smile that was plastered proudly upon his face.

That was the last of the town that Kairo ever saw before she was dragged down one of its dark alleyways.

Kairo's eyes shot open. They glued themselves to the ceiling in a desperate effort to rid of the devilish smile still clearly visible from all those years ago, as if engraved upon the back of her eyelids. She would've given anything simply to keep memories such as these in the dark; they were dark memories after all. After a few minutes of vigorously searching for a "happy place", Kairo gave up and squeezed her eyes shut. She turned her head and groaned tiredly, her eyes still closed, and heard her stomach gave a vicious growl. "Uuuughhhhhh, so huuungryyyy…" she said loudly into her pillow, before lazily flopping over on her other side and reminding herself that it was her fault for missing dinner. Like a zombie would, she sat up and slumped over, realizing that she was barely balancing on the corner of her mattress. She rubbed her eyes to try to clear her blurry vision, and opened them up to see a figure standing in the doorway holding something in their hand.

"GAAAAH!" Kairo screeched in surprise, only to end up losing balance and tumbling backward. Her back slammed against the hardwood floor, her arms sprawled out from her sides, and her legs were still awkwardly perched upward like the letter V which was visible to whoever spooked her awake. She couldn't help but to sigh with relief when a bulbous, glass dome peeked over the mattress and shot her a keen look.

"You okay?" Benson said, placing his clipboard down on the bed and reaching his hand down to help her up.

Kairo's expression was bland.

"You scared the crap outta me."

"Sorry. I just thought I heard you talking to someone in here." Kairo took his hand and he pulled her up on the bed with ease. Why do I feel like Skips? Benson asked himself as he grabbed his clipboard and hopped off the bed. Either he managed to miraculously gain a bit of muscle in the past week, or Kairo was just light. I guess Rigby was right, he thought. She is lighter than a feather. Kairo yawned and stretched, slightly wincing and regaining her previous position on the bed. "Well, I was talking to myself probably."

"Talking to yourself?""Yah. I'm too lazy to listen to my conscious, I have to tell myself to do things. I don't know why, it just works that way."

Benson chuckled. "Um, okay? What was you're conscious telling you to do? Get your lazy butt out of bed? Because if I were you, I'd just go with your conscious on that one."

"What? Why?"

"It's already ten o' clock."

Kairo glanced toward the window, which, even though she hadn't remembered doing so, had been closed up and the curtains pulled over it. Sunlight seeped through the golden blinds, casting upon the room a dim yellow glow. "How did that happen?" she asked herself as she flung off of her bed and picked up the alarm clock. "Normally I wake up around seven. Why would I-"

Her stomach growled again. Kairo's face turned red and she slammed down the alarm clock. "Case solved."

Benson sighed even though he was bearing an ear-to-ear smile. "You fell asleep before you could come down and get dinner. So you're stomach's paying for it.""Well, better hunger pains than Charlie Horses, right?"

Benson furrowed his brow. "What's that?""A Charlie Horse. You know, that cramp you get in your foot and you jump up and down and squeal because it hurts so friggin bad?"

Kairo concluded by lifting her foot up, careful not to let the pants slide down her leg to reveal her wounds, and putting on her best 'ouch-my-foot-hurts-so-friggin-bad' face. Benson put his hands over his head. "Hey, I know what a Charlie Horse is."

"Then why'd you ask what it was?""Because," Benson said, heading for the door and peeking over his shoulder with a sly grin. "I couldn't hear you over your stomach. C'mon, let's go get some breakfast. Everyone else has already eaten."

Kairo's ears twitched and she smiled back awkwardly before ensuring that none of the sleeves rolled up in her sleep and following Benson.

"Hey Benson, who's the new chick everyone's talking about?" said a gravelly deep voice by the time they reached the bottom of the stairs, which Kairo had refused to go down without gripping the rail with both hands the whole way. Benson stepped aside as Kairo reached the last step, shooting her an inquisitive look as she slowly put her foot on the ground and finally released the rail from her death grip. She looked up and saw a small, pudgy green man standing with a transparent cheerful ghost. His brown mullet had pieces of grass protruding from it here and there, along with grass stains on his knees and elbows. "Muscleman," said Benson calmly. "This is Kairo." Muscleman took one look at her and started guffawing boisterously. "Dude, you're short bro!" Kairo clenched her fists, but didn't have time to respond by the time the ghost swiveled in front of him. "I'm High Five Ghost! But you can call me Fives. What's your name again?"

"Uhh…" Kairo stuttered, looking down on the ground. "Kairo.""Whoa! Is that Egyptian?" He asked enthusiastically.

Kairo could see that he wasn't meaning to be a jerk, like Rigby had done the last time, so she shook her head. "No, a lot of people think I am though. Actually, on my birth certificate, it says Katra."

High Five Ghost floated a little ways back and looked at her funny. "Wait, if Katra is your real name, then why are you called 'Kairo'?" Her ears twitched uneasily as she shifted her feet. Benson saw her eyes dart from a speck on the floor to the far side of the living room repetitively. "Well…all of my foster parents and stepparents didn't really care how they pronounced my name…so everyone just followed their example, and before I knew it," she shrugged. "I was known as Kairo."

"Why would your foster and step parents not care?" Muscleman asked as he crossed his arms and glanced at Fives. "They sound like crappy parents if you ask me.""Oh, you have no idea!" Kairo broke into a little chuckle and it immediately faded into a serious face, all the while Benson's eyes were on her.

Her stomach growled for the third time that morning. "Dang, I'm just neglecting you, huh?" She said, looking down on her stomach. Benson, keeping in mind how she acted when she was talking about her parents, took a step forward. "Yeah, we'd better get you fed. The kitchen is just in here," he said, walking towards the kitchen table and hearing Kairo following up behind him. He pulled out a chair for her and she took it with a barely audible thank you. He strolled over to the cabinet with all of the cereal in it. "So, it sounds like you're pretty hungry. Cereal?" he asked. Kairo squeezed the edge of the table. "Oh yeah, that's fine." Benson took a bowl down. "Come to think of it, you sound like you haven't eaten in a while," he pulled the milk out of the fridge. "What was the last thing you ate? Yesterday's lunch, I take it? No wonder you're hungry."Kairo twiddled her thumbs and anyone could visibly tell that she was biting down on her bottom lip. "Well…actually, Benson…"Benson did a double take at Kairo, for she looked as if here eyes were becoming wetter by the second. "I…haven't eaten in…about three days." Benson stopped in his tracks, nearly dropping the milk carton. He turned around and was about to ask her why the heck she hadn't eaten in that long when Mordecai barged through the door accompanied by his raccoon friend. Rigby barged in and jumped up on the table, plopping down in front of Kairo deliberately. "Good afternoon, Sleeping Beauty." he said. "Did you get a good catnap?"

"Knock it off Rigby," Mordecai said, walking in wearing a casual black shirt and black jeans, with blue sneakers barely visible behind them. Rigby stood up and pointed at his sweatshirt, which said in big, bold letters: I DON'T CARE. "Read it and weep, Morde-cry." Benson was still staring at Kairo. "Hey look!" Rigby said, plucking off his "I'm Eggcellent" hat and propping it on the cat girl's head. "Ha! Look! 'Cat in the Hat!"

"Rigby!" Mordecai scolded.

The raccoon yanked the hat off and placed it on his own head. "Alright, alright, sheesh. Why the heck did we come back here anyway? It's a weekend! I thought you wanted to hang out with Margaret!" Mordecai grabbed Kairo and pulled her out of her seat. "C'mon dude! The girls really wanna meet you!""Wha-? Girls?" Kairo sputtered as they headed to the door. "Yeah! Margaret and Eileen! They said they're gonna take you around the city and show you everything! Is that okay Benson?" Benson blinked a few times, reminding himself that it was impossible to have a discussion with Kairo if those two were there. And, hell, they were already heading out the door. Benson sighed and rubbed his temples. "Fine, just…fine." He was going to say something to them, about not getting into trouble or destroying park property, but right now he couldn't focus on one thing. Mordecai let out a loud "OOOH!" and Rigby huffed. "C'mon! Let's go!"

The three ran to their skateboards, since their golf cart privileges had been revoked not a week earlier. "You know how to ride a skateboard Kairo?" Mordecai asked as he tossed her a blue one. She caught it skillfully and smiled. "I may not be a pro, but I have a few cool tricks up my sleeve!" She saw Rigby hop onto his hilariously tiny skateboard. "Alright, what are we waiting for?" He propelled off with his foot, and the two followed. Benson ran out front the fastest he could without causing the cut on his foot to hurt too bad. "Hey!" he called after them. They skidded and flipped around. "Yeah dude?" Kairo asked.

"Just…be sure that they feed you okay?" He said. Kairo put her thumbs up.

"And don't get hurt or anything! All the park needs is another hospital bill Rigby!" Rigby turned around, still riding on his skateboard, and clutched his 'I'm Eggcellent' hat with pride before flipping back around and going faster down the sidewalk. Benson groaned to himself. "And that includes you too, Kairo!" the cat girl put her hands around her mouth and shouted as she faded into the distance. He took a quick intake of breath and was very shocked at her response.

"I'm used to it!"

Author's Note: Hey guys. Sorry for such a late submission, but my life is going down the toilet right now, so from here on out until testing is over, it's going to be very difficult to find time to finish and submit chapters. Just a heads-up. Also, lord knows how rushed I was to finish this, therefore I was unable to review this entire chapter before submitting (oh no, I did the one thing a writer should never do! Oh well; at least I got half through it) I hope you like this chapter, the next one should be up in the next week or so. Byebye!