AN- Woo…Eheh…Some break, hn? I got caught up with ‘Long Days Cold Nights’. But judging on my lack of writing that one, it might take a bit to get up chapter 7 for Chris' story. I need to think up some filler chapters for the rest of his childhood, full life lessons, all that good jazz.

I changed one thing in chapter four. But just so you don’t go on a wild goose chase to find it: All I changed was the color of her fur that I described. Instead of having white fur with black spots, she’s got tawny golden fur with black spot blotches, I guess. ...You’ll see why. (Any of you who'v guessed whats going on with her, the transnformation is still in the same general species listing, so go on guessing >P)

Anywho...

Zephyr’s – The way I put that conversation is the way I meant it to be. It’s meant to have you all concentrating more on what’s said, rather than description. You’ll find out why it’s like that later on, though the bits of narration in italics are hinting towards why it’s like that. Thanks for the tip anyway :P

Luna – Yes Luna...Yes I am. And no, it is not the end. Otherwise I would’ve said so, silly! Now...Why did her parents do this? And did they have a reason? The two questions are pretty much linked xP They did it because of the reason they had. Picture yourself in they’re shoes, after all they’d done, and all that could happen to Hikari. Then you’ll know their reason.

Bear with me on the chapter title, I couldn't think of anything short and witty!

Now...Onward to...-Drumroll-

How to Ruin Everything – Chapter 5

I remember trying to get myself to wake up later on that day...telling myself that all of it was probably just some horrible nightmare. Of course it wasn’t. But...you can’t blame a little kid for trying, right? Hell...I was only...only six.

“Jason! Thomas! Both of you get down here now!” it was the shouting voice of Ms. Fletcher – Fletch – again, standing by the open door that led to the staircase Hikari had caught sight of earlier. “The man from the salvation army is here!”

There was the sound of two sets of feet thundering down the stairs, and within moments the two boys earlier who’d gotten the sandwiches came down, looking more excited than most of the kids at the orphanage ever did. “Awesome!” shouted one of them, “Wonder how many channel’s we’ll get.”

Flech glared at the two of them as they hurried to the door, making her way back over to the desk that she spent most of her day in. There was a man that had just pushed his way into the building, carrying an old beat up looking box with a bent metal antenna sticking out of the top. “There you are,” he said to the two teens that had gone over to take the box from him.

The man that had brought the box in turned to leave, pausing for a moment in a lightly startled manner when he caught sight of a child he didn’t recognize, sitting in front of the stain glass window with her back against the wall and her knees curled up with her arms wrapped around her legs. The man was startled for a moment at the sight of the ears sitting atop her head, and the tail curled up gently to wrap around the front of her ankles. There was a bag sitting next to her, and from where the man stood he could see ruddy but folded cloths inside. The delivery man sighed heavily, putting all thoughts that a City Dweller would harbor against those that looked like the girl aside. He shook his head slowly and headed back out to the truck that had parked in front of the building.

The few other older children that had been in the room had started to head over to the two boys – Jason and Thomas – as they went over to where an electrical outlet was in the wall. They’d taken an incredibly old television out of the box, old enough that it still operated by dial instead of buttons, without a remote control, quite obviously; by now they were fiddling with the antenna. Through all the channels only one of them had even remotely come in, and they were attempting to get better reception for it.

Hikari had perked her ears forward, watching the small group of kids by the television with curiosity. The fiddling of the antenna was beginning to pay off, and there was the droning speech of a news cast emitting from the speakers now, cutting off every few seconds from the static. Only a twist or turn more, and they had a decent picture. Many in the room were watching the television now – save for Mrs. Fletcher, who was still over at her desk. The man on the television switched stories, having now been finished with the daily weather. A few of the children in the room that had lost interest in the television looked over quickly, their attention snared by a single word that had been said...

-Murder in downtown New York.-

Even Fletcher turned to look towards the television at that point. They were in downtown New York, after all. If there was a murderer around...

I think a part of me died during that news cast. I really...I really do.

-The victims were found by the Landlord of the apartment building they lived in. Mr. Groun – the Landlord in question – says to have been going up to their apartment to collect the rent. Though normally he leaves it to the tenants to bring the rent to him, Groun stated that the Tagai’s had been late in their pay for the past two months, and he wasn’t about to wait any longer.-

The Caretaker – Fletch – looked sharply over to the girl sitting by the window as the names were mentioned. The girl, Hikari, had felt her heart leap into her throat at the same name. Her last name. She wasn’t horribly naïve, she knew what murder was.

Something snapped inside. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. Something...something was keeping me from turning away.

-Police are dumbfounded. The murder victims had no open wounds, save for one small dart wound at the base of their necks. The darts in question weren’t recovered, Police say that it would useless to look for them...but the reporters have their doubts that the Police are doing everything they can to solve this case. The Tagai’s were known to have a daughter, Groun said, but other residents in the area say they haven’t seen the girl since earlier that morning when the family set out on what seemed to be a normal walk. Our Reporters have assured us that they plan on doing everything they can to discover where the daughter was brought, saying it won’t be too hard with all the witnesses. As for the death of the two Tagai’s, all that has been given out for information is that it was an unknown poison, something the Police have never seen before. In other news, the small town grocery store that we all know in love is said to be celebrating their 20th year of business, sales will be had on all items...-

By now nobody in the room wasn’t listening to the television anymore. They were talking amongst themselves. Things like, ‘A murder in this neighborhood?’, ‘Do you think it’s a serial killer?’, ‘The Police never try to do anything about anything. For all we know, they killed them!’

Fletcher’s interest had faded with the news report, and right now all she cared was that the girl who’d been brought in the day before (she hadn’t bothered to give her a room yet, assuming she wouldn’t want to leave her spot by the door anyway) looked to be on the brink of tears, and the one thing she hated the most was to listen to a crying child. “Nodin” she shouted suddenly, a boy around Hikari’s age looked quickly over to her. Fletcher pointed towards the girl, narrowing her eyes lightly at the boy called Nodin, “She will be occupying the bed left in your room. Show her the way.”

‘Show her the way.’ Dear god, she had no idea what a...a metaphorical thing that was to say about him. About Nodin...

“Yes, Mrs. Fletcher.” the boy replied obediently. Hikari turned up towards the boy at the sound of his voice, her gaze taking in every little detail as it often did with those she met for the first time. His skin was darker than a lot of the other children there, not dark dark, he wasn’t black – his hair was black, though, just not his skin. Nodin’s eyes were a deep, dark brown. They were almost black themselves, actually; but in the right light they flashed amber. He was wearing the same rundown raggedy cloths as all the other’s there, the type of cloths that would make some people feel awkwardly out of place with cloths that were old, but not quite rags. They made Hikari feel right at home.

And there was something about his face...All the other kids – everyone actually – when they looked at me, had this reluctant...almost scared look in their eyes. Nodin didn’t, though. He looked perfectly fine with having to show me to my room...with having to share it with the ‘Forest Dweller freak’. ...I never got that nickname, it wasn’t as if I lived in the Forest, not as if I came from it...

The boy led Hikari towards the doorway that Thomas and Jason had gone and come through earlier, opening it and stepping aside to let her through first. The girl was still on the brink of tears, struggling under the bulk of the bag holding her clothing. She tripped on it when starting up the narrow staircase, falling forward and landing on the steps. There was nothing left to hold her together then, she fell apart, liquid gold spilling over her cheeks. Nodin quickly closed the door behind them, knowing full well the Fletch would probably get upset if she heard Hikari crying. After doing so he managed to squeeze himself onto the steps beside her, grabbing ahold of the bag’s handle and gently picking it up. Hikari looked up to him, taking in a deep breath to try and stop the sobs that were racking through her, and Nodin smiled.

I loved his smile. It was just one of those smiles, the type that makes everything wrong – in that moment – melt away as if nothing of it matters.

He held his hand out to help her up, Hikari took it, her clouded leopard tail flicking lightly to and fro in an agitated manner. “The rooms at the end of the hallway.” he said, starting up the narrow staircase, still holding onto the bag. “It’s not big, but none of them area, anyway.”

When they emerged at the top of the stairs the floor leveled out in an almost unnatural way. Of course, all staircases leveled out like that, but the way the room felt¸ just...didn’t seem right. There was no railing around the circular entryway at the top of the stairs. The floors were wood, but not polished, instead left to be scuffed and destroyed by hundreds of feet over a huge span of time. Directly in front of the stairway was a hallway, just as narrow as the staircase itself. Behind when one came to the top of the stairs were two doors – the bathrooms, she found out later, for bathing and such – labeled ‘boys’ and ‘girls’.

“It used to be a Tavern.” Nodin said, pulling Hikari out of her observant trance.

She blinked then, squinting her eyes lightly, “But I thought...”

“You thought it was a Church, right?” He took over, smiling in an almost mischievous way and nodding, “It’s suppose to look like that. Back when the tavern was around, the rumor was that it was for Forest Dwellers.”

Hikari’s eyes widened lightly in curiosity. Everyone on their out-of-the-way side of New York City knew about Forest Dwellers. “You mean vampires?”

The boy shook his head quickly in reply, “No, they’re not really Forest Dwellers. They’re just called that, but they live in the city.” the way he spoke made it sound as if he were an expert on the subject. And for all she knew, he was. “I mean Weres, shapeshifters, elves – that sort of thing. Nothing really dangerous, I think, but just people – I think they can be called people, not things like everyone else says – who didn’t want to be seen by people in town – it was a town back then, not a City. New York didn’t even exist back then, they built around this town. Isn’t that cool? I thought it was.”

Hikari has seemed to stop listening at one point, Nodin noticed and tilted his head lightly, keeping quiet in hopes that she would say something. She did. “People like me now, right? People who are different. People who’s...who’s parents don’t want them.”

The boy squinted an eye lightly, “Just because you’re different, doesn’t mean you’re parents don’t want you. Thomas and Jason? They weren’t different, as normal as can be. But they’re parents dropped them off when they were babies. A lot of us ended up here that way.” he paused for a moment, blinking once, and adding in, “It’s not like A lot of us ended up here that way.” he paused for a moment, blinking once, and adding in, “It’s not like your parents didn’t want you. We all saw it yesterday...they had a reason, like all of them do...just don’t think we can handle the reason, is all.”

Hikari looked up to Nodin as he went on, catching sight of a familiar pain in his eyes, and realizing for the first time the obvious. Realizing that she wasn’t the first to have this happen to, that she wasn’t really alone.

I wasn’t alone anymore anyway. Nodin was there at that point...But what she said next, well...it just seemed to set things in place, like they were finally right for that time in my life.

“A lot of us don’t know where our parents are.” He said, looking up to her, “Sorry yours are dead, though.”

Inwardly, she expected herself to cry. But nothing came, not really. A twinge of pain, a rench in her throat, and then nothing. It was as if Nodin apologizing for it – even though it was obviously not his fault – helped it sink in. Helped her to accept it. She nodded lightly, letting her ears fall to the sides and tilting her head down, her hair falling into her face. (By this point, the blond was gone. That bit had actually happened overnight, strangely enough. Her hair color matched the base fur on her ears and tail, with the same tell-tale blotches of a clouded leopard pattern) Hikari looked up, “Where’s the room?”

Nodin smiled, “Down the hall, this way.” He nodded over his shoulder, turning towards the narrow walkway, and continued to lead her to her new home.

A home, hah! Barely a home. The only thing that made it feel like home was having Nodin there. He was my friend. My only friend. My best friend. But home? Not really...and if it was, it was only temporarily. I’d decided that day, even though I knew I couldn’t do anything about I then. Even though I knew that I would have to live there for God knew how long...I decided that someday, I’d get out of there.

AN: Sorry if it’s a bit short-ish. But LOOK! I finally got it up! Sorry to all that are waiting for chapter 7 of Through the Icy Blue, and those of you that are waiting for the first chapter of Searching the Sky. (I’ve started that one, a little...) But this chapter had been sitting there half done for a while now. Figured I’d finish it and post it up. Soo, hope you enjoyed, and don’t forget to Review! :P