Neko Iino

Kyuudou Island was once known for its open and welcoming community. Two species lived together on the island, spread across its warm beaches and shady forests, and very few conflicts occurred. This history has fallen out of modern memory, but once the two species mingled freely, making families together and mixing a diverse gene pool. In fact, were it not for the earthquake that split the island, the two would likely still live together, even now.

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The earthquake raised a mountain range in the middle of the island, a steep set of slopes shaped like a crescent around what soon became the 'human' side of the island. Enclosed within these walls, and blocked away from the community beyond, the villagers' hearts became dark, their minds growing suspicious of outsiders - even the ones they used to hold so close.

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The two halves of the island now had their own villages, their own families, and one deep divide forever keeping them apart.

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That didn't stop the mixed genes from continuing, however. After the earthquake, there were quite a few 'human' children displaying strange characteristics - ears, tails, and other 'beastly' features. The villagers, no longer knowing the details of their history, shunned these children whenever they appeared, up to and including Neko herself.

Her given name was different, but as only her family used it, the villagers knew the girl as only the word she'd given to herself, a word she'd found in the village elder's books: Neko, meaning cat.

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It was the only defining feature she had, she thought. May as well make a name of it. Elder Oji tried to discourage this way of thinking, but agreed that the girl deserved her own name. A name separated from the ties of a family who didn't love her, who actively pretended she wasn't there. In fact, as Neko saw it, Elder Oji agreed with most of the things she decided to do. It was because of him that she began to learn the island's true history, and because of him that she started to wander further into the caves that led deep within the mountain.

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It had always been a great place to hide away from the world, from her family, from the villagers who still pointed and stared, eyes catching on her twin pointed ears, or the sharp claws extending from her fingertips. It was easier there, where she could sit at the water's edge, just inside the cave's mouth, listening to the waves and the call of seabirds. She found safety and happiness within those damp walls, and when she found the carvings, she found her first passion, too. She wanted the story behind them, the truth of her world and all the others - the others she only now knew existed.

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The carvings had shown her portals, had painted images of wide-open grasslands and mystical cities that she could never imagine, but Oji's books gave proof of their existence. Those same carvings showed her monsters, strange, small black creatures with golden eyes, painted with something strong enough to withstand the decay of passing time. It was those images that kept Neko from going much further into the caves - those eyes seemed to watch her, actively...hungrily.

And no one knew how far the tunnels really went. If she never found her way back out, who would even miss her?

She put her effort into learning, instead. Elder Oji was a wise, but secretive old man, sharing little with the other villagers, but teaching young Neko plenty. As she grew older, she remained small and light on her feet, and was thus an easy pupil to mold into a rogueish fighter. Her natural instincts kept her on the high ground, her easy silence made her excellent at surprising foes - and before long, she was able to catch Oji himself off-guard. Her growing skills worried the old man, but he continued with his work, both in teaching the trusting, innocent girl what he called 'ancient sciences' and the experiments she could never know about.

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Neko had no idea what kind of man Oji truly was. She knew him as a kindly grandfather, eager to step into the void left open by her long-dead father. He gave her books about worlds outside their shuttered island, taught her about strange weapons and long-gone wars that still echoed in the present day. He comforted her when she was sad, or scared, and gave her a safe haven away from the abuse and neglect she faced at home. She trusted him deeply, and never could've imagined what he did when she wasn't looking.

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Oji had sensed power in the girl, a strong magic potential that it seemed no one was aware of - not even Neko herself. Given her bloodline, it wasn't an uncommon trait, but then...she knew just as much of the village history as her foolish family, and they clearly had no idea where the girl's beastlike form and nature had come from. He could use that, though, and so he did. For as much as he gave her, he took from her, as well: her magic made a wonderful conduit for his experiments with heartless, and enabled him to begin creating a whole new variety of the little monsters. These artificial heartless needed no heart for their birth, instead drawing power from little gems Oji had taken from the mountain caves. Little Neko wore a set of these gems on a chain at her waist, never knowing their true purpose and reveling in the supposed love and care that had been gifted to her in physical form.

She was as foolish as her family, as Oji saw it.

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His experiments with artificial heartless proceeded unhindered for many years, and even at seventeen years old, his pet project hadn't a clue of his true plans. A few people had disappeared over the years, a by-product of toying with heartless, but they were easy to write off, especially for such a neglected child, who dreamt always of leaving her lonely life for far-off adventures and friendships she'd never known. Oji hardly had to do any convincing for her to believe that they had left on their own, seeking freedom. Were it not for the fire, Neko might've stayed under his control forever, unwittingly aiding in unspeakable horrors just to seek out the only form of love she'd ever known.

Neko wasn't the only one in her family with magic potential, however. Her younger brother, nearly her twin in age but opposite her in every way, had always had a strange affinity with fire. He dug bonfire pits in the sand, stole and burned anything he could, and once destroyed a local palm tree grove with his reckless fire-starting. He'd always needed help before, in the form of lighters and accelerants, but on his 16th birthday, the fire came to his hands when he called it. And though he felt its heat, he never burned.

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Neither Neko nor her family home were so lucky.

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Her mother, stepfather, and brother had plenty of warning, even escaping without harm, but Neko had been once again forgotten. Later, the family would say they didn't know she was home, and didn't know to send anyone in after her. Later, they would search the scorched timbers for a body, as they believed there was no way the small, quiet girl could've survived the blaze before the building collapsed in upon itself.

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As it happened, Neko had made it out, but not as easily as her family. Left alone in the blaze, she tried desperately to escape, first at the front door, and then the back, but was able to reach neither before the fire had grown too large to contain. Coughing and spluttering, she crawled through the smoke to a large bay window at the back of the house, nearly making it there when the old wooden beams above her head started to creak...and collapsed on top of her.

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To this day, she's not entirely certain how she got herself free. It comes to her in flashes, sometimes, the way the fire licked up the side the wood landed on, the pain of pushing both arms beneath the beam, trying to shove it away even as it burned her. Sometimes, she still hears the sound of the glass shattering when she threw herself through the window. Sometimes, she still hears herself screaming.

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Mostly, she remembers being out. She remembers the cold wind rolling in off the sea, and she remembers dragging herself away from the blaze and refusing to look back. She didn't know where her family was. She knew they weren't in the fire, she remembered calling for them desperately, but she felt no urge to search them out, to see if they were alright. She only wanted to be alone, to be away from it all, to not feel the pain of her burnt flesh and cut skin.

Oji wasn't home when she pulled herself through his door. He found evidence of her there, later, in his raided medicine cabinet and missing first aid kit. He found her blood splattered on his floor, but the girl was gone.
She'd taken herself deep into the mountain caves, having decided that it didn't matter if she lost her way in their twisting depths. The bandages and ointments she'd stolen did little to soothe her wounds, but they were enough to contain the blood, if not the horrible smell. She still felt the golden eyes of the wall carvings watching her as she dragged herself through the tunnels, but they had become familiar to her over the years, and when she leaned on the walls for support, she found them warm to her touch.

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She told herself her mind was playing tricks on her, having no knowledge of the magic stored within the gems on her belt. She thought nothing of it, too tired to question it further, even when the images seemed to slip off the wall to stand steadily in front of her.

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At the time, Neko had believed she was dying. Those beautiful cities she'd seen in Oji's books and painted on the cave walls now floated in front of her, ringed by a brilliant light that warmed her skin and even calmed her nerves, for a time. She watched the images change, showing her beautiful, glittering castles that melted away into floating cities and unfamiliar island chains amidst deep crystal oceans. She walked closer to the light, half-delirious, hoping that in death she would find adventure in those strange new lands.

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She fell through the portal into a cold, cobblestoned alley. It took her two days, half-asleep on that unfamiliar ground, before she realized she wasn't dead after all. It hurt too much to lay there and die a slow death, so she pulled herself up instead. Her stolen supplies lasted her a short while, allowing her to keep her healing wounds clean, but she had nowhere to stay. She didn't even know where she was.

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Within a week, she'd learned the place was called Twilight Town. They had a school nearby and a good amount of easy work, even for someone as strange as she was. One of the friendlier shopkeeps told her they'd had visitors like her before, and they were plenty nice. She didn't frighten him one bit.

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Within two weeks, she'd robbed that same shopkeep in the dead of night, desperate for something to eat. She never showed her face near there again, too ashamed to see that smile, that kindness, that betrayed trust.

Within three months, the local officials were well aware of the small bandit creeping around dark corners and scrabbling over rooftops. Neko tried to stay up high, above all the strangers who either never saw her, or saw something they very much didn't like. Her clothes became more worn, scuffed, and dirty, but her wounds were healing well enough, and the things Oji taught her were enough to get her by. She rarely thought about her family or her island. She didn't have the time or the energy.

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Working was no longer an option. Shopkeeps started to remember her face and would shout her down if she came by as legitimate customer. She got by with plenty of petty thievery, occassionally picking on the local teenagers and unwitting tourists. She did her best to choose targets that deseved it: bullies and abusers, and especially people who reminded her of home. Stories were often passed around about the thief shoving people into trash cans before running away with their pocket money and somehow evading capture at all turns. None of those stories even scratched the surface of her desperation, or her loneliness.

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One of the locals started to notice her, though. He lived alone on the edge of town, in a house left to him by his parents. The place had started to fall apart, but the boy was surviving well enough. He ate regularly, had a few friends, and spent most of his time with his skateboard. For every time he went out, though, he often saw a pair of eyes glowing softly in the alleys, as Neko also frequented the forgotten edges of town. He was pretty sure the eyes belonged to the thief who'd robbed him once and hit his friends at least twice each, but he wasn't particularly worried about them. The glow unnerved him, but the eyes never seemed menacing. Only...sad.

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He started to leave food out for her, whenever he saw those glowing eyes nearby. Neko eventually came to learn the boy called himself 'Edge' for whatever reason, but still did her best to avoid talking to him. Sometimes, he'd stop in the mouth of the alleys she chose and talk at her, but he seldom received replies. Still, though she wouldn't admit it, she appreciated the stupid boy and his frequent attention. She even started looking out for him, trying to mitigate the disasters his clumsy nature caused. Both of them found their lives growing easier, though neither felt much less lonely.

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And then another boy appeared in town. A stranger with pointed ears and a crooked smile and..and a tail. Like hers, but not.

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Naturally, he was her next target. She stuffed him a trash can without remorse. For about a minute.

It was all she could manage before an overwhelming need to protect the clearly defenseless idiot set in. At least the other one had a skateboard and half a brain cell. This little gremlin didn't seem to see danger staring him directly in the face.

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No...he just smiled at her. And that was it.