Nine Lives

Day 1/9

Kyo panted for breath as he ran through the streets with a grin on his face. "Get back here, you damn alley cat!" they called after him. "Catch me if you can, suckers!" Kyo shouted over his shoulder, clutching his prize.

Being that he was dirt poor, he needed to steal food to eat, so that's what he did. He had a small bag of rolls and even a few apples he snagged as he ran, which was a special treat for him. Unfortunately for him, someone saw him as he was taking them, which was sloppy on his part.

"Damn idiot. How'd you let them see you?" he cursed himself as he ran. "It hardly matters, they'll never catch me." he smirked to himself.

A guard suddenly turned a corner in front of him, trying to cut him off, but Kyo leap-frogged over him with a chuckle before he could try to grab him. "Too slow!" he called, sliding under a carriage and latching onto the bottom, hitching a ride.

"Suckers" he chuckled, dropping from the bottom after a few minutes. He stood up as the carriage continued forward and dusted himself off. "Those dirt roads do not help my already gross clothes." he muttered, shuffling through his bag and grabbing a bite of one of the apples he snagged.

He strolled down the path of shops, glancing around and noticing what part of town he ended up in. He stood out like a sore thumb in this fancier part of the kingdom, but he couldn't give less of a shit.

He was safe for a few minutes, but then saw more of the guards. "Shit." The guards all knew what he looked like at this point, and his bright orange hair didn't exactly help him blend into crowds. So he pulled the hood up on his ratty cloak and hid his satchel under it.

He was so busy keeping a look out for guards, that he ended up bumping into someone and falling back on his butt. He gripped his head as his hood fell back and he grit his teeth.

"Hey! Watch where you're goin' you stupid-..." his voice trailed off and broke a bit as he looked across from him on the ground at who he bumped into.

The young maiden was obviously upper class based on how she dressed. She wore a pale pink dress that was nice, but was clearly for going out. The sleeves ran along her delicate arms and fanned out at the elbows.

Her long brown hair was clean and straight, small pink lace bows tying off the top layer of her hair on the sides. Her eyes matched her hair color, but there was a certain shine to them he'd never seen before.

If he used fancy words like stupid people, he'd say she was lovely.

"O-oh! I'm so sorry, sir! Are you alright?" she asked, leaning forward onto her knees. "Doesn't she care about her fancy dress? It's getting dirtier; normally these rich people would be yelling at me over their clothes." he thought.

"Uh... yeah, I'm fine. You?" he grunted, getting up and dusting himself off. She tried getting up by herself, but it was almost like she wasn't used to wearing dresses with a petticoat, because she tripped and fell forward into him. He lunged forward and caught her in his arms, their fingers weaving together before he could think.

She looked up at him and pink dusted her pale cheeks. "Thank you. I-I'm so sorry, it was probably my fault you fell." she said, pulling her hands back and putting them behind her back. "Nah. I bumped into you. Sorry." he muttered.

She looked like she was going to ask something, but then someone shouted after him and his head whipped around to see a guard pointing at him. He quickly snatched up his bag and handed the girl her own bag. "Sorry. See y'a." he blurted before taking off down the street.

"Tohru! Are you alright?" Uotani said, jogging over to her. "I turn around to pay and you get yourself all dirty!" "Sorry, Uo, I'll be more careful." Tohru apologised with a smile. The stable girl sighed and shook her head. "Hey, what's that?" she asked, looking down at the ground.