Y'know how bad it sucks to be moved from your only home and shoved into a new place? Without knowing anyone, or any of the surroundings? That's how I feel, sort of. Only switch moving from home to home, from planet to planet. I'm a Hekshanian from Earth, originally. I was born on one the colonies there, but since the War started, any and all Hekshanians were ordered to leave any colonies they had inhabited and go back to the species original planet of Hekshano. Well, not ordered directly, more like forced and beaten into submission if they failed to comply. And even then, we didn't have much of a choice.

This isn't making much sense to you is it? Well, let me tell you my name first. It's Kino Lira, or, as I said it on Earth, Lira Kino. I usually go by Ki now, though.

Anyway, I was on my way out to Mars, visiting my mom and dad (they were scientists and ordered to Mars for some reason or another and I was old enough then to be left on my own for months at a time) when I was directed from my flight onto this stuffy transport by a guard. Not really asking why (I mean, he did have a BFG [Big Fucking Gun, if you dunno] and a nasty disposition) I went along and wound up on Hekshano, being bullied around by these fucking Rulerists who think it's their right and privilege to treat us this way.

So, here I am, a seventeen year old Offworlder with no family or friends, being sent to a war ravaged planet by guys who are bigger bullies than I don't know what. Let me tell you, it's Hell. Beings shoved around like animals, ordered into formation like trainee soldiers, and then walked out of the Hekshanian airport to the streets surrounding it and being told if we were good, maybe they wouldn't shoot us down right away. Lucky for them I had a good sense of survival. After breaking up the group (we had about 5 minutes before opening fire) I turned tail and ran.

Now, I will admit, running away from a fight was never tops on my list, but the fucking idiots had taken my luggage from my flight to Mars, so I didn't have my blades. Yea, I carry blades. Two wrist blades to be exact; they fit on your wrist and run about six inches past the back of your hand. Wanna know how I got them past customs? Heh, heh, having parents for scientists helps you a lot more than you think; I just claimed them as "scientific equipment" and the idiots let me pass. Hell, I wasn't even really lying…my parents did want me to bring a few extra supplies with me to Mars. The fuckers took my luggage, but for some reason, let me keep my duffel. Still haven't figured that stroke of luck to this day, but hell, I'm not complaining. That had a few of my caffeine pills, a change of clothing, care kit for my blades and care kit for myself (hair brush and shit, y'know?). My first day I must've run about two miles in less than 15 minutes. The sound of bullets hitting bodies gives you a rush like a Stim never could. I ran for my life that day, duffel bag jouncing on my back, spurring me onward to keep myself alive. And that's when I ran into Them.

Three in all, they stopped me when I took a wrong turn and wound up in a dead ended alley. Now, I'm a nice kid, but being mugged about being dumped on a foreign (to me) planet was not high on my list of things to do. One of 'em was a dirty grey color, with black hair and blue eyes. He must've been the leader with the way the other two followed behind him. The right one was a lighter grey, and must've been a sibling of some sort, because he and the leader looked exactly alike, with a slight age difference. The third guy must've been a friend, because he was black, with blue stripes tattooed all over his body. His hair was dyed blue too; either that or it was natural.

With a menacing grin, the leader said in broken Common, "Well boys, what do we have here? Looks like an Offworlder to me."

Blue-hair laughed, drawing a wicked looking knife from his trench, "Looks like it to me." Snarling suddenly, he lunged and drew the knife to my throat, "Open your duffel for us, we want a peek at what's inside."

These guys were good at their job, I'll give them that, but, unfortunately for them, I had about six years of self-defense and Thai Chi lessons under my belt.

I wasted no time in teaching them that lesson.

Grinning as innocently as I could, I reached up and put a delicate hand on blue-hair's knife hand, purring in the most seductive voice I could muster, "Oh, but I could show you much more outside the duffel."

Men are idiots. He must not have had a female in years with the way he reacted to my purr. Lowering the knife, he grabbed me by the waist and looped his tail in mine, returning the tone of voice, "Is that so? You must be pretty desperate if you're already selling out."

"Nope, I just wanted you closer to me." With this last statement, I took his knife wrist and clenched my fist closed on it, digging my claws into the tendons that allowed the hand to grasp things. He cried out and tried to punch me, but was too entangled with me to hit very much and the punch just grazed my ear as I ducked out of his hold, using a hip throw to send him flying into the other two. Stooping to grab the knife he had dropped, I threw the trio a sloppy salute after leaping over their fallen bodies.

"Thanks boys, I really needed a weapon. You sure know how to show a girl a good time."

I ran before they had a chance to disentangle themselves.

I have never run so much in my life as I did the first day. The near-encounter with the bullies left me more aware of the true dangers on Hekshano, and the need for a home. Only thing was, I didn't know anyone around this place.

After loosing the bullies, I slowed to a walk and wandered around town, trying to get my bearings and all. It was a pretty ravaged city, I soon discovered, as most of the buildings were empty and broken down, boarded up from disuse and such. The ones that were open weren't much better, and the stores had iron bars over the front windows and door, only open when the stores themselves were open.

Also everyone was a Hekshanian. It was weird at first, seeing people who looked like me everywhere. I had never had much contact with other Hekshanians before this, maybe one or two when I went to see my parents, but not much more than that. I soon got used to it, especially as night started to fall.

That was scary, let me tell you. Spending the night (soon to be the rest of my life) on this strange planet scared me, scared me bad. I holed up my first night in an abandoned warehouse. No one was using it, and one of the windows had a loose board, so I let myself in. I don't think I was the only one there that night, though if I wasn't, no one tried anything on me, so I never knew. Then again, the fact I slept with my newly stolen knife in my paws may have deterred them. Either way, I woke up early the next day, hungry and caffeine deprived.

I'm gonna break here for a minute to explain Stim addicts to you (get the confusion over with early so you'll have a clue on what I'm rambling about later). Y'see, there are two kinds of addicts out in the world; Stims and Dims. Dim addicts are Earth's old alcoholic bunch. Their drugs depress them, make 'em more laid back and all around complacent. Stims are just the opposite. We're hyperactive, twitchy, perverted and all around hyper. Only the kick you get from Stims is about twenty times that of a sugar rush. It's easy to tell the two apart, since Stim addicts are constantly twitching or moving, or doing something. We have to, or else our energy had no way of being let out. Dim addicts are more laid back, go-with-the-flow people. I'm a Stim addict, but it's because Stims not only give you an incredible rush of energy, they help in holding yer nerves together when yer working. Y'see, I was a comp. tech. (computer technician) back at the colony, and Stims were my way of staying focused if I was on a long shift.

My first thought was taking my caffeine when I woke up, but reality hit me and taking pills on an empty stomach was not a good idea (I did it before and knocked myself out for a few days because of it), so I decided to get food. My problem was I didn't know where to get it, or what I could pay for it with. Digging into my cargo pants, I took a quick tally of my belongings.

Change of clothing, hair-brush, toothpaste, toothbrush, whet stone, polishing rag and metal polish, my new knife, about $75 Earth dollars, gum, my CD player and headphones, plus my wallet and an old stuffed horse I carried for comfort (Hey, I'm allowed…my grandma gave it to me, and I travel with it for good luck). Quickly digging through my duffel, I carefully peeled away the lining on one end to grab my pillbox. Dumping the pills onto my paw, I counted quickly.

5 pills.

Great, that would last me all of five days if I took only one a day. Putting away my stuff as carefully as I had packed it, I mentally cursed my situation.

I didn't know anybody around here, I didn't know any way to get food, a roof over my head, or a shower, and to top it all off, I needed to find a way to get more caffeine before I went into withdrawal.

'Nothing like a challenge to start your day, ' I thought sarcastically, jumping the crates back up to the window I was crawled through and looked around, dropping lightly to the ground after checking to see if the coast was clear.

The morning light didn't do the city anymore justice than it had the day before as I wandered through the eerily silent streets. I kept to the shadows as much as I could, I knew my accent immediately labeled me as an Offworlder and after my run-in with the bullies, I didn't want any more attention than necessary.

Pushing the door open to what looked like a convenient store, I wandered inside to get a look around and see if anything could be made out as breakfast. I was in luck… It seems like Earth convenient stores and Hekshano convent stores were the same, so I immediately grabbed two packs of donuts and headed to the back to see if they carried my favorite drink. They didn't. I sighed resignedly as I pulled out a bottle of water and headed up front.

A human actually greeted me and gave me an instant look of hatred, saying gruffly, "That be all?"

I nodded slowly, pushing my stuff towards him to ring it up. "Don' s'ppose you carry Sunkist?"

A glare was all the answer I got as my stuff was shoved back to me.

Unsure of what he wanted in payment, I dug out a $5 bill from my pocket and handed it to him, "Will this be enough..?"

He laughed outright and snatched the money from my paw, "Be enough for me, cat. Now get out of my store!"

Taking no further hints, I stuffed my breakfast into a pocket and scooted as quickly as I could out of the place. Shaking my head in wonder, I dug out one of the donut packets from my pocket and opened it, eating my breakfast in eerie silence as I walked down the street. No one was around, and it made me nervous. Quickly finishing my first pack, I started on my second, licking the crumbs from my fingers as I looked around, hoping for some sign of life. I got one, but not in the way I would've liked it.