• Running briskly through the alley Em fought to keep the food she had just snagged from the vendor in her mouth, she and Amb hand’t eaten in a few days, they had been giving all their food to young cats that passed them by.


    Running past another street Em stopped abruptly and glanced back at the previous alley quickly, her ears stood up, as if she could hear better when they were perked. Nothing there.


    “Food?” Amb’s questioning voice asked from under a cardboard box. Em shot Amb a wuick glare before dropping the meat and hissing at her.


    “I guess that means you didn’t find anything,” Em said sitting upright and licking her paw.


    “Nope, mean vendor threw a rock at me,” she mewed in complaint.


    “Wimp,” Em muttered before taking her half of the meat. She started eating it before realizing that Amb was staring at her, mouth agape. “What?” She asked glaring at her.


    “You pig!” She accused crouching low.


    “Who got this food that your eating?” Em asked her voice rising in a hiss.


    Amb grumbled and frowned before starting to eat her half of the meat. Em looked at Amb for a second before hissing again and going back to her food.


    -_-_-_


    That night when the wind picked up Em’s eyes fluttered open and looked sharply outside of her box with Amb, her tail curled around her friends protectively. Em had known Amb since she was a kitten, they were thrown into the same box with three other kittens and left to be picked up by someone who wanted them.


    Amb was a grey cat, boring to look at, not as cute as a black or white cat, it was her eyes that were really cool, but no one saw that, amb was left behind. Em had a mix of differetn colors of fur, her most prominent colors were orange and grey, but there was also some black and white hairs mixed in, most people thought it was odd, black or white was more safe. They were left behind with one other cat who had black and white spots, his name was T. R, Em and Amb left the box together when he died.


    As Em looked out of the box her mind reeled back to earlier that day when she thought there was something in the alley. Slinking quietly out of the box Em looked up to meet two glowing eyes, a shaggy black cat looked at her from the top of a garbage can.


    “What do you want?” Em asked softly with a small hiss.


    “Oh, just admiring a fellow cat, can I not do that?” The cat asked jumping down to Em’s level, just a few feet away from her.


    “Depends,” Em said glacing back at Amb in the box, she was still sleeping.


    “Your one quick cat, I like your style to, whats your name?” The cat asked Em.


    “Will you go away if I tell you?” Em asked watching him with carful eyes and puffing slightly.


    “Try me,” he answered. Em glared at him darkly, that wasn’t an answer, yes or no thats all she wanted.


    “I’m Em,” she said sitting down and swishing her tail back and forth. “So will you leave?” She asked licking her paw like she was bored.


    “I guess I should,” the cat said walking down the alley more. “I’m Taki by the way, see you later, Em,” he said her name with a smirk before running down the alley.


    Em looked after him for a few mintues before turning to go back into the box, there were a lot of cats that talked to them, asking for food, wanting to team up, it wasn’t uncommon, but this was different somehow. Taki was alone, and he didn’t ask for anything but a name, strange cat.


    “Whats wrong?” Amb asked sleeping as Em walked back into the box.


    “We need to find a new box,” Em said laying down next to Amb and curling up.


    -_-_-_


    The sun shone brightly the next day, Em and Amb abandoned their box and went to the nearest park, a few kids were playing on the swings, a couple in the sandbox, and a few parents sitting on a bench. Em jumped onto the wall closest to the street, in case she needed to escape or something, she was always suspicious, and Amb lounged in the grass, basking in the sun and enjoying the warmth of it.


    Em watched the kids as they played catch with a doll, the came seemed to becoming closer and closer to the street everytime the doll was caught, Em didn’t fret, the parents would catch on eventually right?


    Dozing off slightly Em’s eyes snapped open when a little girl screamed, she got to her feet quickly to see that the doll and been thrown into the streets, cars passed quickly, barely missing the doll.


    “Jamie no!” A boy yelled running over the girl, her brother maybe? “You can’t go after it,” he said pointing at the cars. The little girl continued to scream and point at the doll as Em glanced back at Amb to see her looking back at Em, eyes steady, tail swaying back and forth.


    Em sighed and walked out into the traffic quickly, dodging the cars easily and snatching the doll up before walking back to the park.


    Dan watched as the odd colored cat walked out into the streets, dodging cars and picking up the doll in its mouth. At first Dan didn’t know what to think, was the cat going to run off with his sisters doll? Looking back to the bench he glanced at his dad, should he go get the doll from the cat?


    “Nice kitty,” Jamie smiled as the cat sat down in front of them and placed the doll on the cement. It looked at them sideways before walking away with a grey cat.


    Dan was ten, his dad said he was old enough to take care of his sister and the house when he was gone, he thought he understood a lot of things now, but he’d never seen a cat do that before.


    “Nice kitty,” Jamie said walking over to their father and showing him the doll that had been retrieved.


    “Your right,” their dad said. “That was a very nice cat,” he smiled at the two retreating cats before picking up his daughter. “Now if you ever see it again, make sure to thank it, okay?” he said looking at her.


    “Okay,” she laughed hugging the doll.


    “I will too,” Dan said with a triumphant smile, he wanted that cat, it was cool.