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Tomiko. Yes, that was her name. It all started coming back to her as she laid on the river bank. Four. That was life number four, the cat recounted. Her age? She didn't know anymore. The past week came back to her though as did the time she first met the Tasida family, the sweet people who raised horses. It appeared that in the week after the family's youngest daughter, Emiko, found the sad little cat one of the horses they had raised won a famous race bringing the family twice as much business than they had ever gotten. The family's matriarch, an old woman by the name of Masuyo was very superstitious and attributed their sudden good fortune to the arrival of Tomiko. Tomi thought that was ridiculous, is she didn't have bad luck then she'd have no luck! But the family was convinced and Tomiko was allowed in the house and was spoiled and pampered. Emiko carried her cat around everywhere with her. Down to the stables and over to the lake, wherever Emi was, you could be assured that Tomi was nearby. Now, Tomi couldn't say that she disliked this, she enjoyed the time she spent with Emi. Thing she didn't like though, were things the other family members insisted on. They allowed her in their house, but at a cost. At least once a week, Tomiko was subjected to torture. Oh the horrible torture. They would try to drown her! Sure the scrubbing and scratching on her back felt okay but did they have to pour the whole lake over her? No! Tomi could wash herself, but Masuyo instructed Emi to bath her cat every week and Emi would never disobey her Grandmother.

Other than the weekly torture, life with the Tasida's was an easy life. But as their wealth increased, so did the jealousy of others. Not long after Tomiko arrived, she noticed strange people arriving and staying for extended periods of time. At first, Tomi didn't understand what all the strange people with weapons were doing on her family's land and one night while eating in the same room as the family, she found out. From what Tomi could understand, there had been trouble involving a horse and some other humans. Tomi caught the word "protection" in there and made the connection to the new strangers. Some people were getting jealous of the Tasida's new found wealth and tried to take things into their own hands by stealing some of the Tasida's horses so everyone was on alert now. Even so, life had to go on and it was market day. Emi gathered with her mom to go to town and scooped up her faithful sidekick Tomi who let the little girl drag her around.

As they neared town, Emiko saw some of her friends and hurried on ahead with Tomi to greet them. "What do you have there, Emi?" Her friend asked as they spotted Tomi. "This is my lucky cat!" Emi said foolishly, but of course, the young girl didn't know what would become from this slip up. "Your lucky cat?" The others asked, each seeming to echo the question with giggles and snickers. Emi felt like she needed to defend herself and Tomi. "Yes! Tomiko is my lucky cat! When she showed up, our horse won the race!" To the young Tasida girl, who had grown up with her Grandmother's superstition, it was easy and plain to see for her. But her friends continued to laugh. "That's not a lucky cat, it's just ugly!" They spat at her and walked off. Emi frowned and stuck her tongue out at them as they walked away. She hurried to catch up to her mother who by then had passed her. Petting Tomi's long white fur, she murmured reassurances to her. "You're not ugly, you're the prettiest cat in the whole world!" Tomi purred as her human pet her, she believed her and thought those other ones were mean and THEY were ugly.

Tomi spent the rest of the trip quiet with contentment as she let Emi tote her around before they went home. The next few months went by quite normally. Emi took her cat companion with her everywhere and Tomi enjoyed the time she spent with the young girl, even through the torture days. Tomi loved this family even more than any of the other ones she had been with. She remembered her first family, the one she had when she was but a kitten. The little boy was kind to her, but his parent's did not like her. They forbade him to keep her but he still made a place for her to live in a field and brought her food. Then one day, he stopped coming. Tomi didn't know where he had gone and she decided to look for him. She tried to go back to where he lived but she got lost. A little kitten in a big field. Her luck didn't get any better after that. Many nights she went to sleep hungry and she spent more than one day in the cold wet rain. It seemed that this fate would be the only one for the poor neko. Tomiko was woken suddenly one night, snatched from her bed and shoved somewhere tight and cramped and dark. Tomi couldn't see where she was going, her paw was in her face and she had no room to move around. Whatever she was held in was jostled a bunch, as if someone was running and carrying her. But why would Emi be running in the middle of the night? All of a sudden, the jostling stopped and she felt like she was falling. The falling sensation lasted for a few minutes before she heard a splash. Water began seeping into her cage and she clawed at it to find out that it was cloth so her efforts were doubled. Yes! She was successful, but the bag had filled with water and Tomi couldn't breath. Her paws reached upwards to the stars as she tried to swim to the surface. It was right there! The world started to go dark just as her paws touched sand. Her last breath only brought in more water though, as the walls caved in.

With a deep breath, a small shudder ran through the drenched cat as she remembered how she had gotten where she was. The poor cat sighed, it was just her luck. She had finally found the perfect family but she couldn't have it. Her luck made sure of that. She yowled to the moon in resentment. Anybody she came into contact with seemed to do better in life. Was it too much to ask that she just be able to stay with a nice family? Her bad luck put her in a foul mood, and following with the theme of the day, a light mist fell from the sky. Tomiko shook her little wet head in defeat as she stood and made her way, wondering what other bad luck was in her future.