A Neko's Tale: The Story of Ana and Jay

                                                          A Neko's Tale: The Story of Ana and Jay
                                                                       
                                                                      Prologue-A World Divided
         In the year 2035, a historic discovery was made. A race of humans, known to themselves as Nekos, were discovered to have been secretly living alongside of normal humans for thousands of years. But what makes them so different from most humans? For starters, Nekos had the ears and tails of cats, giving rise to their name. Despite this this being the main difference, humanity ignored past lessons, and were wary of the Nekos. As a result, their race was discriminated against, and shunned, all the way up to the present year of 2069. This is the story of a young Neko girl named Ana, who finds a friend, someone who considers her his equal, in the human boy Jay.

                                                          Chapter One-A Rainy Encounter in New Seattle
         It was raining. It seemed like it was always raining in New Seattle. You could hardly find a day where it wasn't cold, or drizzling, if not both. Ana sighed as she trudged down the narrow street that led from her house towards her district's neko school, a run-down building on the edge of town.
         Ana was a neko-girl of about twelve years old. She had straight, shoulder-length hair, green eyes, and was about five feet tall. The color of the fur on her tail and ears matched her hair color, a deep brick-red, with a few streaks of silver in it. Her tail was about two feet long, and her face was lightly freckled. She was dressed ln average clothing, and was carrying an umbrella decorated with a pattern like fallen leaves. "Why can't nekos just take the school bus like everyone else?", she thought as she turned down an alleyway shortcut to her school. She sighed again, louder this time, not paying attention as she neared the end of the alleyway. Suddenly, she walked right into someone, knocking them both over. Ana landed safely on the ground, but the stranger she had run into had fallen into a giant puddle, filled with grime and.....other things left by some of New Seattle's less fortunate citezins.
         Her face paled as she realized that the person she'd knocked down was a human. And not just any human, but an important one at that, judging by his expensive clothing, which was now soaked. The boy on the ground sputtered as he stood up from the puddle. "Oh my god! Are you alright?", Ana exclaimed as she knelt down to help the boy up. "Get off of me, you filthy animal!", the boy shouted, shoving Ana roufhly to the ground. Her backpack ripped open on the rough asphalt, spilling her school supplies everywhere. The boy was glaring at Ana with a look of pure rage. His dark brown hair ending just above his eyebrows. His eyes were both icy with cruelty and smoldering with rage at the same time. He grabbed Ana by the collar of her shirt, and hoisted her into the air. "No-one. Crosses. Me.", he said, the tension in his voice6 barely contained. "Especially not some filthy, mangy, ANIMAL!" As he said those last three words he punched Ana in the stomach three times. She dropped to the ground for the third time that day, gasping for air, and clutching her stomach. The boy turned as he walked away. "Pray that we never meet again, freak. Although no god would ever care about some filthy, alley cat like you." The last thing that Ana saw before she passed out was the cruel boy walking calmly out of the alley, and into the street. As darkness crept along her vision, she felt the world fall beneath her.
                  Ana later woke to the sound of scraping metal. She sat bolt upright on the sleeping bag that she had been layed out on, winceing as the new bruise on her stomach throbbed from the sudden movement.. Looking around, she saw that she was in small, old looking chamber, lit only by a single gas lamp. She heard the scrapeing sound again, and this time she could tell that it was coming from the corner of the room. Looking over, she saw a tall human boy, about her age, with spikey salt-and -pepper hair that almost looked like it belonged on an anime character. His clothing, though more than a little dirty, was in excellent repair. The scraping sound was coming from the knife he was sharpening. Unlike everything else down here, wherever here was, the knife was polished to a gleaming finish, sparkling even in this dim light.
         "So you're finally awake, huh? You've been out cold for eight hours since I found you in that alley." This mysterious child slid off of thhe bench that he'd been sitting on, and started walking towards Ana. Instinctively, she tried to move farther away the closer he came.