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Finishing her last class for the day, Sasuga packed her things up and prepared to go to her part-time job at Mr. Burns' office. But before she did, she sought to go to the cafeteria and get her a small snack. She stood before the ordering counter and pondered for a minute about what she should be getting.

"Let me guess... tuna sandwich, right?" Kyle's voice spoke from behind and surprised the kirin a bit.

"Oh! Kyle! You sneaky cat!" Sasuga frowned and pinched cat's cheek playfully as he chuckled.

"Well, isn't that what you always order?" Kyle inquired, rubbing his cheek.

"It's not like we have much of choice in food delicacy here now, do we?" Sasuga laughed, before she heard a grumbled cough coming out from somewhere. She looked over to the side and noticed an unpleasant glare on the cafeteria's worker, who was an aged walrus who had one of his tusks broken, and he seemed to be offended by the kirin's comment. Sasuga chuckled nervously when she took notice and nodded apologetically, "Not that I complain! I LOVE your tuna sandwich! Which is what I'm having right now! Um, please?" The walrus huffed and simply served her order without replying, as Kyle smiled tensely at Sasuga and gave her eyes signals for them to move out before they anger him further, and Sasuga couldn't agree more.

"Hey, have you heard about the incident that happened this morning?" Kyle then brought up when they finally found an empty table to sit on.

"Oh, you mean the girl who got murdered? Yeah... I happen to pass by the crime scene on my way here. It was horrible..." Sasuga replied sorrowfully.

Kyle nodded in sympathy, "And I used to know the girl. Her name's Trish, a ferret that I used to see in computer classes. I didn't know her well, but she seemed nice. What a way to go... Damn that sick bastard!" Kyle pounded the table with a fist angrily. Sasuga didn't know what to say except let out a sigh. She tried to console her feline friend, but they then got interrupted by three individuals that happen to overhear their conversation.

"Well, for being a geek, she didn't get to die a virgin at least," Katharine, the snotty female collie, sneered as she passed by Sasuga's and Kyle's table, accompanied by her two loyal underling girls, Ginger and Lea, a white mouse and a deer respectively, as those last two giggled mockingly by her insensitive remark.

"Wh...What did you say!?" Kyle utterly snapped, and Sasuga held his hands and shook her head to him, as a way to tell him to just ignore them.

"Oh? What's the matter, Scale Face? Didn't you get that? Or is that antenna out of order?" Katharine leered as she made another mocking joke, referring to Sasuga's unihorn, and her two goons simply crackled out. Again, Sasuga didn't reply and ignored them, while Kyle was having a harder time to imitate her, a vein pulsing apparently on his forehead. "One thing for sure, you're one lucky girl, Scale Face," Katharine then said with a leer and Sasuga couldn't help but turn to her with a questionable look. "Yeah, you're lucky. You won't have to worry about being stalked by some maniac psycho. I mean, even him wouldn't be crazy enough to go after a freak show like you!" The arrogant dog exploded into a laughter fest with her two thugs, and that was the last straw for Kyle; he just couldn't take anymore of this cruel mockery.

"Wh-Why you...?! That was uncalled for, Katharine!" Kyle hissed as he stood up and faced the collie.

"Oh dear! I'm SO scared!" Kathrine whimpered sarcastically. "And what're you gonna do about it, whiskers?" the collie smirked as she looked down at the shorter feline, who couldn't hold back a gulp.

"Well, I... I...!" Kyle stuttered, his face heating red, while Ginger and Lea chortled mockingly.

"That's enough, Kyle," Sasuga suddenly uttered, standing up and immediately taking her leave.

"Sa... Sasuga! Wa... it..." Kyle tried to call back for her, but didn't have the chance as the kirin stormed out of the cafeteria. "Damn me..." the cat cursed under his breath, his ears dangled as his head did, his fists shaking in anger as he continued to hear those nasty bitches' stifled laughter.

Sasuga made her way to the secretary office, passing by numerous of other students without a care or looking back. She wanted to get as far from the cafeteria as possible. When she finally reached the office, she saw that Mr. Burns was waiting for her, his arms crossed and he had a spiteful scowl on his rodent-like face, one foot of his tapping the floor in an irritated manner.

"You're 20 minutes late, Ms. Temple!" Mr. Burns snarled, making Sasuga flinch startlingly.

"I-I'm sorry, Mr. Burns... I just..." she tried to explain; only to be silenced by her chubby boss slamming his lumpy fist on the reception desk forcefully, dropping some papers and files to the floor.

"I told you a thousand times! I do NOT tolerate slackers!" the chipmunk growled furiously at the kirin about something he should be the last one to even talk about.

Sasuga's ears dropped as she hanged her head down apologetically, "Yes, Mr. Burns. It won't happen again."

"You make sure it doesn't, Ms. Temple..." her boss muttered in a threatening tone as he limped over to his office, most likely to take his afternoon nap, while Sasuga picked up the stuff that fell off the desk. She put them back on the desk and folded them in a tidy fashion, then sat on the rounded wheeled chair, letting out a drained, sad sigh. An aching feeling stung the depth of her chest, right in her sore heart. So many harsh and cruelty she had to take in one day, and sometimes they bottled up inside of her for too long, she felt that she was going to burst. Why did she have to go through this so many times? Why is life so unfair to her, no matter how hard she tries? And most importantly ? Why did she have to be a kirin? A freak of nature, as some had bluntly put it? The sorrowful pain was too much for her to endure; she let herself shed a few tears as she sat on her desk, burying her face in surface of her palms and sobbing a bit.

Suddenly, a muffled chime caught her attention, as her ears perked. She could hear it very clearly, yet she didn't know where it was coming from at first. It kept ringing for a couple of more times; Sasuga looking all around her to locate the source. She finally detected it was coming from inside her suitcase, and quickly searched its contents. Her eyes widened; the ringing was coming from the small wrapped gift box Hazard gave to her early this morning. With all the events that happened throughout the day she completely forgot all about it. Without any hesitation, she opened the box, and to her astonishment, found a cell phone inside of it. It was one of those latest crafted phones, with the high-tech capabilities and even a built in camera. It was coated in a pretty-designed pink plastic cover, and its strap band had a cute paw-print tag hanged on the end of it. Sasuga's heart skipped a beat from the surprise, and she was extremely overwhelmed by the wonderful gift, it took her a few moments to finally get a hold of her senses and answer the call after taking another couple of seconds to find the right button to press, as the thing kept ringing. "He-Hello?"

"Hey there! What took you so long?" A fairly familiar voice spoke from the speaker and Sasuga's face brightened.

"HAZARD!" she exclaimed in joy, sticking the cell phone closer to her ear with both hands. "Oh my! It's really you!"

Hazard's voice chuckled, "So, do you like it?"

Sasuga smiled wide, "Oh, Haz! I love it! It's so wonderful! It's... it's way too much for you to give me..."

"Naw! Don't mention it! I got one for myself too. I just hope it's not too feminine for you... heh..." she could almost picture him scratching his cheek as he said that.

"Not at all! It's perfect! I never had a cell phone before! I never had a good reason to own one anyway..."

"Well, now you do," Hazard replied and Sasuga was barely able to contain herself, as a snivel escaped her. "Eh? Are you crying, Sasuga? Is it that bad? Aw man, I knew I should've gotten something better..."

"No, no... it's not that... I just... No one had ever given me such a nice gift before... I'm happy," Sasuga sniffed out, wiping away her joyful tears.

"Jeez... remind me not to get you a gift next time, if it's gonna make you cry," Hazard jokingly remarked and made her giggle out. She started to feel so much better and totally forgot what she was sad about a while ago. She didn't know how, but Hazard was always able to cheer her up despite all, and she liked that about him. "Well, just wanted to know if you're free for lunch today, hm?" The wolf then asked.

"You bet! Same time as always?"

"You know it. Whoops! Gotta get back to work now! I'll see you later then, ok?"

"Right! See you later, Haz. And... Thank you, so much," Sasuga uttered gratefully, gently griping on the phone against her ear.

"Anytime. Bye now!" Hazard hanged up and she did the same. She held the cell phone in front of her face and admired it for a bit, tapping on the cute tag with a finger and wearing a content smile on her face.

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As Hazard hanged up his cell phone and put it in his pocket, he heard a loud racket happening around the corner of a hall inside the company's plant he was working at, that sounded like some boxes had fallen. It was then shortly followed by the of the section's manager deafening scream.

"SHANYA! YOU AIRHEADED MORON!" Hazard winced when he heard the manager shout, and immediately figured at whom. He hopped down the crate he was sitting on and went over to investigate what Shanya did this time. A stack of boxed goods were ruined, with Shanya ? a female skunk, with white and purple stripes fur all over her thin body and a long silky hair that had a similar color scheme as her fur, and wearing the plant's working uniform, standing behind it in a terrified and anxious state, shivering at the scowling manager ? a hulking bulldog that had a face only a mother would dare to love.

"Oh boy..." Hazard sighed, already picturing what was going to happen, as he had seen it often ever since he started working here.

"I-I-I-I'm v-very sorry, sir! Th-They were too heavy, an-and I lost control of carter a-an-and..." the ever nervous skunk tripped over her tongue in a sore-throated voice, as if she was suffering from a flu, but she only influenced the manager's irritation even more.

"Again with your poor and dumb excuses!? That's it! One more screw up, and you're gonna get your tail kicked outta here! Now shake a leg and clean this mess before I come back, or else!" the manager viciously barked at her, as some of his spit hit her face from it as she cowardly bowed obediently. Hazard watched in silent, feeling sorry for Shanya, but stayed out of it, as he didn't want to get himself involved. Giving her one last scowl with his dreadful mug, the manager turned around and walked away, passing by Hazard as if he was invisible. Hazard didn't give him any kind of attention either, turning his attention back to the unlucky skunk as she was crouching on her knees and picking up the crumbled boxes she'd dropped.

"Shit... Shit... Shit..." Shanya kept cursing quietly to herself as she was cleaning up the mess, doing her best to hold back herself from crying. She then saw a yellow furry hand reach for one of boxes she was going for and picking it up for her. Looking up, she saw that it belonged to the golden wolf, giving her a helping hand. Her eyes widened and she suddenly backed off defensively.

"Easy, I just wanna give you a hand, ok?" Hazard assuredly said with a smile and picked up the remaining stuff that was piled on the floor and put it back on the carter. Shanya stayed quiet and watched him help her in a surprise, not expecting any from a complete stranger. "There, that's the last of them." Hazard dusted his hands off when he was done and turned to the timid skunk; her still looking quite anxious. Hazard scratched his cheek and started to feel awkward himself; he knew he shouldn't have stuck his snout in, but she seemed like she needed a little help. Without expecting anything back, Hazard turned his back to her and started to walk away.

"W... W-Wa-Wait!" Shanya stammered out at last, Hazard's ears perking up and turning around to face her. "Umm... I... Umm... Th-Thanks... for your help..." she murmured with difficulty, breaking a small smile and a faint reddish flush that was hardly visibly under those black furred cheeks of her. Hazard smiled back at her and merely raised his right hand up, doing a little wave gesture that signed as a 'No problem', before he continued on his way.

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Meanwhile, faraway in unknown place that appeared to be some kind of a shrine, a bulky shady figure was sitting in a praying position, muttering some otherworldly chants in front a high wall that had a mythical-looking, eighteen-tangled seal on it. His eyes were closed shut, concentrating on his chant, before they suddenly flashed open when a serene female voice spoke in his mind.

"Master Khan," the feminine voice rang inside his mind and interrupted him.

"This better be good..." the shady figure breathed in a very deep and boorish voice. "You know how I don't like to be interrupted during my mediation."

"It is, Master Khan. Very much so," the inner voice replied confidently. "We've found 'it'. The 'Heart' has appeared," she continued and the shady figure's eyes opened to their fullest.

"And the 'Soul'?" he inquired.

"Yes. He's near 'it' as well," she answered him, and his muscles tensed for a moment when he heard that.

"Excellent..."

"What now, Master Khan? Should we strike?"

"No, not yet. It's still too early. Just gather the others."

"Yes, Master Khan..." the female voice echoed out after that order, as the shadowy figure stood up on his feet and moved closer to the seal, resting his big, clawed hand on it.

"Soon..."

_ To be continued..._