• Life on this densely wooded planet was boring until a certain visitor came. He flew in from Earth with new stories and a few other tricks that only the Terrians know how to do. He bought a small shop in the urban area of my town and turned it into a Raman noodle shop. It is always busy considering that the only other Terrain restaurants that were in our town were a McDonalds and an Outback. This gave the people a new choice of food.

    I don’t particularly like Terrian food, preferring the fried koolda meat to hamburgers and steak, but my friends wanted to try it out so I humored them and went along. “Hey, Gemito, Do you know what pork is?”

    I shrugged. “Beats me. What sounds good to you, the chicken or the shrimp?”
    “Umm… Try the shrimp I heard that its good.”

    Runeba looked at her menu when Joeco asked her. “Do you know what the owner is?”
    I answered. “I think he’s a Terrian. Not to many around here if you think about it.” They agreed with me. “I find it odd that he would pick Surade to settle down at.”

    Once we had decided what we wanted a Nuradin waitress took our order. Once she left Runeba said. “The Nuradins have strange features don’t you think?” Joeco nodded. “I don’t think any other species has scales covering most of there body.” They snickered about the Nuradins until she returned with our food.

    When she placed my bowl in front of me I said. “Thank you.” She smiled at me before she left.
    My friends looked at me. “Can’t we take you any where with out your attracting anyone?” Joeco teased.

    I went along with it. “Well you know it’s hard to resist my black fur and my deep, purple eyes, not to mention my adorable cat ears.” I laughed at my assessment. “Seriously though, I don’t attract people.”

    They just shook their heads and ate their food. I looked at my dish and saw slightly curled pink rod that was thinner at one end and thicker at the other. I whispered under my breath “This looks like a hudar.” I poked around at the tan, slippery rods then shrugged. “This better not kill me.” I twirled the noodles around my fork and stuffed it in my mouth.
    It was delicious. I looked at my friends and asked. “Wow… How’s yours guys?”

    They nodded in contentment.

    We ate the rest of our bowls in quiet pleasure. When we finished the waitress returned and asked if we wanted anything else. I shook my head and politely said. “No thanks but thank you for the offer.” My friends also declined. She gave us the bill and walked off. “Well I’ve got ten.”

    “Ditto.” Joeco threw in his share.

    “I’ve got five.” Runeba gave me the cash.

    I sighed as I got up to pay. I walked up to the cash register and the waitress caught me. “Hi. The owner would like to talk to you, and by the way my name is Scral.”

    I nodded, curious why a Terrian would want to talk to a Capantio like myself. I paid and told my friends not to wait up then followed Scral to the back office. She left me there to explore the room.

    I walked over to an urn, and inscribed on it was a man and a woman. My curiosity had me lift the top slightly when a strangely accented voice chimed in the air. “Curiosity killed the cat.”

    I quickly turned into a crouch with my fur standing on end. The man put his hands up in the human gesture of backing down. “Now, now no need to get vicious on me I was just warning you.” He looked at me with friendly eyes until I calmed down. “I’m new to all of this so forgive me if I do something to upset you. I have never lived among other species.” He sat behind a desk that was oddly decorative compared to the flowing furniture I was used to. “I am Naraku, but I will also go by Karasu. I’m not sure if you have heard of Japanese humans but that is my heritage.” He paused for a moment. “Would you like some green tea? I brought it all the way here.”

    “I will try some.” I was growing ever more curious when our meeting was put on halt so he could brew the odd scented beverage. When he returned with two fragile looking cups I asked. “Why did you want to talk with me?”

    Naraku took a sip of his tea before he answered. “I wanted to know you better. I herd that a panther like Capantion was rare.” I gave him a confused look. “Oh that’s right you probably don’t know what a panther is. A panther a large black cat that is the most elegant creature on my world. At lest in my opinion.” He sighed as he took another sip.

    I took a sip of the tea and had a hard time not to gag it up. “Yes it is rare for my species to have my coloration. If a Capantion just so happens to be like myself they are sent away to live for themselves. We are considered a bad omen of misfortune.” I sighed. “They think that we bring the Capatos upon them.”

    He looked intrigued. “What are Capatoses?”

    “Imagine me but with more pointed ears and a coat that is either white, gray, black, or tan.”
    “Do they exist?” He leaned forward.

    I nodded. “They live on this planet but seldom do they show themselves.”

    He seemed to be deep in thought so I allowed my eyes to wonder. I saw many objects that I guessed were from his homeland. My eyes settled on the urn and I wondered what was inside it. The owner caught my gaze. “Do you want it?”

    “Hmmm?” I pulled myself from my ponderings to look at him.

    “The urn? Do you want it?” He pointed at it casually. “I must warn you though.” He looked at me seriously. “Never open the urn. The contents are said to be cursed. My ancestors feared the curse to such an extent that they buried it under one of the shrines of the ancient gods, which one I can not recall.”

    I burst out laughing. “Curses! Do you take me for a kitten?” I calmed down after a few rounds of ceaseless laughter.

    “Just promise me you wont open it. If you can do that you may have it.”

    I sighed. “Yeah, I promise. If you don’t have anything else to talk about I think I will take my…“ Something accrued to me. “Wait when you first came in why is it that I couldn’t hear you?”

    He smiled. “I studied Ninjitsu as a child and I carried it through my years. I move as silently as a ghost but strike as fast as a mantis.”

    I nodded. “You’ll have to teach me how to move like that.” I got up and grabbed the urn.

    “Good bye and may the Stalkers protect you.” Naraku stood and bowed as I left.

    I walked to my house in the poorer more secluded area. I pulled a tooth emblem out to unlock my door. My house was sparsely decorated. It had a couch on one wall across from a Terrian invention called a television. My bed basket that was tucked away in a corner away from the bathroom door that was on the opposite end of the wall.

    “I need to get a better job.” I laughed without humor. “No wait I need to change my fur color.” He walked over to a self above his bed and placed the urn in the center of the desolate place.
    I curled up on my bed for a nap when my cell phone beeped. I sighed. “I hate Trackers.” I reached for the annoyingly persistent phone. “What is it?”

    “You should know why we call by this time.” A light feminine voice rang from the contraption. “Have you been attacked?”

    “No I haven’t been attacked, and no nothing has happened to me. I know that I should have changed slightly by know but I’m sorry to disappoint.” I was tired of the daily checkup that my Tracker insisted upon.

    “That really irritates me you know. When you just replay your answers from our last call and the one before that and before that and so on. Please refrain from doing that in the future or I will have you moved to the camp prematurely.” Her voice was laced with irritation.

    I smiled at myself. “As we both know these calls are recorded and you are not allowed to go through with your threat.”

    She struggled to keep her voice under control. “I am well aware of that but sometimes I wish we could just kill your kind at birth.” She released her breath after a minute. “Now then have you made any attacks on the new Terrian?”

    “No I have not and I’m not planning to either. I will not change just to make your job easier. Got it?” I let my irritation flow through my words.

    “Well I guess I don’t have any other questions for you maybe later though.” Before she hung up I thought I heard her say. “Filthy ally cat.”

    I sighed and threw the phone against the wall with a loud crash. “I wish they didn’t remake the human’s design. They were more fragile.” I let my dreams carry me to the life I would have had if I were of different fur color.