Born with nothing

Forever thankful

"Get your filthy hands off of that kid!" echoed through the kid's head. He was still trying to regain his composure from getting his head smacked into the wall. Both the man and the young boy looked into the direction of the voice. The man didn't seem impressed by the sudden yelling. The big guy had grasped onto Toshi's blonde hair, keeping him down and in his place. Luckily he was still able to take a good look at the person who yelled. It was a tall fierce woman, the woman he had seen on tv before! Toshinori felt a small wave of relief wash over him right before the guy tugged harshly on his hair.
"I am not repeating myself. Let the boy go and get your ass out of here." the fierce woman repeated. The buff guy laughed and licked his lips in a disgusting way. "Oh, but I'm just having a little fun with this one! He doesn't mind, right?"
The kid was frozen up in fear and looked up to the woman with wide eyes, silently begging her for help. His bright blue eyes lit up from the light hitting them. His behaviour stated that he did in fact mind the situation this guy was getting him into.
"The kid doesn't look too happy with you. I would've taken your word if he wasn't sitting there frozen up in fear! Now let go of him before I'll make you regret coming here in the first place!" the woman stated and got into a fighting stance. The big guy laughed loudly at the woman and yelled: "What's a pathetic girl like you gonna do to a big strong guy like me?" The woman frowned and at a high speed she charged at the guy, selling him a fist straight in his face. The kid swore he could hear something crack, but didn't want to think about such a thing. He felt the hand slip out of his hair and felt freedom for just a second. His freedom didn't last long since he quickly felt two hands wrapping around his waist. Before he could even blink he was floating into the air. He just thought to himself: Okay this is it. I died and I'm going up to heaven. "Hey, kid?" a woman's voice sounded from right behind him. He was confused and looked over his shoulder just to see that same fierce woman from before holding him safely in the air. He looked down and saw the guy on the ground and groaning in pain. "E-Eh? We're both dead! I'm so sorry it's all my fault!" the boy yelled in tears. The woman just looked at him weird and took him to another part of town through the air. "We're not dead, don't act so silly. We're just floating, safely, away from that guy." the woman said in a gentle tone and landed on a street, carefully putting the boy down. Toshinori turned around to look at her and blinked a couple of times, being dumbfounded. The lady put her hands on her hips and looked down at him. "What were you doing in that part of town? It's not safe there, especially not for little boys like you."
"I know..." his soft voice then answered. The woman raised an eyebrow at him. "Then why go there?" she asked him a bit firm. "I have nowhere else to go ma'am, I-I can't stay here on the streets, so I have to go to another part of town." The fierce gaze of the woman finally softened, showing a gentle gaze for just a second. "What do you mean, kid?" The teenager looked down at the ground for a brief moment. He seemed to be feeling a little uncomfortable but eventually lifted his head back up to her direction. "They're dead." he said. The woman's eyebrows raised in surprise. She seemed to be feeling some sort of pity. "I suppose you mean your parents, right?" she asked him and the boy gave her a small nod. "Yes, my whole family is... gone. I'm kind of the only one."
"When did that happen? Have you been alone for a while?" the woman then asked him and the youngster nodded again. "Yeah... a while now..." he answered again and then looked back down. The boy took a deep breath and remained silent now.
"Kid, aren't you supposed to be in an orphanage in that case? Or an adoption family?" The woman asked in a pitiful tone. Toshinori looked back up at her and awkwardly laughed, saying: "Yeah, that's a really funny story actually. I mean I'm 'supposed' to be in an orphanage yeah, but I'm not. How ironic!" The woman's eyebrows furrowed a little in confusion. Right on this moment the news started and was broadcasted on tv. Where they were happened to be tv's around, which was a problem for Toshi in this case. Both the boy and the woman looked at the screen, the same screen that casually showed that they were looking for a missing orphan that happened to look the exact same as him. He felt his heart drop and slowly turned back to the woman again. Before he knew it he felt a tight grip on his arm. "You ran away? They're looking for you! They want to help you! Are you just straight up stupid?" Toshinori's cheeks went slightly red in embarrassment and he tried to play it off. "Oh my god, there's a kid who looks like me! I swear that's not me! Must be a big coincidence! Oh that poor kid..." he said on his best lying tone. The woman on the other hand wasn't buying it at all. "I'm bringing you back where you belong. The streets aren't a place for a kid, it's winter!" The kid got snatched by the woman and dragged along. He tried to get away from her but damn this woman is strong. Eventually he decided he was just going to walk along since it didn't matter how hard he tried. There was a very awkward silence between them and he felt like he had to do something about it. "Thank you for saving me earlier, I really got myself in trouble back there. Can I know the name of my hero?" Toshinori asked innocently. The woman huffed and rolled her eyes. "Please?" he said again and the woman finally answered: "No need to thank me, saving people is my job. But you can't go running away from your problems, life doesn't work that way." She sighed in an annoyed manner and then smiled slightly at the boy. "The name is Nana Shimura, just call me 'Nana'." Toshinori smiled back finally and said: "Thank you, Nana, for saving me." The woman just laughed it off and continued to drag him along. "Don't start playing nice now, I'm bringing you to the orphanage anyway." The boy shrugged and said: "Can't I convince you to do otherwise? Please? Pretty please?" Nana sighed deeply and stopped for a moment, dragging the boy in front of herself and making sure to make eye contact with him. "Kids cannot stay on the streets, they need proper food, proper hygiene and a proper home in general. The orphanage will take care of you, I promise." Toshinori knew she was right, but he thought back to that van pulling up and got that weird gut feeling again. The boy seemed a bit awkward but still spoke what was on his mind: "Listen, please. I really wanted to go to the orphanage, I'm not lying. But when I saw those people that were coming to get me I got this horrible feeling. It didn't feel safe or good at all, that's why I ran. I do want a home, but I also want to feel safe. The guys that were coming for me felt like they were going to hurt me and stuff like that!" Nana raised an eyebrow and kneeled in front of him. She seemed a bit worried after hearing that. "Kid, kid, kid... breathe. I'm sure it must be scary for you, you're probably getting that weird feeling because of the nerves." She rubbed gently over his arms to comfort the kid. "I'll bring you there and I'll keep an eye on you. I'll make sure to come check on you a couple of times. Do you think you'll manage like that?" Toshinori looked down for a second and then back at the woman in front of him. He just nodded at her question. The woman stood back up from her kneeling position and let go of him. "Let's go, you coming?" she said as she walked first. The boy followed her on his own now.
Around fifteen minutes passed and they arrived at a big building, obviously an orphanage. There was a playground next to it with playing children; they're a lot younger than Toshinori it seemed. Toshi looked around quite interested, just investigating everything he could see. Nana looked at the boy the whole time, making sure he wasn't going to run away any time soon. "So, blondie, are you going in there or not?" she said on a somewhat annoyed tone. The boy looked around in a rather scared way, his pleading eyes targeted at the woman who helped him before. Nana groaned in annoyance and walked in front again, this time harshly dragging the boy by the arm.