Minnowkit gazed off of the top of a smooth, flattened rock. Her eyes trailed along the horizon that slowly darkened as sunset came. She wondered if she'd ever get to see her mother, or who she was.
"Kitty-pet lover!" Adderkit lashed his tail across the stone flooring of the nursery. He chuckled, "Your father loved kittypets so much he had you!"
She never understood Adderkit. All the other kits would play with her just fine, but when it came to it, Adderkit always had to mock her for whatever reason he chose to have.
"Be quiet," she managed to hiss out, "You twig." her eyes dilated and she moved to the other side of the den.
"Kittypet lover, kittypet lover, kitt-" His ears suddenly batted to the sides of his oval-like head and he locked eyes with Tornwhisker, a very popular playmate for kits.
Tornwhisker stared at the young, cream-colored tom with extreme seriousness in his eyes.
He mewed harshly, "You'd better stop that, now," he scolded him, crossing his tail over his paws. "I don't want any of that attitude in this here den."
"Yes, Tornwhisker," the scolded tom replied. "I won't do it no more."
That was a blatant lie, the very next day he was back to taunting and teasing. His words were so soft and easily came up with, but they ran against Minnowkit's skin like razor blades every time. She hardly knew how to come back to his insults, so she just stood there and looked at him like he was a pure-blown dark forest cat. Still, though, every time she would stare at him, he would look at her back and start slurring insults he had come up with on the spot.
"I'm sick, Minnowkit," he rasped up one day, coughing and spattering. He croaked out, "It looks like you're sick too... Lovesick! For kittypets!"
"You twig!" she retorted back, about to pounce on him and actually fight him for what he's done. "If you don't stop, I'll tell Tornwhisker!"
"Tell him, kittypet lover, tell him!" Adderkit's eyes sparkled with amusement and he trotted out of the nursery.
Apprenticeship seemed to come quickly. Badda bing, badda boom, you're now an apprentice, it felt like. She never seemed to grasp the concepts of fighting. Apprenticeship made her realize how much of a sticky situation she'd been in if she had tried to fight Adderkit all those times. The more she looked at him progress into aging, the more she noticed his physical features, like the ripped muscles beneath his thin layer of creamy fur, topped with an adept sense of hunting. Minnowpaw felt ashamed whenever she was standing near him, just because her physical size could never acquaint to the size of his. He had stopped teasing her, but nothing would stop him from one-upping her. Even the best hunting day she'd had, where she caught three whole mice, Adderpaw had caught four heavier, thicker on the fat, perfectly-killed shrews.
Her mentor, Speckledfur, tried to teach her the ways of the boundaries, but nothing helped her remember. Her mind was as good as a thick-headed thrush. She forgot things about three seconds after she was informed of them. Patrolling was the worst part. Relying on other cats to help you was not her flow, and it made her embarrassed to do anything at all. During a patrol one day, Rocktooth was hogging on about this strange scent he smelled. He swore he smelled it, but nobody else smelled it. He walked right into a bush while talking about it, and tripped over someone hiding.
Basically, it was this dark-colored cat. She didn't get too much of a good glimpse of him before all the other cats jumped on him and started to pull him towards camp. Yeesh, it was a bit harsh in her opinion. Anyways, he kept trying to say things but everyone else was meowing and hollering loudly so nobody could hear a thing.
Quickly after, they threw him in the clan 'dungeon' until they were going to figure out what to do with him.
Minnowpaw also didn't exactly understand the concept of 'accepting an apology'. Someone would apologize for anything and she'd say, "Oh, okay, cool." It felt awkward, to her, to hear someone actually apologize for doing whatever it was they did. It was a mystery knowing if she accepted your apology or not.
So, when Adderpaw waltzed over with an apology clogged in his throat, Minnowpaw had never felt more awkward.
"Sorry for being rude to you an' all when we were kittens," he had spoken, while she was basking in the sun of New-leaf. "I hope you can forgive me."
Minnowpaw felt a metaphorical beetle crawling in her stomach, making her sick and still unable to respond. Her eyes bulged and she could hardly intake her own air at this point. She ran off without another word, while Adderpaw stared at her like she was crazy.
"Alright, then, catch you later," the muscular tom tilted his head as she sprinted away.
The dark cat was very popular in the clan. Everyone knew his name except for her, because she didn't want to know his name. Being someone's friend? No thanks. Not up for it.
Her eyes would sometimes lose themselves and climb up to the holding-dungeon, noticing his whiskers sticking out from the den, muzzle clenched as he tried to sneak his way out. Usually, he was caught before he could make a run for it, and punished severely. (At least, that's what she heard.) As soon as she noticed the glinting eyes staring back at her, she broke her gaze and would do literally anything else.
She'd deny it if anyone asked, but she was terrified of the enclosed tom. Something about him made her stomach bubble and croak, so you can understand her pure terror when it was proclaimed that the tom would train as a regular apprentice in the clan, and if he succeeded his training he would become an official warrior. When he was free to roam, he did most of his duties as asked; though he still had time for trouble on the sidelines. The tom received little to no backlash from the clans because he was so popular with the cats already; but Minnowpaw still couldn't dare to ask anyone for his name - and especially not him.
While she cleaned her paws one day as the sun set into the multi-chromatic sky, black fur sputtered across her face and green eyes glowed back to her. Her stomach tossed and turned over itself, staring back at the eyes before her. The face of the scary cat stood right there before her, and her stomach burned with nervousness.
"Come hunt with me!" He smiled at her, flicking his tail towards the hunting grounds.
"I can't," she began with fear in her throat. "Like, I can't, I'm horrible at hunting."
"I know," the black tom snickered. "I'm gonna teach you. Follow me!"
The feeling of so-called horror that was rumbling inside of her belly now flowered into something she'd never felt before, and her eyes were focused on his. Was he really going to help her hunt? From what she'd seen, he was a great hunter - and she was so not. As much as she wanted to go with him to hunt, she knew there was a catch. She didn't want to be involved in his mischief, so she was reluctant to agree. However, before she could overthink it, he gently ordered her to follow him, and as much as she wanted to tell him to halt to let her think, she couldn't deny his enthusiastic smile.
She followed him to the hunting clearing, his tail fur swiping against her muzzle once in a while as they ran. She closely followed behind him, having no idea where anything was, even after it being pounded into her head by her mentor.
"We're here!" The tom exclaimed, turning back to face her.
The bushes behind him rustled with squirrels and mice that scuttled free, and the setting sun illuminated the lake and thistle bushes below. The beautiful dome above their heads flowered with stars that could almost faintly be seen beneath the daylight masking, and the moon was translucent against the clouds that drifted across. The two cats glowed beneath the dark enhancement of the stars, their eyes glazed like celestial bodies.
Perhaps this frightening cat wasn't so bad, after all.
"Try jumping at that squirrel," the tom suggested, eyeing the brown ball of fluff. "Just keep your body balanced and remain calm."
Minnowpaw leaned to touch her muzzle with the somewhat long grass, keeping her eyes completely solid on the prey. She parted her jaws, allowing the scent to flow to her tongue. Don't mess up, her mind urged. If she failed in front of the once imprisoned tom, she'd never live it down. She pushed against the slightly-dewish grass, extending her front paws for the unsuspecting squirrel. She tackled the prey with her jaws, gripping it tightly around the neck. For a second, pride seared through her and she looked back to her teacher, but the moment was cut short as she slipped and skidded against the grass, causing her to tumble against the hills, free-falling towards the lake.
"Minnowpaw!" The tom exclaimed, following her as she rapidly squirmed down the hill.
She clambered into the thistle patches, which barely stopped her from scrambling into the lake. Sighing, she struggled to raise her chest, feeling blood lightly trickle from a few thistle scratches.
"Minnowpaw," the tom gasped, running to her side. "Oh my Starclan, tell me you're okay,"
She couldn't believe how much pain was in his eyes, and true worry that clouded his vision.
"I'm fine," she pouted, upset that she managed to embarrass herself again. "There's just a lot of thistles in my fur."
Minnowpaw warned the oddly-kind tom to back up before shaking her fur free from the sharp thistles, sighing with sadness at her fail. The sky was darkening even quicker than she once thought, and she sat herself in front of the rippling water. The tom scooted closer to her, tail laced around her back to comfort her.
"I'm sorry," she inhaled quietly. "I didn't mean to fall."
"Not your fault," he replied with a slow blink of his eyes. "I shouldn't have made you jump straight to those bushes."
She curled her head into his shoulders, letting his radiating warmth lull her to sleep.
"Why are you being nice to me?" She interrogated, but she heard no reply before her mind sent her to dreamland.