The sun filtered through the glass windows of the house, gently dappling the beige rug with shadows. From the corner of the room, behind a large, comfy-looking red chair, a small white she-cat stirred, flicking her ear as she opened her brilliant eyes and slipping out of her basket where she slept.
She was slender and long-legged, with gentle shoulders and small paws. Her fur was snow-white, and although she was about two years old she was small for her age. She stood and flicked her tail, still blinking sleepiness from her eyes, which was ruby red. With a quick bound she jumped through the air and landed softly on the ledge of the window, looking out into the garden and the forest beyond.
"Are you just getting up, Cloud?" a voice asked behind her, she turned around to see her brother, a large black-and-white tom with blue eyes, broad shoulders, and big paws, entering the room. She blinked quietly in response, and he padded over, joining her on the windowsill.
"I'm going to see Silver today, Patches," she meowed quietly, looking back out to the window, "She said her kits were expected any day now. I was looking forward to helping her care for them." Patches responded with a twitch of his whiskers.
"I'll be in the den then with the house folk," he meowed, jumping down to the floor again and starting to make his way out of the room before turning back to her, "Clouds, you should really spend more time in the house," he sighed, "The house folk are beginning to get worried you may never come back."
Clouds turned, surprised, then jumped down the sill and padded over to her brother, gently pressing her muzzle into his shoulder and smiled softly, red eyes glittering gently.
"I'll always come back," she meowed, "I'll always come back for you." She purred softly and flicked her tail, "I'll be back tonight, that's for sure," she pulled away now, to the door that led to the garden, "I'll see you later, Patches," she called, before slipping out the cat flap and into the garden.
Warm morning scents caught her nose, drawing her in to the world around her, daisies and roses were in the corner of the garden in clumps, surrounded by holly bushes and Impatiens. She spotted monarch butterflies flittering around a milkwood tree in the garden next to hers, and as she jumped up onto the fence they scattered around her like raindrops hitting concrete.
Next door her friend, a tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat named Casey lounged under a bush of Shasta Lilies, dark fur contrasted by the white-speckled flowers of the plant. She looked up as Illusion dropped into the yard, flicking her tail in a greeting.
"Good morning, Cloud," her friend greeted her warmly as the albino she-cat padded towards her, "It's a lovely morning, and Ki was kind enough to give me time to myself, the kits are beautiful though, they just opened their eyes!"
Casey and her mate, Ki, were on their fourth litter now, their first, comprised of one kit, was during the winter two years ago, and died from the cold when Casey had given birth to it out of the nest. Her second was not long after, where she gave birth to one healthy kit and one stillborn, while in her third she had three healthy kits, one of which died from a bad reaction to the vaccine given to her at the vet.
Caseys' newest litter was by far her largest, four kits, all healthy and vaccinated, but a large handful. They came out of the house now, along with their father, a handsome ginger-and-black tom. Ki was a lot like Patches, big and strong, with sharp green eyes and big paws.
Their kits, all about three months old, were adorable as well, the eldest being Sniffles, a black-and-white tom with big paws like his father. Then there was Giggles, a tom like his father with ginger fur, and then Wiggles, a squirmy little she-cat with a white chest, belly, and chin, and ginger and black fur like her father. And finally was the runt of the litter, a small tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat with white markings on her body like Wiggles. Her name was, for unknown reasons, Kissykat.
"Look, it's Auntie Cloud!" squealed Wiggles, racing over to Illusion and tackling her, this was followed by Sniffles growl of play aggression as he came in from another side and knocked Illusions' paws from under her, while Kissykat and Wiggles raced over and tackled her. Illusion collapsed under the eight of all four kits, laughing as they pressed her into the ground.
"Wiggles, Giggles, Sniffles and Kissykat, get out little paws and tails over here right now!" cried Casey, rushing over to her kits and rescuing her friend. Ki let out a purr of amusement, flicking his tail, and sat back as Illusion and Casey began to scold the four kits.
"Wiggles, you should know better then to tackle cats older then you."
"But Mommy, she was the target!"
"I was the target?"
"Uh-huh, and when we finally killed you, we were going to eat you to your bones!"
"Sniffles, don't say things like that!"
"But Mommy, it's true! And we were going to give the bones to that crazy queen that lives further down for her to eat!"
"Giggles, I don't think it's very polite to call her crazy."
"But Auntie Cloud, she claimed she was from a club of cats in the wild and they hunted their own food and killed each other!"
"Dapples must have been scaring you because you were bothering her, Kissykat, now; I want you to go back into the house with your father right now." At their mothers' stern voice the four kits dropped their tails and slinked back into the house with their father, who twitched his whiskers in amusement and followed them into the house.
Clouds laughed softly, curling her tail around her paws elegantly, "They're so beautiful," she murmured softly, then straitened up and shook out her pelt, "Right then, I'm on my way to see Silver today, the last time I saw her, her kits were due ay day."
Casey lit up and purred softly, "Her mate is handsome," she meowed, "But I'm lucky to have Ki as my mate. Go run along now, Silver and her soon-to-be-born kits are waiting."
Clouds gave Casey a fond farewell as she jumped back up onto the fence, and the tortoiseshell cat returned to her carefree kits. Cloud continued along the edge of the fence, careful not to loose her footing over the garden where a large black dog slept. Pausing at the edge of another garden to check for any dogs, she hurried along the fence, flicking her tail happily in the morning sun.
Silver was a pretty light gray she-cat with bright, grassy eyes and a black nose. Her garden was one of the more thickly foliaged of the row of houses, decked with ferns and shadows paths and flowers of all sorts. A tree sprouted up in the corner of the garden, thick and gnarled, with enveloping roots at the bottom and surrounded by Cosmos and monarch butterflies. It was through the violet-colored petals that
Cloud saw Silvers' pet, her side rising and falling gently as she dozed."Silver!" Cloud called as she carefully jumped down into the garden on a conveniently-place rock near her friend. Sliver lifted her head sleepily and called a warm greeting to Cloud as she jumped into the ferns.
"Good morning," she meowed pleasantly, "Pewter visited me this morning before he went back to his owners, he's so glad that we're having kits," Pewter was Silvers' mate, a dark gray tom with green eyes.
"So you still haven't had them?" asked Cloud, tilted her head to one side, Silvers' belly was huge, she would be carrying three kits at the least. Silver shook her head in a no.
"My owner took me to the vet the other day," she meowed, "I think they said that they were due any day now." Cloud pricked up, her red eyes glowing in the morning sun. They two friends talked for a few the rest of the day, enjoying each others' company, until Silver was called back in by her house folk and Cloud decided to go back to her house.
She jumped up onto the fence again, swishing her tail happily, and looked out, over the forest where the sun was setting. She basked in its' warm rays for a minute before looked down to her paws and steadying herself. A movement caught her eye, and Cloud froze on the fence, looking out into the forest. Something was moving along the bramble and bracken, their dark pelt perfectly camouflaged in the fading light. Cloud dug her claws into the ground as, from the shadows of a dark fern by a tree, two amber eyes appeared and looked up at her.
Dum-de-dum-dum-dummmmm
Not really a cliffhanger, but i suppose it'll do. Anyways, just for a list of the characters so far...
Cloud - an albino she-cat, white with ruby-red eyes
Patches - Clouds' brother, black-and-white tom with green eyes
Casey - A tortoiseshell and white she-cat with four kits
Ki - a ginger-and-black tom with green eyes, Caseys' mate
Sniffles, Giggles, Wiggles, and Kissykat - Ki and Caseys' kits
Silver - a light gray she-cat with green eyes and a black nose.
Yup... Kissykat... my favorite name XD