"What are you doing here?" There was a huge, black and white tom sitting on the fence. Below him was a little black tom. He was shaking, his fur puffed out to make him look bigger but it was useless. "No answer?" The tom leaped down and scratched one of the tom's bright green eyes. "What's your name?"
The black cat screeched in pain as the cat drew his claws deeper into his injured eye. He watched as he slowly drew out the eye with one claw. "Now what is your name?"
The cat, four moons old, looked at him with his one eye whimpering in pain but managed to whisper "Lit- Little M- Man"
"Well hello Little Man. You have entered Stallion's territory. Now you are going to die." Stallion scratched the other eye, blinding him. He felt him drag the eyes out of the socket. There were more screams and there was more pain before the voice came. It yelled something Little Man couldn't understand but he felt Stallion stop attacking him. He soon felt himself being lifted into the air before he blacked out.
For days he slipped in and out of consciousness, wary of his surroundings. He had depended on his sight for so long but would never have it again. There were always voice around him but he never understood them. Finally after days, he heard something he could understand. "So you're the one my housefolk have been worrying about." He could the voice of a she-cat, not much older than him by the sound of it. "What's your name, don't worry, I won't hurt someone in your condition."
"My name is Little Man." He could feel his black fur, if it was still black, rise up in fear.
She walked up to him slowly, but not threatening way, more like to give him her position. "Nice to meet you Little Man. My name is Precious." Precious is a pretty cat, ginger, cream and white splotches with pastel green eyes were what often made others fall in love with her. She was also broad shouldered so she could show she could fight. She didn't get along with others, often seen by her owner -an elderly woman who took good care of her- coming home with scratches and small wounds. She would get patched up real quickly. When she first scented the cat she was irritated, didn't want to have to share her home with someone who would take over, but as soon as she saw his handicaps, her opinion quickly changed. "Little Man, follow me. I'll show you around." They walked around the plush indoors, the grassy outdoors and a couple times dared to go to the edge of the forest.
After three moons, the two were inseparable and were closer than most cats ever gotten. They survived their owner's death because they had each other. "Little Man, what are we going to do? There is no way we are going to take care of ourselves? I never learned and you're… you're blind."
"Listen, this is going to sound crazy but when we went to the forest last time, I thought I heard a group of cats." He could feel the tension coming off of Precious. He knew she didn't like others, but there might not have been another choice. "Precious, we can see if they can help us, let us live with them, learn to hunt."
"Rio, the cat a few houses down, said there were wild cats in the forest that ate bones for breakfast." She was calming down but was still wary.
Little Man pushed Precious playfully and teased her. "You're not scared, are you?"
"No!"
Little Man pointed his head to the forest and breathed in the scents coming from there. He brushed his tail down her back gently. "What's wrong with you?"
Precious shook her head. "I don't want to leave this life. We don't know what's out there but I can guarantee it won't be anything like this."
He took a deep, shaky, breath. "We don' know, but we have each other and because of that, we can make it though anything."
Precious pressed her smooth muzzle to his scarred one. "Thanks, Little Man. Let's go." She led him slowly over twisting branches and around thick bramble thickets. They walked until they noticed a group of cats. There were five of them. A ginger she-cat who looked as if she was fading led the others. The one on her right was a small and slender, pale brown female with white legs up to her knees, chest, underbelly and tail tip and white spots and green eyes. Behind her was a little dust colored female with lighter brown markings and amber eyes. On the other side of the ginger cat was a sleek dapple female with brown marbled tabby markings and light brown paws, tail tip, ear tips and face, complementing her emerald green eyes. Behind her was a small gray and white female with green eyes.
The dust colored one stopped. "What is it, Mousepaw?" the brown and white one asked.
"There are two of them, not too far away. They must be mouse brained to just be standing there." She turned to the brown and white one. "What do you think, Songbreeze?"
Songbreeze shook her head and looked to the ginger one. Upon closer inspection, Precious saw that she looked a dark ginger on her muzzle but almost white on her tail tip. "Fadedstar, what if there are loners?"
"Depends on the circumstances." She looked to the smaller cats. "Dreamhunter, Songbreeze, could you apprentices handle them?" The cats nodded. "Ok Mousepaw and Mosspaw. This will be an assessment of sorts."
Every muscle in Precious's body was tensing to run but she couldn't leave Little Man behind. She stood strong and proud next to her companion until a black muzzle appeared through the bush. "Loners, or kittypets." The cat called to her companion. "It's really confusing though, they have kittypet collars but one has no eyes."
The gray and white female sniffed at Little Man's face. "What do you think, Mousepaw?"
Mousepaw darted through the bushes. "Songbreeze, they aren't doing anything!"
The ginger she-cat, Fadedstar she guessed, came through the bushes and looked at the pair. "What are you doing here?"
Precious pressed her pelt to Little Man's. He stroked her with his tail, telling her he would do the talking. "My name is Little Man and this is Precious. We are looking for a home."
Fadedstar narrowed her blue eyes, one was gray in the pupil and Precious assumed she was blind in it. "Why don't you go back to your twoleg?"
Little Man turned his sightless face to her and said firmly. "She is dead." He paused. "We would like to train here. Before I turned into a house pet I lived in the ally and was told about the cats that lived in the forest. I had always wanted to live here but was attacked one day. The cat, Stallion, tore out my eyes and almost killed me but our 'twoleg' as you say, rescued me and introduced me to Precious. We were happy until she died." He took a deep breath. "Please let us join your clan."
Fadedstar looked at the two cats and sighed. "Follow me." The marbled cat, Dreamhunter looked at the two of them through narrowed eyes.
"Fadedstar, is this a good idea?" She eyed the duo. "The she-cat looks like she could maybe become a warrior but the tom is blind. He can't be a warrior!"
The brown and white female, Songbreeze, walked over to Little Man, making her paw steps make sound so he would know her location. "You are going to have to work hard, no guarantee you'll even become a warrior. One of my brothers, Silentpaw, was born blind. He died before he became a warrior. It's not impossible, but it's unlikely."
"I promise I will do my best to become a warrior." He said.
She walked over to me, her green eyes were narrowed. "You make sure you help him. I saw Silentpaw die, and I don't want your friend too." She walked over to a silver female with dark gray tabby stripes and sent her over to us.
"Hello, I'm Echostream, the medicine cat here. I heal all the wounds and illnesses." She beckoned a group of cats over to her. "These are the apprentices you will be training with." She narrowed her eyes at them, "Be nice to them. They could be as great as Firestar." She pointed to a cream female with a brown stripe. "This is Streakpaw and her sisters, Spicepaw and Ravenpaw." She looked at another female cat, "This is Dapplepaw and her sister Morningpaw." The two cats nodded.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather below Highrock for a clan meeting!" The cats all gathered in a central area in camp. "We have two new apprentices joining us tonight. Splashpaw and Silentpaw!" The clan tentatively started to cheer their names. "Moonshadow, you shall mentor Splashpaw." Moonshadow padded up to Precious, now Splashpaw and touched noses to her. She also ripped her collar off of her. "Nightfeather, you shall mentor Silentpaw!" She went and touched noses with Silentpaw and the clan broke up.
"Come on, Fadedstar wants us to train with her, Songbreeze, Dreamhunter, Breezewhisper and their apprentices, Turtlepaw, Mousepaw, Mosspaw and Blazepaw." Moonshadow said. Splashpaw placed her tail on Silentpaw's. They walked slowly into the forest.
When they finally reached the training hollow they were put to the test, fighting more than Splashpaw ever imagined she would have to. Silentpaw, though blind, caught on much faster, because of his alley cat roots.
It was training like this for moons, with no break. Along with learning how to fight they were learning how to hunt, which Splashpaw showed a talent in though Silentpaw struggled. They provided for the elders, cleaned the nursery, and often watch Brightkit and Lionkit. They had more training than most because they had to learn the warrior code and devise a way for Silentpaw to fight without his sight.
They were doing this when Silentpaw perked his ears. "ShadowClan is invading." Splashpaw looked around, her ginger, cream and white fur rising. She turned her head to Nightfeather, who was overseeing today's training.
"What do you want us to do?" She asked.
"I want you to figure out where they are but stay here. I'll be back with a patrol soon." She ran off into the forest, gracefully dodging the brambles and trees.
"Where are they, Silentpaw?" His ears perked and he tensed for battle.
"They're coming this way, Splashpaw! We have to hold them off until Nightfeather brings back a patrol!" She looked up and saw eight of them, all bigger and stronger than her. Meaning they were way bigger and stronger than Silentpaw.
"Oh look, two apprentices, the kittypets!" One sneered. Silentpaw attacked him. Splashpaw did the same, not allowing Silentpaw to do this alone. She didn't know when reinforcements came, all she knew was she and Silentpaw couldn't fight anymore, each had different wounds, a broken hind leg on Silentpaw, a bleeding belly from Splashpaw, a bleeding neck from Silentpaw and various other wounds. Splashpaw looked around dizzily and in a lot of pain and passed out.
"You're awake!" Splashpaw kept her eyes closed, not wanting to look at Silentpaw, not wanting to see his wounds. "Come on, Splashpaw, I know you're faking." She opened her eyes and realized he only saw out of her right side. She walked over to the pool in the back and saw she was missing an eye.
She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face. "Hey, Silentpaw, we're two of a kind."
"What do you mean?" His mew was curious now.
"I have one eye." She started to purr but heard a growl come from Silentpaw.
"You're like me now…" He was angry. She pressed her pelt to his. "How could this happen to you?"
She licked his ear and sat there with him for what seemed like moons. Moons she didn't want to end but they did. They ended with Fadedstar calling for them from Highrock. "Silentpaw and Splashpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code at the loss of your life?"
"I do."
"I do."
"Then I give you your warrior names, Silentnight and Splashpetal." They stood there proudly as the clan cheered their names. They had become warriors, despite everything.
So this was for the Real Kittypet Challenge by Misgiving Writer and she gave me Little Man and Precious to work with. I was really excited once I saw them. It was hard to write, especially into a one-shot like I wanted it to be but it was a lot of fun too. I started writing this when I was Songpaw and now I'm finishing it as Songbreeze. This story means a lot to me and I hope you love it too.
Songbreeze, Deputy of the Warriors Challenge Forum April 15- May 15.