[Author's Note: Look at me! New chapter already! I'm trying to update my stories more often now. Thanks for the amazing review, guys! I honestly didn't know if anyone would like this story. It was just kind of an idea I had. Anyway, enjoy!]
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
A large group of cats, maybe two-thirds of the clan, milled about outside the camp, blinking and mumbling, trying to figure out what was going on. Rumors flew through the crowd: Another clan was invading, a fox den had been discovered, Twolegs had come, a kit had gone missing. But the only cat who knew for sure, the night guard, wasn't saying anything. He was waiting for the leader.
"Alright, alright!" Snapped a voice. Through the crowd weaved a small jet-black she-cat, who, to say the least, was not pleased at being up at such an hour. She turned sharply to face the clan. "You lot! Get out of here! Were you called? No! I was! Now get back to your nests or I'll send you all out on dawn patrol for three nights in a row!"
The cats stared in stunned silence, then, grumbling slightly, began to disperse, heading back through the bramble tunnel and into camp.
"She-cats.." One tabby tom muttered to his friend.
"Tell me about it...never wake them up before sunrise..." The cat responded.
The black cat heard the two but chose to ignore them. She could inflict punishment later. For now she had a matter to attend to.
"Alright, Redstep." She said, turning to the tom who had been on guard duty. His yellow eyes were still widened in shock. "What? What's so important?"
Redstep swallowed hard, blinked a few times to focus, and opened his mouth to speak.
"Get on with it!" Hissed the impatient she-cat. "Cat got your tongue?"
"No ma'am." Redstep meowed, flinching. Darkstar was one of the smallest full-grown cats he had ever seen, but she had a tiger's heart. And attitude. "I-I was on guard duty, and I heard the sound of something smashing very loudly."
"Near the camp?" Darkstar questioned, stretching out across the cool ground with a yawn.
"No, more like a few dozen tree-lengths away." Redstep responded. "A little farther off than this area. And-"
"And obviously it was Twolegs, you don't need to tell me, this place reeks of their scent." Darkstar cut in. She sniffed the air and wrinkled her nose, sneezing lightly for emphasis.
Redstep dipped his head. "Yes, ma'am. I went to investigate and found..." He hesitated, searching for the right word for the Twoleg object. "...A Twoleg contraption." He said finally.
"That over there?" Darkstar questioned, tilting her head to the box sitting several tail-lengths off.
Redstep nodded.
"Well," Darkstar said, getting to her paws. "Let's have a look them." She began to pad over to the box on light feet.
Redstep hesitated, then bounded after her.
Darkstar placed her paws on the edge of the box, like he had, and peered over. Her eyes widened slightly. She turned back around to face the warrior.
"Well." She said finally.
"Yeah." Redstep agreed.
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
Nestled in the box, slumped over one another, completely dead to the world, were two snow-white cats. They were totally identical, blending neatly into one another, their breathing shallow and rythmitic with each other.
"Are they alive?" Darkstar meowed, peering down at the two, who were sharply outlined by the dull brown material of the Twoleg box.
"I think so. See their flanks moving?" Redstep meowed, looking down from the other side of the carton.
"Are they unconscious? In a coma?" Darkstar questioned. "You would think they'd be awake by now. Did the Twolegs do something to them?"
"I don't know." Redstep admitted. "I just came over and found them here."
"Fat lot of help that is." Darkstar snapped in irritation. She sighed and climbed down from the side of the box. She rubbed her forehead sharply with two claws. "Call Meadowsplash."
"I'm here!" Called a muffled voice. The two cats looked over to see a young grey she cat, flecked with orange, rushing over, a mouthful of some kind of leaves in here mouth. She tripped over a jutting root with an oof of surprise and fell to the ground, the herbs flying out around her.
The she-cat staggered to her feet, panting. "I was out getting herbs, and I came back, and Talonclaw told me what happened, and I thought maybe someone was hurt, so I-"
"Just shut up and get over here!" Darkstar snarled, completely out of patience for the wild young medicine cat.
Meadowsplash ducked her head in embarrassment and slunk over, tail hanging low, bits of leaves sliding off her thin pelt.
"What's in there?" The medicine cat meowed. She sniffed the air and made a face. "Yech! This place stinks of Twolegs!"
"I'm aware." Darkstar meowed through gritted teeth. "Look. In. The. Box."
Meadowsplash reared up to peer inside, easy on her long, gangly legs. She dipped her head down, then sprang back in surprise, leaping off the box and doing some sort of twist in midair to land on her feet.
"What the-?" She gasped. "Kittypets?"
"I don't know or care right now." Darkstar snarled. "Assess their physical condition."
Meadowsplash brightened at being given a task. "Right, okay, of course." She reared back up onto the box and, to the other cats surprise, climbed in. Darkstar and Redstep clambered up to peer in after her.
She was standing carefully over them, balanced as so not to step on either of them. The normally-clumsy cat's grace was surprising, but Meadowsplash was always more focused with a job to do.
The grey and orange cat reached out a paw and rested it on one cat's soft white neck. She held it there carefully for a moment, then lifted it and placed it on the other cat. She looked back up at her leader.
"Slow pulse, shallow but even breathing. Normal signs of an unconscious cat, but they seem much more dormant than just a normal knock out." Meadowsplash was proud of her skills. Since the untimely murder of her mentor, Sagetail, the clan had had their doubts about their bumbling new medicine cat. But Meadowsplash hoped she was proving herself a worthy ShadowClan cat.
"Are they in some kind of coma?" Darkstar questioned.
Meadowsplash bit her lip. "I..I don't know. I've never really seen any cat in a coma before."
"That's helpful." Darkstar growled under her breath, causing Meadowsplash to shrink down in her pelt. "Alright, out of the box, Meadowsplash, I need a better view of them." The medicine cat scrabbled out of the box and slid out of the way, eyes downcast in embarrassment.
Darkstar peered curiously at the pair, eyes narrowed. They seemed completely unaware of anything around them, eyes closed, breathing slowly. They didn't even sniff or murmur in their sleep like a normal cat. They were completely out cold.
"See any collars? Anything that might distinguish them as kittypets?" Redstep asked, the large bulky cat struggling to balance on the edge of the box.
"No. But they seem like they've eaten pretty good. They're not fat, but they're at least as well-fed as a RiverClan cat in the summer. And they're fur is perfectly sleek; no burrs or mud." Darkstar reported, scanning them from head-to-toe.
"They must be kittypets." Redstep insisted. "No clan cat looks that well."
"Maybe. Who knows? The Twolegs definitely left them here, though. Abandoning them probably. Heartless creatures." Darkstar said decisively.
"They could explain to us more when they wake up." Redstep mewed, staring at their sleeping forms.
"Who said we're keeping them around long enough for them to wake up?" Darkstar snapped, irritated at someone else attempting authority over decisions.
"Well, are they?" Redstep turned his bright yellow gaze onto his leader curiously.
Blame it on her headache, her lack of sleep, or just the fact that this was a horrible time of night to be making decisions, but Darkstar sighed and closed her eyes. "Yes. Bring them into camp."
~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~
[Author's Note: I started wiring this story with a very vague idea of the plot, so if anyone has any suggestions for things that can happen, please review or message me. Thank you for reading! Please leave a review! Ciao! :D]
