Chapter 5 (3)

Rain's POV

Rain hadn't spoken much to the kits much after her confession. She was currently hunting, searching for a plump mouse by the alleyway. Scenting the air, she noticed another smell, a cat's. That's Storm, she noticed, walking as she caught yet another scent, and Lightning kit and Shrewkit. Curious, she padded in their direction. They were in the far side of the woods. Way away from the clans.

She heard a thud, then a young tom's voice, "Can we do that again?"

In answer, Storm said, "Of course, but this time, you do it to me." Then Rain stepped into a dirt clearing, cautiously, as to not interrupt or accidentally clawed. She stuck out her head, just enough to see the two, Lightningkit and Storm, leap at each other. Lightningkit began towards Storm's face, then he ducked down, and snagged his leg from under him as he ran. His father slipped, so Lightningkit turned and pinned him down, a triumphant gleam in his eyes.

"Hi" Rain called. "I wondered what you were doing, so I decided to come down and take a look. And form what I've seen so far, it looks good!" When she spoke, Lightningkit looked up, startled. "I didn't see you there" his voice uncertain.

It seemed he had been avoiding Rain, and she didn't try hard to talk to him. Shrewkit though, she was more than happy to talk with her long lost mother. "Sorry. Would anyone like to hunt with me?" She secretly wanted Lightningkit to oblige, considering they never talked. Storm spoke up sharply "How about we hunt in pairs? That way we'd catch more prey. Shrewpaw and I will head for the abandoned Twolegplace, and Lightningkit and you can hunt along the fence by the woods."

His tone suggested he wasn't considering any other suggestions, and as he walked past Rain, their pelts brushed. Suddenly alone in the clearing, there was an awkward pause. Neither of them knew what to say. "Are we just going to stand here? Let's catch some prey." Lightningkit ducked under the undergrowth and padded away, leaving the branches he pushed slapping Rain square on her muzzle. She yelped, and he came rushing back, fear and concern in his eyes. "Oh, oh, I'm so sorry Rain, I didn't mean to really!" He sniffed her up and down.

Rain purred, "I'm fine Lightningkit, it just stings that's all."

"Phew. Thank Starclan!" Rain stared at him, only once had she ever heard that phrase used before, with Starlingpelt. " Where did you pick that word up? I mean, Starclan. I don't really hear it that often."

Worried he said something wrong, Lightningkit stared at his paws. "I guess I heard it before with the clans." he mumbled.

Then the two cats began to hunt.

Shrewkit's POV

Coming back to the shelter, at least, that's what the others call it, Shrewkit felt like she was finally welcome. A cat she'd met, Silversplash, had helped her learn the hunting crouch two days before she and Lightningkit learned fighting moves. She had said "Keep your tail up, and step lightly when hunting a mouse. And for birds, you have to be ready to leap, because if you even let a whisker touch a leaf and make even the slightest sound, they will hear you."

As she scented the air, she caught a whiff of mouse scent. Luckily, she thought. Had it been another ilk of prey, she might've been unprepared for such an advanced kill.

Searching through the undergrowth, sure not to tread on anything noisy, Shrewkit saw it. A plump, brown mouse was scrabbling among the roots of an oak tree. her ears twitched in excitement. My first kill! She stalked slowly foreword, trembling with some kind of imaginary pressure, and her eyes never left her prey.

Then, she leaped, caught the mouse in her claws, and bit the back of it's neck with her teeth.

"Well done!" Shrewkit leaped two tail-lengths in the air, yowling.

"Why'd you scare me like that?"

"What, a father can't talk to his daughter? Have a nice conversation?" He stretched his eyes in mock innocence. Then, purring, he brushed his muzzle along hers and said, "Let's go back home, and you can show everyone your first catch!"

Excited, Shrewkit followed.

Lightningkit's POV

The hunt with Rain went decently well, with an exception of one missed kill. He had caught a pigeon, his first bird, and a mouse. Rain had chased a squirrel halfway up a tree, and came down with the warm body in her jaws.

"Nothing to it." she'd mewed, as Lightningkit opened his jaws in shock.

They brought their fresh-kill back shortly after Storm and Shrewkit. Tossing it onto the pile, he approached them happily, a skip in his step.

"What's up with you? Did hunting go well?" She yawned, her jaws gaping.

"Yes. In fact, it went better than well. I caught my first pigeon."

"Good for you." She obviously didn't care. That, or she couldn't, being so tired after such a busy day. Soon though, storm suggested everyone get a good night's rest, so they could be ready for an early day tomorrow.

With no complaints for once, Lightningkit and Shrewkit gladly slept in their new, individualized nest, with the other cats of the shelter. He was proud to have been thought of as a member instead of a prisoner. He slept with no nightmares.

He woke early the next morning. He stretched and washed the moss out of his pelt, then left the den to bright morning sunshine. Others began to wake up too, leaving to hunt or practice combat moves. Some kits had left their nursery, playing with a ball of moss and wrestling each other to the dusty ground.

Kits! he thought, Why does my name have kit in it? I must've been talked about all these moons! He noticed Sky come out of her den, to the right of the nursery. An idea began brewing in his head. He padded over, nervous. ""Hey Sky? I, well, I-I was wondering" She turned to face him, "Yes?"

"Can Shrewkit and I change our names?"