Mmmmmmmkay! Chapter 5 here we go! Dawnkit's fuzzy chick down should be growing out into fledgling feathers soon, and after that, adult feathers :D The show goes on! Ooooo, the Moon-Willow sounds mysterious! But its not for this chapter!
Chapter 5
Dawnkit shuffled around her small cave, bored out of her mind. Sitting, she began to play with a moss-ball between her paws but quickly lost interest.
Rosetail was now in the den all the time with her new kits, they were to young to play with and needed to be watched all the time. Willowrain also was always inside to watch Rosetail, her kits playing out in the camp on their own now. And to Dawnkit's frustration, the hole in the den roof was patched, the warriors guessing a bird had done the damage. She only wished that she had more time to take in the camp and its daily routine, minus dragging in a severally injured queen.
She rolled in her nest, noticing the moss was stale, but Dawnkit didn't want to bother Rosetail, or especially Willowrain. An idea formed in her mind.
Moss grew in shade right? So maybe underneath the bushes outside the covered entrance of her den was some. Surely no one would notice her under all those branches? She would just take a peek and grab some if there were any.
Dawnkit glanced to her side, the two queens were in a conversation while their kits suckled. She felt a tug at her heart as she remembered the feeling of falling asleep with a warm belly full of milk. She shoved it away, Dawnkit knew that she would never feel that again.
Gingerly, she grabbed a bramble tendril in her jaws, and tucked it behind a stone pointing away from the entrance in the den wall and then continued to do the same with the others. Soon every bramble was draped away and she could squeeze through the opening.
Dappled light covered the forest floor and it reflected off Dawnkit's pelt with a glow. The bases of the bushes were several thin branches bunched together in a mound, she guessed she should check there first.
The kit stretched luxuriously with the new found warmth on her back, spreading out her wings to take it all in, and then began to roll over some clods of dirt. The first bush was unsuccessful, but she still felt thankful for being out of the nursery.
Soon, four of the five bushes were all checked and found empty, but there was still one to go. Dawnkit shifted her weight on her paws nervously, that bush had a good covering on one side, so if a cat knelt down they would still only meet branches, but it was awfully close to the outside.
The pale golden-cream kit padded over to the bush and began to look around it, she froze. The sound of a group of cat's voices drew near and pawsteps thumped by, the nursery was right next to the camp entrance. A patrol was just passing by when Dawnkit turned to go back to her cave, and stepped directly on a thorn.
"Ouch!" she squeaked with surprise and pain and stumbled backwards. One of the pawsteps stopped.
"Fireflypaw? What's the matter, you coming?" a voice mewed out from behind the protection of the bushes.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll meet you out in the training hollow in a minute, I just need to check something," the rest of the group left but the one cat remained. Dawnkit's mind seemed to scream out Run! but she stood firm, paws glued to the ground.
"Cottonkit? Walnutkit? Is that you?" the voice was of a she-cat.
"N-no," Dawnkit wanted to just turn and lay back down in her nest and pretend she never left the cave, but something in her made her reply, "I'm Cottonkit's and Walnutkit's sister, D-Dawnkit."
Surprise edged the cat's meow, "Their sister? I didn't know they had a sister, how come no cat has told me about you, and I haven't seen you out?"
"That's because Willowrain doesn't like me, she doesn't talk about me, and keeps me inside the den so I can't go out and play," she glanced down at her paws in sadness, "I just wish I could, I shouldn't even be out here,"
"Why would a mother even do that to her kit?" the outrage in the she-cat's voice faded into sympathy, "You should be out here, every kit deserves to plat outside in the camp."
"Not me," her tail drooped, "I can't go outside at all."
"Why is that Dawnkit?"
"Because I'm," her fur bristled, "Special."
The she-cat's voice brightened as she formed an idea, "Well, if you ever feel lonely, I can meet you out by these bushes at right before sun-rise, or is that to early?"
Dawnkit felt a sparkle of happiness at the thought of a friend, an actually friend that hasn't rejected her, but then again, the kit hasn't even showed the she-cat much of herself, or her "special"ness.
"Well I need to go, but I'll see you tomorrow. Okay?" Dawnkit nodded but then felt silly because this other cat couldn't see her.
"Yes! I can't wait, thank you!" She couldn't help herself from bursting with joy, but then lowered her voice, "By the way, whats your name?"
The cat giggled, "Oh, I forgot to tell you? Well Dawnkit, my name is Fireflypaw. I'm an apprentice and have been for just about three moons, my brother is Brookpaw." Dawnkit heard Fireflypaw get up, "Goodbye."
"Goodbye," she managed to murmur as her new-found friend scampered away.
Dawnkit turned and headed back towards her den, she stopped in her tracks. The kit exploded with glee and skipped around in delight. Her first friend! And she knew that, soon enough, all of Rosetail's kits would be her friends to!
Her paws felt light as she squeezed into her den, but as she entered, she felt her heart plummet and her breath caught in her throat. Standing in front of her were two kits, both held a smirk of contempt and an unsettling film of scorn in their eyes. She almost didn't recognize that those two kits were her own kin, Walnutkit and Cottonkit.
"Where have you been, you know you can't leave the nursery like we can Worm-Breath." her brothers words hit her like a claw scratch to the nose, leaving her shocked and unsteady. Dawnkit felt as though she was going vomit.
"No one wants to even look at a freak like you, its disgusting," her sister flexed her claws on the moss of Dawnkit's bed, "Mother knows that if the clan even glanced at you, Honeystar would order them to through you in the river. You'll flutter, and fall, and not even Starclan will welcome a bird-cat monster."
Panic welled up in Dawnkit's chest and she couldn't help herself from shaking on her paws, "Please don't tell Rosetail or Willowrain, I just wanted to check for moss in the bushes," Her mind whirred. How could they change so much in such short time? It was only a few moons ago that they had played moss-ball together and they had started to actually see Dawnkit for who she was, not what Willowrain told them she was. But it was obvious that that image was replaced and destroyed forever. Now they could only see her as one thing, a winged freak.
"Why wouldn't we? You broke the rules Worm-Breath, now you face the consequences," Walnutkit's voice was a hiss and Cottonkit snickered, "But then again, once your an apprentice they'll banish you from all four clans as a rogue, and then we won't need to look at your pure ugliness."
Banish me? A rogue? Not even Starclan would take me? What's so wrong with me!? Despair was pouring through her every limb, and Dawnkit swallowed a sob. What was happening, they were kin! This isn't how they should treat each other!
"I think, Walnutkit," Cottonkit's eyes were like ice, "We should let it get itself discovered, and we won't even get in trouble when the clan gets rid of this thing for us!"
"I think your right Cottonkit," Walnutkit paused and turned to Dawnkit. Their gaze met and the creamy she-kit looked at him with desperation in her eyes, "Its not worth the trouble," he growled.
With a flash of fur, he raised his paw and brought it down on Dawnkit's head. She stumbled sharply backwards, dazed and shocked. He then leaped at her, grabbed her scruff, and shook wildly while Cottonkit tore up her sister's stale bedding and scattered it all over the small den. Dawnkit struggled and squirmed, desperately trying to escape his grasp but she was weak with hunger and could not bring herself to hurt her own littermate.
When Walnutkit dropped her, Dawnkit's head pounded and a dull ringing echoed around her head. The shock made her dizzy and sick to her stomach, her eyes were glazed with exhaustion. The two kits snickered and left the cave, leaving their littermate lying there, dazed.
After a few moments, Dawnkit attempted to shakily stand upwards but fell down and gasped with pain. She let a low moan and felt droplets of blood form on her wings that Walnutkit had scratched and torn at in his attack. She was really just dazed and only a bit hurt, but what had caused her the most pain was that she was just attacked by her kin, her siblings, ones who shared the same blood. Sadness soon poured out of Dawnkit and she had to catch her breath in short bursts as she was ransacked by a flood of sobs. She let out a choked wail of crushing defeat and buried her face in her paws.
"What's so wrong with me?" she managed to gasp, "What's so wrong?"
Dawnkit spent a long while just laying in the remains of her nest crying, muffling out her mews and sobs so that the other cats did not hear her. After about half an hour, she stopped.
I have to pull myself together, she persuaded as she forced herself to stop shaking, tomorrow I'll talk to Fireflypaw and maybe get to see Rosetail's kits. It'll all get better, Dawnkit closed her weary eyes, It has to get better.
