Tangle was confused.
Cody lived outside, yet twolegs still owned her and she chose to eat their rocky pellets. The kindly she cat assured her that they weren't that bad, but Tangle's sensitive nose said otherwise. Thankfully though, the kittypet knew how to hunt, and birds frequented the yard so the kit never felt compelled to eat the dry food.
Situated under a broad leaved bush, the black and white kit had a clear view of the yard, including the "house", as Cody called the twoleg den. For the past three days, Tangle had been silent, observing how the brown queen was let out in the morning and in when the sun set. To her surprise, many cats lived the way Cody did. Besides her and Claire, there was a fat old tom named Smudge, Cody's sister, Hattie, and a black tom named Butch who occasionally came to visit.
Behind the yard, there was a great expanse of empty land, most of it comprised of sand. There were a few large yellow monsters sleeping on it, but they never seemed to wake up.
"Why is the land so empty?" she asked of Cody on the third morning. "Where are all of the houses?"
Chuckling to herself, the older she cat replied "The twolegs were going to build another big street, but other twolegs don't want it because it will be too loud. The land back there used to be forested, but all that's left is the tree cut place.
"Can't they make up their minds?"
"Apparently not, it's been like that for a long time, but I wish that they'd hurry up and cover it, the sand is really bad on windy days."
"Then why clear it in the first place?"
"That's what I've been wondering for seasons!"
The two she cats turned to the new voice, which belonged to Smudge, huffing and puffing his way over to them.
"Smudge, what brings you to my yard? Shouldn't you be napping?" Cody asked drily.
"I heard that you got a youngster, and besides, I'm bored!" the fat tom fell over dramatically, his portly belly jiggling slightly; Tangle suppressed a giggle.
"You mean you want a new set of ears to tell your story to." The brown she cat meowed sarcastically, turning to leave. "Very well, I'll leave you to it. Don't wear her out."
Watching her disappear over the fence, the tom turned enthusiastically to Tangle.
"Now, when I was young, maybe a little older than you, I had a friend named Rusty who lived in the yard where Hattie lives." He began, nodding to the yard next to them. "Brightest coat that I ever saw, it gleamed like fire! Now, he was the same age as me, and one night, he went out into the forest, did you know that that used to be a forest?" ignoring her nod, the old tom went on. "Well, it was and, see, he went out there, I told him not to but he did! When he returned, that tom told me that he met these "Clan" cats, somethin' about thunder, and their leader, Bluemoon or whatever, asked him to join! Of course I didn't really believe it but…"
The word "clan" triggered something in Tangle's memory, or rather, Mosskit's memory. Cross that it was interrupting the story; she tried to ignore it instead of giving in like she usually did. You can't control me! She thought ferociously.
Mistake.
It was like holding back a sneeze, the pressure built behind her eyes until finally the memory was too much for her and she released it.
This time, however, instead of coming as a clear image, all of the sounds and smells mixed into a garbled mess in her head. It persisted for a few heartbeats and then receded, leaving her with a pounding headache and spots of light dancing in her irises.
"…and said that his name was Firepaw and that I was on his territory. Well, thankfully he still remembered me or he would've torn me to shreds!" Smudge continued, the sound of his voice grating against her ears. "Excuse me, I need to make dirt." She interrupted. Harrumphing, Smudge paused his story as the black and white kit escaped to the back of the yard.
Glad to be away from the noise, she glanced back at the tom once she was done and saw him curled up, back rising and falling slowly. Afraid of what catastrophe would occur if she woke him up, the she kit sought another source of entertainment.
Cody wasn't back from whatever she was doing, and after a quick tour of the yard, she found that it held nothing of interest to her, so she looked to the fence. Cody had said something about a treecut place…
…
This was a bad idea. Tangle decided. The treecut place was a long, tiresome walk over sand and the sawdust irritated her lungs, making her rib throb when she coughed. The place was dull and creepy with its spindly pines and sleeping monsters, definitely not worth visiting, but now she couldn't go back, the wind had blown her scent away and all of the fences looked the same.
Another strong wind threw sand into her eyes and forced its way down her throat. Coughing, the rumpled kit desperately wished for water, when, she heard it. A stream. It didn't sound too far away, so the parched kit followed the noise.
"Stupid wind, stupid rib, stupid me…" She growled in frustration. Why couldn't she have just visited another yard? She wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for her curiosity.
Emerging from the last of the pines, she saw it; a wide riverbed with a small stream trickling down its center. Making her way through the mud, Tangle saw that the water was cloudy with bits of silt and leaves, but any water was better than none.
Lowering her head, she took a long sip, and then another. The small kit drank until she was full, and turned to start back when a flicker of white caught her eye. Spinning to look at it, she tried to recall all of the fighting moves her father had taught her. The fur along her spine prickled, someone was watching her.
Slowly backing away from the stream, the spotted kit turned to run, when a voice behind her mewed: "I wouldn't do that, kit. I'm much faster."
Ignoring the warning, she ran anyway, sand spraying out behind her, making the kit slip in her mad scramble. Sand was thrown into her eyes and her paws were swept out from under her. Pinning her down, a white she cat stood over her, yellow eyes burning with anger.
"What makes you think that you can just run away?" She growled in her ear.
Tangle closed her burning eyes. Oh stars, he'd found her. She'd never stood a chance against him; here was an assassin to finish the job. Why didn't she stay in the yard?
"You're trespassing on BloodClan territory."
BloodClan? Tangle had heard the term somewhere before, she was sure of it.
Mosskit, however, was disgusted and shared another memory with her.
"…and Thrushpelt will attend." Sunstar finished, leaping off of the rock.
"What's a gathering like?" Mosskit asked her father.
"Well, all of the Clans come and share news, but not secrets." He added with a wink. "You can make friends from other Clans and…"
"Tell me what the other Clans are like!" she begged.
The tom rolled his eyes. "WindClan is swift and fiercely loyal, ShadowClan is sly and proud. RiverClan is strong and clever, and ThunderClan is-"
"The best!" interjected Mosskit.
With a strange look in his eye, Thrushpelt replied "Yes, ThunderClan is the best."
As the memory faded, Tangle could tell that Mosskit obviously did not believe that there was, or ever should be a BloodClan and was disgusted by the name.
In the meantime, the white she cat had grown agitated with her prey's lack of response.
"I'm taking you back to camp, you hear?" she snarled.
Realizing that this cat had nothing to do with her father, Tangle was able to find her voice.
"I'm sorry for trespassing; all I wanted was some water. If you let me go, I won't bother you again." She mewed timidly.
"And let you tell your friends where to find us? Sorry, kit, but you're coming with me." She nudged the spotted kit to her feet and shoved her in front of herself.
Stumbling forward, the speckled kit tried not to wince when her rib burned. She hoped Cody didn't worry too much about her.
Sorry! Happy Belated Thanksgiving!
Coalstorm of WindClan: I love Cody too! And she was safe for a bit…hmm, I guess Tangle has been on her own odyssey, hasn't she? Not too much farther now, though.
Hollyleaf The Wolfblood/Icecloud447: Shard's had a bit of an interesting past, but yes, he shouldn't take it out on poor Tangle. :/