Chapter 5 A Unlikely Friendship
The next morning Lightkit woke up next to his sibling Brightkit and her friend Wolfkit and bounded out of the nursery. In the clearing Lightkit could see Darkkit playing with a butterfly. Lightkit slowly sneaked on Darkkit in a hunters crouch and sneaked on him behind the slave den. As Darkkit wasn't looking, Lightkit pounced on Darkkit landing on his back as Lightkit paws were on his chest.
"Ha ha got you" Lightkit laughed. "Y-yeah you got me alright" Darkkit stammered. Just then a few slaves started to approach the two kits some that Lightkit recognized and some he didn't.
"Hi Lightkit I don't think we properly introduced myself and my friends" A black tom said. Lightkit recognized the black tom as the same one who had snarled at him when they first met.
"I'm Blackfur the father of Darkkit,Flowerpaw,and Petalpaw" Blackfur introduced himself. "I wanted to thank you for saving Flowerpaw's life. You know not every cat like you is brave enough to do that" Blackfur commented
"It was nothing really" Lightkit replied blushing. A dark brown and ginger tom then appoached Lightkit and Darkkit next to Blackfur.
"I'm Nettlespirng , Flowerpaw and Kinkpaw has told us much about you" Nettlespring introduced himself. "Oh did I mention I am Dustfoot's mate" Nettlespring asked. Lightkit shook his head and then got curious about Berryspot's mate.
"So who is Berryspot's mate?" Lightkit asked. "I am" a voice spoke. Lightkit saw a dark ginger tom with little yellow on him approached Lightkit and Darkkit.
"My name is Sunpelt" Sunpelt introduced himself. Soon after more slaves started to approach the two kits.
"Hello Lightkit do you remember me?" the black she-cat asked. Lightkit nodded and saw Blossomsnow with the other slaves. "I'm Darkheart slave leader of this group" Darkheart introduced herself.
"I'm Leaftumble and this is my mate Loudtooth" Leaftumble introduced himself. Loudtooth bowed her head and Lightkit bowed his head in return. Leaftumble was a dark brown tom with ginger patches and Loudtooth was a grey she-cat with tan fur.
Soon five slave apprentices rushed towards Lightkit and Darkkit. Lightkit recognized Flowerpaw, Kinkpaw, and Petalpaw, but didn't recognized the other two.
The two toms stepped forward "Hi i'm Raccoonpaw and this is Hawkpaw" Raccoonpaw introduced himself. Raccoonpaw was a dark brown tom with a grey mask and black paws while Hawkpaw was a dark brown tom with white on his chest and paws.
"Hey thanks for standing up for my sister Kinkpaw you know some of the warriors make fun of her due to her lame paw" Raccoonpaw commented.
Lightkit's eyes narrowed on the thought about that. The way the warriors treated the slaves was a disgrace to Lightkit and now he vowed that when he becomes leader, he's going to make sure that every slave was free. "After all I am like mom" Lightkit thought.
4 moons had passed and Lightkit and Darkkit's friendship was now stronger than ever. For the past few moons Lightkit has always been curious about what was outside of camp. One day as Lightkit was getting older he thought today was a good day to explore beyond the camp. He sneaked into the slave den trying not wake anybody up and slowly approached Darkkit in the process of waking up.
"Hey Darkkit let's sneak out of camp" Lightkit whispered. Darkkit got up and looked at Lightkit with surprise and with a look of uncertainty.
"I don't know Lightkit we're not suppose to be out of camp till we're apprentices remember" Darkkit said.
"Cmon we won't be gone that long we'll just stay in the middle of the territory" Lightkit insisted.
Darkkit thought about it and then signed in defeat "Ok but i'm just going with you just to protect you got it" Darkkit said. Lightkit nodded and both kits the slave den. They went around the nursery to see bushes and many trees. Both kits looked up to see the sky being covered by the tall trees, leaves and birds swooping by for prey. Both kits kept walking through the forest admiring its beauty and nature until both kits came across a unfamiler scent.
"Do you smell that?" Lightkit asked. "Yeah but its not any scent I've recognized" Darkkit anwsered. Both kits tracked the scent until they came across a black and white creature sleeping on the ground. Upon closer expection, Lightkit recognized the creature from both Shinefur and Rivershimmer stories.
"Badger!" Lightkit whispered to Darkkit in alarm. Both kits were alarmed, but before they could run back to camp, the badger woke up. It got up from the side and stood up. The badger was huge for two little kits and as the badger looked down on the two kits, it unexpectedly smiled.
"Awww kits I love kits" the badger spoke. Both kits looked at eachother confused then Lightkit stepped closer.
"H-hi i'm Lightkit and this is Darkkit" Lightkit stammered. "Well nice to meet you Lightkit and Darkkit i'm Doug, Doug the badger" Doug spoke.
"What are you doing on our territory" Darkkit asked. "I made sure I wasn't on your territory. Are you sure you're not on yours?" Doug anwsered. Lightkit knew he had a point and scented the air, but couldn't scent the border which meant that they went too far or they didn't cross it yet.
"Well hey why aren't you eating us?" Darkkit asked. "Trust me Darkkit I know prey when I see it. My family hates cats due to the recent conflicts with them, but i'm nothing like them." Doug anwsered. Lightkit could relate to him as well about his diffrences.
"All I want is to be friends with cats you know, but i'm scared they won't like me" Doug whimpered. Lightkit and Darkkit looked at eachother with sympathy then looked at Doug.
"Hey we could be your friends if you want to" Lightkit offered. "Really" Doug said surprised. "Well sure you seem nice enough" Darkkit anwsered. "Awww thanks you two I know we're gonna make good friends" Doug spoke. Lightkit looked up to see that it was sunfall and knew they had to get back to camp.
"Darkkit we better get back to camp" Lightkit whispered. Darkkit nodded and then stood up to prepare to run back to camp.
"We got to head back to camp now Doug maybe we'll meet again soon" Lightkit said.
"Maybe we will bye Lightkit and Darkkit" Doug spoke. "Bye" both kits said and hurried back to camp. When they arrived, it seemed that no cat noticed them, but boy were they wrong. "Boy that was close" Lightkit said. "Too close in fact" a voice said. Lightkit and Darkkit looked to see Cloudberry, Doespring, Shinefur, Whitestar, Glowfur, Moonsong, Tinydawn, Blackfur, Darkheart, and Kinkpaw waiting for them.