The Unexpected Path of a Kitty-pet

Chapter 5

"Here kitty kitty..." Her humans voice cooed, holding a ball of yarn out for Clover to play with. The silver tabby she-cat playfully leaped at the dark red yarn. She could feel the warmth that came from the fireplace, the crackling of the burning wood. And the...itchy wooden floors.

Wait.

Itchy wooden floors? No no. This is all wrong.

She opens her eyes, and to her dismay, sees a moss nest under her paws. Oh. She thought wistfully. I wasn't home. Looking around what every-cat called the 'warriors den', she could see only one warrior who was still sleeping. One was a golden tabby tom who looked angry in his sleep. Now that's someone I need to avoid. Clover hurriedly got up from her nest, straightened her fur, and walked outside.

There, Venomstorm was already waiting. His tail lashed in irritation. "Great. Your awake." He said through gritted teeth.

"You can eat later. Your learning how to hunt today." The tom got up and started stalking towards the camps entrance. Clover narrowed her eyes at his dramatic exit. Let me guess, he's expecting me to follow him without him explaining it to me?

Venomstorm looked over his shoulder afterwards and raised one eyebrow at her.

She rolled her eyes and followed him out into the meadow. It must have rained last night, Clover guessed, because the grass was damp. The flowers were surrounded by bees, which we're surrounded by aggressive wasps. Clover couldn't help but jump every time she heard a soft buzz. There was a small dirt path in the grass that used to be a creek, because there were large pebbles surrounding the edges. Venomstorm took lazy strides on the path, sniffing the air.

Am I supposed to do that too? Clover began sniffing the air, keeping her eyes on the black tom.

"What...are we looking—" Venomstorm shoved his tail in front of the kitty-pets muzzle, shutting her up. She mumbles something in protest, but he ignored her. Darting his ears around, he immediately dropped to the ground. Clover looked around, craning her neck. What are we looking for?

"Get down you mouse-brain!" Venomstorm hissed.

Clover awkwardly dropped to the ground, trying to copy the toms hunting crouch. Her whiskers twitched with anticipation. Great! My first hunt! She painfully dragged her stomach along the rocky ground, wincing as she reached Venomstorm.

"Can I try to get this one?" Venomstorm gave her a look. "You've never even hunted before." He whispered back. Clover pinned her ears to her skull, using a skill she used on her humans if she wanted an extra treat. Widening her eyes, she forced them to tear up. She furrowed her brows to make her seem sadder. The warrior wrinkled his nose and angrily looked away.

"Ok! Ok, fine. Just—stop looking at me like that." He murmured, glancing once at her.

Clover expression quickly switched to excited as she bounded off.

Following the noise that Venomstorm heard, she unsheathed her claws and dropped to the ground again. Her stomach was stinging with pain and the scent of Meadowclan was getting stronger. Am I near that 'border' Honeysplash mentioned? Clover briefly raised her head out of the tall grass. Doesn't even smell like prey. Whatever it's supposed to smell like.

Clover nervously looked over her shoulder, realizing she had absolutely no hunting experience and should have just waited for Venomstorm. No matter how grumpy or insufferable he was.

She looked back in the direction where the noise was, whimpered, and followed it slowly.

Then the noise went quiet.

"Gah!" A voice snarled. The air in Clovers lungs were blown out as she was suddenly smooshed into the ground. She left huge paws on her back. Oh great, don't tell me it's that little tabby from before. She hissed, rolling over. The silver tabby managed to get the cat off of her, and tried to get up until they got up and pinned her to the ground, barring their teeth. Clover had her eyes closed in fear. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. She whimpered.

Wait. Was she dead? Its quiet. And she could still feel the cats presence.

She opened one eye to see a dark gray tom. He was heavily scarred, as though a car had run over him. Twice. The toms eyes were a glaring emerald green, and stood out from his dark pelt. His fur was long, matted, and patchy. He was kind of handsome in a way, if he wasn't so scary looking. His eyes scanned hers and for a while it was quiet again. Clover didn't know if he was wondering how to kill her or not, and she didn't give him the time to decide.

With all of her strength, she kicked him off using her back legs. The tom was barely even nudged, but stumbled off of her anyways.

She leaped up back on her paws and arched her back. "Mouse-brain! This is Meadowclan territory! Do you have any idea what I could have done to you?" She bristled her fur out to seem scarier.

The tom twitched his nose in amusement, the corners of his lips moving ever so slightly as though he meant to laugh.

"My apologies." He said coolly, dipping his head in respect as though Clover had earned it. Flustered, the silver tabby only hissed. The rustling of the grass let her know that Venomstorm was nearby and her heart-lifted. The scary-handsome stranger looked away from her and his amused expression turned into serious. Venomstorm stalked out of the grass with his claws unsheathed, his eyes narrowed.

"What do you want, rogue?" He spat. Not in anger, but in annoyance, like he's had to deal with something like this before. Oh. Clover thought. Me. He had to deal with me before.

"Hmph. And I heard that clan cats were welcoming." The scarred rogue sat down, neatly wrapping his tail around his paws. He gave Clover a look then back to Venomstorm.

"Well, at least one of them looks like it." Clover looked at her paws, a smile growing on her face. She glanced at Venomstorm. He barred his teeth at her angrily. She looked back down, but didn't smile. The rogue frowned, pitying the she-cat and looked towards the black tom.

"I'd like to speak to your leader, if you don't mind."

"I do mind." Venomstorm retorted. "Im busy if you can't see." He flicked his tail towards Clover who was still looking at the ground.

"Doing what? She clearly doesn't seem to be interested if she ran away from you." The silver tabby she-cat snickered, looking towards Venomstorm playfully. He wasn't smiling, however. "Who are you anyways?"

"Oh. Of course, where are my manners?" The dark grey tom cleared his throat. "My name is Lynx."