RavenPaw X Reader

Chapter Two

(A/N: Rewritten as of 2024)

Your POV

I buried my face against the warmth of my mother's belly fur as the morning sunlight broke through the thick walls bramble walls that surrounded the nursery. A  quiet growl of annoyance rumbled in my chest from being awoken before a jolt exhilaration caused my E/C eyes to snap open.

"We get to go outside the nursery today!" My thoughts were said aloud from the mouth of Greykit as he bounded from his nest towards the entrance, bouncing on his paws as he waited for the rest of us kits, along with out mothers to get up.

I stretched out my limbs, shaking the tiredness from my eyes and quickly leapt out of my nest, quickly joined by Sandkit. We made our way to Greykit, his impatience clear in his eyes and he lookede beyond us to Dustkit and Ravenkit's nest. The two toms padded drowsily towards us, followed by the queens.

With a nod of encouragement from Willowpelt, Greykit was the first to burst through the entrance, almost tripping over his own paws. Sandkit and I followed close behind him, stopping to take in the camp. An overwhelming amount of scents and sounds caused me to take a step back, almost bumping into Dustkit as he pushed past me.

Ravenkit stood beside me, a matching look of awe and shock on his face as he took his time to adjust. I sent him an encouraging nod before beginning to step away from the nursery, a breath of relief leaving me as I felt Ravenkit follow close behind me.

My ears flattened shyly as I began to notice the amount of eyes that seemed to be following us. The rest of the camp seemed to realise us kits finally leaving the nursery. Looking closely, I noticed they all looked on with a mix of pride, adoration and amusement as each of us kits took in the camp.

Distracted by all the unfamiliar faces, I didn't notice the cat stood in front of me before it was too late. I bumped against legs, quickly spinning my head to look up at the grey cat stood in front of me. Despite not knowing the face, her scent  smelled familiar. "I 'm sorry." I apologised, suddenly feeling nervous.

The she-cat looked down upon me for a moment, before a purr began to rumble  in her chest. "It is nice to finally see our future warriors. I am Bluestar, you're leader. How are you finding our camp?" She asked me, a friendly smile on her face as she sat in front of me.

I stared up at her, my mouth slightly agape. I can't believe I just walked into our leader! I mentally kicked myself for not paying attention, feeling my body heat up in embarrassment. "It's incredible." I felt Ravenkit pressed himself reassuringly against me as he replied to Bluestar's question. I felt myself relax at his comforting presence. Despite only opening his eyes a few days ago, we had already grown close as friends, him, Greykit and I becoming a happy trio.

I nodded in agreement. "Yes, it's bigger than I ever imagined." I added on, my words truthful. It surprised me how big the camp seemed. "Yes, you should take your time to learn this camp lie the back of your paw, you'll be defending it one day just like the other warriors." Bluestar said, looking around to all her warriors who were currently in the camp.

Giving us an encouraging nod, she turned and headed towards the highrock, quickly joined by a golden tom. I turned to face Ravenkit, letting out a breath I didn't realise I had been holding, before an embarrassed laugh broke from my lips. Ravenkit soon followed me in my nervous laughter, giving me a playful flick with his tail.

After a few moments, we calmed down and Ravenkit lead the way as we went to explore the different dens. The first den we walked to was a den made from a thick clump of ferns, right next to the nursery. "This is the apprentice's den." Sandkit said, appearing beside me. I nodded, opening my mouth slightly to take in all the different smells of the apprentice's. They were faint, clearly the apprentice's had been out for a while, either hunting or training. My fur bristled in at the thought that in just a few moons, I myself would be an apprentice.

Ravenkit and I followed after Sandkit as she lead us to where Greykit and Dustkit stood just outside the entrance of a large den. "The warriors' den." Sandkit informed us as we drew closer. A couple warriors were sat not too far away, whiskers twitching in amusement as they watched us explore their den. I gave them a shy, respectful nod of my head before my attention turned towards the den. The den was made from a large bush, with low hanging branches above it, giving the warriors cover from the elements.

I glanced over my shoulder, noticing the warriors den was in the perfect spot, close to the nursery, along with having a clear view of the camp's entrance. My whiskers twitched at the thought of one day, it would be my job to protect and defend this camp. I glanced at Ravenkit, "We'll be warriors some day!" I nudged him. Ravenkit looked at me, and it surprised me to see his eyes were filled with worry. "That's scary..." He mumbled, looking down at his paws. 

I blinked at him, not expecting his answer, before I pressed myself against him reassuringly, just as he had done for me. "Well sure, but that's why we have each other. Along with every other cat in this camp." I meowed comfortingly. He looked up, thinking over my words, before nodding. "You're right. There's nothing to worry about when I'm not alone." His words sounded strong, yet I could still hear the slight fear in his voice. 

Before I could say anything else, we were both pulled back to reality by an impatient mass of thick grey fur bumping into us. Greykit growled in annoyance at us, "Come on you two, we're going to the medicine den next!" And without waiting for a reply, he turned tail and joined Sandkit and Dustkit as they made their way towards a shadowy corner of the camp.

Ravenkit and I, after sharing a comforting look, followed quickly after them, stopping behind them as we made it to the grassy clearing. Looking around I noticed a small pool of water, surrounded by tall ferns. My eyes finally landed on the dark entrance of the medicine den, a rock split down the middle.

I swiped a paw over my nose as the overwhelming scents of what I imagine to be the numerous amounts of herbs wafted out of the den. "That stinks." I heard Dustkit grumble, before a yowl of shock left him. I looked over, only to see Greykit laughing, holding up a soaking wet paw, he had splashed water from the pool at Dustkit. Next thing I knew, Dustkit lunged towards Greykit, and they began to tussle on the ground together.

Rolling my eyes, I turned towards the final den to see, the elder's den. "Come on Ravenkit, the queens said the elder's would have tons of stories to tell us once we could go outside the nursery." I purred and began to head over to the den, Ravenkit falling into step beside me.

The elder's den was made from a patch of lush grass, and sheltered by a fallen tree's tangled branches. Outside lay a couple elders, sharing tongues. Ravenkit and I walked shyly up to them. They greeted us warmly, "Ah, so the kits are finally out exploring are they?" A dark brown tabby tom meowed out. I quickly noticed his tail, or rather lack there of, considering half of it was missing. Despite the question of how it happened on my tongue, i decided to stay quiet, unsure of it would be appropriate to ask.

The she-cat beside him purred as she looked at us. "Nice to finally meet you  both, I'm One-eye." She introduced herself, "and this is Halftail." she nodded her head to the tom beside her. My ear twitched as I heard the sound of quickly approaching paws, and was quickly joined by Greykit, Sandkit and Dustkit. 

"The queens said you would share stories with us!" Sandkit meowed enthusiastically earning a chuckle from both elders. And with that, all five of us kits settled down and began to listen to the stories from the elders, the sun warming the soil beneath our fur. It had been a good first day.