One Shots

Shattered

     A medium sized cat poked her nose out of the bushes, smelling for danger. After a moment of smelling the various scents drifting in the wind, she crept forward and straightened up. Another cat, this one a tom, crawled out behind her, glancing around for danger.

     "Do you think we're safe, Rosepetal?" He mewed, sitting down besides the larger she-cat and licking his paws. He didn't seem to be bothered by whatever had spooked the she-cat, on the contrary, he was completely at ease.

     "I'm not sure, Shadowheart." Rosepetal mewed, glancing over at her unruffled friend. "I thought I scented something strange... But I can't smell it anymore." She glanced around again, and narrowed her gaze at anything that moved. Something was still off, but she couldn't tell what.

     Shadowheart rolled his eyes, then got to his paws. "Well, can we get going then? Our camp is still quite far, and it's already past sun-high." He glanced upwards at the sun, and then back at Rosepetal. The tip of his tail twitched, but other than that, he was completely still.

     She sighed, and glanced up as well, then down then down the forest path they had been treading. "I suppose getting back to our clan would be a good idea. But we need to keep an eye out, I don't trust this area... We shouldn't have gone so far outside our territory."

     Shadowheart nodded, and turned and started walking. Rosepetal followed him after a moment, and together they traveled through the thick underbrush.

     After a few minutes of silence, the tom spoke again, his mew edged with worry. "I just hope the kits are okay... We've been gone two days, and they've never been without one of us for longer than a quick hunting trip." He glanced at his mate, concern filling his gaze. "What if Caveclan attacks again? They hate Gemclan. And with you being gone..."

     Rosepetal kept her eyes on the underbrush, and when she answered, her mew was calm. "Gemclan has a leader for a reason. They can last a few days without their deputy. As for our kits, I'm sure they're fine. Dawncloud is watching them, remember?"

     "... I know." He admitted, looking away now. "But they're our kits... I don't trust anyone but you with them. And for good reason!" He added, a sharp edge in his words. "Last time we both went on a hunting trip, we came back to Ashkit and Shadekit learning battle moves from Dawncloud's kits. Ashkit even has a nick in her ear to show for it!"

     Rosepetal stayed silent a few minutes, letting Shadowheart cool down on his own. He normally only needed a few minutes, but when it came to their kits, he was such an overprotective father. 'Not that it's a bad thing...' Rosepetal thought to herself with a small smile.

     As they kept walking in silence, Rosepetal tried to remember how they had gotten to this point, the two of them. Shadowheart had been in the clan since birth, but she'd been brought in by Diamondstar, the leader before the current one.

She'd only been a few moons old at the time, a little older than Shadowkit at the time. One of the patrols had found her wandering the forest, hungry and as scrawny as a mouse in leaf-bare. She'd been wandering the forest since her mother had been killed by another Clan's border patrol, and had chased her over the border into Gemclan's territory.

She was placed in a little of kits about her age, one of which was Dawnkit. Her adopted mother was Fernbranch, and was mated to Cloudfur. She grew up as part of that family.

Shadowkit had just barely been born at the time, so she didn't even know he existed until a few moons later.

And then, they grew up. Shadowkit was the star kit at the time, he was the fastest, the smartest, the one that learned the most. Rosekit was always off by herself; she didn't like playing with the other kits. They didn't like her much either, and she was fine with that. Dawnkit, her littermate, was the only one she ever spoke to.