Melody of the Rain

Chapter 2

Rainkit tilted her head at her brother. "Who do you think our mentors will be?" she asked. Amberkit wiggled his haunches, pouncing on a stray leaf that had blown into camp. "Dunno," he mewed thoughtfully, peeking at the leaf under his paws, "But it would be totally cool to get Snowstar or Lionshadow as a mentor!"

In Rainkit's opinion, the last two moons had gone by dreadfully slowly, and they still had to wait another moon before they became apprentices. She rolled her eyes. "This last moon can't pass quickly enough. I want to be an apprentice now!" Amberkit rolled onto his back, still batting at the leaf. "Stop being so impatient. There's plenty of fun stuff for us to do and we have no responsibilities yet. Enjoy it!" 

Rainkit was about to argue with him, but a moss ball came flying at her head, hitting her right between the ears. She pinned it to the ground as it fell and whipped her head around to see where it came from. Of course.

Heatherdust's kits had recently turned three moons old. They tended to be very rambunctious and annoying, in Rainkit's opinion, but the worst one was Batkit. She was always getting her siblings into trouble. It was no surprise that when she turned around, all Rainkit saw was Batkit trying to suppress a giggle.

"You could try not aiming for other cats' heads," she growled, tossing the ball back to the black she-cat. Batkit batted the ball away and shrugged. "You could get your fat head out of the way so it doesn't get hit." It took all of Rainkit's willpower to avoid flaying Batkit.

Batkit smirked at her and bounded away, tackling Sharkkit, one of her brothers. Rainkit clawed at the grass. Ugh, she's so stuck up and rude! Why does Heatherdust let her get away with it? Whatever, I'll find something else to do. Maybe Meadowfrost could play with me.

She padded into the nursery, which was quite full at the moment. Other than Meadowfrost and Heatherdust's kits, another queen, Finchbreeze had recently joined the nursery. She was only about a half-moon along. Her mate, Swiftclaw, and Otterfoot were also with her. Come to think of it, Rainkit had seen a lot of Otterfoot since Finchbreeze arrived in the nursery. He came in multiple times a day, always making her eat stinky herbs. She scrunched up her nose thinking about it.

Meadowfrost was laying in her nest when Rainkit walked in. She raised her head and immediately got up to usher her daughter out of the den. "But--" Rainkit tried to complain. Meadowfrost shook her head. "Out. I'll explain later."

Rainkit grumbled, stomping back outside. Across the camp, she saw Amberkit playing with the other four kits. When her brother saw her coming, his eyes lit up. "Catch, Rainkit!" He kicked a moss ball towards her. She pounced on it, holding it up proudly. "I got it!" She ran over to him and dropped the ball.

Sharkkit yawned. "I'm bored! Let's play something else!" Rainkit thought for a moment. "Oooh! I know!" she mewed, "Let's play clan leader!" The other kits mewed their agreement, except for Moonkit. The pale tabby tom wasn't interested in their games. He opted to go to the medicine cat den and see what Otterfoot was up to instead. "I want to be SnowClan's leader!" announced Batkit, clearly not interested in anyone arguing with her for it. Ugh! You're always the clan leader! Rainkit thought, bristling slightly. Bossy furball!

They played for a while, but immediately stopped when the evening hunting patrol returned. Lionshadow was in the lead, a fat squirrel in his jaws. His kits squealed when they saw him and abandoned their game. The huge tom knew it was too late and collapsed to the ground as the kits tackled him. "Oh, no! What terrifying warriors! Please don't eat me!"

The kits erupted into giggles. "We wouldn't eat you!" exclaimed Creekkit. Sharkkit scrunched up his nose. "I bet you'd taste yucky too!" Lionshadow had the decency to look offended. "Oh, please. Surely I am the tastiest cat any terrifying predator could hope for, if they can catch me!" The kits laughed harder.

Rainkit watched, a sliver of envy poking its way into her heart. Meadowfrost hadn't told her kits very much about their father. She'd said he was kind-hearted, brave, and that he loved them with all his heart. As comforting as that was, Rainkit still resented the fact that he wasn't here. How could he be? He was dead. The envy in her heart turned into sadness as she thought about it.

An excited voice brought her out of her thoughts. Moonkit was practically beaming. "Guess what!" he announced to anyone who bothered to listen. His siblings and Lionshadow gave him their full attention, antics forgotten. A few other warriors shifted their gazes to the young kit. Moonkit puffed out his chest. "I'm going to be a medicine cat!"

Rainkit had never seen herself as anything other than a warrior. Of course, there were other important roles in a clan, but nothing else felt right, like being a warrior did. Still, it was Moonkit's choice, and it suited him. The small tom had never been much of a wrestler, like his littermates. He preferred to keep to himself, sometimes drawing in the dirt with a claw or a twig until someone (usually Batkit) accidentally trampled his picture. When he'd gotten a chill, Otterfoot cared for him, and they had grown quite close. It wasn't really that surprising that he'd chosen a different path.

Rainkit gave him her best smile. "Good for you, Moonkit!"

"It's about time!"

"I never thought Otterfoot would take another apprentice."

"Glad you figured it out, kit!"

"Only three moons to go!"

Moonkit clearly enjoyed every moment of his clanmates' praise and wishes of good luck. Of course, it all came to a crashing halt when Batkit yelled, "A medicine cat? Gross!" She wrinkled her nose. "Who would want to stay in a smelly den with sick cats all day?" She made a gagging face. Moonkit glared at her. "I want to heal, not fight!"

"Batkit, that's enough."

Rainkit turned to see Lionshadow standing in front of his daughter, tail twitching angrily. "Apologize to Moonkit now." Batkit huffed, glaring at him. "Fine!" She turned to Moonkit. "I'm sooo sorry for being rude, Moonkit. You can be whatever you want to be." She mumbled a few incoherent things afterwards that Rainkit couldn't make out. Apparently, Lionshadow had heard them. He picked Batkit up by her scruff and hauled her into the nursery. Rainkit smirked as she heard the black she-cat's complaints fade away.

Rainkit brushed against Moonkit's side. "Hey," she mewed, "Ignore her. We'd be lost without our medicine cats. They're the sticky sap that holds the clan, and their wounds, together." The pale tabby flashed her a smile and all of the kits pad slowly back into the nursery.

As she fell asleep against Meadowfrost's fluffy pelt, Rainkit's thoughts flash back to her father. I want to know more about him. Maybe I'll ask Meadowfrost about it tomorrow. I hope he's proud of me.