Warriors: What Is There To Do?

Chapter 7- Be a Kit to Grow Up

Splitpaw was angry. Riverclan's shadow wouldn't leave her! It was bad enough that she had almost no experience dealing with other cats, how to hold a conversation, and how to do simple things like jump, but Coalfoot telling her how she was too weak to do the simplest of things, because of the stupid fish eating clan that had given her up... it made her hate them. Would she ever have a normal life?

"Since you have had no kit-hood, we'll make you one," Coalfoot finished, and Splitpaw looked at her with confusion. How in Starclan do you make a kit-hood?!

"...How will we do that?"

"I'll explain in a moment; let me grab the other apprentices from their mentors. This will be a good chance for every cat." her light grey mentor left after saying those words, the ferns, still damp with morning dew, dripping in the silence that followed her exit from the sandy area.

What was she supposed to do, now? She was finally breathing regularly, but her paws still hurt. She had never moved so much! At least with the journey to the Gathering, she was walking in a straight line...

Remembering the ache she woke to this morning, Splitpaw just decided to stretch. She focused on her fore legs, feeling her shoulder pop and her claws coming out of their sheathes, glinting in the sun, which was peeking out from behind fluffy white clouds. She had moved around the rest of her small body when she heard voices racing towards her.

"...Nuh uh! I will totally beat you there!" she was pretty sure that was Moonpaw or... thinking back on it, she had never heard Bonepaw speak.

"You guys! Get back here right now!" Splitkit smiled as she heard Driftpaw's bossy tone keeping the two toms in check.

Coalfoot appeared back in the clearing, followed by Bonepaw, Moonpaw, and Driftpaw. The toms were huffing, Moonpaw looking disgruntled on how Bonepaw had beaten him.

"It was close, though! It's not like you left me in the dust, so don't go bragging!" Moonpaw licked one of his grey paws and looked over to Splitpaw.

"Hey, Splitpaw! Coalfoot told us we were going to play moss ball!"

"What's moss ball?" she asked, cocking her head.

All three 'paws started to laugh, but when Splitpaw only looked more lost, they straightened up and looked like her like she was a... she didn't even have a word for it.

"You're serious?! You're telling us that you never played moss ball before?!" Driftpaw looked like she didn't believe it as Splitpaw shook her head once more.

Coalfoot, who had disappeared into the ferns once again, came back with a mouthful of moss, separating them into balls, one for each of them.

As soon as her mentor passed them to the toms, they started batting them in the air and purring, grins on their faces.

"It's been such a long time since I've done this!"

"It's been half a moon, mouse-brain. And besides, I saw you playing with that leaf after you finished with the elders!" so that was Bonepaw's voice. It was... nice. It was like honey, which although she had never tasted, she had smelled and it had made her mouth water. The white tom's black paws were a blur as he batted the moss between them.

Splitpaw felt a ball roll onto her paws. She looked down, and then at Coalfoot, who was watching her. Her pelt prickling as the other apprentices stopped to watch her, she hooked a claw around a trendily and flung it into the air. When it came back down, she had a flash memory and she imagined the ball was Glowstar or just Riverclan in general, and swatted it with so much force it flew over Coalfoot's head and disappeared into the undergrowth.

"Splitpaw, you're supposed to keep the ball in your swipes, not bat it away," Driftpaw lectured turning and searching in the undergrowth for her moss. Splitpaw's pelt burned. It wasn't her fault! She had never done this before, and she had been too consumed in her anger at Riverclan for her to focus on keeping the moss.

Ducking her head down, she didn't notice Bonepaw in front of her until he spoke. "You don't put all of your force into the swipe, just enough to keep it in the air. I could see you were thinking about something that made you angry; just focus on moving and getting stronger."

Her head darted up; they were almost nose-to-nose. Leaping back, Splitpaw noticed he hadn't moved.

"S-sorry," she mewed, barely catching Bravepaw's moss ball when he flung it at her.

"Use mine," he offered, giving Bonepaw a glare full of... another thing she didn't know the name of. Starclan, if this continued, she would have to start asking them, 'what are you feeling?' all the time!

Under the toms' watchful gazes, she managed to keep it from flying off into the unknown and keeping it close to her. Coalfoot watched from a few tail-lengths away, smiling and sunning herself under the heat that flowed from the sun which was on the other side of the sky now, and was turning orange. Driftpaw was always sure to point it out if they were moving wrong or were being too fast or slow, Bravepaw would make her laugh, and Bonepaw would murmur encouragements in her ear and help her when she dropped the ball.

Moonpaw was quiet for most of the time, instead joining in with Bravepaw in his weird looks that were sent in Bonepaw's direction. Splitpaw had never seen such an expression before, but she wasn't too bothered by it; her rumbling stomach was more of an issue at that moment.

Coalfoot had disappeared yet again, this time returning later on with six squirrels, which took another cat, a tom, which dropped them off and padded away after a smile at the apprentices, excluding Splitpaw from the warmth of his gaze and instead shooting her a wary stare.

She stared at her squirrel as the other five cats attacked theirs, biting into the fur and tearing off pieces of meat, dripping with blood. Did they really eat like that? Fish were so clean... they were lush to bite into, no fur or blood involved, but she was too hungry, having skipped her morning meal.

She bent her head down and took a bite, wincing inside as the fur brushed against her tongue. When she bit down, her mouth was filled with blood and flavor. It wasn't a bad taste, she thought as she licked her lips and bit down again.

Maybe she could get used to squirrels.