Warriors: The Return Of The Greatest Heroes

67. The New Kits

Shrewkit woke with a start in the ThunderClan camp. His head was spinning, full of slightly unfamiliar scents. Next to him, there had to be another kit who might have been a little younger than he was. The kit beside him was ginger, tom, and he smelled like a mix of two cats he met in the stars. Odd.

He was fully aware that he had been reborn; it had been five moons, after all. But the familiar scents of Snowkit, Swiftpaw, and Gorsepaw had faded from existence.

They were replaced by some scents he did know. There was a strong scent of Hollyleaf, and, as he craned his neck, he found that she was right beside him with her tail wrapped around him and the ginger kit. She looked like her fully grown self.

The two other most familiar scents belonged to Sandstorm and Snowfur. He had become friends immediately with the white she-cat in StarClan, and, when he looked at her, he found that she was a kit also, only a little smaller.

They must have been reborn as well, and that came as an immediate relief to the former apprentice. He and the others were not alone. Speaking of the other, Shrewkit realized that they were sent to different clans, full of different reborns, hopefully. But at least he was in a familiar clan, like Gorsekit and Smokekit. That meant Snowkit was in unfamiliar territory.

He stirred a bit, watching the other cats with increasing interest. It must have been dawn, since light was beginning to shine through the nursery walls, making intricate patterns on the floor. With his new kit-like senses (and some that never went away) he couldn't resist jumping on the light spots. This, of course, woke some of the others.

"Shrewkit." Hollyleaf's whisper greeted him. "I am Hollyleaf, and you are in ThunderClan."

So his instincts were correct.

"Hi," he decided to answer simply. What if she didn't know he was the same cat from StarClan? His scent should have made it obvious, but his time outside the clans and as a kit probably morphed it into something unrecognizable. "Am I going to stay here forever?" What kit wouldn't ask that question? He woke up in a strange place, one could only assume!

"Yes," the black queen answered. "You have been brought into my care. You can think of me as your mother." her voice was laced with sweetness. "And this is your new brother. His name is Flamingkit; he can show you around the camp to meet everybody once he rises."

"Okay!" Shrewkit laced his voice with all the excitement of a five moon old kit.

And that meant a lot.

After what felt like forever, Flamingkit finally started to rise. The other three kits from Sandstorm's litter had already awaken, and were staring at Shrewkit in wonder.

"I'm Snowkit!" the white she-cat announced first.

"Graykit." one of the toms looked to the other with a look of hope in his eyes.

"What are you looking at?" the other tom turned to the new kit. "Clearkit."

"I'm Shrewkit."

That was when Flamingkit sat up. "Did I miss the fun part?"

"If by fun part, you mean introductions, then yes!" Snowkit held her head up in triumph.

"Not again!" the ginger tom groaned.

"Hollyleaf said that you'd show me around. Shrewkit, by the way." Shrewkit added just in case he missed that important part.

"Thanks, and I definitely will show you around!" Flamingkit looked excited to have a new 'sibling', just like Graykit, Clearkit, and Snowkit.

They scampered off, leaving the two queens watching.

-

Snowkit had woken up to many unfamiliar scents. All the bodies laying around him were different, and the others weren't in the range of his senses. He guessed that that made sense, since the clan leaders had planned to split them up.