Spirit's Journey

CHAPTER 10- Spirit: Calm Newcomer

"You can't just force the kit to eat."

A small black cat sat down on it's haunches and looked up at me with bright, calm eyes.

I crouched down and growled.

"Watch me."

Someone telling me I couldn't do something was words I wouldn't take twice in a day, and this spy-cat who'd been hiding in the bushes put my fur on edge.

If one more cat tried to boss me around, I would claw their ears off whether it be this kitten's or anyone else's. The flat-faced white cat had already gotten her bit.

Swiping Diamond behind me with my tail, I arched my back and hissed, fluffing out my fur and glaring down at the kit.

To my surprise, the little black cat flattened her ears and shouldered away.

"Wait! Don't hurt me!" She crouched her body to the ground, seeming to try and not act like a threat. This caused me to stand up straight and lower my hackles, staring pointedly down at her.

"I'm sorry... Didn't start that out right. My name is Midnight."

I stared down at her for a long time as soon as that familiar word escaped her lips. My thoughts were a jumble of pieces trying to connect.

Great Sky-cat, once again...

Midnight was the cat's name from my dream! And what was more convincing was that the Midnight from my dream had been dark-pelted as well as this one.

I didn't see how I could have missed it at first. Even with the distance in my dream, they'd looked exactly the same.

Same small paws, large ears and mysterious eyes. Same tiny muzzle and slender head, dark colored from head to paw-pad. She was simply younger, skinnier, and ruffled up now. A few ribs poked between her pelt and her legs were stringy and jutted, as if they'd been trying to grow but hadn't enough meat to.

Fallan poked her head out from behind me, breaking me out of my shock.

"Aww, what a cute kitten!"

The black cat hissed, almost instinctively.

"Im not cute!" Fiesty, I thought, but exactly what I would of done if someone called me the same. What kind of word was that? I made it a point to ignore my sister.

Diamond had just wandered up right next to me, oblivious of my realization. She stared between me and the cat for a second, and then tripped over her own white paws running to Hannah.

"Who are you? Why're you here?" The thicker cheetah narrowed her eyes.

Boy, what an introduction my sister had there. With or without meaning to, Fallan was coming on as rude.

Midnight had sat down, calm now, as if she knew that as soon as she'd told me her name that I'd become more settled. My sister hovered nearby, staring while Hannah cocked an ear from over Diamond to eavesdrop.

I moved forward on swift paws, leaving my small pride behind and shielding them from view. I stopped only a few paw-steps from her, realizing again just how much shorter that regular cats were.

"Im Spirit. These are my... sisters." I said, kind of stumbling on the last word and figuring she knew that Diamond was not apart of that statement. Hannah wasn't related to me, but Fallan had officially declared her our sister last night and it seemed to fit.

"Okay..." Midnight sounded hesitant for a moment and then began to speak, but it wasn't to much surprise what she asked.

Her tail wrapped neatly over her paws, she started off with a stutter. All I could do was nod encouragingly to the kit.