The Rares

Chapter 8

~~~~Cosan~~~~

"Don't punch me in the jaw again," Red ordered me, scooting unobtrusively behind Silver.

My head was reeling.

Again?

When I didn't say anything, Silver's grin faded.

"Are... Do you...?" She started.

I mentally shook myself.

"N-no, I'm happy for you!" I reassured her.

Her smile came back, just not as happy. She was worried by my response, I knew.

Red nosed Silver away, firmly, but gently. 

"Now that you've told Cosan, you're going to rest." He insisted, when she resisted.

As they left, Red suddenly recoiled, blood dripping from his nose.

Max stood, shocked.

"Uh... Sorry,"He grinned sheepishly. "Didn't see you there."

"'S okay." Red grunted, as Silver licked away the blood, fussing over him as if he was Jasper, when he had hit his head.

As if he heard my thoughts, my blind son padded over to us.

"You okay, Red?" He asked.

"Yeh. 'M fine." He said again.

Max had slipped past, and stretched out in the sunlight, his eyes closed.

He sighed in relief. 

"This is nice." He murmured. "I've been doing sentry duty all morning. It's cold out there!"

Lily appeared from somewhere, and crawled over to Max.

"Can I hide over here?" She asked. "Me, Oscar, Sam, and Simon are playing hide- and- seek, and I want the best hiding place."

Max nodded, and tucked her under his fur.

Moments later, Samuel came dashing in. Max looked like he was asleep, and I didn't doubt he was.

Jasper laid back down, now next to Max, his eyes closed.

"Jazz, why don't you do anything?" I asked.

"What can I do? I'm blind." He asked.

"I don't know... Play with the little ones? Help Russet out with her kits? Anything."

"Well... Whatever." Jasper replied. "I guess I'll go to those kits."

He padded away.

I noticed Simon peeking out from under the couch. Earlier, I had seen Oscar crawl under a bean bag chair.

Sam seemed to have caught a scent, and was running to the bean bag chair Oscar was hidden under.

He dived under.

"Got you, got you!" He crowed as Oscar crawled out.

"You always get me first! Why don't you get someone else?"

"You're always the easiest!"

"Quit your squabbling," I stopped them.

They shut up, and I watched them.

Sam looked at Max, confused. He started walking to him, nose to the ground.

He stopped, looking up at Max's sleeping face.

He shrugged, and walked away, obviously not going to risk waking him up.

Sam eventually found Simon, hiding under the couch.