Spirit's Journey

CHAPTER 34- Spirit: Forever Haunted

I cracked open my eyes when I felt tiny raindrops penetrating my fur, and looked up to see that the Skycat's pelt was a dark grey, and the Great Paw was hidden.

Instantly I wondered what time it was, and sat up to give myself a quick wash.

Oh yeah. Last night Blaze had appeared out of nowhere while I was hunting in the trees and called me 'pretty.' Being all weirded out, I'd run back here and curled up beside the tree in front of Midnight and Diamond, who were both awake now.

I had the unnerving urge to tell someone what had happened last night, and saw Midnight washing her paws not far away, but she'd seen me before I'd seen her.

"Good morning," she meowed, and I hissed lowly.

"Midnight, come here." Her eyes widened and she padded over to sit next to me while I made sure nobody else was listening; Hannah and Blaze were having a conversation a good-ways away, and for once he wasn't staring at me.

I flicked my tail in his direction.

"Last night I went hunting and he followed me. I was up in the trees trying to catch you a bird, and he called me pretty."

Her purple eyes got wider still, and I was left bending down close to her face, while she simply stared up at me.

Finally the she-cat burst out laughing, so I put my tail over her mouth. Blaze would probably guess what we were talking about if Midnight didn't pipe down.

"It was so weird! He's only been here for one day!"

She moved away from my tail, and I sat up to wrap it around my paws while she sighed from her laughing outburst and say with me, the rain still lightly showering on our backs.

"Well," she meowed.

"He was probably just being honest, and wants to get to know you, I suppose."

"No way!" I spat.

"He should've at least introduced himself first, or started with something other than that."

Midnight just shrugged.

"Your choice. So when are we leaving?"

The little black kit licked a paw and drew it delicately over her ear, and I had just realized that she looked kind of dainty- with small paws and large ears and a fluffy little black tail.

She was rather pretty for a cat, actually.

But I just nodded at her, and turned to see that everyone was done eating.

"Okay, let's head out," I said, and everyone stood up and began walking in the direction of Cheetah Pride.

I noticed that everyone's faces were down or neutral because of the rain and dark, grey pelt up above, except for Blaze's. He was smiling again while he spoke to Hannah, who still looked as if she were listening to his conversation but wasn't all that interested.

I moved my gaze over to Storm and Fallan, who were walking about a tail-length away from each other but not speaking. After a minute or two Fallan gave an awkward glance in his direction and moved off to speak to Diamond as she tumbled about in the leaves as we traveled.

I stifled a laugh and bounded ahead of everyone, scenting for any potential signs of danger that we might face. There was a faint smell of raccoon, but I didn't let it worry me.

"Hello," someone said and I nearly jumped out of my fur. I instantly knew after he spoke who it was, and fluffed out my wet fur in annoyance.

"Why are you always sneaking up on cats?" I stifled a hiss and turned to arch my back at him before walking. He looked a bit startled and stopped at first, but his expression soon returned to normal and he picked up his pace to catch up with me.