Not It

Chapter 7

All around the camp, cats were watching the mossball game take place. It was enthralling to the warriors and apprentices alike, and they were finding it certainly interesting.

Well, not everyone.

A dark gray tabby she-cat stalked around the clearing, watching the kits shout and cheer for their teammates. Her amber eyes were narrowed with hate as she stared at them.

The moss ball traveled over to Pigeonkit. He screeched and hurriedly leaped toward it, swiping at the air with both paws. 

It soared past him and the other team made a goal... which was mostly figured out from the screeching and cheering from the team, and the way they jumped around together excitedly.

Applekit, mostly, who was trying her hardest to win in the new position she was in. Pikekit was standing, somewhat irritably, toward the center, his tail lashing. And Swiftkit, while her team moped, was simply practicing for the next round, dashing around in circles with a speed nobody else in the nursery had.

Furzekit was generally distracted and just wandering around as usual, and nobody really seemed to care too much. Troutkit was moping, complaining that it wasn't fair, scuffing her paw against the ground...

Until Yarrowpaw, the dark gray tabby she-cat, stalked into the arena. Her tail lashed as she stared at all the kits.

"What a stupid game!" she mocked, a laugh escaping her muzzle.

Swiftkit frowned.

"That's not fair!" shouted Applekit.

Yarrowpaw lazily padded over to the mossball. She unsheathed her claws and carefully picked up the mossball. Her amber eyes gleamed as she stared down at it. 

The she-cat tore up the mossball and then stalked out of camp.

"That's not fair!" shouted Applekit again, stomping a paw.

Then, a silence settled over the cats.

"Life's not fair!" Yarrowpaw's drifting voice somehow reached the camp, despite the she-cat being considerably far from the camp.

The kits all watched, eyes widened, as Coppercloud limped after her. The queen seemed to intend to help the apprentice, though they all knew that Coppercloud wouldn't be able to soothe the salty female.

Soon, though, Thornshine and Brightdust both swept out of the nursery with their tails flickering behind them. Their eyes were narrowed as they surveyed the kits.

"Did Yarrowpaw bother you guys again?" 

They all nodded quietly. 

A sigh came from Brightdust first. 

"Well, I guess she bothered you back for a reason."

"It's time to go back," Thornshine cut in with a sharp lash of her tail, glancing at Cloverkit and then Applekit, then back to Furzekit... who was wandering off again.

Brightdust swept to the tom and picked him up, placing him down next to the rest of his friends, right when he wandered off again.

Thornshine swept toward the kit and lifted him up, dropping him down next to the rest of the kits, and he wandered off again.

This time, Cloverkit swept her tail toward him and carefully pulled him close.

As the attention slowly faded off Furzekit, he managed to escape but this time headed toward the nursery. All of these sharp voices were bothering him, and so he buried his head under a nest of moss and hoped that would work.

Back outside, Brightdust was attempting to herd the kits into the nursery, but it wasn't really working too well.

"It's time to go to sleep!" Brightdust pointed with her tail at the moon that was now rising.

"But it was pretty much just daytime barely a few sentence— "

Applekit quickly cut Pigeonkit off with a warning look tossed to him, "I'm not tired!"

"You played an entire two rounds of mossball. How are you not tired?"

All of them shrugged.

A huff escaped Brightdust as she quickly wrapped her tail around all the kits and ushered them to the nursery. Squeaks echoed from them as she forced them to lay down in their nests. 

Thornshine was the one who found Furzekit, gently placing him in a comfortable moss nest. He was asleep throughout the whole time, slumbering away soundly.

"The moon is out, it's time to go to sleep!" Brightdust snapped sharply, ears flattening at the rowdy bunch of kits that jumped around. 

The light gray tabby she-cat was right, though; moonlight seeped into the den, inching quietly in, casting a silver light all around the den and creating shadows that jumped and skittered at the movements of the kits. Outside, a black blanket covered the sky with little specklings of light that warmed the sky a little.

Thornshine decided it would be best to curl around her kits as best as she could, and so the light brown tabby wrapped her tail around Pikekit and Swiftkit. Brightdust took the hint of this and did the same with Pigeonkit, Furzekit, and Cloverkit.

Coppercloud soon limped in, tail flickering as she saw that all the kits were falling asleep. Her heart warmed at the sight and she curled protectively around Troutkit and Applekit.

A warmth filled silence settled over the den and one by one, each of the kits fell asleep.

Applekit first, then Pikekit next. Swiftkit, Troutkit, and Pigeonkit followed. Furzekit drifted into a light slumber after and so did Cloverkit. Their little flanks rose and fell at an even pace. Each queen soon slipped into sleep eventually, too.

The den was happy.

Until Applekit's whiskers twitched and everyone woke up.

The den exploded into chattering voices.

"Applekit, why did you wake us up?" That was Swiftkit.

"What was that for?" Pigeonkit, no doubt.

"Hey! I was trying to sleep!" Pikekit's shouting tone broke through the den.

"That's not fair!" called Applekit, trying to get her voice heard through the furious, noisy yells of Swiftkit and the shouts and irritable glares from Pikekit and Pigeonkit.

"Sweetie, just go back to sleep," murmured Coppercloud, placing her tail protectively over Applekit and Troutkit.

Troutkit huffed and whispered something shyly that became muffled at the she-cat's tail. Irritation flooded the kit as she pushed it off. Coppercloud flashed a confused glance at the she-kit who immediately shrunk back once more.

Brightdust stomped a paw and shouted, "Just go back to sleep!"

And just like that, everyone fell asleep. 

Written by Lamb :)