Not It

Chapter 13

Swiftkit stared flatly at Rushnose as he sorted the day's patrols. "Sorrelbush, Amberleap..." he called, but his voice faded away as Pikekit's entered.

"Hey, Swiftkit. What should we do?"

"Go away," she growled.

"Oh, but we should play something."

"Let's play shoving your face into a bramble bush," she snarled, "and see how fun that is. I know that I'd enjoy it."

Pigeonkit padded up, "Let's think of a game," he said, "and a proper one. Not like dumb races or dumb camp-building or escaping from camp to catch prey," his muzzle curled, "I heard how successful you were last time."

Swiftkit sniffed, "Nobody invited you here. Go and run back to Brightdust and hide in your nest."

He glared at her, "You're horrible. I'm, like, being open to all game ideas for the first time ever and you don't even care."

"I don't care if you're open to ideas or not!" she retorted, "I've got better things to do than to hang out with you."

Pigeonkit gave her a dubious glance as she padded off, to the apprentices' den. She didn't know exactly what she was going to do yet, but perhaps she could get Pouncepaw - or even Yarrowpaw - to help her.

As she padded over, she peeked in. Three furry shapes were rising and falling in their nests, snores emitting from one - Yarrowpaw. Swiftkit tried to relax as she strolled in.

She hesitated. Could she just wake them up? They'd be angry. But surely they'd love her plan; they hated kits. Apart from Pouncepaw, but he'd probably like her more than the others anyway, so he'd do it for sure.

Swiftkit gingerly stretched out a paw and prodded Yarrowpaw very gently, then sprang back as though she was touching a fox trap. Then, she watched in apparent fascination as Yarrowpaw reacted.

The sleeping she-cat slowly stood up, "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," she mumbled slowly. Then she turned around, and Swiftkit almost squeaked. Her eyes were still closed. What was wrong with her?

Swiftkit cautiously padded right up to her and stared at her. The she-cat just stood there blankly, looking - or facing with eyes closed - ahead. "Hello?" Swiftkit said softly, "Yarrowpaw...?"

Yarrowpaw growled in frustration, "I know, I know!" she sleepily complained, "I'm coming, I'm just gonna... groom..." she lay down with a soft sigh, falling still once more.

Feeling safer, Swiftkit prodded her again, a little harder. Yarrowpaw snarled in fury, and Swiftkit flinched before realizing she wasn't moving. "I'm coming!" called the apprentice irritably, "wait one minute, will you?"

Curious now, Swiftkit experimented. She cautiously reached to the edge of Yarrowpaw's nest and shuffled her paw in it, making a rustling sound. She made some very quiet squeaky noises, and Yarrowpaw's ears pricked in her sleep. The she-cat automatically slipped onto her paws and into a hunter's crouch, then turned her head in the direction of Swiftkit's paw. Waggling her haunches, she leaped.

Swiftkit gave a screech of pain as teeth sank into her paw. "Stop!" she yelped, "stop! Stop it!" 

Yarrowpaw's eyelids flew open. She leaped back with a yowl of shock. "Wh-what...?" she stared dazedly at the kit, then her eyes hardened. "What are you doing here?" she spat, "what are you doing in my den?" she paced forward, unsheathing her claws. Her eyes glittered, fury and loathing swirling in their depths. Her ears were flat and teeth were bared.

Swiftkit backed away. "Uh, I'm... It's Swiftkit, not a... Fox or anything," she said nervously, "I'm sorry for waking you up, but please, I know a great thing you can do."