Not It

Chapter 18

All was normal and usual in the camp. The senior warriors grumbled a lot about nothing in particular, the apprentices bickered about their chores, and the kits played their games.

"Swiftkit! Swiftkit! Swiftki-" Pikekit tripped over his own paws in his rush to reach his fellow kit.

"Whaaaaat?" Swiftkit drawled, clearly uninterested in what the sleek tom had to say. The rest of the kits next to her turned, ears pricking in mild interest.

"It's thirty-five days until Christmas!" Pikekit jumped up and down, unfazed by his stumble.

"Whaaaaat?!"

"No way!"

"Are you serious?"

"Wasn't that like, last moon?!"

The last comment came from Furzekit, evidently not the brightest of the batch. The rest of the kits stared at him for a moment, then began jumping up and down along with Pikekit.

"Um, excuse me?" A soft voice interrupted the ruckus.

The cats stopped and turned toward Cloverkit. She shrunk back, mumbling something along the lines of "I'm sorry, really sorry, it won't happen again-"

"Just spit it out, Cloverkit!" Swiftkit snapped, voice laced with annoyance.

"Ew!"

"Spitting's gross!"

"Get to the point already!"

"U-um, wasn't there a holiday called Franksgiving, or like Thanksgiving or something?" Cloverkit whispered hoarsely, nervously looking at the group.

"Who cares about that day?"

"All we do is eat a bunch of food!"

"Hey, I love that day!" Furzekit complained, licking his lips at the thought of the food.

"Anyway, let's get to decorating! We have literally no time at all, and the elders always do a cruddy job. Let's do it ourselves this year!" Swiftkit rallied her denmates.

A chorus of agreement and approval rang out from the nursery. The kits tumbled out of the den, ignoring Thornshine's and Brightdust's calls for them to return.

"Alright! Pigeonkit and Cloverkit, you get the decorations for the tree. Furzekit and Troutkit, you keep the Clan from finding us out. We want this to be a surprise! Swiftkit and Pikekit, you find a tree!" Applekit commanded, straightening her back to appear smarter.

"Why do we have to listen to you?" Furzekit complained.

Applekit's eyes narrowed and she said, "Because it's fair."

Furzekit gulped and ran off with his respective partner. Applekit huffed and blew on her claw, waiting for her friends to return.

In the center of camp, Pigeonkit was sniffing a thrush for quality. "Cloverkit, what do you think of-"

"Huh? What? I'm sorry, I'm so sorr-"

"I was asking what you thought of this thrush for the tree-" Cloverkit tripped over Pigeonkit's paws, falling face-first into the fresh-kill pile. Her head poked up from the scattered remains. Eyes closed, she cried out, "I'm sorry! What's my punishment, I'm really sorry, I apologize-"

Pigeonkit shook her paw, whispered, "Grab as much prey as you can, and run!" He shouted the last bit, pulling Cloverkit along with him.

"Hey, get back here!" Sprucejump yowled as the kits fled back to the safety of the nursery.

Meanwhile, at the edge of camp, behind the warriors' den, Furzekit and Troutkit crept silently, discussing a plan of distraction. Their heads were tilted together in thought as they brewed up some ideas.

"What if we break the den?" Furzekit suggested.

"U-u-um, I'm not-t sure t-that's a g-good idea," Troutkit quivered, ears pinning to her head.

Furzekit huffed, "Fine, then what do you suggest we do?"

"U-u-uh, w-we could... pretend to b-be hurt in t-the middle of c-camp?" Troutkit mumbled, shifting her paws.

"Good idea! Let's find some fake blood!"

"U-uh, I m-meant something l-l-like a t-thorn?" Troutkit's feeble attempt at an interjection fell on empty ears as Furzekit pulled her to the medicine den.

"Medicine cat! Help! I've got a thorn stuck in my paw!" The medicine cat, who was too irrelevant to have a name, came rushing out, clicking her tongue. "Where is it?"

"Uh, look at the sky?"

"What? I asked where the thorn was."

Both kits gulped and looked at each other nervously.

"Wait, there isn't a thorn is there?" The medicine cat's eyes narrowed at the kits.

At the other edge of the camp, towards the forest, Swiftkit and Pikekit were scrambling around, looking for a suitable tree.

Pikekit picked up a rotten branch, inspecting it closely. "Swiftkit, what do you think of this branch for the tree?"

"Ew, that's rotten, fox-brain!"

"Alright, then let's see what you've got, then!"

Swiftkit pulled out a long, thick branch, with ferns and moss coating its dark brown bark.

Pikekit's pupils dilated in awe and he chirped, "That's great!"

"Alrighty, let's bring it back to Applekit!"

As they were heading back to the camp, Pikekit sped up a little to try and beat the others. However, he tripped over the branch and fell face first into a bunch of nettles.

Wailing loudly, Pikekit grabbed his face with his paws, quickly attracting attention from the surrounding cats. Some tried to approach them and Swiftkit hurriedly helped Pikekit up.

"Run!" Swiftkit called out, speedily sprinting back to the nursery.

During all of this, Applekit had been pacing restlessly back and forth at the entrance of the nursery, waiting patiently for her denmates to return with the decorations. Her tail twitched as she waited longer and longer.

The first to arrive were Cloverkit and Pigeonkit, who had a few random pieces of "tree decorations" - also known as fresh-kill. Applekit stared in amazement and curiosity, hazel eyes widening.

"What happened to you?" She questioned, staring.

They didn't have time to explain, as Troutkit and Furzekit came tumbling back. The medicine cat's calls echoed in the distance.

Finally, Swiftkit and Pikekit came rushing back, with Swiftkit holding a branch by herself and Pikekit grabbing at his face.

Applekit looked at the options that they had and she blinked.

"So, we have a branch... And nothing else?"

"Uh, pretty much."

Applekit sunk to the ground, facepawing.

"I told you w-we should h-h-have gone with Franksgiving."

Written by Koi, who sincerely hopes this was funny enough :)

edited by Lamb, who really wants people to appreciate Franksgiving