Follow The Sun - A Warrior's Based Story

✥ | Chapter 3: ...Things Can Go Wrong | ✥

"I...am expecting kits," Risko confesses. Zuka has to repeat the words in their head multiple times, unable to understand what their sister has just said.

"Expecting kits. You're...expecting kits...You've broken the rules," they think, the simple thought bizarre to them. Breaking the rules has never occurred to the rocky outside of small, rare moments, where they don't actually mean it. To believe the she-cat standing in front of them has managed to mess up in such an avoidable way is difficult.

"Kazuaya's, right?" Zuka asks, not wanting an answer. "Well, what are you gonna do now?"

"He already knows, so we're planning on leaving tonight. Right after this conversation, we'll run to the Grasswalker's Passage and leave. There's no need to wait," Risko explains, like it's just that easy. Like she isn't shattering the foundation of all of her sibling's hard work

Their mouth is dry. "Shouldn't you...be involving Kazuaya in this conversation?"

"Right here," the tom declares, bursting out of the bushes and shocking his unaware guest. "Sorry if I scared you," he apologizes sheepishly.

"Why was that necessary?!" Zuka hisses. "Why not just greet me like a normal cat?"

"That isn't the point, Zuka. I'm trying to explain that you need to come with me. If you don't, there's only a small chance we'll ever see each other again." Risko doesn't seem all that concerned, though.

"I'm not going to run away with you! I haven't been working hard this whole time to suddenly throw it all away." Anger rolls through the rocky. Who does she think she is? Where was she when they were all alone? For moons and moons, she ignores them, and then has the audacity to demand that they follow them mindlessly!

"You're choosing some lizard-brained tradition over you sister and her kits?" Kazuaya interjects.

"Stay out of this!" Zuka snarls, whipping their head back to Risko. "I wish the best to you and your kits, and I won't tell on you. Just understand my position here. I wasn't the one who broke a rule!"

"I have no idea why you're acting like this," the expecting she-cat says, "It's not like you have any friends here other then me. Unless you count Avive, although he's told me multiple times that he'd easily exchange you for somebody else."

"Who are you? You're not my sister. You may ignore me and choose others over me, but you wouldn't say those kinds of things. You can't say that. You just can't!"

But she did. Hurt washes over Zuka like a wave for a couple of moments, yet the emotion fades quickly. It's replaced by anger, a deadly kind. The kind that seeps into your veins and turns your blood cold, until the only thing you can think about is how much you hate the cat that made you feel this way. You want to scream, yell, lash out, anything to make you feel heard.

"Say that again," Zuka hisses lowly. "I dare you."

Both Risko and Kazuaya seem taken aback, yet not worried. In their eyes, the cat that they're insulting has no backbone. They can push and push and push and it won't get them in trouble.

"Say what again? The truth?" The words tumble out of Risko's mouth, hinted ever so slightly with desperation. There was a time when she could reason without insults, when the words came out honestly. Now she is no more then a bully, doing exactly what a bully does; flounder when their victim doesn't bow their head in obedience.

You may think that I'm going to pump Zuka up now, that this conflict is going to be solved with venom-laced words and the perfect comeback. Risko and Kazuaya will scurry away like scared mice, thoroughly humbled. Zuka will grow as a character and proceed to complete their Sky Test, have a couple kits, and be off on a new adventure. This moment will only be a small note in their life, easily buried by future memories.