[Shadowkit x Silverstreak] All alone

[Chisato Mikami]

Shadow yawned as she awoke from her slumber. She had lost her mother, or perhaps her mother had lost her. All she knew was she was alone, cold, and hungry. She stuck her head out of the den she had found the night before. Her little tummy hurt, but she didn’t know how to hunt for food. The ground outside was covered in fluffy white stuff that she had never seen before. She cautiously stepped out of the den and sniffed at the ground. She had followed the scent of cats, lots of cats, but now with the blanket of white stuff, she could no longer smell any cats.

“Now what am I supposed to do?” she asked herself as she sat and watched snowflakes fall from the sky. She lifted a paw and tried to catch it, but the wind blew the flake just out of her reach. She tilted her head to the side and chased after the snowflake, pouncing at each snowflake that fell.  

[Revel1984]

Silverstreak coughed again and her head felt fuzzy but by starclan she was going to provide for the clan ... she felt horrible that she could have been a reason the clan was sick, she'd mothered that poor kitten, it was sort of worth it though... however she was less happy about hiding how sick she actually felt, from her mate. She spent so much time outside the clan, hunting and scouting, that she didn't have time to let Honeyfur see her.

She wasn't thinking well as she carried the pitiful mouse back to the clan, so unthinking, so full of her sickness, that she fell over in the snow, face first, stumbling right into the path of a small kit who'd been playing with snowflakes, the mouse she'd been carrying rolling from her now limp jaws, to the kit's feet.  

[Chisato Mikami]

Shadow wasn’t exactly paying attention to her surroundings as she pounced on the falling snowflakes. It wasn’t until the other cat had collapsed in the snow that she noticed someone else was there. She darted for the small den she had found. A8fter a few moments in the den, she poked her head out to see of the other cat was still there. When she saw the lump in the snow, she almost retreated into the den. It wasn’t until she spotted the small dead mouse that she remembered how hungry she was. She cautiously approached the other cat, arching her back as she got closer. She was just a tiny kit, so she wasn’t that intimidating at all. She snatched the mouse, ran a few feet away, and ate the mouse while watching the other cat.

Shadow ate the mouse rather quickly. It wasn’t like the food her mother used to bring her, but it was good for now. Her tummy was now full and happy. Her eyes never left the other cat. She was still laying in the snow and now had a thin blanket over her.

“Excuse me,” Shadow said softly as she approached the bigger cat. She placed her paw on the cat’s stomach and tried to move her. She couldn’t move the other cat by much, but she could feel how warm she was. “Wake up.”  

[Revel1984]

Silverstreak felt weak and shaky so she stayed where she was, only moving a little when a blur of black stole the mouse, even then she couldn't help closing her eyes.. just for a moment she thought.

"excuse me" Silverstreak groaned and coughed "Wake up" But she felt so tired... but the voice had been so small... she felt the weight of the small form trying to get her to move and drew her legs underneath her, opening her eyes, standing, somewhat shakily... ooh she shouldn't have come out hunting today....

She blinked, once....twice ... "A KIT?!" she shook her head, then instantly regretted it... ooh that hurt.. "Kit... a kit... where's your mother?" she asked the small black form in front of her, ears swivelling as she tried listening through a pounding sound in her head, for other cats nearby.  

[Chisato Mikami]

Shadow shook her head. She didn’t know where her mother was or what happened to her. “I’m alone.” She could tell something wasn’t right with the she-cat in front of her, but she didn’t know how to help or if she could help at all. “I ate your mouse… don’t be mad at me.” The wind picked up and a chill ran through the kit. She lowered her body and wrapped her little tail around her, trying to keep warm as the wind blew.

The she-cat seemed nice. She wasn’t yelling at her or telling her to go away. Shadow hoped she found someone that would help her possibly find her mother. She had brothers too, but they fell asleep and never woke up. She wondered if that was what happened to her mother. Did she fall asleep somewhere and never woke up? Shadow didn’t know. “I’m cold….”  

[Revel1984]

Silverstreak blinked away the fog that was threatening her brain, "alone...." she murmured, her third eyelid obscuring the corners of her eyes as she looked at the kit "Mouse.. oh.. no i'm not mad sweetie" she said, trying hard not to cough.

She saw the shivering and moved to hold the kit close, to try warm the small body up with her own "We'll get you warm, and then get you somewhere safe" she said quietly, not really sure the Clan was entirely safe for a kitten right now. "Then we can find your mother" she curled around the kit "Do you have any littermates little one?" she asked gently  

[Chisato Mikami]

“My brothers went to sleep and didn’t wake up,” Shadow said softly. She snuggled closer to the she-cat. “Then they got really cold. I left to look for mommy, but I couldn’t find her.” She wondered why this she-cat was being so nice to her. She had come across other cats, but she hid from them. She didn’t like how they smelled, and they were fighting with other cats. She didn’t understand what was going on, so she stayed hidden until they went away.

“Mommy called me Shadow,” Shadow finally said.  

[Revel1984]

Silverstreak's heart broke when the kit spoke about her brothers going to sleep and not waking up "You were a very good kit by staying awake then" she said, licking the top of the baby's head, grooming was a good way to keep the blood moving and warm up so she started at her head. She wondered where on earth the kit's mother could be but for the other kits to get so cold they never woke up.... the mother had been gone a very long time, something must have happened to her.

She sighed sadly. "Shadow? that's a lovely name, where i live you would be called Shadowkit" she groomed the kitten more "would you like to come see where i live?" she asked, before bursting into a fit of coughing, turning her head away from the kitten until she'd stopped coughing and could breathe again.  

[Chisato Mikami]

“I was good?” The small kit smiled up at the she-cat. She hadn’t realized that going to sleep was a bad thing, but she had to sleep, right? Maybe waking up was the good thing she had done? She decided to keep that to herself. She didn’t want to be bad because she had fallen asleep.

“Shadow… kit?” She tilted her head a little. Her brothers weren’t given names. She thought that was because they didn’t look like her mother and her mother always called her “my little Shadow.” When asked if she wanted to see the she-cat’s home, she tilted her head some more. Would there be other cats there as well? Would there be kits to play with? She had been alone for a very long time and she hadn’t played with other kits since before her brothers went to sleep and didn’t wake up. “Will there be others to play with?”  

[Revel1984]

Silverstreak smiled back on the kit once her coughing fit was over, she felt too warm in her skin now though and her head felt tight. She really had to get back to camp.. and soon.... and stop hiding how sick she was. "Yes, very good, you could have fall asleep and not woken up too if you hadn't followed your mother" she agreed, resuming her grooming while warming the kitten up.

"There will be lots of other kittens to play with, even some mommies if you still needed a drink" she coughed again, just a little "I'm Silverstreak, i'm happy to take you to where i live, and maybe some of my clan mates can search for your mother, you'll be safe with us until we find her" she said, trying not to jabber on and overload the kit with too much information all at once, instead curling around her more "warm enough to travel yet?"  

[Chisato Mikami]

Sleep was good! Shadow was very happy that she wouldn’t be in trouble for going to sleep now. She was even more excited that there would be kittens to play with. Her brothers were fun, but they spent most of the day curled up and sleeping.

“Yes, I’m warm!” Shadow said with a small purr. She was excited to be around other cats that she hoped wasn’t going to attack her or be mean to her.  

[Revel1984]

Silverstreak wanted to check on something "do you think you could show me where your den was Shadow sweetie?" she asked, wanting to make sure there were no other living kits left behind in this cold.  

[Chisato Mikami]

“Uh….” Shadow looked toward the den she found the night before. She waddled towards it. She tried to remember how she found this den. It was late when she found it, not to mention she had traveled a long way away from where she left her brothers. “I think it’s that way.” She said, pointing in the direction she remembered coming from, but the exact whereabouts she wasn’t sure. “Our den was next to some water, Momma told me never to go near it cause it was cold and I could go to starclan… What is starclan?”  

[Revel1984]

Silverstreak didn't believe in lying, even to a kit "Starclan is where we go when we die, i just want to check on your brothers to make sure they didn't go to Starclan" *she licked the kit on the head and moved to walk towards where she mentioned she thought the den was, her legs were shaky but she thought she would be able to make it, she'd never forgive herself if she didn't check and another cat said babies would have lived if she'd reached them in time.

She put one foot in front of the other "come along, i'll see if i can find you another mouse on the way" she blinked away the fog the filled her head. She would make it... for the kit's sake... for the sake off her brothers who MIGHT be clinging to life.... but the kit has said they were cold... she didn't hold out much hope but she couldn't ... not check. "If anything looks familiar, let me know okay little Shadow?" she said, more keeping herself talking.  

[Chisato Mikami]

“Oh…” Shadow said as she followed Silverstreak. She couldn’t remember where exactly the den was, or how long she had traveled before finally stopping for the night. She thought a little about starclan. Was that where her brothers were at? She didn’t understand what death was, but if they went to starclan, then it shouldn’t be so bad.

“Silerstreak, I remember that thing,” Shadow said as she looked up into a tree. It had a weird stand on it that she had never seen before. Only there was a creature on it the night before. It scared her and she began to run. “Will the monster get us?”