Sorrelstar's [100 Oneshots] Number Two Up!

Rabbit let Lynx and Maribella go ahead while he inspected the strange sound and rustling. The pale brown tomcat looked at his hands- no paws. Why did he think feet? He didn’t have those. Rabbit glanced at the juicy rodent sitting on the delta ground. He quickly looked away; this wasn’t the time to eat. He took a reluctant step towards the bushes where the noise came from. It could be a gator. But his friends were far off, testing out his prey-catching invention in the distance.

The machine truly was amazing. You could sit on one end of the driftwood and another cat would hop on the other end, throwing you into the air and into the unsuspecting bird. It was genius, as Maribella had said, but it was all about the timing, which they clearly couldn’t get right by the looks of it.

Rabbit sighed at their lean silhouettes. He envied them. The striped tom looked over his muscular shoulders. He was different from the rest of the clowder. No one knew how he got his build but Rabbit could remember the faint out line of a bulky figure. His father, possibly. But he didn’t remember the smell of Kato’s salty delta. Rabbit shook off his worries and looked back at the bushes.

There was no noise now. “Maybe it went away,” he whispered to himself. Then a faint hissing sound slipped through the bush’s leaves. It wasn’t an alligator hiss. It was more… enchanting. It drew him towards the source. He sniffed the air about halfway there. It smelt like the fishing clowder.. But he kept walking until he saw a sparkle of green eyes. They had a tint of amber and seemed to sparkle. A sparkle of.. of..

Rabbit could put his finger on it… He was soon so close to the eyes, he could feel the breathing of the creature. He stared into the eyes again. The meaning of the sparkle was clear now. It was a sparkle of fear. And mischief. The creature had a plan. And he was apart of it. Suddenly, he was sprayed with spit. As he cleared his vision, he felt claws dig into his shoulders. The creature with the strange green eyes revealed itself.

A pretty dusty grey she cat, much older than him. But her face was separated into uneven halves by a scar. It looked like it was disappearing. Slowly. Slowly over the months. Her legs were striped, getting fainter as they got higher. When his vision cleared entirely, he glared at her. Suddenly he felt shaky.

Rabbit realized he made a huge mistake. The cat with the strange green eyes disappeared and his world became black. A few seconds later he opened them to see a young pale brown cat. Its face was striped pale yellow, as well as its tail. And it’s eyes were the same green as the grey cats. A smirk was spread across his- no her face. Why did it sudden seem like a she cat?

Rabbit went to step towards the mischievous-looking cat but his torso was inside a bush. He pulled back and landed in a circle of bushes. He sighed and looked down at his paws. Yes. He said it right this time. But he froze at the sight of his larger paws. They were grey. And right above them were bold, dark stripes. He leaped over the leafy plant and suddenly it hit him. That cat was evil and could… switch bodies. And now she was going near his friends. He saw them talking to the strange-eyed cat and
Lynx lashed out at the cat. She must have said something to give herself away. His friend pierced the she cat. But she didn’t wince in pain, Rabbit did. He yowled in agony and fell to the ground. He saw the cat leave his friends and run off.

He blacked out then. And after a time he didn’t even know, he woke up with Maribella and Lynx by his side. They fussed over the wounds on his shoulders and back. Rabbit blocked out their worried cries and decided on one thing. He didn’t want to meet the cat with strange eyes again.

The brown tabby kitten let out a surprised squeak. He bared his teeth, hissing softly. “I’ll get you for that!” he snarled. The kitten launched himself at a smaller grey tabby cat. The small kitten sidestepped the larger kit easily. The brown tabby landed face first in the dirt.

His face stung, but he didn’t dare admit it. No. He would not be weak. He would beat his brother. The brown kitten attacked his opponent again, this time successfully raking his claws across the grey kitten’s cheek.

“Redkit!” Redkit jumped back to see his brother wailing softly. His blue kitten eyes shone. He won! He helped his brother up and purred.

“See! I told you I would win, Jaykit!” he exclaimed. Redkit was overwhelmed with pride. Jaykit narrowed his pale eyes.

“You cheated! I said no claws!” he squeaked, his injured cheek tilting downward. Redkit rolled his eyes and swiped at his younger brother’s ears.

“Mother didn’t say we couldn’t. And you’re not Rainheart, Jaykit,” Redkit sneered. Just then, the blue-grey queen swept past her two sons at an amazing speed. Redkit stared after her in awe; Rainheart was amazing. But he didn’t notice the fear scent hanging around her, around the whole camp. The two brothers didn’t even hear the cries of agony and whimpers of sorrow surrounding them as they played a few minutes ago.

Now everything was noticeable, for the noises and scents had gotten louder. Redkit and Jaykit huddled together, very frightened. They scanned the crowd for mother and spotted her in the middle of it. Redkit lead his brother towards her.

A strong wave of sorrow scent hit Redkit as he approached his mother. He slunk to her side and looked up at her face. Her eyes were puffy and her ears were laid against her head. Rainheart was looking at something in front of her.

Redkit followed his mother’s gaze to see a duplicate of himself. No. It was a different cat, much bigger than him. Redkit flinched as the tomcat’s amber gaze fell upon him.

“Son..” the cat meowed weakly. “You are Jaykit or Redkit..?” He scanned Redkit’s dark coat and looked past him, where Jaykit was standing. “Yes, you are Redkit,” he concluded. The cat coughed, spewing blood everywhere. He looked down and realized he was standing in a pool of blood. Redkit wanted to run off; he was feeling very sick. But he felt he needed to comfort this brown stranger.

Yeah, I’m Redkit..” he meowed softly. “Who are you..?”

The cat smiled. “I’m Blazefoot, your father,” he answered, letting out another bloody cough. “You two are so.. Wonderful..” Blazefoot’s eyes began to close. “I’m sorry I couldn’t meet you before, boys..” Jaykit padded next to Redkit and they both nuzzled their father.

Rainheart stood wide-eyed as Blazefoot slowly stopped breathing. Redkit tried to drown out his mothers sorrowed cries and turned to Jaykit. “He was our father.” He meowed softly. “And we met and part so quickly. I wish I could have known him better..”