Not It

Chapter 9

The night sky was a black blanket over the sky, making the world dark and swarm with shadows. Specklings of light - the stars - were dotted around, and a quarter moon rose up into the sky, hanging delicately.

Silence settled over ParsleyClan's camp. Not a single cat made a sound. All of the kits were sleeping, tails curled around themselves and muzzles laid gently on their paws.

Except for Pigeonkit.

The kit hissed, "I'm bored!"

"Who cares? Go find someone else to play with. I'm busy," Swiftkit grumbled.

He challenged, "With what?"

"Just leave her alone," grumbled Pikekit.

"Yeah," Applekit chimed in.

"We're having a sleep fest!" cheered Cloverkit.

"Yeah..!" mumbled Furzekit.

Pigeonkit's head tipped a little bit as he stared at them, "What do you want me to do?"

"I don't know! Go find Rushnose or something!" Swiftkit narrowed her eyes before turning away.

"Or Squirrelsight. She's nice," added Pikekit.

"Brindleswipe, too," Applekit mewed, "I think that he might take you out of camp."

Pigeonkit's features deepened into a frown, but he muttered, "You're missing out..." and then he turned, quickly trotting out of the den.

His dark gray tabby fur camouflaged perfectly with the shadows as he slipped quietly toward the warrior's den. Light brown eyes flashing, he tried to make out a brindle pelt between the others.

Eventually, he spotted the tom's patterned fur, and Pigeonkit crept forward, lightly nudging the tom's pelt.

"Brindleswipe," Pigeonkit hissed.

The tom, sleeping so peacefully just a moment before, jumped up, fur immediately brushing up.

"Intruder!" shouted the warrior as loud as he could, and the rest of the den also leaped to their paws, unsheathing their claws and whipping their heads around, attempting to locate the intruder.

"N-no, guys, it's me-" the kit started.

"Intruder!" yelled an amber-pelted she-cat... that was Amberpelt.

"Intruder!" Sorrelbush added with a yelp.

Ravenbreeze, Pigeonkit's father, hissed loudly and charged at his kit. Pigeonkit squeaked, stumbling backward, but the kit fell.

The black-pelted warrior quickly swiped up Pigeonkit and raced straight out of the warrior's den, causing shouts and yells to echo behind them. Ravenbreeze sprinted to the nursery, dropping Pigeonkit.

"Why did you let him go?" snapped the warrior, staring at Brightdust.

"Wh-what?" she mumbled.

"You literally just let him run into the warrior's den. In the middle of the night."

"I didn't-!"

Ravenbreeze's eyes glowed brightly as he narrowed them at her. Pigeonkit shuffled closer to his siblings and the rest of the kits in the nursery.

Brightdust protested, "He must've snuck out!"

Ravenbreeze's gaze cleared, "Oh. Sorry. I guess I misunderstood."

"Ohh," muttered everyone outside.

"Okay, I'm tired now," muttered Ravenbreeze, turning around and trotting out of the den.

Brightdust glanced at Pigeonkit, eyes narrowing sternly, "Never do that again. Got it?"

Pigeonkit nodded mutely, shifting closer to Cloverkit and Furzekit. He didn't want to be awake anymore.

And so when everyone else had fallen asleep, Pigeonkit promptly did too.

But unfortunately, Swiftkit couldn't sleep now. The excitement and anticipation for nothing in particular that rushed through her was like a river, churning and fluttering and spritzing it all through her till she felt the need to run around.

So, the she-kit quietly rose to her paws, edging out of the den and looking around.

The night sky was still blanketed across the ebony expanse, and still, it had specklings of light dotted across it. Swiftkit's ragged white pelt was contrasting greatly from the darkness and shadows around though it didn't stop her.

The she-kit decided it would be good to just run around, and so she did.

She dashed around the camp, paws swift and soundless and she raced on and on. No cats noticed, despite the she-kit's huffs as she continued to run.

Then, she skidded to a stop.

A light gray tom with darker dapples all over his pelt was slowly slipping towards the camp's entrance, tail waving slightly as he entered.

"Shatterstar!" cheered Swiftkit, running over to him.

The leader seemed not to notice, elusively slinking to the warrior's den.

He shouted sternly and loudly at them, voice sharp and impatient. Swiftkit slowly trotted back to the nursery.

The process continued.

This time, Pikekit got bored. He decided to go swimming. He left the camp, slinking out and heading to where he knew a river was. He swam in it before he started to realize he was drifting farther and farther from the camp.

Not that he really cared... but he knew that he would have time to swim later, so he pulled himself out, shook out his pelt, and then glanced around.

A cat trotted by, seemingly not noticing the waterlogged kit, so Pikekit ran all the way back, skittering into the nursery soundlessly and then settling quickly beside the others.

After him emerged Cloverkit, who just wandered around in the camp for a bit, perhaps looking for flowers. She was unable to locate any in the camp itself, so then she carefully edged into the medicine cat's den. She sniffed the air and practically fainted from the smell, and then she got bored, so the she-kit just went back.

Applekit was after Cloverkit. She decided it would be good to explore the territory a little bit, so she snuck out and inhaled all the scents, trotting around for a little. She wasn't really able to find anything that cool.

She just wandered back to camp eventually, settling in beside Furzekit, who then stood up.

The rather dim kit headed out of the den, only to turn back around, rather confused, and then stumble back to the nest, settling back in. He soon fell asleep, and rather quickly.

Troutkit was the last to make an adventure out of the den in the middle of the night.

Well, it wasn't that late anymore.

The shy she-kit edged out of the den, looking almost nervously at the sky. It was beginning to lighten, so the kit quietly headed to the medicine cat's den. She caught Cloverkit's scent and was confused for a moment before shrugging it off.

Who cares if kits meddle in the medicine cat's business?

Certainly not the queens, since Troutkit accidentally messed up all of the herbs. After doing this, the she-kit hurriedly dashed out of the den and curled up swiftly near whichever cat was closest, which was conveniently Coppcloud.

And somehow, this all happened in one night and nobody noticed, since now the sun was rising.

- Lamb