New Friends

Troutkit blinked open eyes, and yawned. He rolled over on his back and looked up at his sleeping mother. After laying in peace for a few moments, he stood up and stretched his small body. Trout looked around the nursery, really paying attention to the other kits for the first time. He glanced back at his mother who had not yet noticed he was awake. Deciding it was time to explore and entertain himself, scanned the den for another kit to talk to.

Rainkit woke up and saw Troutkit. "Hello!"

This kit seemed a little too excited for Troutkit, but he wanted to play with someone. "Hi, Rainkit. I'm Trout." He wasn't sure if this other kit had paid much attention to the other cats yet, or if he knew his name. Although Troutkit hadn't yet been interested in the attention of the other cats in the den, he had paid enough care to know most of their names. This lack of social interest dawned on him as he realized he wasn't sure what else to say to the other cat.

"Hey Trout, want to be friends?" Rainkit asked.

As Leafkit opens her eyes she hears people chatting outside the den.

Oh, well that was simple enough, Troutkit supposed. "Uh, yeah, sure. Let's be friends." He stepped farther away from his mother and padded over to Rainkit. "So, what do you like to do for fun?", he asked still feeling awkward.

"Follow me," Rainkit said, running towards the camp.

Tawnykit stirred at the sound of voices, immediate hate going towards those who interrupted her slumber. Grumbling, the gray dappled she-cat forced her heavy eyelids open, her vision swimming as it attempted to adapt. Drowsy, she forced herself into a sitting position, blinking her green eyes to keep herself from falling back asleep right then and there. She turned to see if her brother, Torrentkit, was awake and just itching to go out and frolic, only to realize he wasn't there.

Panicked, she whipped her head around, eyes scanning for a silver tabby about her size. Where could he have gone? He knew she hated it when he wandered too far. Growling, Tawnykit jumped to her paws, no longer in a daze, and began stalking towards the other kit who happened to catch her in a foul mood.

"Have you seen my brother, Torrentkit?" She frowned, her gray tail lashing behind her in agitation. There was no time to waste. If these kits hadn't seen Torrentkit, she would have to start looking for him herself. Who knew where he could be? That tom was quite unpredictable. 

Trout noticed Leafkit stirring a moment before Rainkit took off. Well, he didn't want to lose his new friend, and he didn't really need to have two kits to play with. He guessed that meant Leafkit could make up her own mind about whether she followed or not, but it wasn't his problem.

"O-ooo kay, uh wait for me," he meowed after Rain, and then quickly sprang to follow him. Just as they had taken a few strides out of the den, another kit had chased them out and began interrogating them. Troutkit turned, his mood changing very quickly at the way Tawnykit had approached them. Quite coolly, he replied. "Does it look like I know where your brother is? I'm not him, Rainkit isn't him. Clearly he's not here," he finished his sharp statement, just barely keeping himself from baring his teeth.

Rainkit looked at Troutkit. "Hey we should give each other nicknames. I'll be Rain and you'll be Trout."

Tawnykit was actually a bit taken back by what he had said. She gritted her teeh and twitched her ears, narrowing her eyes at the tom. Instead of responding rudely, she forced a smile, "Gee, thanks for the help. I'm definitely one step closer to finding him now." With that being said, she roughly pushed past him, not even bothering to lool back.

That probably wasn't nice to him, but it was nice enough to her. At least they didn't end up drawing blood. Flicking her ears, she took another glance around, searching for her brother, or a cat who knew of his whereabouts. She glared in Rainkit's direction, but paid her no mind since she seemed to be interacting with her new adversary.

He watched Tawneykit as she stalked off. How ridiculous, Troutkit thought, as if it's my problem to watch other kits, or as if I'm supposed to care. He didn't understand why she cared so much. It's not like one missing kit was the end of the world, even if it was your sibling. There were other kits still around, and besides he was probably just in camp somewhere doing his own thing.

Troutkit turned back to Rainkit, a little put off by the interruption of the other kit. "Um yeah, sure, sounds good. Why is it such a big deal that Torrentkit is out on his own, what does his sister care?"

Rainkit shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she's worried?" Rainkit said.

"Why should she worry? I'm sure he's here somewhere. Whatever, it's not our fault." Troutkit just didn't understand other cats who felt the need to be in each others business. As long as you took care of yourself, that's what really mattered.

Trout turned back to his new friend. "Well, maybe we can make a game of finding this Torrentkit for ourselves?"

"I was thinking something else." Rainkit said. He then pounced onto Troutkit.