A Lonely Shade Looks For Shelter

'Kenobi...where are you?' Shade thought with a gaining tinge of hopelessness as he padded on the thunderpath, barely noticing the rancid stench wafting through his nostrils. His tail dragged on the tar ground with exhaustion. His paws stung from tiny rocks and grit that clung to his pads' crevices. His back ached from traveling non-stop, protesting from the many nights sleeping on the cold, hard ground. His green-tinted yellow eyes were forced wide open, red tints on the edges of his vision from the little sleep he's had all moon.

Shade couldn't stop looking. Every day, he woke up and searched as far as his paws would carry him to find his lost partner. With every step, Shade carried a stubborn hope that the ginger kittypet would be just over the horizon.

Kenobi was the first cat in his life that had cracked open his cold shell. Snorting at his false apathy, Kenobi taught him that it was okay to feel. He took one look at Shade's bloody past, decided to stick around Shade anyways, and showed him how to live. But then, Kenobi was gone. Shade left to attend the Kittypet Corner by himself, and came back to find their makeshift home absent of one certain ginger kittypet.

With a crackling boom, the sky forced Shade out of his thoughts. He needed shelter before the storm started showing signs of lightning. Spotting a barn, Shade tasted the air for any signs of twolegs there. There were none but a faint tang of dog and rat. Muscles tensed with caution, Shade decided to take the chance and crossed the thunderpath to the barn. Finding a crack, the black and white rogue slipped inside the abandoned barn and slumped against the wall. Caught up in his exhaustion and success in escaping the storm, Shade didn't notice the smells of the barn yet- including cats.

Pepper groomed Bat's fur as he stretched out on his side, tufted ears swiveling whenever the barn would groan under the strain of the storm. She had shifted onto her haunches with much effort. It was difficult to do much of what she did in her youth when the stars had disappeared and the clans became the terror in the alleyways. She looked at the sores that made a line on her hind legs. She was grateful she couldn't feel them... She heard the sound of someone in the barn, locking into her routine. She dragged herself toward the noise, green eyes reflecting the lightning outside. "Hello?" She meowed softly.

Bat opened an eye and followed his mate's movements, he was relaxing after a difficult hunt in the storm. He had a disgruntled expression, if she hadn't stopped he'd be sleeping like a fat kit by now. That kind of sleep only happened in fantasy!

Shade breathed in deeply, lack of sleep catching up to him in a wave of dead tiredness. He listened to the storm rage outside, thundering against the old barn walls. It was the first time in a while that Shade sat down just to relax that moon. However, before that feeling could last long, Shade heard the sudden rustle of hay. It alerted him that he wasn't alone in the barn, but the question was with what?

Sniffing, Shade smelled the familiar scent of cats. His fur bristled, adrenaline kicking through his body. If Shade wasn't so tired, he would have reprimanded himself for not checking the barn itself for any signs of life. The air was filled with the sweet smell of plump mice, making this easily a place that could hold a good number of cats. Preparing for whatever he may face, Shade forced himself onto his paws and faced the rustling hay where a cat or two lay.

When a voice softly came from the haypile, Shade's hackles relaxed a bit. It looked like whoever lives here was willing to talk. "Hello...I mean no harm," Shade replied with his usual, odd deadpan voice tinged with caution, "I am seeking shelter from the storm."