"What?!"

The words exploded from my mouth before I had the chance to bite my tongue and control my voice.

"That's a stupid idea," Kai huffed, sticking his nose in the air like the little rat he was. He wrapped his fluffy white tail tightly over his big, clumsy lumps that he called paws.

"As much as I hate to agree with the big oaf here, he is right." Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kai shoot a glare at me to which I retaliated with a smug grin.

"Come on, guys, a hunting competition'll be fun!" Pa encouraged before sighing in exasperation as I rolled my eyes and Kai flattened his ears, as if he'd been threatened.

There was no way I was going to go on his stupid hunting competition with my stupid brother in the middle of this stupid forest.

•><•

I dragged my creamy white claws along the ground, leaving deep marks in the soft earth behind. We sat in the middle of the hollow log I've come to call home—arguing, because father had come up with the oh so flattering idea of organizing a hunting competition between me and my brother. We both didn't want to go, firstly because it was a waste of time and effort and secondly I had planned to ask pa to go berry picking with me today. And although you'd never hear me admit it, deep down I already knew who was gonna win.

Kai.

My heart fell into my gut as his name ran in taunting circles around my head, it's not my fault I was born a runt.

We were 2 seasons old now, and he was immensely bigger, stockier and fluffier than I was. The only advantage I had against him was my speed and nimbility. Plus, Kai's unfortunate pelt color that made him stand out like the moon against a night sky when he was hunting.

Oh, and not to blow my own trumpet or anything, but I was definitely the smart one. I proudly wrapped my tail around my paws at the though.
I mean, come on—he'd only just learned that there was more than one type of tree a little less than week ago, you gotta be an idiot not to know that by the time you're two weeks.

I gave my father a sour expression as he drew a map in the dirt to point out where we would hunt and what we were recommended to catch.

"Ok—Lloyd, you're down by Little River, and Kai, you'll be under the birch patch."

We scowled but nodded anyway. I didn't fancy hunting in the least, but I felt a spark of excitement in my gut as I imagined my father's proud gaze when I brought home prey. My claws sunk deeper into the earth, imagining it as prey.

"Just remember that it's only a friendly competition."

I whipped around to see my mother standing at the entrance of the den, her nose sticking up in the air like a stuck-up prat. "It doesn't matter who wins—" she glanced pointedly at Kai—"and who loses." Her icy lavender gaze settled on me and I fought the urge to claw her face off.

"Fine!" my brother piped, his voice obnoxiously optimistic. "Can we go now?"

My mother and Pa nodded, already padding outside, their pelts brushing and tails linked.

Scowling at my fathers oblivion, I turned to join them but felt a tug on my tail. I turned to see Kai sitting on it, of course I couldn't move, he was a big fat oaf.

"You're going down, little bro."

"You're, like, 3 minutes older than I am."

"Yea, and also 3 times better in every way,"

He winked at me and I snorted in amusement, rolling my eyes.

"Whatever. Just keep your paws off of my tail, you big lump of fluff."

He chuckled, a large grin plastered on his face. With no warning whatsoever, he bowled me off my paws and into a play tackle.

"You wanna fight?!" I challenged, mock snarling a whisker from his face,
"Yea, bring it on ya little egg!"

We tussled on the ground for a few seconds until he had me pinned and I was unable to move any of my limbs. He grinned, panting right in my face, so close that I could taste his sour mousebreath.

"Who's the superior brother?"
he taunted.

"Say that again?"

"Who's the—"

I cut Kai off by arching my back and launching upwards with all my strength, and tripped him onto his belly while he was unbalanced. I jumped directly on top of him so that it was nearly impossible for the fluffy tomcat to struggle. Sure, he was big and strong—but all cats are feeble when unbalanced.

"Certainly not you," I chuckled, stepping off and waiting patiently for him to scramble to his paws.

"Bog off, you little crepitu." He shoved me, smirking, as he started padding out of the den. I snorted and followed him out to where mother and Pa waited.

His sky blue eyes twinkled, "What kept you?"

I opened my mouth to make a comment about how I had beaten Kai in a fight for once, but Kai refused to allow anything of the sort to happen.

"We just had a tussle. That I won. Again."

I scoffed. "You liar. I won."

"No you didn't!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Liar!" I stuck my tongue out at him and stuck my nose in the air.

"Oh come on, little crepitu." Kai wrapped his forearm around my neck, holding me in a headlock. "I only let you win."

"Oh shut up, you big oaf! Let me go."I puffed, allowing annoyance seep into my tone. Managing to wriggle out of his strong grasp, I rearranged myself next to him, fur ruffled and coated with a layer of dust and dirt.

My father chuckled and turned away shaking his head slightly. Mother gave us the usual distasteful look and turned to follow Pa towards the forest.

"You're going down," Kai challenged from beside me. He raced off to meet up with our parents.

"Oh, we'll see about that." I muttered under my breath.

•><•

I placed one paw steadily in front of the other, trying to be mindful of where I stepped as to not tread on a dry twig and scare away the shrew I was stalking. The sound of Little River flowing close by was like a soothing lullaby to my ears, especially accompanied by the singing of birds and the steady hum of a dragonfly buzzing somewhere nearby.
I closed my eyes and breathed in the scents of the forest, relishing how lucky I was to live here.

Snap.

I froze, cursing myself for being too caught up in my surroundings to pay attention to where I was stepping; I'd trodden on a twig. I shifted my gaze to check if the shrew was still busy nibbling its chestnut or not—but of course, it wasn't. Shrews may be thick, but they're not completely stupid.

"Thexa!" I cursed, standing up and stretching. My muscles screamed in protest and ached from crouching too long. I began to wander along the side of Little River, the soft grass satisfyingly smooth between my toes.
Suddenly a strange scent hit my nose, causing me to stop in my tracks in alarm. It had a strong and tangy bitterness to it, a smell that would have been labeled as disgusting to most of the feline kind. And yet, for some reason, it intrigued me.

Deciding to give in to my curiosity, I trotted through the forest in the direction of the scent. I knew I was close when it became incredibly heavy in the air—I gagged on the sour smell, pausing to readjust.

Then I saw it. Tucked away, and only just barely visible through the long grass, was some sort of oddly-shaped den, it had been dug out of the dirt like a strange tunnel. Next to it lay a strange creature with a smooth grey, white, and russet coloured pelt. The creature had a fluffy tail, amber and brown eyes, and was too busy chasing around a leaf larger than itself to give me any notice.

I took a step forward in an attempt to go and greet the foreign creature, but instead felt a sudden sharp pain in the back of my head. I whipped around with a hiss and saw a small stone lying next to my tail.

Had someone thrown it at me?!

I growled, turning back around and lashing my long tail. I didn't have time for a squirrel's stupid games.

I strode forward to greet the creature again, but a sudden gust of wind buffeted my side and threw me a little off balance. With it came a strong fresh stench that washed across my senses like waves over a beach: shrew.

Making a split-second decision I dropped into a crouch. It didn't matter what the heck that small creature was—I wanted to impress Pa and my mother, and I wanted beat Kai. So I reluctantly followed the scent of the small woodland animal.

It lead me in the opposite direction of the strange creature. I stalked along, silently, picking up my pace until I was trotting along the forest floor. I ducked under a patch of brambles and stepped cautiously over a twig. The dappled afternoon sunlight sent warmth through my ruffled grey pelt.

The scent of the shrew was getting stronger, now that I had ventured out of the territory of that mysterious little grey creature. I noticed that Little River was again in sight—had I really travelled that far already? I paused in confusion. I could have sworn I'd followed that creature's scent for at least a little longer than it had taken me to find my way back. Shaking my head, I dismissed it as my imagination.

Following the shrew scent all the way to the pebbly bank of Little River, I opened my mouth, hoping to catch another whiff. But I couldn't smell anything.

It seemed as if it'd just...disappeared. It hadn't even trailed off to one side or gone into the river itself. I attempted to backtrack my steps, but couldn't seem to find which direction the scent had led me from.

"Are you kidding me?" I hissed, fresh frustration fizzing in my paws. "Scents don't just disappear like that, I mean come on, really?"

Realising that I was ranting to no one in particular, I shut my muzzle and I sunk to my stomach, burying my muzzle under my sore paws in defeat.

I knew this hunting competition was stupid idea.

Yes hello it's me

I wonder who that little creature could be, certainly not important at all.

Word count: 1795