New Beginnings (Ahanu x Matisse plot part 1)

Ahanu thought about what Matisse had said. It was true he hadn't gotten much prey before the storm hit and the ground hog hole did have a fresh smell to it. He nodded his head and mewed quietly, "There might not be any prey nearby any longer, but it's worth a shot." And nudged the dead ground hog out of his way and slipped down the tunnel. He could feel all the roots rubbing against his bare skin.

Matisse hesitated before following Ahanu into the system of tunnels. She thought about the string of events that happened that day, from walking alone in an empty field, to meeting Ahanu, to the snow starting to fall, to this. The female wondered if something could come out of this, a friendship, maybe?
The scent of prey filled the tunneled rodent holes, and Matisse whispered to the tom "Hey, I think I smell something.."

Ahanu grunted in response, he had already smelt the ground hogs ahead. He nose was accustomed to picking up their scent and he had traveled their tunnels many times before. He padded onwards till the tunnel came to a split. He could easily tell the ground hogs were in the left tunnel. Hoping the tunnels connected he ordered Matisse to go right and in turn took the left tunnel, hoping she'd listen.

At first, Matisse was confused by the orders the tom gave her, then remembered that he knows the tunnels better than her trusted his word. She guessed that the right tunnel would connect to the left and the two felines would meet at the center, and that's exactly what happened. A family of hibernating groundhogs were trapped between them.

Seeing that his planned worked, with luck, he examine the animals they had found. Their was a mother and elder young and two other large adult ground hogs. He knew the mother and her kits would need to be left so they had food next spring. He nodded towards the two large males and began to slink towards them.

Jackpot! Matisse thought as she looked at the family. There was much more groundhogs than she expected in the nest, at least five or six of them. Without thinking, she pounced on one of the males rather ungracefully, got him under her paws, and successfully killed it. As the cat looked up, she saw that the rest of the family had heard the ruckus and scurried away. She cursed at her self for not being more careful. I should have just let Ahanu take care of it.

Ahanu was taken by surprise when Matisse pounced one of the male groundhogs. He forgot she wasn't used to hunting underground, or probably these type of animals at all. The hog squealed a warning cry to the others and the mother woke with a start, herding her babies away quickly. He tried to quickly reach the other male but it scurried between Matisse's legs and down the tunnel on the other side of her. He sighed annoyed, but at least she had managed a kill. Though their entire hunt was ruined. The scared animals would warn the rest of the ground hogs in the entire tunnel complex. Wordlessly he turned and swiftly made his way towards the exit of the cave.

Matisse looked at the hairless Tom, and she couldn't tell if he was angry or annoyed with her. Probably both. She picked up the the kill in her mouth and walked with Ahanu out of that part of the nest. The female wasn't used to apologizing, but she tried her best and finally said it. "I'm.... sorry. Sorry for ruining the hunt."

Ahanu wasn't going to acknowledge her, but he realized it wasn't her hunt to begin with. She offered to help hunt for a clan she didn't know. And he failed to teach her how to, "Eh..no it's my fault for not giving you proper explanations."

"Yeah, I guess it is." She walked past the tom to the entrance of the nest hole they climbed in from to look outside. Her eyes hurt from adjusting to the light, but once they focused again she saw that it was still snowing. She sighed and squeezed back to the groundhog hole. "At least we have two now.."

Ahanu could tell by the cold draft that it was still snowing, his sensitive skin was adapted to these things. And Matisse's actions confirmed it. He looked at their catch only to have his stomach growl. But he would not have any of the food. "Yeah," he sighed heavily "it's getting late. We'll have to sleep out the storm. Save the prey for tomorrow."

Matisse sighed again at Ahanu's news. I'm not that hungry anyway. the cat thought to herself. She layed down on the ground of the tunnel, with roots clawing at her stomach. Ignoring the irritation of the roots, she eventually fell asleep.

Ahanu waited for Matisse to lay down before curling up into a ball not too far away from her. Unlike earlier they weren't touching making it easier for Ahanu to fall into a deep sleep. Soon dreams on hunting on bright summer days filled his mind while his body shivered against the cold.

Matisse woke up with her head resting on something soft. She she started to remember where she was and why, she realized that she way laying against Ahanu's sleeping body. The female jumped up, and her face started to feel hot with embarrassment. I must have cuddled up to him while I was sleeping Matisse thought. She walked over to the entrance of the nest and saw that the snow was still falling, but very lightly. It might clear up by this afternoon.

Ahanu shivered in his sleep at the sudden lack of warmth from his side. As this thoughts started to come around he wondered who on earth would steal away from him his object of warmth. Blinking sleepy eyes open his foggy mind began to realize where he was. He had gotten caught in a storm again. He was tucked into a ground hog hole..with someone? Memories flowed back to him about his encounter with a strange female who had to take cover from the storm with him. Her name was Matisse. He lifted his head, blinking sleep from his eyes and looked over the female. She had fur, unlike him, and wondered why she had chose to come into the den with him. He looked outside, the snow was lighter now. He was upset that it was still falling, it's been a long time since it started. "Good mornin' to you."

Matisse jumped as the morning silence was interrupted by Ahanu's voice. She still wondered if Ahanu knew that she accidentally got to close to him in her sleep. I'm overreacting. she thought to herself. "Back at 'cha." she replied. The female remembered that the tom wasn't that smart and probably didn't even know what she meant, but she didn't care.

Ahanu wasn't awake enough to even try to comprehend was Matisse just said. Whoever heard of the word 'cha before. But he just assumed her strange way of talking meant morning. After stretching out his still curled body he came to stand next to Matisse. "Looks like the weather will be cleared up soon."

"Yeah, I hope so." the she-cat replied. Hew stomach started to growl with hunger. She remembered the two groundhogs they caught earlier, and her failed hunting attempt. Matisse sat down, disappointed as she remembered that they were for Ahanu's clan. "Maybe you wanna check out another groundhog hole for some more food, since the snow's falling much lighter now." she suggested.

A shiver coursed through the toms body when he thought about going out. The smell of their previously caught prey was now practically nonexistant. He nodded quietly and moved to pick up the ground hog he had caught before their meeting. It felt stiff in his mouth and cold. He resisted the urge to let it fall to the ground but instead raced out the door and onto the moorland above. He quickly searched for a new hole to hide into. It didn't take long before his hairless tail was disappearing into the nearest groundhog hole.

As the tom rushed out of the rodent nest, Matisse picked up the other groundhog and followed him outside. Ahanu had disappeared so quickly she barely saw which hole he ran into next. As the she-cat crawled into the nest, she realized that this one was much more larger than the last one. She caught the scent of prey almost immediately, but stopped herself from getting to ahead of herself. Remembering last time, she promised herself she would be much more careful hunting.

Ahanu had already had dropped the groundhog onto the cave den. When Matisse entered he left no time to waste. His paws were itching for a hunt, "Ok then go. Listen to what I say. Don't hunt females with or expecting kits. And don't hunt kits. We need them for next year." Without any more hesitant he took off down the tunnel following the freshest scent.

Matisse nodded to Ahanu. She watched him go down into one tunnel, and she decided to go into a different one. She found a mother and some kits, but sadly nothing else. She remembered Ahanu's advice and went back to go follow him.

Ahuna noticed Matisse hadn't followed him right away. He ignored the thought and continued down the tunnel taking lefts and rights till he came to a place where the scent was strongest. No light shown in here so he had to go off of smell and touch to find his way around. He concluded there was about 3 ground hogs hibernating here. None of them had a female scent(his trained nose knew the difference). He flicked his tail hoping to stroke against Matisse, she probably wouldn't know what it meant but three strokes to signify three ground hogs. Without waiting he stalked forwards seeking out one and claimed it's life with a quick bite to the neck. It made no noise but he felt as if the movement woke the other ground hogs.

Matisse waited until Ahanu killed the first groundhog to make her move on the next. She was determined to catch at least one prey, to keep her dignity. The she-cat was about to pounce on one, then she realized that Ahanu had woken up the other males. Quickly she killed one before he could get away.

Ahanu scented blood somewhere to his right and knew Matisse had mad a kill. He searched the air for the last groundhog and stalked quickly towards it. He just barely caught the little animals tail which instantly turned to bite his paw. With a yowl he darted forward and killed it with a swift bite to the neck.

» The punishment (Ahanu x Matisse plot part 2)
» Ahanu, Matisse, and the Order of the Legacy plot idea (roles needed)
» Stuck in camp (Ahuna x Matisse part 3)
» Ahanu Biography
» Matisse Biography