Snowshoe

Apart of the Snowy Lilacs series.

I can finally see that you're right there beside me.

I am not my own, for I have been made new.

Please don't let me go, I desperately need you.


 * Meteor Shower by Owl City

Prologue
The housefolk was prowling over my head, I swatted it agitated. Though no good would come from it, for my claws were removed long ago...When I was a kitten myself.

I lapped at my fur, it looks like a siamese but I have a dark tan fur which a mixture of brown and white in it. I understand the speak of housefolk, for I have known it by heart when I turned into my adult age of cat. Which soon I had gotten pregnant with another cat of my breed, that tom was taken away though. Other housefolk took him away, but their kin of my housefolk, so whenever they go over and visit I go into my carrier and we see him.

But now is not the time to tell stories, I am a Snowshoe cat, a somewhat new breed of cat. Of course it is real, I am one for cat's sake.

My housefolk strokes my white chest as I sprawl out into a stretch, my pretty blue eyes are a signature of a Snowshoe, since we are cousins to the siamese. The housefolk is sweet and whispers in my ear; 'Don't worry darling, it's fine my pretty Petunia. The vet said there will be only one kitten thankfully. I'm glad it's not six or seven!'. This calm crooning makes me happy, even though kittens is the most painful thing I have ever faced.

My stomach burns and I my eyes are bloodshot, I breath in and out like a vaccum and I finally hope that what the 'vet' said was true. But if I had seven or six I would collapse on my own kittens.

My beating heart has gone to it's original state, a scruffy, wet newborn lays near my soft, warm belly. I lick it, trying to dry. It is deaf and blind, no good condition to venture into the prarie where the horses and cattle roam. But soon this female will track down and hunt mice, eat dry food and enjoy the sun basking on the soft prarie grass.

The housefolk grins at me and speaks in a soft voice as my female housefolk goes over and hugs him. 'We can keep her for sure.' They smile happily.

The male puts on someone to cover the sun from his eyes and goes to tend the garden while the female strokes my back. I purr comforted, 'Sweet Petunia...' She says in a very light voice. 'How 'bout we name that kitten Lilac? Another flower to blossom in this family?' She tilts her head, light brown hair sweeping over eyes in thin strands.

My eyes close halfway and I let out another purr...Lilac, what better name for a Snowshoe cat?

Chapter One
Bright blue eyes, a warming sun and some portable radio blaring out the latest songs.

"Lilac!" Mother calls from the door letting out a deep sigh.

Lilac, my name is that of course. My mother is Petunia, and I'm like a new teen for cats. I was born with the same talent of speaking housefolk's language. I have a light tan pelt with dark brown points and a blotch of brown on my muzzle, also I have a white chest and paws. Which unlike my mother, my pelt isn't very dark. I guess I take after my father, which I have NEVER met. Great kitten paws...I mean for real, I should be able to go into one of carriers once in a while. But apparently, I'm not 'old' enough.

"Yeah?" Lilac lifted up her head blinking the tiredness away from the beating sun.

Mother pads over to me, licking a small piece of fur on my head that apparently just stuck out at the moment. "Oh dear Lilac...Why won't you go catch some mice like Yarrow?"

"Hey why are we all named after plants?" Lilac chuckled, avoiding purposely on the subject as she glared at the watering trough eagerly as some horse hogged up the water.

Petunia shook her head sighing once more, it was a thing with her. "Lilac, it doesn't matter without names. Just go catch a mouse for once, they destroy crops and you don't think your cousin Yarrow ever stops catching?" She flicked her tail to the hay bales a bit farther in the prairie.

"No. He's a fre-"

"Don't you dare call him a freak!" Petunia scolded her daughter.

Lilac glanced at the Siamese tom pawing at a hay bale with eager eyes. "But you just did."

"I told you not to, it doesn't count." Petunia glanced back at the house as a bell rung and the music died down. "Besides, it's time for lunch. Let's go, after this put your long legs into use," Lilac glanced uneasily at her very long legs. "You run even faster than Yarrow, mice catching is easiest for the fastest."

Lilac sighed and pounced into the house taking a helping of delicious fish shaped meddlies.

"Ow..." Lilac grunted as her mother tugged at a knot in her fur. "Ow..Ow...OW! Stop it will you?"

Petunia released her toothy grip at the knot. "Well, if you didn't run into a hay bale when Yarrow was chasing that mouse then maybe you two wouldn't collide. Then you wouldn't have such a huge knot."

"Gah..." Lilac shook away from the she-cat. "Why do you have to repeat everything that happens?"

Petunia gave her another harsh glance and her voice was cold. "You are alike most cats-"

"Yeah mother, I know I know-..."

"No, you don't. Listen to me, your fur is pale and sleeker. Your legs are long and thin and perfect for running, unlike most Snowshoe's you have more Siamese." Petunia looked away with a somewhat sad expression.

"Isn't that good?"

"The housefolk want pure breds."

Lilac got to her paws outraged. "I am I pure bred!" She hissed with anger flaring in her vibrant blue eyes.

Petunia swallowed roughly and choked out more words as if it wasn't already enough, "Lilac, dear..." She began as Lilac stopped spitting out insults. "The housefolk are starting to notice flaws in your breed, I know you are a pedigree purebred...But your body isn't cutting it, if you want to stay...You better start hunting mice."

Lilac stayed silent for a few moments, she opened her mouth but nothing came back as her lip started to tremble.

"Is that what happened to father...?"

Petunia winced then nodded slowly. "Yes, your father had breed flaws. I was hoping it wouldn't be passed down to you but...Sadly they were."

Lilac's tail lashed and her now narrowed eyes were like slits of the moon when it was a crescent. "But I bet father never had true flaws." She admitted a lie just to make herself feel better.

"Your father was too proud and hotheaded to catch mice, and not being up to breed standards," Petunia cut into Lilac's moping. "He couldn't go into cat shows. Which, me of course, went into many. But I retired the star life when I became pregnant with you."

Lilac blinked again somewhat confused on what her mother was pulling up, but something suddenly washed over her. A cold blankness of nothing, she couldn't speak.

"It was either catch mice or leave."

Lilac breathed roughly. "You mean...Leave to a new home with the relatives?" She said in a whisper that was somewhat like a hiss.

"They are getting quite occupied with your father right now. He's a good cat, but I think they only need one." Petunia glanced to the sun that set on the horizon of the prairie, her blue eyes glinted off the collage of red, orange and yellow. "It might mean going to the...The pound." She gulped down air after that sentance.

Lilac's mouth gaped open as her hackles raised, eyes widening like this was just the ending of the world her breaths became quick. ''Would they come for me now? Is it already too late to kill the mice with Yarrow?''

"But Yarrow could teach you, by the horses is the worst mouse infested place, it irritates the horses." Petunia flicked her tail, motioning the shocked Lilac to go to Yarrow.

"Y-yeah- Yeah. I'll go do that." Lilac shook her head wincing and padded slowly staring around at the fence that blocked the horses from the cattles' part of the prairie.

"Lilac? I never thought I'd see your face here...." Yarrow smirked from on top of the fence.

Lilac turned away from him, eyes darkening. "How do I get up there?" She muttered lowly.

"Get up?" Yarrow sat up on the top bar of the wooden fence. "Can't you jump? Your legs are like mine, long and flexible. Just jump scaredy dog."

"I am not a scaredy dog!" Lilac snapped and jumped....

The wind was soaring through her hair, she had never felt like this before. But then...SLAM. Right into the second bar, she squirmed past it and fell onto the ground. Dazed, Yarrow jumped and landed beside her.

"Tsk tsk," He snorted. "I never thought you, daughter of Petunia, would we threatened to go with the relatives."

Lilac grunted and got to her paws, she didn't feel like telling his that she would most likely be sent to the pound instead...

"So, how many mice do you expect to get kitten?"

"Oh shush, you're just a month older than me." Lilac rolled her eyes. "So, I had breed flaws...Which intends I need to catch mice."

"Mice catcher?" Yarrow laughed. "A pure bred Snowshoe? For mice catching?"

Lilac stared into his eyes, and hissed. "Well at least I have longer legs, shorty!"

Yarrow paused, the huffed. "Well, maybe that's why I'm a mouse catcher. Lacked the breed expectations, like yourself. Also, I'm still long-legged...."

"Lacking is not the matter," Lilac grunted very roughly. "It's how rude you are, just teach me to catch mice."

"You're very rude, I'm surprised your claws haven't been ripped off months ago." Yarrow rolled his eyes turning his back on Lilac.

Lilac growled. "Nobody can remove my claws, how would I catch mice then?" Lilac snorted.

"No, no, no...." Yarrow shook his head, "They remove your front claws like your mother, so you can be sold or given up to new humans."

"New humans...?" Lilac eyes grew wide and frightened, "But...But my mother says the new humans would take me to the-"

"Pound? Yes, exactly." Yarrow nodded with a sigh, "Now come on, there are usually mice near the hay..."

Lilac nudged away he empty food bowl, eyes dull as her chubbier, darker colored mother walked over. With a sigh, she licked her daugher's cheek.

Petunia lowered her head, "Oh dear...I know...It's going to be hard to go to your ah-..." The she-cat swallowed and paused, "fathers..."

"What's so wrong with that?" Lilac rolled her eyes, ears flattening, "I've just never met him. What if he likes me? Do you think his owners will keep me then?"

"Owners...?" Petunia then gasped and laughed uneasily, "Yes...Of course! Owners..."

"Would you rather I say housefolk or something along those lines?" Lilac looked suspiciously to her mother.

Petunia shook her head, "No...It's fine dear....Maybe you could try again with those mice..." She slightly turned her head away, eyes narrowed.

"Mother, I can't hunt. I proved that today, an entire day of trying to train, and not one morsel to the claws." Lilac looked to her paws, scratching the ground softly.

Her mother looked heart broken. "Something, anything... Please..?"

"Bye mom..." Lilac slowly turned, her head low, leaving her mother in awe, her blue eyes clouded with grief and sadness.

Chapter Two
Her heart pumped swiftly, the carrier felt cold and dark, a small metal fence kept her from escaping as the car zoomed along the bumpy road. Her mother had waited by the door, tears in her eyes. She knew if she let out a yowl or a cry, her owner would swat at her, and yell at her.

Lilac kept turning around in her carrier, feeling sick to the pit in her stomach, her eyes wide and full of fear. No, she tried! She had tried! She almost caught one mouse, however the owner was watching her and deemed her unworthy to stay.

"I don't want to leave the prairie!" She yelped, eyes welling with tears. She knew she couldn't cry, she had never cried, and this wasn't the time to so. She choked back the tears and began clawing frantically at the carrier. "Let me out, let me back to Yarrow and mother!" She hissed.

"Hush now, kitty." The male housefolk's gruff voice told her as he continued to trudge the car down the rocky path.

Lilac's eyes grew angry and she plopped down in the carrier. She burried her head in her paws and just clenched her teeth. ''This has to be done soon, it is just a dream. Just a dream. I'll wake up tomorrow, ready to try my luck at another mouse with Yarrow, and mother will be proud of me.''Her thoughts trailed off with another yawn. Lilac's eyes flickered to a close. Mother will accept me...

She stretched, but with a small gasp, the Snowshoe she-cat realized she was still stuck in the same carrier. The pain hit her straight in the heart. Lilac was going to spend the rest of her life at the meadow with the relatives.

"Mother!" She cried out, still drowsy from her nap, which probably only was a few hours. "Mother!" She yelped again.

The housefolk opened the door and pulled her out from the the carrier, cradling the cat in his arms. "There, there." He calmed her with a few pets. "I know you're antsy and ready to explore."

"Explore?" Lilac mewed. "I'm ready to leave!"

Her owner continued to walk over to what Lilac thought of as the door to the new house, the outside of this 'housefolk nest', which was what Yarrow called it, was huge. It had shiny, clean windows without a blotch on them, tall walls all around, with a sparkling porch without a splotch of dirt on it. The house was a darker tint of tan, with white accents all around. Their door was a dark brown, and swooshed open upon seeing her housefolk walk up onto the porch.

"Hello, hello!" The female housefolk said in a cheery voice. Lilac narrowed her eyes, her bright ginger hair was too big for her head, her face with caked with some very pale poudery stuff she saw her housefolk's mate put on her face. However this female's face looked pale as a cloud, with shiny red stuff on her mouth that reminded Lilac of the berries in the prairie her mother told her never to touch.

The female wore a bright pink dress with what looked like poorly made flowers etched all on it. She had a smile that wasn't so pretty, since her teeth where as rickety as the fence on the outskirts of her old prairie.

"Feel free to let her down, I know she won't run off. You always train your cats so well." She smiled, it almost seemed fake in a way. "I'm sure she'll find the other cats soon."

Her old owner set Lilac down, and the cat scampered away from him. ''Home! I have to find my mother...'' She looked around, her blue eyes beginning to dull. It was endless fields from horizon to horizon. She wrinkled her nose slightly, the scent of cat began to flood her nostrils. She caught sight of a fence, it had wire and wood, not the completely blocked picket fence that her previous owner had around the prairie.

She croched low, bending her long hind-legs to full restraint, and began a strong leap into the sky. She soared over the fence, but her back paws caught against the top. She fell just a footstep past the fence, landing harshly upon the ground.

"Oh my!" She heard a squeaky voice, as a dark brown tabby she-cat began to race towards her. "Are you okay sweetie?" The she-cat helped Lilac up.

"I'm fine." Lilac huffed, pushing her away and licking dirt off her tan pelt, she then realized that her tone of voice seemed to hurt the she-cat who had tried to help her. "Just a few scrapes and bruises, that's all." Her eyes softened.

The brown she-cat had pretty matching brown eyes, they had flecks of amber in them, yet showed warmth and compassion. "That was a pretty good leap back there though," she purred, "I could never make it over the fence without climbling over." She gave a few quick licks to her chest fur. "Anyways, I'm Darling. Our owner's first cat, rescued from off the street. You must be Lilac, Petunia's daughter, am I correct?"

Lilac gave a brief nod, inspecting the wide fields were few cows grazed with clutters of sheep and goats. "Is this a farm?" She asked, frowning.

"Indeed it is." Darling mewed. "Over there is the Barn, where we stay and watch over the animals, and catch a few mice also. Just so they won't bother the livestock." She flicked her tail to a worn red barn with it's large door opened to let the animals in and out during the day.

"Anybody else here besides you?" Lilac sighed, not enjoying the thought of barnliving.

Darling nodded her pretty brown head. "Yep, your father's brother and my mate, Stormy. A very handsome fellow, much darker than most Snowshoe's though, even your mother, only white on him was his muzzle." She shook her head.

She smiled. "By the way," Lilac began, lifting her paw and licking it, "you wouldn't happen to know where my father is?"

Darling stood silent, eyes eyes growing distant and misty. "Your father..?"

"Is something wrong?" The Snowshoe began to look confused.

"Your father died moons ago."

Chapter Three
"What?" Lilac gasped in awe, her heart began to sink. "But that's impossible... How?" She looked defeated.

Darling sat down with a small frown, she looked quite sad actually. "At the edge of the fields it cuts off into a forest, some wild cats came along, caused loads of trouble. They attacked some of our cows and a group of them even killed one of our lambs." Her voice began to lower. "Your father told them off one day. They just snickered and told him to back off. He kept yelling at them, telling them to stay off his land."

"Then what?" Her mouth gaped in awe.

"He was just gone... We saw signs of a struggle, Stormy was practically depressed for so long... But we all had to get over it one day." Darling looked to her paws sadly.

"Oh..." Lilac sounded dissapointed. ''Only cat I truly wanted to meet, and he's dead. Just my luck, looks like I'll never meet my father now.''

"Nice to meet ya, Lilac." Stormy said in his gruff accent, a smirk on his muzzle. "It's pretty good to see one of my own kind 'gain."

"Yeah..." She shrugged awkwardly.

"Now I know ya all sad 'bout leavin' your mother an' all... But just 'member we're ya family now." He flicked his tail, ears perking. "We were just so excited 'bout you comin' we made ya your own nest up in the Barn."

The Snowshoe she-cat tilted her head. "Really?" She felt a warm sensation in her paws. Nobody had ever done something like that for her.

"Yep, just follow my dear ol' Darling up the ladder then ya'll find it right beside ours. Filled it with plenty of soft goodies inside." He purred, his blue eyes gleaming.

Darling pressed against Lilac. "After me, Sweetie. I don't want you tripping over some tools left in the Barn." She slipped inside the Barn doors, Lilac swiftly following after her.

The Barn was dimly litted, with a few cracks in the roof. There was hay and straw scattered all over the floor, with stalls were some animals drank and ate, while others grazed outside. Darling turned right and hopped up the wooden ladder, it looked rickety and unused for awhile. Lilac carefully followed up, nearly slipping off the ladder without the help of Darling grabbing her scruff at the top.

She shook some dust from her fur, gagging at the taste of it on her tongue. The second floor had a few holes, only big enough for a cat to get it's paw stuck in and stumble a bit. The ceiling was low and on the wall hung a dirty window, letting little light stream through into the second floor. There was large ragged blanket in the corner, covering some hay and littered with chicken feathers. It stank of Darling and Stormy, so it was easy to guess it was their nest.

Right next to their next lay a smaller blanket, it wasn't as tattered as the other two's. It was a light blue color and actually looked pretty nice. You could still see the color even though it was a bit faded, and went Lilac ran her paw against it the blanket actually felt soft. She could feel the hay below it, but also dozens of chicken feathers to add fluff.

"You... You guys made this for me..?" Lilac turned, her eyes softened. This was truly the most nicest thing ever done for her, she even knew her mother would never put so much effort into this.

Darling smiled and sat down. "All for you, Sweetie," she purred. "The blanket was tossed out to us by the owner, it is sort of small for Housefolk, but we guessed it was for their children."

"Darling, come quick!" Stormy yowl at the bottom of the stairs, hurrying out before Darling could even turn her head.

"Sweetie, stay here. Relax a bit..." The brown tabby's voice faded as she ran down the ladder and trodded out of the Barn.

Lilac ran to the ladder exit, she yelled after Darling but knew she was already far off. Probably just found a mouse or something to eat... The she-cat let out a yawn, realizing she was exhausted.

"I suppose I can sleep a bit..." She smiled, curling up in her new nest. The blanket was warm and cuddly, reminding her of the soft carpets in her old Owner's home. Lilac quickly drifted off to sleep, for once she had pleasant dreams of catching mice and chasing the horses back in the Prairie.