This challenge is about how Smudge and Rusty met. Feel free to get creative with your own!

The tom stalked through the gate and hopped onto a leaf. "Got it!" The black and white tom shouted in triumph. "Smudge! Get over here, you know you can't leave the garden." His entirely black sister called crossly, her kitten fur starting to smooth down a bit, just like his.

"Okay." He purred, running back through the gate. He flicked his tail back and forth, rustling leaves that had fallen. "Hey! Look, a new neighbor!" Sparkles mewed. He glanced where his sister's gaze met. A fiery, green eyed tom padded out cautiously. 

"Do you wanna go talk to him, maybe?" His sister asked shyly, standing on her perch from the top of the fence. He could only just barely see through it and reveal the handsome tom. 

"Nah. Maybe later, I'm getting hungry." He meowed, yawning and feeling his hunger for his pellets grow. He padded in through his small door. He wondered how old the little kitten was. Probably not much younger than him, let alone off of his mother's milk. 

Smudge remembered his own mother. She was mostly white, with the occasional pretty black spots here and there. He never met his father, but always assumed he was super strong and maybe had became a wildcat. His mother told him of the wildcats before.

Apparently they ate bones, used pelts to line their nests, and even killed cats like him for no reason! He always wondered what they ate. It's not like they eat grass and leaves... He thought to himself. 

He noticed his house folk walking toward him. His housefolk consisted of two kits and their assumed to be parents. The two kits were the ones heading towards him. He ruffled his fur and began to purr, heading towards them.

They stroked him gently, making him purr louder. "Oh, thank you! Can I have some food?" He asked, his collar jingling as he pointed his nose to his food bowl.

The kits instantly knew what he was saying and grabbed his bowl and filled it. He purred and let them pet him while he ate for a while. He went back outside to fetch his sister, who' of course, had gone over to talk to the ginger tom. "Yeah, my mother always told us- Oh, hi, Smudge! This is my brother." Sparkles stopped talking to the tom and stood up and walked to her brother.

Smudge flicked his tail happily. "I thought we weren't supposed to leave the garden." He purred, licking his paw. Sparkles rolled her eyes and ignored the comment. "This is Rusty. He just moved here, and he wants to be our friend!" Sparkle mewed excitedly.

Rusty was sitting with his blue collar, his green gaze warm but almost intimidating at the same time.

"How long have you lived here?" Rusty asked, trying to strike conversation. "Oh, just a few moons. It's great here." Smudge replied. 

"Do you think we could show you around?" Sparkles added, looking up at the big moon. "Sure! Are we going into the woods?" Rusty mewed, his already glowing eyes brighter than before in the evening light.

"Come on!" Smudge padded off, his new friend and sister trailing behind.

When night finally closed out all light besides the moon, the three cats left and went back to their houses. "See you tomorrow." Smudge yawned.

The next morning, curled beside his sister, Smudge decided he would sleep in, just for a bit. Surely Rusty wouldn't mind, as he was himself probably sleeping in. 

When he woke up, he started to groom his fur. He licked it clean, and turned to talk with his sister. "When do you think The housefolk will let us outside?" He looked up. "Sparkles?" He meowed. His sister wasn't there. He shrugged his shoulders and clambered sleepily out of his nest.

He started eating when his housefolk came in, talking in their complicated voices. He purred when he saw them. The younger kit looked sorrow, but he payed no mind.

The older kit looked into Smudge's eyes, pity and a bit of hope in his eyes. Smudge took small notice and kept purring. "Do you know where Sparkles is?" He tried asking. The housefolk didn't seem to hear him, so he asked again. Without another answer, he decided he could just look for her.

He gingerly padded outside to find Rusty looking down from Sparkles' perch. "Hey! Do you know where Sparkles is? I haven't seen her in a while." He meowed, hopping up onto the fence beside his friend.

"No, not exactly." Rusty murmured sadly. "Your housefolk, I saw them, they took her," he began. Smudge stared at Rusty. "They didn't come back with her. I think maybe they brought her to another set of housefolk." Rusty's voice trailed off, and Smudge felt like a helpless kit again, not that he wasn't one himself, but he felt as if he had been born without any senses, and could only depend on his mother.

"Wha, what do you mean?" He mewed, holding back a a panicked growl. Rusty took a step forward. "She's gone, Smudge. My litter mates are all gone too. We have to stay together." He murmured, his green gaze blazing into his.

Smudge nodded. 

So, that was it!

This challenge ends on December 9th for submissions. (871 words)