At first Badgertuft didn't notice the small splash. He ignored it, and kept staring at the river, lost in thought. If someone had asked him what he was thinking about, it wouldn't have been too easy to explain, seeing as these thoughts didn't really have words to them.

The lone warrior was drawn from his thoughts when he heard the apprentices laughing and yelling things like, "Go back to ThunderClan, you tree-dweller!" and "Mouse-brained kit can't keep his balance!"

Badgertuft looked up, wondering what was going on. His heart nearly stopped when he realized the apprentices were staring at something that had fallen into the river- a kit!

The lone warrior sprung to his feet. He looked around, hoping to alert someone that a kit was drowning. But there were no other cats at the river. The rest of the Clan was sharing tongues, back at camp.

With the slightest bit of hesitation, Badgertuft took off down the riverbank. "Hold on, I'm coming!" he yowled, bounding through the plethora of ferns and rushes to reach where the kit had fallen.

When Badgertuft came to a stop near the apprentices, panting slightly, he anxiously began scanning the water for any sign of the drowning kit.

Fuming, he turned to the apprentices. "Where'd he fall?!" The apprentices stared at the warrior in shock. Badgertuft narrowed his copper eyes and repeated, fur bristling, "Where did he fall? Show me."

The ginger-furred apprentice whose name, Badgertuft remembered from his ceremony, was Rushpaw, pointed with his ears at the second stepping stone with its shiny gray surface peeking up out of the water. "There." With that, the apprentices turned and ran, probably going to hide in case Badgertuft reported them to Reedstar.

Badgertuft analyzed the frothing foam, trying to pick out a limp bundle of wet fur among the waves. Tail twitching with anxiety, he decided to take the plunge. He leapt into the river and started paddling.

Keeping his eyes wide open, the warrior ducked underwater. He flinched when a fish barreled right towards his face, but waved it away. This mission was much more important than prey.

He turned downstream and caught a glimpse of churning paws struggling to find a hold. Pushing off from the ground, Badgertuft made a beeline for the tiny scrap of black fur. Bubbles rapidly streamed from his nose, but he didn't stop to take a breath until his teeth clamped around the tiny scruff, and the kit was safe in his jaws.

Badgertuft broke the surface of the water, sharply inhaling through his nose. He blinked his watery eyes so that the shore came into focus, and he swam for the bank, dragging the kit through the water. Fearfully glancing back at the limp body, he noticed the kit did not seem to be breathing.

Panic coursing through him, Badgertuft pulled the kit onto shore. Deciding that he did not know enough, if anything, about helping a drowning victim, Badgertuft picked the kit up again to take him to the medicine cat.

Despite his small size, the sopping wet kit was heavy in Badgertuft's jaws because of the water saturating his fur as his savior sprinted to the RiverClan camp. He hung limply, water dribbling from his tiny pink nose.

For once in his life, heads turned to look at Badgertuft in curiosity as he burst through the entrance to camp, his long fur still damp, but drying surprisingly fast. He paused for only a fraction of a second to revel in the attention he was getting, then set the kit down in the center of camp.

"Windystream!" the warrior called out, then waited for the kind medicine cat and his grumpy apprentice.

Windystream padded out from his reed den and down the slight hill in the camp. He noticed the small runt, and his pace quickened to a run. "Brightkit!" he gasped when he reached the kit's side. "What's the matter with him?" He frantically began sniffing the kit and gently kneading his small chest with his large paws.

Badgertuft didn't answer, figuring that Windystream had found the answer right after he had asked the question. He looked on as the kit- now recognizable as Brightkit- began to cough and shiver and was moved into the medicine den, where no one would see him for a while except Windystream and Leopardpaw.

Turning away, Badgertuft walked up the small incline to the shade of a tree near the elders' den. He laid down with a huff and laid his head on his paws. A crowd had begun to form around the two medicine cats, but it soon dispersed as the cats realized that their patient was the unpopular runt and had been saved by none other than the cat that the deputy hated.

Why did no one save Brightkit? Would they have just let him die if I hadn't been there? Badgertuft mused angrily. No one would probably have missed the kit. Apparently he was just like Badgertuft- alone, forgotten by nearly everyone in the Clan. And Badgertuft was ashamed to have been in the number that had forgotten him.

The warrior got up and paced under that tree for a while, only leaving to go on a short sunhigh patrol with Springfish and a few others. He would come back and wait for the kit to exit the medicine den.

Finally, Brightkit was guided outside, Windystream's tail resting gently on the little tom's shoulder. They appeared to engage in a quick conversation, Windystream often pointing in Badgertuft's direction with his tail. Badgertuft pretended not to be paying attention.

A few of their words were carried to the warrior on the slight breeze. He flicked his lopsided ears in their direction. "Why don't... say hello to your rescuer."

"What... name?"

"...have to... ask... bit grumpy..."

It seemed like Windystream was telling his patient to introduce himself to Badgertuft. He was not having any of that. He turned away as quickly as he could and sprinted to the warriors' den. Turning his head, he caught sight of Brightkit following him.

"Annoying kit encounters. Wonderful," he sighed under his breath.

"Hey, can I talk to you? Come out of your nest, it is barely past sunhigh!" Brightkit was standing outside the warriors' den. His voice sounded a little raspy, but other than that, he seemed to have bounced back quickly from his terrifying encounter.

Badgertuft flattened his ears and called back, "I'm trying to get some shut-eye, please go away." He found his nest and curled up, relishing the fact that no one cared enough to prank him with thorns in his bedding.

It seemed as if Brightkit had given up and left, but soon enough Badgertuft felt a poke in his side. Without opening his eyes, he lifted his head and laid it down facing away from the kit.

"Oomph!" Badgertuft grunted in shock as Brightkit jumped on top of him. His eyes snapped open in surprise. "Just as I thought, you're a bit heavy for a runt," he meowed. The triumphant kit loomed over his face, twitching his whiskers in amusement.

Throwing Brightkit off his shoulders, Badgertuft stumbled to his feet and reluctantly plodded outside the den. He ascended the hill, coming to a stop under the same tree next to the elders' den. Brightkit enthusiastically toppled down next to him.

"What's your name?" he meowed energetically. "Windystream said to ask you, and he also said you'd be a bit grumpy. I asked why, and he said that's just how you are, and I said you're probably just tired, and here you are, so I was right! ...sorry."

Badgertuft blinked. For being cast out, this kit was extremely talkative. "Er... my name's Badgertuft. Did Windystream really say that?" When Brightkit nodded vigorously, Badgertuft muttered quietly, "I'll have a talk with him later."

"Badgertuft? Why do they call you that?"

Badgertuft sighed. He could choose to be rude and ask the same question back, though he was sure of the answer. Brightkit's bright personality, blue eyes, and single orange patch on his left side had obviously led to his name. Badgertuft hesitated before responding.

"My eyebrows... they're- er- fluffy, and my mother thought that the expression on my face when I was born looked like and angry badger, so... hence the name."

Brightkit burst out in explosive laughter. "Really?! An angry badger!"

Badgertuft's fur grew hot and he was sure his hackles were rising. "Yes. She actually told me that once."

"She did?! Wow, what trouble did you get into as a kit? Eat all the herbs in the medicine den? Ha!" Brightkit was rolling on the ground by this point. "Badgerkit, you come back here this instant! You look so much like an angry badger, that's why I named you this way!" He did an impression of an angry queen.

In spite of himself, Badgertuft chuckled softly and looked away. This kit sure knew how to make anything humorous and light.

Maybe these two cats, one rolling around on the ground, the other trying desperately not to laugh, could become friends. Maybe they wouldn't have to be lonely anymore.