Cinderpelt's Spirit (ART NOT MINE)

Chapter 2

Cinderkit woke up and yawned. The first shades of dawn were starting to shine into the nursery den. Beside her, her mother and  her littermates were fast asleep. Frostfur's white flank was rising and falling as she breathed. Cinderkit looked around the nursery den. Goldenflower and Swiftkit were fast asleep, but Willowpelt was the only one asleep in her own nest. Graykit wasn't there at all. Odd, Cinderkit thought to herself. The small gray she-kit padded out of the nursery den. She saw Graykit bothering Longtail at the center of the ThunderClan clearing. "Do you like your warrior name?" Graykit annoyingly chartered, "did any enemy warriors get into camp? Was it cold?" Longtail batted Graykit with one paw, claws sheathed. "Leave me alone, little kitten," Longtail meowed, "I'm not an apprentice anymore. I'm a warrior." Graykit's amber eyes were wide with shock as he squeaked, "Willowpelt said that warriors aren't supposed to speak during vigil!" "Well Graykit," a new voice said, "Longtail's vigil is done. He's able to talk now. Cinderkit looked behind her and realized that was Lionheart, Cinderkit's father. The golden-brown tabby dipped his head toward Longtail. "Well congratulations, Longtail," Lionheart meowed, "if you want to, you can settle yourself into your new nest in the warriors den." Longtail nodded and padded away into the warriors den. As he past the apprentice den, Sandpaw, Dustpaw and Ravenpaw, his old denmates, watched him. "Longtail's so lucky!" Dustpaw meowed jealously, "he gets to be a warrior already!" Sandpaw murmured agreement. "It makes sense though," Ravenpaw meowed quietly, "Longtail was an apprentice while we were still with Graykit and Swiftkit in the nursery." Dustpaw shot Ravenpaw a glare, which silenced the small black tom. Cinderkit scented two new cats. She turned around, and it was Brackenkit, Thornkit and Brightkit. "Thornkit! Brightkit!" Cinderkit mewed happily, "you two have opened your eyes!" Thornkit looked very similar to Brackenkit, Cinderkit realized. Both toms were golden-brown tabbies. Only thing that stopped them from being basically twins was that Thornkit was a lighter shade of golden-brown, had belly fur, and his eyes were blue, as opposed to Brackenkit's amber eyes. Graykit gazed at Cinderkit and her siblings. "Now the nursery won't be boring after all!" Graykit meowed happily, "now there's 6 kits in the nursery!" "Graykit," Cinderkit needs, "aren't you supposed to be an apprentice soon?" Cinderkit remembered the tom was 5 moons old. Graykit nodded. "I'm only a few moons away from Sandpaw, Dustpaw and Ravenpaw," Graykit meowed, "Bluestar's going to make me an apprentice in a moon." "Who do you think will mentor you?" Brightkit asked curiously. "I would say Darkstripe, but Willowpelt doesn't want me around him," Graykit said in response to Brightkit's question, "I think Bluestar wants to give me the eldest warrior, so I say Lionheart." "Isn't Patchpelt the eldest warrior?" Thornkit meowed. "He was, but yesterday he retired to the elders den," Graykit meowed. "I wanna see!" Brightkit squealed, and raced off toward the elders den. Graykit, Thornkit, Cinderkit and Brackenkit followed her. Sandpaw was exclaiming One-eye's fur for ticks. "Found one," Sandpaw meowed. She curled her lip in distaste as she soaked some mouse bile onto One-eye's fur and when the tick fell out. "Thanks, Sandpaw," One-eye meowed. Sandpaw respectfully dipped her head and rushed off toward the apprentice den. Cinderkit wrinkled her nose as she smelled the horrible scent that filled the air. "What's that?" Cinderkit flicked her tail toward the mouse bile that Sandpaw had abandoned. "That's mouse-bile," Patchpelt, ThunderClan's newest elder, was settled into his new nest. Cinderkit noticed the nest was filled with soft feathers. The apprentices must have prepared it for Patchpelt the day before he retired to the elder's den. "Who are they?" Rosetail pointed at Cinderkit and her siblings. "Didn't you hear? They're Frostfur's new kits," Dappletail meowed, surprised. Rosetail gave Dappletail a sharp glance. "Well sorry Dappletail, but as an elder I like to spend my last days sleeping, not gossiping like a young warrior at a Gathering." "I don't know what happened to you," One-eye teased Rosetail, "you used to love gossiping." "I was young back then," Rosetail mewed, "I wasn't getting ticks in my fur all the time back then." Patchpelt sighed, then said, "Well, since the kits have been here for moons already, do you 6 want to hear a story?" "Yes!" Brightkit meowed, excited. The kits crowded around Patchpelt's nest to hear the story. "Well, long before even the oldest elder was born, there were three giant Clans: TigerClan, LionClan, and LeopardClan," Patchpelt meowed, "LionClan was known for wisdom, and LeopardClan was known for speed. TigerClan was known for nothing." "What happened next?" Brackenkit meowed. "At a Gathering,the TigerClan leader demanded an explanation for why the members of the Clan didn't have a trait that only TigerClan can have," Patchpelt continued the story, "the LionClan leader then said to the  TigerClan leader that the Clan shouldn't attend Gatherings for 6 moons, and surely by then they'll have a trait that only TigerClan cats could have. 6 moons passed, and TigerClan finally attended a Gathering. The all TigerClan cats now had huge black spots on them. This is the trait TigerClan is now known for; having black spots on every one of them." All the other kits looked pleased with Patchpelt's story, but Thornkit looked confused. "If TigerClan finally had a trait, then why don't we have them now?" the small golden-tabby mewed, "why do we have ThunderClan, ShadowClan, WindClan and RiverClan instead of TigerClan, LeopardClan and LionClan?" Cinderkit gave Thornkit a friendly nudge. "It's only just a story," Cinderkit mewed, "you don't have to worry about it." Thornkit nodded. "I know, but it is interesting to think about it," he meowed. Dustpaw and Ravenpaw came into the elders' den, carrying mouse bile. Dustpaw's eyes hardened as he saw the amount of kits in the den. "Go away kits," he sneered, 'we have apprentice duties to do." Ravenpaw's white tail-tip twitched as he meowed, "Perhaps the kits were here since the elders were telling them a story?" Dustpaw shot his brother a glare, which silenced Ravenpaw. "You're no fun," Graykit hissed at Dustpaw, then the group of kits rushed out of the elders den. Cinderkit saw that Swiftkit was playing moss ball at the entrance of the nursery, with Goldenflower carefully watching him. "Do you know why Goldenflower is always carefully watching Swiftkit?" Cinderkit mewed to Graykit. Willowpelt never really followed her kit, and Frostfur trusted her kits enough not to get into any trouble. "Probably because Goldenflower lost Lynxkit, Swiftkit's littermate," Graykit mewed, "she doesn't want the same thing to happen to Swiftkit, especially since Swiftkit's her very first litter." Brightkit looked curiously at the fresh-kill pile. "Can I try the fresh-kill?" the white and ginger she-kit asked. Graykit shrugged. "Sure," the tom meowed, "the only food in the fresh-kill pile are only leftovers from yesterday." Brightkit grabbed the juiciest vole in the pile, and ate it. She licked her muzzle and began to clean her whiskers. "Yum!" Brightkit meowed, "I want more!" The small she-kit was just about to grab more food when a hiss of annoyance made the group of kits turn around. Cinderkit realized it was Tigerclaw, one of the Clan's senior warriors. "What are you kittens doing?" Tigerclaw meowed. Brightkit was obviously frightened, because she stammered, "I-i was just getting some fresh-kill." Tigerclaw scolded Brightkit, saying, "Can't you kittens just stay in the nursery? At least there you wouldn't get sick by eating leftovers from last night that might be crowfood!" Hissing in annoyance, Tigerclaw made his way toward the warriors' den, where Darkstripe was waiting for him. Brightkit was now shaking with fear. "Is he mad at me?" the small she-kit whimpered. "I guess," Graykit mewed, "but don't take it to heart. I don't think he's fond of any of the Clan's apprentices and kits. He sure doesn't like his own apprentice!"

It was the end of the day. Most of the Clan were gathered beneath the Highrock, sharing tongues. Cinderkit was in the nursery as she watched her mother sleep in her nest when Graykit bounced up to Cinderkit excitedly. "It's the day!" Graykit mewed happily. "What?" Cinderkit wasn't unable to hide her shock. "Are you becoming an apprentice already?" Graykit gave Cinderkit a friendly nudge. "No you stupid furball!" He squealed, "Willowpelt's taking me to the forest for the first time! She's going to show me the forest, and she wants to show me how to catch my own prey!" Willowpelt padded into the nursery. "Graykit, come on!' Willowpelt meowed, "don't you want to catch your own prey?" Graykit's smile got even bigger. "See you later Cinderkit!" Graykit meowed. Cinderkit yawned, "I would go, but I'm too tired." Graykit purred in amusement and followed his mother outside the nursery den. Cinderkit curled up against her mother and in a few heartbeats, she was fast asleep.