A Rose's Thorn - Warrior Cats Fanfic

Chapter One

"Ghost!" Rose struggled to pull herself up onto the fence that separated her yard from Ghost's. She looked down at the tom's yard, but she couldn't see the white cat anywhere. "Ghost, come outside! Don't be afraid." She slid down the fence and landed in the tom's yard. 

Rose stopped walking toward Ghost's house as the cat flap in the door rattled. Ghost slid out into the yard, blinking sleep from his eyes. He stopped to let his eyes focus on the early morning light before staring at Rose.

"Rose," he grunted. "What's so important that you need to wake me up at dawn?"

"I just couldn't sleep," Rose purred, rushing forward to touch noses with her friend.

"Well, I can." Ghost lashed his tail back and forth with impatience. "My bed is calling for me."

Ghost turned around to head back into his house, but Rose's whiskers drooped at the thought of not having anyone to talk to until noon. "No, Ghost, come back."

Ghost let out a loud, protesting groan and whipped around. "What is it?"

"I just want to chat."

The old, grumpy tom cast a look at his house before staring back at Rose. He forced himself to approach the orange-pinkish cat and slumped down beside her on the grass. 

"No, not here!" Rose purred and bolted toward the old, raggedy fence that protected Ghost's yard from the land ahead of it. The fence shook as Rose propelled herself up onto it and sat down on its thin, flat surface. "I meant up here."

Ghost muttered something under his breath before climbing up the fence to sit next to Rose. "Now what?"

Rose looked out at the pinks and oranges of the sky before looking back at Ghost. "Want me to tell you about me dream last night?"

"Sure, whatever," Ghost muttered as he settled down on the fence. He narrowed his eyes to a half-open slit and listened to Rose as she explained her dream.

"So, I was in the forest, right? Like, out in that forest," Rose gestured to the trees behind the fence with a waving paw. "I was chasing a rabbit through the trees. A rabbit, Ghost! It was almost the size of me!"

"Mm-hm," Ghost grunted. Rose was only a nine-moon old kit, so she wasn't fully grown yet. 

Rose went on with the story of her dream. "Then, after chasing the rabbit for a while, I tried to leap on it! I missed it though and landed on my face. But want to know the funniest thing about my dream?"

"That you let me sleep?" Ghost meowed, half-awake. 

"No, silly!" Rose batted at his tattered ear. Rose had heard from the other housecats that Ghost had been a stray before he was taken in by his housefolk. Ghost had needed to fight other strays for his food and survival. He'd earn a couple of scars because of that. Rose admired his bravery and wished to grow up to be like him on day.

"So, what was it then?" Ghost flicked the ear Rose had pawed at. He let his white, black, and gray tail dangle over the fence as he listened to Rose's endless chatter.

"It was that I wasn't wearing this!" Rose lifted a paw and fiddled with the orange collar around her neck. The bell in the front of it jingled nosily when she touched it. Sometimes, when Rose's housefolk gave her a dose of catnip, she raced around her house and her collar shifted so the bell was behind her neck. 

Ghost fully opened his eyes and blinked at Rose. "Why don't you take it off, then?"

Rose shook her head. "I like it. But, when I woke up, I had a thought about my dream." She looked out over the fence and toward the forest. "After running around so freely... I wondered what it would be like to live in the forest." She sounded oddly serious.

"As a stray?" Ghost hissed, scrabbling to his paws. "Rose, listen to me. Living as a stray is not a fun life to live. It's much better to stay here with your housefolk."

"But I don't want too anymore!" Rose stood up and licked her fluffy tufts of fur sticking up along her spine. "I want to see what it's like to live freely. That dream was like an order to me!"

"No, it wasn't," Ghost's blue eyes widened, and Rose stared at the old tom. His fur was ruffled and unkempt, his ears were tattered, and he had a scar across one eye. His shoulder bore a scar along it while his hind leg carried two more scars. Ghost's fur was parted in some places, and his eyes were dull. "Rose, listen. You must stay here unless you want to look like this." He gestured to his pelt with his tail. "That collar shows that you aren't fit for the life of a stray."

"How do you know?" Rose hissed, drawing a claw along the fence. "I want to explore the forest now. I don't want to stay cooped up in my housefolk's house for the rest of my life!" Rose turned toward the forest and placed her paws along the side of the fence. She slid down the fence and landed on the grass on the other side of the yard.

Ghost blinked at Rose as his tail lashed back and forth. "Rose, get back here! I'm just trying to keep you safe!"

"I don't need to be protected anymore." Rose puffed out her chest and stared at the trees reaching up toward the sky. The puffy, slow-moving clouds reminded her of dandelions she sometimes found in her yard. "I can make my own choices."

"Rose," Ghost's meow had softened. It sounded sad and hopeless as he stared at Rose. "You aren't even fully grown. You won't last a day out there."

Rose looked over her shoulder and gave him a warm smile. "I'll come back home if I can't find food, I promise." 

Ghost stared at her, a glimmer in his eyes. But he quickly turned away with a sigh. "If you say so, Rose. I... I guess I'll see you later."

"Yep." Rose felt energy surge through her paws as she stared back out into the forest. She looked back at Ghost a second time, only to see that he'd jumped down from the fence and headed back inside of his house. "Goodbye, Ghost," she whispered before turning back to the landscape ahead of her.

Then, without a second thought, Rose bolted off into toward the forest.