Scars Don't Heal | A Warrior Cats Fanfiction

Chapter 4

Blood.

The scent that filled Stormkit's nose the second her eyes fluttered open.
For the next few moments she was paralyzed with fear, yet not knowing why she was so scared.
But then her memories flooded back. She quickly sat up, making her head pound with a loud drumming noise and her vision darken around the edges.

Once she felt good enough that she was pretty sure she wouldn't pass out, Stormkit scanned the clearing, taking notice of several ginger tufts of fur littering the ground.
Sparrowpaw had deserved that.

Her eyes then landed on two unmoving bundles of fur- one of them a light gray and the other a dark spotted gray.
She stood up and padded over, not moving her gaze from her lifeless littermates.
Stormkit's stomach felt as though it was frozen, and she didn't feel anything as she stopped beside Spottedkit and Mintkit. Guilt threatened to enter her mind but she just pushed it away.
So what if she didn't feel any grief for her fallen littermates? They probably would've felt the same if their positions were reversed.
"Goodbye," was the only word she said, and it was for the memory of Spottedkit when she was still kind.

Stormkit turned and padded away without another word-wanting to be long gone by the time one of ShadeClan decided to bury her littermates.

She grabbed the mouse as she passed, deciding that she should probably go find a den and put it somewhere safe before somebody else tries to steal it.

- - -

Stormkit slowly padded through the tall trees, enjoying the scent of pine wafting through the air.
She lifted her head, trying to see the tops of the tall trees.

...and failed.

But she did see something in the middle of a lower branched pine tree; it looked like some kind of hollow. She directed her paws toward the base of that tree and looked at the closest branch. It was at least six times higher than her-but a stubborn little cat inside her head told her to try to reach it anyway.

Stormkit leapt, landing with her paws firmly planted on the branch.
Letting her excitement of that success fuel her next jump, she soared into the air again, landing safely on the branch that led into the little hollow.
She poked her paw inside the hole, making sure nothing already lived in there before shoving her head in.

Stormkit felt her eyes widen; it was surprisingly big.
The russet she-kit had enough room to comfortly rear up on her hind legs with her head only slightly brushing the roof. And she could lay stretched out with still at least a couple mouse lengths of space.

The only thing that made her pause was scratch marks that lined one of the walls.
The largest of them looked to be about the same size as Swallowfeather's claw's and the smallest looked to be about the same size as Stormkit's.
She reared up and put her claws into the small ones. They fit.

As Stormkit sunk her claws into the soft wood of the tree, a warm feeling spread out from her paws and ran through her body until it reached the tip of her ears.

As she placed her front paws back onto the pine needle filled ground of the hollow, Stormkit decided that this was where she'd stay until the half moon was over.

- - -

Groowlll. Grooowwllllll.

Stormkit felt her stomach growl for the millionth time that day.
"Shut up," she said to herself, poking her stomach.

Groooowwwlllll, was the response.

She slowly stood back up and stretched, feeling the emptiness of her insides. She'd only caught two more mice and a squirrel after her first catch, and those were long gone by now.

As Stormkit stepped outside the hollow, she didn't scent or see any birds. But it wasn't just the birds who were hard to find, all the prey seemed to be hiding from something.

She waved her tail to help keep her balance as she landed on the last branch before the ground. She tensed her body and got ready to jump onto the pine needle covered ground below; but a strange scent stopped her. It smelled like... trees. But a different kind of trees than pine. The scent also had a underlying small of something harsh, like the smell of a puddle she'd found where a twoleg monster had walked through it.
Whatever the smell was, it was getting stronger: so Stormkit sprang back up onto a higher branch, trying to stay out of sight.

"How can ShadeClan live in such a wet and smelly place?" A disgust filled voice reached Stormkit's ears.
"Shut your mouth, Thistleleaf." Another voice growled. "Or do you want the whole of ShadeClan to find us?"
A few heartbeats later, the two voices came into sight. At first Stormkit thought she was seeing double, the two brown cats looked so alike. But then she realized they had different colored eyes and one of them had white paws.

"Hawkgaze, you don't need to freak out. Anycat from ShadeClan couldn't tell a mouse from a shrew. They won't find us." The one with white paws said, making Stormkit freeze. Hawkgaze? She'd once overheard Nightvine telling Swallowfeather that a ThornClan tom named Hawkgaze had openly challenged Aspenstar at a gathering. He had ended up starting a fight which resulted in Aspenstar losing a life and him getting only a single wound.

Well, now Stormkit knew that the strange smell was ThornClan.
And they're on my territory, she thought with a hiss.

Hawkgaze's ears flicked toward her tree where she sat hidden. "Did you hear that?" He quietly asked the other cat with him-Thistleleaf, Stormkit figured.
"Yeah." She responded, flicking her tail back and forth. Stormkit's heart skipped a beat. If they saw her, she would have nowhere to hide, and she couldn't fight them either. She felt herself start to panic as they stood up and stalked towards her tree.

"Over here, fox hearts!"

Stormkit saw Hawkgaze slide his claws out and Thistleleaf flatten her ears.
But she hadn't said that.

Several of her own clan stepped out from their hiding spots behind bushes and trees and surrounded the ThornClan trespassers.
"Hello, Hawkgaze." One of her clan stepped forward; she recognized him as Wolfclaw.

The deputy of ShadeClan opened his mouth and uttered two words that made Hawkgaze growl and step protectively in front of Thisteleaf.

"Kill them."

----

Phew, finally finished this chapter!
Sorry for not updating in forever, I just recently got a kitten and we've been really busy with her.

I also can't wait for the 4th of July, cause bethanyrasm is coming to my state. :3

Not a very interesting chapter I guess, but if you like it, could you leave a vote and/or comment? Thanks. ^_^
~Silver