Warriors: Blinded By Stardom

CHAPTER 2

Starkit bit back the urge to bat his mother's face away as she vigorously groomed his shoulder fur. Asphodelear had him locked up in her embrace, her arms coiled around him as she got to work on straightening every stray hair on his pelt. "You must always look your best before you go outside," She had insisted in an eager purr. "You are the clan's shining star, after all."

Starkit drew back his ears. If that was true, he thought, he might as well just sit and tolerate it. But it was hard. At four moons old, he and his siblings were old enough to go out and play on their own, developing that newfound energy and independence from their mothers that every cat needs. 

He wanted nothing more than to feel that freedom. To stretch out his legs and run a mile. But with his mother's pelt smothering him like a cloud of heavy smoke, at times he felt he couldn't breathe. Every second he stayed in the nursery den, he felt as though he were a helpless newborn. 

Starkit squirmed in defiance as Asphodelear licked his ears, mewling in protest. At the exit to the nursery, three small silhouettes stood like shadows in the light that seeped into the darkness of the stone den. Shadowkit turned around, casting his mother a pleading glance. "Can we please go out now?" He mewed impatiently, every word forced through his teeth. 

Asphodelear looked thoughtful for a moment, then shrugged and flicked her tail. "Sure, fine. But don't get into any trouble." She grunted halfheartedly. With that, the three kits burst out of the den in excited trills. Starkit tensed his muscles and gripped his mother's arm with tiny thorn-like claws, staring at the exit as his siblings bundled away. His mother nudged him and he relaxed, pouting. 

Why was he stuck getting pampered like a kittypet while his siblings got to go out and play? The most Asphodelear gave them for a wash was a lick behind the ears, and the quick smoothing of their ruffled neck fur. You'd assume he'd get the same treatment. but no. He had to sit there for hours as his mother cleaned every inch of his pelt. 

With a last lick to the top of his head, Starkit writhed around, frowning at his mother. "Okay, okay, i'm clean. can I go now?" He whined, his tail swishing. Asphodelear stared at him, then let out a weary sigh. She uncoiled from him and let him slip away. "Don't get too dirty." She told him softly. "And try not to hurt yourself!" But Starkit barely heard as he pelted past a sleeping Oniontail out of the stuffy den. 

Starkit's pupils slitted against the sunlight as he burst from the  nursery. The sun's sharp blaze reflected off of the blankets of snow on the ground until the whole camp shone as bright as the sun. Puffing out his pelt and squinting against the sunlight, he bundled through the snow. The famiar buzz of the clan's chatter hit his ears, like a tree upon the earth. The clan was more lively than he ever remembered it to be. 

With the birth of Oniontail's kits, and the successful leadership ceremony of Lynxstar, the clan was in celebration. Lynxstar had set up two dawn patrols had been set up, five cats on each, hoping to bring back enough prey for a feast. Starkit weaved between the heavy paws of his massive clanmates, pelt spiked in alarm as they trotted aimlessly across the clearing for a third patrol, laughing jauntily. 

The clan was normally stoic and serious, especially senior warriors like these. So seeing them act so merrily was alarming to some of the younger cats. Starkit flattened his ears against their noise and carried on, past the chattering warriors and toward the elder's den. 

He peeked inside. A thick, bushy tail whisked around, blocking his view. The cat shifted, and he recognized Squirrelpaw, her face curled in disgust, dabbing mouse bile onto Snowburr's pelt. Starkit wrinkled his nose against the sour smell of the bile and tumbled back. His siblings sure wouldn't be in there, especially with such an acrid stench stinking up the place. He shuddered at the thought that one day, he'd be doing the same thing.