Bobtail's Fury (Warriors Fanfiction)

Chapter 8

Pine flexed his claws in the dirt before pouncing on a rat, he landed perfectly on the rat and with one powerful bite to the neck it went limp. It had been a couple moons since Pine had joined Bloodclan. He had grown taller and much stronger,  Pine got to know his father way more but sometimes he missed the company of his sister and his mother. He hadn't seen them both since Butch came and got him that one afternoon. When they had come back from the dog excursion, Butch had left to tell Lizzy and Flower that Pine was staying in Bloodclan. Of course he had to trust his father, but there was still a feeling deep in Pine's stomach that told him Butch was giving him the wrong advice. Pine still wondered why he felt like this, he should be happy to stay here with his father. It had been his dream to meet his dad and follow in his pawprints, but that dream had been completed and he wasn't sure if he liked that. About a moon ago he had asked Butch if he could go back to his twoleg home, sometimes Pine felt homesick. But his father refused to let him go, which led to Pine sneaking out to go back to his old twoleg home. Pine failed and was caught by Butch, since then he has always kept a close eye on him. It hadn't been that bad staying in the alleyway, the twoleg food-place they lived by always brought out leftovers for them to eat. It was strange, Butch was always nice to the twoleg that always smelled of meat but not the other twolegs. On the other hand, Tiger always kept his distance from all the twolegs, he said that twolegs were useless. Pine didn't mind having the twolegs around, he was always nice to them and they were always nice to him.

Pine shook away his thoughts and then purred at his catch, Butch will be so proud when he sees this. Pine picked up the rat and stopped at the road, he strained his ears to hear the loud noises of monsters. All he could hear was the distant sound of calling birds and the slight chirp of crickets. Pine padded across the road swiftly since the stone was burning from the sun, it had been some of the hottest days recently. Pine could tell that greenleaf had already come and newleaf had passed. He padded into the entrance to the alley way as Raven was sitting on the right and Scar on the left. They must have woken up to guard while I was away.

"Hey Pine! Nice catch," Raven meowed scratching behind his ear. Pine purred and stuck his light brown chest out, proudly showing off. Scar nodded and smiled. The two toms had been very kind to him since he started to stay in Bloodclan, they were good friends.

"Looks like ya got a tooth, it's a big'n," Bear smirked as he sat tall on a trashcan and eyed the one little tooth wedged in Pine's collar. Bear was unusual, he was a little more tubby than the rest of the cats and a little more untidy. He came and go, Pine never really got to see him that much.

Pine set the rat down and nudged the tooth that was wedged through his green collar. "I found it." 

Pine's father said it was good luck to stick bones they find in their collar. It helps them survive through the toughest of battles.

Bear snickered, "That's a good find."

Pine picked up his catch and twitched his whiskers excitedly. He blinked at Bear and headed for Butch's den. Since he was a little bigger now, he had his own nest, but still in the same den as Butch's.

"Pine! Where did you run off too again?" Aspen meowed from inside her den, Pine looked over as she poked her head out. "You've caught something!"

"Yep, and I'm taking it to Butch," Pine purred as his words were muffled by the rats fur. Aspen is just like a mother to me. I'm glad she took care of me since...

Pine shivered as he remembered Butch's words, 'she only cared about your sister. She never let you join in games that they played, and the dumb twoleg had to feed you. Because she thought you would die anyways. That's when I had no choice to take you here.' Pine didn't remember much about when he lived with his mother, but he believed every word Butch said. He was his father and he trusted him completely. Pine tried hard to remember what it was like to live in the twoleg home and with the prissy kittypets. He found it hard to remember what his mother smelled like and looked like, sometimes he thought he could smell a familiar scent. It was hard for Pine to think of his mother and sister as his family, all he could think of was Aspen and Butch. That was his family now, Bloodclan was too.

Pine shook the thoughts out and padded into Butch's den, "Butch?" Pine meowed.

"He went out to go find you," Tiger hissed from the corner, "You need to tell one of us when you're going out."

Pine set the rat down and glared at Tiger, "I thought Bloodclan cats could do as they please, and why should I listen to you?" Pine never really enjoyed Tiger, he always felt uneasy when he was near.

Tiger hissed and stepped out of the shadows, "because once your father is gone, I will be in charge." He flexed his claws on the stone.

"Doesn't mean I have to listen to you now," Pine argued, was he saying that he wanted Butch to die?

Tiger growled and stood nose the nose with Pine, "Listen here, if you don't listen to me, I will claw your fur out in a heartbeat."

The fur on Pine's spine raised. He suddenly felt fear rising in his chest by looking at Tiger's blood thirsty eyes. Pine hissed and padded swiftly outside, his heart was beating fast. Who does Tiger think he is?  Pine then looked up, he then saw Butch padding angrily towards him. Be prepared for a lecture. Pine thought as he rolled his eyes, sometimes his father could lash out for no reason.

"Pine," Butch meowed firmly as he swished his tail.

Pine met his fathers hard gaze and sighed, "Yes father?"

"How many times do I have to tell you to tell us where you're going?" Butch growled and stood tall in front of Pine, still being much larger than him.

"A lot of times," Pine sighed angrily.

"What's going on?" Aspen meowed as she padded up to Pine's side.

"None of you're business, Aspen," Butch growled, glaring at her.

"I went off without telling anyone," Pine explained to Aspen. Might as well get lectured all at once than separate...

"Butch, cats can go where ever they want, here," Aspen meowed firmly, backing Pine up.

"I don't care for your judgement," Butch hissed at Aspen, "I am the leader and I make the rules around here. And that is for Pine to say where he's going so I know my son isn't dead."

Pine's fur on his spine rose again and he hissed, "Maybe I don't care about these 'rules'."

"You will when you are loyal to me and Bloodclan!" Butch spat and hunched over acting like he was going to pounce on Pine. Pine's heart ached at his father's words, he knew Butch meant them completely, maybe he wasn't meant to be loyal to Bloodclan.

"Stop this!" Aspen yowled and stood between the two toms, "we don't need a fight.... not between father and son."

Butch growled and turned his back on the she-cat and his angered son. He padded away disappearing behind the large trashcan he slept in.

"I didn't need your help," Pine hissed quietly as he padded out of the alley way. He was too shocked and angry to care about what he had said to Aspen, but yet, his stomach flipped as he thought he did the wrong thing. Who cares... I need to get out of here... Pine stalked out of the alleyway quickly, he could feel Scar and Raven's questioning gazes on the back of his brown pelt as he left.