Warriors: What Is There To Do?

Chapter 1- Open Your Eyes

Rainkit was what Riverclan called a 'late bloomer.' She didn't open her eyes after the usual few days after birth. Oh, of course she listened, she felt, she observed everything around her; but for some reason she just felt like she shouldn't open her eyes.

Not yet, anyways.

Her mother, Skyheart, would often speak to her, begging her to open her eyes and face the world, but she just... didn't want to. She had a bad feeling, although she didn't know exactly what was bad about opening her eyes.

Finally one day her father, Strongsoul, had been discussing Rainkit's 'condition' with Skyheart.

"Dreamsong says that they should've been open by now!" Her father was what Rainkit considered to be aggressive, or something close to it, because of how he would speak to her mother. He was mean to her sometimes, but she thinks that's just because she wouldn't open her eyes. Strongsoul was probably just worried that she might become an apprentice later than normal.

"She will open her eyes when she's ready!" Her mother would snap, usually followed by a hitch in her voice.

"Why does she look like that, anyways?" Her father would whisper. Rainkit wondered what they were talking about. Did she look funny? She didn't really know what you were supposed to look like, since she had never opened her eyes.

"How would I know? She isn't colored normally... and you said Dreamsong spoke to the other medicine cats? What did they say?"

"They don't know anything, either! I wonder why Starclan sent her to us... she's not our kit."

Rainkit was filled with curiosity. What did her mother and father look like? What did she look like, for her parents to be so worried about her? Maybe she should just open her eyes. She felt her paws twitch at the thought.

"Oh, it looks like she's awake! Do you think today's the day...?" Her mother sounded excited. Yes, Rainkit knew this was the right choice. She wanted her mother to be happy.

How did she open her eyes again?

After a moment of panic, she finally found the right muscles and she opened her eyes to her parents.

Skyheart was pretty, that's the first thought she had about her mother. She had long, tan fur with blue eyes. She was so... huge! She towered over Rainkit with an expression she couldn't name.

Her father, Strongsoul, was similar in coloring to Skyheart, but he had ginger markings on his back and face. He was even taller than her mother! He had the same expression as her mother... what was it again? It was right on the tip of her little tongue.

Oh yeah.

Horror.

"M-Mother? What's wrong?"

Skyheart looked away. She wouldn't meet Rainkit's eyes, and now neither would Strongsoul.

"Why won't you look at me?" Rainkit was upset now. They were supposed to be happy now! She had finally opened her eyes; she could become a tough warrior for Riverclan now! If only they would look at her!

They both walked out of the den; Skyheart called it the nursery. Did that mean she could walk out too? Was she supposed to stay inside...? They hadn't said no...

Rainkit, with a little grunt, leapt out of the nest, and padded out on wobbly paws into the clearing. Skyheart had described to her what everything looked like, but it was like telling someone what a mother's milk tasted like. It was something you had to experience for yourself.

The... sun was really bright. It shone in a... blue sky, with little puffy white things that she remembered to be clouds from Skyheart's long one-sided conversations with her back when it was normal for her eyes to still be closed.

Lower down, back on the ground, there was so much going on! There were cats like Skyheart and Strongsoul, only they were all sorts of different colors, all different sizes... Rainkit wondered what she looked like. Maybe she could ask a cat if there were any puddles or those things that Skyheart had spoken of, where fish come from... streams! Yes, she should go ask for directions to one of those!

There was a big white tom not too far away from her, cleaning his fur, which was dripping with water. What was he doing? Then Rainkit remembered Skyheart saying how fish lived in the water, and they had to get wet to catch them. This cat was a warrior! Rainkit hoped she looked like him one day! But first, she had to know what she looked like...

She padded up to the tom, a little more steady on her paws now.

"Um... excuse me, but could you show me where a puddle is? I wanna see what I look like!" She had tried to be quiet, but her excitement had edged into her voice and it came out like a squeak at the end. The tom turned around, his blue eyes wide with shock.

"You must be Rainkit! Nice to meet you, I'm Iceheart." The tom hadn't really looked at her yet, still cleaning his fur.

"You said you want a puddle, eh? I'm pretty sure I was soaked enough to have created one... ah, here one is!" He was still cleaning himself, he pointed to a rather large puddle with his tail. Rainkit was so excited! She would finally know how she looked, and how awesome she would be as a warrior!

The water reflected the sun, and at first that's all she could see. Rainkit squinted, and looked into the water.

That was her?! She looked... scary! Her face... it was two different colors! One side was like Skyheart and Strongsoul's, with tan fur, but her face was split right down the middle... the other side of her face was pure black. And her eyes... her eyes were different colors, too! The tan side held a blue orb, and the black side, a green. Even her nose was split into two colors...

No wonder her parents had looked at her with horror. She was looking at herself with horror!

Rainkit was just staring at herself now, too stunned to bring her head back, even though her neck was aching. Iceheart looked over at her, concerned, and flinched when he saw her.

"Oh. No wonder Skyheart was such a mess earlier... poor Strongsoul." Iceheart padded away to a group of younger looking cats, and was pointing his tail over at her. Some cats peeked at her, all flinching, wincing... pitying her parents.

What was wrong with her?! Was she really that ugly?

"You're not ugly, if that's what you're thinking, Rainkit."

Rainkit turned around to see a huge, fluffy white she-cat. Her white fur seemed to reflect the sunlight just like the puddle.

"I'm the leader of Riverclan, Glowstar. Welcome to Riverclan, little kit. I was told you had never been given a proper welcoming."

Rainkit said nothing, though she did stop glancing back at the puddle, at the reflection of her split face.

"Let's say we head over to my den? I have a few things to discuss with you, Rainkit."