Warriors: The Beginning

Chapter 2

I was bored so here's a second chapterrrrr!

It had been a few sunrises since Yinpaw was made an apprentice, and she absolutely resented it. Her mentor, Mousefur, was nice enough, but the other apprentices, however, weren't so keen on giving Yinpaw a kind welcome.

"You shouldn't have been born," Honeypaw meowed scornfully, her eyes burning with fury as she jeered at Yinpaw. "What do you think, Silkpaw?" The yellow-brown she-cat glanced at her sister.

"Yes," Silkpaw agreed, her silver eyes gleaming at Yinpaw. "It's a shame that she'll never be much use to us. Her flank's burned and she's half-blind. What good can she do for the Clan?" Yinpaw couldn't help but think, it isn't my fault that I'm like this!

Just then, a black tom padded into the den, blocking out the light for a quick moment. The two she-cats suddenly switched their attention to him. His smooth, shiny black pelt gleamed in the sunlight, and the she-cats fawned over him.

"Oh, Shadowpaw," Honeypaw meowed with a sudden change of her tone, making it as sweet as... Well, honey. "What do you think? Yinpaw has no place in SharpClan, right?"

The black tom's eyes narrowed at the apprentice who spoke to him. "I prefer to not say anything at all," he finally said, after a moment of silence. "It doesn't make you any better than what you assume she is." He twitched his ears irritably and padded away from them.

"O-oh, of course!" Silkpaw blurted out. "We have to be kind to Yinpaw, not... Do whatever that's bad to her." Silkpaw rubbed her flank against Shadowpaw's and purred.

"Oh, get away," he snapped at her. "You smell terrible and your fur is ruffled all over the place. Do you need your mother to come in here and lick it for you?" He sounded very annoyed.

"No, no." Silkpaw quickly gave her chest fur a couple of licks. Shadowpaw stared at her with an irritated glint. "Get away," he repeated.

She moved away, disappointed that he didn't like her in any way at all. Silkpaw caught Yinpaw's gaze and gave her a hard, cold glare.

"I'll go now..." Yinpaw meowed softly, not sure if she wanted them to know anyway. Shadowpaw just started with, "Wait-" but it was no use; she had already padded out of the den.

I wonder what he was going to say, Yinpaw thought, as she entered Amberye's den. "Ambereye?" The apprentice mewed, peeking into the medicine cat's den.

"Oh, Yinpaw," Ambereye's familiar voice said, padding into her den. "How's the apprenticeship going with Mousefur?"

"Uh, all right, I guess," she replied. "It's just... The other apprentices." Yinpaw sat down and looked at the ground.

"You mean your denmates?" Amberye mused. "Yes, they do sound like they're undermining your confidence." The medicine cat looked tactfully at Yinpaw. She thought of something thoughtful to say.

"Well, is there any of them who don't exactly... Contempt you?" The grey she-cat asked.

"Um, I guess there are two of them that don't really treat me as a futile," Yinpaw admitted tentatively, her dull green eye flickering with a glint of hope for just a moment, before returning back to despair.

"It's... It's not like they talk to me or anything," she added quickly, unsure what to consider Shadowpaw's "Wait-" that she had briefly heard. Shadowpaw was the most popular apprentice there, he wouldn't talk to me, Yinpaw though quietly. It must've just been Silverpaw then; the she-cats there don't seem to even want to so much as glance at her.

"Can... Can I be your apprentice, then?" Yinpaw meowed hopefully, changing the subject abruptly. "You said once I was made an apprentice, I could be made yours."

Ambereye couldn't seem to  give her a straight answer. It just came out in a jumble of words. In the end, she settled with, "I'll have a word with Woodstar and Mousefur. Remember, if anyting happens, please do tell me. I'd be happy to help. But don't neglect your other apprentice duties when — if, you come and see me."

"Okay," the apprentice replied, her one good eye still burning with hope. She really did want to be a medicine cat. And have Amberye as her mentor. And more so, because of the horrible denmates that she had. If she became a medicine cat apprentice, she could sleep alone and wake up without having to hear any snarky comments, and one day, Silkpaw and Honeypaw and all the other cats would need her, and even respect her.

"I'll go now," she said, dipping her head to Amberye before padding out of the medicine den. She spotted Silkpaw whispering something to Shadowpaw while glaring at Yinpaw. To her surprise, Shadowpaw scowled and padded away, his anger so great that it almost seemed as if was fuming out of his twitching, black ears.

Silkpaw stalked up angrily to Yinpaw, who was just sitting outside of the medicine den.

"You!" She spat at Yinpaw, her eyes burning with fury. "You caused me to lose my potential mate, and have caused our Clan a big disgrace! You were burned in that fire because you were a pathetic kit, too weak to get up. I wish you had died in that fire!" If this were normal circumstances, Yinpaw would just have kept her gaze cast to the floor and walked away, but the fire — the burning, the heat, the fear — how could she just walk away? Silkpaw didn't know how it felt like face-to-face with the fire.

"I haven't done anything to cause the loss of your 'potential mate'. I simply became apprenticed. What disgrace have I caused our Clan? Yes, I admit I was a pathetic kit then, but you were once, too." and with that, Yinpaw stalked away silently.

Silkpaw, being the terrible cat she was, unsheathed her claws and reached out to give Yinpaw a good scratch. But, for one reason or another, the black and white she-cat just knew—she knew that Silkpaw was about to claw her and used her tail to flick away Silkpaw's paw. Amazed, Silkpaw just stood there, letting Yinpaw leave in peace.

Then, she knew. What would those skills be for? She was most definitely not meant to be a warrior, but a medicine cat. Ambereye would have to hear about this.

[edited] 5/6/16