Leafshadow's War [Warrior Cats]

Chapter Six

A grey tom with faint tabby stripes padded along the lakeshore with the rest of his clan, on their way to the gathering. His pelt was thick, and a little messy in places, but he didn't appear to care. His whiskers twitched as he observed his surroundings, trying to make out whether the other clans had passed through RiverClan's territory to get to the island yet.

"Smokefur! Smokefur, slow down!"

He glanced over his shoulder to see a pretty, dappled brown and cream she-cat approaching him, slipping past their clanmates.

He moved to the side, and waited, letting her catch up. "Hey, Violetpaw. How's training?"

"Good. Still can't beat Icepaw though," she meowed, flicking her tail dismissively.

"I don't know how you put up with the bossy furball." Smokefur grinned. He'd become a warrior last moon, along with his brothers, Rushingrain and Willowfur. Violetpaw and Icepaw were about three moons behind them, but the white tom appeared to be under the impression that he was StarClan's gift to every cat around the lake.

"He's my brother!" the she-cat protested, cuffing him gently over the ears.

"Yeah, but he's still a bossy furball," the grey tom purred.

Violetpaw shrugged. "This is your first gathering as a warrior, right?" she said, changing the subject.

"Yeah-"

As he spoke, a large dark grey and white patched tom crashed into him from behind, bowling him over. He let out a yowl of alarm as he rolled into the lake. Disoriented, his head completely under, he made for the surface, but found himself flailing around uselessly instead. Finally he got to his paws, in water reaching halfway up his flank. He glanced around, searching for his attacker. "Wha- Willowfur! Was that really necessary!"

The other young warrior let out a mrrow of laughter. "You weren't paying attention. I couldn't resist."

Smokefur rolled his eyes and bounded over to his brother and his friend, shaking water all over them, grinning as they flinched away. "What, don't like water after all, drypaws!"

"Grow up, you two!" Another voice called, as Rushingrain came up behind them. "Do you want to look like apprentices when Runningstar finally announces that we're warriors? We're nearly at the tree bridge! Get yourselves cleaned up!"

Willowfur sighed dramatically. "Rushingrain, we're warriors, not clan leaders. When did you get to be so boring?"

The mostly-white tom's whiskers twitched in amusement. "Not boring, just sensible."

Violetpaw looked like she could hardly contain her laughter. "I for one am glad you're not setting the standards too high for Icepaw and I, Willowfur," she purred.

Rushingrain rolled his eyes, and leapt onto the tree bridge. Willowfur grinned deviously and jumped on behind him, paused, then shoved his brother into the lake. Rushingrain yelped in surprise, making a fabulous splash as he hit the water's surface, scrambling at the tree trunk, but he was too far away to reach it. He quickly resurfaced, soaked. "You're lucky Runningstar or Mossfoot didn't see you. They'd have had your tail."

Willowfur grinned. "Pff, Runningstar wouldn't care less."

"Sadly, you might be right..."

Violetpaw jumped onto the tree bridge next, followed by Smokefur, as Rushingrain swam over to the island, pulling himself smoothly onto the rocks, beginning to groom water out of his pelt. The brown she-cat announced that she was going to try and find some of the ThunderClan apprentices, then dashed off into the clearing.