Sunwing's Regret

Chapter Twelve

    "Sorry, little kitty. Like I said, loners keep to themselves."

    To Runningpaw's relief, the tom stepped back. Mousetail leaped forward.

    "If you like being alone so much, stay off our territory!" She spat. The cat casually walked backwards over the border.

    "Chill. Clan cats have such short tempers, only caring about their territory and not the cats who live on it." The tom flicked his tail, the shot off across the field.

    "Mouse-brain," Lightfang muttered. "Let's get back and tell the leader."

    As they were padding softly back to camp, Mousetail asked, "who were you thinking of, anyway?"

    The hair rose along Runningpaw's spine. "My best friend," he snapped back, beginning to lose his temper like the cat had commented. Because the rest of you aren't friends, you're followers. "I bet you don't even know his name."

    "Hold on, that one kit... Sparkkit? Firekit and Rosekit's broth-"

    Runningpaw halted in his tracks, kicking up ash. He whirled around to face Mousetail and Lightfang.

    "'Sparkkit?' Seriously? Are you cats so obsessed with me you can't even notice when a cat becomes on apprentice? And his name is SUNKIT! He is my brother! The one with the FIRE POWERS AND THE ONE THAT SAVED ALL OF YOUR UNGRATEFUL LIVES!"

    Mousetail and Lightfang took nervous steps back, their ears laid down against their heads. "Calm down-" Mousetail tried.

    "Calm down? Calm down? My brother is missing, for Starclan's sake! He saved all your lives, and what do you do for him? Nothing, that's what! Not even a single thank you! And somehow, you're all congratulating me about it! Why do you all love me so much?? I just want to be a normal cat!" He rushed out the last part in one breath before stopping, taking large, gasping breaths.

    Mousetail and Lightfang had themselves pressed against the ground. Lightfang shivered. "I thought- I thought you enjoyed having all those cats around you- Sunpaw? He's the one with powers? I thought that was you! That's what the apprentices told me. I didn't talk about it in case you wanted it a secret, I don't... I didn't..."

    "I. Don't. Care."

    Runningpaw turned and left towards camp.

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    Sunpaw paced back and forth in the barn. Every time he spun around too quickly, sparks would fly off the burnt wood.

    Finally Fiery walked in the barn door. Sunpaw sprinted to him. "Where were you?" He exclaimed. "I know you said you wanted to go and take a check around the field, but you were gone for so long! It shouldn't take that long to look around our area of the field. How far did you go?!"

Fiery silenced him with a swish of his tail. "One at a time, Sunpaw. I just went a bit farther than our territory. I got into a little tussle with a few other cats, but that's just it."

"What happened when you saw these other cats?" Sunpaw's heart sped up. "Uh, where they, clan cats?"

Fiery, who was scraping together some hay for another fire-power training session, only smiled over his shoulder and said, "Oh, it was just a couple of fox-hearts. You don't need to worry about them."

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DUN DUN DUUUUN

Did you like how Runningpaw finally spilled his feelings about being so popular?

And we're you surprised by Fiery's lie at the end?

Next Chapter coming soon...