Winterpaw's wish

( A warrior at last, and something else gained? )

" Let everyone join here underneath the Skystone for a clan meeting!" Darkstar yowled. Every cat had heard about the naming ceremony, and all of them looked at me proudly. I puffed up my chest and padded to the front of the crowd, waiting for all the cats to gather around the Skystone.

Dewpaw was close by and blinked at me and smiled encouraging me. I half smiled and turned and shook my fur, shaking all of my worries. Rosepaw was waiting by the medicine cat's den entrance and blinked at me from where she sat by her mentor, Autumnbreeze.

" Clan mates!" Darkstar yowled. " We join here on this day to honor an apprentice. She saved my life from a fox, though I lost a life I could have lost them all if it hadn't been for this young cat. I would like to give her the honor of becoming a warrior today, and I am proud to have had this cat as my apprentice." I breathed and waited as Darkstar's spook the ancient words.

" I, Darkstar, leader of Lightclan call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has learned well to understand the ways of your noble code and I commend her as a warrior in her turn. Winterpaw, do you pormise to uphold the warrior code, to protect and defend your clan even at the cost of your life?" I nodded.

" I do, Darkstar." Darkstar looked down at me with gleaming eyes.

" Then by the power of Starclan, I give you your warrior name. From this moment on you will be known as Winterstorm. Starclan honors your strength and courage and we welcome you as a full warrior of Lightclan." Darkstar leaped from the Skystone and laded his muzzle on top of my head.

" I am honored to have you as a warrior of my clan, Winterstorm. I am honored to even have more." Darkstar backed away and I listened as my clan cheered my new name.

" Winterstorm! Winterstorm!" I was about to ask Darkstar what he meant but he wasn't finished with the meeting.

" I would also like to make four kits apprentices. Firekit, Coguarkit, Dandelionkit, and Mousekit, please step forward." The four kits squeaked happily and bounced next to me their tails flicking and eyes gleaming.

" Firekit, from this moment on you will be known as Firepaw." The dark ginger tom smiled wide and I could see him trying to resist the urge to yowl and scream his excitement, but remained calm. I was impressed by the tom's patience, but his spirt showed in his blazing green eyes.

" Rubyshine, you will mentor Firepaw. Your brother, Oakfrost has an apprentice already and it is time for you to share his fate." The she-cat nodded and touched noses with her new apprentice. Firepaw followed her to the back of the clearing his tail straight in the air.

" Mousekit, from this moment on you will be known as Mousepaw." The she-cat smiled and waited amber eyes patient. Darkstar glowed.

" Ratfang, you will mentor Mousepaw. I expect great things." The tom nodded and touched noses with Mousepaw and led her where Rubyshine was waiting with Firepaw.

" Coguarkit, from this moment on you will be known as Coguarpaw." The she-cat snorted and waited with her shoulders hunched for Darkstar to continue.

" Amberheart, you will mentor this young she-cat. Y9ou are very patient and I expect you to be very patient with this one indeed." Coguarpaw hissed and touched noses with Amberheart. They padded away leaving me besides Dandelionkit. The orange she-cat was waiting, barely keeping her posture.

" Dandelionkit, from this moment on you will be known as Dandelionpaw." The she-cat smirked and bouned up and down besides me, twirling in circles.

" Stonefeather, you will mentor this young she-cat." Dandelionpaw stopped and looked at Darkstar with wide eyes. Stonefeather blinked and padded towards Dandelionpaw with shy eyes. Dandelionpaw touched her nose with his and Dandelionpaw led her mentor to where her litter mates sat with their mentors.

" That is the end of this meeting." Darkstar finished. The black tom leaped off of the Skystone and padded towards me. I puffed my chest and waited as he approached.

" You want to hunt with me?" He asked. I nodded and followed him out of the thorn tunnel with the burn of cats glaring at me on my pelt.

I raced off and looked over my shoulder.

" Can't catch me!" I challenged. Darkstar smirked and raced ahead of me.

" What's that?" He teased. I smiled and bolted ahead and jerked to a stop when I noticed we were by the Fishclan border. Darkstar stopped besides me and looked over at their territory besides me. There was a waterfall that separated the two borders and it pored down with loud crashing noises.

" Lets get away." Darkstar yowled over the noise. I nodded, I stil hated Fishclan after the battle even if it was Scourge controlling my mother at the time.  I followed Darkstar away and stopped at the a large ash tree in the middle of our territory. I sighed deeply and sat down to rest.

" You alright?" Darkstar asked me. I nodded, even though I knew it wasn't the truth.

" Winterstorm." Darkstar mumbled. " You wait here while I get something to eat." I dipped my head and watched as he disappeared into the brush. I then became lost in thought. Scourge still lurked in my dreams, even if he didn't met me in person his appearance still haunted me at night. After what he did to Tigergaze, and the Sweetstream it breaks my heart and angry at the same time at the thought of my dead kin. I had to be strong for them though. To make them proud that I'll live on and carry the name as kin, the only problem is they wouldn't be proud of me with Scourge runing me life.

Darkstar came back with a squirrel in his jaws and dropped it in m paws.

" You take first bite." He insisted. I nodded and took a big bite out of the prey and gulped down the squirrel after a few moments.

" Winterstorm." Darkstar mewed. " I can't hide it anymore." He whispered. I blinked and took another bite out of the squirrel.

" What do you mean?" I swallowed the squirrel and tilted my head at the leader of Lightclan.

" I mean, I can't hide my love for you anymore, Winterstorm. Roamers have spread and I wanted to tell you they were true. I love you, Winterstorm and there isn't anything I wouldn't do for you. When all your family died, I vowed I would protect you and make you feel loved again." I was frozen, I couldn't say anything. Just stare at Darkstar. I couldn't help but noticed, he was handsome. His broad shoulders showed underneath his gleaming black pelt and his amber eyes were gleaming hopefully.

I didn't want him to love me. I didn't want Scourge to take him too. It was too big of a risk but the thought of being with Darkstar the rest of my life warmed me, it reassured me that life would be better and I wouldn't have a reason to be sad. I was about to say no when I thought about little kits. How cute they would be, one a black pelt like Darkstar's and another like my white snow pelt. It made me happy that thought, and my mind was set.

" I love you too, Darkstar. I wouldn't want anything more." Darkstar smiled and pressed his shoulder into my side and I leaned against his side.

This would be rough, having someone I wouldn't want to lose more then anything will make great bait for Scourge. Hopefully he wouldn't care about me anymore. Well, I hope he doesn't