Book 1 - Warriors: The Shadow Outcast

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Rainfur gasped as all of the memories Sharpstar had in his twisted mind flooded into his head, forcing him to watch what the tabby leader had been through when he was little. Rainfur's headache returned quickly as his mind became too crowded with these memories, but he kept himself from screaming as he tried to pick up a weakness from Sharpstar's private moments.

"Mama! Sharpkit nearly killed me!" whined a silver tabby she-kit the size of Duskkit when he was her age. They were in ThunderClan's nursery where two queens sat. The first one had two small kits near her belly, but they couldn't see yet. The other queen was a silver tabby with bright blue eyes and odd leopard spots. It was Cheetahfur.

"Did not!" said a tabby kit padding proudly into the nursery with his head held high as he avoided the small kits suckling by the first queen. "You just didn't get out of the way fast enough! It's not like your fatally wounded or anything, so just get over it, will you?" Cheetahfur growled lowly at her kit, getting his attention as the silver tabby she-kit smirked.

"Sharpkit, I've told you this before," Cheetahfur growled as she prepared to scold her son. "You are not supposed to be using your claws until you get your mentor, okay? You are too young to be playing that roughly. Now apologize to your sister, or you won't get an ounce of fresh-kill tonight, understood?" Sharpkit stood with a shocked expression, as if surprised that his mother wasn't proud of him for what he did.

"But mother, I did everything correctly!" Sharpkit insisted. "I'm stronger than Tigerpaw now! Besides, if I can't use my claws or teeth until I get a mentor, I'll have to wait another moon!" Cheetahfur's eyes narrowed with anger, her fur bristling slightly.

"Not another word!" Cheetahfur hissed. "You will apologize to Ashkit, and help the elders dispose of their fleas right this moment or I will not allow you to play until you become an apprentice! Do I make myself clear?" Sharpkit's head lowered as he mumbled a quiet 'sorry' before running off.

"Watch out for Thornkit and Jaykit!" Cheetahfur called to her son. "Berryleaf has had enough stress today with the death of Tigerfang, so don't make me punish you more than you already have been!" Sharpkit didn't look back at his mother. He just jumped over Berryleaf and ran out of the nursery crying.

Rainfur was very shocked at this memory. Was Sharpstar mean even when he was a kit? It sure seemed like it, though there seemed to be something more. Something was missing, and it was the piece that was most needed to understand the memory he'd just seen.

Sharpkit walked out of the elders den with a sigh. He'd just finished picking off all the fleas from the elders' pelts and was now thoroughly exhausted. As the tabby kit looked up, he found that there were many eyes on him, and though they acted as if they didn't care that he was standing there, he could see it in their eyes that they loathed him.

Sharpkit's eyes narrowed as he saw Ashkit, his sister, telling almost everyone she saw about what happened and how he was punished. The brat gave a smirk in his direction as the other cats around him whispered about how cruel he was to his sister. Sharpkit growled lowly, angry that Ashkit betrayed him like that.

He walked over to the fresh-kill pile after that, his anger showing as he chose a small enough mouse for him to eat from the small pile of food. Leaf-bare had just arrived a few days ago and they were already low on food. This made Sharpkit even more determined to become an apprentice, but first he needed to prove himself.

"Hey, Sharpkit!" called one of the younger apprentice's that went by the name of Tigerpaw. "Come eat with me before I leave for the dusk patrol!" Sharpkit nodded before padding over to the darker tabby tom. He lied down, but just picked at his food as he thought of how evil his sister was.