The Lost Kittypet- a Warriors fanfic

10

“let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join under the high rock for a clan meeting!” Ashstar called. There was hardly any light as it wasn’t even dawn yet. The clan began to gather, most of them looking rather sleepy. Once they had all settled themselves below him, Ashstar meowed, “we need a temporary deputy while Flowerface is ill.” he paused as whispers broke out. After a few heartbeats Ashstar raised his tail for silence. “Skypelt, will you act as deputy until Flowerface recovers?” Skypelt gasped before she mewed, “y-yes, Ashstar.” Ashstar dipped his head and dismissed the clan before he jumped down. He landed in front of Skypelt. The she-cat still looked rather stunned. “why choose me?” she asked. “you have had an apprentice and you are a great warrior. Why? Who did you think I would choose?” Skypelt shrugged and mewed, “well, Dustfur or Whitewhisker.” Ashstar nodded. “but I chose you.” he told her softly. Skypelt nodded and said goodbye before she padded over to where Kit-kat and Icefang were waiting for her. As soon as she reached them, Ashstar saw Icefang mewing excitedly. “wait, Skypelt!” Ashstar called, realizing he had forgotten to tell her something. Skypelt turned and padded back over to him. “yes?” she asked. “you need to organize patrols.” Ashstar told her. “oh, right!” Skypelt mewed and bounded over to where Moonfur, Fernheart, Dustfur, and Waterfur were all eating. Skypelt called over Icefang and Kit-kat over and began mewing rapidly and flicking her tail. The other cats were nodding and when Skypelt stopped talking they divided into groups. Icefang, Moonfur, and Dustfur were one patrol and Fernheart, Waterfur, and Kit-kat joined Skypelt. The two patrols padded out of camp together. Ashstar watched them go then padded to the fresh-kill pile and grabbed a mouse and a squirrel from last night. He took the squirrel to the medicine cats. “Yellowtail! Willowpaw!” Ashstar called into their den. Willowpaw poked her head out. “yes?” Ashstar dropped the squirrel a the apprentices paws. “I brought this for you and Yellowtail.” he mewed. “thanks Ashstar!” Willowpaw mewed and grabbed the prey before she disappeared inside again. Ashstar grabbed his mouse and settled himself at the corner of the camp to eat. After he finished Ashstar wondered what he could do today. Maybe he could join a later patrol. Suddenly he knew what he wanted to do. He would visit Flowerface and Sparrowpaw. He quickly padded over to the medicine cats den and called inside once more. “Willowpaw? Can I come in?” “not now!” the tone of Willowpaw’s voice worried Ashstar. “what’s wrong?” he called in. Willowpaw poked her head out. “I don’t want the illness spreading!” she hissed. Ashstar could sense her fear. “are they okay?” he demanded. Willowpaw looked at him sadly. “Flowerface is worse and Dappledleaf has started coughing.” a pang of worry hit Ashstar. leaf bare would come any day now, he was sure. Sickness was the last thing Thunderclan needed. Willowpaw gave Ashstar a quick lick of reassurance before disappearing into the den again. Ashstar heaved a sigh and went to flop down in the clearing again. On his way he accidentally crashed into Leafcloud.  The she-cat fell onto her side with a hiss. Ashstar had also fallen but he leaped up and helped Leafcloud up. “watch where you’re going!” the queen hissed at him. Ashstar nodded apologetically. “I’m sorry, Leafcloud.” Leafcloud suddenly realized she had just hissed at her clan leader. Her eyes widened, and looked slightly ashamed. Leafcloud scuffled her paws in embarrassment. Ashstar touched his tail to her shoulder briefly before he mewed jokingly, “I was just coming to lay in the sunlight. I guess I laid down before I was ready.” Leafcloud purred in amusement and mewed, “see you later, Ashstar. I’m going to have some fresh-kill.” before she padded  over to the fresh-kill pile. Ashstar found a sunny spot in the clearing and flopped down, on purpose this time. He felt himself drifting off when the morning patrol came back into camp. Icefang was leading Dustfur and Moonfur. The three cats came bounding over. Ashstar heard them and struggled into a sitting position. “is everything okay?” he asked the returning patrol. His guess was nothing happened, seeing as no one came charging into camp yowling their heads off. Icefang nodded. Ashstar mewed, “okay then.” and the three cats padded off. Ashstar rested a little longer before more rustling woke him. He cracked open an eye to see Skypelt and her patrol leaving a large amount of fresh-kill on the pile. Ashstar got up and padded over to them. “well done.” he meowed. Skypelt dipped her head happily. “hey, Ashstar!” a small mew came from the nursery. Ashstar turned to see one of Leafcloud’s kits, a little calico she-cat, racing towards him, with the other two behind him. “Speckledkit, wait up!” the bigger of the two called, an orange tom. The other kit was a light brown she-kit. “you two hurry up!” Speckledkit called over her shoulder. The small kit skidded to a halt in front of Ashstar, barely stopping herself from crashing into him. The light brown kit, Dawnkit, crashed into her sister, while the tom, Firekit, avoided the two of them. Ashstar looked at the three little bundles of fur and twitched his whiskers in amusement. “Ashstar, we want to be apprentices!” Speckledkit squeaked. “kits!” Leafcloud came charging over. “you three, you are not old enough yet. You are only three moons old! And I have told you not to bother Ashstar!” Leafcloud began to herd her kits back to their den, despite their protests. “sorry Ashstar!” Leafcloud called over her shoulder. “don’t worry about it. Kits will be kits.” Ashstar called back. Leafcloud flicked her tail to show she had heard. Suddenly Ashstar’s world went dark