By Spottedstar42Leader of the greatPantherClan!
Prolouge[]
Sharpstar of ShadowClan and Leafstar of ThunderCLan sat on the border, hissing at each other. "This is ShadowClan terrritroy, don't dare cross the markers!" Sharpstar hissed.
"I wasn't crossing the border! I was on ThunderClan's side!"
"You were going to cross, Leafstar!" Sharpstar pressed his face into her's and hissed, "You were always too kind! I'll show you not to cross our borders!"
"I was never too kind!" Leafstar hissed.
"Then prove it!" Sharpstar pointed with his white -tipped tail to a weak rouge queen who Leafstar hadn't noticed was on ThunderClan territory.
"Get off ThunderClan territory, Rouge!" She hissed. The queen didn't move. She just stared up at Leafstar. "Go on, get off my territory!" Leafstar unshealthed her claws and sliced the rouge's ear. The rouge fled onto ShadowClan territory.
"Not on ShadowClan territory ethier, you filthy rouge!" Sharpstar hissed and lunged himself at the weak rouge, and bit down on her neck.
"No!" the cry didn't come from the rouge, or Leafstar, but it was a tiny wail coming from where the Rouge had been laying. A small tortiseshell she-kit with a red muzzle was poking her head up, staring wide-eyed at her mother's dead body. The kit stood and ran towards it's mother on wobbly legs and attempted to cross the border to her, but Leafstar grabbed her.
"Don't cross the border, kit!" Leafstar hissed in her ear. "Do you want that cat to kill you, too?" Sharpstar flicked his tail and padded away, leaving the kit's mother laying there. Leafstar sat the kit down and dragged the rouge's body over the border.
"I'm going to take you back to camp, little one." Leafstar tugged at the rouge and buried her in the ceremonial ways. the kit sat, ignoring her. "What is your name, kit?"
"My mother called me Rednose."
"Then your name will be Redkit." Redkit didn't protest, she just walked back to camp with Leafstar.
Chapter 1: The Lies Begin[]
I am Bloodfang. In fact, that is my rouge name. My Clan name is Redtooth. I am named like that for my reddish-brown muzzle. The rest of my pelt is a beautiful tortiseshell with a white belly and a few tabby markings and speckles. My mate used to be Waveclaw, but I had to leave him after I did what I did... But let's start at the beginnning.
When I was a kit, by the name of Redkit, Leafstar brought me back to Thunderclan camp. She set me in the nursery, and told a golden long-furred she-cat to look after me. The she-cat's other kits were a reddish-brown she-cat with tall ears, her name was Dirtkit, a golden she-cat that looked just like her mother, her name was Sunkit, and a brown tabby with distant blue eyes, his name was Wavekit.
Leafstar told the mother's name, but I was ignoring her. I just wanted to sleep, go to a place where my mother wasn't dead, where that mean tabby cat didn't kill her, to a place in the woods where it was just her, her mother, and her father, who was killed by twolegs. I settled down, away from the other kits and the golden she-cat, and fell into a deep sleep.
"Hey, Sunbreeze!" the golden-furred she-cat exclaimed, waking me up. A Golden tom with reddish-brown speckles padded into the nursery.
"How's my beautiful kits?" he meowed warmly. Sunkit, Dirtkit, and Wavekit jumped up and greeted their father.
"They're very happy." the golden she-cat meowed. "They have a new friend." She flicked tail to me, curled up in my nest on the other side of the nursery.
"Is this Redkit?" Sunbreeze lowered his voice and it lost its cheerful tone.
"Yes, this is Redkit."
"Is it true that Sharpstar killed her mother?"
"And Twolegs killed my father." I chipped in. The older cats seemed surprised I was awake and listening. They dropped the topic.
Chapter 2: Running Away[]
Dirtkit was alway boasting about how she would be the best hunter in the Clans, and Sunkit kept attacking moss as though it were a whole patrol of cat invading Thunderclan territory. Wavekit just stayed and watched. Occasionally he would jump in and play-fight Sunkit, but other than that he seemed completely uninterested. I just stayed in the corner of the nursery, redfusing to leave or play-fight or even sleep next to the other kits.
"Redkit, what's wrong?" Wavekit crawled over to me.
"Nothing's wrong." I muttered, turning my head away.
"Why are you sad? Why won't you sleep next to Goldwave, like the rest of us?"
"I never wanted to be in a Clan!" I jumped up and yowled loudly. "My mother and I were only passing through! Sharpstar didn't have to kill her, he could have just chased us out and I wouldn't be stuck here in this... this CLAN!" I dashed out of the nursery.
"Redkit, wait!" Wavekit ran after me, but I was faster. I reached the gorse tunnel and ran out the other end. I was going to go to the place where my mother was buried, I was going to spend the night there, then I was going to leave. I was not Redkit, I was Rednose! My mother named me Rednose and that's not going to change.
I found the place and settled down. I couldn't think of how my mother was down there, asleep forever, instead of up here with me. I fell asleep.
I was in a meadow. I saw a leaf, and leaped at it. I had to be in a dream, it was cold in real life, but it was warm here. Suddenly, a white she-cat padded out of the trees around the meadow. I flipped around. It was a StarClan cat.
"Go away." I hissed. "StarClan isn't real!"
"You have to go back to ThunderClan. Your destiny lies there." The she-cat meowed, ignoring me. "You must become an apprentice of ThunderClan."
I hissed and lunged at her, but she had dissolved. I was back on my mother's grave. i was awake. I shook out my fur and turned towards Twolegplace. I didn't care what StarClan had to say, I wasn't a Clan cat, I didn't want to be a warrior, I didn't want to be an apprentice, I would rather live with Twolegs!
I reached Twolegplace and hauled myself up the fence. I waited for a Twoleg to come out and get me, but I was interupted by a yowl from behind me, "I found Redkit! Come on, Goldwave, I found her!"
"Redkit, it's almost time for your apprentice ceremony!" Goldwave came trotting out of the trees and up the fence. "Why did you run off like that?"
"I don't want to be a Clan cat." I hissed. "I just want my mother back and my father back, I wish Sharpstar had never killed my mother, I wish I could kill Sharpstar to show what he has done to me!"
Chapter 3: A Reluctant Apprentice[]
I touched noses with Mudspray. "What's our first training session?" Dirtpaw asked.
"Can we go hunting?" Sunpaw jumped up and down with excitment. Wavepaw hung his head and looked away from his mentor, Jadeclaw. Wavepaw kept glancing at me, as though expecting me to leap at him and claw to the ground.
"I don't bite, Wavepaw." I growled.
"Don't start fighting." Mudspray meowed sternly. "We will start with some battle moves." he focused on me.
"Yes," Jadeclaw meowed. "Redpaw and Wavepaw can trian together."
"And Dirtpaw and Sunpaw can train together, fetching moss." Warmglow meowed. The sisters looked dissappointed.
I twisted under Wavepaw's belly, and clawed at his hind legs. I jumped out from under him and flipped around, ready to meet his swiping paw. I dodged it, then jumped over his back. I twisted in midair and kicked his back legs from under him, making him fall to the ground. I rolled him over, then pinned him to the ground. I pretended to bite his neck, then let him sit up.
"You're dead." I meowed. Wavepaw and I had gone out of camp for some extra training without their mentors.
"That's what you think." Wavepaw spun around and knocked me to the ground. I batted at his belly with my hind legs, then I just went limp.
"You okay, Redpaw?" Wavepaw meowed, lossening him grip. That was a mistake. I flipped him over and pretended to bite his neck again.
"Wow." i meowed, sitting back and licking my paw. "I killed you twice. Who says toms are better at fighting than she-cats."
"I'm not saying toms are better at fighting than she-cats, I'm saying I'm better at fighting than she-cats."
"You've only had two moons of training." I meowed. I never wanted to be an apprentice. But i did now. I wanted to learn to fight, I wanted to cause ShadowClan pain, especially Sharpstar.
"So?" Wavepaw curled his lip playfully.
"I'll prove You're not the best fighter!" I meowed. I leapt at him, and we play-fighted the rest of the night.
"Redpaw!" Mudspray called from the entrance to the Apprentices' Den. "Let's go hunting!"
"I'm not training today." I grumbled.
"why not?" Mudspray crawled in, his eyes filled with concern.
"I just don't want to." I meowed.
"Well, you don't do apprentice tasks because you want to, you do them because you have to." I grunted and followed the brown and white tom out into the clearing.
"Do you want to train with Sunpaw and Wavepaw?" Warmglow called across the clearing.
"I don't want to do anything." I grumbled.
"Come on, get a better attitude." Wavepaw swatted her playfully. But today all i wanted was to go back to my old life. I didn't want to be a warrior.
Chapter 4: A Warrior[]
"StarClan honors your determination and loyalty." Leafstar touched the top of Wavepaw's, no Waveclaw's, head. I hung my head sadly. I know that I didn't deserve to become a warrior, and gain the name Redtooth. Leafstar only made me a warrior because she didn't want me moping around at my training sessions.
"Come on, time for our vigil." Waveclaw licked my head to smoothe out my ruffled fur. "Or are you scared?"
"I'm not scared. I'm just worried about you." i teased. I settled down for the vigil.
"I can't hunt." I sighed, watching my squirrel I had just missed scramble up a tree.
"Giving up won't help." Waveclaw meowed encourgingly. He crouched down, and twtiched his whiskers at the scent of mouse. He crawled slowly towards the mouse, then pounced. He killed it in one swift bite, and buryied it next to my pitiful vole.
I thought about my mother. She wouldn't have let me stand around moping about not being abe to hunt. Waveclaw and I padded farther to the ShadowClan border. Suddenly I scented a rabbit. I crouched and stalked the white rabbit. the rabbit jumped up and ran. i chased after it. I wasn't going to let this one go.
"Redtooth! Don't cross the border!" Waveclaw meowed. It was too late. I had crossed the border and lept on the rabbit. I killed it quickly and ran back across the border, but a ShadowClan patrol had spotted me.
"Ah, I know you." Sharpstar meowed. He was followed by Loudhiss and Tabbypelt.
"Yes. I'm the kit whose mother you killed." Loudhiss and Tabbypelt hissed at her.
"Our leader did no such thing!" they hissed. "Liar!"
"You killed my mother and you know it!" I hissed at Sharpstar. "I saw it with my own eyes!"
"ThunderClan!" Sharpstar hissed. "They will lie about anything!"
"It's okay, Redtooth. i belive sharpstar killed your mother." Dirtpelt meowed.
"Yeah, me too." Sunspeckle meowed.
"And me." Waveclaw meowed.
"Thanks guys," I meowed, "but Sharpstar needs to know what he's done to me."
"ShadowClan are ignorant." Sunspeckle told her. "Sharpstar will never learn his lesson."
"That's what you think." I meowed under my breath so they wouldn't hear.
Chapter 5: A Terrible Deed[]
I crawled across Snakerocks, careful about fox scents and adder scents. I was almost to the Thunderpath when I was spotted. "Redtooth?"
"Waveclaw?" I jumped up from my crouch and tried to look innocent.
"What are you doing out here?" Waveclaw padded up to me, a suspicious look in his eyes.
"There's-there's something I must do." I meowed.
To my surprise, he didn't ask any more questions. "I know you won't tell me what you are about to do. I just wanted to say, be careful."
"I will, Waveclaw." I stepped forward and touched noses with him.
"I love you, Redtooth." Waveclaw pressed his pelt to mine.
"I love you too. Now, I have to go."
I left Waveclaw at the border and trotted into ShadowClan territory. I opened my mouth and scented the air. Patrol. I jumped behind a pine tree and into a mud puddle. That disguised my scent. Then I hurled myself up the tree and hid in the branches.
"I don't know why Sharpstar made us go out on patrol alone." Redtooth recognized the sound of Loudhiss's voice.
"We need the fresh-kill." Leafclaw meowed. Redtooth scented the air. Only the two.
"That mouse-brained ThunderClan cat Redtooth stole a rabbit." Loudhiss meowed. "She also said... She said Sharpstar killed her rouge mother."
"What! Lair!" Leafclaw meowed.
"The thing is, I don't think she is a lair." Loudhiss stopped right under Redtooth's tree. "I think Sharpstar might have killed her mother."
"How can you say that?" Leafclaw hissed. Her voice was filled with sudden hatred.
"I remember the night Redtooth first came to ThunderClan. Sharpstar came back smelling of blood and rouge."
"That doesn't prove anything."
"I guess you're right, but I'm going to stay away from Camp for awhile."
"That's mouse-brained."
"Maybe we should stay in camp more." another cat I didn't recognize stumbled out of the shadows. "You know Sharpstar only has one life left."
This was the information I needed. I leaped from tree to tree, towards ShadowClan's camp.
I stood outside the camp, ears procked for any noise. when the camp seemed quiet, I slipped in.
I didn't know where Sharpstar was. I scented the air, but couldn't smell him from all the different ShadowClan scents. Then I spotted him, in a log under a tree, fast asleep. I couldn't belive I was going to do this, but I had to.
I padded carefully into Sharpstar's den. Suddenly, I felt courge wash over my paws. I was going to do to Sharpstar what he did to my mother...
Chapter 6: Leaving, Forever[]
I stood outside my den, wondering if I should go in. No, I couldn't be in ThunderClan anymore, not after I killed Sharpstar. I padded to Leafstar's den.
"Leafstar?" I called.
"Come in, Redtooth." Leafstar called.
"I'm leaving ThunderClan." I told her when I had stumbled in and sat next to her.
"Why?" Leafstar sounded surprised.
"I was never meant to be a Clan cat, and I was never meant to be held to the warrior code. I always wanted to leave before, but I was young, and wouldn't be able to handle myself without my Clan. But now I am strong. I must leave."
"I understand." Leafstar dipped her head. "Do you want to leave now, or do you want to say goodbye to your Clanmates?"
"I will leave now, Goodbyes will only make me want to stay." I padded out of the den and out the gorse tunnel. I kept going until I left Thunderlcan territory behind. There was only one thing that jept me tyied to my life in the Clans. I licked my belly, heavy with kits. I wanted Waveclaw to have a chance to be proud of them.
Moons later, I took mine and Waveclaw's kits back to Thunderclan territory. "Come on, Wavekit!" one of my kits meowed. "Keep up!" I had three kits, Wavekit, who looked just like Waveclaw, Sunnykit, who looked just like me, only she had golden spots, and Burntkit, who looked just like my mother, Black with gray speckles.
I padded into Thunderclan camp. There were many shouts of surprise, and one loud shout of joy.
"Redtooth!" Waveclaw dashed to my side and rubbed my pelt to his.
"My name is Bloodfang now." I didn't want to admit it, but a former BloodClan cat had come up with that name for me. thankfully, Waveclaw didn't ask. "And these are your Daughters and son."
"Why are you giving them up, Bloodfang?"
"They are Clan cats, through and through, but I am not. This is Wavekit, Sunnykit, and Burntkit."
"They will be a great part of the Clan." Waveclaw meowed. As I turned to leave, Waveclaw caught up with me. "I know I can't stop you from going, but, I love you."
"I love you to, Waveclaw."
"I know you killed Sharpstar." This took me by surprise.
"But.. How?"
"ShadowClan cats found your scent everywhere. Is that why you left?"
"It is." I dipped my head sadly.
"It doesn't matter, Bloodfang. I will always love you."
"I will aways love you to." I turned and padded away, and I couldn't help but look back at his blue, distant eyes. I would miss those eyes, but I must leave. I had to leave.
Something that Mudspray had said came to my mind, "Well, you don't do tasks because you want to, you do them because you have to." that was true here. I forced myself to look forward. If I looked back, I saw misery. If I looked forward, I saw an untainted path ahead.
The End
