HAHA! *punches fists in the air* YES!!!! FF doesn't work right with Opera, but with Explorer it does!!!! Cheers! ^^;

8D This is a new story! It might be somewhat.... interesting, shall I say! ^^; 8D

*le glares at the case of writers' block in my brain* DX Wells.... I shall *NOW* go off to write something *ELSES*! Buts.... Enjoy this, for nowses! ^^; 8D

XDDDDD Also, Bramblestripe....? XD I'm going to torture you, by making a story where Bramblestripe and Amberleaf get together and.... *stares* The next words aren't appropriate for the kiddies! XD But, seriously, Bramble.... You'd better shape up fast, or my revenge....? Oh, it'll be sweet, all right. It'll be *TOTALLY* sweet. :D

Chapter 1

Darkstorm lay in the middle of the territory in a sheltered glade, watching her kits play. She watched the trees. All was peaceful. The sunlight and the shade dappled on the ground so that there were spots of yellow and spots of brown. All in all, a very pretty sight.

Suddenly, she heard a noise. She stiffened. Should I call my kits? she wondered.

"Kits!" she called. "Come to me; I--"

But it was too late. Two tabby shapes erupted from the bushes. One grabbed all three kits and pinned them down while the other lightly held on to her.

"So? Will these work?" the dark brown tom pinning her to the ground asked the other one--a dark yellow tabby, she noticed.

"Sure, sure." The dark yellow tom stared carefully at Darkstorm's dark silver pelt. It was clean and shiny, and it brought out her blue eyes perfectly.

"What a pretty she-cat," he muttered under his breath. Darkstorm narrowed her eyes, wondering what exactly he meant by that.

"Okay." The dark brown tom was inspecting her kits. "Two toms, one she-cat; what should we do?"

"Deal with the tom kits, Dark Claws; the she-cats will come back to our camp with us. The mother can be used for mating again; the she-kit can either be sold or used for mating or put to work; it all depends on what Blood Star thinks," answered the dark yellow tabby tom nonchalantly.

Darkstorm froze. Bloo-Bloodstar.... That sounds like a Clan name! she realized.

"I shall deal with the tomkits, then." The brown tom glared at the three kits -- one kit was a dark reddish colour, Redkit; one was a dark silver tabby, like her, Stonekit; and the only she-kit was a dark reddish colour with dark silver tabby spots, her name was Shadekit; she was not a very pretty colour, but instead, a mix of her parents.

Still beautiful, Darkstorm decided.

"Please do!" hissed the dark yellow tabby one. When the dark brown tom hesitated, the dark yellow one hissed and stalked up to the kits. He shouldered the brown one aside and raised a claw.

What is he doing....? Darkstorm wondered.

Darkstorm stared as the dark yellow tabby tom suddenly slashed at the throats of Redkit and Stonekit. The two small bodies fell to the ground, dead.

No.... "Murderer!" she yowled, flying at Yellow Tooth. He just grabbed her easily and pinned her to the ground by her throat.

"Haha, not so powerful now, now are we?" he sneered. She struggled.

"M-M-Mu-Murderer!" she spat. "You--You horrible creature! You--"

He quickly clamped her mouth shut with a muzzle. "Oh, but we don't need toms. And we had to kill them; otherwise they would get away and tell your Clan and everybody would know about us!" he hissed, slashing at her belly with one sharp, long claw.

She struggled but wasn't able to say anything. She glared up at him, and he laughed.

"Let's bring these two back to camp," decided the tom named Dark Claws. "Maybe one of us can get her as a mate, Yellow Tooth!"

"Hmm.... You'd better hope so," Yellow Tooth grunted.

"Hope what?"

"Hope you're lucky. Most likely, I'm going to get her as a mate simply because I am in a higher position than you are! You are hardly above the slave scum!" Yellow Tooth sneered viciously. Dark Claws let out a slight whimper.

"I'm not scum!" he cried.

"Then prove yourself," Yellow Tooth hissed. "Make sure that these she-cats get to camp safely, or dispose of the bodies; I don't care and if you want to be promoted to a higher rank, then you'd better prove yourself!"

Dark Claws said nothing; he only sadly picked up the two little tom kits' bodies and led Shadekit away, clipping her muzzle to a vine-like Twoleg thing.

****

Shadekit glanced at Yellow Tooth. He was leading her mother, but doing it viciously. He yanked her and threatened her and clawed her. If cats could cry, Shadekit would've.

"Hurry up!" hissed Yellow Tooth, giving Darkstorm's leash a harsh yank. She gave out a loud whimper, and Shadekit could see why; the pointy metal muzzle had sharp edges and one of them had issued a deep cut along Darkstorm's mouth.

"Mommy...." she whispered. Dark Claws blinked at her.... was it, sympathetically?

"I was treated badly once, too; don't worry, it's not that bad," he whispered into her ear.

Shadekit pulled away. She didn't want to listen to it. She was being taken away from her home; she was being taken away from her camp, from her home; and why? She was going to be used as a slave.

Shadekit the Clan kit sounds better than Shadekit the slave, but Shadekit the slave seems to roll better off the tongue; perhaps because the words sound somewhat the same.... Hmm. Shadekit sighed sadly, and walked, resigned, along beside Dark Claws.

At the edge of the territory, she looked back and sighed.

My first time ever out of camp.... and now I`m never coming back.

Ever.

****

"Hmm...." Blood Star surveyed the kit that some of his slave hunters had brought him. She can't be used to mate.... at least, not yet. Why? Well, he had a heart--and he was using it right now. Besides, her fur was an ugly colour.... No tom liked to buy brown and silver tabby kits! They were ugly. And besides, this she-kit looked like she would be a good worker—and she-cats worked best when they were still virgins. And there was no use for her mating just now.... Instead, he nodded at Yellow Tooth. "Put her to work," he mewed gruffly.

"Will do, Sir." Yellow Tooth nodded and unclamped Shadekit's muzzle. He fastened his claws in her shoulders and slowly dragged her away.

"Mommy! NO!" Shadekit yowled as she was dragged away from her mother by those paws. No, those claws. Those long, cruel, terrifying claws.... and Darkstorm could do nothing. All she could do was watch sadly, her muzzle clamped shut so she couldn't cry out, as her daughter was taken away from her.