A/N: Welcome to my new story! Okay, I know what you're thinking if you've read my stories before - you can barely manage to update the ones you have, and you're starting another one?!

Well, the short answer is... yes.

But this is more of a side project than anything else, and it shouldn't be too long, so I'm just updating when I have inspiration, and not trying to tie myself to a schedule or anything. Plus, I've been having fun writing it, so I figured, heck, why not post it?

Anyway, on to what this story is! Life in the Shadows is a story from Littlecloud's POV during Brokenstar's reign. It'll cover time from when he's two moons old up until the end of Into the Wild. So, yes, it will cover a little of the same ground that Yellowfang's Secret did, but the events in the story will be mostly original. :) I'm excited to continue ShadowClan's saga past Yellowfang's Secret!

Disclaimer: Rated T for adult themes, violence, and (probably) cursing. The prologue earns the T rating, just a heads up.

SHADOWCLAN

Leader: Brokenstar - Huge dark brown tabby tom with a ragged, scarred pelt, a broad, flat face, bright amber eyes, and a tail bent in the middle like a broken branch.

Deputy: Blackfoot - Large, muscular white tom with amber eyes and large, jet-black paws, one of which has six toes.

Medicine cat: Yellowfang - Scarred dark grey she-cat with round orange eyes, a long, matted pelt, torn ears, and a broad, flat face.
Apprentice, Runningnose

Warriors: Brackenfoot - Pale ginger tom with dark ginger legs and orange eyes.
Brightflower - Orange tabby she-cat with a broad, flat face and wide-set amber eyes.
Mudclaw - Grey tom with brown legs and green eyes.
Toadskip - Dark brown tabby tom with white splashes and white legs; green eyes.
Nettlespot - Thin white she-cat with ginger flecks and green eyes.
Mousewing - Long-furred black tom with blue eyes.
Amberleaf - Dark orange she-cat with brown legs and ears.
Finchflight - Black-and-white tom with yellow eyes.
Blizzardwing - Mottled white tom with icy blue eyes.
Frogtail - Dark grey tom with green eyes.
Ashheart - Pale grey she-cat with blue eyes.
Scorchwind - Ginger tabby tom with amber eyes.
Nutwhisker - Brown tom with amber eyes.
Rowanberry - Cream-and-brown she-cat with amber eyes.
Wolfstep - Long-furred dark grey tom with amber eyes.
Russetfur - Small, sleek dark ginger tabby she-cat with dark green eyes.
Boulder - Skinny silver-grey tabby tom with a torn ear and dark blue eyes.
Clawface - Sturdy, heavily built, battle-scarred brown tom with amber eyes.
Flintfang - Grey tom with amber eyes.
Deerfoot - Dark brown tom with green eyes.
Tangleburr - Mottled grey-brown she-cat with green eyes.
Stumpytail - Brown tabby tom with a short, stumpy tail and dark green eyes.
Cinderfur - Thin grey tom with yellow eyes.

Apprentices: Runningnose - Small grey-and-white tom with yellow eyes and a continuously runny nose.

Queens: Featherstorm - Dark brown tabby she-cat with yellow eyes. (Mate = Blizzardwing; kits = Dawnkit, Mosskit, & Volekit.)
Newtspeck - Black-and-ginger she-cat with green eyes. (Mate = Nutwhisker; kits = Littlekit, Wetkit, & Brownkit.)
Fernshade - Tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes. (Mate = Wolfstep; kit = Badgerkit.)

Kits: Volekit - Pale brown tom with yellow eyes.
Mosskit - Large brown-and-white tabby tom with green eyes.
Dawnkit - Small pale grey tabby she-cat with blue eyes.
Littlekit - Very small pale brown tabby tom with light blue eyes and a brown nose.
Wetkit - grey tabby tom with blue eyes.
Brownkit - Brown tom with green eyes.
Badgerkit - Fluffy black-and-white tom with markings on his face that resemble a badger's and yellow eyes.

Elders: Poolcloud - Pale grey-and-white she-cat with blue eyes.
Crowtail - Small black tabby she-cat with green eyes.
Archeye - Green-eyed grey tabby tom with black stripes, including a thick stripe over one eye.
Hollyflower - Dark grey-and-white she-cat with dark green eyes.
Deerleap - Grey tabby she-cat with white legs and green eyes.
Nightpelt - Small, lean black tom with amber eyes and a short, glossy pelt.

THUNDERCLAN

Leader: Bluestar - Old blue-gray she-cat with piercing blue eyes and a scar over one shoulder.

Deputy: Redtail - Small tortoiseshell tom with amber eyes and tufted ears.

Medicine cat: Spottedleaf - Pretty tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat with golden eyes.

WINDCLAN

Leader: Tallstar - Elderly black-and-white tom with yellow eyes and a long tail.

Deputy: Deadfoot - Small, lean black tom with a twisted paw and yellow eyes.

Medicine cat: Barkface - Short-tailed brown tom with dark green eyes.

RIVERCLAN

Leader: Crookedstar - Huge light brown tabby tom with green eyes and a crooked jaw.

Deputy: Oakheart - Large dark reddish-brown tom with amber eyes.

Medicine cat: Mudfur - Old, mottled, long-haired light brown tom with a pale belly and green eyes.

Prologue

The WindClan cats roiled around them, screeching and yowling. The scent of blood hung thick in the air. The dark brown tabby bared his teeth in a savage snarl as he raked his claws down the face of a ginger she-cat. The WindClan warrior screamed and rolled away; he leaped on her and tore at her belly before finally letting her run away.

But there were too many enemies, that much was clear. They battered the ShadowClan cats like an angry tide, an army of lean, wiry, rabbit-breathed warriors keen on defeating the trespassers. Yes, they were going to lose.

And he was fine with that.

Someone bumped into him from behind, and he whirled, hissing, only to blink into his father's face. "You and me against the world," the dark tabby, so much like his son, panted. He grinned. "The two of us against the four of them."

They were on their own, back-to-back, while their Clanmates tussled a foxlength away.

Perfect. Just perfect.

He lunged, he and a black tom crashing to the ground in a knot of fur and claws. Suddenly, a screech rent the air. The brown tomcat thrust his opponent powerfully to the ground and turned just in time to see his father collapse in a spray of blood. While he was distracted, the warrior beneath him kicked up powerfully, sending him skidding across the ground. The ShadowClan cat found his paws quickly and ran back into the fray, leaping and jumping and dodging and weaving, attack after attack after attack. Battle sang in his veins and roared in his ears, building to a thrumming crescendo in his soul. For the first time in moons he felt truly alive. Then he sprang tackled knockedtotheground, a tabby writhing beneath him as he sank in his teeth.

One WindClan cat let out a terrified yowl as he stepped away. The tabby hacked once and went still as blood pooled around her. The three remaining opponents fled.

The dark brown tom turned to his father.

The leader of ShadowClan lay still on the ground. His pelt, thick and matted, was torn by

torn by fresh wounds across his shoulder, his flanks, his stomach. Blood trickled sluggishly from a gash in his neck, seeping slowly into the dirt.

The tom stirred and gasped as his son drew near. "B... Brokentail," he rasped.

"Yes, Father?" Brokentail mewed quietly.

The tabby struggled to sit up and didn't quite succeed; his amber eyes were still hazy and unfocused with the trace of death. "Are.. d-did we beat them?"

"Yes, Father."

Brokentail took a few steps forward, until he was standing over the ShadowClan leader. He felt for a moment that he would not go through with it. WindClan was supposed to have killed him. He should not have to. Then he thought of leadership - leadership - and what the Clan could be, would be without his kittypet of a father at the helm.

He swallowed and unsheathed bloody claws that glinted in the sunlight.

"I'm sorry, Father."

He raised his paw
watched his father's eyes stretch wide -
"Brokentail, what are you - "
gritted his teeth

and struck.

The wound was deep and long and wide.

Raggedstar's eyes went even wider.

He let out a horrible choking noise as blood rushed from the wound. It pooled around his head, staining the grass in a sticky puddle. It spread rapidly, and he hacked as blood began to run from his mouth. His eyes - oh StarClan, his eyes, filled with unbelievable pain and betrayal. Then the light faded from his agonized gaze, only to return a few moments later as his body blazed back to life.

Behind them, the battle raged.

Raggedstar struggled to form a word. "Wh... Why?" Then his muscles spasmed and death claimed him again.

When he came back this time, he was too weak to do much more than twitch. He locked his gaze to Brokentail's. Brokentail met it, a single shudder passing through his entire body.

One more time StarClan sent him back, and one more time Brokentail watched the light fade from his eyes. As he fell still, completely, totally still, breath leaving him for the last time, Brokentail's paws shook, if only slightly, a tiny tremble barely detectable to any onlooker.

The battle finished, with yowls of "Retreat! Retreat!" from Deerfoot. The ShadowClan warriors pelted for the border only to scramble to a stop and stare in shock as they saw Brokentail standing over his father's dead body.

"The WindClan cats," Brokentail rasped. His voice was husky with grief. "They killed him. I killed the cat that did it, but..." His gaze slid to the tabby she-cat whose throat he had slit. The other cats were shocked, too shocked for themselves to comfort Raggedstar's son. They offered to carry him, but the deputy refused. Brokentail alone carried his father home, Yellowfang striding by his side, her orange eyes hollow.

Brokentail alone laid Raggedstar to rest in the clearing, announcing his death to the Clan, listening to their yowls of astonishment.

Brokentail alone demanded to get his nine lives that night, hearing his father's dying words ring in his ears, seeing his eyes fade again and again.

And Brokentail alone knew what had really, truly happened that day, leaving him all by himself as the WindClan warriors had fled, leaving him all by himself with his leader at his paws.

I'm sorry, Father... but this is only the beginning.