A/N: Hey folks! I wrote this like a billion years ago, and just recently found it buried away in my drive. I read through and edited some parts to make it better, and decided it was time to publish it online! Next chapter will hopefully come out soon, as soon as figure out what the heck I'm doing with this story right now lol.

Home

Preface

"Homekit –" Tigerpool gasped, her plank rising and following with each breath she took. Homekit mewled, taking in his first breaths of life as his mother's own began to recover. The kit was just a newborn, but any cat could see that he was strong. Strong like his mother, and strong like his father.

"Named for where we belong," Rockfur finished for her, his voice low and calming. Tigerpool purred at her mate, grateful that he was there to share this moment with her. Not all queens were so lucky. Tigerpool's sister's mate, Mousebreeze, was killed in a border dispute with RiverClan just days before she had given birth. Tigerpool was younger then, but she remembered how her sister had begged and pleaded with the medicine cat, insisted it was all a lie.

"Mousebreeze is just off hunting!" She cried. "He'll return any moment now!" But Mousebreeze had never returned. The two kids born to her were strong and healthy, and sure to become great warriors one day, but her sister was never the same again. Tigerpool thought of her sister sometimes. Wondering where she was. Wondering if she was even still alive…or her kits.

Rockfur and Tigerpool had spent the last few days wandering the pine forest, and spent their evenings licking the fresh wounds on their soft, sore paws. They weren't used to this kind of land. RainClan was located in the valley, nestled between RiverClan and ShadowClan. Where the land was soft and fertile, their paws constantly damp – never dry yet never wet. RainClan warriors were not built for pine forests.

Their lives were good before all of this. Their clanmates were loyal and strong. Some of them maybe still are – but Tigerpool wasn't willing to chance it. If a cat was given a choice between their own kin and a clanmate on the run…well, Tigerpool knew which choice she would make.

Rockfur was the most trusted warrior, and the closest thing to a brother their leader, Greenstar, had. Greenstar was a good leader, one of the best that RainClan had ever seen. RainClan wasn't like the other clans, in that regard. The leader had little choice in what kind of cat would lead them next – the only choice they had was in how they raised them to be. In RainClan, leadership ascended by blood. After Greenstar had died, it was his son, Leapstar, who was meant to lead them next. Leapstar, who was cruel and dishonest. Leapstar, who would lead their clan into countless bloody, unsuccessful wars. But when Greenstar lied on his deathbed, his last gasps of life beginning to escape his lungs, he made a decision that would alter their lives forever. He chose to make Rockfur their deputy – and leader – instead.

Rockfur had always thought his friend to be wise, but when he heard of his decision, he knew that he was wrong. A wise leader would have understood that that his clanmates wouldn't have understood this decision. This wasn't RainClan's way. Of course, it might have been possible to change their ways, but not like this. Not on a leader's deathbed, with only the word of a few cats. And besides, it was too late. Leapstar had already been declared leader of RainClan.

And so Tigerpool and Rockfur fled the clan, hiding in marshes and rocky hills and pine forests. But Leapstar wouldn't give in so easily. He rallied a small council of warriors, the ones he knew would be loyal to him above all else. Together, they declared Rockfur and Tigerpool enemies of the clan, vowing to send them to their ancestors in StarClan.

And so they ran. Far away from their home. Far away from everything they had ever known. Their only happiness in all this grief was the birth of Homekit. Tigerpool nuzzled her kit softly, purring to him and whispering tales of old RainClan heroes long ago.

"Someday, we will return home, my son. Until then, we must stay strong…and you will be our home."