Warning: This is a prequel to the existing story The Traveler. If you haven't read the first story don't want to ruin it for yourself, I suggest you go read that one first. If you don't read it, this entire story is going to be a giant spoiler for you. If you are okay with that, than keep reading. ;)

(Tigerclaw's POV)

A screech of pain echoed through the trees. I froze mid step. The mouse I had been stalking jumped at the sound and bolted. "Mouse dung," I hissed and leaped after it. My pounce missed as the little morsel skittered away and down a hole. I almost had it. I glanced over my shoulder towards where the sound came from. Stupid noise made me miss.

"Whoever did that is going to regret it," I growled. I slipped through the undergrowth in the direction of the voice. I passed through a patch of sunlight into a shady part of the forest.

"Oh no. What have I done? This wasn't how things were supposed to happen." I froze as a voice drifted through the trees. It sounded familiar, but it wasn't someone from Thunderclan. Careful with my paw placement, I worked my way around a large maple until I could glance past it at a small clearing.

It was Clawface. His sides were scored with fresh scratches and drying blood. A Shadowclan cat in Thunderclan territory. Beneath him was the still body of a cat. A tortoiseshell and white she cat. I felt my mood lift. Perfect. Spottedleaf was always annoying to have around camp. She was always trotting after that little fool, Firepaw. And he just ate it up. Now, she was out of the way and Bluestar will respect me all the more for trying to save her.

I relished the feeling of my claws sliding out of their sheathes. This was going to be fun. I stalked forward, keeping to the shadows.

As I got closer, his words became clearer and louder. "Stupid medicine cat," he hissed. "You can't have kits. Now I have to deal with this thing. I can't kill a kit."

What? My ears pricked at the word kit. I surged forward from the shadow at him. "What the-" Clawface started as he saw me. Before he could finish that sentence, I had bowled him over and held him down with one paw on his neck. He gasped as my long claws poked through his skin.

I looked over from his frightened face to the stone like body of Spottedleaf. Wriggling a little ways away from her was a small white kit with tortoiseshell legs. Next to it lay two wet little figures; one ginger, one brown. Neither of them were moving.

"She.. she… I didn't know she had kits. I-" Clawface sputtered. His feeble attempts to make up for what he had done annoyed me.

"Shut up," I growled. It had only taken a moment to realize what had happened. So that's what she had been hiding. I could tell by the nervous way she had been talking lately that she had been keeping something from everyone, but this? The fool, Clawface must have killed her when she was on her own. Must have thought getting rid of our medicine cat would have made Thunderclan weak against attack. I wished I had thought of that myself. The only thing he didn't see coming was that she was out here on her own to give birth. Even he wasn't heartless enough to kill a kit.

I pressed my paw down harder on his neck. It felt good to watch him begin to gasp for breath. Then I removed my paw. His eyes widened in surprise as he scrambled up and away from me. He eyed me closely. "You... You're letting me go?"

I felt a smile begin to form on my lips. I had an idea. A perfect idea. This day just kept getting better. He shrank back at the sight of my smile. Good. He should be afraid. "Oh, I'm letting you go." I said the words nice and slow. Making sure each one sounded honest. He seemed to relax a little at my words. "On one condition."

His body tensed back up again. "What do you want?"

"The kit." I let my tail flick over to the one surviving kit. "I'll take care of it. You won't have to worry about taking care of it yourself. In return, nobody knows about what happened here. You don't tell anyone about the kit, I won't mention what you did."

He glared at me. Confusion clouded his eyes. He didn't trust me. "You're not going to tell your clan mates?" I shook my head. "Why," he asked.

"Because I said so," I growled. Stupid cat. He didn't need to know why. "And honestly, I'm your only hope, so I suggest taking the deal before I kill you myself."

Clawface jerked in surprise. "Fine," he snorted. "Have it." He bounded away towards the Shadowclan border. I could see him looking over his shoulder until the trees blocked my line of sight. Fool.

I turned and walked past Spottedleaf towards the kit. The little thing was mewling pathetically. It crawled around on tiny paws in search of its mother. The stupid little kit didn't even realize it was going the wrong way. I reached forward with a paw and gave it a little nudge.

It gave a tiny cry as the force of my paw sent it rolling over onto its back. I watched as it rubbed its face with a paw and opened its eyes. Forest green. I knew it. Firepaw's kit. I bet he doesn't even know.

It looked around it with wide, eyes. A breeze shifted through the trees and moved the leaves enough to let a patch of sunlight brighten up the forest floor. Mesmerized, the kit stared up at the sunlight. With a tiny paw, it reached up towards the light. A little claw flashed as it unsheathed its claws. I watched as it reached, as if it could slash open the sky. It was almost...

Stupid kit. I shook myself off to clear my head. I picked the thing up by the scruff and started toward the twoleg place, where I knew the perfect cat to raise her would be waiting for me. She'd probably be excited. I just hoped this plan works.

Clawface was mouse brained to think he wouldn't pay for trying to weaken Thunderclan, but I'd make it discrete. Nobody would know what exactly happened. I'd just have to bury the stillborn kits on my way back and be careful not to leave any of my scent behind.

I'm back, fellow Freaks and Geeks! Feels like it's been forever. I had a little extra time on my hands and really wanted to get started on this, plus I don't know when I'll have another chance to work on this, so it may be a while until the next update.

But it's HERE, and this is how it all started! To go with this new story, I'm going to make some changes to my messages to you guys. First of all, I'm setting a goal on reviews. The Traveler got 27 reviews total, so I want to get to 40 with this story. Secondly, I'm going to be asking you readers a question (probably just yes or no questions) on how to make my stories better. That doesn't mean just reviewing about the question though. I still want real reviews with your opinions and input on the story please. ;)

This chapter's question is, are my chapters too long? I'm at almost 2,000 words per chapter usually. Would it be easier to brake it up into more chapters, or do you like them the way they are?