She was perfect. Adorable, innocent, sweet, a great friend, the kind of cat you want to have around. The kind of cat that everyone loves, and everybody kind of wishes they were her. And I wasn't any different, except that I liked her more. More than the others. I loved her. So how in StarClan could I have known? How could I have known she was a murderer?

Allegiances

Leader- Firestar

Deputy- Brambleclaw

Medicine cat- Jayfeather

Warriors- Graystripe

Dustpelt

Sandstorm

Brackenfur

Sorreltail, apprentice Foxpaw

Cloudtail

Brightheart

Thornclaw, apprentice Brairpaw

Squirrelflight

Leafpool

Spiderleg, apprentice Alderpaw

Birchfall

Berrynose, apprentice Streampaw

Hazeltail, apprentice Blossompaw

Mousewhisker, apprentice Bumblepaw

Cinderheart

Lionblaze, apprentice Rainpaw

Foxleaf, apprentice Moonpaw

Icecloud

Toadstep

Rosepetal

Apprentices- Briarpaw

Blossompaw

Bumblepaw

Rainpaw

Foxpaw

Moonpaw

Streampaw

Alderpaw

Queens- Ferncloud

Daisy

Whitewing

Poppyfrost

Elders- Longtail

Mousefur

Purdy

We're the closest group of friends in the Clan.

Rainpaw, Moonpaw, Streampaw, Aspenpaw and I. We're all apprentices, our ages varying. Moonpaw's the oldest, seventeen moons. I'm sixteen moons. Rainpaw's next, at fifteen. Streampaw's eleven. Aspenpaw's nine moons.

Some people would say we differ too much in ages to be friends. Aspenpaw and Streampaw...well, they're still like kits. They still look like them, with kitten soft fur and their overall small size. Rainpaw looks like she's teetering on the edge of looking like a full grown cat, still keeping kit-like adorableness about her. Moonpaw and I...we look like we could pass as full-fledged adults.

Not only that, but they're all she-cats. All four of them. And I'm a tom. Foxpaw's my name. Brairpaw and Bumblepaw once asked me why I always hung out with she-cats, and I didn't have much of an answer. I just feel happier, I think.

"Don't you ever do anything bad to those she-cats, Foxpaw," My mother had once told me, "Big toms like you shouldn't be hanging out with little she-cats like Aspenpaw. Who knows what you're planning on doing to her?"

"Nothing, mother," I had responded, "We're just friends. We trust each other."

At this moment I lay with my friends outside the apprentice's den as we finished dinner. Moonpaw lay stretched out on her back, pale paws in the air, yawning hugely. The setting sun made her silver fur streaked with orange tints. Rainpaw sat beside Streampaw, both were cleaning their paws. Aspenpaw sat alone, staring out distantly into the trees lining the hollow.

"Today, Spiderleg taught me my first fighting moves," Aspenaw mewed brightly.

"Aww," Moonpaw cooed, "Aspenpaw fighting!"

Aspenpaw lowered her ears and smiled adorably.

"She's so cute!" Rainpaw mewed, standing up and swiftly padding over to the little she-cat. "She's so cute today!" she pushed her nose into Aspenpaw's soft fur and nudged her until Aspenpaw fell back, laughing innocently.

I watched. I watched Rainpaw. I thought all of my great friends were exceptionally beautiful, from Aspenpaw's kitlike innocence to Moonpaw's dazzling, mature beauty, but out of all of them I couldn't lie to myself that I didn't like Rainpaw best.

I wasn't even quite sure why. All of my friends had a great personality, and had ways that made you want to be around them constantly. But something about Rainpaw...everyone liked her, her especially. She was easygoing and just fun. Lots of cats had embaressedly murmured to me they wish they could have been born into her personality. I found that I liked to be around her and her kind, adorable confidence.

"Foxpaw?" Rainpaw asked, looking up at me, head tipped slightly to one side. "You've been quiet all dinner."

"Yeah, Foxpaw," Moonpaw said, flipping over with a smile. She stood up tall. She was the leader of our group, and her body language showed it. "You're not usually this quiet. I think we should find out what it is you're..." she leaned in really close now, and murmured, "Hiding." Drawing back, she laughed loudly. Aroused by the prospect of teasing me, Streampaw, Rainpaw and Aspenpaw drew up beside her.

"Argh, guys," I groaned good-naturedly, "I'm not hiding anything!"

Moonpaw poked me with a paw. "But this level of silence..."

"It's unnatural!" Streampaw hissed, "You better talk, foxdung!" Her trademark, a single little fang that hung over her bottom lip, gleamed in the sunset as she grinned sadistically.

"Bring it on, you little bi-"

"Foxpaw!" Rainpaw interjected, eyes wide, "You don't really think that about Streampaw, right, right?"

"Uh...yeah, Rainpaw," I mewed feebly, "I dont."

"Good, because I'd pound you for good if you did!" Streampaw laughed loudly, standing up as tall as she could for still being so small. Streampaw was sassy, that's the best way to describe her. She was tough and liked to pick on me, but I knew that it was all play. I'd do anything for that spiky ginger in a second, and I'm sure that she would for me too, just like all of us.

"Oh, be nice, be nice!" Rainpaw wailed, hiding her head with her paws. I petted her forehead with my paw and she looked up at me with huge blue eyes.

"Ahh, stop it," Moonpaw said, jumping between us, "Rainpaw, don't be worried. Streampaw and Foxpaw aren't mad. Now, don't you think we should be going to bed? If we want to have any time to play after training tomorrow we should get our sleep."

She leaped up, leading the way into the den. Streampaw bounded after her, sweeping her yellow tail over me face as she passed and hissing good-naturedly. Rainpaw followed obediently. I went after her, but just before I ducked into the den, I looked back for Aspenpaw. She hadn't followed, she still stood staring out.

"Aspenpaw?" I asked, stepping closer. "Are you coming?"

She didn't turn around to look at me, her head raised to the moon just peeking over the treeline.

"Asp...Aspenpaw?" I grew suddenly nervous, and an instinct to protect the tiny she-cat drew over me. I moved closer, resting a paw on her back. She instantly turned her head toward me, and for a moment it was like her eyes were reflecting everything with perfect precision, as if the usual dark blue/purple and the pupil were completely wiped over by the glassiness.

"It's not going to last much longer," The little she-cat mewed. Her voice had changed. It was lower, deeper, darker. Not high and innocent and sweet. "After tonight...it's all going to slowly come to an end."

I stared, my fur standing up straight along my back. "Aspenpaw!" I gasped, "Aspenpaw, please snap out of it!"

She blinked, and her eyes were normal again. "Sorry. It's time for bed, right?" She smiled brightly, and I was relieved that she seemed completely healthy again. I smiled nervously in response and followed her to the den. I lay down between her and Rainpaw and closed my eyes, waiting for sleep.

Sometime in the night Rainpaw got up. Her shadow passed across my closed eyes and it woke me up. "huh?" I mumbled.

Rainpaw froze, one paw in midair, looking down at me with big, round blue eyes. "Oh...Foxpaw," she murmured.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"To catch some moonlight." she suddenly smiled brightly, eyes glimmering. "Want to come?"

Her smile was irresistible, I couldn't have refused even if I wanted to. "Sure," I mewed, getting to my paws and following her into the camp, which was bathed in moonlight. There would be a Gathering soon, the idea made my happy. I had been to four Gatherings before in my life, Rainpaw to three.

"So...let me guess," I murmured as I walked beside Rainpaw. We had slipped out of camp and now we were walking together through the silvery forest. "You're going to your favorite place, aren't you?"

"Uh huh," she said agreeably, looking at me sideways through her round blue eyes. "I go here a lot after training."

"Believe me, I know," I mumbled. I had no idea why she liked the abandoned Twoleg nest so much, but if she liked it, that was fine.

Not long later we reached it, standing old and deprecated amongst the trees, the untouched garden overgrown with weeds that Jayfeather liked for his poultices. "Ugh, here again," I grumbled. "Doesn't the stink and all that bother you, Rainpaw?

She shook her head, leaping onto the fence. She paused, looking down at me. "Coming?"

I leaped up beside her, teetering on the old wood. She laughed at my lack of balance. "Hey, it's just cause your smaller!" I grumbled, nearly tumbling into the garden beyond.

"Come on!" She mewed excitedly, leaping down and running amongst the weeds, making sure not to crush them. She sure is tactful, I thought, and let out a lovesick sigh.

"Are you sad, Foxpaw?" She meowed, pausing and looking back at me, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," I said, smiling in reassurance.

"Well...okay, then," she mewed. She stopped again at the door into the house and nudged it open with her nose. I followed her into the darkness, a prick of fear growing inside me, but I pushed it away.

The roof had mostly been torn off, leaving a good view to the stars above.

"So, what are you planning in here?" I asked her, looking around at the rotting Twoleg trash piled everywhere. Rainpaw had made her own pathways amongst it, so she could get around.

"Well, originally I was going to go rummage a bit more, but now that you're here I want to show you something." She stood on some sagging, splintering shelves high up on the wall. "Look at this."

I jumped higher up so I could see. "What is it?"

She bent down and seemed to be trying to get her jaws around something. When she finally lifted her head, she had clasped in them what looked like a flat, long piece of something shiny, tapering down to a point at the end. She held it by a darker, rounder part, her fangs digging in hard.

"What in StarClan's name is that?" I asked her. In fact she looked a bit frightening, standing up there above him with the sharp thing in her mouth, fangs showing.

She lowered her head, releasing it onto the shelf below her paws. "Well, I don't know what its called but I..." she paused, picking it up again and leaping down with it clasped in her jaws to stand beside me. She dropped it at my feet. "I was experimenting with it because I've never seen anything so shiny...it's like what the Twoleg's monsters are made out of. And I found out what the Twoleg's might have used it for."

"Um...what?" I asked. I stared down at it, gleaming harshly in the moonlight streaming from the broken roof. It lay so unmoving and cold that it made me afraid.

"Well, it hurts a bit, but..." Rainpaw picked it up again in her jaws, clasping it a different way this time, so the tip pointed downward instead of out. She jerked her head down, and the tip pierced into her little brown paw, outstretched in front of her. Blood swelled out immediately, staining the fur. She yanked the knife out and tossed it down away from her. Her breath was tight and constricted, obviously she was in extreme pain. But when she turned to look at me she was smiling and her eyes were round with excitement. "See?" she said happily.

"Rainpaw!" I gasped, my heart pounding in shock and worry. I immediately bent down and licked the blood off her paw. "You cant be experimenting like that!"

"But..." she sounded confused. "How else would I have found what it was used for?"

"I don't know, but this isn't the right way! You cant hurt yourself!"

"I...I'm sorry," she murmured, "I didn't think it was wrong."

I hissed. "You have to think things through, so they don't hurt you...or anybody else." I stopped licking and raised my head to look at her.

"Really?" she mumbled, "Oh. Okay." But then she brightened and met my eyes with a happy smile, "But don't you think it was cool? They used that thing to-"

"-cut others?" I finished angrily, "How is that cool?"

"Because...the Twolegs...I didn't know they used stuff like that to fight. I mean, who would have thought of it? We just use our bodies, our own claws. But they create things so they can fight better."

We both stared at the knife, glimmering in the moonlight, the tip stained red with Rainpaw's blood.

Rainpaw glanced up at me, and I was surprised to see tears of pain filling her eyes. "Foxpaw..." she rasped, pulling her injured paw in closer to her, "It hurts...it hurts so bad."

"That's why you can't do it!" I cried, drawing closer to her and pressing my paws down on her own, "You cant experiment anymore."

Rainpaw lowered her head so I could no longer see her eyes.

"Rainpaw?" I murmured, "It's okay that you like the Twoleg stuff, but you cant do things that'll hurt you. Okay?"

She wasn't responding. I nudged her with my nose. "Come on, Rainpaw. It's okay. No need to be sad."

After a long, silent pause she pulled her paws out from under mine and turned away from me. Her head was still down, staring at the floor.

"Rainpaw?" I gasped as she slowly walked away across the piles of junk. A trail of bloody paw prints marked her trail.

"Why don't we just go back to camp, anyway then you can get your paw looked at-"

She raised her head sharply now, and her eyes were narrowed with anger, furious eyebrows shaping her face. "No!" she yelled.

I stumbled back, surprised, and she slowly started to walk closer. Her eyes were...empty. I stared, gasping for breath. Not like Aspenpaw's from earlier. They were like they always were, except that the pupil was gone. Just the bright, glimmering blue, crossed over by shadows. Her paws seemed loud and thudding, making my frightened heart beat twice as loud. She kept coming closer and closer, glaring gaze locked onto mine.

"Rainpaw, please!" I rasped, scrambling away from her as she slowly increased her approach. She slammed her paw down on the knife, claws out, and then she stopped, glaring at me. "All of you...I don't want all of you anymore."

"Rainpaw! Rainpaw!" I wailed, still struggling backward. I tripped and fell, landing with a thud on the rotting floorboards below. A cloud of dust was sent into the air above me. I took a gasping breath and immediately started choking. I struggled to my feet but collapsed again. I had sprained my shoulder in the fall. Damnit.

Rainpaw suddenly appeared at the edge of whatever it was I had fallen off of, looking down at me with cold, empty eyes. "All of you I don't want," she repeated in a dark murmur, "And that's why I will kill all of you!" She threw her head back and laughed, a crazy, cackling laughter, louder than I thought she could do. I whimpered and whined, trying desperately to get to my feet so I could run, so I could run away from Rainpaw and the horrors unfolding in front of me.

Rainpaw dropped her head down again. "Foxpaw..." she murmured, and sounded confused, "You're still here?"

"Y...yes," I stammered, shaking so hard that even if I hadn't hurt my shoulder I wouldn't have been able to stand. "I...I've been here all...all along."

"Oh," Rainpaw said, and jumped down gently beside me. I stared into her eyes, blue with a black slit etched into them. Good. Whatever had happened, it was over now. I felt relief begin to sink into me, sweeping away the fear.

"Don't you think we should be getting back?" she asked in her normal innocent way, her head tilted slightly to the side, "It's kind of late..."

I struggled to my feet, finally finding my footing. I stumbled after her, trembling after all that had happened, as we headed back toward the camp. Something about Rainpaw told me she remembered nothing of it at all. I took a deep breath, calming my senses. Whatever had happened, it was over now. Life was back to normal.

--

Yup. Lately I've been starting a lot of stories and finding it's not what I truly want to write about. This probably isn't, either, but hey, I'll try to keep it updated for you guys!! I hope you liked, and please review!!

-Pan