It's ME! I know I need to finish my Setaro story, but I have writers block for that one :( SO I thought I'd write a new story to get my mind flowing. MY FIRST CROSSOVER! Enjoy!
Burpaw lay in the sunlight, worming up his damp fur. His mentor, Mistystar, had taken the young WindClan born apprentice out for another swimming, which ended in him almost drowning... again. He was the oldest apprentice in his Clan. Mistystar and the elders agreed that he'd be made a warrior when he learned how to swim. He felt it was fair. How could a RiverClan warrior be strong if they didn't know how to swim?
A flash of red caught his attention. He saw his denmate, a bright ginger tabby with forest green eyes named Firepaw, trying to talk him. The fawn brown apprentice acted like he hadn't seen her, twitching his muddy brown tipped tail and licking his paws of the same color to was his long head fur, his paw blending in with the mud colored fur. His eyes twinkled like crystal blue stars. As the tabby leap at him he rolled away and tackled her. She squealed and mewed in amusement.
"What gave me away?" She asked.
"Ginger fur against bracken is easy to see." The former WindClan apprentice mewed.
Mistystar padded over to her apprentice and granddaughter. She smiled at them playing so nicely. Firepaw's brothers hated Burpaw since he went away as a twoleg a lot. Firepaw had to at one time, but then he had saved her in a battle against ShadowClan not long before she was apprenticed. She had slipped out of the camp and gotten over the ShadowClan/RiverClan border. RiverClan had accused ShadowClan of of stealing her and Burpaw had gone to find her. She was in a fox hole and when he'd gone the get her out, the fox came back.
Firepaw still remember how strong and brave the apprentice was. He'd only been a few moons into his RiverClan training, but he fought the fox like a seasoned warrior. His combination of WindClan speed and RiverClan power had overwhelmed the fox into retreating.
"Burpaw, why were you so mad at that fox?" Firepaw had asked as the two walked to the border..
"It was the same fox that killed my mother." The young cat had said as though it were obvious. In the nursery, Firepaw had heard stories of his mother, a pale ginger she-cat named Fawnfern. She'd hear her own mother, Kindlefur, had told Nightheart that Fawnfern was killed by a black wolf with green eyes.
"How do you know it was thatfox?"
"I saw my mothers fur in its nest." She had stopped her slow trot as the young cat walked on. His head was hung low as though his mentor had scolded him about playing with his freshkill. She'd felt terrible for him.
"Burpaw." Mistystar's voice snapped the ginger tabby back to the present. "How are you felling?"
"I'm OK, Mistystar."
"The full moon ends in three days." Mistystar looked almost regretful, not of allowing him to stay in RiverClan, but of having to see him go for another moon.
"I wish I could stay, but my twoleg leader told me I can's stay long then I already do." Burpaw looked at his paws as if that would change the twoleg leader's mind. "If I had a choice between my twoleg versions' revenge or staying here and staying an apprentice forever, I'd choose to stay here a million times over."
"Burpaw, you won't remain an apprentice forever." Mistystar meowed and wrapped her tail over his shoulders.
"Yeah I will. I can't swim, I sink like a rock. Even when I join StarClan, I'll still be an apprentice." Firepaw sighed as she listened to Burpaw's depressing voice.
"I'll take you to the border." Firepaw offered. She hated to see her friend go back to the twolegs. They never treated him right.
"OK, Firepaw, thanks." Since Mossyfoot and Hollowflight became warriors several moons ago, the brown warrior had no friends to talk to. The ginger tabby knew he was lonely and had become his friend.
"Now, before the sunsets, I want the freshkill pile to be as full as a tick." Mistystar said, the challenge was evident in her voice. Firepaw saw Burpaw's ears perk as he clawed the ground. Mistystar was challenging him to completely fill the freshkill pile before sunset when it was long past sunhigh.
"Can I have the others help?" Burpaw asked.
"Of course, now go get Splinterpaw, Firepaw can you wait by the entrance." Firepaw nodded and dashed to the camp entrance. Burpaw ran to the apprentice den.
In the gloom, he saw the small apprentice. Splinterpaw was a tiny white tom with thick, dark tiger stripes. His paws and ears were jet black and his nose was a berry color. His amber eyes were closed as he slept peacefully.
"Splinterpaw! Fire!" Burpaw screeched. The white tabby's eyes snapped open and with a yowl, he shot out of the den like he'd sat on a hedgehog. Burpaw fallowed while purring.
Splinterpaw stopped at the entrance to catch his breath and glared at Burpaw.
"What was that for?" the younger apprentice yowled.
"Time to go hunt." Burpaw smiled. The younger cat's eyes lit up and he clawed the ground.
"We have to fill the entire freshkill pile by sunset." Firepaw added.
The three raced out of camp, Burpaw in the lead, and to the lake shore. The two younger cat went into the water to fish and Burpaw briefly felt left out before he shook his head and going to hunt along the rocky shore. Not many of the prey in RiverClan territory was used to WindClan speed, so he knew he had an advantage. Plus, he could sit on his favorite rock that went to where he couldn't touch the river's bottom to fish. But he still wished he could swim and dive under the water to drag a fish out.
He sat on his moss covered rock and waited silently. A flash of sliver and his paw was hooking out a big pike. He gave it a killing bite and went back to waiting. He could do this without thinking anymore. It was as natural to him as breathing... or drowning as Rockpaw and Mallardpaw would joke. Burpaw had learned to take the joke. Mistystar had told him that it was best to laugh at yourself sometimes. So, the brown apprentice just purred at the jokes Firepaw's brothers would say.
As the sun began to set, bur paw looked at what he'd caught. Five pike, seven trout, nine vole, and a huge turtle... sort of. He was currently on the back of the turtle, having taken a dare from Splinterpaw. The white tabby was rolling around on the ground in amusement. Firepaw just rolled her her eyes and mewed something under her breath, Burpaw figured it was most likely "toms".
"Can I get off yet?" Burpaw asked angrily. They were near the RiverClan/WindClan border.
"What in StarClan's name are you doing?" A small voice called. Burpaw looked up to see his sister, Ravenwing. She was a sleek, black she-cat with bright green eyes. Her paws, muzzle, chest, and tail tip were white. She had a purplish/black nose. Beside her was Breezepelt and Heathertail.
"Burpaw, get off that turtle now." Breezepelt sighed.
"Hey, you're not his mentor!" Splinterpaw snapped.
"It's alright, Splinterpaw. Breezepelt's like a brother to me." Burpaw said as he jumped off the turtle's shell.
"You just wanted to get off the turtle."
"That too." Burpaw walked up to the border and touched noses with his sister, while Breezepelt flicked his ear with his black tail tip. "How's everything going, Ravenwing?"
"Well, this is my last patrol before I go to the nursery." The WindClan warrior mewed shyly. Breezepelt looked as though he'd caught the largest rabbit ever seen.
"Congratulations, you take care of her, Breezepelt."
"I will, don't worry." The black warrior entwined his tail with his mate's and purred.
"Did you catch all those fish?" Heathertail asked, looking at the prey Burpaw had caught.
"Yeah, I was bored." Burpaw licked his paws and spoke as if this was normal. Ravenwing purred happily at her brother.
"We better go, Burpaw." Firepaw called. She picked up her three trout and waved her tail.
"Yeah, you have a lotto take back to camp." Splinterpaw purred as he picked up his giant carp.
"Hey, I can drag it all with that bark chunk I piled them onto." Burpaw huffed and padded to his pile.
"Let us help, Burpaw." Breezepelt suggested. Since Burpaw was his mate's brother, the jet black warrior saw the smaller tom as his own brother.
"Oh, thanks." Burpaw felt embarrassed but accepted his brother figures offer. He nodded his head and the three cat came over, each taking a mouth full of freshkill while Bur paw dragged the back chunk that had the rest on top.
When the came to the camp, Mistystar was waiting and smiled at her Clan's visitors.
"Hello, what brings WindClan here?" The young leader asked. Breezepelt put down his mouthful to answer.
"BUrpaw got more prey than he could carry, so we came to help him." Mistystar smiled proudly at her apprentice. She knew he was ready to be a warrior, he just needed to learn how to swim.
"I think the Clan has enough to eat for a moon." Mistystar purred. "Please, feel free to take some back to your Clan, we surely have enough."
"We couldn't, Burpaw caught it, it should go to his Clan." Breezepelt politely argued.
"I'm fine with you taking some, Breezepelt." Burpaw piped in. His eyes sparkled in happiness as the WindClan warrior gave in with a sigh and smiled.
"Alright, kit, we'll take some back to camp." Burpaw tackled the older tom and purred happily.
The WindClan cats took the voles as Burpaw insisted they should, and left for their camp with Reedwhisker leading them to the border. Mistystar helped Burpaw take all the freshkill into the camp and he put it on the pile.
"Looks like I win." Burpaw purred as he rubbed his cheek on his mentor's shoulder.
"Yes, you did, Burpaw." Mistystar smiled and licked his ear.
Water lapped strongly at his paws, dragging them little by little from the safety of the shallow water. The water wasn't it's normal clear blue color. It was as black as a starless night with crimson red foam coming off the waves. The sky was as red as blood and the scent hung strongly in the air.
Burpaw stood shaking in the shallows of the lake, the black water coming up to his belly fur. The water felt like blood and it made him shiver. He watched as the only light, a stary figure, moved away from him.
"Come back! Please don't leave me!" Burpaw called. The figure stopped and he saw it take on a form. It was his mother, only her green eyes weren't the endless loving green pools he remembered. They were bottomless hated pits of green darkness.
"Go away! It's your fault I'm here!" Fawnfern hissed.
"No mother!" Burpaw tried to run to her, but, as soon as his paws left the ground, a giant wave took him out farther and pulled him under. He gasped for breath, but only got a mouth full of blood. He resurfaced and saw a shadowed figure running on top of the water's surface to him. He saw Antpelt and, as the dead warrior drew closer, her saw a faint stary outline.
"I got you." He yowled as Burpaw slipped back under. the small apprentice felt the older warrior's teeth gently sink into the scruff of his neck and pull him out of the water onto dry land. He coughed up the what he thought was blood only to see feel cool water on his paws. He looked up and saw Bluestar before him. She gently licked his soaked fur and looked at Antpelt.
"I'll leave you to tell him." She said as she walked away.
"Where am I?" Burpaw asked.
"StarClan hunting grounds. Are you alright?" Antpelt replied.
"Yeah, but why are you here?"
"I'm trying to earn my rank in StarClan to be with my mate."
"My mother."
"How did you know?" Antpelt seemed truly shocked.
"Mother has light brown furn not black fur like Seth or Ravenwing and our father would have to have dark brown fur to match the brown on my pelt. Plus, why else would you save me?"
"You're smart."
"I've known enough queens to know how pelt patterns work."
"I'm proud of you, you know that right?"
"What father isn't proud of their kit?"
"Raggedstar and Pinestar."
"They're sons turned against what they worked hard to uphold and protect."
"True."
"Is mother here?"
"No, she's looking after your sister and brother. I'm looking after you."
"Why isn't she looking after me?" Burpaw felt hurt that his mother would abandon him like that.
"She is strongly set against all RiverClan cats, even you." The older tom's tail gently stroked Burpaw's flank.
"But I'm still her son."
"Old hatreds take time to kill."
"Does she blame me for her death?"
"No, she doesn't."
"What did I do wrong?"
"Nothing, it's just that your mother is still hurt by Leoparstar's betrayal." The warrior looked up at the sky and sighed. "Listen, you have to wake up now. Remember, I'm not the only one watching over you. You have RiverClan and StarClan."
"Alright, father." Burpaw gently closed his eyes and drifted into the waking world.
Sasuke slowly opened his eyes and yawned, his dream fresh in his mind. He'd gotten back from his week with RiverClan two days ago and he missed them. He loved being a RiverClan cat much more than being a ninja. As Burpaw he didn't want revenge, he had a family, he had something worth fighting for. As Sasuke he had nothing.
Before he knew it, he was out the door and heading to his team's meeting place. He remembered his challenge four day's prior. He remembered how many fish he'd caught without noticing.
He looked up when he heard his name and saw Naruto and Sakura giving him a funny look. He was at the bridge.
'Dang it, focus Sasuke.' He yelled at himself.
"Are you alright, Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.
"Hn." Sasuke simply answered.
"Can we push him into the water?" Naruto asked. Sasuke stiffened. He couldn't swim as either a human or a cat.
"Sure, go ahead." Sakura sighed. Naruto grinned and Sasuke froze. The blond shoved him into the water, which was deep from recent rain storms.
The raven haired boy floundered around, trying to get a foothold, but found none. He was scared and reached for the moonstone fragment necklace in his pocket. Strong arms pulled him out before he could do so. He coughed and sputtered. A towel was wrapped around him and he shivered.
"We're so sorry Sasuke!" Sakura gasped and hugged him tightly. He heard his Kakashi sigh and knew it was him that pulled him out.
"We didn't know you couldn't swim." Naruto said, sounding relieved that his best friend was alright.
"Why would you push him in, in the first place?" Kakashi asked angrily.
"I thought he'd loose his attitude if I spooked him a little." Naruto confessed.
A flash of grey caught Sasuke's eyes and he looked over to see a long furred grey she-cat with dazzling blue eyes.
"Mistystar!" Sasuke breathed and hugged the cat close to him. She purred and sighed.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke, but RiverClan needs you."
So? What do you think? I always feel bad for Sasuke about his family and his life, so I thought I'd give him a family and a choice between two lives. It'll get more complicated as it goes on. Sasuke is VERY OoC. And if you say Antpelt is no longer in the series, I will kill you with a banana .
RnR please ^^
