Chapter One: Welcome to Willowclan

It was a peaceful morning. The sound of birds in the air, pale, morning sunlight glittering the clearing. It was a typical day.

"Dustpaw, let me go!" A wail broke into the silence. Yep. A typical day in Willowclan indeed.

Near the apprentice's den, three young cats could be found. A small ginger kit with her head passed down in the dirt, a brown tabby tom who had his paw firmly on her head, and a thin, pale gray she-cat that looked nervously between the two.

"No can do Half-clan!" The brown tabby, Dustpaw, laughed. He smirked down at the young kit that struggled beneath his paws, her pelt now getting covered in dust. He mocking expression dropped for a moment when a soft voice spoke up.

"Dustpaw, maybe we should play something else..." Graypaw, the pale gray she-cat beside him murmured nervously. She gave a quick, wary glance around the camp for any warriors passing by before looking down at the ginger kitten again. "She's only a kit..." She pleaded, her yellow gaze turning back towards her friend.

Dustpaw sniffed indignantly. Why is she sticking up for a runt? He thought, glaring down at the squirming ginger pelt beneath his paws. He pressed down harder.

"She's the one who wanted to play hunter and mouse." He defended.

Graypaw wasn't so easily pursuaded with that argument. She opened her mouth to speak again.

"But-... She cut herself off, her nose scenting the air. Oh no... Dustpaw hadn't seemed to notice just yet, as he smirked down at the kit again.

"Besides, she's only ha-" he was cut off as an angry screech broke out the clearing, followed by a flurry of paw steps.

"DUSTPAAAAW!" The smile froze on Dustpaw's face. His pelt spiked up in alarm. "(Mousedung)" he muttered under his breath moments before a flash of gray pelt crashed into him, throwing him off of the kit and pinning him down.

Dustpaw looked up to see green eyes flaring with hatred. The gray she-cat pinning him made no attempt to hide her fury, and he could tell that some Warriors were turning their heads to look in their direction. He decided to attempt to give an innocent smile.

"Good morning Mosspaw." He greeted. Mosspaw didn't loosen her grip on her denmate. The ginger kit had gotten to her paws, and Graypaw was watching her denmates in alarm.

"What have I told you about bullying Emberkit?" Mosspaw hissed, pressing him farther into the ground, not unlike he had been doing to Emberkit just moments before.

"Bullying? I don't recall doing such a thing. We were just playing around." Dustpaw said, smirking up at her. Mosspaw hissed in fury and motioned with her tail towards Emberkit, who was coved in dust and cowering.

"Oh really, then why is her pelt so messed up?" Mosspaw asked angrily. She was tempted to unsheathing her claws when Graypaw seemed to snap to her senses.

"Mosspaw! Get off of him!" She shouted, taking a few steps closer, but froze when Mosspaw's furious glare was turned towards her.

Mosspaw stepped away from Dustpaw, and it was Graypaw's time to cower before her sister's angry glare. The gray she-cat angrily marched towards the paler gray one that shivered before her.

"You! How can you always sit there and let him do that?!" Mosspaw hissed angrily, standing over her sister angrily. Graypaw had lowered herself to the ground, staring up at her sister, terrified.

"I..."

Suddenly Dustpaw was on his feet, shoving himself between them. He pushed his face up to Mosspaw's, matching her glare beat-for-beat.

"Don't. Yell. At. Her." He hissed, his gaze dark and angry. The two traded glares for a few heartbeats, while the other two watched on in worry.

Suddenly, paw steps sounded. A fluffy gray she-cat with tufted ear tips padded out of the apprentice's den with a yawn and annoyed expression.

"Break it up you two!" She ordered, taking a stand between her bickering denmates. Emberkit's expression turned to a beaming smile, while the three apprentice's turned to a look of surprise.

"Sis?" Both Graypaw and Mosspaw said in unision, while Emberkit sprinted towards her with a nuzzle.

"Rainpaw!" Emberkit greeted happily, relieved that this would signal the fighting to be over. Rainpaw checked to make sure that the ginger kitten was unharmed, then turned to glare at her denmates.

"Do we have to start EVERY morning like this?" She asked with an annoyed sigh. To Rainpaw, this was how she was greeted every time she turned around. She always returned to her denmates about to tear each other's fur off. Can't they just talk it out like normal cats? She always silently pleaded with Starclan.

Mosspaw's defense and Rainpaw's retorts began to exchange quickly, as though they had been rehearsed. By this point, it may as well have been. Rainpaw couldn't remember a day when a discussion like this didn't occur.

"He started it!"

"I don't care who started it, I'm ending it."

"But Ember-"

"I said that I am ending it. Go find your mentors and do something useful. I'll take Emberkit back to her mother."

By this point, Dustpaw was leading Grapaw away already. After they were out of hearing range, he turned towards Graypaw, his angry glare turning towards one of worry.

"Hey, you ok?" He asked her, looking deep in her eyes, then glancing her paws, as if to check if they had started shaking.

"Yeah... I'm fine..." Graypaw said, with a soft smile. She knew that his question hadn't only been directed at Mosspaw's lashing out. It was moments like these that reminded her of the side that made her admire him. If only he showed more of it.

Dustpaw stared at her for a few heartbeats, as if trying to detect a lie. Eventually he took a breath and turned to face away from her.

"Just tell me if it starts up again. You know that Redstripe says that it flares up when you're stressed..." He muttered, silently beating himself up when remembering her worried glances when he had pinned Emberkit. He admits to himself that he needs to start working on that.

Meanwhile, back at the apprentice's den, Mosspaw was still watching the duo leave, a glare plain on her expression. Rainpaw and Emberkit sat beside her, both turning to look at her.

"One morning. Just one. That's all I ask for." Rainpaw said, shaking her head. She sighed and turned her gaze towards Emberkit, who was now trying to lick her pelt clean. "I'm surprised that Leafpaw wasn't part of it today."

"He's already out with Doespeck." Mosspaw respended without turning to look at her sister. Rainpaw gave a sigh of relief.

"At least someone realized that they have responsibilities." She muttered, loud enough to that Mosspaw could hear. Rainpaw didn't bother to listen to Mosspaw's angry mutter, instead smiling down at Emberkit. "Let's get you back to the nursery." She said softly.

Hi, welcome to chapter one. This included the introduction to the three main characters. I tried to include some hints to storylines farther down that give some characters a bit more depth. I might put a Willowclan allegiance in a later chapter, but for now here's the characters in chapter one.

Dustpaw- Brown tabby tom with Amber eyes.

Mosspaw- Gray she-cat with Green eyes(youngest sister).

Rainpaw- Gray she-cat with darker gray, tufted ears and yellow eyes(eldest sister).

Graypaw- Pale gray she-cat with yellow eyes(middle sister).

Emberkit- Small, dark ginger she-kit with gray eyes(Half-clan).