Chapter Two: A Restless Spirit

Burningkit wished to listen to a story.

Every few days or so, he would journey across the FrostClan clearing from the nursery to the elder's den, where his grandmother Nightbreeze would tell him tales of brave warriors, sneaky traitors, and other remarkable cats. But he was told that this story wasn't just any nursery tale. The old she-cat promised to tell Burningkit one of the most famous legends in all of the Valley's history.

"But mom, I don't NEED a wash!" Burningkit wriggled away from his mother and shook his fluffy fur indignantly.

Darkspirit chuckled and purred in a teasing voice, "But son, you're absolutely filthy." With a long paw, she reached out, grabbed her kit, pulled him close, and started to lick his head.

"Aaah! Mom!" Burningkit groaned. He hated getting cleaned by his mother. The reluctant kit closed his eyes tight as Darkspirit ran her tongue down his forehead.

After about two more seconds, Burningkit jumped out of his mother's paws and ruffled his fur with his paw. "Fine, I'm clean, mom, okay? Can I see Nightbreeze now? She promised to tell me one of the greatest legends in the whole, entire valley! Isn't that cool?"

Darkspirit gave out a motherly smile and mewed, "I'm sure it'll be wonderful. You don't want to miss it, do you?" With that, she brushed away her kitten towards the elder's den.

Without hesitation, Burningkit scrambled on his nimble paws and hopped out of the entrance to the nursery, nearly ramming into Badgerclaw. "What? Whooaaah!" The eager kit hardly noticed his father tripping over him and crash-landing on his mother.

"Sorry!" he called back to them. Not waiting for a reply, he continued to run through the clearing, his brown tail billowing out behind him like a fluffy sail. The dark gray sky sent a dim, hazy glow around the clearing, heralding the approaching snowstorm that was predicted to hit the valley in only a few days. The snow that had landed earlier had been reduced to small patches of dirty and wet slush, which soaked Burningkit's legs and undid his mother's work of cleaning him.

Some other cats were in the FrostClan camp; the deputy, Bluedawn, was talking to Rosepetal, the medicine cat. The apprentices were play-fighting, pretending they were other clan leaders and that they were at war. Burningkit took a moment to watch them. Someday, I'll be there too, he thought proudly. Faintly smiling, the kitten turned away and entered the elder's den.

--

The elder's den was warm and inviting. Foxheart was fast asleep on a pile of soggy grass. The red-haired cat, babbling incoherently in his dreams, was clearly uncomfortable in his bedding.

The other elder, Nightbreeze, was quietly nibbling on a mouse.

Almost at once, Burningkit tackled Nighbreeze and mewed excitedly, "Story time! It's story time!" His grandmother purred as Burningkit snuggled close.

Nightbreeze snorted happily and quietly pondered, "Ah, yes, I promised you a story, didn't I? Deary me, where were we, again…?"

Burningkit gave the elder an accusing glance, "Nightbreeze, don't you ever remember? We were just past the part where Bloodclaw became deputy of DarkClan." He got off of his grandmother, sat a rabbit-length away, and thought, I wonder why the grownups always forget where they left off in stories…? Hmm. Odd. Maybe they just have bad memories or something.

Nightbreeze sat up slowly. Her joints ached as she struggled to get in an upright position. Sighing quietly, she smiled at her grandson and whispered, "It is a tale of old, still spoken of today. We have started yesterday, but you still don't know what it's about, do you?"

Burningkit shook his head. Nightbreeze continued, "Well listen, my kit, and you shall soon find out…"

--

While the story was being told in the elder's den, the apprentices continued to play. Dragonpaw, a feisty tabby she-cat, was pouncing on top of Crystalpaw, a white tom, in a play-fight. Cloverpaw, the medicine cat apprentice, was cheering on Dragonpaw, who was her cousin, and Littlepaw was quietly staring at the ground.

"RAWR! Your evil ways are no match for me, Stormstar, for I, the mighty and noble Froststar, am the most awesometastic cat in the entire forest! Hoo ha!" Crystalpaw cuffed Dragonpaw over the ear playfully and laughed kindly at her pathetic attempt to launch a counterattack.

"Ah, Froststar, but good shall never triumph!" Dragonpaw growled falsely "Not when I have the power of the shadows at my very paws. Hey-yah!" The dark red apprentice knocked Crystalpaw into a tree, nearly causing him to flatten Littlepaw.

"Sorry, Littlepaw," Crystalpaw smiled weakly, "I'm too excited to pay attention. You know, my warrior ceremony's coming up." The white cat's chest swelled with pride and his eyes glowed with a shiny, metallic intensity.

Littlepaw's nervous green eyes darted around. Her fluffy gray tail twitched nervously and she shyly whispered, "It's okay, Crystalpaw. But I'm worried about Burningkit…"

Crystalpaw's face instantly turned serious. "What about the little man is wrong? I would know if anything was wrong! He's practically a littermate to me."

The small, gray apprentice flinched, "I don't know, but I saw his eyes earlier…"

"Yeah?"

There was an awkward pause. "They were the color of danger, only a thousand times worse! Cloverpaw, do you think he's sick or something?"

Cloverpaw frowned slightly, "No, not really. He's certainly not acting sick."

"Dragonpaw?"

"Nah," Dragonpaw shrugged it off and licked herself a few times. "Burningkit looks fine to me. Besides, if anything was wrong with him, wouldn't it be a little more obvious?"

"I agree with Dragonpaw on this one," Crystalpaw added. "He's probably fine. I'm pretty sure that there is nothing wrong with the little man. I think you're just overreacting over maybe just a sore eye or some other silly thing, Littlepaw."

Littlepaw sighed. She was the newest apprentice, so she felt she didn't have much respect in her group. But this time, she genuinely felt as though something strange was going on with Burningkit. There was something about those eyes that were familiar…

Little did the apprentice know that she wasn't the only cat who shared the same, quiet fear… not that far away, on the Stonetree, Dreamstar herself quietly mulled over the matter as well.

--

I think this chapter was better than the first (longer, yay!), and my fingers practically flew over the keys as I wrote this. :3

I am considering writing of the story in the next chapter, or maybe even AS the next chapter, but I'm not sure… if you have any suggestions or comments, PM me or review! :)

More shall hopefully come soon!

EDIT: Okay, I edited out some of Crystalpaw's excessive slang. It was starting to drive me completely insane.