"Hello," A large tabby tom walked into the almost deserted den, followed by a medium sized orange she-cat and a young black tom.
Grassear lifted his head from his brown paws. "So you're back from the patrol?" He yawned.
"Yes," The tom replied. Grassear put his chin down to the ground to think. Being a deputy was a lot harder than he thought it would be. You have to order everyone around, come up with jobs, keep up with current events, and all that boring stuff. You almost never get to go do anything like hunting; it's just blah blah blah!
"Uh, Firetail, you go train Coalpaw." He ordered.
"But we already did that today!" The apprentice piped up.
"More training couldn't hurt." Grassear mewed. "And I suggest you get a drink while you're at it. You know, with the Greenleaf heat and all." With that, the two cats trotted out of the den. Grassear looked at the remaining cat.
"What should I do, Grassear?" He asked.
"Uh, how about we go hunting?" Grassear suggested. "Just the two of us. How about it, Brackenfoot?"
"Whatever you say." Brackenfoot headed for the exit. He turned his head. "Can we grab some mice first?"
"Sure." Grassear followed him out of the exit.
wwwwww
Brackenfoot covered the mouse he had just caught with leaves and dirt. Looking up, he saw Grassear sniffing the forest floor. Grassear started batting at his ear, which was in shreds. It had been clawed when he was attacked by a badger when he was only an apprentice. That was a telltale sign that he was nervous.
"What's wrong, Grassear?" He asked.
"I smell cat." He replied warily. "But it's not ThunderClan."
"What!?!" Brackenfoot took a few steppes back. "We must report this to Brightstar. What clan is it?"
Grassear took a few more sniffs. "I don't think it is another clan. But it doesn't smell like rouges." Brackenfoot opened his mouth to taste the air. Grassear was right. He hadn't smelled anything like that before. Not another clan, not a rogue, definitely not a Twoleg, but it was definitely cat. He took a few steppes towards the smell. Then, instinctively, he ran off in the direction of the scent.
"Wait up!" Grassear sprinted after him.
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Soon they had arrived at the Sunningrocks. Brackenfoot tasted the air again. "The smell is fresh. It must be somewhere around here." Grassear poked his nose into a random gap in the rocks and sniffed. The smell was strong here. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw a small fuzzy ball. Grabbing it gently between his teeth and pulled it out. The kit started flailing around as Brackenfoot moved closer.
"Should we keep him?" Brackenfoot asked. Grassear was too stunned to speak. He sniffed it again, hoping to find some sort of trace of a clan. There was only a bit of Twoleg scent, but that only showed that it had been in Twolegplace at some point.
"Yes," Grassear decided. "Let's get back to camp. Brightstar will decide if we should keep it." He picked up the little cat with his teeth and slowly walked off, Brackenfoot right beside him.
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Brackenfoot stopped at the entrance to the camp.
"What's wrong?" Grassear asked, putting down the kit.
"Uh, you should lick the dirt off of it before we show it the Brightstar," He recommended. "I have to go do something in camp." He ran off into camp before Grassear could even reply. He headed strait past the warriors den and the leaders den to the nursery. Inside, a beautiful white she-cat lay sobbing into her paws. Brackenfoot stared in surprise at his mate's expression of grief.
"Their dead!" She wailed. "Their all dead! My kits!"
"WHAT!?!" Brackenfoot took a step back. Then she padded over and press against her side for comfort. A tear ran down his cheek. "Don't worry, Willowfire," he sobbed, trying to comfort her. "Everything will be all right."
He sorrowfully left the queens side and headed for the clearing, his head hanging low.
wwwwww
Grassear padded into the clearing, with Brackenfoot by his side and the kit dangling from his mouth. Everyone stared at him, trying to catch a glimpse at what the fuzzy ball was. As they ran over to the highrocks, he passed the kit to Brackenfoot and shouted into the leaders den, "Permeation to enter?"
"Permeation granted." A calm voice came from the moss covered doorway to the leaders den. Grassear gave Brackenfoot a signal to stay outside and padded in. The golden she-cat's head twisted over to him, and she rolled onto her back. "What is it, Grassear? Need help with the hectic responsibilities of being a deputy?"
"No, this is actually important." He replied. Brightstar rolled onto her belly and stood up.
"I'm all ears." Brightstar said.
"Brackenfoot and I went out to hunt. We smelled something and followed the scent to Sunningrocks. Soon we found a small kit in a gap between the rocks." Grassear flicked his tail. On queue, Brackenfoot padded in with the golden kit with black stripes. "This is the one we found. I wanted to ask if we could keep it."
Brightstar tilted her head in interest. "Of what clan does it smell?"
"None." Brackenfoot had put down the kit to reply. "Not a loner or kittypet either."
"Hmmm..." Brightstar lay down to think. "Interesting. I vote we keep it."
"Same with us!" They yelled. The loud noise made the kit start to flail around and wail.
"Shush. Not so loud." Brightstar whispered. "Okay, it's official. Welcome to the clan, Lionkit." She licked it on the head, lifting it off the ground slightly.