Well, thank-you Kawakage for reviewing, but I'm a bit frustrated. 89 people read this story yesterday, and only one person reviewed. Will someone please review this? Akane was always so happy getting all of the reviews she got, so please, review. It's not that difficult. Well, anyways, things aren't gory in this chapter, but I've read up to chapter five so far, and it gets...not very pretty. Also, there's a typo in the allegiances. It says that Cloudtail is training Cloudpaw, but that's obviously wrong. He's training Cinderpaw.

Chapter One

Hawkkit rushed out of the bramble nursery and bumped into one of the senior warriors, Brightheart. "I'm sorry Brightheart!" he meowed, looking up at the scarred she-cat.

"Don't worry about it, Hawkkit. You and your siblings must be excited; I mean your apprentice ceremony is going to be tonight. Hey, Berrypaw, Hazelpaw, and Mousepaw are going to have their assessment today. If Firestar allows it, do you want to go and watch them?" Brightheart asked.

"Really?" Hawkkit squeaked, a gleam in his bright blue eyes. He had always wanted Brightheart to be his mentor, and it would be great if she was. When Ferncloud gave birth to Foxkit and Icekit, his mother often sent him out of the nursery, and it was then when he had bonded with the she-cat.

"Really," Brightheart promised. "I'm going to go and ask Firestar now." As soon as the she-cat made it up onto the Highledge, Hawkkit followed. A few rocks crumbled and fell off of the ledge, and he squinted, hoping that he wouldn't be discovered.

"Ah, Brightheart, come in," Firestar meowed. "What do you need?"

"You see, I haven't mentored any cat because of my injury, but Hawkkit is different. I want to mentor him, and I offered to take him out to watch Berrypaw, Hazelpaw, and Mousepaw's assessments. You talked about letting me mentor one of them, so I was going to ask him then if he could be my apprentice…if you allowed it," Brightheart explained.

"Hmm, I normally don't allow kits out of the camp until they reach their sixth moon, but I think that this is important to you. Brambleclaw, Dustpelt, and Spiderleg will be sending the apprentices out soon, so I think it's a good idea. As to the question of you mentoring him, I say go for it," Firestar purred, resting his tail tip on Brightheart's shoulder.

He whispered something to Brightheart that Hawkkit couldn't quite make out, but he was sure that it would be okay. Brightheart emerged from the curtain of lichen and didn't see Hawkkit.

She bumped into him, and he let out a wail and fell off of the ledge and hit the ground with a thud. "That really hurt you know!" he squealed.

"That's what you get for eavesdropping," Brightheart laughed and gave him an affectionate nudge. "Firestar said yes, so we'll be leaving shortly…or right now."

The three mentors and apprentices were leaving the camp, so it was their cue to leave too. "How does the assessment work?" Hawkkit inquired.

"The three apprentices will go out and start hunting. The mentors will watch their progress and decide if they did well enough. If so, then they will be made warriors, if not, they'll train a bit longer and then try again," Brightheart explained.

"Alright!" Hawkkit mewed happily, and trotted out of camp with Brightheart. They found Hazelpaw first, and watched as she walked over towards the WindClan border.

She suddenly stopped and perked her ears. She dropped into a hunter's crouch, and snuck forward towards an oblivious squirrel. Once in striking distance, she lashed out and caught it in her claws, killing it with ease.

The she-cat gave her chest fur a few licks, and Hawkkit's fur bristled with embarrassment. The she-cat was so pretty, but he had to be thinking about his training, not about Hazelpaw.

They continued following her, and she killed a vole, a rabbit, two shrews, and even a starling. "Congratulations," Dustpelt purred. "You've caught enough. I'll tell Firestar right away, you shall be made a warrior."

Hazelpaw's eyes sparkled with pride; she would be a warrior at last! "Great job," Hawkkit purred, stepping out from the shadows.

"I thought I smelled kit fur," Hazelpaw laughed. "Now I know why."

"Hey! I don't smell bad. Firestar just has to make me an apprentice! Once he does, then I'll get rid of my kit smell," he protested, fluffing up his fur. Brightheart signaled to him that she was walking back to camp, and that he should return soon.

"Hmm, I wonder what I want my name to be?" Hazelpaw questioned herself. "If I find a name that I like, could you tell Firestar…please?"

"Alright," Dustpelt sighed, and walked back to camp with Brightheart. Hawkkit started to think about names for Hazelpaw. Hazeltail…nah, that's too plain. Maybe Hazelfrost or Hazeldawn…but I'm still not sure.

"What names do you like, Hawkkit?" Hazelpaw asked.

"I like Hazeldawn and Hazelfrost, but it's really your decision," Hawkkit admitted, he personally liked Hazeldawn the best.

"Those are nice too. I was thinking Hazelheart or Hazelfire, but I also like Hazeldawn…and Firestar wouldn't give the name of Hazelheart to a cat that he didn't really like, so I guess I'm narrowing it down to Hazelfire or Hazeldawn," Hazelpaw figured.

"Yeah! We should head back to camp. Heh, I wonder what warrior name Berrypaw and Mousepaw will get," Hawkkit meowed, walking back up the hill with Hazelpaw.

The two walked through the tunnel, and saw the camp in a panic. "Berrypaw, Mousepaw, what happened?" Hazelpaw hissed in question.

"You didn't hear yet? Sandstorm went into Firestar's cave to ask him something, and he was dead! Claw marks all over his body, all of his lives, gone!" Mousepaw growled.

"Firestar…dead?" Hawkkit repeated. He had been close to his grandfather, and this upset him. Brambleclaw, new leader of ThunderClan, jumped up onto the Highledge, "Calm down!"

The cats all looked up at him, and gathered beneath the ledge.

"I know we have just lost our leader, and I promise we will find the killer, but please, we have other matters that we need to address first. I need to select a deputy, and I also need to give three apprentices their warrior names and also make Hawkkit and his siblings apprentices," Brambleclaw meowed.

Hawkkit saw Hazelpaw run over to Dustpelt to tell him the names that they had chosen. She bounded back with a happy look on her face, "I'm so excited!" she whispered.

"I know," Hawkkit mewed back, and opened his mouth to say something, but Brambleclaw began speaking again.

"I say these words before the body of Firestar so he can hear and approve of my choice. Brightheart shall be the next deputy of ThunderClan. I know she has not had an apprentice yet, but she will after the next ceremony. She's the bravest cat I know, and I know that she deserves this more than any other cat in this clan," Brambleclaw announced.

"BRIGHTHEART!" The clan cheered, Hawkkit yowling the loudest.

As the clan congratulated the new deputy, Brambleclaw had a word with the mentors. He faced the clan again, and began to speak, "Today, we have three apprentices that have trained long and hard and it is time that they have become warriors. Mousepaw, Hazelpaw, Berrypaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code, to protect and defend your clan, even at the cost of your lives?" he asked.

"I do," Hazelpaw purred.

"I do," Mousepaw and Berrypaw meowed in unison.

"Mousepaw, from this day forth you shall be known as Mouseclaw. StarClan honors your bravery and loyalty. Hazelpaw, from this day forth, you shall be known as Hazeldawn. StarClan honors your wisdom and determination. Berrypaw, from this day forth you shall be known as Berryleaf. StarClan honors your courage and strength," Brambleclaw purred.

"MOUSECLAW, HAZELDAWN, BERRYLEAF!" The clan yowled in congratulations.

"Finally, I need to make four kits in apprentices. Hawkkit, Tawnykit, Tigerkit, and Emberkit have reached their sixth moon, and they need to become apprentices. Hawkkit, you shall be known as Hawkpaw. Brightheart, as my new deputy, I'd like you to mentor him. Use all of the skills that Whitestorm taught you for Hawkpaw."

Hawkkit bounded over to his new mentor, and gently touched her nose.

"Tawnykit, you shall be known as Tawnypaw. Rainwhisker, Cloudtail was your mentor so I'd like you to pass all that you learned onto Tawnypaw. Tigerkit, you shall be known as Tigerpaw. Sorreltail, Sandstorm was your mentor, so please take good care of Tigerpaw. Finally, Emberkit, you shall be known as Emberpaw. Whitewing, your mentor was Brackenfur, so take that knowledge and make sure Emberpaw turns out to be a great warrior," Brambleclaw praised.

The new apprentices greeted their new mentors, and Brambleclaw had one last thing to say.

"If you cats think that these ceremonies are putting off Firestar's death, you are wrong. I will make sure that his death is avenged, and that the very cat that has done it will pay."

Alright everyone, how did you like it? Please review. How about four reviews for this chapter? Well, just getting for more reviews in general. I'll accept people going back to review the prologue/allegiances too. XP. Well, I noticed that Akane got a review from a person named Honey-song, no account, and she/he got mad at me for calling Hazelpaw, Mousepaw, and Berrypaw different names. I'm just being clear here, that because Firestar is dead, the names are different because it's a different leader. So that's explaining that. Sorry for the long end note, again, please review. Four and I'll update.