Hey guys! Thanks for reviewing, you have no idea how much it means to me ;w; here chapter 6 of Tmim! Hope you like! And quick question, should I start replying to reviews?

Enjoy!

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Chapter 6

"Hey momma! Look at this!" A ginger kit squealed as she pounced at a leaf. A tortoise-shell and ginger she-cat purred at her kit. "That's very good Clover, you're getting better every day." The small kit beamed at her mother's praise and bounded over to her.

Clover purred and rubbed against her mother's legs. "Hey you two," A deep voice came from behind them. Clover's mother turned around and smiled to see a bulky dark ginger to, his light blue eyes shone as he came over to greet his mate. He was carrying a fat, juicy looking rabbit.

"Papa!" Clover purred and ran over to her father, nuzzling his legs as she did with her mother. The tom purred at his daughter and bent down to lick her between the ears. "Hey sweetie, are you hungry?" she quickly nodded her head as he gently passed her the rabbit. He turned and affectionately pressed his fore-head to her mothers. "Zack…"

"Brook…" They looked back at Clover as she hungrily dug into the rabbit and moved a little ways off. "How is she?" he murmured quietly. Brook sighed, "There hasn't been an incident with it for a moon now, but I'm still not sure if it's truly gone." He dug his claws into the ground, and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Good, but…I'm not even sure if it ever will be." She closed her green eyes as well and pressed her fore-head to his once again. "This is all my fault…." He whispered hoarsely. He gritted his teeth, and trembled a bit. Brook opened her eyes slightly and murmured, "No it's not, you did what you could…there was nothing you could do to prevent it." He opened his eyes and pulled away.

"Momma! Papa! Come play with me!" they both turned to see their little kit bounding over to them. Clover's neon green eyes were sparkling with excitement. They looked at each other before he turned back to his precious daughter, "Sure sweetie," Brook gave him a small smile before following her daughter to go play. Zack sighed and shook his head before smiling a little bit and following them.

…..

Clover opened her eyes and squinted a bit as milky light filled the den. She slowly sat up and felt a numb pain go into her shoulder. She looked down at the gash in her shoulder, now plastered in cobwebs and herbs from the day before. Shifting her eyes to the den she scanned it before lowering herself to the ground and stretching. Her neon green eyes flickered open and she stood up. She finally felt well rested enough to keep going.

But where exactly am I going? She thought to herself. She knew she had to go somewhere, somewhere where no one could find her. That tom, Thornclaw, had already found her, so she had to keep moving so he didn't find her again. She sighed and closed her eyes. She hated this, but it was for the best. That was how it has to be. For her to be alone, and away from others to avoid any more slaughtering. She unsheathed her claws and dug them into the ground, as tears slowly started to run down her face.

She shook her head as she quickly wiped the tears away. No. She had to be strong. She shakily got to her paws and padded out of the den. It was morning; the sky was still various colors of orange and vaguely turning into a pale shade of blue.

The ground underneath her paws felt soft and springy, so she assumed it was spring. She cautiously scanned the area, checking for any signs of cats or any other animals that might trigger 'Blood'. When the coast was clear she hesitantly started to pad forward. Birds chirped happily in the trees and her stomach growled. When was the last time she ate?

She sniffed the air and caught a faint trace of mouse. She followed the scent and found herself in some tall grass. In front of her was a rather fat mouse. Her eyes narrowed as it nibbled on a seed, and slowly put one paw before the other. When she felt that she was close enough, she sprang. Half way in the air she saw another shape lunging at the mouse and straight at her.

She gave a yowl of surprise as it crashed into her side. She tumbled to the ground with a grunt as dust lifted into the air. She coughed several times and felt a growl rise in her throat. Once the dust cleared she lifted her head and saw another cat lying on the ground and slowly getting up.

It finally stood up and rounded on her. It was a tom; he had snow white fur with blue eyes. "Trespasser!" he hissed, crouching down in an offensive stance. She hissed at him and arched her back, backing away. "What are you doing in Thunderclan territory?!" she glared at him, but felt a familiar spark inside her. She flinched as whispered, "No…"

The bushed rustled and two more cats approached them. One was a ginger and white she-cat while the other was a golden brown tabby. For a second she thought it was Thornclaw but as she looked closer she noticed that he looked older and a little larger.

The spark came again this time larger. She gasped and felt her fur bristle. "Cloudtail, calm down. The poor thing looks scared to death." The she-cat soothed. Clover backed away slowly as they approached her.

"Who are you?" the golden tabby asked. She just stared at them, her eyes wide with fear. Not for herself, but for them. The Blood wanted out, and she wasn't sure she could keep it in this time. She managed to stutter, "P-please, leave me alone…" The white tom, who she assumed was 'Cloudtail', narrowed his eyes, "What are you doing here?" he snapped. She didn't answer, she could feel her shell cracking and terror filled her face. "I-I-I…." She suddenly turned and bolted.

"Hey!" She heard one of them call after her. She ran faster as she felt her claws lengthen and her fangs grow larger. Luckily they didn't follow her but she kept running. She suddenly felt her paws trip over a rock and felt herself begin to fall. She crashed into the ground and grunted as she hit her head on something hard. She lay there, dizzy as spots began to invade her vision and everything went black.

….

Thornclaw's Pov:

Thornclaw opened his amber eyes to something prodding his flank. He grumbled before looking up to see Dustpelt standing there. "What?" he mumbled sleepily. The brown tabby rolled his eyes before mewing, "Graystripe wants you to get up, He says he wants you on a hunting patrol." Thornclaw sighed before slowly standing up. He stretched his legs, showing off his lean muscles. Dustpelt growled in annoyance before stalking out the den.

He smirked before standing up and following him. He blinked several times as the light of sun-up washed over him. The camp was alive with voices. He looked around for Graystripe and saw him talking to Firestar.

He started to pad over to him but stopped as three shapes emerged from the gorse tunnel. Cloudtail, Brightheart, and his own brother, Brackenfur emerged. They must have just gotten back from the sun-up hunting patrol.

He saw Cloudtail and Brightheart head over to Graystripe and padded up to Brackenfur. "Hey," he mewed, "What's going on?" His brother turned to look at him with his similar amber eyes. "While we were hunting we ran into a trespasser, Cloudtail kind of scared her-"Thornclaw cut him off.

"Her? It was a she-cat?" he asked, unease beginning to creep into his mind. Did they find Clover? His brother nodded, "Yeah, small ginger she-cat, looked around your age. We ran into her while hunting. Cloudtail kind of freaked her out, once she saw us she started to freak out, I mean, she looked absolutely terrified."

Thornclaw felt his throat tighten, did Cloudtail hurt her? Knowing the snappy warrior and Clover was still injured. "What happened? Where did she go?" He asked coolly, but anxiously.

Brackenfur gave him a confused look. "Um, after a couple of heart beats she bolted, we didn't chase her, but something wasn't right about that she-cat." Thornclaw wasn't listening anymore. They didn't hurt her, but if she ran, where did she go? She couldn't have gotten far with her injury, maybe he would be able to catch up.

He nodded at his brother quickly, before bounding over to Firestar and Graystripe. Brightheart and Cloudtail had just finished telling the ginger leader the story.

He cleared his throat and they turned to him. Suddenly feeling self-conscious of all their stares, he flattened his ears. "Um, F-Firestar, Graystripe, I know I was supposed to be on a hunting patrol, but is it okay if I go on a solo hunt?" Graystripe narrowed his eyes, but Firestar just looked at him coolly.

"Sure Brackenfur, I can have someone else do the patrol if you're not up to it at the moment. You may go hunting." Thornclaw grinned and bowed his head before turning around. He padded towards the gorse tunnel and exited the camp. The scents of the forest immediately hit his nose like lightning. Thornclaw raised his head up and took a few, experimental sniffs.

He decided to follow the morning patrols scent, since they were the ones who found clover. He followed their scent to a small clearing surrounded by tall grass. He sniffed the air and caught a faint scent of Clover, as well as her fear scent, which was still strong in the clear air. He saw a few strands of grass smashed down as though someone had ran through it. He pricked his ears and padded towards the grass.

He sniffed the grass and sure enough, Clover's scent was smothered all over it. He quickly followed the scent but stopped after a few steps.

What am I doing? I should be glad that she's gone! I should be hunting for the clan, not chasing some she-cat.

Her fear scent wafted into his nose and he unconsciously followed it. It was growing stronger by the minute. He stopped and looked around, his amber eyes searching for a familiar ginger pelt. He sighed as he found none. He kept going deeper into Thunderclan territory until he reached sunningrocks. The sun was up by now and nearly sun-high.

He was just about to give up before a flash of ginger caught his eye. He turned to see Clover lying unconscious on the ground. Blood was dripping down her face and he realized that she must have slipped and hit her head on a rock. He padded forward and grabbed her scruff in his jaws firmly. She gave a soft groan as he half dragged her away from the sunningrocks. He looked around for somewhere to put her and felt a Déjà vu of when he first saw her the day before.

He quickly found a small gap in a rather large rock, big enough for a cat to sleep in. He dragged her over to it and gently brought her inside. He set her down and looked around the cave, small batches of cobwebs were stuck on the corner of the wall and he quickly snatched them.

This is the second time I've helped her like this, He thought, I'm starting to feel like a medicine cat. He gently rested a paw on her forehead before applying the cobwebs. She gave a soft moan and he stopped for a second to look at her face. Although her eyes were closed, her face was twisted in terror, and her paws twitched every now and then as if running from something. He heard her begin to murmur in her sleep, "Please….no…."

Her paw suddenly lashed out and grabbed his own. He gave a small gasp of surprise as she hung on. This she-cat was definitely having a nightmare. She was whimpering repeatedly as she squeezed his paw. He gently took his paw away and looked at her. He licked her ear and she stiffened in her sleep before relaxing. He gave a sigh of relief and stood up, exhausted already. He looked down at her as she relaxed, her face looked almost peaceful. He sighed before getting up to go hunt.

…

Sorry for the rushed ending, I'm really tired and it's like midnight right now, sorry it's not all that good; the real action is coming up soon though! If u have ideas for the story please tell me in a review and also tell me what you think!

R&R

Darkness