I have an idea.

ALL THAT I HAVE

When I was born, my housefolk gave my mother a collar. It was made out of tiny blue circles, hard and smooth, round and cold. They never took it off of her, and I liked how it looked. Soon by mother died, and the housefolk took it off and gave it to me. I loved it. I began to wander past the fence, into the forest beyond it.

One morning, the sun was shining. I trotted outside, feeling it warm and bathe my pelt. I yawned and leapt onto the fence, and then back down to the other side. I was going to go into forest this time.

"Misty, where are you going?"

A voice above me startled me. It was just Patch, my best friend who lived in the den beside me. "I'm going into the forest, Patch!" I meowed.

"You can't go in there!" Patch's eyes widened. "It's dangerous!"

"I'll only be gone for a little while. Don't freak out." I waved my tail goodbye and raced towards the lush green forest. The ground soon turned to earth under my paws and birdsong erupted. An orange and black butterfly flew past my ears, and I pounced on it, missing it by a mousetail. How could a place so peaceful be dangerous?

I suddenly smelled something strange. It smelled vaguely of cats, and I felt fear prickle my pelt. What if Patch was right? I shook my head. No, these cats, if any, were probably like me-housecats just wandering beyond their fences.

"Hey!"

I felt something bowl into me, and I gave a yelp.

"What are you doing on ThunderClan territory, kittypet?" A cat leaned down to my ear and hissed the menacing words.

"Wh-what's that?" I demanded, trying to push the cat off of me. His claws pricked my chest and I growled.

"Don't act so innocent!" he spat. "There are scent markers for a reason!"

I winced as his teeth poked my throat, and I whimpered, "I…I'm sorry!"

"That's enough, Eaglefeather." A calmer she-cat's voice meowed. The cat, probably named Eaglefeather, stepped off of me, and I finally got a full view of the group of cats. Eaglefeather was a huge pale gray tom with yellow eyes. There were three other cats-a gray tabby she-cat, a brown tabby tom, and a smaller she-cat with ginger fur. She looked about the same age as me.

"What is your name?" the gray tabby she-cat asked gently. I tried to look defiant. "Misty."

"She's a kittypet," the smaller ginger she-cat muttered to the brown tabby. "Why are we wasting our time talking to her?" The brown tabby tom shrugged.

"If you leave the forest, we won't cause you any harm." The gray tabby she-cat's voice was eerily calm, and I bristled. "But I like coming to the forest!"

Eaglefeather flexed his claws, as though wishing he were ripping them down my spine. The gray tabby she-cat eyed me, and I felt heat rising to my face. "I'll fight for my rights to the forest, if I have to." I unsheathed my claws; they were smaller and duller than the other cats'.

"Fight me!" The ginger she-cat unsheathed her own and crouched down. I faced her, preparing to leap.

"No, Sunpaw, she's a kittypet," the gray tabby meowed. "That's enough, all of you. This kittypet is different than the others. She's asking us to fight her." She turned to me. "Say, how old are you?"

"Six moons," I replied. "Can I fight this 'Sunpaw' cat now? I like coming to the forest, and I'll be happy to tear her to shreds for my rights to come."

Suddenly, Sunpaw leapt at me. I moved out of the way and swatted her ear with my paw. She growled and sprang at me again, knocking me to the ground and pinning me down with one paw to my throat. I heaved my back, sending her flying off of me and skidding into the brown tabby tom.

I smiled triumphantly. Sunpaw stood up and began to groom her paw, keeping one of her green eyes on me.

"Amazing!" the gray tabby she-cat meowed. "You fight like the legendary Firestar!"

"Firestar?" I echoed. "Why do you all have such strange names?"

"Because we're Clan cats."

"What is yours?"

"Shadewing." She looked impatient, so I quickly shut my mouth and listened. "How would you like it if we offered you to join ThunderClan?"

"What?" Eaglefeather hissed. He raked his claws along the ground. "We can't let a kittypet into the Clan!"

Shadewing ignored him. "So? What do you think?"

"I don't even know what ThunderClan is!" I meowed.

"We can take you there and show you!" the brown tabby tom suggested.

"Great idea, Mudwhisker!" Shadewing praised. "Come with us, if you're considering joining ThunderClan."

"But you can't go to the ThunderClan camp with that thing around your neck!" Eaglefeather spat. I glanced down at my collar. "I have to leave this on!"

"Then you're not Clan cat material." Eaglefeather looked smug.

Sunpaw stared at me curiously. "Why? We can pull it off."

"Because." I remembered all those warm, soft moments lying next to my mother when she was still alive. I remembered reaching up with one forepaw and running it down the green circles. "It's all that I have from my mother."

This was a pretty long chapter, and it actually wasn't that bad.

xx-Starfall-xx