Chapter 20

Fluffytail's POV

Firestar looked very different from when Fluffytail had seen him last.

The wild fire in his eyes were gone, now guarded and cruel. His pelt not as bright and wild, instead it was thin, messy and missing in places.

He was standing with more of his weight on one leg than the other.

Fluffytail looked him in the eyes. "Firestar,"

"Fluffytail," The leader of ThunderClan replied curtly. He changed his gaze to Rushingbrook. "We will go back to camp and discuss this civilly."

He turned around and stalked off, his Clan following him.

Amberclaw looked at Fluffytail, a confused question in his eyes.

"We follow." Fluffytail whispered.

And so she walked by Rushingbrook. Soon she was almost sure where she was and then they were in the camp.

Firestar leapt up onto Highledge and turned around, facing the cats. "Let all cats who are old enough to catch their own prey meet here, under highledge for a clan meeting."

He paused and waited for the cats of ThunderClan to come out.

Fluffytail felt their skeptical stare at her. She tried to make herself smaller and stared down at her paws.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Rainwhisker' pelt.

She looked up a fraction of an inch.

Rainwhisker was staring at her. A guarded look of thoughtfulness was in his eyes, along with excitement, curiosity and, if Fluffytail had bothered to look hard enough, the tiniest sliver of jealousy.

It was like Heaven to see his face, after how long she had lived without it. And suddenly, Fluffytail realized that whatever love she had for Amberclaw, it was like nothing but affection compared to her and Rainwhisker.

Rainwhisker was the reason for her existence.

Firestar started talking. "You know the cry we all heard a while ago, and then the sound of battle. Well, that was Softpaw crying out in pain because someone was slicing her belly apart. And the sound of battle, that was Fluffytail, Rushingbrook, Beaverpelt, Quailfeather, Owlpaw, Yellowpaw, Eagleclaw and this golden tom, along with some rogues. They seemed to be in a fight, and when we got there, I saw Eagleclaw holding onto the ledge by the river and I also saw Rushingbrook pushing him into the water."

There were gasps and Icepelt let out a pained cry.

"And so," Firestar continued, "I have brought them back here to find out what really happened, pass judgment and do the necessary duties of the outcome.

"So, Fluffytail, I would like you to start."

Trying to breathe evenly, Fluffytail let up her head and started speaking. "Well, I was going somewhere and I had a sudden revelation that I had to come back here, regardless of if you would take me back in or not. Then I had two companions, Amberclaw," she flicked her tail at him. "And Cookie. Well, Cookie started getting irritable, and one night she left.

"Amberclaw and I traveled back here as fast as possible, and when we went just into Clan territory, I heard Softpaw's cry. We followed it and found Eagleclaw clawing her belly. Soon after that, Eagleclaw called out a cat and it was none other than Cookie. She explained to us that she had been Eagleclaw's spy since the beginning and Rushingbrook walked in,

"Then Rushingbrook appeared to be sick to her stomach. She suddenly blurted out something about how he killed Owlstorm and he admitted to it.

"Then Beaverpelt and Quailfeather, along with their apprentices, came and we fought.

"It kept on going until Eagleclaw called out some more rogues and we fought until Rushingbrook defeated Eagleclaw." She looked down, her skin growing hot with embarrassment

Firestar called on the rest of the cats, except Amberclaw, and they all confirmed that what Fluffytail said was true.

Firestar looked troubled.

"Well, this is more complex than I had originally thought." ThunderClan's leader boomed. "I will have to talk with the senior warriors and Leafpool, to find out what to do."

So he turned and he and the senior warriors, along with Fluffytail's mother.

Rainwhisker tentatively approached her and mewed, "Hey, Fluffytail."

"Hi, Rainwhisker," Fluffytail choked out. "She flicked her tail again to Amberclaw. "This is Amberclaw."

Rainwhisker looked at Amberclaw with a friendly expression on his face. "Hello, Amberclaw."

The Golden tom responded, and in a deep voice, muttered, "Hey, Rainwhisker. Good to finally meet you."

Rainwhisker looked back to Fluffytail. "So, how've you been doing?"

"Alright," Fluffytail mewed.

"Fought any badgers?"

"I wish"

He looked at her wryly. "You've still got that wild spirit, I'll be tempted to say."

"At least I still have that," Fluffytail returned with a good natured snicker.

"What's so funny?" Her old mentor asked.

She looked at him, a grin on her face. "Nothing,"

He snorted. "Liar."

Fluffytail looked him deep in his blue eyes. "What if I'm laughing because I had a laugh attack?"

"Laugh attack?"

Fluffytail nodded. "Yep."

Rainwhisker cocked his head. "So, tell me about this 'laugh attack'"

"It's when you laugh out loud for no apparent reason and can't stop." Fluffytail explained.

He rolled his eyes. "I knew that!" he snorted.

"Oh, yeah right!" She meowed.

"No, really!"

"Whatever." Fluffytail retorted, smiling nervously.

They continued talking and Joking around until Firestar called that he had made his decision.

"It appears to me that the only thing Medicine cat kits bring is trouble. Fluffytail runs away, Eagleclaw kills his brother, Rushingbrook kills her mate's killer, it's just too much.

"So, I've decided that we will have no more Medicine cat kits in ThunderClan."

"What do you mean?" Rushingbrook asked.

The leader looked down. "We're going to have to banish you from the Clan."

Fluffytail's breath got caught in her throat.

"He lets in kittypets, loners, rogues, but he banishes forest-born cats just because of who their parents are....." Rainwhisker hissed.

Here concludes Warriors: New skies book 2: the secret. The story will continue in the 3rd book.

Wait! I'm not done yet! I've still got credits, and I Might put up a sneak peek. I might, I'm still coming up with a name for book #3.

-Florence Pinky-poo