Yayz, I'm starting to get more reviews. 17 already, although one of them is by me. Anyway, it has now progressed into a love M! (not M as in Mature, M as in 'look at each of the intersecting lines and figure out the love interests')

Anywayz, on with the story!

Chapter Eighteen: Arguments

"I'm sorry, okay? I didn't see you!"

"No, it's not okay! Chan can swim fine, you ought to know that!"

All of the temporary happiness Phaedra had felt after fishing with Leavitt was gone. She had met up with a sopping wet Faolan in the hollow where they had slept the previous evening, demanded an explanation, and been met by blazing frustration instead. Apparently Faolan had already been through a lengthy argument with Chanlyeya, and all of his patience had run out.

"It's a fast river! I've never seen Chan swim before, I didn't know she came from MoonClan!"

"Oh, so now she's a MoonClan cat? I thought you hated each other, now you've sat down and discussed history!"

"She does hate me! Anyway, why do you care?"

"I don't!" she spat, sheathing and unsheathing her claws. A series of pinpricks were already driven into the ground where she was pacing up and down, her mottled fur bristling with anger. "And you're about to find out how much I don't care!"

With that, she sheathed her claws a final time and stalked out of the hollow, storming away through the long grass towards the river. She knew she was being slightly unreasonable, but how dare he? Saving the life of the cat who hated him instead of the cat who had traveled with him, befriended him, and risked her life for him running from the BloodCats when she could have just gone her own separate way?

A part of her mind reminded her that he hadn't known she was in the river too, but the other part argued that he shouldn't have tried to save Chanlyeya in the first place. The medicine cat could swim fine, and she would hardly have thanked him for the needless rescue. She wondered what had passed between them after they'd disappeared into the long grass. Angry words, probably, but her jealous half whispered that they might have made up.

Why do I care? I'm just his friend, no more. Why do I care if they fall in love?

She did care, though. Maybe something had been happening between them that she hadn't even known about or realized it was happening. The only toms she had ever hung around with were her brothers or her father. They were practically a new species to her; her brothers were hardly chased by BloodCats every other day. Then again, neither were most toms.

What is it about that mangy tom that makes me care so much about him? All he's done is put me in danger, get me caught by MoonClan cats, leave me to drown, and whine about how I'm being so unfair to him.

But he rescued me. And he traveled with me, shared his kills with me. He was someone to talk to when I was lonely. He listened to my tale of exile and never questioned my innocence. He was my first real friend.

Just as she was starting to contemplate turning around and apologizing, she heard a voice behind her that was, by now, as familiar as Faolan's. That soft, purring voice, speaking the words of remorse that Phaedra had been about to utter. That lying, stealing snake who wore the bones of cat around her neck.

The she-cat whose voice in Phaedra's ears whispered her love for Faolan.

"They can go to hell," Phaedra spat, and broke into a wild run through the grass.

xXx...xXx

Daemyn watched it all from his hidden hollow, claws tensing and crumbling the earth beneath him.

That red cat...she was smart. Running from Faolan the way she did, would only make him need her more. But at the same time, he longed for Chanlyeya to think of him that way, at the very least. As a tom she loved, but hated at the same time.

"I could make her jealous," he whispered, so quietly that he knew none of the three cats would hear him. "But who?"

He barely knew the red cat, and already registered her as a threat. She wouldn't do at all, not when she was a danger to his reign of the Five. The bloody FireCat. She didn't even know who she really was. Lost daughter of Kosuke, in a figurative tense.

"I'm the real FireCat. Not her." But even those comforting words couldn't help him now. He knew what he really was, and it wasn't Fire. He wasn't Kosuke's flesh and blood, present on earth. If anything, he was the darker side of the demon's circle. It annoyed him, but only slightly. Being evil but seeming good had its advantages.

Good and evil. What were they, really? In the end, the stronger duelist won out. And even evil had its arguments. He might be a demon, enemy of Kosuke and Qamra, but what would their reign bring? Predators. Back in the old days of the god and goddess, phoenixes, dragons, sea serpents, and other fantastic predators had run abound, preying on smaller animals, like cats. In this century, cats were enjoying the free rein that a life without predators brought. Daemyn wanted it to stay that way. He would keep Kosuke and Qamra at bay forever if he had to.

Of course, Kosuke and Qamra had their benefits too. The Clans wouldn't war anymore, and Qamra could spread her healing throughout all the Clans, even MurderClan. Daemyn didn't care much for the gift of healing, but he longed for the elevated skill of hunting and fighting that Kosuke taught. To be invincible; it could really help a lot. Especially if he had to fend off predators like the enormous dragons.

But wouldn't life be better without those gigantic problems, and just the little trifles that warring Clans brought into the fight? Daemyn had made his choice a long time ago. He would prevent Qamra and Kosuke from bringing their godly problems back into Kyto, forever if he had to.

"I'll win her," he whispered, watching that creamy tabby form he wanted more than anything else in Kyto. "Whatever it takes."