AN: Welp. I'm already imagining PMVs for stuff that won't happen for ages! Have to say I'm enjoying myself quite a bit, even if my writing ain't perfect :)

Rowanpaw was already starting to hear the familiar roar in his ears, but it was quiet still; simmering… waiting to see if it was needed. Tall grass and scrub obscured their line of sight, but at the same time staying low within it also kept them hidden. The breeze, slight as it was, was blowing toward them, carrying with it the sharp smells that had first caught their attention. If the rouges were still there, at least they wouldn't smell them coming on the wind.

They were right on the border now. Rowanpaw detected a marker on a large rock as he passed by it. Re-marking could wait. "There." Smokeblaze at the front had stopped. His voice was so soft Rowanpaw barely heard him since he was at the back of a single file line of four cats. The apprentice craned his neck carefully, trying to look over the cats and the grass. He could just see a ginger shape, hunched over something.

"I know that cat." Spiderstreak muttered. "He was part of this group that would come and go…"

"So definitely a rouge then." Smokeblaze returned. Rowanpaw could see his muscles tense. He knew what the warrior was going to do before he even flicked his ears back as a signal.

Smokeblaze erupted up from the undergrowth at the rouge cat with a loud yowl. The rouge startled and started running without even looking back over his shoulder to see who was there. He must have known how close he was to clan territory and wasn't keen to stick around. Smokeblaze sped after him. "Spiderstreak, with me! We'll see if we can catch him!"

"Wait!" Kowhaifall called after the two dark toms. "We shouldn't split… up." The she-cat narrowed her eyes as their forms disappeared after the rouge. "Great." She sighed. "...Typical toms; mousebrains always want a fight..."

Rowanpaw understood Kowhaifall's reasoning, if not appreciative of that toms being mousebrained comment. There could be more and now their own strength had been split in half. There was also still the matter of the blood smell…

Rowanpaw followed after Kowhaifall cautiously, sniffing. The smell was strong and coming from several different directions. His mentor flicked her tail. He followed the line and saw a splatter of blood on the dry grass. It was still fairly fresh. The rouge that the toms had chased didn't look wounded. "What happened here?" Rowanpaw wondered aloud. He wasn't worried about it being one of their own; their patrol were the only cats that should be down this way. Hunting patrols had been staying mostly clear since the rouges were first scented.

Kowhaifall was making her way towards where the rouge that had run off had been crouching. Rowanpaw followed the blood. They were both moving slowly; keeping their senses strained just in case there were more rouges nearby.

The blood splatters grew more numerous as he followed the trail, and the smell combined with the stink of rouge was overpowering in Rowanpaw's nose and mouth. He curled his lips trying to drive it out as he moved through the grass. Luckily it had thinned out on the other side of the border and he still had Kowhaifall in sight a short distance away. The blood led him to a tangled bush.

He could see a still shape underneath.

Rowanpaw grimaced as he examined the dead white cat and her various wounds. Her death had been brutal by the looks. He found himself staring, shocked by the unexpected find, if not the way she'd died. It wasn't one of their clan. Or from any clan by the smell; she was a rouge. The small she-cat hadn't been dead long.

He was just about to call over Kowhaifall when her own meow to him rang out. It was urgent, and so he turned on his paws and ran towards her. A dead cat wasn't going to go anywhere anyway.

Rowanpaw reached the ginger and white she-cat's side. She looked up, clear worry and sorrow in her eyes. "Kits…"

He looked down to what she was standing over, almost protectively. Two tiny kits. Still blind and new. One was solid black; squirming pitifully and making the tiniest noise. The other was a spotted tabby, but it wasn't moving. There was blood on them both, but it seemed like it had all come from the tabby. He could see the tooth holes in it's little body. He could feel bile rising in his throat. "Is it?" Rowanpaw asked, already knowing the answer. It was just a kit…

"Gone." Kowhaifall replied. The apprentice didn't know how much of her empathy for the kits came from her having her own kits on the way, and how much was just her kind personality.

"I found a dead she-cat nearby. A rouge." Rowanpaw reported, feeling almost detached from what he was looking at, as he watched Kowhaifall carefully move the dead kit away from the live one; which she tucked up against her paws and under the shade of her body. It was probably overheating out in the hot afternoon sun like this.

"Their mother?"

"Maybe." It wasn't like he was looking to see if she'd been nursing.

It was at that moment that Spiderstreak and Smokeblaze suddenly reappeared, both panting heavily and fur standing on end. "We lost him." Smokeblaze hissed, glancing back over his shoulder before turning to look at Kowhaifall. He froze as he took in the scene before him. "What in Starclan's name…"

"There's a dead rouge over there too. Maybe the mother." Rowanpaw flicked his ears towards the bush. Spiderstreak ambled over. His expression was unreadable. Maybe he was feeling like Rowanpaw (who didn't really know how to feel) or perhaps he was wondering if it was a cat he once knew.

"What kind of sick cat kills a mother and kits?" Smokeblaze snarled, clearly disgusted as he nosed the dead kit.

"This one is alive." Kowhaifall said, her voice very quiet as she looked down at the black kit. It had settled against her paw. "Rouge-born or not, we can't leave it to die." Her request to Smokeblaze was clear, even without the pleading tone in her voice.

The tom took less than a blink to make up his mind. "Take it back to camp. See if Flowerdust can take one more. Surely Icestar won't turn it away; it doesn't deserve to suffer for it's parentage."

"I know her." Spiderstreak had come back from looking at the dead she-cat. Rowanpaw still couldn't read him. His voice carried little emotion. "Summer… She didn't deserve that." He heaved a great sigh. "She was a nice cat, as far as rouges go. The tom we chased was Fang. They were in the same group."

"Do you think he killed her?" Rowanpaw asked.

Spiderstreak made a face. "If he did then something has changed in a big way since I left. They were mates."

The apprentice could feel his stomach flip. This was just so wrong.

"Take Rowanpaw back with you Kowhaifall. I don't want you going alone in case there are more around." Smokeblaze added as Kowhaifall started licking the blood off the black kit, ready to return to camp. "We'll investigate the area further and bury the other kit. Tell Icestar I will make a full report when I get back."

"And Summer. We are burying her too." Spiderstreak added firmly, meeting Smokeblaze's eye. The two toms held a gaze for a long time.

"And the rouge." It was clear that the warrior had far less sympathy for the she-cat than the kit. Spiderstreak said nothing more, but he was obviously not happy as he turned back towards where Summer lay. Somehow knowing her name made the image of her lying there worse in Rowanpaw's mind.

Kowhaifall carefully picked up the kit, who squeaked weakly in protest. When was the last time it had fed, Rowanpaw wondered? What really caught his attention though, was how Kowhaifall's eyes widened when she took the kit in her mouth. Almost as if in shock.

Whatever it was she was quick to start heading back to camp, and Rowanpaw fell into step behind her, not looking back on the gruesome scene just on the wrong side of their southern border.

Once they were a distance away, Kowhaifall spoke with her mouth muffled since it was full of kitten. "Rowanpaw, can you smell anything odd about this kit?"

He tilted his head, surprised by the question, but he obliged his mentor, leaning over and taking a deep sniff into the black kit's fur. It wiggled a bit. "Just rouge and what's left of the blood. Why?" He didn't have as good a nose as Kowhaifall, so he wondered why she was asking him.

Kowhaifall looked slightly reassured, but he could still see she was feeling troubled in the back of her mind. "Oh, it's probably nothing. My nose playing tricks… Don't worry about it."