The Winds Of Change
Summary
Cinderkit has always known that she wants to become a strong warrior. But after witnessing one of her sister's die from green cough, Cinderkit trains to become PineClan's next medicine cat.
Willowkit Is Right Again
Willowkit leans against me, trying to steal some of my warmth. "Back off buster" I joke, teeth chattering. I very much wish for her warmth, as a matter of fact. There's a heavy wind. It comes through strong, even with the trees keeping it at bay. The night was cold and my teeth were chattering. Both me and Willowkit had wondered off to go explore near the borders of LightningClan. I can't imagine what it's like for ForestClan. But we need to keep moving. The sun's already setting and we are completely lost.
"Yeah, it kind of is. But we're in this together, and what's done is done. But I am NEVER sneaking out of camp, especially with you little weasel again, you hear me Bluekit?" I laugh.
"You're right, it is my fault. But I'm not a weasel" I frown, but of course she knows it's a joking frown.
"Hay, where are we?" Willowkit asked, scanning the area with her sharp green eyes. I sighed and rolled my eyes at my friend in playful exasperation.
"I don't know fuzzball, but I think it's going to rain soon." I muttered quietly, as I looked up at the sky. Willowkit sighed and huffed as we began to run trying to find a shelter to stay in for the night.
"UGH! I hate rain, it makes my pelt fluff out and stick to my sides!" Willowkit complained, as I look back at her.
"I don't really mind rain. But it's getting hard to see anything anyways, so we should find a place to sleep for the night." I replied, as we continued to run.
"Well you have short hair as short as a tortoiseshell cat. Nothing sticks to your pelt, I wish I had a short pelt like you." Willowkit muttered, as her eyes became slitted at the continuous downpour of rain that soaked through her pelt.
"But I am NEVER sneaking out of camp, especially with you little weasel again, you hear me Wildkit?" Willowkit says, giving me a playful shove. I frowned slightly and replied after a moment.
"Why wouldn't you want to sneak out of camp with me again? And I'm not a weasel" I retorted, frowning slightly, but of course she knew my tone and my frown were both joking.
"Because you always get us in to trouble, that's why Wildkit." Willowkit replies after a short pause.
"And if mom asks why, I'll say it was your idea." Willowkit grumbles, and I just laugh quietly at her in response.
Her father had been on the patrol that found me. I was no more than a few hours old, and even PineClan wouldn't turn down a kit as helpless as I was. He gave me to his mate, and me and Willow have grown up together ever since.
Willow and me are almost complete opposites, but absolutely inseparable. She's smart and enjoys herbs, with gentle words. Though, don't be too quick to judge her, because she's blunt and head on. I, am, however, much more evasive. I'm wily and lean, with short black and white fur, and amber eyes.
No one knows where I come from, though Willowkit's dad, Dustpelt says I smelled faintly of LightningClan. But I'm PineClan through and through. Does it matter where I come from? Most cats would say it does. Some are even suspicious, but that's all theory. All cats with half a brain know I was much too young to be a spy. I rest my noggin on the matter, and zone back into my conversation with Willowkit.
"She's almost ready..." A garbled slimy voice echoes faintly through the shadows. I laugh at my silly imagination, and put my nose to the ground. Lightning crackles in the sky and thunder rumbles. A heavy rain begins pouring down. Great. What fun. "Shoot" I muttered.
Luckily, the rain doesn't bother me much. Rain dribbles off the side of my pelt. I have fur so short that it seems nothing can soak into it. Willowkit however is not so lucky. She has long black-silvery fur that glows beautifully in the moonlight. But such beauty comes with a price. Now, her fur is plastered to her sides, green eyes beady and dilated. And I have a hunch she isn't all too excited.
"We are going to be in so much trouble" Willowkit says with an exaggerated sigh.
"Yep" I say, "We should camp for the night, the sun's almost down and we can't see anything anyway. The storm clouds are too thick." Shadowkit nods, and I scan our surroundings. I spot what I think is an abandoned fox den. It's in-between two rocks, and it leads underground. I slowly walk over, and sniff it. I'm mostly sure that it's abandoned.
"Willow, I found an abandoned fox's den that we can stay in for the night. Come on, let's go inside." I say, turning to look at Willowkit who looked unsure about the whole thing.
"A fox's den? Wildkit, are you crazy?" Willowkit exclaims, giving me a pointed look. I sighed and replied calmly.
"Listen, Willow, it's either this or get soaking wet." I explained, and Willowkit gave a long, drawn-out sigh before she reluctantly nodded and we slowly trotted inside the den.
"I think it's safe," I call her over, and we trot into the den. Its warm and earthy smelling. But what I'm happiest about, is it's dry. We both shake to dry off, though her fur is still stuck to her sides and soggy.
I dug a small whole in the dirt to lay in, and she does the same, right next to mine. We both curl up, and groom the wetness out of her fur.
I awake to Willowkit licking the tuft of fur on my head. I don't know when we fell asleep, but sunlight was streaming in through the entrance of the den. We stand up, and quickly orient ourselves for the daytime and finding our way back to PineClan. We had wandered all the way into a birch forest, but it wasn't LightningClan's. Maybe ForestClan? ForestClan would be better. PineClan and ForestClan have a sort of alliance, while PineClan and LightningClan are always at each others throats.
I see a flash of orange fur, and suddenly, it's on top of me. A fox the size of a large boulder, biting me on the shoulder. I whirl around, and claw at it, but it's no use. It's four times as large as I am, and five times as strong. But I claw and bite anyway. I'm only five moons old, and I have no training, but I have to.
"WILLOW! Leap on top of it! It'll try to squash you, but Ill get it's belly!" She nods, and leaps onto the fox, biting and scratching it's ears, eyes, and back. It whirls around, and eventually, like I predicted, it goes to lay on it's back, which will squish Willow. Before it can squash her flat, I rake my claws down it's underbelly, and it falls over on it's side, a puddle of blood forming around it's belly.
"We didn't just do that" Willowkit says, staring in disbelief at the dead fox.
"We did" Our eyes both shine with accomplishment, though, I'm seriously hurt, and Willowkit looks kind of exhausted.
"We need to get back to camp," I say, and Willowkit nodded.
"Well yeah" Willowkit says, staring at me.
"Follow me." We trot out of the den. The new leaf air is warmer today, and only a gentle breeze drifts by. It ruffles Willowkit's fur, and makes it dance around like little fairies.
We travel for a bit, and finally make it to the pine forest. "Hey, you're limping!" Willowkit says, annoyed that I didn't tell her earlier.
"We need to move, come on Willow" I say, sighing softly, we had no time to slow down, we need to keep moving.
"You. Are. Limping." Willowkit says, clearly annoyed that I hadn't told her.
"Yes, and I'll get healed back in camp." I said, in an attempt to stop Willowkit from pestering me.
"Fine" She mutters, and we continue. I'm glad to be back in the pine forest. It's dark and gloomy. The birch forest was bright and magic-like. My belly rumbles. Only now do I realise how hungry I am.
"Hey, we haven't eaten since yesterday at sunhigh! I've never gone this long!" I say, looking down at my paws with a sheepish smile on my face as I look back up at Willowkit.
"Me either!" We walk past the border marks, and finally come in site of camp. We both let out excited squeals, and run into camp. do, rather awkwardly, due to my limp, but I'm just as excited. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" Firestorm comes stomping up to us, and I get a lump in my throat.
"Dun dun dun. We are so dead" I say in a small squeak.
"Yeah, no kidding" Willowkit says, rolling her eyes and flicking her tail. I sigh and mentally prepare myself for the outburst that was to come any second now.
"WE'VE BEEN SEARCHING EVERYWHERE! AND YOU'RE HURT! DID YOU JUST GO AND HAVE A SLEEPOVER IN A FOXES DEN? STARCLAN, I THOUGHT I RAISED AT LEAST SLIGHTLY DISCIPLINED KITS, BUT NOPE!" Firestorm yells, sweeping her gaze over both me and Willowkit.
"Mom. Chill." I spoke up, stoping Firestorm from her ranting.
"I don't normally agree with Wildkit, but she's right. You seriously need to chill." Willowkit says, walking up beside me.
"Well, look at the runaways" Chesnutpaw says, joining the conversation. He's a rather large tom, although he's only a moon older than me and Willowkit.
"Chesnutpaw, go stick yourself up your own butthole" I say, already exasperated with him.
"Well hello, miss snarky!" He says with a sneer.
"Shut up. Just shut up." I say, glaring at him.
"Wildkit, that's no way to treat your future mate!" Firestorm says. I sighed and dug my paws into the dirt with a frustrated hiss. Oh, did I forget to mention that PineClan is a fan of arranged mates? Chesnutpaw is Nightclaw's kit, and apparently I'm 'Pretty and a good fighter', so, lucky me, I'm stuck with Chesnutpaw. Literally everyone in the clan feels sorry for me.
Firestorm sighed and flicked her tail in exasperation. This wasn't the first time that I complained about my disrespectful mate.
"Wildkit, Willowkit, you two will go and speak with Dustpelt and he will decide what your punishment will be!" Firestorm says, once more glaring at me and Willowkit. I sighed as me and Willowkit made our way to Dustpelt's den, he was Willow's father and he's my father as well, me and Willow have grown up together.
As me and Willowkit made our way to Dustpelt's den, Willow kept glaring at me.
"What?" I asked, "It's not my fault!" I replied, turning to look at her with my sharp gaze.
"Yeah, it kind of is your fault." She replied, huffing and turning her head away from me.
"What will our punishment be this time?" I whispered to Willow as we entered Dustpelt's den.
"I heard from your mother that you two snuck out of camp, AGAIN! I thought we raised you two better then this." Dustpelt says, staring at me and Willow with narrowed blue eyes.
"We're really sorry father." Willowkit said, looking up at Dustpelt with sad eyes. I just sighed and flicked my tail.
"As punishment, you two will help Leafpool and Cinderpaw clean up the medicine den for a month, and Wildkit, your apprenticeship ceremony will be held back two moons." Dustpelt says, staring at me as he said the last part. I sighed softly and after Dustpelt listed off some more punishments, me and Willowkit left the den.
"But we're not medicine cats!" I silently retorted, once we had left Dustpelt's den. Willowkit sighed softly and nodded her head in agreement.
"No, we're not, but no thanks to you, we have to help clean the medicine den for a month." Willowkit bitterly replied, as she glared at me.i just sighed and lowered my head, staring down at my paws.
"So you two snuck out of camp again?" Came the voice of Leafpool's apprentice, Cinderpaw, me and Willowkit looked up to see the gray she-cat staring at us with amusement shining in her eyes.
"Yeah, we did" Willowkit replied, staring up at Cinderpaw who flicked her tail and turned to the entrance of the medicine den.
"Hi Leafpool, Wildkit and Willowkit have to help us clean the medicine den" Cinderpaw told her mentor, who nodded and set the herbs down and turned to stare at me and Willowkit with her sharp gaze.
"I heard from Ashpelt that you two snuck out of camp again, you two kits are only five moons old, your not suppose to leave camp until you have become apprentices" Leafpool scolded, and I lowered my head in shame, staring down at my paws.
"We just wanted to go exploring, it's no fun having to stay in camp all the time" Willowkit chimed in, staring up at Leafpool with wide green eyes. Leafpool just sighed and flicked her tail.
"Hay, Cinderpaw, mother needs some poppy seeds so she can get Spottedkit and Bluekit to sleep" we all looked to see Cinderpaw's sister, Hazelpaw, standing in the entrance of the den, Cinderpaw nodded and went to fetch some poppy seeds.
"At least both kits are healthy, no more green cough, ever since Rosekit died, I've been working hard to be the best Medicine cat that I can be. I don't want anymore cats or kits to die, Rosekit was the same age as these two kits" Cinderpaw said, gesturing with her tail at me and Willowkit.