Yay reviews! Thanks for the OCs The Sassy Scourbunny! I couldn't put that many into this chapter because I wrote it before getting your PM.
A calico kit hid behind the nest. She was breathing heavily, scared. The sound of yowling and thumps could be heard outside.
Her eyes were wide. Please, she begged silently, StarClan, please don't let them find me.
She heard a small rustling and then pawsteps. Uh-oh.
She could hear the cat's breaths. She peeked above her nest to see a cat with a silver pelt sniffing around the entrance of the nurse.
She immediately ducked under the nest again.
"Foxdung," she muttered quietly under her breath. The cat's ears perked up at this small noise and the calico cursed her own stupidity.
The cat came closer, and closer, and then pounced.
The kit closed her eyes tightly, waiting for the weight of the cat. I guess this is the end. The kitten sighed.
A silver she-cat pounced on the kit, and the kit somehow mustered up the energy to throw the cat off. The silver cat rolled to her paws, unharmed.
"Found you!" The silver kitten joyfully yowled, tail waving in victory. "Lotuskit, you're so bad at hiding! I mean, hiding in the nursery! Way too easy!"
Lotuskit got up, rolling her eyes. "Yeah whatever Moony."
The silver kit growled playfully. "Hey! You know I don't like it when you call me that! It's Moonkit. Not Moony!"
"Uh-huh. Sure, Moony." Lotuskit purred.
Moonkit rolled her eyes as well. "Anyway, I found you, so my team won!"
A cream tom-kit staggered into the nursery dramatically. He flopped at Lotuskit's paws.
He groaned. "Lotuskit, how could you let her find you? I trusted you!" He meowed playfully.
His brother, a black tom rushed in. He pounced on the cream tom, cuffing his ear.
He purred, "Don't be too upset Mountainkit, everyone knows Moonkit and I are unbeatable!"
Mountainkit glared teasingly at his brother, sky-blue eyes narrowing with annoyance. "Ugh Forestkit, your head's so big that sometimes I wonder how you don't collapse under it."
Lotuskit laughed, and Moonkit joined in, voice like silver bells.
Forestkit widened his pine-green eyes in mock surprise, "How dare you?" he gasped.
He jumped on Mountainkit and the two rolled around in play-fight, sheathed paws scrabbling at each other.
Lotuskit smiled. Forestkit and Mountainkit were one moon younger than she and Moonkit and the four of them were inseparable, rolling around the camp, annoying all the warriors.
A delicate paw poked through the entrance of the nursery. "Kits, are you in there?"
Lotuskit called out, "Yeah, come on in Sunpaw!"
A golden tabby padded in the den, and the soft scent of herbs wafted after her. Lotuskit admired the way her pelt glowed softly in the dim light and how her green eyes sparkled. She sighed. Sunpaw was so beautiful. Lotuskit wished she was half as pretty.
Sunpaw purred, "Hi kits! Moonkit, Lotuskit, your mother told me to get you ready for your apprentice ceremony!"
Moonkit sat up suddenly, moss clinging to her fur. "Great StarClan, that's today?"
Sunpaw smiled warmly. "Yep, lucky you!"
Lotuskit gasped with Moonkit, getting up to bounce on her paws. "Really? But we're only four moons old!"
Sunpaw meowed. "I know, but Sweetstar decided your ceremony would be today because, well because the clan's preparing to move, she wants to make sure her kits are trained for the journey. She doesn't want to lose you."
She moved towards Moonkit and started licking her fur clean. Moonkit was wriggling with excitement, and Sunpaw laughed exasperatedly. By the time she was done, the silver kit's fur sparkled in the dim light and she looked like a StarClan cat.
Meanwhile, the two younger brothers were staring enviously at them.
"Lucky," muttered Mountainkit, dejectedly drawing circles in the dust with his paw.
Forestkit sighed, all playfulness gone. "I wish we could be apprentices. Will we be apprentices at four moons old too?"
Sunpaw shook her head. "I don't think so. Probably Sweetstar will make you two apprentices at the normal age. " She started grooming Lotuskit. When she finished, she directed Lotuskit to a puddle that had formed from a leak in the den. Moonkit padded next to her and they gazed at their reflections.
"Wow," Moonkit breathed. Sunpaw had groomed away both kits' fluffy stray fur that usually surrounded them like a cloud.
Moonkit's shorter fur looked like something had cut it perfectly into shape. Her striking blue eyes sparkled like stars and the white patches on her pelt looked as pure as snow. Lotuskit smiled. Her sister was beautiful, no mistake. She was the prettier of the two, but Lotuskit didn't care. She loved her sister too much.
Moonkit nudged her. "Look at yourself silly!" Lotuskit glanced at her reflection.
Huh, she thought, I kind of look pretty. Her whiskers were too stubby and uneven to be pretty, but her long fur was clean and silky-looking, her white fur like a doe's belly. The orange and black splashes showed out as bright bursts of color, and her gray-blue eyes, which she always thought as dull next to Moonkit's bright ones and Mountainkit's sky colored ones, were alight with spirit, like a stormy sky. Her legs were short, unlike Moonkit's long and graceful ones, but showed places where muscle would grow in. They showed promise.
I show promise, Lotuskit thought.
Sunpaw coughed, interrupting Lotuskit's marveling of her reflection. "We should get going."
She swept the entrance of the nursery out with her tail, and beckoned them to follow her. Moonkit turned to go, but Lotuskit gazed at her friends, trying to find the best words. She opened her mouth, but was interrupted by a call outside. Shooting an apologetic look behind her, she scampered out, leaving her two dismayed friends.
"Everyone old enough to pounce gather beneath the Thornrock!" A calico, almost identical to Lotuskit, climbed onto a dark brown boulder.
Lotuskit saw her sister sitting next to her father, looking up eagerly to their mother. She sat on the other side of her father, and he rasped a lick over her ear.
"You look beautiful", he purred quietly. Lotuskit purred back, ears arched to Sweetstar.
"It is time for two kits to become apprentices! Even though they are two moons younger than normal, it is necessary for all kits to be mentored before the journey to the other Clans. Moonkit, please step forward."
Moonkit strode forward, and Lotuskit decided she had never looked more beautiful, her fur glowing in the soft evening light.
"Moonkit, you have reached the age of four moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Moonpaw. Your mentor will be Sootpelt. I hope he will pass down all he knows to you."
A large dark gray and black tom with amber eyes stepped up to Moonpaw. Lotuskit thought she saw hints of orange in his sun-like eyes. Sweetstar turned to him.
"Sootpelt, you are ready to take on another apprentice. You have received excellent training from Pineshade, and you have shown yourself to be loyal and courageous. You have done excellent work with Tawnyshine as well. You will be the mentor of Moonpaw, and I expect you to pass on all you know to her."
Sootpelt touched noses with Moonpaw, and Lotuskit saw his mouth moving as he whispered something into Moonpaw's ear. The two stepped off the side, and Sweetstar called up Lotuskit.
Lotuskit stepped up to her mother. She could feel so many gazes on her.
Sweetstar purred. "Lotuskit, you have reached the age of four moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Lo-"
"Wait!" Lotuskit meowed. Great StarClan what am I doing? "When will Mountainkit and Forestkit be apprenticed?"
Sweetstar narrowed her eyes. Even if the leader was your mother, it was extremely disrespectful to interrupt them. Shocked gasps rippled around camp.
"They will be apprenticed at five moons old, early because of the journey. Now, let us continue."
Lotuskit glanced at her friends. Forestkit hung his head and Mountainkit looked disappointed. She quickly spoke again. "Wait.I thought you were going to apprentice all four of us together? When Moonpaw and I were six moons old and they were five?"
Moonpaw hissed. "What are you doing?"
Lotuskit ignored her, staring expectantly at her leader. Sweetstar growled. "I changed my mind. It is an honor to be an apprentice. Do you not want to become one?"
Lotuskit used all her willpower to not tremble with fear. She meowed. "Of course I do. But not without them." She gestured to Mountainkit and Forestkit. "If it's alright with you, I want to become an apprentice with them."
Another wave of murmurs swept through the camp.
Sweetstar paused for a moment, and the whole camp tensed. Lotuskit tried to seem brave, but it was hard with Sweetstar's bright green eyes boring into her. Sweetstar finally spoke.
"Fine, you will be made an apprentice at six moons old, with Forestkit and Mountainkit when they are five moons old." The calico leader turned, calling, "Meeting dispersed."
Lotuskit jumped down from the rock. Forestkit rushed up to her, eyes wide. "What did you do?" Forestkit yelped.
"You have to become an apprentice! Go tell Sweetstar right this instant that you changed your mind!" He pushed her in the direction the leader stalked off too. Lotuskit shook her head.
"I couldn't become an apprentice without you two." She smiled softly. Mountainkit pressed against her. Forestkit kneaded his paws against the ground anxiously, then joined them, brushing pelts with her on Lotuskit's other side.
"Thank you." Mountainkit whispered. Forestkit sighed. "Yeah, thanks." Lotuskit gazed into their clear eyes, and seeing gratitude in both, she decided she had done the right thing..
But she heard a hiss, and turned to see Moonpaw's disapproving gaze and Brackentail's worried one.
"Moonpaw, come on, I'm going to go show you around the territory!" Sootpelt called, padding out the entrance. Moonpaw turned to leave, and Lotuskit watched her sadly.
Before she slipped out into the wild, however, Moonpaw looked back to her sister and shook her head once.
Was it really worth it?
What do you think? Review!