Chapter Six: Meeting

"Three more lives," Dreampaw muttered to herself. The young she-cat was very bored, and just wondering about Leopardstar.

"I wonder..." She murmured. Hmm...

Shadowclan!

Dreampaw, being Dreampaw, really liked nothing more than finding out how far she could go without getting caught.

And that's exactly what she was going to do.

000

Windpaw lept into the air, sinking his claws into the helpless sparrow that had flown into the air. The bird gave a cry, but was silent when the white apprentice sank his teeth into it. That's when an earthy scent came into the air. It was vaguely familar.

"Oof!"

Windpaw was bowled over by a smaller cat, and he quickly was on his paws, facing a young Thunderclan she-cat.

"Who do you think you are, attacking a cat on his own territory?" Windpaw spat, a bit embarrassed that such a small cat had caught him unaware.

The pale ginger cat tossed her head. "I think that I got you!"

Windpaw suddenly realized that this was the same annoying little apprentice that he had bumped into at the Gathering! The she-cat seemed to realize this as well, and her amber eyes widened with anger.

"You!" She hissed.

Windpaw glared at her. But for some reason, he didn't want to report her or hurt her. There was something with her spunky attitude that was kind of endearing.

"Look," He meowed, "If you get out of here without a fight, I won't tell anyone that you tresspassed."

"No."

"What?" He yowled, "I'm giving you a pass to get out of here unharmed, and you-"

"Do you know who killed Leopardstar?" The cat stated.

Windpaw's leaf green eyes widened. "She's dead? I didn't know."

"Are you sure about that?" She challenged. Windpaw shook his head. Such a peristent cat.

"What's your name, anyway?"

She hesitated. "Dreampaw. You?"

"Windpaw."

Well, Dreampaw reasoned with herself, He gave you his name. He must not be afraid of you finding something out.

"So you just came on here to find out if a Shadowclan cat murdered Leopardstar?" Anger was edging Windpaw's voice. "You know, these aren't the days of Brokentail and Tigerstar anymore."

"I'm not wondering about any cat," Dreampaw murmured uncomfortably, "It had to be a very strong cat."

"Why?"

"Leopardstar. She may have... She may have had three more lives."

Windpaw sat down, processing this news. Interesting. The only cats he could imagine strong enough to do that were Firestar and-

Firestar and Blackstar.

But it couldn't have been Blackstar. No, it couldn't have been. His own father wouldn't do something for that evil. Blackstar was the only decent leader Shadowclan had had in ages.

"You know who I'm wondering about," Dreampaw murmured.

"He couldn't have done it."

"Well, facing it, you know he could have," She reasoned, walking up to him. "And I'm sorry about that, I'll admit. I didn't want to hurt any cat's feelings, even one as obnoxious as you."

Her amber eyes glinted with mischeif.

Windpaw padded up and shoved his head against hern shoulder, making her side step, wobbling a bit on her paws. She gave the impression of a newborn kit when she did that.

"You're a small cat," He commented.

Dreampaw batted at his face, annoyance showing.

"I was born early. My parents' only kit."

"Really? Who were your parents?"
"Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw."

"Oh," Windpaw meowed, "So you're Firestar's granddaughter."
"Yes," She mewed. Dreampaw paused. "Well, I'd better go."

"Wait a moment," Windpaw said, "Tell me if anything happens, and I'll do the same with you."

She gazed at him for a moment, confusion and hesitation. Like she wasn't sure what to do. And it was a hard decision. If there was an alliance, who knew how long it would last, with their clashing attitudes? And meeting a cat from another clan, even if it was only being allies, not even friends, was forbidden...

"You can trust me," Windpaw assure her.

There was a long silence.

"I do." She murmured, and was off.

Did she, though?

000

Windpaw padded back to camp, thinking about what he had just done. Formed a sort of alliance with a Thunderclan cat. Not good...

Suddenly, it reached his ears. A thin wailing.

He ran into the center of the camp, and skidded to a halt.

Berrypelt stood over Mosspaw's body, wailing.

His brother was dead.

"What happened?" He rasped to Littlecloud, who stood beside him, a blank look in his eyes.

"I tried my best," He mewed, "It just... Mosspaw didn't have enought strength to pull through."

This didn't make sense to Windpaw. Though he wasn't the strongest of cats, it was a simple cough! Mosspaw could surely have pulled through that... especially with Littlelcloud's skills...

Maybe it wasn't the cough that killed him.

000

I noticed that I named one of Applebird's kits Mosspaw, and his name has been changed to Adderpaw. R and R!