Okay, my very first story! This takes place just outside the forest, in the Twolegplace, and WAAAY after the cats have left the forest. Please read and review!

Note: They use some 'Clan terms', such as 'moon' for months, etc, but they also use some of their own terms: 'Pawstrider' 'twoleg,' for example.

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The large quarter moon cast a deathly shadow on the flat, smooth roof of the kennel. Inside the kennel sat a burly cream tom, his tail flicking impatiently every now and again, billowing out clouds of dust.

A thin she-cat stepped out and padded up next to him, touching his shoulder playfully with her tail, gazing at him with warm eyes.

The tom did nothing to acknowledge his daughter's appearance, but sat rigid, staring at the gap in the trees that lead to the exit of the den.

"Father," mewed the she-cat gently. "You're drifting again,"

The thickset tom grunted. "I can't help it."

"Yes you can," the she-cat meowed. "Basaujin is in the paws of our ancestors now," she bowed her head slightly. "There is nothing we can do," she added in a whisper.

"There is everything we can do!" The tomcat unsheathed his claws into the dust. "If I- if I hadn't been too preoccupied fighting that ratty queen, he might still be here. He might still be Leader." The big cat turned his head away from his daughter. When he next spoke, grief stung at his throat.

"He told me I should be strong. That I shouldn't be scared of his death, because it would make me weak. And I failed."

The she-cat rubbed her muzzle along her father's face. "You're not weak. You're one of the strongest cats I know. If you hadn't been battling that queen I'm sure you would of clawed Sylvie into next week. She just…" she thought about how she should word this, "distracted you, that's all."

"Yeah, right," the cream cat slashed his tail across the dust violently.

His daughter decided that she should not interact with her father yet, at least until he calmed down. He took losses badly, much more badly that he should. But this one…the way he had just given into the she-cat who was gnawing at his neck, as if he was playing for time. The she-cat shuddered. This was not the father she knew.

Suddenly, there was a rustling at the cloth that surrounded the kennel. It was her elder brother, Peter, closely followed by her great-uncle Matthew. Both looked very grave. Ever Peter's fur, which was ivory and gold, and usually stood up with a mischievous air, lay flat and lifeless along his spine. The cat shivered. Surely her grandfather's death could not have hit both her brother and her great-uncle this hard?

"Basaujin is dead," declared Matthew solemnly, grief creeping into his voice. "He was a loyal Leader, and he will be remembered fondly. He died, we believe, by an attack by Harry-Sylvie's Kin." His eyes flashed dangerously. "We will make sure he is properly revenged. Zurine,"

The cat pricked her ears in interest.

"Go into the Round-Tunnels and announce this new to the rest of the kin,"

Zurine nodded and trotted out of the gap. It was not the most pleasant news to give to her kin, especially her mother, but it was a relief that her kin were finally beginning to recognise her in their 'work', despite her being a she-cat.

As she entered the Round-Tunnel, the smell of mouse and Pawstrider-food met her nose. Her mother was sitting on the floor, worry reflected in every shadow on her face, chewing on a small vole. Her cousin, Ed, was pawing the ground nervously, a half-eaten Pawstrider-fish to the left of him, along with her dark-grey great aunt, Goizargi, who was dozing.

Ed was the first to look up.

"He's dead, isn't he?"

Zurine nodded her head sadly. "Yes, I'm sorry. He died by an attack by Harry-Sylvie, Mattin thinks. He will be honoured by all of us, and will be joining our ancestors shortly." Her mother closed her eyes, and stared at the floor, too overwhelmed to see. Ed walked over and buried his face into her pelt. Zurine turned to leave and let them grieve in peace, but Goizargi reached up and patted her white pelt.

"Tell me," she asked, hoarse from sleep and anguish. "Who did my brother name Leader?"

Zurine was taken aback by this question. "I –I don't know," she admitted. "I shall ask Matthew."

Goizargi nodded slowly, not moving her eyes from the she-cat, and padded back to pile of moss and feathers that formed her bedding.

Zurine walked out of the Round-Tunnel and into the den.

Her father was sitting at the corner in exactly the same place as before, his tail swishing becoming more violent. Matthew was sitting opposite him with a grim expression around his mouth. They were talking rapidly with each other. Peter sat a few paces away, looking dejected. Zurine knew that they must have thought him too young to be involved in the matters they were discussing. It was a good job too, thought the young queen; Peter stuck his nose in places where it certainly shouldn't be, and then blabbed it all to the nearest cat.

She crept up to him and placed herself beside her brother. "What are they talking about?"

"I don't know," spat Peter through gritted teeth. "But whatever it is; they won't tell me. I think it's about the new leader. I think he or she's bad news."

"But only a member of our kin can become a leader, right?" Asked Zurine.

To her surprise, Peter only shrugged. "I don't know. Basaujin knows those scummy Forest cats very well remember. He could well have chosen someone from there to be a leader. It would be scary if he has, though. I heard that Forest cats live in big tribes and kill each for food, how scary would that be? Living in a group that wasn't your family and having to rely on them…you wouldn't know who to trust."

Zurine, who had heard exactly the same rumours, flicked an ear. "I suppose. But they've gone now, I think. Matthew hasn't scented them around the forest for ages. And besides," she stood up and felt a glow of pride at being able to ask the bigger cats something as important as this, leaving her brother behind, "I need to ask father and Matthew about the new Leader. Goizargi wants to know."

Peter fought hard to suppress a spit as he glared at her. "How come they let you ask and not me? At least I'm a tom; you know the rules. She-cats are under no circumstances allowed to-"

"Participate in any fighting, defending or killing involved in kin life. Yes, I know."

Peter snorted. "You'll make our ancestors angry." He stated in what he thought was a voice full of contempt, but what really turned out to be an obnoxious spit.

Zurine turned her back on her brother. She didn't really care what he thought. Goizargi, the eldest queen in the family, and who knew all of the rules by heart, had asked her to. Of course, it didn't really concern killing or fighting at all, she thought logically. It was simply a message.

When Matthew had broken away from her father, she walked up to him, and asked, "Matthew, who's been made the new Leader? Goizargi wants to know."

She was careful to add 'Goizargi wants to know' at the end, in case Matthew thought it improper that a she-cat had asked such a question. Who made those rules, anyway? She wondered at the back of her head. A tom, probably.

Matthew looked at her with eyes full of confusion, and just for a second Zurine suspected he would tell her off, but he sighed, sat down, and for a few moments looked old and tired far beyond his years.

"It's Berezi." He answered carefully, making sure no rise or fall came into his voice. "He has elected Berezi as the new Leader." He got up again. "I'll go and tell the rest."

As she watched her great-uncle leave, Zurine couldn't help wondering what was so bad and tiring about Berezi. She had played with her a few times, caught a mouse or two, and she had seemed a fairly good cat at the time. But Berezi was so young, and had no knowledge on how to run the territory at all. What if Harry-Sylvie launched another attack? How would she lead her family into battle when her fur was soft and her eyes huge and innocent? Berezi had never even fought a cat before.

Zurine shook her head. It was Basaujin's choice, and he was a feared and respected leader, not to mention very wise. He must have chosen Berezi for a reason.

There was no point trying to hide it from Peter, who's eyes and body were directed towards Zurine, as if trying to drill into her head and find out who it was.

"It's Berezi."

Peter's eyes grew wide, and his pupils dilated. "What?"

" You heard me. It's Berezi." Zurine repeated. "She's the new Leader."

"But how?" The tom looked on edge, more frightened than excited. "I mean, s-she's only barely a kitten! How can she possibly lead a whole kin and their part of town at that age?" Her brother looked like a fox had just run away with a juicy piece of food.

"It's not that bad," mewed Zurine impatiently. "It's better to have a young leader than none at all, isn't it? She'll probably have loads of experience by the time Harry-Sylvie attacks!"

Her brother looked at her with wide eyes, holding an expression she couldn't decipher. Then she realized the reason she didn't recognize it was because she'd never seen it on him before. It was pure terror.

"You don't know where Berezi was born, do you?"

Zurine shook her head, suddenly more curious than she had been in ages. She could tell they way her brother's left ear was twitching, something he always did when he was nervous, that this was going to be very interesting indeed.

Peter sighed. "When Basaujin was in his last years as a leader," he began "he decided to go back into the Forest, to visit friends or something; I can't remember. Anyway, he was gone a really long time, and we were all really worried." He lowered his voice so father, who was quietly grooming himself in the corner, would not hear and come storming over. "Then, one day he came back with this queen. By the sight of her, I'd say she was only a day or two away from birth. He brought her here, gave her some food and shelter and then escorted her back to the Forest the next day. We were all really confused. Luken tried asking him about it, but he nearly got his eyes clawed out. So no-cat said anything. He went back to normal then, normal for him, anyway." He paused to shakily lick his paws. "I-I shouldn't be telling you this. I think Matthew knows, and he'll kill me if he finds out I told you. I'm sorry…"

Zurine batted her paw off Peter's ear lightly. "Don't worry. I won't tell. I swear on my ancestors I won't. Please, just carry on." Zurine felt her heat slamming against her ribcage.

"Then, a few weeks later, Basaujin disappeared again. We weren't that worried this time, but we were still concerned. He was gone a few days, then came back all battered and clawed. He had this massive claw injury above his nose." Zurine recalled the heavy scar she had seen on her kin only the day before.

Peter drew breath. "And a little kitten in his jaws. It was alive, about a month old. I remember it really well. The kitten was all fluffy and brown, with huge green eyes."

"So what are you saying?" Zurine felt she knew the answer already.

Peter lifted his head up and, for the first time in ages, looked her straight in the eye.

"Berezi's half Forest-Cat."

Moonlight breathed down onto the smooth bricks of the tunnel, as a honey-coloured cat stalked out of the tent angrily, clenching his teeth to keep back the tears that were bubbling out under his eyelids. He was dead. His Grandfather, his leader, was dead.

Truthfully, he knew that it shouldn't have been him that was there when Basaujin passed on. It should have been Matthew, the leader's brother, or perhaps Peter, who Basaujin had always been close to, despite the young tom's recklessness. But they had been fighting Sylvie, that piece of Pawstrider-rubbish that ruled the north side of the town.

His head whirled and a trickle of terror ran down his neck like snow as he remembered exactly who his great uncle had chosen.

Berezi.

Not Matthew, whose powerful black paws had slain many of Basaujin's enemies, or Goizargi, the dainty yet lethal sister of his former chief. Not even Ed, who was still young, but swift and fast and quick with the fatal blow to the neck.

Berezi.

She was young, naïve, small, unfit, spoiled, everything that a Leader of Territory shouldn't be. So why had he chosen her?

A dark cloud of wonder crept up the back of the tom's neck as he thought exactly how Berezi was related to the legendary Basaujin. She was Berezi's kitten.

And not his kitten even by another queen of the area.

By a Forest cat.

By a Forest cat.

The tom knew that many town cats, and most pet cats, regarded Forest cats with contempt. Most of them spat whenever one had been mentioned. One of them had even killed Scourge many, many moons ago, the small yet lethal leader of almost half of the Pawstrider place.

But not Basaujin.

He had often spoke of the Forest dwellers with obvious pride; he regularly visited them, and sometimes even had the cheek to bring one or two back if they were injured or tired.

But he had chosen one to be his mate. His mate. The tom could not remember a time when Forest cats and town cats were ever friends. 'Outsiders, they call us,' Basaujin had purred once. 'How silly! We have more in common with them than the pet cats, and they like them more than us!'

The tom remembered vaguely that his former leader had once said that the Forest cats had once took on a pet cat to train in their allegiance. He wondered how desperate they must have been to recruit a soft little pet cat.

Remember, Luken, it is not our enemies we must judge. It is ourselves.

Luken remembered Basaujin's last words to him, as he had tended him with herbs and roots and who knows how many Pawstrider medicines and concoctions.

Luken was the only cat apart from his uncle Ian and his wife Goizargi who knew the in's and out's of medicine. He thought fondly of his uncle for a second. He had tutored Luken through so much, taught him everything he knew, and trusted him with the Mar Family's darkest secret.

That they carried Forest cat blood.

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So what did you think? I hope you like it. (It WILL have the clans in later chapters, but the first few focus on the town cats.)

Please Read and Review:) Of, and if you don't completely understand it, don't worry, you're not meant to ;)

P.S, I'm sorry for Basaujin's over-used, clichéd, rubbish last words. I really couldn't think of anything else.