Gravekit was awakened in the early morning by a drop of water falling on her nose. When it hit her, she squeaked and shook her head viciously, making spitting noises in disgust. After she was sure all the water had flown of her nose, she let her fur lie flat again and curled her body up in a new position. From her new position, she could see her mother sleeping a few feet away from her. She blinked sadly and turned her head away, only to have her eyes run into the vision of another family, a two month old litter snuggling into their mom's pal grey fur.

"Hnn…" Gravekit sighed quietly, raising her head from it's perch on her paws and glancing back at her own mother. "Why aren't we like that, Mum?" she whispered, barely loud enough for even herself to hear, "We aren't a happy family like everyone else. My own father won't even speak to me." For some reason, the last statement seemed odd, so Gravekit couldn't help but let out a small chuckle.

She froze, her eyes widening in fear as one of the other queens, Turtlenose, groaned in her sleep and shifted position. When the queen was slumbering again, Gravekit sighed silently and lowered her head in shame. Her ears flicked back against her skull as she rose to her feet and crept out of the nursery, cautiously avoiding all the leaves and twigs that may have made noise on impact.

Gravekit began feeling better once she was out of the nursery, maybe even a little confident. She quickly surveyed the campsite, thrilled to see that none of the other ThunderClan cats were up and about yet. Other than the dawn patrol, she told herself, but they won't be back till near midday. So I have some time to myself! This thought put a new kind of enthusiasm into the kit, since she usually never got a moment's peace.

All the other cats were allowed to just leave the camp when they needed some alone-time, but not kits. Kits aren't allowed to leave the campsite. They're usually not even allowed to leave the nursery without their mothers. But Gravekit was a different case since her mother denied that she even existed, much less gave birth to her. Luckily one of the other queens, Lilyfang, had agreed to foster Gravekit, but Lillyfang also had a litter of six kits that were actually her own, so those six were sort of her first priority.

So Gravekit didn't really have a motherly figure, because her real mother completely ignored her, and her foster mother had more important things to attend to. Because of this, Gravekit just wandered around the camp unattended, but she still followed the other rules and never left the camp, even though she could if she really wanted to. All but a few select cats ignored her completely, like her mother, because of what had happened when she was born.

Gravekit was just starting to realize what the prophecy meant and such, since she was just becoming of age to be able to understand it all. What she still didn't understand completely was why they all blamed her for everything. It didn't seem like the blame for it all should rest on her shoulders. She was just a newborn kit when it all happened, unable to do anything but screech and whimper, so how could she have had anything to do with it? And, yet, no matter where she went, she couldn't avoid the piercing eyes of her Clan. She could always feel those hateful gazes whenever she turned her back, which sent a shiver up her spine.

She padded over to a giant oak tree, which was situated near the camp's eastern entrance. There was a slight dip in the ground, in between two of the tree's roots, which poked up out of the ground because of their sea-serpent like figures. The dip was the only way of getting water without having to go all the way down to the river. If Gravekit was lucky, which she never really was, it would have rained the night before, and the dip would be full of fresh rainwater.

"Yay!" she squeaked, scrunching her nose up as she saw a small puddle. She crouched down and began to lap up some of the liquid. While she was drinking, there was the sound of leaves rustling from behind her. She quickly turned her head, only to see nothing. Am I not alone after all? she thought wearily, cautiously turning her head back to the pool. There was definitely something going on, but Gravekit couldn't exactly tell what it was. Then it was too late.

Some kind of force had jabbed her on her backside, and she went tumbling forward into the puddle, her pure white fur now soaked over with muddy water. It looked almost as if she were a spotted cat, and the moon on her forehead was completely concealed.

"BLARG! Hack! AGH! Aheh. Aheh," she choked, her eyes watering from the rancid smell of the mud. Before her stomach had felt relaxed from the cool water, but after taking a nose dive and inhaling the majority of the puddle, she just felt sick, and the bitter taste in her mouth and lump in the back of her throat was proof of that. What was that? she asked herself, but the question was almost immediately answered by a fit of kind but cruel laughter coming from behind her.

"Ahaha! I have to say, that was one of the better of the pranks I've pulled on you!" Gravekit spun around to glare at the owner of the voice, a sleek, long-haired tortoishell with shining blue eyes. He smiled at her brightly, then trotted over and touched her face with the tip of his tail. "Didn't scare you too bad, did I Popper?" he taunted.

"It's Gravekit," Gravekit growled, taking a snap at his tail, and only just barely missing, "And I don't need any sympathy from you, Skypaw, seeing as you're the one who did this to me in the first place." She kicked a bit of mud towards his face, which he easily dodged. She then hopped out of the puddle and shook her head angrily. "Now I have to go lick myself clean and live with the taste of mud in my mouth for the next fourteen suns."

"You can go down to the river now," Skypaw pointed out, trotting up to stand beside Gravekit. "I'm an apprentice now, and I'd be happy to escort my little Popper down there." Skypaw had become an apprentice only two suns ago, but he was already acting like he was leader of the clan. "Besides," he continued, "You'll be an apprentice soon, too. Only five more suns, right?"

"Three, actually," Gravekit corrected, pawing at a beetle that had accidentally crossed her path, "But it will probably be another moon with the way the rest of the clan treats me." She had to fight tears from her eyes as she remembered the hateful way the elders looked at her the first time she ever left the nursery. "I'm different than everyone else…" she whispered, flipping the beetle over on its back and walking with Skypaw towards the camp entrance, "There's something wrong with me."

"No there's not!" Skypaw protested, jumping in front of Gravekit and staring at her angrily. "You're as great as anyone else in this clan, and if they can't see that, then let them choke on crowfood!" He turned away from her and stalked out of the camp. "You're a wonderful cat, Gravekit. And I want you to always remember that," he whispered, glancing behind him and smiling. "Now let's go to the river, my Popper."

"Heh," Gravekit chuckled in a mocking tone, "Did you get that corny speech from a squirrel you were about to eat? And it's Gravekit, not Popper!" The first time Skypaw and Gravekit were properly introduced, Gravekit had been playing with a poppy flower the medicine cat had finished taking seeds from. When Skypaw first said 'Hello,' Gravekit had sat up and the flower somehow ended up on her head. Then, Skypaw let out a sweet, kind-hearted laugh and declared, 'You're my little Popper Kitty!'

At the time, Gravekit thought it was just the most adorable thing in the world. But she was going to be an apprentice soon! He needed to start giving her a little respect. Except whenever she told him to call her Gravekit, he just smiled and said in his stupid happy tone-

"Whatever you say, Popper," Skypaw mewed, his eyes filled with a certain glaze, as if saying, 'Whatcha gonna do about it?' He turned his head forward and stuck his tail straight into the air, which greatly irritated poor Gravekit. She struggled to keep pace with him, but was already a bit behind him, so, from anyone else's eye, it would like like a small kit had followed an apprentice out of the camp without him knowing.

"RAWR!" Gravekit growled suddenly, launching herself at Skypaw and leaping onto his back. She soon fell off, though, but succeeded in what she was trying to do in the first place, and Skypaw fell over along with her. She was about to flash him a triumphant smile when she felt a large amount of pressure on her back. When she turned her head, she saw Skypaw sitting atop her fallen body.

"HEY!" she snapped, wriggling about beneath his rump. "OFF! OFF NOW! GET OFFA ME!" She sighed helplessly, letting her muscles relax. She stared ahead at the river that was now within her sight, and was beginning to feel relaxed when she felt a cold sensation on top of her head.

"EEEEEWWWW!" Gravekit squeaked, leaping up and sending Skypaw backwards. "EW EW EW EW EW!" She rubbed her head into the ground furiously as she listened to Skypaw laughing with amusement. "YOU FREAKING LICKED ME!" she growled, turning around to face him angrily, but, as she saw his face, she became confused.

The look on his face was pure terror. He couldn't have been looking at her, could he? Then, a surge of realization hit Gravekit like a thousand icicles. He was looking BEHIND her.

Before she even had time to look, she felt a jab at her side, and she went flying through the air. She gasped for breath as she hit the ground. HARD. She couldn't breath at all. There was no blood, so whatever hit here didn't use claws, but she was almost certain some of her ribs were broken. She let her eyes dart around to find what hit her. Then she saw it, and felt her whole body go numb.

Badger!