Chapter 2: Friendship?

Tigerclaw nervously paces around the fresh kill pile. How is one supposed to go up to a cat who probably hates you because of his mentor and for the one incident involving a trespassing kit? He was just doing his duty, defending their territory, and besides Thistleclaw never said it was wrong to attack intruders when they wouldn't leave on the first warning. Or maybe he never even gave a warning to the kit, but whatever.

It's in the past. Yet he couldn't help but feel, well, nervous. Bluefur is older than him and she has had a mate. If that mateship is ruined, he should go over and hang out with her, right, regardless if its….

Since it will help him with his ambition of having every clan united into a single clan, so that loyalties will no longer be tested and boundaries don't need to be to have blood spilled on them because they won't exist, he thinks, trying to bury the nervousness done.

Unless of course it's an outsider, then that would be different.

Because even though he loves fighting, the thrill it brings, all he can see is other cats who are getting hurt by the boundaries they set up. Which are needless.

Tigerclaw looks at Bluefur, she seems to be all alone. Her father isn't in sight. If there was one thing he and Bluefur have in common, it's crowfood fathers. It never really slipped his mind that Bluefur was always the one there for Whitestorm, and that Stormtail didn't bother to be around the only thing he had left of Snowfur.

Since he was planning on uniting all the clans and becoming leader, he had to be observant. See which warriors he could trust to his cause. And that was another reason he is so nervous to be mates with Bluefur, Whitestorm. Because Bluefur is basically his mother at this point.

Whatever, he's got a goal to accomplish, whether or not it will hurt his best friend's feelings. Or make their relationship weird. And the she-cat said that if he didn't go through with this, there was a price to pay. Tigerclaw for one did not want to see that price happen.

Sure he was aware that his action might have consequences, but this action in particular he wants to make sure happens. Also if he doesn't go through with this there will be more strife caused by the warrior code. And that is something he simply refuses to let happen.

Gathering his courage, Tigerclaw grabs a mouse and sits down near Bluefur.

"Mind if I sit with you?"

Bluefur looks at him blankly and just nods. Going back to nibbling on her thrush.

"Is everything okay? You got the deputyship a few moons ago, shouldn't you be proud?"

"Oh just leave me alone. Plenty of cats have said that. But I don't feel I've fully earned it. I lost my kits moons ago, before I got assigned to mentor Frostpaw. She took some of the pain away, but now that she's a warrior she has her own friends to hang out with and….I just don't feel fully ready to be in this position even though it's only been a few moons. I know what I did was…" Bluefur trails off. "Sorry Tigerclaw, you probably don't want to hear the deputy complaining about her position, since it is a huge honor to be rewarded with it."

But Tigerclaw could tell the sudden derailment was forced. What was she hiding that made her in so much pain? Was the she-cat's words really true? That Bluefur only has her father left. Doesn't she have Thrushpelt?

Looking around he could see Thrushpelt was on the other side of the clearing, talking to his friends. But weren't they mates? Shouldn't he be consoling Bluefur after having lost her kits? Doesn't he know that right now it still hurts her?

"It's not your fault," He blurts out, surprising himself. Since when did he console others, normally to others he was grouchy and not really approachable and he didn't really care about other cats, only using them to further his ambition. Which isn't a lot of cats, since most of them aren't close to him and Whitestorm and he have been drifting apart. Whitestorm takes after Bluefur while he takes on after Thistleclaw.

"What?" Bluefur whispers, just barely audible enough for him to hear it.

"Your kits being taken by that mangepelt fox wasn't your fault! It was ours for not preparing the nursery strong enough. It grieved the clan as much as you, but dwelling on it will not change the fact that your kits were taken. They were taken by a fox, there's nothing more you could have done to prevent it."

Bluefur opens her mouth, but he continues, "Did you assume the nursery was safe? Yes. But we all assumed it. No one thought a hungry fox would be hungry enough to steal three kits from inside camp. No one. So stop blaming yourself and get over it. There are other ways to sever your clan and having kits is just one of them, deputy."

Tigerclaw stops, breathless. He had hated it so much when Bluefur was named deputy over his mentor when he was an apprentice. Sunstar had withheld his warrior ceremony until he stopped acting so violently. But he couldn't help it, his father had abandoned him for the soft life of a kittypet and he didn't know where else to direct his anger. Everyone else acted like it was no big deal, spoiling him still and Thistleclaw was the only thing he had really had close to being a father who died recently because of that decision.

And he sees how much he had been right in his anger. Bluefur hasn't let go of her kits just yet.

Just then Bluefur lays her head on his fur, causing him to tense. "Thanks, Tigerclaw, I really needed to hear that."

Tigerclaw looks at her in confusion, "You mean Thrushpelt never told you…"

"Why would he?"

"Because he's your kit's father….At least everyone assumed he was. And I assumed it because the elders couldn't stop talking about how Thrushpelt admired you and the way he looked at you with admiration."

"Maybe he was, but after the kits were born I…." Bluefur falters.

"You realized perhaps you didn't love him and that he was just a friend? It's okay to admit it. My father never really loved my mother since he left her behind to live life as a kittypet." Tigerclaw growls out the last part. It hurt him. His father had left because he didn't want to fight battles anymore. And if there are no boundaries then his father probably never would've left and he and his mother and father could be a perfect family.

Because most of the battles the clans fight is over boundaries.

"I…yeah that's it. Thanks Tigerclaw. I guess….. I was afraid to admit that I didn't like Thrushpelt that way. I guess I thought it would make me look weak."

There was only one thing Tigerclaw admired his father for. His courage to stand up to the clan and announce his plans to leave. Because even if going to live the soft life of a kittypet was cowardly, at least he didn't hide his cowardness from the clan and leave them wondering what happened to him if he had decided to just leave without saying farewell.

So, "Don't be. Even if my father was cowardly to go live the life of a kittypet at least he showed courage in coming forward to the clan for his decision. Taking the scrutiny that his cats would give him. He admitted he was weak and for that I think he showed great courage. I will always hate him for his decision to leave, but I admit that I admire his courage in telling the clan. So you leaving Thrushpelt isn't a sign of weakness. It's a sign of strength that you recognized being romantically involved with him wouldn't make you happy."

Because even though he hated Bluefur for getting the job of deputy, it irks him that more of his clanmates weren't paying attention to her feelings. Granted he was only doing this to get Bluefur to eventually mate with him, have his kits(so they can grow as his heirs to the new clan he will make by uniting the Four Clans), and eventually become leader himself.

But most of his clanmates, unlike him, were more friendly to other cats and more willing to talk to cats they know, but don't really know in the clan. And they were friends to cats outside Thunderclan too.

"Hey, Tigerclaw. Do you want to be friends?" Bluefur asks, shocking Tigerclaw out of his thoughts.

"What?" he chokes out.

"Do you want to be friends? I know we haven't exactly hit off together before, but I feel like you're the only cat that gets me and the only willing to listen to my problems."

Well he wasn't expecting the friendship request so soon. Maybe it has something to do with the power the she-cat gave him.

It looks like his goal is going to happen much, much sooner than he thought. The thought fills Tigerclaw with glee.

"Of course I'd like to be your friend."