Hello people! I answered the first review that I got already (Thank you). Oh, and I also changed the fur colour of the main character, in the prologue it was dark brown, but now it will be pale gray.
Snowkit blinked open her eyes, blinking against the harsh glare of the dawn light spilling into the nursery. Glancing over at her mother, the pale gray she-kit saw that the dark gray tabby she-cat was still sleeping. The moon-old kit blearily got to her paws and gazed at the sky from a small opening in the den wall that that in a breeze that sent shivers down her spine. The surrounding skies were speckled with clouds, and sunlight was rising over Riverclan territory. At the edge of her vision she could see gathering storm clouds, spreading darkness over the clans, but she did not mind rain, she had seen it once already, and they only part of it that she despised was the soggy feeling of drenched fur.
Stumbling out of the moss and reed den, she let her ears guide her to where three kits were squealing happily while dashing through the clearing. A few annoyed-looking warriors were glaring at them, but most couldn't keep the amusement from their eyes. With it being early dawn, even the dawn patrol was still getting ready and the hunting patrols were being chosen at the moment. At one side of the clearing stood a nervous-looking she-cat, and Snowkit briefly wondered why she was holding back from all the activity, and when she caught a few of her clanmates glaring at the cat, who was a lithe calico she-cat with dark green eyes, she felt confusion creeping up on her, and decided to go ask Alderstripe about this later.
Fluffing up her fur against the chill of leaf-fall, she squealed and ran over to the three three-moon old kits. Gingerkit did not notice her jumping into the air to bat a dry moss-ball in the direction of her brother, Reedkit, whose eyes flickered in recognition. The final kit, Goldkit, turned around second later and smiled, kicking the moss-ball over to Gingerkit before rushing up to meet her.
"Want to play moss-ball?" the grey tabby asked cheerfully.
"How do we play?" She asked.
"Well, in our version of this the goal is simply to not let the ball get past you and then pass it back to somebody else." By then, the ginger shapes of Gingerkit (and slightly darker form of Reedkit), were clustered around her too. She backed away, feeling the need to escape the tight group.
"Sure!" she squeaked.
" Okay! I start!" Yowled Gingerkit, running off with the brittle moss-ball before anyone could protest.
Reedkit shrugged, resuming his position, and Goldkit gave her an apologetic glance. Waving her tail to signal that she didn't mind, she rushed over to the final corner of their square, located right before the nursery, and if she backed up too much she could feel the scratch of dry plants brushing against her fluffy tail. By then Gingerkit had batted over the moss to Goldkit, who twisted in mid-air before bringing it down to Reedkit, whose eyes were narrowed in concentration, batted it. Snapping her gaze away from the game and towards the fact that there was an object flying in the direction of her face, she quickly raised a paw in a lame attempt to block it, getting her tail caught in the faded greenery behind her and flinching away from it.
Grinning in embarrassment, she ducked her head shyly as it hit the sandy ground barely inches in front of her, but the others payed no notice, Gingerkit already fighting Reedkit to get the increasingly smaller moss-pile. Goldpaw looked at her for a moment, beckoning her to join before jumping into the small fight. When Reedkit emerged triumphant with a sulking Gingerkit trailing behind him, Snowkit finally decided to take action. Exchanging a knowing glance with Goldpaw, she crept up behind Reedkit, who was struggling to keep the game in his favour. Judging her distances, she pounced right in from of him yowling, "Ambush!" And the kits abandoned the game to play-fighting instead.
Snowkit slowly back away, sitting a way' back from the loud kits. The few warriors that were still in camp glanced at her, as if wondering why a kit wouldn't be playing with her denmates. Smiling, she decided to try something else instead. Quietly padding to a corner of the camp where a young willow sprouted, she unsheathed her claws and attempted to climb.
The bark was easy to cut through, and she managed to scramble up to the first branch, where she had a clearer view of the river. Bellow her ran a rushing swirl of blue, and she gasped in surprise. In the distance, she could see the edges of the gorge that the elders had described to her on her first day out, but the elder's description was nowhere near what she could see, even from just the height of the reeds. The frothy waters were were tinted white near the edges, ripples leaving place to waves that seemed to soar above the occasion moss-covered rocks, and finally the most impressive part was the curtain of water. Although she could barely see any of it, she knew that the rippling streak of silver, white, and blue held more speed and power than she could have ever known, the mist shrouding the air all around it.
Caught up in looking at the water, she did not see time pass until her mother called her down moments later, scolding her for standing above the water for so long. She slowly came down the tree, suddenly feeling a slight bit of fear at the thought of falling, as she was from Riverclan and every kit was taught to stay away from the current from the very first moment they opened their eyes. She felt a wave of relief as hit hit the ground, at the same time as the conviction that this wasn't the last time she would return to climb.
Coming back to the clearing, she saw the other kits were now in the middle of a game of what they seem to call, 'catch the mouse'. Gingerkit was prancing around the clearing yowling to the others that she would find them soon. One of the rare bushes in the clearing rustled, and yowling in triumph Gingerkit pounced onto a dark grey kit with gleaming golden eyes, who sighed in a good natured manner. Moments later, Reedkit yowled and jumped in her path, making her jump higher than Snowkit had even seen a cat jump, not that she had seen many.
Just then, while looking to see if Streampaw had joined them, she noticed the strange calico she-cat again, looking quite annoyed as a few warriors sneered at her. She was carrying over a couple of reeds to the nursery, and Snowkit decided to ask her why she was acting like that, but just as she came two tail-lengths close to the green-eyed she-cat, she was intercepted by her mother.
" Snowkit, it would be best if you stayed away from Shadowedfern." She meowed gently, and from the corner of her eye she saw the medicine cat apprentice, Waterpetal, glaring at her mother in disgust.
"Why Greyfeather?" She asked.
"Snowkit, why don't you just go play with your friends," she suggested, glaring back at Petalpond.
Surprised, Snowkit just nodded before joining her three friends.
"Goldkit! What are you playing?" She asked.
"We're playing fox! If the fox touches you its your turn to try to touch somebody else."
" Okay," She mewed, still perplexed with the suspicious behaviour in camp.
" Tag! You're it!" Gingerkit howled, shoving Goldkit.
Goldkit then started chasing Snowkit around the clearing. She ran around in circles, weaving around as many obstacles as she could, for her small size did not allow her to outpace the other kits. It did not take long for her to start panting, and she had to constantly take breaks, but she shrugged it off, noting it as unimportant. She played like this until her mother called her over to her side.
"Snowkit, I think it's time the elders told you a bit more about our code," she mewed.
"Really?" She mewed.
"Yes, now take them a nice juicy trout and they can tell you," She answered.
"Okay!" She squeaked, having finally recovered from her run. She rushed over to the fresh-kill and pulled on a trout buried in the middle. She leaned all her weight backwards and stumbled backwards when it finally came down. She dragged it across camp, panting with the weight of the surprisingly fat fish, which was larger than even she was. A few moments later, her mother gently picked it up and brought it over to the elder's den herself.
"Badgerstripe! Lynxpelt! Look who came to see you." She mewed, prodding Snowkit into the den before turning tail and leaving.
" Is there a specific reason why you came?" A she-cat grunted.
"Well," Snowkit mumbled shyly before adding more loudly,"Greyfeather said that you needed to tell me something about the code."
The mood instantly darkened as the she-cat frowned and the tom's eyes glinted, "Are you sure you want to hear this?" The she-cat asked.
Before she could respond, the tom answered, "She'll need to learn it soon anyways, preferable before Swallownose gets back." Snowkit had heard of Swallownose, he was apparently gone to another clan right now, but was supposed to be medicine cat. The only thing that puzzled her was why cats spoke of him in such a pitying manner.
The she-cat sighed, picking up on the fact that Snowkit didn't intend to speak up, " Quite a while ago, Swallownose received an omen from Starclan. It was a quite peculiar one, but Starclan never sent us another sign to go back on their words. Starclan-Starclan told them that certain cats with... Differences... Such as Shadowfern, should be forbidden to be warriors, and exiled if necessary, to protect the clans from a war that would be caused by them."
Unable to stop herself from asking, Snowkit narrowed her eyes before asking," What's wrong with Shawdowfern?"
The tortoiseshell she-cat sighed, " It was said that leaders and medicine cats decide whether a cat is apt to be a warrior of not. Shadowfern, she's blind in one eye."
Puzzled Snowkit commented again, although she knew this was unlike her, "But why did I see warriors bullying her, she's done nothing wrong yet!"
"Listen kit, we don't make the rules here so you better accept them!" Badgerstripe, who was much bigger than Lynxpelt, growled, "If we didn't do this the clans would be destroyed, understand? DESTROYED!"
It was at that moment that Snowkit started panting again. She could feel shock spreading through her. Even she, not even an apprentice yet, could figure out how much of this was nonsense.
"Hey, kit? What's wrong?" This time Badgerstripe looked concerned.
"Nothing," She mewed before holding in a cough.
What is this?
She blearily padded out of the den, ignoring the black dots dancing before her eyes. A moment later, one of the elders grabbed her by the scruff and dragged her into another den, where she was greeted by a strong scent of greenery and a sudden warmth. She heard cats discussing in hushed voices, but she could not make out the words. The blurred shape of the orange elder then exited the den and she finally managed take in a deep breath before blinking the darkness out of her eyes. Before her stood Waterpetal, and the silver she-cat seemed to have lost all sense of professionalism.
Umm... Please review?