Ripped

Squirrelflight looked around anxiously for Stormfur. Her tail held high hopefully that he would be here. A cat called her name and she spun around thinking it was Stormfur, but instead, it was Firestar. "Squirrelflight" he called again. Once he sat down in front of her he asked, "Have you seen Rainpaw?"

"No," Squirrelflight mewed, "She probably off talking to another apprentice or follow Birchpaw." Squirrelflight had noticed that Rainpaw and Birchpaw had become close friends. Where ever Birchpaw was, Rainpaw was close behind. However, Firestar has been watching Rainpaw closely. Following Sandstorm and Rainpaw when they go out to train, murmuring under his breath.

Firestar pointed with his tail to Rainpaw. She was walking away with her tail held high from three RiverClan apprentices. "You're right; I'm just worrying that's all." He paused. "Ever since Flamekit."

However, Squirrelflight barley heard a word he said as she caught sight of the ginger tom. It took her several seconds to figure out how it was. Firestar followed her gaze and paused. "That kit," Firestar murmured, half to himself. "Looks like him."

"It does?" Squirrelflight asked so clueless she could believe she said it.

For a tense moment, Firestar didn't speak. He looked at Flamepaw for so long Squirrelflight thought that the wind stopped. "I must be seeing things," he meowed at last. With that he turned around and padded over to Great Oak.

"Hello," purred Stormfur as he padded up to Squirrelflight. "What was that about?" He pointed with his muzzle at Firestar as he walked off. "I hope he didn't recognize Flamepaw."

Squirrelflight purred back excitedly to Stormfur, "Stormfur! I was just talking to Firestar, he has been watching Rainpaw a lot. Flamepaw has changed a lot too, though!"

"Well," Stormfur mewed slowly. "I guess that's a good thing."

"Why?"

"ThunderClan won't recognize him."

"Oh."

There was a long pause between the two cats. Only when an apprentice padded up did the silence brake.

"Who is this?"

"Rainpaw!" Squirrelflight hissed as she turned around quickly to face the silver apprentice. "You scared us!"

Rainpaw looked at Stormfur for a while and then back at Squirrelflight. "Sorry," she mewed simply. "So, who are you?"

Stormfur looked at Rainpaw with eyes as round as moons, "Um…I'm Stormfur, Squirrelflight and I traveled on the Great Journey."

"Oh," Rainpaw meowed, almost bored. "You are the Stormfur Brambleclaw, Squirrelflight, and Leafpool were talking about."

Squirrelflight couldn't believe what she heard. When Rainpaw came to her fifth moon Brambleclaw, Leafpool, and Squirrelflight got together. Squirrelflight wanted to talk about 'when to tell the truth to Rainkit.' They all decided the day after her warrior ceremony. How much has she heard?

"I guess so," Stormfur said hastily. "Um, have you seen the other apprentices from RiverClan?"

Rainpaw bristled slightly. "Yea," she spat. "Flamepaw's a pain!"

"Rainpaw!" Squirrelflight yowled, surprised.

"Oh, but the other two were nice."

Squirrelflight shock her head. "Go on, I hear WindClan coming." Rainpaw pricked her ears and dashed toward Birchpaw as Onestar padded into the moon-lighten island.

"She looks just like Silverstream," Stormfur hissed under his breath. "No wonder Firestar has been watching Rainpaw closely. This is bad."

"Silverstream?" Squirrelflight repeated. Suddenly she remembered Rainpaw's apprentice ceremony, how Firestar looked at her and muttered under his breath. "He could have noticed!"

Stormfur stood to his paws and paced back and forward. Only the incoming ShadowClan cats stopped Stormfur. "I'll figure something out," Stormfur meowed. "We shouldn't stay together too long." He paused and gave a nervous look over his shoulder. "Hawkfrost has been watching me."

Squirrelflight could only nodded and padded off, just as worried as Stormfur. What if the Clan recognized the silver apprentice?

xoxoxo

When leaf-bare passed and green-leaf came, Flamepaw was growing every day. To Stormfur, he was getting in more trouble every day. Mosspelt has been watching Flamepaw and Stormfur too. Everyday she would show a sign that 'it's time'. Sadly, Stormfur agreed.

"Flamepaw," Stormfur called to his ginger apprentice one morning. "Come on!"

Flamepaw stuck his head out of the apprentice den and let out a huge yawn. "Let's train later, like the next moon perhaps?"

He was about to disappear back into the entrance but Stormfur called again, "This is really important." Now, Flamepaw seemed interested.

"Important?" Flamepaw repeated as he approached, "so important that I couldn't wait for the sun to come up?"

Stormfur nodded and began to lead the way. After awhile of walking the sun began to show itself and Flamepaw began to get restless. "Come on," he urged. "What's so important?"

With a sigh, Stormfur spun around to face his ginger son. "I have to tell you this, Mosspelt wanted me to." Flamepaw stopped too, now looking suddenly concern. "You weren't born in RiverClan. Mosspelt isn't your really mother. Squirrelflight from ThunderClan is. She is my mate, so I'm your father," the words tumbled out so quickly he couldn't stop.

Flamepaw was stunned to the ground, unable to tear his eyes away from Stormfur. Stormfur looked away at his paws. "I belong to ThunderClan? I'm the kit that went missing many, many moons ago."

Stormfur opened his mouth, "Flamepaw wait, let me expl-"

"No!" Flamepaw yowled angrily at Stormfur. "I don't believe you!" As quick as he could, Flamepaw dashed out of sight. However, Flamepaw was running away from RiverClan camp, in the opposite direction, toward ShadowClan territory.

However, Stormfur felt awful. The way Flamepaw hissed at him, his eyes flaring in pure rage. The way he looked at Stormfur was the worse feeling in the world.