A/N: Thanks to reviewers, as always! Simba's Other Daughter, your interpretation of the prophecy is mostly correct; I won't say what part is off. As on Sunpaw's warrior name, that reminds me: I hope to give Sunpaw, Icepaw, and Rainpaw their warrior names in two chapters, maybe three. I really have to move time along, for the reasons of new apprentices, more trouble with the Tribe, more death, and new kits. Lux Leroux, I too really like the counting crows rhyme; I'd been looking for a way to fit it in.

Also, sorry for taking a while to update, but it took me three tries before I really got my feet under this chapter.

Chapter Eleven

"Hawkclaw killed her, Lightningstar."

The morning following Roseleaf's murder and burial, Sunpaw sat in Lightningstar's den. The sun was breaking through the thickly braided branches of the willow, and the warm weather seemed to be trying to push away the shadow of death.

Lightningstar blinked at Sunpaw. "Hawkclaw would not kill one of his own Clan, Sunpaw."

"I saw him running from the bush where I found her body!" hissed Sunpaw.

"Sunpaw, it was raining extremely heavily yesterday. You found Roseleaf in a muddy area. You cannot have properly seen the cat who was running."

"I did see properly! Hawkclaw was running away from her body! He killed her!"

"Sunpaw," warned Lightningstar. His yellow eyes glittered. "You are making a serious accusation. Before you reached the camp last night with news of your mother's death, Hawkclaw came into the camp. He informed me he found Roseleaf's body laying under a bush when he was coming back from a short patrol. I sent him on that patrol." He stared hard at her. "Hawkclaw is a loyal ThunderClan warrior, Sunpaw, and he was once my apprentice. I know him, and he is not a killer."

Sunpaw sat with her claws unsheathed, staring at Lightningstar. Why wouldn't he believe her? She was his apprentice! His tone made it plain he would not discuss the matter any further, and, though not normally one to give up, Sunpaw dipped her head and turned to leave the den. Lightningstar called her back a moment.

"Go out and hunt, but stay away from where your mother died. Be sure you are back in camp by sundown." Sunpaw dipped her head again and pushed out of his den.

Squinting into the bright light, Sunpaw scanned the camp. Hawkclaw wasn't present; good. Jaywing and Sparrowbeak had taken Icepaw and Rainpaw out on patrol together, and Lightningstar had allowed Morning to accompany them. The Tribe she-cat was, slowly, unexpectedly, being accepted into Clan life.

Padding up the slope, Sunpaw wondered why she felt no grief about her mother's death. She had last night, yes, but today, all grief had vanished. In its place was cold anger at Hawkclaw, and now, utter disbelief that Lightningstar did not believe her when she told him who had murdered Roseleaf. She couldn't tell Rainpaw that Hawkclaw had killed Roseleaf; Rainpaw would fear the dark warrior. She should, as had now been proven, but still...some cat would ask her what the matter was, for Rainpaw was well-liked, and Rainpaw would tell whoever asked her that Sunpaw told her Hawkclaw was a murderer. Heck of way to start cats talking, Sunpaw thought.

She couldn't tell the elder Sorrelflower, or Treeshadow. Both would go to Lightningstar, and then Sunpaw would get in trouble by Lightningstar for spreading accusations he thought were false as far as the elders and medicine cat. Lightningstar was a fair leader, and he always listened to both sides of the story, but he did draw lines.

She wouldn't tell Morning, because though the gray she-cat was friendly with her, Sunpaw hardly knew her.

StarClan above, she couldn't even tell Icepaw. He would tell her he thought she was jumping to conclusions. Breaking the ties of logic. It was logical that a warrior would not kill one of his own Clan, and Icepaw's friend was logic.

Shaking herself, Sunpaw saw her paws had taken her to the lake. She must have passed by dozens of birds and rabbits as she wandered here, lost in thought. Stepping onto the pebbles that formed the bank of the lake, Sunpaw peered into the shallows to see if any fish swam within reach.

A familiar, fishy scent rolled across her nose, and she spun around to see the RiverClan apprentice Pinepaw slipping out of the reeds across the border.

"Mind the border line," Sunpaw called warningly. They weren't at a Gathering, so the nightlong truce was not present.

"And you," retorted Pinepaw. The mottled brown-gray she-cat sat on a clump of moss four tail-lengths away from the ThunderClan border. "Listen, Sunpaw, I know I'm RiverClan and you're ThunderClan and things are naturally rocky between our Clans, but–"

"Pinepaw, something happened in the Clan and I'm never in the mood to beat around the bush. What is it?"

Pinepaw's eyes flickered for a moment, but she got to the point. "Last night, I was on the evening patrol. We went near the Meeting-Tree, and I hung back for a minute to try for a mouse. I looked under the Tree's branches, and I saw the black fox sitting there. ThunderClan's been attacked by the fox and her gang more than we have, and I thought she might be up to something again."

Sunpaw flicked her tail in acknowledgment. "Thanks for telling me. RiverClan alright?"

Pinepaw drew herself up to her full height, her eyes glittering fiercely. "RiverClan is fine. We can defend ourselves."

"No need to get your tail in a twist. Just asking." After a few heartbeats, Pinepaw nodded and relaxed.

"I need to go," Pinepaw said abruptly, getting to her feet. "I'm on a hunting patrol."

"Mm. Me too. See you at the next Gathering, maybe."

"Right. 'Bye."

As Sunpaw turned and picked up the scent trail of a mouse, she wondered, briefly, why she was being friendly with a RiverClan cat. RiverClan and ThunderClan had always been a bit...well, tense, really, with each other. RiverClan had a reputation for stirring up trouble with boundary lines, trying to claim ThunderClan territory as their own...it was an ever-continuous dispute over territory.

Goes to show you really can't choose who your friends are, thought Sunpaw as she pounced on the mouse and kicked loose dirt over it. Friendships happen as easily as they fail.

She quickly fell back into her mood of wanting to injure Hawkclaw, and this mood seemed to spur her hunting ability.

;-;-;-;

Sunpaw entered camp just before sundown. She dropped most of her prey on the pile, and selected a fat young rabbit to bring to the elders. Greeting Sorrelflower with a raised tail, Sunpaw dropped the fresh-kill in front of the old tortoiseshell.

"Where's Barkfur?" she asked, naming the brown tom who was eldest in the Clan.

"That's a fat one," commented Sorrelflower in her rusty voice, meaning the rabbit. She added, "Oh, he's gone complaining to Treeshadow about his leg again. I don't see why it would be bothering him when the weather's nice and warm." When she was still a kit in the nursery, Sunpaw had heard Barkfur tell the tale of how a badger had attacked him and injured his left foreleg.

Sunpaw had mewed good-bye to Sorrelflower and had started on her own piece of fresh-kill outside the apprentice's den when Icepaw and Shadowpaw came hurrying into camp. Both carried prey; Shadowpaw practically threw his on the pile and stalked off. Icepaw dropped his fresh-kill, selected a robin, and collapsed beside Sunpaw.

"What were you doing hunting with Shadowpaw?" she asked.

He twitched his tail. "Mudspeckle made us hunt together," he muttered, tearing a wing off his robin. "I was about ready to pullShadowpaw's ears off." That was really saying something, Sunpaw knew; while Icepaw did not possess the never-ending patience of his sister Rainpaw, he certainly had more patience and tolerance for cats like Shadowpaw than Sunpaw did.

Looking sideways at him as he spit out feathers, Sunpaw desperately wanted to tell him about what Hawkclaw had done. Yet even as she thought about telling him, it felt as if StarClan themselves had reached down from the sky and clamped her mouth shut. Across the camp, Lightningstar leapt up onto the Hightree and called the summons. Rising and stretching, Sunpaw sat down near the head of the gathering cats; Icepaw settled on her left and Rainpaw, after she came scooting out of the nursery, sat beside her brother.

"Cats of ThunderClan," called Lightningstar, "we gather here tonight for two announcements. Firstly, there are two apprentices who deserve their warrior names. Come forward," he directed at Shadowpaw and Nightpaw as he jumped down into the center of the clearing. Both black cats stepped up from the line of warriors to stand before him. Shadowpaw cast a superior look over at Sunpaw, his lips curled back in a sneer. Sunpaw bared her teeth and held his glare until the black tom looked away.

"Nightpaw, Shadowpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your lives?"

"I do," said Nightpaw. Her shyness was gone for the moment, and her voice sounded clear and definite.

"I do," echoed Shadowpaw. It was plain he resented his sister had been named before himself.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior names." Lightningstar's deep meow rang through the newly leafy trees, all his strength and authority as leader contained in his voice. "Nightpaw, from this moment you will be known as Nightwhisker. StarClan honors your forethought and your patience, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan." Nightwhisker, her long black fur glinting in the fading light, bowed her head as Lightningstar rested his muzzle on it, then turned and took her new place with the warriors.

"Shadowpaw," said Lightningstar, turning to face the tom, "from this moment you will be known as Shadowfur. StarClan honors your strength and your battle skill, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan." Shadowfur repeated the traditional movement his sister had done, then, looking more arrogant than ever before, also joined the warriors. He sat beside his mentor, Hawkclaw, and Sunpaw felt a strange jolt in her belly as she looked at the pair of them sitting there side by side. As the Clan chanted the names of the two new warriors, Sunpaw only called out Nightwhisker's name.

"Finally," said Lightningstar, once all had quieted down, "Waterdrip, who was an excellent mentor to young Nightwhisker, has announced that she will be moving into the nursery tonight." The silver tabby bowed her head shyly as the Clan called their congratulations to her. "This Clan meeting is over. Nightwhisker and Shadowfur, you will guard the camp alone tonight."

As the Clan slipped into their respective dens, Sunpaw cast a glance over at Shadowfur. "He wasn't too happy with Nightwhisker getting her warrior name first, was he?"

"He still isn't, by the look of him," murmured Icepaw, also glancing over.

"I'm just glad he's left the den now," Rainpaw whispered. "He always found a way to scare the fur of my tail, and he torments Nightwhisker all the time." She shivered. "I prefer to think the best of everybody, but he's just..." She didn't need to finish the sentence.

"We'll have to den with him again soon," Sunpaw reminded her as she settled into her nest. "In a few moons we're gonna be warriors. And the ceremony better be soon," she added, "because now we're the only apprentices and I want to be a warrior and have my own apprentice."

"Patience is a virtue," said Icepaw in a sing-song voice, knowing it would annoy her. Annoy her it did, and she swatted him with a forepaw.

As Rainpaw and Icepaw's breathing slowed, Sunpaw stayed awake. Hawkclaw's burning gaze kept appearing in her mind every time she drifted off; once she thought she caught his scent filtering through the den, something that jolted her into full awareness. When she finally was able to start to close her eyes without seeing the dark warrior in her mind, a silvery shaft of moonlight filtered in through the hole in the den wall. The cool beam of light landed on Icepaw, illuminating the silver in his fur.

As Sunpaw half-sighed, half-yawned, something stirred within her; a feeling of impatience, of wanting, but not for her warrior name.

;-;-;-;

It's always the same, every single day: what we want now has to come later, and what we want later has to come now. Every single day, and I'm sick of it.

–A.C.