Chapter 1

(Lily's POV)

Lily yawned as she slipped out of the house of her owners. She enjoyed the warmth of the sun, knowing that she should enjoy it as long as she could because snowfall was soon to be there. Lily looked around in the hope that her best friend Rusty was already waiting for her, but to her disappointment the ginger fur of her friend was nowhere to be seen.

Lily sighed and leaped over the red fence that surrounded the house. She stretched out her limbs and looked out into the forest. Her house bordered the forest; it was the last in the row. Rusty's house was only two houses away and normally he would already be waiting for her. But today Lily woke up early, so Rusty wasn't there yet.

Lily looked back at her house, wondering whether to go into the forest or wait for Rusty. She almost decided to stay, but the forest looked so tempting, so Lily bounded off into the green of the trees and bushes. I'll be quick, she told herself, I'll catch a mouse and go back, Rusty will like fresh prey in the morning. Satisfied to have found a solution, Lily wandered through the forest, looking for prey. She quickly found the scent of a mouse and fell into a hunting crouch. Tail high in the air, she started stalking it and tracked down the mouse. Suddenly, she heard a branch snap behind her. Lily whirled around and narrowed her eyes into tiny slits. She didn't see any movement, not even after she stared at the bushes for what felt like an hour and was completely unprepared when a figure jumped out of the undergrowth and pinned Lily down onto the ground. Lily let out a shriek and wriggled out of her attackers grip. Whirling around she made a run back to her house. She could feel her attacker's breath on her back and knew it was useless. Her attacker was so much faster than her and she wouldn't make it back to her house in time before the cat behind her caught her. Lily made her decision and took a deep breath before she spun around and lashed out at the cat.

It was a ginger she-cat with green eyes and she wasn't much older than Lily was. She seemed surprised that Lily attacked her, because she stumbled back and looked at Lily with confusion, but quickly caught herself and swiped at Lily's nose. Lily was quick enough to dodge the blow, but only barely. The ginger she-cat launched herself at her and jumped onto her back, holding her down with her weight. Lily thought quickly and flipped onto her back, crushing the sandy ginger she-cat. Her opponent went limp and Lily jumped off, concerned that she may have hurt her. The ginger she-cat jumped up immediately and gleefully launched another attack, but this time Lily was prepared and flung her on the ground as the ginger she-cat jumped at her. They began to wrestle and even though Lily managed to deliver some blows, her attacker was better. Lily managed to give her a nick in her ear, but the she-cat gave her a scratch on her flank and grasped hold of her paw, twisting it slightly. Her flank stung and she couldn't attack with her right paw and the she-cat finally pinned her down. It satisfied Lily to see that the cat was panting, even though she didn't look as battered as she did. Lily braced herself for whatever it would be that was coming, but the she-cat only jumped off and meowed, "Good fight,"

Lily stared at the she-cat with a black expression. What?

Her former opponent cocked her head. "Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me?"

"I'm not deaf!" Lily exclaimed and heaved herself up. She glanced at the ginger she-cat warily, measuring if she was likely to attack again, but the she-cat just sat down and drew her paw over her ear.

"I'm Sandpaw, what about you?" The she-cat – Sandpaw – asked calmly.

That's a weird name, Lily thought and for a moment she was tempted to not answer her question, but since this Sandpaw seemed to be trying to be friendly, she decided not to ignore her. "Lily," she answered curtly, still a bit taken aback by the sudden friendliness.

"I surely didn't expect a kittypet to fight that good," Sandpaw meowed. "Even though you aren't as good as the apprentices of ThunderClan. Though you should be happy that you only ventured into ThunderClan territory and not ShadowClan. They would have ripped you to pieces for sure! They don't like it if kittypets venture into their territory."

"Kittypets? ThunderClan? ShadowClan? What are you talking about?" She looked at Sandpaw like she was crazy. In return, Sandpaw stared at her like she was crazy.

"Surely you heard about the four Clans in the forest?"

"Clans? Listen, I have no idea what you're talking about!" Lily insisted, whiskers twitching with annoyance.

"Okay, okay, calm down," Sandpaw meowed. "There are four Clans here in the forest, well, not really the forest but around it…well, you get the point. There is ThunderClan, RiverClan, ShadowClan and WindClan. I'm ThunderClan," she puffed out her chest proudly. "We live in this forest. Our territory borders with ShadowClan and RiverClan. RiverClan cats love swimming and their prey is mostly fish," - she wrinkled her nose with disgust - "I don't get how they stand fish every day. They taste horrible!"

"Wait, you're saying there are groups of cats here?" Lily interrupted.

"Yeah," Sandpaw shot her a look that implied that she didn't like being interrupted. "Every Clan has a leader, a deputy, a medicine cat, warriors, apprentices, queens and elders. We all care for each other and," Sandpaw suddenly stopped. "Someone's coming!" she hissed. "Hide!" But before Lily could take one step, the leaves rustled and two cats emerged.

Lily shrank back as she saw them. One of them was a blue-gray she-cat, the other one a white tom. Both of them were twice as big as she was, they had scars over their bodies and their claws gleamed as they unsheathed them. Lily didn't doubt that they could tear her into pieces in only a few moments.

"Bluestar, Whitestorm," Sandpaw meowed respectfully and dipped her head. She motioned to Lily to do the same. "That's Bluestar, the leader of my Clan," she whispered and flicked her tail into the direction of the blue-gray she-cat. "And that's Whitestorm, my mentor and a senior warrior."

They all have such strange names, Lily thought as she dropped low onto the ground.

"Thank you for the introduction," Whitestorm said drily and Sandpaw, embarrassed, turned her head away.

"Sandpaw, what were you doing so near to twolegplace?" Bluestar questioned. She didn't sound angry with Sandpaw; she actually didn't show any emotion.

"I- I-," Sandpaw stuttered. "Someone told me to," she muttered.

"And who is that someone?" Bluestar inquired.

"He- he told me not to tell," Sandpaw mumbled, clearly not feeling quite comfortable. "He told me to look out for any ginger cats."

Bluestar sighed and shook her head. "Redtail," she murmured. "Sandpaw, were there any other ginger cats?"

What do they have with ginger cats? Lily thought irritated, but she wasn't going to show anything; she didn't want to give them any excuse to attack her.

"N-no, I only saw this one," Sandpaw gestured over to her. "There was nobody else with her."

Bluestar nodded thoughtfully. She opened her mouth to say something, but in that moment a ginger cat fell out of a tree and right on top of Bluestar. Lily expected Bluestar to at least be surprised, but the blue-gray she-cat didn't even stumble, she grabbed the attacker by the scruff and flung him away. The ginger cat struggled to get up and Lily recognized him. "Rusty!" She dashed over to him and supported him with her shoulder. "What are you doing here?"

"I went over to your house and when you weren't there I went into the forest to find you. And then I saw you getting attacked by those cats," Rusty snarled, eyes blazing.

Lily looked over at Bluestar and was surprised to see that her eyes gleamed with amusement. "You have a fighter's spirit," she meowed. "Do you know about the Clans?"

Rusty looked at Bluestar and narrowed his eyes suspiciously. After a few long seconds he nodded slowly. "Yes, I've heard of them, but only bad things. How you are vicious and how you eat the bones of your prey and your enemies."

"What? That's the most mouse-brained thing I have ever heard!" Sandpaw exclaimed. "We aren't vicious and we most certainly don't eat bones! They're disgusting!"

Bluestar let out a mrrrow of laughter. "Sandpaw, calm down, they're only rumors. And tell me, if we were vicious, how is it that you are still alive?"

Rusty opened his mouth to retort but closed it again almost immediately as he found the truth in the words of the she-cat.

Bluestar chuckled and turned her head slightly toward Whitestorm. Her eyes held a question Lily couldn't quite identify, but Whitestorm seemed to know, because he narrowed his eyes and glanced over at Rusty and her. "Are you sure?" he asked. "They're kittypets."

"I'm sure," Bluestar answered him gently and turned back to Lily and Rusty. "Lily, Rusty, I will offer you something I won't offer twice. Do you want to join ThunderClan?"

Lily froze. Joining ThunderClan? But I don't know anything about it! How can I join something where I don't even know what it is? Lily's thoughts were interrupted by Rusty meowing, "Can I think about your offer?"

Bluestar didn't seem that happy about it but nodded anyway. "Okay. Whitestorm will wait for you here tomorrow at dusk. If you aren't there at moonhigh, I will take that as your answer. The same goes with you Lily."

"But how can I join something that I don't even know? How am I supposed to know if it's the right thing to do?" Lily questioned, fixing her gaze on Bluestar.

She chuckled and answered, "You will feel it." With those words Bluestar dipped her head and disappeared into the bushes. Whitestorm followed his leader but not before shooting Lily and Rusty a thoughtful look. Sandpaw jumped up and raced after them but then she froze and turned around again, running back. "Bye!" She butted her head against Lily's shoulder before running off again, leaving a very puzzled Lily behind.

What should I do?

A/N: Thanks to Rainwind-evil cookie-cat, Tales Power and x-SwiftyGirl-x for reviewing! You all get a Rusty plushie! Yay :) I changed the cover, could you please take a look at it? I designed it myself ;D okay, I didn't take the two pictures, but I put them together and added the title, so…yeah :)

Rainwind-evil cookie-cat: No, they are not siblings! They are not related whatsoever.

Oh, and this may seem fast, but do you want a forbidden romance in this series or not? Do you want Lily to get a mate? Do you want Rusty to get a mate? And how should Lily's Clan name be? Oh, and Rusty and Lily will not get together, just to let you know.

Should it be

A) Fawnpaw

B) Flamepaw

C) Lightningpaw

D) Willowpaw

E) Echopaw

F) Mistypaw

G) Foxpaw

H) Squirrelpaw

I) Sunpaw

J) Blazepaw

K) Blazepaw

Please tell me in a review which one you want! Tell me your favorite and you least favorite please! And, if you have another suggestion, tell me in a review too! Okay, that was it! Thanks for reading the long authors note and until next time!

~Faithblossom