A/N: My longest chapter yet! And one of the funnest to write... :P

Please, please R&R!

Chapter Four

It was early morning and right now Firepaw was having a very bad day. It had been four moons since she and Tinypaw had started their training, and she couldn't be more happy of her life in ThunderClan. Not even Thistleclaw's constant taunts could make her any less than happy for being where she was now.

Her training with Bluefur was going well, and without a hitch. The gray she-cat was a good and patient teacher, and even a better friend and ally. Firepaw was glad to have Bluefur as her mentor, and already proved to be a pretty good hunter and a descent fighter. At one point Sunstar himself ended up taking over her training, as Bluefur had been injured in a skirmish at Sunningrocks, and had said to Firepaw that he'd never seen any cat learn so quickly. When he'd told her that, Firepaw felt like she'd just accomplished something almost impossible. After all, how easy is it really to get praised by one's leader as an apprentice?

Right now, however, she felt like a kit. She had gotten herself literally stuck in a patch of brambles, thorns digging deep into her pelt, and Firepaw couldn't get herself free. Suddenly she heard a twig snap and immediately opened her mouth to taste the air. Firepaw hadn't been more relieved in her life when she recognized the scent.

"Lionheart?" she called, or rather yowled, as she had in fact moved into a different position and felt the brambles dig into her flanks sharply, making her hiss out in pain.

It was only moments later when the magnificent golden tabby appeared, exploding from a wall of ferns, his yellow eyes burning through the early dawn light. He skidded to a halt in front of her, pelt bristling, and looked around wildly. The moment Lionheart realized that there was no danger, his fur began to flatten, and he relaxed his battle-ready muscles. Now calm, the golden tabby turned and stared at her in amazement. "How did you get in there?" he asked, dumbfounded, his eyes wide.

"I was hunting and nearly caught a mouse, which ran into this bramble thicket and I was running too fast to stop and...well, you can see for yourself," Firepaw muttered, trying to wiggle her way out, but only let out another hiss of pain as the thorns dug in even more impossibly deeper into her skin.

"Hold still and let me see if I can do anything," Lionheart replied gently and walked forward to see how badly she was tangled.

Then with his claws unsheathed, he started slicing away at the brambles, making sure he didn't get too close to her. Finally most of the brambles had been clawed away from her, and she struggled to get free once more. It didn't work.

"It's not working," Firepaw grunted, speaking her thoughts, as she tried to claw her way forward with no success.

"All right, don't move," Lionheart meowed, receiving a heated glare.

"It's not like I have a choice," she snapped angrily, but complied. The magnificent golden tabby then grabbed a hold of her scruff in his strong jaws before jerking back sharply with all his might, causing the two of them to crash backwards.

Firepaw quickly rolled away from him and stood up slowly, wincing. Turning her head to look back at the brambles, she found that large clumps of her orange fur were still stuck to the thorns where she had been. Now looking down at herself, Firepaw saw that she was covered in thorns and mud, her pelt in a complete disaster.

"It's going to take me moons to get all of these thorns out," she groaned, before a loud cough reached her ears. It was soon followed by another, and another, until it turned into a full blown laughing fit. Whipping around, Firepaw saw her brother's mentor rolling on his back laughing.

Anger and embarrassment, and even shame, flowed through her. It was like something had set her pelt on fire. "It's not funny!" she shouted, which only made him laugh harder, and with a loud caterwaul, Firepaw launched herself at him. The moment her body slammed into his, caused Lionheart to let out a yowl of surprise as she tackled him to the ground.

Firepaw pinned the golden warrior by the shoulders, ignoring the shooting pain flowing through her body, even though she winced. She glared down at Lionheart, her green eyes blazing with fiery.

"Sorry," he choked out, trying to stifle his laughter. "You just look like a hedgehog."

She glowered at him even more fiercely, her eyes flashing. "And it's rude to laugh when I am obviously in agony," Firepaw spat and leaped off the golden tabby, wincing once more.

Firepaw was in so much agony that she couldn't stop herself from hunching over in pain as the young warrior stood up on his paws. Looking at her, his yellow eyes became warm and gentle. "Come on," he meowed. "Let's get you back to camp."

She nodded, but could barely walk so Lionheart ended up grabbing her by the scruff once more and carried her back to camp. Firepaw winced when some of the spikes from the gorse tunnel tugged at the fur she still had. Finally, Lionheart carried her into camp.

Firepaw's eyes looked around and she caught sight of Poppydawn, who had taken on the job of being her and Tinypaw's second mother since they arrived. The elderly, dark red she-cat looked up and was immediately on her paws and raced across the clearing toward her and Lionheart.

"Firepaw! Your beautiful coat! What happened?" the dark red she-cat yowled shrilly and once again Firepaw winced; only this time it was from the elder's shrill voice.

Both Featherwhisker and Goosefeather, on hearing Poppydawn's stressed call, had raced out of the medicine den and trotted over to them. Lionheart sat her down as carefully as possible, even though she still winced and groaned in pain. The golden tabby warrior quickly explained what had happened to the elder and medicine cats, while the two medicine cats sniffed at her pelt.

"Let's get her to the medicine den," Featherwhisker meowed.

Lionheart once again picked her up and carried over to the medicine den. Once inside he sat her down gently in an already made nest and took a few steps back as the medicine cats quickly reappeared from their den and walked over with a few bundles of herbs. Suddenly Sunstar appeared and called Lionheart away for a patrol.

"Will she be okay?" the golden warrior asked Featherwhisker.

"She will. She just needs some rest after we get those thorns and brambles out," the pale silvery medicine cat apprentice replied and Firepaw immediately groaned.

Lionheart nodded before looking down at her briefly, then he charged off out of the medicine clearing.

...

It was after sunhigh and Firepaw was still in a lot of pain, even though the thorns and brambles had been removed. Her pelt was now patchy and thin in some areas since she had left a great deal of her fur in that bramble thicket, from now on Firepaw decided to stay clear of any bramble thickets that stood in her way. Meanwhile, she had tried to groom herself and managed to remove any thorns that had been missed. Plus earlier, after, removing those thorns, Featherwhisker had given her some poppy seeds to help with the pain and also help her sleep. Now she felt refreshed, but still sore.

Suddenly she heard a steady jeering starting to be picked up, and quickly exited the medicine den just a few moments after both medicine cats who were walking towards a familiar, young light gray she-cat. Only the familiar sweet scent that she associated with someone had made Tinypaw's life a living hell confirmed her suspicions. It was Ruby. Her and Tinypaw's only sister.

Firepaw watched silently as Featherwhisker and Goosefeather walked forward through the crowd which parted to let the medicine cats through.

Ruby glared at them mistrustfully and hissed. "Stay away from me!"

She watched silently as the two medicine cats said nothing but backed away and nodded respectfully. Firepaw didn't blame her sister for not trusting any of the Clan cats and decided to stay in the shade of the fern tunnel that led to the medicine clearing to watch how everything played out.

The returning warriors suddenly each took some food from the fresh-kill pile and brought it over to the nettle patch to eat. Then the rest of her Clanmates stepped forward to take their own share. Firepaw eyed the fresh-kill greedily, but decided against it.

She turned her head then and saw Tinypaw, who was pacing around the clearing looking hungry. Firepaw watched him as he watched as the Clan cats crouched in their usual groups, chewing and gulping. That's when she guessed that he must have broken the warrior code.

Still watching him, Firepaw saw him pause beside the Highrock where Sunstar was sharing words with Lionheart. Her heart dropped at the sight, was her brother going to be sent away?

Shaking her head at the thought, Firepaw sighed and crouched down. Her eyes were now watching Tigerpaw as he walked forward towards the fresh-kill pile and took his share. He seemed to realize that someone was watching him, since he looked up in her direction with the fresh-kill in his mouth. She saw his eyes widen slightly before walking towards her and dropping the thrush at her paws.

"Take it," the dark tabby apprentice meowed, looking deeply into her eyes.

She stood there for a moment and looked down at the fresh-kill longingly but shook her head stubbornly. "No, Tigerpaw. I can't. I didn't even bring prey back for the Clan,"Firepaw snapped.

The bigger apprentice rolled his eyes. "Forget about it," he replied. "It's not like you're breaking the warrior code. Besides," Tigerpaw purred, pushing the fresh-kill closer, "you were injured. You need to keep your strength up."

Finally, Firepaw gave in and crouched down to eat, she still winced at moving into that position but, ignoring the pain, she took a bite. She looked over Tigerpaw's shoulder then and saw Tinypaw sneaking over to the fresh-kill pile to grab a mouse.

"Not for you," Adderfang, a seasoned mottled brown tabby warrior, growled as he strode up behind the small black apprentice and pawed the mouse away. "You didn't bring back any prey. The elders will eat your share. Take it to them."

Tinypaw looked over at Sunstar, who nodded shortly at him. "Do as he says."

For a moment, Firepaw watched her littermate do as he was told before heaving a sigh and turned back to her own fresh-kill. Tigerpaw, who had left during the whole ideal, now returned with his own fresh-kill and the two ate in companionable silence.

Sunstar's call sounded across the clearing. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join together for a meeting of our Clan."

Glancing up in the ThunderClan leader's direction, Firepaw stood up. Before she had been grooming herself, having just finished her meal, even though she winced every time she tried to groom a tender spot. Firepaw now slowly heaved herself to her paws, and wobbled slightly. Because of this, she trotted over to the Highrock slowly with Tigerpaw right beside her, ready to help if need be.

"I'm sure you've all heard of the hostile kittypet we brought back with us today," Sunstar began, "and from what Tinypaw has told me, she was his and Firepaw's littermate."

Beside her, Firepaw could feel Tigerpaw glancing at her curiously. She could feel the heat of his gaze burning into her pelt, but chose to ignore it as Sunstar went on.

"Her name is Ruby," the ThunderClan leader announced, "and for the time being she'll be staying with us as she was found injured-" the bright ginger tom glared toward the back of the crowd, and Firepaw looked over her shoulder to see it was Thistleclaw. The spiky warrior didn't even deny it, in fact he looked smug. "-by the border we have with Twolegplace. Tinypaw, as punishment for breaking the warrior code for feeding your kittypet when you should've been feeding your own Clan, it will be your responsibility to care for Ruby. You will hunt for her and tend to her wounds. You will fetch fresh bedding and clear away her dirt."

"Yes, Sunstar," mewed Tinypaw, bowing his head in submission.

The ThunderClan leader nodded before he went on with the meeting. "Thistleclaw, I know you were the one to attack Ruby," he meowed, "and I am deeply disappointed in you. So, from this moment on until I say otherwise, you will go back to the punishment Poppydawn had given you."

Thistleclaw spat in outrage at this, but didn't argue. "On that note, I declare this meeting over." With that, Sunstar jumped down from the Highrock and marched toward his den.

Firepaw looked up at Tigerpaw then and meowed a fair well and quickly made her way to the medicine den. From the corner of her eye she saw Tawnyspots, the ThunderClan deputy, had followed Sunstar and Tigerpaw was looking after her for a moment before following after Smallear as his mentor called for him.

Firepaw soon curled up in her nest in the medicine clearing and felt exhausted and sore from her earlier little adventure. It wasn't long before she dozed off, for a few minutes anyway.