I FINALLY BEAT CID! Now I'm on by way to Oerba, all the while dying at every opportunity I have, it seems. But enough of my gamer talk. On we go to... Chapter Five: Chance Encounters! We are officially past the halfway mark, folks, and if anyone's dissapointed by a lack of fighting going on in this story, I can tell you that you will not be dissapointed for long. Not in the next chapter, but in the chapter after that, and the chapter after that. Jus' saying. Ah, and another side note, my parents have returned from their trip -.- Which means I will be harped into working on certain days and told I shouldn't stay up so late. But I won't let it bother me. I'm tougher than that. But I will need to refill my stores of pepsi... Ah, I'll play it by ear. So, as I said in the last chapter, here's an entire chapter of Whitepaw/Cedarheart, pretty much, with a little bit of Firestar at the end.

GlimmerIcewood: You'll find out who the Catalyst and the Causes are eventually... every POV is chosen for a reason, after all. And though I will touch on it in the next few chapters, yes, 'Crowtail' is Crowfeather. For this story I made Tornear and Ashfoot siblings (a), and (b) killed Crowfeather. Sleepwalking Ashfoot wants to find her son, so Tornear, on occasion, pretends to be Crowpaw in order to get her back to the camp.

ADHD kid in jail: Yes, the colors DO have something to do with the story, but I'm not going to tell you what ) And you're excited, aren't you? Here's your update!

baileeYDG: Thank you! I try very hard :) Enjoy~

Whitepaw thrashed her tail impatiently and peered over the rise again towards ShadowClan territory. It was late in the afternoon, and Whitepaw had been waiting there since sunhigh. Where was that stupid furball? Whitepaw shifted her eyes to the enormous rabbit she had caught herself that morning. She had spent the entire day tracking it, nose to the ground, and then had to try three times to catch it, finally wearing it out of energy by the Great Sycamore and getting her teeth into his neck. Dragging the rabbit to the thunderpath had been the hardest part so far. Now she would be lucky if she were going to find Cedarheart.

Whitepaw tilted her head to one side again, thinking about the ShadowClan warrior. It had been yesterday when she stumbled back to camp, exhausted and the places behind her ears still caked with mud. A good night's rest had done wonders for her, though her legs were still a little sore, and before her father could find her she had stolen a couple of mice and snuck out of the camp by Cinderpelt's den. She giggled to herself, remembering hearing her father shouting for her as she ran off into the forest. Soon after that she had picked up the smell of the rabbit and begun tracking it.

And now… now Whitepaw was waiting. She wasn't sure that Cedarheart would have a patrol today, or if he would come by this border at all, let alone be alone. But it was worth a shot, and if worse came to worse, Whitepaw could take this back to camp and show it off to her father. Whitepaw still felt funny when she thought about Cedarheart, and she wasn't quite sure why. For a long time now she had had a crush on Spiderpaw, at least she thought she did, at least. Cedarheart was nothing like Spiderpaw though, he was… simpler. Less fiery. He talked fast and irritated Whitepaw. But he had saved Whitepaw's life, and Whitepaw needed to repay him for that.

Whitepaw craned her head over the rise again and raised her tail when she saw someone dark moving in and out of the bushes on the far side of the thunderpath. She crept up the rise and the figure froze, turning amber eyes towards her. Whitepaw felt a thrill rise in her chest – she knew those eyes! That was Cedarheart!

"Cedarheart!" she called, "Cedarheart, it's me, Whitepaw!"

Cedarheart stepped out of the bushes, and Whitepaw knew it was him. His fur was strangely dark in the sunlight, almost black, and he looked at Whitepaw with confusion and curiosity. Whitepaw scrambled back down the rise and dug her teeth into the rabbit, yanking it up the rise and onto the thunderpath. She caught a glimpse of Cedarheart, whose head was low to the thunderpath, and then began to drag the rabbit across as fast as she could. Cedarheart shouted something to her and she turned, dropping the rabbit.

"Whitepaw, get off the thunderpath!" Cedarheart bellowed. What was he talking about? There were no monst-

The ground began to rumble. Whitepaw looked up and felt her stomach drop. The lasrgest monster she had ever seen was barreling down the thunderpath to her, blood-red, maw open with silver teeth that touched the roof of it's mouth. She tried to move, but her paws were stuck to the thunderpath, and the rabbit, she had to save the rabbit, it was for-

Whump!

Cedarheart collided with Whitepaw, knocking her off her feet and sending her flying to the side. But it wasn't far enough, and Cedarheart bounded over to her again, grabbed her scruff with his teeth, and threw her off the thunderpath, leaping off himself and rolling ears over tail beside her. Whitepaw crashed into a bush with a squeal and Cedarheart twisted, regaining his feet, and turned to Whitepaw, hissing and snarling.

"What were you thinking? You stupid apprentice, you could've gotten both of us-"

Cedarheart froze when he saw Whitepaw's ears shivering, and her green eyes wide. Her chest trembled, and her eyes moved slowly from the spot she had been standing on the thunderpath to him. Her mouth opened and closed slowly but no words came out. Cedarheart watched her carefully and then walked closer to her, placing his tail on her shoulder.

"Easy, Whitepaw. Easy. Breathe. Breathe nice and easy, kit…"

Whitepaw felt cold. Cold and brittle and as if she could shatter into a thousand pieces in any single moment. Was that what danger really was? Was that what it was like to almost die? She didn't know she was shaking. She didn't know that she wasn't breathing. Her head was swimming, her body was tight with adrenaline. It could have been all over for the both of them, it could have…

"Breathe, Whitepaw, nothing will change if you don't change yourself."

Cedarheart pressed his muzzle gently to the top of her head and sighed, and it was like warmth was trickling down her body from that one spot. She still shook, but she managed to take a hesitant, shaky breath and feel the tension in her shoulders and back. Her vision swam less as she breathed more, and Cedarheart continued to sit close to her, wrapping his tail around her smaller body and keeping his muzzle on her forehead. She began to feel her trembling and icy claws that made her shudder uncontrollably. But Cedarheart continued to murmur quiet, soft words to her, and Whitepaw felt the fear slowly melt away into exhaustion.

"Are you alright now?" Cedarheart whispered to her. Slowly, Whitepaw nodded. Cedarheart took his muzzle off her head but didn't move his tail from her flank. Where he touched her she felt hot, almost like she had a fever.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you," Cedarheart sighed and looked away for a moment, "I was scared. I thought you might have gotten hurt."

Whitepaw gulped over the lump in her throat and managed to say: "Wh-why would it…"

"Why would it matter to me?" Cedarheart smiled slightly. His smile was small, and Whitepaw could see there was no happiness in it. Just sadness, "I suppose I'm just a… weak cat. I'd prefer not to fight or see anyone hurt, really. It… makes me sick, I guess you could say."

"But isn't that what being a warrior is?"

"Of course. We're all trained to fight after all, and hunt. But just because I was trained to do something doesn't mean I like it, right? After all, who likes killing? Isn't that what a warrior does?"

Whitepaw fell silent and lowered her head, pressing it against Cedarheart's shoulder. He stiffened for a moment, and then relaxed, and allowed her to stay there for a few moments, thinking about the words he said. Was that what being a warrior really was? Killing? What about defending your Clan, or protecting the ones you loved? But Whitepaw didn't have any right to think differently. All she knew was stories and legends and ideas. She had never been in battle. She had never fought another cat to the death. She opened her green eyes and saw a wicked scar across Cedarheart's chest that twisted down to his belly and shivered. When she became a warrior, she would get those scars as well. Scars were a warrior's pride, her father always said. But Whitepaw wasn't too sure of it.

"Are you feeling better?" Cedarheart asked, "I can't stay here all day, after all, and I'm sure one of your Clan's patrols is going to be coming along soon. They wouldn't be happy to know you tried to kill yourself on the thunderpath, only to be saved by a ShadowClan cat."

"I wasn't trying to kill myself!" Whitepaw lifted her head and pouted indignantly, "I was going to… my rabbit! Where's my rabbit?"

Cedarheart twisted and Whitepaw strained to look around him at the thunderpath. The rabbit was still in the center of the road, and Whitepaw shivered again when she thought of going out there and getting it. Cedarheart felt her shiver and tapped her with his tail lightly.

"Allow me, kit."

"Apprentice."

"Shrew. It's all the same to me. Sit tight, will you?"

Cedarheart crept up to the thunderpath again and pressed his ear to it. He sat still for several long moments until Whitepaw could feel the vibrations of a monster approaching, and after it had vanished, he pressed his ear to the rock again, then darted out and dragged the rabbit back to the ThunderClan side of the border. Miraculously, it was undamaged by any of the monsters, though there was a bit of black tar on the fur from where it had been sitting too long.

"There you are, it's a fine rabbit you caught," Cedarheart puffed. The rabbit was heavier than he expected. Whitepaw puffed out her chest and tilted her head up proudly.

"It's for you!"

Cedarheart glanced back at her, his eyes wide, and then shook his head and took a small step away from it, "I can't take this, Whitepaw."

Whitepaw felt as if he had just clawed out her heart, and her chest dropped. Desperately, she pushed the rabbit to him with her nose, "B-But I caught it just for you. I want to make up for… for the other day."

"Whitepaw, it is a very kind thing for you to do, but I cannot take this. You Clan will need this, giving it to me will be breaking the warrior code."

"But you saved my life!"

"Oh I doubt that. Russetfur would probably just rough you up a bit and drag you back to the camp, then use you as an excuse to raid ThunderClan territory. You might've had to spend a couple days there-"

"But I got it for you!"

Cedarheart sighed a padded back over to Whitepaw, gently placing his muzzle on her forehead. The fright of the monster still hadn't quite worn off of her; she was still trembling, and her emotions were running wild. Her large green eyes were glassy when they looked up for him. She sniffed miserably and looked down again, "I hunted it all morning for you and when I caught it I thought… I thought you would be happy and I…"

"Whitepaw…" Cedarheart sighed, "It's kind of you to do this, really, but I can't bring a rabbit back to ShadowClan." Whitepaw looked up questioningly, "We don't have rabbits in ShadowClan. They never cross the thunderpath so if I were to return with one this large… they would think I was hunting in other Clan's territory."

"Oh." Whitepaw lowered her head again, "I see. I'm sorry."

There was a long silence between the two of them, not awkward, not tense, but calm and warm and gentle. Cedarheart rested his head on top of hers for a bit longer, waiting until he felt the last of the tremors die down from her body before he pulled away. Whitepaw smiled at him nervously.

"What were you doing before?" Whitepaw asked shyly, "Putting your ear to the thunderpath – what does that do?"

"Ah, allow me to show you. Come along, we're not getting close enough to the monsters to be hurt."

Cedarheart led Whitepaw up the rise to the thunderpath, and then pressed his ear to the rock. He smiled and motioned for her to do the same. Whitepaw bent awkwardly, pressing her ear to the hot stone. She sensed nothing at first, but then felt a low vibration coming from the stones, tickling the fur in her ears. She glanced over at Cedarheart, who smiled and pulled away, and Whitepaw followed him. Only moments later she could hear the roar of a monster in the distance, and within a minute it thundered by, spraying up nasty-smelling fumes and stirring the air.

Whitepaw coughed, "So that's why ShadowClan is never hit by monsters!"

"Yes, though I suppose I shouldn't have showed it to you. It's a closely-guarded ShadowClan secret after all, along with the tunnel under the thunderpath and the catmint garden."

"Tunnel? Catmint garden?"

"Ah – I shouldn't have said that. Well, no harm in it now, I guess. I've already betrayed one Clan secret worth dying over."

Whitepaw tilted her head to one side, "Where's your pride as a warrior? Your loyalty to your Clan?"

"I guess I was never really born with it. Maybe I just find other things too interesting, and conversing with other cats brings out the worst of me. Ah, I'll probably go to the Dark Forest for this."

"Don't say that, that's a horrible thing to say!"

"I suppose," Cedarheart laughed, and then glanced at the rabbit again, "That is a fantastic rabbit. You really caught that yourself?"

"Yup!" Whitepaw puffed up her little chest and jumped to her paws, falling into her best hunting stance, "I tracked it all morning!"

Cedarheart laughed and Whitepaw looked up curious, "You hunted it like that?"

Whitepaw frowned, "What's wrong with my stance?"

"Almost everything. For example, if I do this," Cedarheart padded closer and his paw shot out, hooking one of Whitepaw's front legs and pulling it out from in front of her. Whitepaw squeaked and tumbled forward, "… you shouldn't do that."

Whitepaw scrambled back to her feet, fur on her tail fluffed up, "Show me how to stand, then!"

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Cedarheart sighed and rolled his eyes. He looked away, and then back at Whitepaw, and seeing her pouting, stubborn face, sighed again and wiggled his ears, "Alright, stand up and take that stance again."

Whitepaw brightened and scrambled into the position again. Cedarheart padded around her and watched her muscles carefully, and then touched one of her hind legs with his muzzle. Whitepaw felt her fur get warm and tingle where he breathed on her. She followed Cedarheart's instructions carefully, Cedarheart circling her quietly and watching her movements and touching her gently in places she needed to fix. Patches of Whitepaw's fur was tingling, and Whitepaw looked down shyly, pretending to be looking at the position of her legs. Cedarheart poked his nose under her jaw and drew it back upwards, facing him. Whitepaw's breath caught in her throat. Their noses were less than a breath apart. Cedarheart's warm amber eyes glowed like small moons against his dark, almost black, fur.

"Look forward, you're throwing off your balance," he said quietly. His breath washed over her face, his scent mixed in, causing Whitepaw's shoulders to go slack. Cedarheart's sharp eyes caught this and he circled around her, and touched her belly with his tail, "Keep your stomach tight, and your shoulders strong. You'll make less noise that way. And then your weight… yes, right there. That's good. Feel it? Feel the way your muscles are?"

Whitepaw nodded hesitantly and Cedarheart smiled, "Good."

And then he hooked another paw under her one of her back legs and knocked her off her feet again. Whitepaw scrambled up again, sneezing from the dust. She glared at Cedarheart, who was still smiling, "Now try to find the same pose."

They practiced for a long time, until Whitepaw finally collapsed in the dust and pouted at Cedarheart, who laughed and said that he really should be getting back to ShadowClan anyway. Just as he pressed his ear to the thunderpath, Whitepaw sprang to her paws and followed him. Cedarheart glanced at her, curious.

"Can I see you at the Gathering… just the two of us?" she asked.

Cedarheart looked at her for a long time, his amber eyes unreadable and face a mask. But then he smiled and shrugged, "I suppose I did tell you that was an option. But Russetfur won't like us talking, I'm supposed to be the star student, after all, and supposed to not like any other cats… How about we meet behind the oak closest to RiverClan territory?"

"Alright!"

Cedarheart smiled again, pressed his ear to the thunderpath, and made as if he were going to dash across it. But instead he flickered back, gave Whitepaw a quick lick on the ear, and bounded across, laughing. Whitepaw smiled as she watched him go, tilting her head to one side, it was different, having a friend in another Clan. But it was interesting. And fun.

She gave herself a thorough cleaning before grabbing the rabbit and dragging it back to camp, where she was met by Graystripe, just leaving with Dustpelt on a patrol.

"Oh, Whitepaw, Firestar wanted to speak with you. He was in his den a couple of moments ago. Did you catch that by yourself? The thing's nearly as large as you are!"

Whitepaw raised her head proudly and finished dragging the rabbit to the fresh-kill pile, then trotted off to Firestar's den. She called in tentatively, and when she heard an answering meow, padded in quietly. Firestar looked unusually small, and there were hollow circles beneath his eyes. He smiled slightly when Whitepaw came in.

"I've spoken to Whitestorm about your training with Cloudtail," he said. Whitepaw stiffened, her tail straightening out behind her, "And we've decided that he's not training you properly, perhaps because of… your mother's death. So tonight we will be holding an apprentice ceremony, and you will be transferred from Cloudtail's teachings to mine."

Whitepaw felt her heart leap in her chest, she was going to be Firestar's apprentice? Her legendary granduncle was going to teach her? This was better than any dream she could've had, any fantasy she'd ever thought up-

"I'm going to work you hard if you want to become a warrior before Snakekit and Icekit. From what I know, you're as incompetent as them."

Whitepaw flinched under his words. She hadn't realized that Firestar was… rather cold and rude. Her father had always said that Firestar was noble, strong, and gentle but… Maybe he just wasn't feeling well. Maybe he was… just tired. He had just come back from Highstones, after all. She flicked an ear nervously, thinking that he was trying to make a joke, but there was no humor in Firestar's eyes.

"Go then, I don't want to see you anymore." He said, turning away from him. Whitepaw lowered her head and backed out of the den quietly. She was sure that something was strange about Firestar, but she couldn't quite place what it was.

Shoobie soobop do-bop!

So, now that we've got this Cedarheart/Whitepaw chapter out of the way, you're going to be wondering what's going to happen next, right? Well, I'll tell you: The Gathering! Sadly, Whitepaw won't be a central POV in the next chapter. Most of the next chapter will go to Reedpaw, but part of the beginning with be for Firestar. It should be a relatively short chapter, as I've noticed the chapters are... growing in length. the first chapter was only about five pages I believe, and the rest were seven until OOPS, i made one fourteen pages long. This one is ten. But I digress. Search for my errors, enjoy, and I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible!