Okay here is chapter one. Sorry if its short, but I've just gotten home from school, and I'm starting my spring break tomorrow so I wanted to update as quickly as possible. I promise that next chapter will be longer.

Chapter One

The black tom woke with a sigh. Another day of looking after his mother and sister. He didn't really mind looking after them, but it did get tiresome after a while.

"Good morning Raven," a young white she-cat meowed as she bounced up to the black tom.

"Morning Snowflake, what's up? You're usually not up this early," Raven said his amber eyes sparkling with humor at his sisters antics. No matter how upset he felt Snowflake could always cheer him up, or calm him down. It was just in her nature.

"Oh I was just hoping to remind you that you're going to be teaching me to hunt today," Snowflake purred. Raven must have looked surprised because Snowflake let out a mrrow of laughter as she looked at her older brother.

"I had completely forgotten that I promised to teach you. Did you ask mom if it was alright," Raven asked his sister as he looked in to her mismatched eyes, one green and the other blue. Snowflake shook her head and ran over to an older white she-cat with one white paw. Raven watched on as his younger sister and his mother talked. He could hear the exact words that were said, but he understood the gist of what was being said. His mother shook her head the way she did when she was amused by something.

Then Snowflake came bounding back, a huge smile on her face. Raven smiled too, his amber eyes sparkling.

"So what did she say?" Raven asked the small white she-cat.

"She said I could go with you, but we have to be careful. Can we go now?" Snowflake asked her mismatched eyes gleaming with excitement. Raven nodded, and then led his sister out into the forest. Raven glanced over his shoulder and watched as his sister looked around in wonder.

"Wow, I didn't know that the forest was so big. Where are we going today Raven?" Snowflake asked curiously.

"I thought that we might head towards the river. The vole that live around there are really good. Then after we go there I thought we might go to that huge oak tree. There are always some plump squirrels around there," Raven meowed to his sister, "The first thing you need to know about hunting is to be quiet."

Snowflake caught his drift and remained silent until both the young cats heard the trickle of water from the river.

"How much farther is it?" Snowflake asked, with the hint of a whine in her voice. Raven glared at her then sighed.

"It's not much farther now. You can hear the river right?" Raven asked, and Snowflake nodded, "Well we have to go about sixteen more foxlengths before we reach it. Don't worry it won't be much longer now."

Snowflake sighed, but followed her brother as he continued walking towards the sound of the water. A rustling sound caught her attention. She whipped her head towards the source.

"Raven do you hear that?" Snowflake meowed at her brother. Raven looked over his shoulder, and gave a slight nod. Suddenly a clump of tall grass in front of Raven rustled violently.

"Raven, I-I'm scared," Snowflake said a waver in her voice. Raven watched the grass closely. The rustling had stopped, but Raven could smell a strange scent. It smelled faintly of cat, but it also smelled like badger.

"Snowflake if I tell you to run you run," Raven hissed, "Do you understand?"

"Yeah, I understand," Snowflake meowed.

"Okay then be ready to run," Raven said. He kept his gaze on the grass clump. He lowered himself into a crouch. Then a figure exploded out of the grass violently. It was a brown tabby tom with white paws, and chest with orange eyes.

"Snowflake run, I'll hold him off!" Raven shouted as he leaped at the tom. The reek of badger was almost overpowering as Raven clamped his jaws on the toms left foreleg. The tom hissed in pain, and clamped his teeth on Raven's ear. Raven grimaced in pain but kept his hold.

The brown tom let go and said, "Will you let go of me?"

Raven glared at him, but slowly let go. The two toms studied each other warily.

"Who are you?" Raven asked, "Where did you come from?"

The brown tom laughed, "I should ask you the same questions. Anyway I'm Thistle, and I live with a group of cats. Now I've answered your questions so tell me who you are."

"My name is Raven, and I live with my mother and sister," Raven meowed as he regarded Thistle. Thistle nodded, and started to walk away.

"Hey where are you going?" Raven asked. Thistle gave Raven a strange look.

"Where do you think? I'm going home. See ya around Raven," the brown tom meowed as he padded away. Raven stood there rooted to the spot.

What kind of cat just stops fighting, and asks who you are? More importantly what kind of cat smells like a badger, Raven asked himself. Then shaking his black pelt he turned around and started to head home. Halfway to the clearing he realized that he hadn't caught anything to take home. He veered off to the right and immediately crouched down as he spotted a sparrow. The sparrow hopped closer to the black tom, and let out a shriek as Raven pounced snapping the small birds spine. Raven picked up the limp body and carried it back to his home.