Warriors- Veil of the Red
Chapter 3
[A/N: Sorry for not writing in such a long time, I keep telling myself I will, but I put it off and blahh blahh overall I just get lazy. But with school coming up I will try to get more in the WRITING mood. So yeah ;p without further ado! Foxkit~!]]
-x-
I-Is... Is this really happening?
The cats of the clan followed the eyes of the leader, his gaze resting upon the older kit sitting besides the Red-furred She-cat. The eyes of the cats seemed harsh and cold as the stared the kit down; yellow eyes glowing bright in the sunlight. Whispers raced amongst the cats in judgment of Blackstar's decision to make Foxkit an apprentice, some cats whispered that they didn't want their kits to train alongside with her, and that she shouldn't even be a warrior and should have been killed at birth.
Foxkit bent her head down hearing the commotion, knowing that her clan had wanted her dead and thought so ill of her made her want herself dead too. Why couldn't I have just been born into a family of foxes? Or been eaten by foxes...? I'm sure everyone would be happy then... She was snapped out of her thoughts when she felt her mother's pelt press firmly against hers protectively. Foxkit looked up at Applefur; a fierce Warrior her mother truly was, if possible Foxkit wanted to be just like her one day.
Applefur kept a stern gaze at her clan and huffed at the arrogance of her clan mates, "A pity, you call yourselves clan cats of the warrior code yet here you are picking on a defenseless kit! Ashamed of yourselves you should be!" She hissed with rage but still holding her stern steady posture, "To think I thought of ShadowClan to be this great, non-judgmental Clan..." She huffed again, "I was wrong clearly if you are judging my kin simply on her appearance!"
The clan went silent after Applefur spoke. BlackStar let out a purrr of amusement and walked towards Foxkit and Applefur. He stopped a tails length in front of them and bent his head down towards the kit who could easily be mistaken for a fox cub, "So, do you think you can be an Apprentice and one day become a Warrior? Or do you want to be a kit the rest of your life?"
Foxkit's eyes widened at the fact BlackStar was so close to her asking such a question, of course her answer would be she wanted to be a Warrior, but... She cringed at the memories of the older apprentices picking on her and flinging her around, what if it was worse when she was an apprentice and its Warriors picking on her not weak apprentices. Foxkit shook her head fiercely she wouldn't let some stupid cats scare her away from what she was destined to be! She was determined to be a Warrior, and no matter what, she would work hard as an apprentice and become one. Even if she was tormented by older apprentice's and even older, stronger Warrior's, she will keep on going. Looking straight up at Blackstar her eyes were bright as she met his deep dark blue ones, she wasn't afraid anymore! She would face every challenge head on!
"I Want To Be a Warrior!"
-x-
Russestfur raced into the nursery where Applefur viciously licked at Foxkit's coat, making sure her daughter looked perfect for her first day of training. The Brown She-cat let out a mrrow of happiness as she neared the two, "I just returned back from one of my patrols and heard of the wonderful news! Your finally an apprentice... Foxpaw!" Russetfur said with pride.
Foxpaw buried her head between her paws at her embarrassment from all the attention she was getting, its not that she didn't like it, it was just that she wasn't used to positive attention.
A loud purr rumbled in Russetfur's throat at the sight of Foxpaw. Coming up to Applefur she plopped down and began to bathe herself, "So who is your mentor?"
"Ratscar..." Applefur answered sternly in between licks. Clearly she was not happy with Blackstar's choice of a mentor for her daughter but she trusted Blackstar.
Foxpaw was honestly somewhat scared to have Ratscar as her mentor, he already despised her, now he got stuck with her, making him probably hate her a million times more. Foxpaw sighed, it seemed she couldn't do anything right. She suddenly felt herself being nudged hard in her rear and jumped up at the annoyance, twisting around she found it to be her mother nudging her, "Go on now, Russetfur is going to take you to collect moss for the elders."
Foxpaw turned to face Russetfur with a look of shock, "Moss? W-What about border patrol? And Battle Training? A-And! A-And..." She dropped her head in realization, "Is this the only way I could be made a Apprentice; go do petty jobs and not learn anything... I'll never be a Warr-" Foxpaw was interrupted by a mrrrrrow of laughter from Russtfur.
"Moss collecting is a task all apprentice's, all the time! It's a job that even skilled Warriors do! Being an apprentice and a Warrior is all about helping your Clan, and sometimes that means going to collect new bedding for the Elders and Queens." Russetfur explained, her tail twitched in amusement due to Foxpaw's outburst.
Foxpaw felt as if she had the brain of a mouse, Don't be so Mouse-brained... Shouldn't assume so fast if you want to be a good Warrior, Duh! She sighed to herself and then gave a perplexed look to the brown She-cat, "But, Ratscar is my mentor shouldn't he be taking me?" Its not that she wanted him to, Foxpaw was just curious why Russetfur was taking her.
"I thought I would save you some tension the first day and take you out myself, I'm positive Ratscar wouldn't mind. He's probably in his den sleeping away dreaming of hunting mice." She huffed at the thought as she stood up and began to walk out of the nursery, "Say goodbye to this place, tonight you sleep in the 'Apprentice's Den.' Now, lets begin your first day as one."
-x-
Because Shadowclan's territory was all forest there were lots of places that you could get lost within the trees, being that they all looked the same. Russetfur explained to Foxpaw to use her nose and follow the scent markings in case she ever got lost and it would lead her back to the camp. Foxpaw had never been so far out in the Forest before, in fact she'd never really been out of the camp. There was so much to see, so much to smell, so much to feel. The soft yet overpowering scent that seemed to clear her nose came from the large tree's that almost touched the skies. The leaves on those tress's were pointy and they fell all over the place, they also grew brown shaped cones that looked like small bee hives. Russetfur told her to be careful of them because they drop sometimes and can hurt if it hits you in the head.
The forest floor was even more extraordinary, little sticks with plump tops on them with spots grew all over the place. Whatever they were she remembered seeing them in Littlecloud's medicine supplies before. Moving away from sight-seeing she rushed to catch up to Russetfur who was barely in-sight now, she was almost to the deputy until she heard a scamper against the forest floor. Her ears pricked up and her body suddenly dropped flat against the dry dirt. What was that...?
The scampering returned and this time closer. Little claws rushing against old leaves, breaking them and brushing up dirt. Foxpaw was starting to get excited, her tail twitched slightly and her eyes narrowed in on whatever was rushing towards her. The sound was getting closer, and closer! Until then!
Aha! Foxpaw caught it, she didn't know what it was but she caught whatever was making that sound. She felt a sudden warm liquid ooze into her mouth, it smelled just at it tasted, a musky taste and smell. She blinked a few times before she heard more paw-steps and twisted around to see a wide eyed Russetfur.
Russetfur's eyes began to suddenly sparkle and she started to purr, "A Squirrel! I'm impressed Foxpaw, it's just as big as you! That's amazing for your first kill, and on your first day! I wish I could have you as my apprentice, Ratscar is truly lucky to have you." Russetfur walked up to Foxpaw and rubbed her tail against the She-cat, "I'm sure you will make a fine Warrior." She praised the Red-furred apprentice.
Foxpaw's eyes widened at everything she was being told, never has she been praised to such an extent, it was almost to much to bear. She tried with all her might not to bite to hard into the Squirrel, she wanted to take it home and show her mother it in one piece. She couldn't respond to Russetfur with the freshly killed prey in her jaws so she acknowledged her with a nod of her head.
"Well then, I'm sure the moss can wait tomorrow, I'm sure we can surprise the Elders with this instead. Come lets go." Russetfur began to move onwards back to camp.
-x-
Foxpaw walked into camp with her head held high with the large freshly killed prey in her mouth, she gloated just by how she walked in, her fluffy red and white tipped tail raised high like she was royalty. She smirked in her mind as the kits from her den looked at her squirrel with the eyes of an owl and whispered to each other. Foxpaw trotted over to the fresh-kill pile and stood there for a moment while she turned her head and peering out of one eye seeing the crowd she gathered, she huffed and threw the prey down in front of the mass of prey.
"Whoa!" Nightkit rushed over to her poking the squirrel with his nose and staring at the both of them in amazement, "You killed this? On your first day? Pinepaw hasn't even caught a squirrel yet! Your like the best!"
Foxpaw held her head up high, she liked being called that, The best huh? Foxpaw found herself being congratulated by her father and mother minutes later, some of the other apprentice's were also quite impressed with kill, but didn't really show it off, in fact they were jealous that Foxpaw was already making such an uproar.
Later that evening Foxpaw began to walk back to the nursery to go to sleep after a busy day. She couldn't believe how her day had turned out, starting out a kit and going to bed an apprentice. Foxpaw stopped, Apprentice... I'm supposed to sleep in the Apprentice's Den... She took a good hard look at the entrance of the nursery and huffed out a sigh before she trotted over towards the Den of sticks; ducking her head underneath she entered a new home with unwelcoming glaring eyes.
"Uh! It's here!" A sharp meow rang out followed by annoyed meows and laughter.
Foxpaw entered with her head hung low not wanting to bother anyone, "H-Hey...D-Didn't mean to wake you guys up..." She looked around the dark den hoping to find a bed freshly made for her, at least that's what Russetfur told her, that there would be a nice moss bed for her. When she didn't notice one she turned to a unknown female and cocked her head, "Uh, I'm supposed to have a nest right?"
"Yeah." A familiar voice snickered.
Foxpaw looked up and followed the voice; Pinepaw..., "Then where is it?"
"I'm laying on it... My bedding was all dry and there was a twig in there that just kept poking my sides. But I really like this one, so I decided to take yours. You can have my old bedding though, its quite suitable for your kind... you know...A Fox." Pinepaw's whiskered twitched with amusement of his word choice as he curled up in his new bedding and closed his eyes to rest.
Something almost snapped in Foxpaw, she wanted to rip Pinepaw into tiny little pieces even if he got to her first, she just wanted to inflict some damage on him. How dare he do such a thing! She deserved that bedding, it was her bedding! Twisting her head toward Pinepaw's old nest she scoffed and walked over to the old shriveled up moss. She turned around and began to kick away at it and walked towards to the corner of the den. Plopping down and making herself comfortable on the cold ground she ducked her nose under her forepaw as she closed her eyes and slowly drifted to sleep. She would show these cats that they would not boss her around, and if they did, she wouldn't let them without a fight.
[[A/N: Ugh,,,, That only took me like 4-5 hours cause I kept stopping. Well I hope your adoring Foxpaw 3 cause she is mega adorable! For all you jayfeather fans. HE WILL BE IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. So prepare for some mild Jayfeather x Foxpaw. Sadly its more of an Unrequited love ]:! SAD FACE! Till next time... Aidoo~]]