AN: Hello there! Again. :P Anyway, for Crystal, you get any plushie/s of your choice! *claps hands* Thanks for reviewing! :D
Father
"Mom! Mom!" Splashkit yelled, his voice vibrating with excitement and his paws pattering impatiently on the ground.
"Yes, dear?" Poppyflower asked, her tortoiseshell head sticking from under the bramble bush where the nursery was.
"Can you please tell me who my dad is?" Splashkit meowed, his tail lashing furiously with excitement.
And that's when Poppyflower winced. Her tail and ears drooped. "What's wrong?" Splashkit asked, confused.
She sighed. "I—I can't tell you," she stammered. "You'll…you'll just have to find out on your own, okay, sweetheart?"
Splashkit immediately felt more curious and he started running around in cirlces. "But I want to know now!" he whined.
Poppyflower gently stretched out her long tail and caressed it across Splashkit's back. "You'll know when you're old enough," she purred, her green eyes filled with love and warmth.
Splashkit sighed. "Oh fine," he groaned. When he caught his mother's eye, through all that love and warmth, it carried a hint of fear. For what? Splashkit wondered.
And that thought never left him until the day he became a warrior.
. . .
Splashclaw sniffed the air for any prey scent, his powerful shoulders gleaming in the sunlight from a canopy of trees.
Suddenly his ears pricked up. The fattest vole he had ever seen was right there, looking around. This is going to be an easy catch, Splashclaw thought as he leaped, claws unsheathed and ears flattened.
But suddenly he bumped into something furry. Coughing up a ball of his white fur and someone else's gray fur, he found himself staring up at a tall gray tom with broad shoulders and a long tail. His amber eyes stared into Splashclaw's green ones, filled with hate.
"What are you doing here on our part of the territory?" he snarled.
Splashclaw gasped. "I know you," he whispered. "You're that mangy crow food pelt that killed my brothers! Seriously! Why can't you be just less cranky and shape up a little bit!" A flashback instantly appeared in his mind.
Splashpaw jumped in the pool along with is two other brothers, Redpaw and Cloudpaw. The water felt cold beneath their paws, and they were enjoying it, savoring the freshness they felt. Out of the corner of his eye, Splashclaw thought he saw a pair of amber glinting at them.
Splashpaw immediately stood up, looking for which pair of amber that was. "Guys, I hear something," Splashpaw whispered, his whole body trembling and his lips quivering.
"Don't be such a chicken! Come and join us!" Redpaw meowed, his fur fluffed up with water. He wriggled himself, and unfortunately Cloudpaw was already dripping. Redpaw laughed and the two kept on playing.
"No guys seriously, listen!" Splashpaw was in full panic mode now. "Who's there?" he snalred. That snarl turned out to be a tiny squeak.
That voice seemed to laugh. "I came here for you," he meowed, stretching out his claws which immediately came on Splashpaw.
Suddenly, a blur of red streaked and more scarlet liquids came. Splashpaw gasped in shock. His brother lay motionless, blood trickling from his mouth.
The gray tom leaped again, this time on Cloudpaw. Splashpaw held onto his back, his tail lashing as the gray tom bit onto Cloudpaw's neck, hard. Splashpaw tried to help, but he was blocked since the tall figure was just so, well, tall.
"Now it's your turn," he laughed, taking careful aim. Splashpaw squinted his eyes shut, ready to go to StarClan. When he heard a call of cats coming over to help him, Splashpaw heaved a sigh of relief. He knew he was safe.
"This isn't the end of it, kit," the gray tom sneered. "You'd better be prepared." Then he dashed off.
"A tiny little kit can't tell me what to do," he growled, unsheathing his long, long claws, tearing up the tiny bits of green grass and digging onto the muddy earth, distracting Splashclaw from his flashback. He pounced on Splashclaw. Splashclaw was shocked as he ripped out his fur. Splashclaw didn't know what to do. All he felt was pain, and then he blacked out.
The last thing he heard was a voice saying, "I know who your father is."
. . .
…Where am I? Splashclaw thought. Out of the corner of his eye he saw some herbs, and he knew right away he was in the medicine den. Making sure nobody saw, he dashed as fast as he can, ignoring the pain in his muscles and the cry of the medicine cat to tell him to stop. Splashclaw had to find out who his father was, he just had to.
As soon as he saw the gray tom with amber eyes hunting greedily on his territory, Splashclaw snarled and pinned the gray tom down, ripping tons of fur so ferociously that Splashclaw didn't know who he was.
"Speak for yourself!" he hissed. "Who's my father? Who is it?"
"You wouldn't want to know." He heaved himself up to his paws.
"Come on! You cranky fox dunging flea pelt speak for yourself!" Splashclaw growled. He just kept on growling, the fur on his neck bristling and his tail lashing. He probably would've been called Lashingtail since his tail lashes all the time.
Splashclaw felt numb when the gray tom said those words. "I am your father…"
"No. No. Nooo!" Splashclaw ran, tripping on brambles, muscles searing with pain, thorns on his pelt. He didn't care. Rain was falling now, soaking his pelt. He suddenly tripped on something furry. A gray tail. He didn't want to listen, he just kept on running.
That nightmare never seemed to end.
. . .
Splashclaw felt numb. Numb everywhere. His body was shaking furiously and his tail was lashing, as always. Life just somehow went wrong, all wrong. Those images of the gray tom ripping his brothers' throat was too much to bear. Splashclaw felt like he was the one whose throat was getting ripped open. But not literally.
Splashclaw sighed and curled up. But he still couldn't sleep because of the gray tom's laugh, which made him writhe around. It was if he was trapped in warm, sticky red liquid.
Help! He cried out, but no one seemed to hear him.
. . .
When Splashclaw woke up, he saw that gray tom, the same one who killed his brothers. "Yes?" he sneered, anger and hatred filling himself instantly. Such a bundle of emotions, emotions that he never blurted out. "What are you doing on my territory?"
"Lionstar gave me access to go in your Clan," the gray tom meowed curtly.
"Well Sunstar never told me about this, so I suggest you leave, father," Splashclaw spat out that word as if it were a curse.
His so called father sighed.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry," the gray tom meowed, his eyes pleading.
"F-For what?" Splashclaw was puzzled.
"For doing all this to you. I really do care for your brothers it's just…I got mad at your mother that I threatened her to ..to kill your brothers." This time he had a genuine look on his face now. "And…I constantly abused your mother. I let my temper get the best of me. Will…will you forgive me?"
Instantly Splashclaw got up. "What do you want from me? Get away from me, you pesky tom! You killed my brothers! Do you know how much they meant to me?"
"I know, and I'm really sorry. Really sorry. Just please, forgive me. Just this once. Please." The gray tom pleaded. Splashclaw just looked down on him coldly. He wanted to stay mad. He didn't want to forgive the gray tom. But instead, all he croaked was, "I'll think about it."
The gray tom sighed, ears and tail drooping. "Fine." Then he went back to his own Clan.
Splashclaw felt weak. He thought toms were supposed to be strong, but all he wanted to do was stay with Poppyflower. He went off to the elders' den.
The old tortoiseshell with her warm amber eyes turned into puzzled amber ones when she found out Splashclaw was here. "Yes?" she asked.
"I found out who my father is," Splashclaw meowed, giving no emotions and his paws shifting.
Poppyflower sighed. "This is what I've feared all along. But…you just have to accept that he is," she meowed, covering Splashclaw with licks as if he were a kit.
"And…there's one more thing," Splashclaw admitted.
"What?" Poppyflower asked.
"He…he asked me to forgive him, but I just don't know." Splashclaw turned his head away from his mother.
"Well, maybe you should. It will mend your relationship with your father, you know," his mother meowed, filled with such concern.
"But…why would my father be from LeafClan, and not from WaterClan? Why…why would you do this?" Splashclaw asked.
"I'm sorry." Poppyflower bowed her head, ashamed with guilt. "But…I just couldn't help it. I've realized I've made a terrible mistake. But, you can forgive him. Just believe, and you can somehow make it up to him."
Splashclaw sighed. "Fine," he meowed, then stalked out of the elder's den, his tail and head held high.
. . .
Splashclaw was aware that weird looks were on him, but he didn't care. He had to see his father.
"Splashclaw, what are you doing here?" his father asked.
"Father, would…would you like to go hunting with me? You know, a father and son thing," Splashclaw asked.
There were gasps from the Clan. "A half-Clan! He's not worthy," a small brown and gold tabby sneered, dark green eyes shining.
"Be quiet! As you know, I was half-Clan too," Lionstar shouted, not afraid to reveal that secret. There were even more gasps but Lionstar ignored it. "You may go," he meowed. Splashclaw grinned, and let the gray tom take the lead.
As Splashclaw tasted the fresh newleaf air, he let it overtake him, filling every part of him, from his nose to his tail-tip.
Seeing the gray tom was silent but content, Splashclaw asked him, "Would you like to race?"
"Sure," his father purred, and they sped off.
While racing, Splashclaw forgot to ask one thing. "What's your name?"
"Graysplash," he answered, purring.
"I like that name," Splashclaw meowed, muffled by the pattering of father and son's paws and the adrelanine of the race.
AN: Whew! That was long. So anyways, please review!