Sorry I didn't update any sooner. I had to make sure this chapter was perfect :D And I do believe it's perfection has been reached! Enjoy this chapter my reviewers!
Snowflower's POV
Snowflower watched the sky turn pale as dawn approached the clans. She heard the soft snores of Greycloud and purred with amusement. Her sister was never one to stay up the entire night. She spotted Jaywing padding towards them and nudged Greycloud quickly.
"Huh-Wha-?" Greycloud murmured sleepily. Jaywing neared them and looked to the sky and gave them an approving look.
"You two look like you need a rest. Go make some nests and get plenty of rest. You both are coming to the gathering tonight." He meowed softly to them.
Snowflower watched as a grateful Greycloud pad sleepily towards the apprentice den. "Hey mouse-brain the warriors den is that way" Snowflower called to her sister.
Greycloud snapped her head up and shuffled towards the warriors den. She let out a soft chuckle and looked to Jaywing.
"If it's alright with you I'd like to go hunting. My legs are a bit too cramped for sleeping." Snowflower mewed, shaking out one of her hind legs.
Jaywing stifled a purr of amusement and nodded, turning towards Leafstar's den. Snowflower stretched out her back and headed towards the entrance. She noticed that Brackenflame was guarding the entrance and she gave him a nod of encouragement as it looked like he was going to fall asleep on his paws.
Snowflower began to pad through the forest remembering the first time she entered the forest with her mother. She came to the river and watched as the sun rose and reflected on the river. Everything in the surroundings began to glitter beautifully and Snowflower watched in amazement, not remembering this from her memory.
"You see kits this is my favorite part of the forest, once the sun rises it shines through the trees and makes everything sparkle." Ashflower mewed lovingly to them.
"This is where your father and I became mates. He kept muttering that I was a StarClan cat and thought I was dead" their mother chuckled and swished her tail over a freshly buried spot.
"Here is where you'll find a small fragment of moonstone and when me and Spottedpelt are in StarClan press your nose to it. Just like at Moonstone and you'll be able to talk to us" Ashflower murmured, licking her kits between the ears.
Snowflower shook her head as everything stopped glittering and she rose to her paws, marking the spot where her mother buried the stone. "I'll come back for it" Snowflower reassured herself. She began to pad towards the ShadowClan border and heard voices bickering.
"C'mon Nightblaze! You're being reckless again. We can't hunt here and you know it! It's against the Warrior code" a she-cat fretted. Snowflower crouched and neared the two she-cats. The black she-cat looked around, the spark of adventure dancing in her emerald green eyes.
"Dappleflower, father says it's always good to be adventurous!" the one called Nightblaze meowed, beginning to sniff around.
"But we're on ThunderClan territory! You remember what RiverClan told us at the gathering? Two dangerous she-cats live here!" Dappleflower let out a squeak.
"Oh yeah and I bet all they did was hiss and spit at them" Nightblaze purred, rolling her eyes.
Snowflower felt her fur stand up and she strode forward, becoming nose to nose with Nightblaze. "What are you doing on our side of the border?" Snowflower hissed.
Nightblaze looked at her defiantly, "I think you mean in our territory! ShadowClan is staking their claim here!" Nightblaze declared.
Snowflower scoffed and unsheathed her claws. She noticed the small pile of fresh-kill and growled at them. "I see you've already made yourself at home." Snowflower observed sarcastically.
"It's two against one fur-ball. Run home with your tail between your legs and cry to Leafstar" Nightblaze sneered.
Snowflower snarled and lunged at the black she-cat. Nightblaze yowled in surprise and the fighting cats rolled past her tortoise-shelled sister.
"N-Nightblaze! Stop it!" Dappleflower screeched.
Snowflower pinned the smaller she-cat down and began to scratch her everywhere. She began to shred her ears and heard the cry of agony tear from Nightblaze's throat. With the left ear successfully shredded Snowflower began to aim for the throat, she felt teeth grab her scruff and lift her off Nightblaze.
"Please don't kill her! You've shown us that your clan will fight for a lousy piece of land" Dappleflower hissed. She began pick up the prey beside them and Snowflower snarled, knocking the tortoiseshell she-cat over.
"Leave it!" Snowflower spat.
"But we caught it!" Dappleflower meowed exasperatedly.
"It's ThunderClan's prey now" Snowflower meowed curtly.
Dappleflower began to nudge Nightblaze to her paw when a monster roared past them. Dappleflower let out a squeak of terror and Snowflower rolled her eyes.
"C'mon you lazy sack of fur" Snowflower growled as she helped Nightblaze to her paws.
"Why are you helping me all of the sudden? You wanted to kill me about five seconds ago" Nightblaze grunted in pain.
Snowflower let out a sigh and looked both ways to make sure no monster was crossing. "I didn't mean to take it that far. I'm sorry I almost killed you. You shouldn't have been in our territory to begin with" Snowflower pointed out.
Nightblaze growled as they stumbled across the Thunderpath. "There safely in your territory." Snowflower murmured softly. She looked to the two small warriors and cocked her head.
"How old are you two?" Snowflower asked curiously. Dappleflower looked away and pressed her ears to her skull.
"We're nine moons old" she muttered.
Snowflower felt her jaw drop as she looked at them. "You should still be apprentices? What is Toadstar thinking?" Snowflower spat.
"Don't tell! WindClan is waging war on us! We had to become warriors! Oh please don't tell! Toadstar knows what he's doing" Dappleflower pleaded.
Snowflower lashed her tail and turned around. "You're not the only ones at war…" Snowflower murmured. She heard the two warriors gasp behind her and Snowflower ran across the Thunderpath. She picked up the pile of prey the warriors left and began to pad towards the camp.
Snowflower noticed that Nutleaf was guarding the entrance. The light brown she-cat nodded in approval and Snowflower dipped her head and entered through the entrance. She dropped her prey in the fresh-kill pile and stumbled towards the warriors den.
Snowflower spotted an empty nest next to Brackenflame and curled up beside him, she hadn't realized how tired she was from her vigil and fell into a welcoming darkness.
Greycloud's POV
Greycloud looked towards the setting sun and padded into the warriors den. She noticed Brackenflame lying beside her sister as she slept.
"How is she?" Greycloud asked, watching her sister as she cutely flashed a paw out and grumbled in her sleep.
"I think she's dreaming about hunting" Brackenflame purred.
"Well it's time to wake her up. Jaywing said we were going to the gathering and you're probably going too" Greycloud murmured.
"Do you know who else is going?" Brackenflame asked her curiously.
Greycloud shook her head and poked her sister's rib with her paw.
"Hey Snowflower wake up" Greycloud mewed to her. Snowflower let out a groan of protest and curled into a tighter ball.
"I almost had that squirrel!" Snowflower protested.
Greycloud rolled her eyes and prodded her again "I don't think lying down and swiping your paw out is the proper way to hunt a squirrel" Greycloud pointed out as Brackenflame began to wash her rumpled fur.
"Why is there dry blood on your fur?" Brackenflame asked, alarm lingering in his eyes.
Snowflower groaned again and uncurled as she stretched. "I had a fight with a couple of ShadowClan warriors. They crossed over the border and tried to steal prey" Snowflower explained as Brackenflame started to wash her fur again.
"And you didn't tell anybody because?" Greycloud asked, narrowing her eyes at her sister.
"I didn't tell anyone because I handled it." Snowflower snapped, glaring at her sister.
"Alright, alright, keep your fur own" Greycloud mumbled as she exited the warriors den. She watched as Leafstar and Jaywing discussed what they would talk about at the gathering. She heard Brackenflame and Snowflower follow after her and sat next to her.
"So do you think Gingerpaw will be able to go to the gathering?" Snowflower asked Brackenflame.
"I don't know but I don't think Leafstar should be going at all… Look how big she is!" Brackenflame murmured softly to the two sisters.
Greycloud nodded in agreement as Leafstar struggled to get on the highrocks.
"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather for a clan meeting!" Leafstar's rasping voice called out. As the clan gathered they looked up to their leader and waited for the news.
"The cats I will be taking to the gathering are Brackenflame, Snowflower, Greycloud, Brightcloud, Nutleaf, Gingerpaw, Flamepaw, and Sunpaw." Leafstar announced. One of the queens cried out in protest.
"Leafstar you should be in the nursery! Not going to the gathering! You're close to kitting and you know this!" the she-cat mewed.
"Silverflame I am the leader and it is my duty to lead my clan to gatherings" Leafstar pointed out. Silverflame let out an exasperated sigh and headed back into the nursery to soothe her crying kits. Greycloud stood up as Jaywing called the group of cats that were named.
"I guess we're going early" Snowflower mewed as she stretched her legs.
Greycloud rolled her eyes again and stared at her sister. "Thanks for pointing out the obvious" Greycloud meowed sarcastically.
"It's what I was born to do dearest sister" Snowflower mewed to her sickeningly sweet.
Greycloud laughed loudly as they started to head towards fourtrees. The full moon hanging over the group of cats as they ventured through the undergrowth.
"It looks like we're the first ones here" Jaywing informed Leafstar as he looked around the empty clearing.
"Good I'll be able to catch my breath" Leafstar muttered as she headed for the rocks. She scrabbled to the top and flopped down, panting heavily.
"Poor Leafstar" Greycloud heard Brightcloud murmur softly. She looked to Greycloud and dipped her head slightly.
"I remember when I was expecting Bluepaw, Cinderpaw and Nightpaw. Those three kits were so heavy! About one and a half moon in I had to go to the nursery because I could support my weight anymore" Brightcloud meowed softly.
"She's bigger than I was. She must be expecting four or five kits" Brightcloud began to fret.
"She'll be fine" Greycloud reassured Brightcloud.
Greycloud looked and spotted Snowflower looking towards the way ShadowClan came for gatherings. She padded over to her sister and sat down.
""So what exactly happened in this border skirmish of yours?" Greycloud asked, flicking her tail.
Snowflower looked around and began whispering urgently to her. "After I won the battle I helped the injured one and her sister across the Thunderpath. I realized that the two were small and I asked them how old they were and they said they were nine moons old" Snowflower explained, lashing her tail.
Greycloud gasped and leaned a bit closer. "Shouldn't they still be apprentices then?" Greycloud asked.
Snowflower nodded and looked around once more as WindClan began to pad into the clearing.
"They said that ShadowClan and WindClan were at war, just like us and RiverClan" Snowflower murmured.
Greycloud shook her head in disbelief. "I can't believe Toadstar would do that to his apprentices. They're much too young to fight" she growled.
Greycloud heard a yowl and scented ShadowClan as they ran into the clearing. She spotted a tortoiseshell apprentice making her way over to them and she dipped her head to Snowflower.
"Greetings Dappleflower how's Nightblaze?" Snowflower asked.
Greycloud felt her jaw drop again and she looked to the small warrior. "Snowflower is she the one you told me was nine moons old?" Greycloud interrupted Dappleflower.
The tortoiseshell warrior began to bristle "I thought you said you wouldn't tell!" she spat at her sister.
Snowflower calmly looked to Dappleflower and flicked her tail patiently "I just told one cat. And that one cat is my sister" Snowflower murmured to the startled ShadowClan cat.
Dappleflower took a look at Greycloud and looked at them in awe, "You're not the two dangerous she-cats are you?" she asked quietly.
Snowflower let out a sigh and looked to RiverClan as they shoved past every cat, bristling as they looked to ThunderClan.
Greycloud hissed as a RiverClan she-cat knocked her off her paws. "Oops, sorry didn't see you there" the cat sneered.
Greycloud recognized her scent chuckled lightly. "Figures seeing as you're a rogue" Greycloud mewed sweetly to Willowflower. Willowflower lashed her tail and glared at her
"Just because you have Redfeather doesn't give you the right to treat me with disrespect Greypaw" Willowflower spat.
"It's Greycloud and having Redfeather does give me bragging rights because you're still in love with him" Greycloud pointed out.
Willowflower stood rigid and narrowed her eyes at Greycloud.
"You only took Stormstar as a mate because he was the only one who liked you in RiverClan. You don't even like him do you? You're using the poor tom to get Redfeather jealous when he won't even take a glance at you" Greycloud began to provoke, aware that they had attracted a crowd, some being RiverClan cats that were giving Willowflower a skeptical look.
Willowflower's gaze flickered to the crowd and she let out a growl. "T-That's not true! I love my mate. My one and only love is Stormstar." She hissed.
Greycloud began to laugh, first by herself but others joined in.
Willowflower began to shrink away, but Stormstar shouldered his way to her side and snarled at Greycloud.
"Leave her alone! She's lost one of our kits and she's in a fragile state." He hissed, turning his gaze to Leafstar.
"Don't you know how to keep your warriors under control?" he challenged her.
Humor danced within Leafstar's emerald green eyes and she let out a soft purr.
"I thought every cat was enjoying it" she meowed, "I know I was" she chuckled.
Stormstar lashed his tail and called to his warriors. "RiverClan will not attend another gathering until this war is over" Stormstar cried out, leading Willowflower and his clan away from fourtrees, leaving the other three clans in shocked silence.