Disclaimer: I don't own the Warriors. Erin Hunter does.

Summary: After the tom that she loves become mates with her sister, Russetfoot became angry and jealous. But when she's given their son as an apprentice, what will she do and how will she cope?

Idea given to me by SecretClan. Enjoy! xD

Thanks for the reviews, Foxy, Gone, and Sunsetfire! It makes me more eager to write. ^^

Crushed Jealousy

Emotions can be powerful and I had experienced many different emotions. Happiness when my mother gave birth to another litter, depression when I had lost my father to StarClan, annoyance at RiverClan for never leaving Sunningrocks in our possession, battle lust and hatred when fighting ShadowClan as they attacked our camp, and, of course, love and loyalty to my beloved ThunderClan just to name a few. But the current one that I am feeling was new and I couldn't quite pinpoint it, though I felt like the situation was somehow familiar.

"Russetfoot, why are you daydreaming like an elder?!" a voice hissed very close to my ear. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at the cat who spoke. I was on hunting patrol yet again in this harsh leaf bare weather and we were hunting in pairs, so that if we did spot a prey, we would be more likely to still catch it if one of us miscalculated our pounce or accidentally stepped on a twig.

"Sorry, Snaketail," I apologized, looking embarrassed. "It won't happen again." I shook my head to clear away the weird emotion that was still festering inside me and focused my mind on the task ahead by scenting and listening for prey in the surrounding area. There were no sounds except for the howling wind as it traveled through the canopy of ThunderClan's forest.

We continued scouring the area for prey and, as sunset approached, we were able to catch a measly mouse and a thin blackbird. We padded back to camp silently with the prey clamped in our jaws. I tried to block out the smell of my blackbird, but it was impossible when my stomach was rumbling so much from the lack of food.

I padded through the gorse tunnel and into camp to deposit my fresh kill at the tiny fresh kill pile. I guess I won't be eating tonight again. This leaf bare is the worst one I've encountered as far as I could remember.

As I turned and headed towards the warriors den, I caught sight of my sister, Rowanpelt sharing tongues with the handsome brown tom, Ravenstorm. Bumblepaw, their dark brown tabby son, was hanging around too. He was trying to show Ravenstorm the new move that he learned.

As I watched them together, I felt that feeling stir within me once again. I was angry and envious at the same time. When we were kits, my sister and I both thought that Ravenpaw was attractive, but we have always thought that by the time we reached the status of a warrior, Ravenstorm would have found a mate by then.

However, that was not the case. Ravenstorm would always find time to talk to my sister when she was an apprentice. And once she became a warrior, the two were inseparable. That's when the feelings started. I tried my best to ignore it and avoided them when possible. When I got Bumblepaw as my apprentice, I was surprised at Runningstar's choice. Couldn't he see that I avoided his parents at all costs?

To make things worse, Bumblepaw looked exactly like Ravenstorm. I tried to ignore that fact and carried on with the apprentice's training. I had an apprentice before so I knew what to expect. Bumblepaw was just as eager as my last apprentice to learn everything about hunting. When it comes to fighting, however, he was always clumsy and less focused. I was a bit harsh on him a couple of times for some minor mistakes, but it didn't occur that often.

"Daydreaming again, Russetfoot?" Snaketail's voice drifted over to me. I blinked and looked at Snaketail.

"Kind of," I said, slightly embarrassed again at being caught daydreaming by him again.

"Sometimes, you need to let go and move on. Don't be jealous all the time," Snaketail told me. I looked questioningly at him for a better explanation for his statement. "Even a kit could tell that you are still in love with Ravenstorm." So, that's what I'm feeling. Jealousy.

"That's none of your business, Snaketail," I shouted at him. I stomped away from him towards the warrior's den, but Snaketail kept pace with me. I ignored him and I ignored the rest of the onlookers. I rearranged my moss bedding and curled up to sleep. Snaketail didn't say anything more.

Very early the next day, I was woken up by hunger pains. Sighing, I got up and stretched out my legs before heading to the opening of the den. The dawn patrol was just gathering with Snaketail in the lead. Upon seeing him, I remembered his advice and still felt annoyed that he had to intrude on my personal life.

I waited until the patrol left before padding towards Sandpool's medicine den. "What do you need, Russetfoot?" Sandpool called from towards the back of her den.

"I was just wondering if I could have a poppy seed," I asked her, politely.

"Hunger pains?" Sandpool asked. I nodded as I entered her den. She looked into her store and sliced a poppy seed in half and gave it to me. "My store is very low and limited, so I can't give you a full one. This leaf bare has been treacherous."

"Thanks, Sandpool. Maybe we'll find more prey today," I said. Feeling a little bit better, I strode across the clearing and approached the apprentice's den. There were three apprentices curled up together to keep warm. "Bumblepaw!" I called. The apprentice stirred a little bit, but didn't fully wake. I padded into the den and prodded him awake.

"Huh?" he said, rubbing his eyes. Then, the two dark brown eyes stared at me.

"Time for some battle training and then maybe we'll go hunting for a bit later on," I told him. The two of us padded side by side until we arrived at the training hollow. I then started to correct his fighting posture. He was always putting all of his weight on his paws, so he was slow at dodging attacks. Sometimes, he looked off balanced as well.

After the tenth failure at dodging my somewhat slow attacks, I grew a bit frustrated. "Distribute your weight to the rest of your body so that you can be light on your paws!" I shouted at him. "Again!" We continued on for several more minutes, but Bumblepaw still couldn't get it right still.

"Take a small break, but we're going to continue in a couple of minutes," I said. "You need to be able to get this correctly today. It is vital when it comes to a fight! We won't hunt until you do! Perhaps that'll motivate you a little more." Bumblepaw glared at me, but said nothing.

Out of nowhere, Ravenstorm charged up at us. "What do you think you are doing?!" he shouted at me. I blinked at him. "Can't you see he's tired and needs to eat?"

"It's leaf bare. We all need to eat," I retorted. "Plus, we're taking a little break before continuing."

"Well, you should be spending more time hunting for the Clan than taunting Bumblepaw!" Ravenstorm told me. "Our fresh kill pile is low and you're here telling him to correct his battle posture."

"It's part of training, Ravenstorm. Surely, you must know that," I shouted angrily back at him. Why was he questioning my motives? I'm trying to teach his son how to be able to defend himself that might save his life. "And now that it is leaf bare, we must prepare for any attacks from our neighboring Clans." He glared at me as my words sunk in. He knew I was right, but I could see that he was coming up with a retort.

"Don't threaten Bumblepaw ever again," Ravenstorm flicked his tail to tell his son to follow him. I watched them leave. When I arrived at camp a couple of minutes later, I saw Ravenstorm talking to Rowanpelt and Bumblepaw was curled up against his mother.

"Russetfoot, you will join my hunting patrol. Bring Bumblepaw with you," Runningstar called out to me. I nodded in acknowledgement. Of course, Ravenstorm heard it as well and both him and Rowanpelt glared at me. Anger and jealousy bubbled within me once again. I stormed off to where Runningstar was waiting for the rest of the warriors and apprentices to gather in his hunting patrol.

Once Bumblepaw joined, we padded out towards Snakerocks. We hadn't hunted around that area for some time and since today was a bit warmer, we were hoping that some prey would come out. We paired up and spread out around the surrounding area to look for prey. Naturally, since Bumblepaw was my apprentice, I got paired up with him, so that I could easily assess his hunting skills.

I couldn't concentrate on hunting due to still being angry at my fight with Ravenstorm and the glares that my sister was shooting at me back at camp. I couldn't believe that my sister would side with his irrational behavior!

As I was looking around for prey, I saw a somewhat large boulder. A plan was forming in my head. It could easily be seen as an accident and it would hurt Ravenstorm more than anything else would. I bounded up next to the boulder, sniffing around to make it seem like I was searching for prey.

Meanwhile, I was also looking around for Bumblepaw. He already had a mouse in his jaws and was walking proudly towards me. Keeping an eye on him, I continued to pretend to look for prey. Once he was close enough, I pushed the heavy boulder and it started to roll off the little ledge that it was sitting on. Before Bumblepaw realized what had just happened, the rock hit him and crushed him and his mouse.

"Bumblepaw!" I screeched, voice heavy with mock sadness, and ran towards his still form. His eyes were staring at my paws. It was enough to tell him who it was, since I was the only one with a ginger foot and three white ones. As I neared him, I heard him say, "you did that on purpose, because of my father." Then, he took his last breath and left to join StarClan.

As my Clan mates gathered around him, my mind whirled. I couldn't believe what I had just done, all because of the anger and jealousy that built up over the last several moons. And to make it all the more worse, Bumblepaw knew who his murderer was.

I staggered with sudden realization as to why the situation felt so familiar. I had heard the elders tell a story about it once. It was about two toms fighting for a she-cat. And the ending to that story was a tragic one, which was why I didn't remember too clearly. I hated stories without happy endings, so I had tried to forget it.

Now, I'm in one myself...

A/N: Hope you've enjoyed it. =) Review if you've got time. =) Thanks for the support, all! ^^