Russetfur stumbled back in shock. "What?" she hissed. How could Tigerclaw love her? They were in different Clans! And why did his profession make her stomach turn over and tremble madly? Why did she want to say it back?

Leaning forward to lick her cheek, Tigerclaw repeated, "I love you, Russetfur. I love you." As his tongue touched her dark red fur, she squirmed away.

"You can't love me, and I can't love you. We're from different Clans. I know it sounds like I'm just regurgitating what the elders say, but it's true! ThunderClan and ShadowClan are rivals, and cats between them probably shouldn't even be close friends; but they definitely can't love each other." the she-cat told him in a low, but firm, tone. The hurt that formed in his eyes was too much for Russetfur to bear, and she turned away.

The big tom hopped over the tussock of grass to face her again. "Please, Russetfur." he pleaded, "I love you so much, I don't care if it's wrong or that our Clans are rivals. No one has to know. We can meet in the night and be secret mates because, well, I love you. You're beautiful and strong and there's no cat like you, anywhere."

Tears falling from her eyes now, she scrambled to her paws, crying, "Please stop, Tigerclaw. Don't tell me that you love me when we both know it can never work. I-I'll see you at the Gathering."

The warrior started to walk away when Tigerclaw's desperate cry stopped her in her tracks. "You love me too, Russetfur! I know you do!" Turning her head slowly to look at the tom in his eyes, so pain-filled that it made her heart ache and throb, Russetfur took a deep breath to steady her quavering voice.

"I cannot love you. It is against the warrior code." With the words that she knew were a lie, words that she knew would break her best friend's heart worse than the splitting of her own, she snatched up the herbs and sprinted full-tilt to the camp, skidding to a stop a few fox-lengths to calm her racing heart and take a bunch of deep breaths. She made sure that no tears showed and no quaver remained in her voice. Calmed, if shaking internally, she reentered the camp.

A couple of kits were tussling outside the nursery, and a couple of warriors were sharing tongues, but most of the Clan was out hunting, training, or patrolling. Russetfur cross the camp to the medicine den and found Yellowfang inside. She dropped the pile of leaves on the ground and told the she-cat, "I brought catmint." The yellow-furred medicine cat only turned and picked it up, muttering darkly. "You're welcome..." Russetfur said under her breath before leaving, knowing Yellowfang heard.

Overwhelmed by the events of the day, Russetfur stumbled to the warriors den and fell into a dizzying sleep, her tired brain conjuring dreams of all that she had experienced and what could have happened in the tussock with Tigerclaw if she had only said that she loved him.


"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey please gather beneath the Great Pine for a Clan meeting!" Raggedstar's voice woke Russetfur sharply from her slumber. She blinked open her eyes to see that a soft golden light had flooded the den: sunrise. StarClan! She had slept from dusk until past dawn without a break. Scrambling to her paws and stretching hurriedly, she blinked the lseep from her eyes and went to gather with the Clan, not having the faintest idea what was going on.

Upon seeing her brother Rowanpaw with his chest puffed out so far it looked like he was going to explode, the warrior realized what was going on; her brother and sisters' warrior ceremony! Forcing her brain to stay awake by shaking her head vigorously and stretching her claws again, Raggedstar started to speak. "ShadowClan, I am very happy to announce the Clan's second joint warrior-apprenticing ceremony in a single moon. I am very proud of our soon-to-be-warriors, and I am sure the kits will become great apprentices." There were some mutterings; the oldest kits in the nursery were Featherstorm's litter, and Russetfur was reasonably sure they were only five and a half moons, tops.

"Jaggedtooth! You have trained your first apprentice. Is he ready to become a warrior?" The large tom dipped his head, eyes glowing with pride. "Very well. Blackfoot? Featherstorm? Crowtail?" All gave nods, which was a bit strange as well, since the two latter had been in the nursery and their apprentices, Cloudpaw and Cedarpaw, had only trained with other cats. As it was, Cloudpaw looked a bit uncomfortable with the situation; he was also younger than the other apprentices and his sister wasn't with him. Whitepaw was watching from the medicine den, a small smile on her face though her good eye revealed how much pain, physically and emotionally, she was in.

"Great. Do each of you promise to protect this Clan, at the cost of your own lives, and to defend the Warrior Code with the same honor?" When the four cats replied in agreement, the tom continued on without pause. "Rowanpaw, Tallpaw, Cedarpaw, Cloudpaw, you will be known as Rowanclaw, Tallpoppy, Cedarheart, and Cloudpelt, respectively. Starclan honors your strength, your cleverness, and your skill. You are welcome additions to the ranks of ShadowClan warriors, and may you bring hope to us all for a bigger, stronger ShadowClan in the future!" As the cats cheered for the new warriors, Russetfur realized the reason for these hasty warrior and apprenticings- that bigger, stronger ShadowClan that Raggedstar seemed so desperate for. What was he so worried about? they had won the battle with WindClan, and they could do it again! Or maybe he thought the other two Clans were going to attack? Her thoughts cut out as the apprenticing began.

"And now, will Featherstorm's kits please come forward. Good. Snakekit, Brownkit, Shadekit, and Lizardkit, from this day forward until you receive your warrior names, you will be known as Snakepaw, Brownpaw, Shadepaw, and Lizardpaw. Snakepaw! I have chosen your mentor to be Rowanclaw. He is a new warrior, but I have seen him train, and I know that he will be as good a mentor as any. Dawncloud, you are ready for another apprentice, and you will be Brownpaw's. I hope you pass on the many wisdoms you have learned in your life, but also the fighting skills you possess. Shadepaw, your mentor will be Cloudpelt. He is a level-headed young tom who will almost certainly be one of our best warriors in the future. Last, Lizardpaw. Cedarheart will mentor you, and make you into a fine warrior." Raggedstar finished, and the newly paired cats touched noses while the rest of the Clan cheered.

During the cheering, Nightpaw had found his way through the throng of cats to sit by Russetfur. "You were gone awfully long yesterday!" he said over the top of the cacophony of voices.

"It took a while to find the catmint!" she replied in a loud, smooth lie. No way was she telling a soul about why it had really taken her so long to return to camp. Much as it hurt to lie to a Clanmate, her own apprentice, they were both better off by this.

After the uproar died down, Russetfur touched noses with Tallpoppy happily. "Congratulations!" Her long-legged sister smiled and bumped noses with Russetfur. "Sorry Raggedstar didn't give you an apprentice, but once Crowtail's kits are old enough, you're pretty much guaranteed one; who else is there?"

A slow smile spread across her sister's face again. "Nope. Raggedstar was going to pick me for Snakepaw's mentor, instead of Rowanpa-claw, Rowanclaw, but I gave him a reason not to..." A glance at her stomach revealed the not-quite-secret completely.

"You're not- Tallpoppy, you aren't pregnant, are you?" A shy nod elicited a gasp from Russetfur. "Well who's the lucky tom?"

Touching her long tail to the dark ginger she-cat's nose jokingly, she replied, "That, dear sister, is for me to know, and you to find out. Maybe. Eventually."

Russetfur glowered. "You're one evil queen." She noticed Nightpaw looking curiously at her, and she said a quick goodbye to her sister, walking over to the fresh-kill pile with her apprentice. "What's with the look, Nightpaw?"

Reluctantly, the tom scuffled his paw in the dirt before speaking. "Nothing. You've just been acting...weird. First you're all silent and then you're like an apprentice, giggling with your sister. And now you're an inquisitor. I don't get it. What's going on?"

Damn him for being so right. "Let's go hunting, Nightpaw." In a lower voice, she told him, "I'll explain there."

"Sure..." he replied half-heartedly. They stood and went out into the territory, silently walking until they reached a point that Russetfur deemed far enough from camp, almost to the tree where she had caught an owl.

Sitting down, Russetfur started an explanation, which turned more into a cascade of information she couldn't keep to herself once she got going. "I found the catmint in a Twoleg yard, and I met a kittypet named Charlie. He was really helpful and he helped carry it a ways from Twolegplace. We play-fought and got pretty side-tracked. He went home, and I was heading to camp when Tigerpaw showed up. Er, Tigerclaw." Nightpaw, a little outraged opened his mouth but she plowed on trough. "I told him to get out of the territory, that he was going to get caught and our warriors would tear him up. And he told me... He said he loved me. He said he wanted to be with me no matter what it meant to the Clans or the rivalry between our Clans. And I told him I could never love him, because it would be breaking the Warrior Code...But I think I do love him! Well, maybe not love but I have feelings for him and it's just stupid stupid stupid. I'm not going to tell him; It's true that I can't ever be with him, so what's the point? It just hurts so much, and I broke his heart..." Nightpaw leaned against her comfortingly.

"It'll be okay. I don't know how yet, but it will. Still, even if you do l-l-love him, you can't be his mate. Not ever. You know that, right? You could be exiled from the Clan. I don't think any cat wants that." His words, if true, only made Russetfur's heart shrivel more, but she was nevertheless glad that she had someone to talk to. Yet how backwards was this, the mentor leaning on the apprentice for comfort? The mentor wasting precious hours playing when she could have been hunting or finding more catmint, while the apprentice did his duties around camp? The mentor, having ridiculous feelings for a cat outside the Clan, when her apprentice was still loyal, comforting her?

Russetfur got to her trembling paws, steeling herself. No more. The backwardness must reverse, now. Nightpaw was her apprentice, not the other way around, and it's time she started acting like it. "Come on. Let's catch some prey for the Clan."


A/N: This chapter's almost the exact same length as the previous, and equally crappy. Sorry. However, I think I got it up fairly quickly, given my track record. (Yes, yes, that's what he said. ) Also there will be minor cursing from now on, as well as delving a little bit deeper into the T rating that I gave, but I promise this won't turn into an M fic for all you younger readers. Anyway, the chapters following this should be more exciting than this drabble, Giving you something to hope for!