Sakura panted as she leaped out of the tree with her group. Blood matted her fur and her right ear was slightly torn. She pawed at the missing fur on her left shoulder and groaned. "Barely," she muttered. She looked bat the others, a frown marring her face. Luna was licking Cherry's chest wound clean and Ocean was trying and failing to straighten out his abused leg.

"It's sprained," Jayfeather mewed. Sakura trotted over to her blue brother.

"How do I fix it?"

"Are you talking to Jayfeather?" Ocean asked. The answer he got was a harsh shush, which made him hiss back at her. Sakura's ears were perked as she listened to the invisible cat tell her something before running off into the woods.

"Sakura!"

"I'm fine just stay put!"

The red she cat chased after Jayfeather, stopping here and there to gather whatever plant Jayfeather ordered. When she came back she had a mouth and tailful of herbs, setting them down on the floor and looking them over curiously. "Ok, so how do we use these...?"

Cherry padded over to her, eyes blazing in anger. "Are you mouse brained?! You can't run off like that in your own!"

"Jayfeather had the area scouted for me, so it's safe. Now come here..." She pawed some cobwebs and pressed them to Cherry's chest, wincing to herself as she watched the blood being soaked up. "Luna, hold onto that," Sakura murmured as her ears twitched. She then ran back to her pile of herbs and started to chew on a random plant, using her paw to crush on a piece of bark she brought with her. She trotted back over to her mother and pressed the chewed plant on her wound, some pieces of the bark attacked to the juice of the poultice she made. She ran back over to her pile again and brought back a two small leaves. "Chew that."

"Why," Cherry asked warily. Sakura huffed.

"Painkiller. Just do it."

With a nod cherry did as she was told and let Sakura treat the rest of her body. After a while Sakura has treated everyone, including herself, and they had eaten and drunk their fill. "Sakura, where did you get that stuff?"

"Jayfeather helped me. He said that the herbs will help us heal."

"Lucky us your ghost cat is a medicine cat." Ocean purred, tail flicking as he grinned.

"He isn't a ghost, he is real. He's hissing at you right now in case you haven't noticed."

"Well I can't see him so," Ocean shrugged.

Sakura sighed and stood. "We have to go."

"What? Why?! We just got here!"

"Yes, we have been here for a long while now. We have to move." She went back over to her forgotten small pile of herbs and picked them up, spreading them around the area.

"What are you doing?" Ocean asked.

"Hiding our scent, or delaying them rather. These are rosemaries. In Jayfeather's clans they are used to hide the scent of death, but he thinks we can use them to delay the big cats from following us. When I went to look for herbs he made me backtrack and place the rosemaries along the way."

"Smart," Cherry muttered. "And the stuff you put on us?"

Sakura stilled and frowned in concentration. After a while she continued doing her work. "I clean your wound with cobwebs, and chewed up horsetail to stop the bleedings. I mixed it with dried oak bark, since it's supposed to stop infections from happening. Smaller wounds I used dandelion milk: I don't care what it was it was white like it!" She hissed and continued on. And the leaves I gave you were dandelion leaves. Suppose to ease the pain a bit."

She finished planting the plants and walked over to the pile again, tilting her head slightly as she listened to instructions. Then she started crushing berries and the other plant there. "These are juniper berries. They are said to be soothing and the ragwort I'm crushing with it is supposed to give us strength for our journey. The plants they were necessary aren't in this area, so we have to make due with what's available. Here, eat up."

Ocean made a face. "We're supposed to eat that?!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to get caught?"

Grudgingly he walked over at ate the herbs, the others following suit. Luna made a gaging sound. "Ugh, yuck!"

"Yea, gross," Sakura agreed. "Come on this way." She led them to a part in the area and started pulling plants. "More rosemaries. We have to drop these as we go. Grab as many as you can and let's go." The group grabbed and went, dropping rosemaries here and there. Sakura stopped them after having only a small mouthful left and places them on her and the others.

"Are you sure these will work?" Luna asked, ears twitching nervously as she looked around. Ocean padded over to hey and licked her ear comfortably.

"Hey, if this Jayfeather says it will work then it will. He is a medicine cat after all." Luna gave a halfhearted mew and looked to the ground. Sakura sniffed at her shoulder wound and purred.

"You will do fine. Let's go."

~ooo~

It was dark and the star just stared to come out of their sleep when nine cats appeared in a small forest area, sniffing around. The leader of the group growled in frustration. "Where are they," he hissed, slamming his almost white paw on the ground and lashing his long dappled tail. His gold-ish fur was bristled in anger and small blood trails marked his fur here and there.

A brown big cat like him, only slightly smaller in size, padded over to him. A deep scratch wound covered her left eye. "I don't know Alpha. These cats are too smart for their own good."

"Yea, we lost Chains Leaves yesterday, and they heavily wounded Big Trunk the other day," another big cat yowled. He was only a shade lighter than the female before him.

"Night Shadows, Roar Dusk, calm down. Yes, we lost a fellow she cat yesterday. It is fine. We will find our smaller cousins and crush them. We will avenge our fallen sister," the Alpha snarled, licking his fangs at the image.

"Alpha!" Came a panicked call from behind him. As the male turned around a cat collapsed. Big Trunk lay panting on the ground, whimpering and eyes half lidded. Another cat, a white female, lay beside him, licking his fur and his eyes. "Please my mate, get up. Don't fall."

The other cats walked over to the two, a nearly white one placing his paw on the fallen male's shoulder. "He is hot with fever, Star Skies. His wounds have been infected and his eyes are turning blind. He will not make it through about night."

Star Skies hissed at the cat and continued to lick her mate. "He will make it. No small cat wounds will beat him!"

"Need you be reminded the day the cats attacked him? And the day after that, the red one reopened his wounds. She was smart because she had crushed berries on her paws, the Berries of Death. These cats not only are smart, but are well aware of how to use Nature's deadliest herbs against us. The berries got into his wounds. There is no way for him to escape this." The tan male bowed his head in grief. "Right now the poison has attacked his insides and has almost taken his eyesight. He is too far gone for me to administer the antidote, and had I given it to him before it would have never work. Had he been forced to swallow the berry yes, but it was put on his open wounds. He won't make it."

Star Skies whimpered, curling around Big of Trunk. "The best you can do for him now is ending his suffering, Star Skies," the Alpha mewed mournfully, crouching down beside her. "Nature will take him in her paws and care for him. Let him go."

Star Skies shoved her face into her mate's fur and breathed in. She gagged as the heavy smell of sickness already conquered his body and made home there. "You are both right Alpha, Cloud Trees. It is best to end his suffering." She pulled away, twitching when Big Trunk gave a pitiful moan.

"Star..."

The white she cat swallowed thickly. "Ssh mate, it will all be over soon, and I swear to avenger your death." Bleary pale yellow eyes looked at her, the yellow barely showing. A jerky nod and the cat's head fell to the forest floor. Star Skies pressed her nose into his neck fur, ears flattening when he licked her head weakly. She then wrapped her mouth around his neck and bit down hard, twisting sharply to snap his neck. The crack echoed through the forest and seemed to sway the branches of the trees.

All big cats except of the Alpha lowered their heads as Star Skies stepped away from her mate and sat down with a soft thump. She then tilted her head back and let out a sad, angry yowl. The Alpha observed this with rage, claws digging into the ground. He watched as Cloud of Trees led Star of Skies away to wash away the sickness and death on her while the others started to dig a deep hole into the ground. When the hole was deep enough they dragged Big Trunk's body into it, covering his body up again and sat around it. The pair returned, Star Skies padding over to plant flowers on the grave. Alpha then padded over to them, golden eyes glowing in the dark. "We have lost yet another fellow brother. What use to be ten of us are now eight, and I know we all mourn the loss of our fallen. My condolences for your loss, Star of Skies, for I have lost my sister on this hunt as well." He bows his head. "Nature, take our fallen brethren. We leave them in your care." A short silence followed, and when it was over the alpha male let loose an angry yowl.

"We will not let this happen again! The next time these cats are seen we will kill them! They are afraid of us and we will not let that advantage slide. First they trespass on our land and then kill our own, it is time for revenge!"

Yowls of approval rose into the night sky, borderline roars filled the air. The big cats then set off again on their search, and it was only when the sun rose that they caught on to a leading trail.

(I made these cats evil I know. Totally doesn't fit their description but *shrugs* hey. Anyway, these mystery cats are Ocelets. They are wild cats twice the size of house cats. Their fur colors range from white to dark brown. They are called Leopard cats. I think that was what Leopardstar was, just really small XD)