Cherry was upset. Squirrelflight was ignoring her, even glaring at her. What did she do? She turned to look around for clues, but all she saw was confused faces, scowls from Squirrelflight herself and Bramblestar, and a sickening smirk from Cinderheart. What was going on?
"Cherry why are they giving you the evil eye?" Whitethunder asked as he brought a squirrel over to his mate. She blinked up at him happily and took a bite. Squirrels were her favorite.
"I don't know," she muttered as her tongue swiped over her whiskers. "Really only Squirrelflight and Bramblestar are glaring and Cinderheart is smirking like she ate a canary. I don't know what's going on though." Whitethunder glared down at her with narrowed eyes, making her gulp. She felt like a kit again. "Honest I don't know what I did this time!"
"Hmm," the white tom said before he turned and looked around. Gingerkit was being run out of the medicine den again, though he was holding a leaf in his paws. "Borage," he muttered. He had seen Riverheart give that to Cherry plenty of times.
He located Bramblestar talking to Millie and Daisy, and Lionblaze had sent Bumblestripe, Cloudtail, Cherrytail and Brightheart out patrolling and Molepelt, Ivypool, Dovewing and Leafpool went hunting. Toadstep was having a silent conversation with Foxleap, and after pricking his ears he detected it was nothing harmful to the clan. Rosepetal was talking to sandstorm and Dustpelt, and Whitewing was wrestling with Brackenfur. Brairlight was lounging in the middle of the camp talking to Sorreltail and Poppyfrost and everyone else was doing the same, just talking.
Overall the clan and all of the cats were pretty normal. 'So why are those two angry?' he queried silently and padded over to the leader. Cherry looked at him with wide eyes when he stopped and turned to her. "Come on, finish up."
Cherry narrowed her eyes then. "Why?"
"We are going to talk to them."
"Why?!"
"Cherryblossom," Whitethunder hissed, "eat it or leave it, we will talk to them."
"Don't call me that! I'm not in my clan for you to call me my warrior name!"
"You are a Moonclan warrior anyway, with or without the clan."
Cherry stared at him before she sighed. "Fine," She gobbled own the last of her squirrel and walked with him to Bramblestar. The tabby tom sensed them coming and glanced at them.
"Greetings," he mewed. "Is something the matter?"
"Why are you glaring at my mate?" Whitethunder asked calmly, eyes gleaming furiously.
The clan seemed to stop and look at them. Bramblestar frowned up at him and stood. "Millie, Daisy, I will be back. I will think of what you have told me."
"Ok Bramblestar," Millie said and dipped her head, eyes looking at them all warily.
"Squirrelflight!" he called, nodding over to his den. She looked hesitant at first, but did follow.
Once inside tension filled the air. Cherry shivered under it. It thrilled her, the tension. Usually in her clan a fight would break out, either one cat ended up marked or horribly humiliated, and rarely dead.
Whitethunder seemed to get bigger as he too sensed it, amber eyes glaring at the two in front of him. "Well?" he asked. Bramblestar sighed and scratched his ear.
"We've heard some rather disturbing news about Cherry's presence with our kits."
"What? I didn't do anything to your kits!"
"Hush," Whitethunder chastised. "Continue," he said after, nodding to Bramblestar.
"We were told that you have been teaching them how to be warriors." He narrowed his eyes. "I don't know what you do to your kits in your clan, but this is my clan, and no kit is taught how to be a warrior until they are apprentices."
"Cherry is that true?" Whitethunder asked coldly.
The red she cat shook her head. "No I wasn't teaching them anything!"
"Nothing at all?" Squirrelflight pressed. Her eyes shone hard with anger.
"No I, well, I might have told them something about being a warrior…" she whispered, looking down at her paws. Whitethunder growled at her.
"Cherry how could you!"
"It's nothing bad! I just told them when they become warriors they had to be calm and loyal!" she defended, glaring up at him. "There is nothing wrong with giving them that information. However, if you don't do that in your clan then I apologize. I won't go near them."
"That's right you won't, you liar. You did more that tell them information they already knew." Squirrelflight hissed.
Cherry was shocked. "I didn't do anything else but that!"
"That's not all you did." Bramblestar added with a hint of a growl. "You were also teaching them warrior moves."
"What?! I didn't do that!"
"I heard that Moonclan warriors teach their kits that way." The tom shot back.
"Cherryblossom, why would you do that?!" Whitethunder hissed.
"I didn't! She snarled.
Whitethunder turned and opened his mouth to again shout at Cherry, but he paused and blinked. She was staring at him with teary eyes that were begging him to believe her, and he knew the consequences if he didn't. No telling what Skyclan could take from him next. His title? Life? 'My family,' he thought in fear. He had already lost two kits; he couldn't lose Cherry and Sakura too.
'I won't, not if I have proof that she isn't lying.'
He blinked his eyes slowly and stared back at her, eyes searching. He could find nor catch hint of a lie. 'She's telling the truth,' he thought finally, happily. She was telling the truth. He'd be devastated if she didn't.
Since Whitethunder didn't respond, Cherry, taking it the wrong way, spat at him. "Again?! You believe them again?! I hate you!" With that she ran out of the den.
Whitethunder blinked again for the third time in shock. Forgetting the two with him he ran out. He was instantly tackled by an enraged Autumnspot. "You badger hearted fox! I'll kill you!"
"No! Autumnspot wait!" He yowled as he threw the orange tom off.
"Again Whitethunder? Didn't Skyclan take your kits for this?" Mudfur hissed.
Longclaw sneered at him. "Moonclan warriors, cold hearted to their own mates!"
Whitethunder's ears dropped. "No! I wasn't! Where is she?"
"Nowhere for you to know," Raven snarled as he circled the deputy. His eyes gleamed and his muscles tensed for attack.
"Kittosatsujin!" Autumnspot yowled.
Whitethunder's tail tucked. "No! I didn't-"
"What happened to Cherry? She came out shouting and crying and ran out." Leafpool fretted.
"Whitethunder is taking another's side before his mate's again!" Autumnspot stressed between grinding teeth. She narrowed her eyes and turned to glare at Whitethunder.
"YOU DID WHAT?!" She shouted in disbelief.
Whitethunder shook his head again. He felt dizzy. "I didn't!" He jumped back as Autumnspot lunged at him again. He didn't move quickly enough to dodged Raven's attack, his claws scratching some fur off his leg. He yowled in pain and knocked the black tom away with a snarl, kicking back at his hind paw to knock Autumnspot away before freezing at a yowl. Bramblestar was walking towards them.
"What in Starclan's name is going on?!"
Whitethunder stared at him. His yellow eyes turned cold. "You!" He snarled and launched himself onto the tom. Bramblestar only took a second to shake off his surprise before he attacked back. Whitethunder was heavier and stronger though, so he was easily knocked down and pinned, then grabbed by his scruff and shaken hard. The kits screamed in fear and the whole clan turned into an uproar. Squirrelflight pounced at him, but by that time Whitethunder had already run out of the camp. All turned to Bramblestar, who was wheezing weakly. Blood pooled around him.
"Get the cobwebs!" Jayfeather yowled. Leafpool was already running into the den and back out. Luckily, they stopped the blood flow before he could die. The leader had six lives, but that didn't mean waste them.
~ooo~
After Bramblestar was cleaned up someone yowled out, "I knew those foreign cats couldn't be trusted!" Again a clamor broke you, cats yowling amongst themselves. Lionblaze snarled at them all to shut up.
"We won't go blaming them until we know what has happened." he growled to them. Something moved out the corner of his eyes, turning just in time to see Sakura's tail flick outside of the den.
"Why investigate? We knew those cats were bloodthirsty to begin with!" Cinderheart snarled.
Lionblaze snarled back at her. "Hush!" He turned to Squirrelflight. "What happened."
"I-I don't know. It wasn't supposed to turn out like this..." She muttered. Her face twisted up in anguish. "That mange!'
Silence followed for a few moments. "Wasn't supposed to happen like what?" Leafpool asked.
"Cherry," Bramblestar rasped as he staggered outside the den. Jayfeather growled at him to force him inside, but instead the leader leaned on Leafpool. She let him. "We were told that she was teaching the kits warrior moves."
They all gasped. "She did?!"
"Bloodthirsty by birth! She's trying to turn our clan from the inside out!"
"Their only here to help their clan, not us!"
"No she isn't!" Autumnspot snarled. He happened to be snarling at Mousewhisker.
"Yes she is. She's teaching the kits warrior moves, Moonclan warrior moved!"
"Cherry wouldn't do such a thing! She knows better!"
"She's your sister; you would of course take her side." The grey and white tom sneered. "Cruel, fox hearted cats."
Autumnspot narrowed his eyes. "I may not be a Moonclan cat, but I'm half of it. I will show just how cruel I can be." He snarled threateningly, green eyes gleaming. His claws slid out and instantly they reflected silver. Jayfeather shook his head. He did not just see that.
"Jayfeather, let us!" Killerfang hissed.
"No!" He hissed back.
"Let us prove them wrong!"
"You are not fighting!" He snarled, making several eyes turn his way.
"We know what happened! We were there!"
"You are Moonclan spirits. You think they are going to believe you?"
"We will try, now let us!" Flameblood hissed.
Jayfeather sighed and shook his head. "No. Besides I need all my energy if I'm going to take care of Bramblestar."
"Jayfeather please!" Killerfang pleaded.
"Jayfeather, what are they saying?" Lionblaze asked.
The medicine cat shook his head. "They know what happened."
Lionblaze narrowed his eyes. He then turned to Bramblestar. "Who told you this?"
"Mousewhisker and Icecloud. They were walking in when they saw Cherry teaching the moves in that corner over there," he pointed his tail besides the entrance, "and heard her telling them the best killing moves when they walked inside the nursery."
"Seriously?!" Lionblaze asked in shock. Murmurs barely started before he lifted his tail. "Icecloud, Mousewhisker, are you sure you heard and saw this?"
"Yes!" Mousewhisker replied. Icecloud only nodded. Lionblaze narrowed his eyes at them.
"Jayfeather? Can we speak to Flameblood and Killerfang?"
"They are Moonclan spirits! They will only take their side!" Cinderheart spat. Jayfeather mewed, "I told you so," out loud. Gingerkit came thought them all, running to Bramblestar.
"Papa! Are you OK?" He whined. Sunkit and Flamekit came later on, looking around in shock. Flamekit looked at Jayfeather, eyes wide with fear before she scooted closer to Sunkit.
"You were supposed to keep them in the den Sorreltail!"
"They slipped through my paws!"
"Papa what happened?" Gingerkit asked. Bramblestar shook his head.
"Go back to the nursery."
"No! I want to know!"
"Go back to the nursery you three!" Bramblestar snapped. Squirrelflight growled in agreement.
"No! If I want to be a good medicine cat I have to learn how to solve problems!"
"And why is that?" Cloudtail asked. "Because that's what Cherry told me." After that the clan gasped.
"She was!" Someone shouted. It was Toadstep.
"I can't believe it..." Sandstorm murmured.
"What happened?!" Gingerkit hissed this time, his siblings back him up. All of them quieted down and stared with different arrays of amusement and surprise. A kit hissed at his parents? Unheard of.
"Gingerkit..."
"No Bramblestar," Leafpool mewed. She was even starting to doubt the Moonclan cats, but she needed to be sure. "Let's ask them." She bent down low to the kittens. "I want you all to swear on your future titles for warrior and medicine cat that you will tell the truth and only the truth. If not then you will never be part of this clan."
"Never?" Flamekit wailed in dismay.
"Never. Starclan doesn't like liars. Liars hurt the clan. You will be exile just like Thornclaw. Now swear."
"I swear to tell the truth on my future titles and Starclan!" The three chanted. Leafpool nodded in approval.
"Now, did Cherry tell you how to be warriors?"
"Uh," Sunkit started. "She told us how to act when we become warriors."
"And she said the best warrior is a patient on!" Flamekit added helpfully.
"She also said that a medicine cat has to love all and be neutral, even papa and mama told me that." Gingerkit mewed.
Leafpool hummed. "Did Cherry ever teach you how to fight? Right over there in corner?" She asked as she pointed to the place.
"Well, not in the corner. The nursery though..."
Gingerkit was interrupted by Ivypool. "She taught them in the nursery?!"
"No she didn't!" Sunkit shouted. "When she walked in the nursery the other day we were playing Attack the Riverclan Cat, and she walked in and we made her a Riverclan cat and attacked her. Then she surrendered and said we worked excellent as a team. She also said that fighting in teams is better than fighting alone, because you can be overwhelmed."
"And it's dangerous!" Flamekit piped.
Gingerkit nodded his head quickly. "Yup! And she said if you had confidence then your enemy would doubt themselves!"
Jayfeather blinked his eyes. Well, information, but not teaching moves. Flameblood and Killerfang were relieved against him. He was glad too; he could take much more of their yowling.
"So, are you sure that she didn't teach you anything?"
"Yup! She only told us! I wish she did though, I can't wait to be an apprentice! I'm going to be so strong!"
"Nu-uh, I am!" Flamekit hissed as she stomped her paw.
"You're too small!"
"I but I'm quicker than you!"
"Noooo, I am!"
"Kits, if you are lying Starclan will have you exiled." Leafpool warned. Sunkit made a face. Flamekit glared before she closed her eyes. When she opened them she was calm and confident.
"Well then I guess I'm not getting exiled." With that she turned with her tail high and marched away. Her brothers scrambled quickly to follow her.
Lionblaze watched them go with love. Only his family had such an attitude. 'Then again, they are Squirrelflight's kits.' Leafpool was silent for a while as she sat there in thought. The silence was interrupted by Squirrelflight.
"They weren't lying." She breathed. Leafpool looked up, obviously coming to the same conclusion.
"No, they weren't."
"So, Cherry didn't do it?"
Leafpool shook her head.
Bramblestar slumped against Leafpool even more. "What have I done?"
"You split up my sister and her mate that what!" Autumnspot snarled. Raven growled after him. "If anything happens between them that is bad, we will leave your clan and let Moonclan take over."
More silence.
Raven walked away. "I'm going to get Sakura."
Leafpool tried to meet his eyes, but he avoided her. She felt cold. He didn't even look at her. Suddenly she felt angry. She moved away from Bramblestar. "Go back to your nest!" She snapped at him. He looked up at her in shock.
Squirrelflight frowned at her. "Leafpool..."
"You should be ashamed, listening to rumors before finding out the real thing. Didn't we just get through with that?! And you!" She turned Mousewhisker and Icecloud, the two cats shocked. "You..." Her claws slid out and tore at the floor. Then she left, running herself into the warriors den.
The other cats were left to sit there and think. "Seems like you two couldn't be trusted." Whitewing hissed. "One chance for us to be trusted more and you blew it!" One by one all those who followed Thornclaw turned to the two. Hateful glares were turned to them before the cats dispersed and went about their ways.
Slowly the two turned and walked to the nursery. Mousewhisker stopped just before entering.
"Mousewhisker?" Icecloud asked.
The tom looked up, his face twisting up in disgust before he walked away. He was angry. He was angry at Cinderheart for telling him to lie and angry at himself for actually doing it.