Disclaimer: I do NOT own Warriors. Erin Hunter does.

Graypaw was walking through the forest with her mother by her side. Outside the camp, away from the jeers and the hateful glances, the apprentice felt her shoulders relax. Willowpelt glanced down at her daughter and moved to nuzzle her tenderly and Graypaw returned her affection with a soft purr.

The two hadn't had the chance to just talk and it was Graypaw has asked her mother to be with her today. It wasn't a hunting or border patrol, it was simply a walk. And Graypaw relished the chance to just be with her mother beside her.

Willowpelt looked up at the sunlight through the trees and narrowed her eyes as a cooler breeze ruffled their fur. "Leaf-bare will be here soon. But there I feel there is still bit more time for sun."

Graypaw tilted her head and blinked. Leaf-bare. She had never experienced it but heard stories of it. Willowpelt described to her once the leaves changing color and falling off the trees, blanketing the ground. It was almost like fire covering the forest floor but there was no pain or fear. And all around the air was crisp and the more the days passed, the scent of frost grew stronger and stronger. Hinting at the harsher cold to come.

Graypaw blinked as she tried to imagine it, but soon it faded from her mind as Willowpelt gave her a hearty nudge and bolted for one of the trees, looking back to her daughter with a playful growl while hanging upside down on on of the branches.

Smiling, Graypaw followed after her mother, laughing and jumping as they twisted thought the trees and lightly batted at each other's tails.

They chased each other without a care, letting themselves just enjoy the sunlight and the joy they felt. Willowpelt allowed Graypaw to pounce on her back and the two she-cats fell into a into a contented pile, purring and grooming one another.

Graypaw leaned against her mother, nuzzling against her cheek and allowing her body to truly relax. It was nice, Graypaw took a deep breath of her mother's scent and sighed, a small smile of her muzzle.

The peace was unfortunately shattered in a shrill yowl sounded from below them. Willowpelt, though knowing full well Graypaw could defend herself, stood in front of her kit and frowned. Below them was Dappletail, padding fast away from something, only to be revealed that it was Frostfur's kits.

"Get away from me, you horrible little monsters!" The older she-cats snarled, and the kits, too young to realize her hostility, didn't react to her flash of claws aimed towards them, they only tried to get closer, thinking it was a game.

Willowpelt and Graypaw immediately acted, jumping down and tackling Dappletail to the ground, who scratched and bit at both of them before managing to wriggle free. She hissed and arched her back, Willowpelt doing the same while Graypaw went over to the now confused kits, curling around them and making sure they were okay. Luckily, other than shaken, they were fine.

"Attacking kits, Dappletail? Have you lost your mind?" Willowpelt growled, backing away as the older warrior swiped at her with claws still unsheathed.

"They were trying to eat me!" Dappletail's shrill voice ground out, giving the kits a hateful glare. "We don't need more of those creatures in our Clan!" She then tried to make a run for the kits but was stopped not just by Willowpelt, but Brindleface appearing too.

"How dare you?!" The gray flecked queen snarled, biting into Dappletail before Willowpelt could move and throwing her into a tree. Dappletail lay stunned for a moment before pushing herself to her paws, snarling. Brindleface stood over her, her eyes narrowed and her fangs bared. Dappletail mimicked her before realizing she was outmatched and slunk away, muttering curses and shooting hateful glares at all of them.

Once she was gone, Brindleface turned to her sister's kits and Graypaw, while thanking her and Willowpelt.

"I just wanted to stretch my legs and take them out for a small walk. We were all getting tired of being cooped up in camp and the nursery. I told them time and again how the normal cats aren't friendly, but when they saw Dappletail, they just wanted to play with her. I'm just glad they are okay. But you got hurt protecting them."

Willowpelt gently licked Brindleface's cheek and shushed her while the kits ambled around her. "It's alright. They are still young, kits will do what they want despite what we tell them. I'm just glad we were here to help. Let's take them home."

As the two older mollies herded the kits back to ThunderClan, Graypaw hung back, her ears flat. Suddenly she didn't feel like going back home and turned to walk further out to the forest. A burning deeper than than Dappletail's scratches began to eat at her body, and Graypaw didn't know how long she could withstand the flames.

XxXx

She hadn't meant to walk to the river, but when she did, she found someone else sitting on the banks, a molly, with a paw on one of trees as she stared up at the leaves. Graypaw frowned, instantly knowing that this was not a ThunderClan cat. The smell of RiverClan came soon after. A large body with thick, soft looking silver and black fur, and the warmest green eyes that Graypaw had ever seen, momentarily distracted her before the gray molly focused on the task at hand.

"You are trespassing! Get out!" Graypaw growled, faltering for a second as the other she-cat turned to her and Graypaw saw a playful mischievousness in her eyes.

The large molly tilted her head before looking around, seemingly uncaring. It almost impressed Graypaw how little she cared about being caught on someone else's territory.

"I wasn't trying to steal prey. I always catch glimpses of you ThunderClan cats jumping through the trees. There aren't any tall trees in RiverClan. I just wanted to try." Her voice had a deep range to it that, for some reason made Graypaw feel safe and she almost laid down to listen more. She then snapped out of it, grumbling.

"Wanting to climb trees or not, you're still on the wrong side of the border. Leave. I won't repeat myself again."

"Kinda young to be given orders, don't you think?" The RiverClan molly joked softly before her eyes looked Graypaw over, seeing her still bleeding wounds. "You're hurt."

Graypaw flinched but growled softly, taking a step forward. "I can still chase you off, no problem!" The larger molly didn't move, causing Graypaw to hiss in annoyance.

"You don't smell like anything but your Clan...and those wounds are too deep for training. Did...one of your Classmates do that to you?" Her concern was clear and Graypaw narrowed her eyes, backing away.

"I was protecting our demon kits from one of our normal cats. They would have been hurt or...they would have been hurt if my mother and I weren't there." Graypaw muttered softly before surprising herself. Why in StarClan's name did she tell this RiverClan warrior that?! Her outburst would make ThumderClan seem weak and easy to pick off!

However the larger molly said nothing and only looked sympathetic. "I'm sorry. I know it doesn't mean much coming from different Clan cat, but it must be hard, dealing with that. Your very strong to endure that."

At that, Graypaw snorted, shaking her head. "I don't feel strong." She murmured, the feeling of Dappletail's claws and fangs still hurt, the burning still there. Graypaw closed her eyes but they snapped open when she felt a lick on her cheek.

The silver/black molly was just backing away when Graypaw turned to her and then the ThunderClan noticed how she carefully kept eye contact to the bare minimum. She was a normal cat.

"Sorry. I just wanted to make you feel better. In RiverClan we treat all cats with respect and love, no matter what they are born as. We are all one Clan after all, one family. I should know, my aunt was a demon."

"Wait...if your aunt is a demon...shouldn't that make you...?"Graypaw tilted her head as the other molly smirked, chuckling lightly.

"It's rare, but the traits of being a demon can somehow skip generations. It's only happened twice in RiverClan. With my father and another. I still managed to get the size of a demon though."

'So One-Eye isn't the only one.' Graypaw thought to herself. She then shook her head again, trying to focus.

"Look... I'm...grateful for your kind words, but you have to go. We're still from different Clans. No matter how nice you are." Graypaw blinked as she realized how easy it was to admit this RiverClan's kindness and sighed. She had spent too long not doing her job, this needed to end.

"Well, if you teach me how to climb a tall tree, maybe I will leave. We can meet up here, same time. I'll wait for you by the SunningRocks. And on return, perhaps I can teach you to swim."

"That goes against everything I am being taught." Graypaw growled, snorting, not liking the way the molly grinned.

"Oh, you're still an apprentice? Then you have to listen to me, I'm a warrior! And besides, don't you want to rebel a bit? After how your Classmates treat you? We're just having a little fun, that's all."

"A warrior? You may be big but you seem no older than me!" Graypaw groused, though she couldn't help but smile when the other molly rolled her eyes.

"I was Named a moon ago, but still. Just one day, and I'll never come here again. Think about it, at least." She then turned and jumped into the river, swimming back to her own territory. Graypaw watched her go with a huff before turning back as well. Willowpelt will worry about her. Just one day, indeed!

She couldn't believe how carefree and silly that RiverClan molly was!

XxXX

The next day, Graypaw was heading towards SunningRocks, grumbling to herself. She had asked Lionheart if she could go on a solo hunting mission in order to meet the RiverClan cat. She must have been as silly and carefree as that molly to think of actually doing this. But she wasn't going to betray Lionheart's trust and managed to catch a rabbit and two birds before burying them nearby. She would hunt more after her meeting.

She was mildly surprised to see the other molly waiting for her and responded to her greeting with a small tail flick. "You came." Graypaw groused softly.

"I said I would, didn't I?" The RiverClan molly said, rolling her eyes playfully.

"Yes, but I didn't really think you'd come!" Graypaw hissed, though found she couldn't put much annoyance into her words. Still she watched the other cat carefully, her muscles tense.

"You came." The warrior replied, looking Graypaw up and down. At that, the apprentice huffed, scuffing the ground with her paws.

"After hunting for my Clan! Which I plan to do more of to make up for this."

The RiverClan warrior huffed, moving to roll on her back, flicking Graypaw with her tail. "You need to relax, have some fun!"

Graypaw growled, swatting her tail away. "I can't "relax"! I can't "have fun"! Half of my Clan is just waiting for any reason to badmouth me, any reason to think I'm worst than ever. I don't have the luxury to be silly and break the rules like you do!" She then turned to go back to her buried prey, leaving the warrior without a second glance.

The RiverClan molly's good cheer fizzled out quickly and she got to her paws, rushing to block Graypaw's path who stepped back with a hiss.

"I'm sorry. I forgot that things are different I'm your Clan. You are dealing with a lot. But...I feel like...you need just...breath. I know we just met but, let me help you. Please?" She then closed the gap between them, nuzzling the bite from Dappletail that was covered in herb mixtures from Yellowfang.

Graypaw stiffened but slowly relaxed, allowing herself to do as the RiverClan cat said and just breath. She let out a long sigh and sat down, eventually lowering herself to her belly and closing her eyes. Her shoulders began to shake lightly.

Though they were nothing but strangers, the silver/black molly laid down beside Graypaw and gently began to groom her fur while purring softly. The soft lapping of the larger's female's tongue made Graypaw relax even more and she put her head on her paws, her shaking slowly easing.

They stayed together like that for about an hour before the big she-cat got to her paws and headed towards the river. She smiled as Graypaw watched her.

"We planned on tree climbing but it's been long enough, and our Clans will worry. Be well. I'm Silverfang by the way."

"I'm Graypaw. ...Can we...can we meet up again? Maybe a week from now? We did nothing but...it was nice." Graypaw asked slowly, while rolling Silverfang's name in her head. With how big and strong she looked, the name suited her.

Silverfang smiled gently and nodded. "I think I'd like that. In a week's time. See you then and...stay strong, Graypaw." Silverfang then jumped into the river towards her camp. Graypaw watched her go with her mind and body feeling lighter than it had in a while. She smiled, something she couldn't remember doing much lately before going off to hunt more for Lionheart and the rest of her Clan.

A/N: Heeyyyy. I'm back with another chapter. It's definitely been a while. Hope you like it. *Nervous laughter*

So...Silverfang is obviously Silverstream. I just changed her name as little easter egg love to one of my favorite anime/ manga, Ginga Nagareboshi Gin/Densetsu Weed. Also I changed her eye color to match her dad, Crookedstar.

Also, also I just found out that molly is a term for a spayed cat but...I like it so in blatant rejection of it, I'm going to keep using it.

That's all for now...thanks for reading