The Power of Four: A Warriors fanfic

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2 - Willowkit

Willowkit felt the breeze in her fur as she walked toward the fresh-kill pile. She gently grabbed a small vole and padded into the nursery.

"Hi, Pinekit..." She mewed. Pinekit was definitely not the most approachable cat in the Clan, and Willowkit knew that ever since she was born.

She looked around. Where's Maplekit? Willowkit noticed. I can't smell any farther than the medicine den.

With her ears perked, she slowly ate the vole in front of her. But before she could finish, the clan seemed to freeze.

"Where is Maplekit!?" A cat mewed darkly. She jumped when she realized who it was. Toadstar!

She trotted over to him, leaving her half-eaten vole behind.

"Yeah, where is she?" Willowkit purred.

Toadstar looked upon her darkly. "I don't know." He said. "Appletail! Splashtail! Snaptooth!"

Willowkit spotted them appearing suddenly through the camp. The bushes rustled as they exited their den to join Toadstar.

"Yes?" Mewed polite Splashtail.

"We need to go on a search party. We can't find Maplekit anywhere." Toadstar growled darkly.

Appletail's eyes lit up. "For real?" He sat there, thinking.

"That's your daughter, right?" Snaptooth spat, uninterested and clawing at his teeth.

"Yes!" Toadstar roared. "How could you forget the kits of your own leader!?" He groaned, swiveling around to show them the way.

As they sprinted out of the camp, Willowkit couldn't help feeling left out. She was so ready to become an apprentice! Once she becomes one, she'll be able to join patrols, catch her own prey, and finally serve her clan instead of being another milk-needing time-stealing kit!

"Wait!" She mewed eagerly.

Only Splashtail whirled around to peer at her. "Can I come?"

"No. You aren't coming. You're too young." Willowkit could hear Toadstar grumbling up ahead. She leaped over the gorse patch and followed them out of the camp, which was a terrible mistake, she realized, when all four of them snapped their necks to gaze into her soul.

"Oh, please!" Willowkit begged innocently. Toadstar and Appletail only let out a soft groan of annoyance.

"Go." Toadstar commanded.

"But-!"

"Go back into camp, Willowkit!" Her father loomed.

Startled, she darted back into the hollow, giving the patrol one last look.

Willowkit grumbled from anger as she padded back into the nursery. She sat down with a great thump! and began to groan to herself.

"Willowkit?" She heard her sister, Amberkit, mew.

"Amberkit!" The kit shrieked, wagging her tail excitedly. "Have you heard the news? Maplekit's missing!"

"Oh, now really?"

"Yes!" Willowkit begged.

"C'mon. I already know, Toadstar- dad- made a whole fuss about it. I heard all of it, don't worry." She mewed wisely.

But Willowkit was unfazed, still fussed about her sister's disappearance. "But- But she's missing! Don't you see how urgent this is?"

"Then go out there yourself. You have a good sniffer. You'll pick up her scent as fast as our tiger ancestors!" She reassured her playfully.

"I can't just leave camp like that!" Willowkit said, thinking about her encounter with Toadstar's patrol. "I already got in trouble for it," She added, whispering.

"Then sneak out!" Amberkit whispered back, rather loudly. Willowkit thought for a moment. Hm... She does have a point. I could find her faster than them four!

"Ok!" Willowkit nodded. She beckoned for a gap in the thick bushes that covered the nursery, and leaped out of it and into the forest, smiling from excitement. Then, she lifted her hind legs and made it for the forest.

Immediately, she picked up some strange scents. None of them were Maplekit, though, so she kept looking.

Then, she heard the patrol nearby.

Ack! Willowkit scrambled.

"No, but you've got a whole hive up in that brain, if you even have one!"

Toadstar! She trembled. With her ears flat and heart pounding, she swiftly trotted into a thick bush. Hopefully they don't find me in here, Willowkit thought to herself.

After about a minute of arguing, they stopped.

"Do you smell that?" She heard Snaptooth mutter.

"Yes." Toadstar beckoned. "Follow me. I smell kitten. It has to be Maplekit." He whispered. She could hear the rustle of their pawsteps slowly coming towards her, and all of her muscles tensed. No no no no no! StarClan help me!

Suddenly, a sharp caterwaul pierced the air. She could scent surprise, then fear, and with massive relief, the sharp rustle of fast pawsteps, away from her bush.

Her muscles relaxed. But then she recognized who the shriek was from.

Maplekit!

"Maplekit! What were you thinking, running away from camp!?" Willowkit heard Toadstar roar. A soft whimper came from the distance. I have to get back! Now!

"Toadstar!" Willowkit heard Lightstep meow from the nursery. Willowkit continued to groom herself, listening. "Where were you? Where's Maplekit? Do you have her? Oh! You do!"

"Stop shrieking like a dying thrush." He hissed, dropping the trembling kit. Lightstep seemed unfazed. She licked her kit comfortingly.

"Oh, Maplekit!" She whimpered. "What happened?"

"She just ran away from camp. Lick your furball and leave me alone. I've had enough chaos for today."

Willowkit watched wistfully as Toadstar leapt into his shadowy den. She noticed a guilty look on Lightstep's face and felt a pang of pity for her helpless mother.

"Sorry..." She mewed while picking up the tense Maplekit, and walked softly over to the nursery.

Why had Toadstar been so harsh to his own mate, and why was Maplekit so scared?

She would have to ask her later.