Kitten of the Dark Forest

Ch. 5: A Bloody Past

Tinykit looked at the groveling Snowtuft and smirked. This cat had clearly disrespected him and Mapleshade, and deserved a good punishment. But Tinykit did not want to weaken him for the battle by hurting him physically, so he figured the fright that Snowtuft had just felt would be enough. After Tinykit and Tigerstar had said what they needed to say, Hawkfrost, Brokenstar, and Shredtail had burst out laughing, while Tigerstar and Tinykit merely chuckled. "You are a wise leader," Tigerstar said through Tinykit's mind, "and have clearly put this cat in his place. This psychological torment will have probably scared him for life, I presume.  Now I must leave you, for being here has worn me out and I'm sure the rest of these cats will now follow you. Until next time, Tinykit. Or should I say, Tinystar." Tinykit felt the avatar of Tigerstar leave him, and sighed. He would contemplate having the name Tinystar later, for he had bigger things to deal with at the moment. "Stand up," he commanded harshly. Snowtuft looked up and was surprised to see only Tinykit, but was scared no less. "Now, to win this battle, you will have to train in order to win. Mapleshade, Thistleclaw, and Darkstripe, you have all lived in ThunderClan once. And Clawface, you have lived with them for some time, so I expect you to know some ThunderClan moves. Thistleclaw, Darkstripe, and Clawface, you three will train the rest on ThunderClan battle moves and tactics and how to overcome them. Mapleshade, you're excused." The cats walked away to begin their training, but Snowtuft hesitated. Crawling back to Tinykit submissively, he asked, "Uh, Tinykit? I mean, Tinystar? What should we call ourselves? I mean, you're our leader, and I think Mapleshade is your deputy, so um, should we have a Clan name?" Tinykit pondered this for a moment "DarkClan," he finally said. "For now, we shall be known as DarkClan." Snowtuft nodded and dashed away to join the others, and Tinykit felt something touch his shoulder. He turned to find Mapleshade, who said, "Come Tinykit, I think we should go. I bet you need some rest." Tinykit nodded wordlessly and began to walk with Mapleshade back to the tree where they resided.

Mapleshade wordlessly walked with Tinykit back to the tree, a thousand questions swimming in her head. "So, uh, how many moons old are you, exactly?" Tinykit's reply was quiet. He muttered, "Only a half moon until my apprentice ceremony. Way too young to die. But I guess everyone was happy I died. Now they can breath a little easier, at least they think that." The silence returned, and Mapleshade awkwardly stared at the ground. Then she sighed, and asked, "So, why did you go all crazy back there? I mean, I could have surely handled Snowtuft alone! You didn't have to put yourself at risk like that." Tinykit looked at the ground, embarrassed. "Well, I," he mumbled, then sighed. "I knew you could handle Snowtuft on your own, you're strong like that, but I knew you would have gotten some nasty scars as a result. I guess some part of me didn't want to see you get hurt." Tinykit did not look up from the ground until Mapleshade said, "I must admit, the reason I was so fierce against Sparrowfeather and Snowtuft was because I didn't want them to attack you. It was a feeling from long ago, but I just can't seem to remember it." Mapleshade blushed, and Tinykit smiled a bit. "Yeah, I know what you mean." The two arrived at the tree, but before they lay down to rest, Mapleshade asked Tinykit her last question. "Tinykit," she started. "why are you in the Dark Forest anyways? You've never told us." Tinykit sighed as his gaze darkened. "I knew you would ask that eventually," he said. "I won't tell you what I did, but I think you have the right to know a bit of it. *Sigh* My...methods...of attacking the Clan were, dangerous, to say the least. I killed five cats, but only two of them died with their blood on my paws, and I only directly killed one of them. I deserve to be here. I want to be here. I wouldn't have lived any other way." Tinykit lied down on the moss, curling up and closing his eyes. " Plus, it's my destiny to be here. I would have to stay here whether I liked it or not." Mapleshade looked down at the kit, her heart sore. She wanted to make him feel better somehow, to make him feel at home. She sighed, and shook her head, trying to shake the urges away. She curled up around him and whispered, "Don't worry. Whatever the problem, I'll back you up all the way." Tinykit smiled slightly, though Mapleshade could not see it. And with that, the two fell into a dreamless sleep.