Part I: The Childhood of Littlerose and Sheeptuft
Littlekit scuttled along the path, leaving her mother to chase after her. The birds tweeted loudly as they flew overhead and casting a shadow on the ground. Littlekit leaped and lunged for these shadows, trying to capture the dark being that succumbed to the forest’s floor. A second later, she found herself tumbling along the ground. Standing up in shock, Littlekit turned to look at whatever had knocked her down. To her own surprise, it was another cat around her age. “hi,” she cheerfully says, hopping up to the kit, “I’m Littlekit. Who are you?”
The kitten looks at her uncertainly before squeaking. “Sheepkit.”
Before the duo could continue their conversation, Littlekit heard a gasp from behind and turned to see her mother running and standing in front of her. At the same time, a large black tom jumped out the woods, pushing the other kit away. “What does your thing think it’s doing?” her mother hissed as Littlekit watched confused. “Keep it away from my darling princess.”
Littlekit held herself low to the ground, hiding underneath her mother in fright at the large, bedraggled tom as he hissed at her mother.
“I could say the same to you, Hawkberry,” snarled the large tom, scowling down at her.
“We want nothing to do with you or your little brat,” her mother hissed. “He’s a disgrace to the clan, not even clan-born.”
Poking her head up, Littlekit leaned it to the side away from her mother, trying to see if the kit was still there but only saw the large tom carrying him away from the scruff of his neck.
“We do not associate with those kinds of cat, Littlekit. They are a disgrace to the clan,” her mother stated, holding a look of disgust on her face.
“What kind of cats?” Littlekit asked confused. “Black cats?”
“What? No, there’s nothing wrong with black cats. No, half-clan cats. That thing was not even born to a cat in the clan. It’s disgusting,” replied her mother, picking her up with forced and began to carry her away.
~ ~ ~
Littlepaw ran through the camp, followed by two other apprentices, Mousepaw and Dapplepaw. While running, Littlepaw got too distracted at encouraging her friends to keep up that she forgot to pay attention to where she was going, running head-first into another cat. She got up and began to apologise before noticing whom she ran into.
“Oi, watch where you’re stepping, half-born” Littlepaw hissed at the half-clan, she says the ‘half-born’ with a look of disgust on her face.
Sheeppaw pulls himself up and just rolls his eyes at her. Littlepaw puffed her chest up when Mousepaw and Dapplepaw began chanting “half-clan” to the cat.
“Come on, let’s get out of here. We don’t want to be seen associating with this disgrace,” Littlepaw calls to her friend as she goes to walk away, followed by her friends.
“You do whatever her majesty asks? So, aren’t you more sheep than I am?” Sheeppaw replied, watching where Littlepaw was walking with a smirk.
“Whatever, half-clan,” Littlepaw mutters before running away with her friends to play.
~ ~ ~
Littlepaw found herself being dragged along to some sudden training by her mentor, Daisyfang. As she entered, Littlepaw noticed that there were a lot of other apprentices with their mentors. Names were being called out as the apprentices would come out and fight each other, so Littlepaw waited for her turn. A few rounds later, she heard her name being called and sat excitedly, waiting to hear who her opponent would be. “Littlepaw and … Sheeppaw,” the cat announced.
Littlepaw had excitedly begun walking towards the ring, ready to fight until her opponent was announced, bringing her to a skidding stop. “Is her majesty scared?” Sheeppaw mocks, walking past her to the ring.
As the fight started, Littlepaw could feel her blood pumping, each chant of her name brought her more strength. As the fight progressed, she began to try to hear out for someone…anyone cheering from Sheeppaw. However, the longer the fight progressed and louder the cheers went, she found it harder to hear anyone chanting for Sheeppaw, not even his mentor. This thought started swirling around her head, distancing herself from the fight. Littlepaw leaped off her hind legs, prepared to hit Sheeppaw but at this moment, found him already heading towards her. The force of their leaps led them to hit heads, going tumbling back into the ground. As the rolling came to a stop. Littlepaw found a mass preventing her from moving. Looking up, Littlepaw found herself nose to nose with Sheeppaw, quickly trying to wriggle out while blushing.
“Better luck next time, princess,” Sheeppaw says with a smirk before realising how close they were and jumping backward with a blush on his face. Coughing, he continued: “you almost had me.”
Sheeppaw trotted off, leaving Littlepaw to watch in his path after having stood up. “What a strange cat…” she muttered aloud with a confused look on her face.
Shaking it off, she went back to training, ignoring all the questions that were circling around her mind on what was so different about the cat now than compared to earlier. He was a disgrace after all…. Wasn’t he?
~ ~ ~
The forest was a winding path of never-ending darkness, and yet, it was impossible to hide in, Sheeppaw discovered. Having just wanted a bit of peace and quiet, he chose to hide up a tree, away from any cat to disturb him. However, luck was never on his side. There, dashing through the forest was Littlepaw. Opting to stay quiet, Sheeppaw prayed that she would move on, leaving him in peace.
Luck really wasn’t on his side, Sheeppaw found as his branch began to shake. The longer it went on, the worse his grip became. A few seconds later, Sheeppaw found himself plummeting to the ground. “You’re not a bird,” Littlepaw complained disappointedly with a frown on her face.
“Well done, Princess,” Sheeppaw replied sarcastically, standing up and dusting himself off. “Now, if you’re done, I would like some peace and quiet.”
Littlepaw licked his cheek, before running away and giggling. For some reason, Sheeppaw found himself running after her, quietly laughing.
~ ~ ~
Sheeptuft sat upon the rocks, feeling the breeze going past his fur, keeping him feeling cold and relaxed. He closed his eyes and prepared to take a nap when he heard the padding of footprints of a cat leaving the territory. Opening his eyes, he noticed that the cat was Littlerose so he called out, “hey princess, where do you think you’re going?”
She jumped turning to look round at him. “Shush, you’ll give me away. I’m going to the training ground for some practice. I’ll see you later.”
Littlerose trotted away before Sheeptuft could even respond. He groaned, standing up slowly. Jumping off the rocks, Sheeptuft decided to follow Littlerose to make sure that she stays out of trouble.
~ ~ ~
Littlerose circled around the training ring, bouncing off of rocks and working on her speed, when she heard: "hello, my princess."
Excitedly, she turned around but came face to face with Weaselthorn, a warrior who had had his eye on her for a while. "Oh, its just you," Littlerose replied disappointedly.
Weaselthorn licked his lips and strolled on over. "Don't be like that to your future mate," he purred at her, coming closer than before.
Littlerose simply rolled her eyes and began to walk away.
"Don't ignore me!" Weaselthorn yelled in anger, leaping towards her with his Claws out.
Weaselthorn's Claws dug into her back as he bit her neck. Littlerose spun and spun, trying to dislodge him to no avail. Lifting up his paws, he grabbed her shoulders, trying to prevent her from moving. Landing with a thud, Littlerose felt herself growing tired. However, a black bolt of lightening came, knocking him off of her. Before she could see anything else, the world faded to black.
---
"You were seen standing over her body with her blood on your paws but you're trying to tell me that it wasn't you?" The leader of the clan asked Sheeptuft.
"Yes."
"So you just happened to be at the exact location that Littlerose got attacked."
"i did not kill her. I was trying to save her. I followed her to try to protect her," Sheeptuft cried out, pleading with the leader of the clan.
"Lies," the clan chanted. As Sheeptuft backed away with fright.
"There is only one punishment suitable for you... Exile!" The leader launched at Sheeptuft as he made a run for it, leaving the camp as quickly as his feet would carry him.
