Sunny Skies and Mottled Clouds

Prologue
Leafpool purred as her four new kits nursed on her. Her sister, Squirrelflight, sat beside her, licking a gray tabby tom kit. The two sisters were in an old, rotting Twoleg den. There were holes in the ceilings and walls, and there seemed to be an ominous creaking when the wind hit it hard.

“At least this one looks like me.” Squirrelflight meowed, poking a dark ginger she-cat withy her muzzle after placing the gray tabby beside his mother’s belly once more. “That will make it believable that I’m really their mother.”

“It even has your white paw.” Leafpool pointed out. Suddenly, another gust of wind rattled the wall beside the cats. “We should get out of here soon.”

“You’ve just kitted, we shouldn’t try to move you yet.” Squirrelflight meowed, “not to mention that I’m sure this place has withstood many windy days like this one before.”

“You’re right.” Leafpool gazed at her four kits. One was a black she-cat, one was a golden tabby tom, another was a gray tabby tom, and the fourth was the dark ginger she-cat. “You should name them; they are going to be your kits after all.”

Squirrelflight considered the newborn kits. “Hm… I think we should name the black one Hollykit, and the golden one Lionkit. You should name the other two.”

“Okay.” Leafpool looked at the remaining kits. “How about Jaykit for the gray one and Sunkit for the dark ginger one?”

“Perfect.” Squirrelflight suddenly pricked her ears. The wind had let down, and they could just make out the sound of Twolegs. “Twolegs have never come here before!” Squirrelflight hissed, “Why did they have to pick today?”

“I’ll take these two kits, you take the other two.” Leafpool meowed, picking up Hollykit and Sunkit. The cats were just about to slip out a hole in the wall when the group of Twolegs reached the den.

It appeared to be a female twoleg kit and her parents. The twoleg kit spotted the cats and squealed something. Leafpool and Squirrelflight raced away as fast as they could, the twoleg kit in pursuit. They were racing for the forest, and had almost made it back into ThunderClan territory when Leafpool tripped, weak from her kitting.

“I’m okay.” Leafpool stood again, gripping the kit in her jaws harder, and they raced away.

The twoleg kit stopped beside the forest, crying. “I wanted the kitty!” she cried to her parents. Suddenly, she heard a meow. Had the kitties come back to play? She looked down, and right beside the forest was a tiny dark ginger kit. “Mommy! Daddy! Look, a kitten!” The girl crouched down and picked up the small kitten in her big paws. “Don’t worry, kitty. I’ll take good care of you.”

Chapter 1
Sunkit’s eyes flicked open. She in her Twoleg home, curled in the fluffy, warm blankets of her cat bed. She wriggled around until she had gotten free and jumped down onto the cold tile floor of the Twoleg Kitchen.

“Morning, Fluffy!” trilled a voice. Sunkit looked up to see a Twoleg Kit standing in front of her. It was Sunkit’s owner, Bethany. Bethany had long, brown hair that she kept in bun, pretty blue eyes, pale skin, and always wore a smile.

Sunkit jumped up into Bethany’s arms and purred as her owner stroked her long, dark ginger fur. Sunkit knew that Bethany had named her fluffy, but she always referred to herself as Sunkit. It came from her deepest memory; she remembered a big, light brown tabby she-cat saying, “Sunkit”. She had a feeling that this cat was her mother. She also remembered hearing, “Lionkit”, “Hollykit”, and “Jaykit”. They could be her siblings!

Sunkit spent most of her life, eating, sleeping, and digging through her memories. She needed to figure out where she had come from, who her parents were, and what her destiny was supposed to be. Of course, she had to have a destiny. She could just feel that she was meant to do great things. Better than sitting around and drinking cream!

“Fluffy want some milk?” Bethany asked the purring kitten in her arms. Sunkit purred louder and kneaded her owner’s arm with her paws. Bethany set Sunkit down gently on the floor and stood again. There was some clanking as she looked for a bowl and poured some milk into it.

I know my life has more meaning than this! Sunkit thought, lapping up the milk as Bethany set it in front of her. ''I shall be a hero, one day. My name shall be well known, I shall be great! I have a destiny I will fulfill. One day, I will be the greatest cat that ever lived.''

One day.

Chapter 2
Sunkit meowed loudly and clawed at the door with her tiny claws. “Bethany, let that stupid cat outside!” one of the parent-twolegs called from the Living room. Sunkit sat and curled her tail around her paws as she heard footsteps of Bethany coming.

“Aww, does Fluffy wanna go play outside?” Bethany said in a baby voice. She twisted the knob and the door swung open. Sunkit dashed outside, purring in delight as she felt the sun warm her fur.

Sunkit looked around the yard. The yard was small- just a patch of grass with a white fence around it. The fence was solid and Sunkit couldn’t get through. There was a patch of flowers that smelled nice, so Sunkit curled up in the grass under them. She loved being outside.

It was noon, as the twolegs called it, and the sun was glowing in the spring sky. A light wind rattled the leaves of a cherry tree in the neighbor’s yard, but didn’t reach the kitten lying comfortably beneath some petunias.

How old am I? Sunkit wondered. She kept track of how old she was by how the moon looked. Assuming she was born on the day that Bethany had found her, the moon had filled up, shrank, and disappeared five times since she had been born. Sunkit called these phases of the moon “Moon Circles”, so she was five Moon Circles old.

Sunkit jumped as a squirrel raced by. She hadn’t expected it. She watched the furry creature flick its bushy tail and race up the fence to the neighbor’s yard. Sunkit had heard that Strays and forest cats ate squirrels. Mice, voles, and rabbits, too. She wanted to hunt, but she was slow, clumsy, and her claws were small.

“I wish I could hunt, but I’m too small.” Sunkit sighed out loud.

“Being small never stopped me.” Sunkit jumped as a female voice purred over the fence. She jumped to her paws and bristled her fur. Then she blinked in confusion. A cat had slipped through the flowers and sat beside her. But it was no more than a kitten- true, it had the sleek fur of an adult- but it was smaller than Sunkit!

“I came through a hole in the fence, hope you don’t mind my dropping by.” The stranger meowed. It was a black-and-white she-cat with blue eyes and scars all over her pelt. It looked as though she had had a disagreement with three dogs, a raccoon, and a badger all at once! “My name’s Tinyclaw. You seem like a pretty nice Kittypet.”

“Kittypet?” Sunkit asked. “What’s that?”

“You know, a pet to Twolegs.” Tinyclaw meowed. “You might call me a stray, but I’m so much more than that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m a Senior Slayer of Rogueclaw.” Then, sensing the question in Sunkit’s mouth, she meowed, “Rogueclaw is the group of strays I’m in. you want to join?”

“But, I know nothing about this… this ‘Rogueclaw’” Sunkit meowed, cringing in fear. Tinyclaw suddenly seemed very tough.

“We hunt.” Tinyclaw meowed.

“Hunt what?”

“Mice, squirrels, rabbits, disobeyers.” An evil smiled spread across Tinyclaw’s face as she sneered the last words. “You’d love it.”

“Killing cats?” Sunkit gasped, “No, I wouldn’t love that! Not at all!”

“Too bad, Kittypet!” Tinyclaw hissed. She leaped at Sunkit, and as she moved three more cats leaped from the flowers. A big black tom shoved Tinyclaw out of the way and stood in front of Sunkit.

“Tinyclaw, our orders was to bring Kittypets back to train, that means they have to be alive!” Then he turned to the cowering Sunkit. “You’re coming to Rogueclaw, Kitty.” He grabbed Sunkit by the scruff and raced through the flowers, into a hole in the fence, and across other yards with Tinyclaw and the other two cats behind him.

Chapter 3
Sunkit had her eyes closed. Her heart was beating fast. She was being kidnapped, but by who? Tinyclaw was one, and the black tom that had her by the scruff, and she thought she had seen two other cats. The black one had said something about orders, did they have orders to steal her? Was she being taken to a fresh-kill pile for these evil cats called the Rogueclaws who hunted disobeyers?

“We’re scaring the poor thing, Pine.” meowed a kind voice. It was female, and high pitched.

“Quiet, Soul!” snapped the tom who had Sunkit, who was evidentially named Pine, “The Rogueclaws aren’t softies like you! Don’t forget you’re just a newbie and I’m a Senior Slayer!”

“You should be nicer to the kits, It does no good for them to be scared when they learn our ways, they won’t accept them!” Soul responded.

“If you know so much, take it up with Bloodspiller and Shatter!” Sunkit heard a gasp of shock. She guessed that those two cats were feared.

“We’re here, Kittypet.” Tinyclaw’s voice mewed from ahead. After a bit of running, Pine slowed down then stopped. Sunkit blinked her eyes open. At first, she couldn't even tell that her eyes were open at all. They appeared to be somewhere dark. Then the scent of blood spilled from the shadows as the shape of a cat appeared.

“Wonderful, Pine’s patrol is back.” The cat meowed mockingly to the shadows behind him, “And they have kits. Looks like someone owes me a mouse.”

“Great!” Spat a female voice from the shadows, “The one day they decide to be successful is the day I bet they won’t be.”

Pine dropped Sunkit onto cold cement that was covered with something warm and sticky. “Soul, take this kit to the Nursery. Trout, you take your kit to the Nursery too.”

Soul padded over. In the darkness Sunkit couldn’t make anything out, but she guessed it was Soul who picked her up by the scruff and carried her away. Another from the patrol was following, the smell of young kit on him.

This was Sunkit’s worst nightmare. She had been taken to a dark place by strangers and all she smelled was blood. She was scared out of her wits and had started shivering. The cold of the cement was still on her fur.

“Get used to it, kid.” A cat, presumably Trout, meowed around the kit in his jaws. “It’s a cold place, here in Rogueclaw.”

Chapter 4
Sunkit was suddenly blinded as light filled her vision. Once she had blinked enough to regain her sight, she saw what appeared to be an old abandoned Twoleg home. The floor creaked as the cats walked across it. There were random holes in the floor, but in the bright light they were easily avoided.

There were holes in the roof where the sun was shining through. With all the darkness, Sunkit had forgotten it was the middle of the day! It would be afternoon by now, because the sun was shining in at an angle from the west side.

There were piles of moss everywhere with squealing kits inside them. Three she-cats raced in between each pile, trying to take care of all the kits. There were eight in all, at least two kits per pile, a lot of work for three she-cats.

“Don’t tell me you have more!” sighed a gray she-cat with darker splatters on her pelt. She had deep blue eyes that were full of exhaustion.

“Don’t complain, Splat!” snapped Trout, dropping his kit on the rotting wood floor. “You’re lucky you’re not dead! Shatter’s had about enough with you weaklings!”

“I apologize, Trout.” Splat dipped her head. “I’m taking care of six kits, and Spot’s got her paws full with those six over there.” She flicked her tail to a white she-cat with black speckles who was racing back and forth between three moss piles, “but Coo‘s only taking care of four. She’ll have to be the mother of those two.” She flicked her tail to Sunkit and the kit Trout had brought in.

The third she-cat whom Splat had referred to as ‘Coo’, padded over. She was white with gray patches, blue eyes, a chipped ear, and scars along her face and pelt. Sunkit shivered as she realized that every cat in Rogueclaw seemed to be covered in scars.

“I have a free nest right over there.” Coo meowed, flicking her head towards a pile of moss. Sunkit was surprised. Coo looked old and scarred, but her voice was beautiful, like the call of a dove. She realized why her name was ‘Coo’.

“Go on, kits.” Trout meowed, poking his kit towards the moss-nest with a claw, “You’re part of Rogueclaw now.”

Chapter 5
“What’s your name?” asked the kit Trout had brought in. He was speaking in a low voice, for they didn’t want to be punished for speaking loudly. The sun had set now and most kits were asleep, so everyone had to be quiet. Coo was sleeping soundly in a nest next to the nest of two other kits that she had to take care of.

Darkness had filled the Nursery, and all was quiet except for the creaking of Fang’s pacing. Fang was to guard the Nursery, and he didn’t seem happy about it. He was a big tom, but Sunkit didn’t know what he looked like because it was pitch black before he had arrived, and she was not skilled at seeing in the dark.

“I’m Sunkit.” She whispered to the kit.

“Nice name, but what’s with the ‘kit’ on the end?” the other kit asked.

“I don’t know, it’s a long story.” Sunkit responded. She saw her nest-mate about to speak when Fang’s pawsteps and creaking came closer. She covered his mouth with a paw and pushed them both farther into the bedding of moss.

“I’m Slayer, not a queen!” Fang muttered bitterly as he passed, “I hate guarding this place. I’ve killed more cats than Pine and Claw put together! But no, I have to guard the Nursery…”

Once Fang had passed, Sunkit poked her head out of the nest again. “This is a bad place.” She breathed. “We need to get out of here.”

“I wouldn’t try that if I were you.” A voice whispered. It sounded like the ‘coo’ of a dove. Sunkit looked around to see Coo standing right beside them. However, instead of looking angry or murdery, she looked happy and kind. “There are guards everywhere. They would catch and kill you before got anywhere. Sorry to scare you, but it’s the truth.”

“Oh, and my name’s Duck.” The other kit meowed.

“Nice name.” Sunkit meowed. Duck was white with black patches that had speckles of white in them and a chipped ear. His eyes were a sky blue. “How did you get that chipped ear?”

“When I was little, I’ve had it longer than I can remember” Duck meowed, rubbing it with his paws.

“You’d best get to bed now.” Coo meowed softly as Fang padded back around to pass them again, “Tomorrow’s the Clawing for you two.”

Sunkit and Duck drifted off to sleep, both thinking the same thing.

What is the 'Clawing'?

Chapter 6
Sunkit woke up in her nest, sunlight was pouring through a hole in the roof and kits everywhere were stirring. Two cats, one was Pine from yesterday, the other was a brown tabby that Sunkit didn’t know, were sitting beside her nest.

“Time for the Clawing, weaklings.” Pine hissed. He reached into the nest and dragged Sunkit and Duck out of the nest. The two kittens were roused instantly.

“Follow.” The brown tabby meowed in a deep, husky voice. He flicked his tail and led the way out of the Nursery and into darkness.

Sunkit had trouble following them through the dark, but kept sniffing for their scent. The strongest scent was Duck’s fear-scent. “Don’t worry, Duck. It’ll be fine.” Sunkit whispered to the tom.

Soon, they emerged into a dark alley with only a bit of glowing sunlight to light it. Sunkit could just make out three cats sitting on tall boxes at the end of the alley. One was a huge, mottled, silver tabby tom. He was covered in scars and missing patches of fur, and there was a big cut scar across his throat. He sat at the top and appeared to be the leader.

Farther down sat a gray tom with many scars and mean, red eyes. On the other side was a brown tom with black tabby stripes. He had few scars and green eyes.

“Bloodspiller, I have brought the kits.” Pine meowed, addressing the huge mottled tom.

“They are here for their Clawing, are they not?” Bloodspiller meowed. His voice was loud and booming, it frightened Sunkit and Duck.

“Yes, leader.” Pine dipped his head.

Sunkit padded closer to the boxes on which Bloodspiller was standing, looked up directly into his amber eyes. “What is a ‘Clawing’?” she asked without a hint of respect.

Pine cringed. Sunkit could tell that she had done something bad. She was ready to be attacked, to be killed, to be as terribly scarred as the rest, when a sudden booming laugh echoed all around the alley.

Bloodspiller was laughing!

“A brave one, are you?” He laughed, “Ambitious too, I bet. A wonderful combination, I might say!” He jumped down from the boxes and stood before Sunkit. “A Clawing is the ceremony we perform here in Rogueclaw to make a kit into a Hunter, Slayer, Queen, or…” Bloodspiller stopped for a moment to add effect to his last word, “prey”

Sunkit shivered, but hid this from the huge cat. This place was evil, she had to find a way out!

“Time for the ceremony to begin!” Bloodspiller yowled. He leaped back up onto the boxes and continued in a booming voice, “Sunkit, Duck, can you speak?”

“Yes.” Sunkit meowed confidently, but Duck just whispered fearfully.

“Can you walk, run, or jump?”

“Yes.” Sunkit meowed confidently, but once again Duck just whispered fearfully.

“Can you fight?”

“I can!” this time, Sunkit’s confident meow drowned out Duck’s fearful meow.

“Time to prove all these things!” Bloodspiller looked down at the two cats on either side of him. “Shatter, take Duck to assess his abilities.” He meowed to the gray tom. “Tiger, I was going to have you take out Sunkit,” Bloodspiller meowed to the brown tom with black tabby stripes, “But I think I’ll take her out on my own.”

Sunkit raced around the obstacles that Bloodspiller had placed for her. She leaped over the last obstacle- a trash can turned on its side- and landed right in front of the huge tom.

“Well done, but now it is time for the fighting assessment.” Bloodspiller meowed. He suddenly leaped at Sunkit, who, caught by surprise, fell with a thud to the ground. Bloodspiller thrashed his claws at her face, but she turned her head so that he missed and got her ear. He cut the top half of it clean off.

Sunkit wriggled around underneath the huge cat, trying to slice Bloodspiller’s thick silver pelt. Long scars across her back stung, but no matter how hard she worked, she couldn't reach her attacker. She gave up and went limp.

“Useless.” Bloodspiller spat. “I was hoping you would be stronger.” He stepped back and turned to walk away. Sunkit grinned as she saw her chance.

She stood, and, quick as lightning, launched herself onto Bloodspiller’s back. She sliced open a huge scar that ran along his tail with her hind leg while scratching his ears with her front claws. Suddenly, she was flung into the air. She landed on her paws, and jumped out of the way before Bloodspiller hit her.

The silver mottled tabby landed on an empty patch of cement, surprised at how fast Sunkit had moved. Sunkit leaped on Bloodspiller’s back again, but this time held him down with all her might.

“This assessment is over.” Bloodspiller rolled Sunkit off him and stood. He licked the blood off his pelt and meowed, “You’ll make an excellent Slayer.”

“What is a Slayer?” Sunkit asked. “Also, what are Hunters and Queens?”

“A Slayer fights to give the Rogueclaws more territory.” Bloodspiller licked his paw and ran it over his bleeding ears. “Hunters search for food. Queens take care of the new kits.”

“And…” Sunkit remembered something else that Bloodspiller had said. “You said 'prey'. You don’t actually eat cats, do you?”

“Of course not.” Bloodspiller snapped, “But we do kill the weaklings.”

Sunkit had an uneasy feeling.

Chapter 7
Moon Circles had passed. Sunkit was now much older, and had moved into a den with Duck, which was a Twoleg trash can turned on its side and filled with moss.

Duck had passed his test, but barely, and had ended up becoming a Hunter. There seemed to be a law with prey- first to the pile gets what they want. The first day after Duck and Sunkit had gotten their jobs, Sunkit had gone to get a yummy-looking mouse, but Pine snatched it from under her nose.

Something terrible had happened, too. Things were always vicious, but this had scared Sunkit down to the bones. Spot, the white and black Queen, had gone to the pile of prey to get something to eat. She was very skinny and needed to keep her strength up, but when she was reaching for a rat, a tabby Slayer named Scritch had stolen it from her.

Spot had protested and grabbed it back from Scritch, and then Scritch had attacked her. For a bit, there were screeches and blood flying everywhere, then Spot fell away, dead on the ground, Scritch holding the prey.

That scene had just proven to Sunkit how terrible it was here.

“Sunkit!” snapped a voice from outside. Sunkit jumped and raced out of her den to find Bloodspiller waiting for her.

“Some Kittypets keep sneaking our prey!” Bloodspiller spat. “We’re going on a mission to put them in their place!”

Sunkit groaned internally. This meant blood being spilled over a few innocent Kittypets, probably just enjoying their claws while they have them.

Sunkit followed Bloodspiller along in the dark alley, knowing her way around in the dark by now, until they emerged into sunlight. There, four cats waited for them. Pine, Tinyclaw, Tiger and Scritch.

“The Kittypets aren’t far away, so get your claws ready.” Bloodspiller advised. “There are six, one for each of us to kill. Sunkit, I want you and Pine to duck in first and kill whatever gets under your claws. If things get tougher, the rest of us will join.”

Sunkit trembled. She didn’t want to kill and innocent cat! She could use the time to run away, but it wouldn't do nothing. She had to kill a cat, if only to save her life. She didn’t want to, but she couldn’t run away. She would be killed, then the others would kill the Kittypets anyway.

“Ready, Sunkit?” Bloodspiller asked the junior Slayer. “Time to get your claws a bit bloody.”

The group of six cats padded quietly along the Twoleg streets. The morning sun glowed down upon them as the last bits of dew melted away. They had been walking for what felt like hours when the smell of catnip drifted over Sunkit.

“Mmmm! I love that smell!” Sunkit purred out loud to herself. “Maybe I should bring some home.”

“No time for luxuries, softy!” Pine spat. Sunkit was surprised to find that Bloodspiller wasn’t the one to shout at her. He was staring at her in amazement.

Now that Sunkit thought about it, whenever she had been cheerful, Bloodspiller never criticized her. He just always stared at her with a strange look on his face. And a smile.

“We’re here, boss.” Tinyclaw said, pointing a claw at a Twoleg den ahead. In yard were two Kittypets, talking with another two Kittypets in the yard.

“Where’s Gem and Katnip?” one of the Kittypets asked.

“They’re in their house.” Another Kittypet replied. “They’ll be out in a minute.”

“But you won’t live to see them, prey-stealers!” Pine hissed. He and Sunkit leaped into the yards, Sunkit attacking a golden she-cat. She sliced at the she-cat’s ears and belly, and the Kittypets all screeched.

Sunkit reached down towards the she-cat neck for a death-strike. She glanced into the she-cat orange eyes. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t kill an innocent cat.

“Sunkit, why aren’t you killing that softy?” Pine spat through the fence, a dead ginger tom at his paws.

“I’m not killing an innocent Kittypet.” Sunkit meowed, looking up at the scarred black tom.

“Why, you!” pine spat, slipping through the fence to get closer to Sunkit. “Your orders were to kill! Disobeyers are prey!”

Pine leaped at Sunkit, and the tiny dark ginger she-cat cringed. Any second now, she would be dead.

“STOP!” came a screech. Pine was knocked out of the air, and Sunkit blinked in surprise. The Kittypets had fled, except for the dead tom. As Sunkit scanned the yard, she saw Bloodspiller standing over Pine, growling at him.

“Why did you stop me, Bloodspiller?” Pine hissed. “It is the way of the Rogueclaw!”

“The way of the Rogueclaw is to listen to me, the leader!” The mottled tom hissed. “And I say that any cat who dares to hurt this she-cat will die!”

Sunkit blinked in surprise. Why was Bloodspiller helping her?

Chapter 8
Sunkit curled to sleep in her nest next to Duck. “Sunkit, we need to leave this place.” Duck sighed sleepily. “I can’t stand the violence much longer. Tinyclaw almost killed that new recruit- Goldy- for a sparrow.”

“I know.” Sunkit sighed back. “But If we leave now, we’ll be killed. We have to wait for the right moment.”

The two friends drifted off to sleep.

Sunkit blinked open her eyes to find herself not in the blood-soaked and death-scented home of the Rogueclaws, but a pleasant field with a stream cutting through it.

Before her stood cats both sleek and beautiful. It seemed as though stars were woven into their pelt. Some, at the back of the group, were almost transparent but the ones at the front were solid.

“We are StarClan, and we watch what could have been your home.” The cats echoed, all at once.

“What could have been-" Sunkit thought about that statement for a moment. “Does that mean you know where I came from?”

A cat at the front nodded. “You came from four groups of cats whom call themselves clans. You were born halfway between two clans, but, running from Twolegs, your mother accidentally dropped you. When she went back to get you, your Twoleg had already picked you up.”

“My mother left me?” Sunkit suddenly felt hollow inside.

“She didn’t want to, but she had to.” The cat at the front, a spotted she-cat, padded forward. “This is not what we came to you to discuss. We wish to show you something, something that happened many moons ago.”

Suddenly, the scene around Sunkit turned to water and flowed around her, colors swishing like liquid. Her head flipped around, getting dizzy, until she was suddenly dropped out of the vortex of color-water and fell into a clearing.

It appeared to be a camp of some sort. Cats padded around, in and out of various dens, eating fresh-kill, discussing borders and hunting with older cats, all-in-all a pleasant day. Sunkit felt herself being drawn to one den that smelled of mother’s milk.

She slipped into the entrance, and gasped. It seemed as though the cats inside didn’t hear her gasp, however, and continued with what they were saying. The two cats were one dark ginger she-cat, lying in a nest and her belly full of kits, the other was a familiar silver tabby tom. A mottled Tabby tom. It was Bloodspiller! Only much, much younger and with less scars.

“Sunnyskies, are you sure you’re okay?” Younger-Bloodspiller meowed.

“Yes, Mottlecloud. The kits aren’t due for at least another moon.” Sunnyskies, the ginger cat, purred, smacking Bloodspiller playfully with a paw. Bloodspiller, or Mottlecloud, just purred back.

“I love you, and I just want you to be safe.” He meowed.

“Bloodspiller, you have a mate?” Sunkit murmured quietly.

There was no answer. Apparently they didn't hear her.

Suddenly, a bunch of cats pushed their way into the den, hissing. Bloodspiller turned to protect his mate, but was thrown aside. One of the strange cats held a claw above Sunnyskies.

“We need more recruits!” the stranger hissed. “The Rogueclaws are becoming endangered.”

A ginger tom stepped up to Sunnyskies, whom was hissing and clawing at her attacker, and grabbed her tail. They dragged her out into the camp, where there was hissing, spitting and fighting.

Sunkit followed, watching another queen being dragged by her tail after Sunnyskies. Mottlecloud/Bloodspiller raced after them, but was knocked back by a tom that Sunkit recognized as Shatter, the second in command of the Rogueclaws in current time.

Sunkit gasped with horror as she watched the cats wrestling the queens out of camp, holding off the cats defending them. They were taking away the queens!

“STOP!” Mottlecloud hissed, causing every cat in the clearing to pause in surprise at how loud his voice could get. “Don’t take the queens.”

“Who are you to stop us, softy?” Shatter hissed.

“If you leave my mate and this clan at peace, I will come with you.” He called. Many cats gasped, apparently they would never expect Mottlecloud to do such a thing. “If you leave them alone, then I will join you and fight your enemies. But you have to leave this clan alone.”

Suddenly, the scene dissolved and she was back in StarClan. “He sacrificed himself for his love and his clan.” The spotted she-cat meowed.

“He gave himself as a sacrifice to save his love.” Sunkit murmured to herself. Then she thought of something. “Thank you for telling me.” Sunkit meowed to the spotted she-cat. “Can you tell me where this clan is?”

Chapter 9
“Sunkit, where are we going?” Duck asked.

“I’d like to ask that myself.” meowed Soul.

“It’s a surprise.” Sunkit meowed. The three were padding down the road in the middle of the night, a Twoleg-thing in between them. The Twoleg-thing was net-like, and it was full of kits they had snuck out of the Nursery.

“They’re going to kill us if they found out we were sneaking these kits away, Sunkit.” Duck meowed, voice muffled through the net in his mouth.

“We won’t be killed, at least, if Bloodspiller gets a say.” Sunkit meowed, “I’ll explain what we’re doing when we get there. Coo will meet us outside of town with some of the newer recruits who wanted to leave as well.”

The reason they had found it so easy to sneak out was that there was big raid on a Pet Store tomorrow, bringing in all the kittens being sold as Kittypets and killing all the Hamsters and birds as prey. Every cat was sleeping to gain their strength, except for Duck, Sunkit and the other cats that Sunkit had told about this adventure the day before. Duck had been guarding the Nursery, so it had been easy to sneak the kits out and tell Coo too meet them outside of town.

Sunkit was looking for RiverClan, the Clan where Bloodspiller, or Mottlecloud, and Sunnyskies had lived.

She needed to stop the Rogueclaws, and she had a plan on how to. The first step was to sneak out all the kits, so they got no new recruits.

Suddenly, there was a call, like to coo of a dove. “Coo!” Sunkit called through the net in her mouth. There was a smack on her head as one of the younger kits in the net hit her head with a paw.

“Sunkit! Duck! Soul! Good to see you!” Coo called in her soft voice. She had three kits on her back and two in her mouth. “I got the last of the kits!” Coo dropped the kits in the net then took up a corner to even it out.

They continued, walking for what seemed like hours, until a lake came into view. They had come into a pine forest, and Coo was whispering to the kits to keep them quiet, hoping no hostile cats would attack. After slipping through the forest and to the edge of the lake, they crossed a stream and into a marshy territory.

“What are we doing here, Sunkit?” Duck asked again.

“We’ll be there soon.” Sunkit meowed. They crossed the stream and soon came into the camp that Sunkit remembered from her dream.

The second they stood in camp, cats started yowling and hissing. The yowling and hissing woke other cats until the whole clan was awake, facing the four cats with the kits in a net.

“What are you doing here?” demanded a brown tom.

Suddenly, a crowd parted as a blue-gray she-cat came through. “What are you doing in RiverClan camp?” she asked.

Sunkit and the others carefully set down the net full of kits. “We need a safe home for these kits, for one.” Sunkit meowed. “And second, we came to seek the one known as ‘Sunnyskies’.”

The blue-gray she-cat blinked in surprise, then flicked her tail for the dark ginger she-cat to step forward.

“I am Sunkit.” Sunkit introduced herself to Bloodspiller’s former mate. “Member of the Rogueclaws.”

Suddenly, the whole clan started hissing and spitting again. One cat launched himself at Sunkit, but she stood on her hind legs, and pushed him away as hard as she could with her forepaws. He was flung far away, and the cats gasped in amazement at the strength of the young kit.

“I am not here for what you think.” Sunkit continued. “My friends here, Duck, Coo and Soul, we were all taken into the Rogueclaws against our will. We want to stop them from making these kits’ lives terrible as well.” Sunkit glanced at the kits in the net, twelve in all. “And we come to see Sunnyskies, who was the former mate of our leader, Bloodspiller.”

“Former… mate?” Sunnyskies murmured, speaking for the first time. “You…you mean Mottlecloud?”

“Yes.” Sunkit meowed. She heard the three other Rogueclaw behind her gasp, but continued on. “He sacrificed himself to save this clan. I need you to come back with me to help stop the Rogueclaws.”

“How can we know that we can trust you?” a gray tom spat.

Sunkit blinked. “Shouldn’t me knowing that Mottlecloud, or Bloodspiller, came from here at least be evidence enough?”

Chapter 10
The group of five cats padded into town. They had left the kits with RiverClan, who were going to take care of them until they decided if they could feed that many new mouths, and were heading back to Rogueclaw.

“You see,” Sunkit meowed, “This clan, StarClan, visited me in my dream! They told me all about this, and I decided that the only way to stop Rogueclaw was to take away it’s leader. The best way to do that is to bring him back his mate and encourage him to go home.”

“But won’t they just get a new leader and attack RiverClan now that the agreement is over?” Sunnyskies pointed out.

“No,” Sunkit meowed. “because we’ll talk to Bloodspiller, or Mottlecloud, in private. I’ll explain the rest later.”

Suddenly, Sunnyskies sniffed the air. “Catnip! I love that smell. Maybe I should bring some home to RiverClan.”

“SUNKIT!” Hissed a voice. Sunkit trembled on the spot. Would they kill her for missing the raid on the Pet Store?

Suddenly, a scarred, mottled, silver tabby tom landed in front of Sunkit. He was hissing until he noticed the dark ginger she-cat standing behind Sunkit. “S-Sunnyskies?” he meowed.

“Mottlecloud!” Sunnyskies purred, racing over to her former mate. “These cats brought me here!”

“Bloodspiller,” Sunkit meowed, “Would you like to come home to RiverClan?”

Bloodspiller blinked. “How do you know? Only Splatter and Scythe know I came form RiverClan.”

“It’s a long story.” Sunkit meowed, “But we have a plan to get you back to RiverClan without the Rogueclaws attacking.”

Bloodspiller sat on top of a box. “There are some Kittypets who have been stealing our prey again.” Bloodspiller meowed. “I only want two cats on this project. Shatter and Scythe, you will going to the other side of Twolegplace where these Kittypets like to live.”

Shatter and Scythe nodded, then turned to leave.

Bloodspiller jumped off the box and padded over to Sunkit’s den, where she, Duck, Sunnyskies, Coo and Soul were hiding. “Come on, let’s go.” He meowed.

As they followed the two Senior Slayers’ tracks through town, Bloodspiller kept purring to his mate, happy to see her again. After awhile, he fell to the back of the group to speak to Sunkit. “You know, that’s why I was soft on you.” He meowed.

“Why?” Sunkit asked.

“You reminded me of her. She always wanted to bring herbs home because she loved the smell. She would fight to end of her life all the time, but would never kill a cat who didn’t deserve it. She was kind and caring, but clever and strong.”

Sunkit smiled. It was the best praise she had ever gotten from the Rogueclaw leader.

“Shatter used to lead the Rogueclaws.” Bloodspiller meowed. “He was worse than me. But I beat him in a battle after I became a senior Slayer, and leadership was pawed over to me.”

“Shatter would make an evil leader.” Sunkit meowed.

“I hear them up ahead.” Sunnyskies meowed. “Sunkit, are you sure this plan will work?”

“Positive.”

The five cats leaped into a Kittypet garden. Shatter and Scythe flipped around and hissed. “What are you dong here?” they asked.

“We’re stopping the Rogueclaws.” Sunkit meowed. Bloodspiller ran forward, hissing. Confused, the two cats did nothing for a moment. They didn’t react until they had been dragged out onto the street.

Scythe screeched and clawed at Sunkit. Sunkit, however, having been taught how to fight by one of the best fighter in the Rogueclaws, wasn’t an easy match. She reared on her hind legs and pushed Scythe on his back with her front paws. Then she pinned him down and sliced at his belly while Bloodspiller took on Shatter.

There were several moments of hissing and clawing until they heard the sound of Twolegs yowling. Sunkit had her ears pricked as she let Duck and Sunnyskies sight Scythe. She climbed a fence to get a better view and listened hard.

Then she heard it. The sound of wheels coming fast on the black stone of the street.

“Run!” she yowled, and Bloodspiller, Sunnyskies, Duck, Soul, Coo and Sunkit left in a hurry. They hid behind a box as Scythe and Shatter looked around in curiosity, wondering why their attackers had fled.

Then the big “Animal Control Truck” came screeching around the corner. Two Twolegs got out and raced after Shatter and Scythe, who had run off. They soon caught them, put them in cages, and put them in the back of a truck.

“And now no cat will ever attack RiverClan, because no other cat knows of the agreement.” Sunkit meowed, as though concluding a conversation. “They should know not to fight in the middle of plain sight.”

“Well, how do we stop the Rogueclaws?” Duck asked his friend. “Your goal wasn’t to stop them from hurting RiverClan, it was to stop them hurting any cat.”

“Well, I can’t stop them hurting any cat.” Sunkit meowed, “But I think the Rogueclaws themselves will be over.”

Chapter 11
The five cats returned to the Rogueclaws. They all climbed up onto the boxes, and Bloodspiller spoke. “Cats of the Rogueclaws, gather here for I have an important announcement.”

They waited as all the cats gathered below in the darkness.

“The Rogueclaws are over. I am leaving, and Shatter and Scythe have disappeared. There is no leader now, so The Rogueclaws must disband.”

Most of the cats, in spite of themselves, cheered. Sunkit realized how many had been forced to join against their will. Only the Senior Slayers looked unhappy.

“Why can’t one of us, the Senior Slayers, take the leader position?” Pine asked.

“You can choose among yourselves if you truly want the position.” Bloodspiller meowed. Sunkit wasn’t surprised- they had planned this.

A few days later, all the cats had left. The five cats whom had planned all this had stayed behind to watch the battles between the Slayers, but it had gone like they thought.

They had all killed each other. FirstPine had killed most, then him and Fang had killed each other.

Sunkit and Sunnyskies were upset that cats had to die, but after some thought they realized that they were too murderous to live without the Rogeuclaws.

The Rogueclaws were over. Sunkit’s mission was complete.

Epilogue
Mistystar, the gray-blue leader of RiverClan, announced to her clan, “Today we welcome some cats to our clan. First, we welcome back Sunnyskies, who had gone on a mission and has returned. We also welcome back Mottlecloud, who has returned from his terrible lifestyle as a Rogueclaw. We also welcome two new cats,, who Mottlecloud knows are RiverClan material. Sunkit and Duck!”

The clans cheered, but Sunkit’s head was reeling. “Wait!” she meowed. “Before I join this clan, I must check one last thing.”

Sunkit raced through the pine forest and into another territory that she had never seen before. StarClan guided her paws and cleared her path, whispering, “Your home lies here, in ThunderClan.” Over and over again.

Sunkit finally reached the edge of a cliff. Below, she could see cats bustling around. They were going about their daily business. She saw a light brown she-cat guiding a gray tabby tom, herbs in each of their mouths. A Black she-cat apprentice and a golden tom apprentice play-fought, practicing their battle skills.

“Are these my family?” She asked the StarClan cats. They didn’t answer. Sunkit just watched the cats below, bustling about and enjoying their lives.

Sunkit stood and turned around, padding in the opposite direction. “I’m not meant to be here.” She decided. “My blood may come from this clan, and the other clan, but my heart lies outside the Warrior Code.”

She gazed up at the sky. “I am no Rogueclaw. I am no Clan cat. I… think I should go where I have belonged this whole time.”

Sunkit scratched at the door. It was flung open, and Bethany looked down on the kitten. “Fluffy!” She gasped. She grabbed the dark ginger kitten and brought her inside.

“I have completed my destiny. “Sunkit meowed. “Now, I’m back home.”

The End