Ah! I realized that I haven't updated in months! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm SO sorry! (bows apologetically) But anyways, here's the next chappie!! Pweez ENJOY!!! And REIVEW! Thanks a bunch! XD

Chapter 3: Yellowfang

Firepaw groaned, as if in reply, his stomach growled with hunger. He dropped his head onto his paws, feeling all grumpy.

"What's the matter?" Graypaw padded beside him, sitting down.

"Tigerclaw caught me attacking Sandpaw." Firepaw muttered sulkily. "So he didn't allow me to eat any fresh-kill."

"Well, she deserved it." Graypaw shot a glance at Sandpaw, who was tearing into a starling.

"So did I." Firepaw meowed sarcastically.

"Don't feel so bad about it." Graypaw licked Firepaw's ear. "At least you did well on our assessment. I took us five times to get all the fresh-kill we caught!" his eyes shined proudly.

Firepaw felt better. Yeah...I least I did good on my assessment...then he suddenly remembered the look Sandpaw gave him on their confontation. He glanced at Spottedleaf, whose wounds had healed well and eating a juicy mouse in front of the medicine cat's den.

"Ah, well," Graypaw stood up and stretched. "I've gotta get some sleep, today's assessment really wore me out!"

Firepaw watched as his friend padded lazily into the apprentices' den, his gaze flickering over a certain ginger she-cat for a moment, but Firepaw quickly moved his gaze away. Sandpaw was acting weird, he could tell, but he didn't know the reason, which made curiousity creep inside him. A yawn broke through his thoughts and he realized that he was also feeling very drowsy. Firepaw got up and shook himself. As he brushed past Sandpaw on his way into the apprentices' den, he felt something well up his chest...not curiousity...but something warm and fuzzy...

- - - - - -

"Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join under the High Rock for a clan meeting!" Bluestar's yowl rang loudly into Firepaw's ears and he groaned. Firepaw curled himself into a tight ball in his nest, hoping to escape the clan meeting and get some more sleep. But obviously that didn't work, because he soon felt a paw prodding his side.

"Come on up, you lazy furball! Bluestar called a clan meeting, you know!" Firepaw blinked open his eyes and saw Graypaw hissing to him quietly.

Firepaw moaned and hauled up his stiffy body. He gave his ruffled fur a few quick licks and followed Graypaw out. "Bluestar sure calls a clan meeting early!" Firepaw complained.

"Early?" Graypaw stared at him like he was from StarClan, and sat down in the clearing. "It's already past sunhigh, you mousebrain!"

"It is?" Firepaw blurted out. He glanced up at the sun and realized that his friend was right. "Oh, yeah...it is." Firepaw meowed stupidly. He heard a little mrrow of laughter. he turned his head and saw Spottedleaf looking at him with amusement shining in her eyes. Firepaw felt his ears instantly burning hot and he studied his paws.

"Today, I'm here to announce that Sandpaw has brought an intruder into camp..." Firepaw pricked up his ears at the mention of Sandpaw, but he didn't know why.

"She smells like a lump of fox-dung!" a cat hissed.

"Why don't we chase her out?" spat another.

Only now did Firepaw crane his neck to see the intruder that was brought into camp. He saw a baggy furred gray she-cat with a very broad and flattened face. Firestar twitched his nose as he smelt the wrench of rotting fresh-kill mingled with fear scent. The she-cat's yellow eyes were wide but shone with hostility and defiance, her ears flattened as she bared her teeth at the ThunderClan cats.

"Arrogant, isn't she?" Graypaw whispered into Firepaw's ear.

"Silence!" Bluestar lashed her tail and signaled to Spottedleaf, who nodded and trotted over to the intruder.

Spottedleaf put down a bundle of herbs and approached the intruder, wanting to check her wounds, but the she-cat just snarled at Spottedleaf and drew back. "I don't need a medicine cat to look after me!"

Bluestar's whiskers twitched. "If I'm not wrong, you're the medicine of ShadowClan, Yellowfang, isn't it?"

"The former medicine cat." Yellowfang corrected, relaxing, but still glaring defiantly.

Firepaw suddenly took interest in the old snag bag, and tried to take a better look at her. But when he stretched his neck, he suddenly noticed Sandpaw sitting beside the High Rock, her chest puffed out proudly. Although she had some scratches, she seemed okay.

"You see that look in Sandpaw's eyes?" Graypaw hissed, disgusted. "She's acting as if she had just managed to kill a badger in the river!"

"Well, it's normal for her to be proud...and since she did bring an intruder into camp..." Firepaw stated slowly.

Graypaw looked at him in surprise. "You're talking for her?!"

"Longtail, Dustpaw, take Yellowfang to the fallen tree beside the elder's den and get her some bedding." Bluestar raised her voice. The two toms nodded their heads and padded up to nudge Yellowfang to her paws. Yellowfang snarled defiantly and struggled up. Firepaw's gaze followed her back until Bluestar spoke again.

"As I've mentioned before, Sandpaw has brought Yellowfang to camp, so she has done a good deed," Bluestar glanced at Sandpaw, "So she will get an extra fresh-kill and she will come to the next Gathering."

Firepaw felt his ears twitch and Graypaw whispered into his ear again. "And now, she gets to eat more from the fresh-kill we caught!"

"You can stop acting as a short-tempered lump of fur now!" Firepaw hissed back good-naturedly and stood up as Bluestar jumped down from the High Rock.

Graypaw groaned. "Whatever, just prepare to get your ears blocked so that they don't fall off by Sandpaw's boasting today."

Firepaw just nodded and dragged his paws back onto his nest and curled in. Just before he closed his eyes, he caught sight of Sandpaw poking her head into the apprentices' den and glanced at him with...expectation? Firepaw blinked away all his sleepiness, but went he looked at Sandpaw again, she was already backed towards him, heading for the medicine cat's den.