Author's Note: This is set a long, long LOONNGG time ago when there were only two clans: Moonclan and Sunclan, the clan of darkness and the clan of light. This is the story of how the two clans came to be.

DISCLAIMER: warrior Cats belongs to Erin Hunter (not me )

A small black kitten trembled. She was backed up against a wall, two toms stood over her, menacingly. One was large and muscular and had a long, narrow scar over his left eye, the stench of rotting flesh swarmed up the kittens nose, making her want to gag. The other was lean and scrawny, one tooth was far longer than the other and protruded from his top lip.

"Give us the food and no one will get hurt" the muscular tom spat the lean one giggled "good 'un Thorn" he said with a snort. This caused Thorn to smirk. The kitten, having no other choice dropped the crow-food she had been carrying. Thorn scooped it up in his powerful jaws and aimed a paw at her, scoring his thick, yellowed claws down her eye for good measure before he turned and swaggered off into the night.

The kitten lay, curled up and shivering. She shook her head, trying to no avail to stop the stinging in her eye.

Author's Note: Just to let you know time skips to when the kitten (Shadow) is an adult

Shadow stood at the edge of the city, behind her flickering street-lights dimly lit the murky city. She began to walk towards the forest, leaving her old life in the city behind.

As she walked her thoughts drifted back to the night she had gained her scar. As she had lain there, shivering with blood dripping from her eye she had made a vow. A vow that she would never be weak enough to let others hurt her again. She had started fighting. At first she had been easily overpowered but she slowly progressed, turning into the mean, well-muscled cat she was today. Her scar was a trademark, not one that showed weakness but one to let cats know who she was, to show she was someone to be feared. And now after two years of living rough on the streets she had decided to go to the forest.

Shadow took a deep breath, she stood at the edge of the forest, and she exhaled slowly before stepping into the vast undergrowth. Instantly hundreds of scents met her delicate nose. Her sensitive ears picked up the sound of prey in the undergrowth, reminding her of her growling stomach. The moon was now at its highest peak in the starry sky. Shadow's eyes narrowed to slits, were just about able to pick out a dense, leafy bush which she crawled under and fell into an uneasy sleep.

Shadow awoke to the sound of faint rustling, she opened her yellow eyes and peered through the gaps between the leaves. A plump mouse mat just a few tails in front of her, nibbling at a nut held between its dainty paws. Shadow noted that it was upwind which gave her a clear advantage.

She eased herself out from the shade of the large leaves and slowly made her way towards her unsuspecting prey. She was about to pounce when a twig snapped beneath her paw. The mouse turned, its eyes widening as it saw her. She cursed herself as it turned and fled, with her about to give chase.

Suddenly a mottled blur shot out of the trees, landing square on the mouse, and swiftly killing it. The skinny mottled tom looked up to see an angry she-cat approaching a scar covered her left eye which was firmly closed, the scar was an angry red where the fur had not grown back. He quickly flicked his gaze from the approaching cat to the dead mouse under his paws. Piecing things together he quickly stepped away from the creature.

"Oh, sorry" he muttered sheepishly. "I know you probably saw it first and…" "Damn right I did" Shadow barked, interrupting him mid-sentence. She grabbed the mouse and began gulping down large mouthfuls of the tender flesh.

"Woah, you must be starving" the tom said as he watched her. She merely grunted in reply, stood up her meal finished, and began to walk away. The mottled, young tom stood for a moment taken aback by her rudeness before he started to follow her. "My name's Cody" he said cheerily. The surly she-cat remained silent "so…what's your name?" he asked. "Shadow she grunted. "Are-" "look," Shadow interrupted him once again "is there a reason your following me around like a lost dog, or is there something you want to say to me?" she spat.

She glared at the strange tom that had tried to steal her prey why was he following her? She wondered. She felt bad for snapping at him once she took in his miserable expression. "Sorry" she murmured "it's just that I'm not used to people asking about me, usually they either want a fight or want me to fight someone for them" she admitted with a shrug. Why was she telling him this? She wondered she never told anyone these things. Ever! Especially not to some stranger she had just met.

"It's alright" Cody purred "I just wanted to ask if…if I could come with you, it's my first time in the forest and…and I thought I'd be safer with someone else", to her surprise she found herself agreeing to let him come with her. "Fine" she had snarled "you can come" she added in a much softer voice. And so shadow set off into the forest with Cody at her side, unsure of what she was trying to find.

The sun warmed Flare's back as he sat happily on the steps of his twoleg home. Birds tweeted in the thin trees that lined his garden and the loud clattering from inside told him that his housefolk were preparing his dinner. He yawned and stretched before wandering into the house through the open door.

It was summer, Flare loved the summer. The small housefolk always had a soft, cold creamy that they kindly dropped on the floor for him to lick up and crunch his way through the wafer cone-shaped thing that came with it. The summer also meant that his forest friend would be coming to visit him.

Flare wandered out in the afternoon sun, he sat on the wall at the end of the forest and squinted at it. To his joy a mottled, grey she-cat emerged from the dense trees. "Sage" he yowled as he jumped down to greet her. "It's good to see you, Flare" she purred. Flare looked at his friend. She was a lot scrawnier than when he had last seen her, her ribs were clearly visible through her pelt which had lost its usual sheen and taken on a dull appearance.

"Sage, are you…are you okay?" he asked alarmed. She sighed as she sat down "it was a hard spring" she muttered "but it'll get better though, now that its summer" she said, her voice taking on an unusually high squeak. "Sage" Flare sighed "I've know you long enough to know that you're lying" he told her gently "what's wrong?" he asked her gently.

A pained expression took over her usually cheerful features. "I-it's no big deal" she half laughed, he knew she was lying again but decided to stay silent. "Some toms from the city moved in, they um…they won't let me hunt and they've got cats everywhere they stop me from hunting and they take any prey I have" her voice was laced with desperation at this point.

Suddenly an idea sparked in Flare's mind. "We'll move to a different forest just me and you-""and my kits" Sage added. "And your kits…" Flare trailed off as he realised what she had said. "And your kits!" "Well, kit" she said a tearful expression replacing the pained one, their father was killed by the city cats when they first came and the other two…" a small sob wracked her small frame. Flare licked her face in sympathy and murmured comforting words in her ear.

He was shocked to see his usually cheery friend in such a horrible condition. "We'll find another forest" he told her again "just the three of us". "But what about your twolegs you can't leave them, I can't let you give up your comfortable life for me" she protested. I'd give up anything for you he thought silently, aloud he said "I've wanted to live in the forest for ages anyway" with a slight chuckle. She looked him in the eyes. "Thank you…"

Author's Note: thanks for reading. I'll try to update regularly. Please review, constructive critism is greatly appreciated.

I am Nightwolf, King of the Wolves, and Leader of all Packs.

I am the teller of tales forgotten.

I am the Storyteller