DISCLAIMER:

Last time I checked, I'm not Erin Hunter.

"Mom? Mom? MOM!?" I nearly yowled the last word in my mothers ear.

"What? I was SLEEPING!" hissed the light tabby. That was my mom, Shadowheart. On either side of her nestled two of my siblings, Blackkit and Whitekit. There are four of us. Blackkit is obviously black, and very troublesome. Whitekit is white, and one of the sweetest cats you'd ever meet. Then there's Sunkit, a light ginger tom, and me, Moonkit.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but... Icekit stopped breathing," I meowed quietly, trying not to wake up my siblings. Icekit was a white tom with blue eyes. He sadly was deaf in one ear, as most white blue-eyed cats were. It seemed to only be one was as only one eye was blue. He had had a bad cough all day, and his sister. Flamekit was very worried, as she had already lost one of her sibling this winter.

"What? Go get Gingerfoot! NOW!" my mother screeched. I stumbled out of the small cave that was the nursery, into snow that went up to my belly fur. Shivering, I plowed my way to Gingerfoot's den as fast as I could. Icekit was one of my best friends, and I couldn't think of what life would be like without him. As I entered the slightly larger cave of the medicine cat, I saw Gingerfoot staring at the sky through a small chink in the ceiling of his cave. He seemed to be in a trance, so he didn't respond even when I nearly yowled loud enough to make him deaf. Taking a deep breath, I bit down hard on his ginger tipped tail.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" he yowled. That was the second cat to get mad at me tonight! Geez!

"Icekit stopped breathing!!" I meowed. Gingerfoot nearly knocked me over running out of his den. I just stood there dumbfounded for a second. By the time I got to the nursery through the snow again (the wind had picked up through the entrance to the larger cave that was our camp and cover my path), I saw Lightheart, head bowed over Icekit.

"I can't believe it," came her soft voice. "He was so young." I didn't have to ask to figure out what had happened. I couldn't believe it. If I had been maybe a few heartbeats faster, if I hadn't taken so long to get Shadowheart, or went directly to Gingerfoot, Icekit might've been okay. My head low, I closed my eyes and began to sleep, in my little nook in the stone walls.

"Get up! Get up get up get up!" The voice of Whitekit awoke me the next morning.

"Why? Let me sleep a bit longer!" I grumbled, flicking Whitekit with my tail. She was always up early. The little perfectionist.

"We're going to be apprentices today!!" she exclaimed. I admit, that got my attention. "Come on! Lets wake Icekit and Flamekit!"

"Whitekit, Icekit died last night," Blackkit meowed in his usual, gloomy voice. That silenced my sister.

"Oh." Whitekit looked a bit sad, but not for long. "Oh well! We're going to be APPRENTICES!" she said excitedly. I shook my head. 'That's my sister'I thought, rather annoyed. Of all my siblings, I hated Whitekit the most. Lets face it, she was pretty, she was smart, she was good at almost everything (even I could beat her at a race, and I was pretty pathetic), she was happy, and everyone loved her. Did I forget to mention that she was pretty?

"Come on, Sunkit. Lets go hide before Shadowheart tries to wash us again," I meowed to my brother. He was my favourite sibling, and in my eyes, was the only one whose perception on life wasn't distorted (Whitekit thought everything was perfect, and Blackkit thought everything was the worst it could ever be).

"Sure! Maybe we can sneak out of ca-," He was cut off as Shadowheart started roughly licking him between his ears. "Or not."

"Now now, after today, you won't even have to sneak off!" meowed my mother.

"So, do you know who our mentors will be?" Whitekit asked in her normal, annoying sing-song happy-happy voice.

"Yes, and Stonestar let me help decide. I'm not allowed to say," Shadowheart meowed between licks, "You'll find out soon enough." Sadly, 'soon enough' didn't quite come soon enough. It wasn't until sun-high that Stonestar, the large, strong leader of CaveClan, called the meeting.

"Let all cats old enough to leave the Cave gather beneath the Highhole for a clan Meeting," called the large, admirable Clan leader. Shadowheart herded my siblings and I out of the nursery, our fur cleaned. Whitekit was easily recognisable, with her gleaming white fur seeming to generate it's own radiance. Did I mention that she really gets on my nerves?

"Don't be nervous," Shadowheart mewed to us quietly.

"Members of the Clan, it is time again for our oldest kits to join our apprentices. Would Blackkit, Whitekit, Sunkit and Moonkit please come forward?" Stonestar meowed from a high dent in the cave wall. It was actually the enterance to his den, and threw shadows over his dark gray fur.

"Come on!" Sunkit whispered, as the four of us approached the small series of ledges that led up to the Highhole. Stonestar gave us a nod, and we jumped to join our leader.

"Rosepetal, please come forward," meowed Stonestar. A light ginger she-cat came forward out of the shadowed corners of his den. "Rosepetal, you are one of our oldest and strongest warriors. Many of our younger warriors have been your apprentices, and it is time for you to take on another. Whitekit, until your training has ended, you will be known as Whitepaw. Rosepetal, please share all your knowledge with this young cat." At that, Rosepetal breifly touched noses with Whitepaw before they moved off to the side. Rosepetal was one of the Clans' best warriors. Did I mention hor much I hate Whitepaw?

"Silvertail, please come forward," continued thr leader. A light tabby she-cat of diffrent shades of gray, giving her a silver appearance came forard this time. "Silvertail, you are one of our newest warriors. You have been trained by Rosepetal, and certainly are a credit to the Clan. It is time for you to take your first apprentice. Blackkit, until you receive your warrior name, you shall be known as Darkpaw. Silvertail, please pass on all your abilities to this young cat," Silvertail then touched noses with Blackpaw, and the two cats moved off to the side.

"Gingerfoot, please come forward," my heart leapt with hope. Wither Sunkit or me would be the medicine cat apprentice! It was a rank I had always envied Silentpaw for, until she passed away from the Greencough that ravaged the Clan earlier in the season. It then seemed to fall even below the ground that the Cave rested on when Stonestar continued. "Sunkit, Gingerfoot has requested you as his apprentice. Do you accept?"

"I do," After Sunkit spoke those words, my ears seemed to stop working. How could he? Sunkit KNEW that I had always wanted to be medicine cat apprentice! More than anything! I can't believe that he did that! It wasn't until I heard a hushed wisper that I seemed to awake from my little trance.

"Hello? Earth to Moonpaw?" Spottedpelt, a light silver she-cat with darker flecks stared down at me. Moonpaw? I must've missed my own cerimony! I hurridely touched noses with the older cat, and turned around. I could hear the Clan chanting,

"Whitepaw! Blackpaw! Sunpaw! Moonpaw! Whitepaw! Blackpaw! Sunpaw! Moonpaw!" I then jumped down from the ledge, hardly noticing as my legs tingled. Apparently, I still couldn't land properly when jumping from heights. Just another reason to choose Sunpaw over me.

"What happened back there?" Spottedpelt asked, as she caught up with me.

"Nothing," I grumbled before running off to the apprentices den. It had a much lower ceiling than the nursery, and was much cosier. I curled up to sleep, and didn't awake until the moon was high in the sky. In the medicine cat's den.