Loathing

Hollypaw's delicate black paws treaded carefully over the tree bark. The full moon shone on her ebony fur, turning it silver. She pounced gracefully onto the grass, glad to be away from the icy water. It was leaf-bare, after all!

Her forest-green eyes floated over the crowded island, taking in every single cat. The apprentice searched for a small gray apprentice by the name of Willowpaw, but her gaze was filled with someone else.

Amber and green eyes met in a glare filled with sincere loathing. "So, I see the little WindClan runt made it to the Gathering." She whispered to herself as she angrily stalked past him.

Breezepaw. The WindClan apprentice meant nothing but trouble to Hollypaw. Who did he think he was, anyway? He jumped around thinking in his demented little brain that he was better than any other cat. Did he notice at all how annoying and whiny he was? That it started to anger others when all he did was complain? Even his own fathercouldn't stand it. And yet, he paraded everywhere like he was the leader of StarClan.

In the midst of all of Hollypaw's furious thoughts, a she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Amber eyes glowed in the darkness no farther that a tail length away. The ThunderClan apprentice stopped dead, and whirled around to face the tom. Her teeth bared in a defensive snarl. "Would you quit stalking me, you little piece of fox dung?" she snarled to him.

Breezepaw flinched, and stared at her looking angry and even hurt. "Stalking you? Why would ANYONE ever want to be caught dead with you?" he hissed back, his voice cracking.

Hollypaw glared into his defiant amber eyes, letting out a quiet yowl of protest. "I could ask the same thing. News flash for you, no one likes you. They never have!" The tom shrank back, his eyes wet with fury… and sorrow? What was wrong with him? Where were the insults? The snarling and fussing? All Hollypaw heard was upset silence. She heard the four leaders above in the Great Oak discussing the gathering, and allowing them to argue –or not- without interruption.

"I… I know." He whispered quietly, staring at the ground below him. Hollypaw's green eyes widened in shock.

"Wait… what?" she asked in surprise. It was as if the annoying little thing she had fought with in the mountains had melted into an entirely new cat. He looked up at her, their eyes connecting for a long moment. For once, she could see all of the pain in his amber eyes. His beautiful, glowing amber eyes…

"No one ever liked me. I know…" he sighed, collapsing onto the grass. Hollypaw laid down too, ready with curiosity at what he had to say. Breezepaw started his story again. "No one liked me even before I was born! The other Clan members knew some terrible thing my father did, and expected me to be just like him." Seeing Hollypaw's confusion, he added quickly, " I don't know what he was, they never told me."

"The other apprentices shunned me, and picked on me. I had to act tougher than I felt to get them to back off. No one ever liked me. Never…" He paused for a moment. Hollypaw was about to tell him not to go on if he didn't want to, but he continued before she got the chance.

"Even Crowfeather, my father, didn't like me. To him, I was a disappointment. All I ever wanted to do was make him proud…" he trailed off, lost in thought.

Hollypaw couldn't believe what she heard. Breezepaw. What had happened to him? She had never guessed he had… known. It was almost that ignorance was bliss in his case. He knew what everyone thought of him, which was harder than not know whyhe was treated differently. She had always thought the black tom falling apart before her was just another arrogant kit. It had never come to her mind that maybe she was wrong. Hollypaw didn't know what to say. Her mind froze.

"I like you." She heard a voice, interrupting her thoughts. Breezepaw? Was that him? I like you too, her mind said to the she-cat subconsiously. Wait, what?? How could she say that? Well, think that. Could somewhere, deep in her mind, she felt for Breezepaw in a different way then she ever thought possible? Hollypaw was confused.

She pushed herself away from the Windclan apprentice. His amber eyes looked at her in confusion, and she turned away. In a moment, all that could be seen of Hollypaw was a little speck of black racing towards her friends, and away from Breezepaw.

(A/N This was set in between the end of Outcast and Eclipse. I'm making a series of these, but I'll need feedback. Tell me if it's good enough for me to continue!

P.S I won't continue without at least 5 reviews.

-Dovetail)