"Come on, come at me!" Brownclaw urged. Willowpaw crouched and lashed out her front paw. It hit Brownclaw on the side but he did not move. He raised an eyebrow. 
              "You can do better than that," he told her. "Try a paw strike." Willowpaw nodded. She repeated the move in her head then lashed out her paw quickly at Brownclaw's head. He blinked and nodded. 
           "Better," he said with an approving nod. "You need to bring it down faster and harder. Much harder and faster. And aim for this side of my head." Brownclaw motioned to the side of his head, right behind his ear. 
            "Ok," nodded Willowpaw. She didn't want to do it too hard though. She didn't want to hurt Brownclaw although it seemed nothing she did could hurt him. 
            "Right. Let's just do fight. Let's say I'm a RiverClan cat ok? Use all the moves we've learnt so far," Brownclaw said. "Ok?"
             "Yeah," nodded Willowpaw. She could do that. With that, Brownclaw lunged forward, aiming to trip Willowpaw. Swiftly, Willowpaw dodged and found herself behind Brownclaw. Brownclaw stumbled, spinning around quickly before Willowpaw could attack. 
             "You've got to be faster when attacking," Browclaw told her. "You're very good at dodging. You ended up behind me! That's perfect, you could have attacked me from there. Don't hesitate, alright? You're not going to hurt me. And you're not going to hurt yourself. It's just practise. Imagine being in a real fight. You really need to try. Come on." Willowpaw nodded once more. Taking a deep breath, she went for a belly rake. She had learnt the move the day before with Brownclaw. She had not mastered it yet and she was having trouble understanding the move but she tried it anyways. She slide under Brownclaw and struck at his unprotected belly. With ease, Brownclaw pinned her down. 
             "What do you do now?" he demanded. Willowpaw raked her brain for how to escape but she could not come up with anything. 
            "I don't know!" she cried. 
             "Use your back legs and claw at my stomach!" Brownclaw ordered. Willowpaw struggled and managed to rake her sheathed claws on Brownclaw's stomach. With a nod of approval, he stopped aside and swiped his paw forward. It hit Willowpaw on the head and she stumbled back dizzily. 
              "Oww," she mumbled. 
             "Come on Willowpaw. Come on!" Brownclaw encouraged. 
             "Ok ok ok," Willowpaw muttered to herself. "I can do it." Willowpaw straightened herself and in quick move, she was by Brownclaw's side and had sunk her teeth into his tail. He spun around and lashed out his back legs in an explosive movement. Willowpaw recognised it as a back kick. He had showed it to her before but he had decided she wasn't ready for it. With a squeak, Willowpaw let go of Brownclaw's tail to get out of his way. Brownclaw sighed and stared at her for a minute. 
             "Well. You're improving," he told her slowly. Willowpaw looked down, disappointed. What would her parents think? They already thought she was a disappointment. She was sure Stormkit would be much better at it then her. 
              "Hey, don't be disappointed," Brownclaw told her. "Look. You've got strengths and weaknesses. For one, your the fastest cat I've ever seen. If you used that for fighting then..., you'd be unbeatable. And you're very good at hunting!" Willowpaw nodded numbly. 
             "thanks," she said although she knew he was only trying to make feel better. 
             "We'll do more fighting tomorrow. Let's do some hunting now, right?" Brownclaw smiled at her expectantly. Willowpaw smiled back. 

Willowpaw returned into camp, a squirrel and a crow clamped in her mouth. She trotted proudly to the fresh kill pile and dumped the prey there. Ravenstripe gave her an approving look. Willowpaw suddenly felt embarrassed and looked down. She slunk away. Just then, Brownclaw called her over. He was resting underneath the shade of a tree. 
          "How are you feeling?" he asked. "Not so disappointed about today's fighting lesson, are you?" 
           "No..," Willowpaw lied. 
            "Sit," he told her. 
            "Ok..," Willowpaw sat down beside Brownclaw. He looked at her, his eyes piercing into her. Willowpaw looked away. 
           "Tell me, why are you so shy?" asked Brownclaw. 
            "I.. er-" Willowpaw frowned. She stared at her paws in embarrassment. She didn't know why she was so shy. Why she couldn't stand any attention. She just felt as if she didn't deserve it. Mintspot certainly didn't think she was good enough to be paid attention to. 
             "Is it because of Mintspot?" Brownclaw questioned. Willowpaw didn't answer. 
            "I.., no," she frowned. "I don't..., I'm sorry." 
              "don't be sorry. I know it's because of Mintspot, you know. She's not been helping your self confidence, has she? She doesn't hate you, you know," Brownclaw told her. Willowpaw shrugged. 
              "Do you know what happened that night?" Brownclaw asked. 
              "Yeah," Willowpaw nodded. 
               "You only know Mintspot's version though, don't you?" Brownclaw pointed out. "Let me tell you what really happened. Maybe your mind will change a bit. Maybe you'll realise that Mintspot does love you. You don't have to be so- I don't know how to say it but..., you don't have to think that everything you do will disappoint her. She is not disappointed in you. She's just..., sad and... broken." Willowpaw didn't know what to say. She just kept quiet but she was listening attentively now. 
                "That night. When she had Stormkit and you, well, they weren't the best of circumstances. After she gave birth to Stormkit..., the tree was struck by lightning. But she could not move. You were still coming out. So just as you finally came out, the tree came crashing down. That's how her leg was rendered useless. Anyways, as we fled, she looked at you, both of you and I can assure you, she gazed at both of you with so much love...," Brownclaw seemed lost in his thoughts. Willowpaw was, also lost in her own, dangerous mind. The dark, sickening truth crashed down on her. She was the reason why Mintspot had lost the use of her leg. Mintspot was not sad for no reason. And she wasn't cold to Willowpaw for no reason either. Willowpaw had made given her a limp forever. Willowpaw took quick breaths, her vision clouded. 
               "Willowpaw. Willowpaw. Willowpaw, are you ok?" Brownclaw's voice seemed so far away. Willowpaw breathed heavily. She had destroyed Mintspot's world. In many ways. Too many ways. Why did she have to ruin everything? Why did she have to be such a burden? She was nothing to the Clan. She was a curse. 
               "I did it... it's all my fault," Willowpaw meowed, heartbroken. 
                "Wilowpaw, what do you mean?" Brownclaw's voice seemed so far away. Like he was not in the same world. Like they were kilometres apart. With a terrible howl, Willowpaw shot off. 
                "Willowpaw!" Brownclaw's voice was sharp and loud, strung with concern, sadness and guilt but it didn't register in Willowpaw's head. She shot out of camp and she was running. She was running through the long grasses. She was running and running. Her feet barely touched the ground. Wind whipped around her but it seemed to be pushing her forward, lifting her up, urging her to go faster. It howled in her ears, "You did it. It's all your fault. It's your fault. It's all your fault". Willowpaw ran faster and faster. Her whole body was on fire. She ran faster, to outrun the thoughts,  the guilt..., the wind.