Mousepelt lowered herself as she eyed the frog before her. It made its strange sound from its throat as it searched the air for its own kind of prey. She slowly crept toward it, trying to keep quiet. Her tail was away from the leaves on the ground with leaf-fall.

Finally, she pounced from her hiding spot and landed on the frog. She bit down hard, killing it instantly. She thanked StarClan for the prey they gave so the Clan could stock up for leaf-bare. She then covered the frog with the dirt to hide her catch.

"Nice catch, kittypet!" The brown and darker speckled she-cat turned to see the skinny cream colored tom, Limptail, with his adorable golden apprentice, Morningpaw. "Don't forget to catch the fake rat!"

"Shut up!" Mousepelt mrrowed with laughter. Just a moon ago, Mousepelt had pounced on a kittypet toy, left in the forest, thinking it was real. She hadn't realized until Ravenclaw, her old mentor, had pointed out its rainbow colored fur. Mousepelt had been so embarrassed about that day and Limptail and Crazyfeather hadn't let Mousepelt forget about it.

"How's your hunting going?" Morningpaw asked, her green eyes shining.

"Not as well as you would expect, young one," Mousepelt purred, "but, I'm not giving up, not until moon shines!"

"You're determination is admirable," Limptail spoke, "but, you need to relax too, not just work."

"And you need to spend more time training and less time mooning!" the three turned to see Ravenclaw and Viperfang come from the bushes. Mousepelt lowered her ears and tried not to keep eye contact with Ravenclaw. Not long ago had the young warrior realized she had fallen in love with the black tom. Viperfang was trying to keep Ravenclaw to herself, but Snaketooth had made it to where Ravenclaw went on patrols with other cats.

"Look who's talking!" Limptail shot a look at the golden tabby she-cat.

"Let's not fight now!" Ravenclaw broke in. "Limptail, how's Morningpaw's battle training been going?"

"Fine," Limptail flicked his tail.

"Very well," Ravenclaw looked over to the apprentice, "Morningpaw, demonstrate what Limptail has been teaching you on Mousepelt, Mousepelt, you're a ThunderClan cat and you want to start a battle, you spot Morningpaw alone in the forest, how do you two react?"

Mousepelt immediately pounced at Morningpaw and the two hit each other. They rolled around until Mousepelt was over Morningpaw and pinned the golden apprentice down.

"There, now," Ravenclaw looked back to Limptail, "if you have time to worship the ground Mousepelt walks on, you have time to make Morningpaw in to a real warrior!"

"Who died and made you deputy?" Limptail spat.

"Judging on Snaketooth's condition, Snaketooth." Viperfang rolled her eyes. Mousepelt let Morningpaw go and went back to the small dug up area where she hid her frog.

"Would you shut up?" Limptail glared to the she-cat.

"Enough!" Ravenclaw shot. "Leaf-bare is on it's way and the fresh-kill pile is looking weak!"

"I'll get right on that when Jumbledstar dies and Snaketooth makes you deputy!" Limptail snapped.

"Knock it off the both of you!" Mousepelt stepped in. "Limptail, you spend more time training with Morningpaw, not with me! Now let's all do what we should during leaf-fall and stock up on fresh-kill!"

"Now look who's acting like deputy!" Vipervang put in.

"She'd be better than these two bickering toms..." Morningpaw grumbled.

"That's it, I'm leaving," Mousepelt flicked her tail and went off toward the scent of a starling singing in the distance.

When Mousepelt returned to camp with her frog, starling, and a mouse, she threw her catches on the fresh-kill pile. She looked around and saw Frightwing sharing a vole with Goldenpelt. The two had been spending so much time together, Mousepelt felt happy and sad at the same time. She had made great friends with the scarred black white tipped tail tom after helping him stand up to his mentor Viperfang. He confessed his love for her, but Mousepelt just didn't feel the same way.

Smoothpelt, Goldenpelt's slick light grey brother was sharing tongues with Moonpaw. The tortoise shell she-cat was one of Mousepelt's favorite kits in the Clan, along with her brother, Ashpaw, but Mousepelt was training in the forest with Ravenclaw when the kits were apprenticed.

Ravenclaw and Viperfang came in with just one frog and threw it in to the fresh-kill pile. The pile wasn't as well when Mousepelt first arrived. Thankfully there were more kits or queens to feed, but the elders couldn't hunt for themselves.

Brokenjaw and Snaketooth came from the warrior's den with Turtlefur and Silvertongue. The she-cats looked down and seemed distracted. Snaketooth was deputy, but he was testing his age. His ginger fur was looking grey and he had been badly injured in a fight with badgers in ThunderClan. Brokenjaw had stood up for Snaketooth and said he could still be deputy no matter how old he got. The Clan had agreed that Ravenclaw would be a good replacement for Snaketooth, but Ravenclaw refused, saying that if he found a mate he'd want to spend his time with his mate and kits.

That reminded Mousepelt that she had fallen in love with the warrior. But, she wasn't sure she wanted kits and three things stood in their way. Viperfang, Limptail, and Silversol. The white scarred Dark Forest she-cat had killed Ravenclaw's old mate while she was expecting kits, she had also killed many other queens and kits. She had tried drowning kits from each Clan, but Mousepelt had saved them all as an apprentice. That's when the Clan finally accepted the former kittypet and Ravenclaw had tried making up for being a bad mentor to her.

Then, during the badger attack, Mousepelt had fallen after Silversol had made the ledge she was standing on break. Ravenclaw went to save her, but when he looked down at the terrified she-cat, he remembered his mate dying before his eyes. Mousepelt promised to avenge Hollyforest's death, giving Ravenclaw the strength to help pull Mousepelt up. And when she looked in to his blue eyes, she had felt something she never did before.

That was also the night Frogstump, the old medicine cat, had died. He came to help the injured, but was fatally injured by a badger. Coldeyes, Frogstump's apprentice, had taken over, but he was still unsure of his roll in the Clan.

"Mousepelt," Mousepelt broke out of her past thoughts and turned to face Ravenclaw, "I was... I wanted to know... Would you go for a walk with me?"

Mousepelt's fur burned. Her legs were shaking, her heart was pounding, and her head was spinning that she hadn't realized she nodded her head. "Uh... Let me... go eat first." Mousepelt mewed backing away, bumping in to Blackclaw. "Sorry!" The brown and speckled she-cat squeaked, grabbing a frog and running off to eat it.

Mousepelt and Ravenclaw were silent as they trekked through the forest together. Mousepelt had to say something, she didn't want Ravenclaw to be bored with her.

"I-" they both began at the same time. "Sorry, you go-" Mousepelt let out a sigh and knew how ridiculous she was being.

"Wait, come with me!" Ravenclaw flicked his tail and ran off through some bushes. Mousepelt followed after and saw Ravenclaw pull back a curtain of vines with his forepaw. "Go through here."

Mousepelt obeyed and found herself in a dark tunnel. Ravenclaw gently pushed past her and began heading down the tunnel. Mousepelt had to feel around with her whiskers so she could follow Ravenclaw without getting lost.

Finally it was getting brighter as they headed down a slope. They came to a huge cave with waterfalls and beautiful big amber stones that a light through the holes on the top of the cave shone on, making them sparkle.

"Ravenclaw," Mousepelt mewed, "it's so beautiful!"

"Come on, if you run through the waterfalls your pelt sparkles like the rock!" Ravenclaw ran off toward one of the waterfalls and after running through the wall of water, his back pelt shined in the light. Mousepelt ran out to the waterfall and did what Ravenclaw had done. She accidentally bumped in to Ravenclaw and the two rolled over. They stopped when they fell in to a small lake. Ravenclaw stood over Mousepelt, whose cheeks were swollen. She then sprayed the water in her mouth at Ravenclaw's fave.

She pushed off and bolted around the cave, being chased by Ravenclaw. Mousepelt hadn't felt so much fun since she joined the forest cats. She wasn't able to play like a kittypet with her old denmate, Amberheart, who went to live with ThunderClan.

Mousepelt then found the tunnel back to the outside and ran out through the forest, followed by Ravenclaw. They continued chasing and playing even as the sun went down. Mousepelt let out a yawn at one point and Ravenclaw decided to make a nest for them to sleep on. Mousepelt pressed her body close to Ravenclaw's and drifted off to sleep.

See that? A voice in the wind whispered in the tom's ear. He's taking everything you ever wanted... You deserve her as much as anyone...

"He's ruining everything!" the cream colored tom hissed.

You need to get rid of him...

"And I will," The tom clawed the ground, "he'll regret ever trying to take my place at her side!"