Cloudstar's Past Chapter 2

Everything looked so dark... I... I couldn't see anything... I could still seem to smell cats though... Wait... I thought I could see then. Yes I could see! I think I'm used to the dark. We entered the camp. A muscular black tom walked over to us. Sharpclaw sets me down on the ground. My paws squished the grass underneath them. I look at the muscular tom.
He asks Sharpclaw, "Who is this kit and what is she doing here?"
Sharpclaw replies, "Her name is Cloud and she will be living with us. Her pa-"
The tom growled, interrupting Sharpclaw, "I will decide if she stays here or not."
He looked at me and asked in a soft tone, "So your name is Cloud... Where are your parents?"
I replied, "My parents are alive, but they're not gonna come back for me..."
The muscular cat meowed, "Well... Since your parents aren't coming back then you will live with us. My name is Shadowstar. The leader of Darkclan. You will now be known as Cloudkit for now."
I nodded. Shadowstar looked at Sharpclaw then walks towards a tree with a high branch. He jumped up, landing on the high branch.
He yowled, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey in the dark gather here beneath Highbranch for a clan meeting!"
Many different groups of cats came out of their dens and walked to Highbranch.
Sharpclaw meowed, "Follow me, Cloudkit."
He walked to Highbranch. I followed him. Once we got to Highbranch, Sharpclaw picked me up and jumped onto the high branch Shadowstar was standing on. He set me down on the branch carefully. Everyone looked at me for a few moments then they murmured to each other.
Shadowstar waited until everyone was finished murmuring then said, "We have a new member in our Clan. Her name used to be Cloud but she will now be known as Cloudkit until she becomes an apprentice then a warrior and maybe even leader. I want you to all treat her like kin. She has been through a lot. Sweetsong will take care of Cloudkit until she becomes an apprentice."
I looked around for Sweetsong then I saw a beautiful dark and light brown she-cat. I guessed that she was Sweetsong.
Sweetsong dipped her head and said, "I will take care of Cloudkit like she is my own."
Shadowstar nodded and jumped off of the branch, meaning that the meeting was over. Sharpclaw picked me up and jumped off of the branch as well. He set me on the ground. All of the cats got up and walk away going to a den, the forest, or somewhere to talk.
Sharpclaw smiled and meowed, "Welcome to the clan, Cloudkit."
He walked away towards a den. I walked towards where Sweetsong was. Sweetsong saw me and smiled, "Hello, Cloudkit. Follow me. I can't wait for you to see my kits and the other kits."
She walked towards a den and I followed. I saw a couple of kits playing outside of the den. All of them saw me and stopped playing. A brown kit with dark brown fur under his eyes walked towards me.
He smiled, thrilled to have another kit to play with, "Hi! My name is Lynxkit!"
Another kit that has grey fur came over and meowed, "Hi... Um... I'm Hawk-kit..."
An orange kit with white fur on his chin and stomach walked over as well and said energetically, "I'm Foxkit! I think you're pretty."
I blushed and meowed, "Thank you..."
Foxkit replied, "Welcome!"
Lynxkit asked, "What's your name? And why do you have white fur?"
Sweetsong mewed softly, "Her name is Cloudkit and it is impolite to ask a question like that."
Lynxkit muttered, "I'm sorry..."
I sighed, "It's ok..."
Foxkit walked over to the other kits, "They're Deathkit, Calmkit, Cherrykit, Wolfkit, Shykit, Dogkit, Bugkit, Swiftkit, and Frostkit."
He pointed at each of them with his tail as he said their names.
Shyit mewed, almost a whisper, "Um... Do you wanna play with us?"
I exclaimed, "Sure! What are you guys playing?"
Calmkit meowed excitedly, "Mossball. We can show you how to play it!"
The kits showed me how to play mossball. After a while I started to play with them. I thought in my head, 'This is so much fun!'

| Meanwhile |

"Claw... Claw... Wake up... Rock, River, and their kit got away... Wake up Claw..." A muscular white tom meowed.
Claw woke up with a groan. He rubbed his head a bit with his paw, then got up.
He growled, his voice a bit strained, "You lost them?"
The white tom sighed, "Yes... We are deeply sorry b-"
Claw caterwauled, the fur on his neck and along his back bristling, "How could you lose them!"
The tom stammered shaking in fear, "We-We're sorry Claw b-"
Claw slashed the tom's throat with his claws. He watched as a gurgled, "We...re...S-sorry...Claw.." Then he fell. Looking back up, Claw growled loudly, "You..."
The other cats shoved the black and white cat forward.
The cat mewed in fear, "Yes, Claw?"
Claw snarled, "You will lead these cats to find Rock, River, and Cloud. If you come back without anything to report about any of them then you will die. Understand?"
The cat nodded.
Claw yowled, "Go! Go find them now!"
The black and white cat scrambled out of the den, with the others following him. Claw turned around, looking at a painting of Rock, River, and Cloud on the wall of the den.
He snarled lowly, "I will find and kill you all. I swear on my life!"
After the threat, he slashed at the painting and made big, deep scratches on the wall.

| To Be Continued... |