Sunflower's Fear

Chapter 1
"Amberheart!" A young, bright ginger, tailess, she-kit protested as a much taller amber she-cat groomed the top of her head. Amberheart chuckled and continued.

"Sunkit, you need to look perfect! You, Dappledkit, and Applekit are becoming apprentices today!" Amberheart explained to Sunkit, who was her daughter, in between licks. "Don't you want to look good for Snowstar?"

Sunkit pouted before quickly escaping her mother's furious grooming.

"Okay, okay, I'm clean now, now can I join Dappledkit and Applekit?" Sunkit asked

Amberheart purred and nuzzled her only daughter. "Of course." She meowed. Sunkit grinned and bounded over to her friends. If she was born with a tail, Sunkit would happily be hold her tail straight up into the air and quiver it with joy.

Dappledkit was Sunkit's brother. He was a white tom with several brown and ginger spots on his back.

Applekit, while looking very similar to her, was not Sunkit's sister. She was her best friend. Applekit was a bit darker than Sunkit's ginger pelt and also had paler green eyes. But the most distinct diffrence between the two was that Applekit had a long, bushy tail while Sunkit had nothing.

"Did Amberheart finally let you go?" Dappledkit jokingly asked Sunkit.

"No, I escaped from her!!" Sunkit told her friends bravely. They all laughed.

"I can't believe we're already becoming apprentices!!" Applekit commented. "I wonder who my mentor will be..."

"I hope mine will be Pondwing!!" Dappledkit remarked.

"Well, I'm going to get Dawnblaze!" Applekit puffed out her chest.

"I'm probably going to get someone boring like Grayfur or Foxstream." Sunkit sighed.

Dappledkit and Applekit gave Sunkit a surprised look.

"What are you talking about?! You're probably going to get someone like Snowstar!!" Applekit exclaimed.

Sunkit's cheeks blushed under her light ginger fur. "You really mean that?"

"Of course!" Dappledkit smiled. Sunkit grinned.

"All cats old enough to swim gather around the high rock!!" A loud booming voice yowled from the top of a very tall rock.

Amberfur gathered up Dappledkit and Sunkit and moved them to the crowd gathering beneath the high rock. Sunkit noticed Applekit's mother rushing Applekit to the crowd

Sunkit glanced up at the high rock. It seemed so tall, Sunkit wondered how anyone would be able to climb on top of the rock.

On top of the rock, was a white she-cat named Snowstar. Snowstar was the leader of RiverClan. Sunkit couldn't imagine the stress of having the weight of caring for an entire clan on her own shoulders.

"Today, three young kits will become apprentices." Snowstar meowed for all of RiverClan to hear.

"Dappledkit, Sunkit, and Applekit, you all have reached the age of six moons and it is time for you to be apprenticed." Sunkit was very excited and anxious. Who would be her mentor? Would they be a good one?

Sunkit glanced over at her brother to see if he was as excited as she was. While Dappledkit sat almost perfectly still, his eyes showed his excitement.

"From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Dappledpaw. Your mentor will be Foxstream. I hope Foxstream will pass down all she knows on to you." Snowstar glanced over to Foxstream. "Foxstream, you are ready to take on another apprentice after you have taught Dawnblaze so well."

"I will," Foxstream said boldly. The warrior padded up to Dappledpaw and pressed noses with him. Dapplepaw grinned happily up at Foxstream.

"Sunkit, from this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Sunpaw. Your mentor will be Grayfur. Grayfur, I believe you are ready for your own apprentice." Snowstar announced.

Sunpaw was disappointed. Grayfur was exactly who Sunpaw did not want. She always thought that he was always grumpy, not very smart, and not very experienced. Sunpaw had always wondered how Grayfur became a warrior.

"And finally, Applekit, from this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Applepaw. Your mentor will be Dawnblaze." Snowstar turned to Dawnblaze. "Dawnblaze, I believe you are finally ready for your own apprentice." Dawnblaze smiled and padded to Applepaw to press her nose against her first apprentice.

The clan cheered and chanted for the three new apprentices, but Sunpaw couldn't help but feel disappointed.

Sunpaw wanted an experienced warrior to become her mentor, not a warrior who never had an apprentice.

"Sunpaw!" Grayfur called to Sunpaw. "I'm going to show you a tour of the territory."'' Already? ''thought Sunpaw. Despite not wanting to leave the safety of the camp just yet, Sunpaw followed her new mentor to the forest.

Grayfur continued through the entrance of the camp before finally reaching the territory outside camp. It turned out that the "forest" was not a forest at all. Instead there were a few trees scattered around the territory and a couple of streams running through the territory.

But Sunpaw's favorite part was the huge lake that sat so still on the edge of each of the clans territory (at least that's what Grayfur told her).

Grayfur had let Sunpaw dip a paw in the lake but she pulled her paw away from the cool water in surprise of the temperature. This made Grayfur amused and he meowed in laughter.

"It's not funny!!" Sunpaw hissed. Grayfur looked at Sunpaw. "Ahh, you'll get used to the freezing water." He remarked. "It gets warm around Greenleaf anyways."

After that, Grayfur and Sunpaw went back to camp. Before Sunpaw entered the apprentice den to choose a moss bed, Grayfur told her to prepare for the next day as they were too learn how to catch a fish.

Sunpaw saw that Applepaw was already in her nest and Sunpaw chose the nest next to her.

"How was your day, Applepaw?" Sunpaw asked.

"It was so fun! Dawnblaze let me climb a boulder!!" Applepaw grinned before adding, "Or attempting to, of course. How was yours?"

"Terrible." Breathed Sunpaw. "Grayfur laughed at me when the cold water startled me."

"Oh, I'm sure he didn't mean it!" Applepaw said. "Besides, tomorrow is a new day!! Lighten up!!"

Sunpaw grinned. "Maybe we can convince our mentors to train us together!"

"Yeah!!" Applepaw smiled. "Now lets go to sleep, we have a long day tomorrow!!"