Sproutheart bounded through the lush, over-grown meadows. The sweet scents of spring flowers drifted through the small gusts of wind as the crickets chirped melodious songs. The calico jumped onto the Lone Tree's bark, gripping the trunk with all her might and scrabbled to a high branch. The tree, having no leaves made it easy for her to see the clear night with hundreds of stars speckled across the moonlit sky.

         She sighed as she gazed at the faraway celestial bodies, "I miss you Rabbitspring..." Sproutheart then dipped her head is sadness, "I miss you."

         The molly continued to watch the rising crescent moon, but a sudden 'crunch' interrupted the silence. She tensed her muscles and spiked his fur, ready for any surprises. Who's out here? This late in the night?

         The calico leaped down and strained her ears for any more movements. If it was prey, she would be lucky, but if it was predator...

         A creature pounced out of the bushes and landed on Sproutheart, causing her to bump her head on the tree. Not giving her a chance the recover, it raked her belly with its hind legs and gave a vicious killing bite on her neck. Sproutheart coughed up a fit of blood before managing to croak, "Why?"

         The she-cat tensed her body before releasing as her eyes glazed over, her spirit leaving her physical form. It had all been over in a few minutes.

~•~~•~~•~~•~~•~~•~~•~~•~~•~

         A yowl of distress echoed through camp as the small dawn patrol, consisting of Ripple'eye and Smalldove entered. Many cat looked up from their morning grooming and some even woke up from their sleep to behold a devastating sight. Sproutheart's limp body was being carried into camp.

         "We found her dead, besides the Lone Tree..." rasped the grey tabby tom.

         Oxspright, one of the council members, sighed, "Do you know how she died?" Both Smalldove and Ripple'eye just shook their heads slowly, feeling as they have let their clan down.

         Grief pricked Nettlesting's heart, he wasn't one to be emotional, but Sproutheart was his mother. To see her dead felt like hundreds of hedgehog quills were stabbing him. The guard sat down beside his mother's unmoving body and buried his nose into her lush fur, tears streaming from his eyes.

         Some of Sproutheart's close friends such as Warmcreek, Branchfall, and Bluerain placed themselves around her, but gave enough distance so that her family members could be closer.

         "Can you keep it down out there!!" called a grouchy voice which clearly didn't know what was happening.

         Twistpaw poked her head into the trainee's den and answered, "You might wanna see what happened Fennelpaw..."

         The young tom grumbled and came out lazily, but once he saw Sproutheart, he bounded to her, shocked. "What! Why are you just standing like that!!! Help here you worthless healer!!!" growled the grief-stricken trainee.

         All Ivythorn could do was dip his head and reply, "She's already gone, Fennelpaw..."

         Fennelpaw let out a soft whimper and tucked his muzzle into Nettlesting's fur, who in turn licked his brother head. 

         Otterdawn slowly padded up to mourning siblings and softly mewed to them, "I'm so sorry." She then gazed at her lost sister, tears pricking her eyes. Flowerfoot just watched from a distance resting her head on Rosemist's shoulder.

         Other cats began gathering around, sitting down silently and paying their respects to their lost clanmate. Just when they thought spring was arriving with hope of new life, this tragedy had been struck down on them.

~•~~•~~•~~•~~•~~•~~•~~•~~•~

         It had been a few hours since the mourning ceremony, and now Ivythorn and Peachstone were grooming Sproutheart's fur and preparing it for burial by layering herbs on her to cover the smell of death. The two were not only preparing the body, but were also searching for any hints or traces of the killer. So far, all they knew was that the killer was a cat, and that the feline was in Meadowclan. Any other scent would be overpowering and easy to detect. And, it could be any cat in Meadowclan, all cats were trained in all three categories.

Reminder that any cat can be the killer except kits. A small roleplaying section will be put down below for any mourning or discussing scenes but the main accusations and debating will go on the next chapter which will come out today or tomorrow.