Love Story~4

Instructions

Fallowpaw got to her paws, yawning. The meeting had just been adjourned, and everyone was standing and stretching. It had been pretty cool to hear her and her friend’s names called out over the clearing, but it wasn’t *that* cool. What had really been fun was meeting new cats. She turned to the WindClan apprentices once more, eyes bright. “It was great meeting you guys. We should hang out-all meet at the border or something!” Badgerpaw’s eyes immediately brightened. “Ooh, that would be so fun. Let’s do it. How about in two nights time? At moonhigh.” Mosspaw frowned. “Dude, why moonhigh?” “It’s more exciting.” Badgerpaw purred, blue eyes sparkling as he looked at her. The tortoiseshell she-cat chuckled, looking away and shaking her head. “Deal.” Applepaw purred. “I’ll see you at moonigh, then.” With one last curious look, she turned and padded off, her tail swishing softly behind her. Cricketpaw quickly followed, head down, and Fallowpaw gave them one last wave goodbye before bounding after them. “Ooh, how exciting!” Fallowpaw purred. “This is gonna be so fun. We could start a secret group-ooh! Or our own Clan! It could be called-it could be called-” She glanced at her friend. “AppleClan!” Her friend giggled. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Fallowpaw.” She mewed sweetly. “We don’t know how many times we’ll meet. It is exciting though, isn’t it?” The apprentices continued to talk, but we will leave them here for now, the autumn-or leaf fall as they’d call it-leaves bright and soft beneath their paws. >>><<< The next morning, Fallowpaw was on a morning patrol with her mentor, Couragebite, and another mentor and apprentice pair: Foxpaw and Tanglestep. “You two, go to the left and patrol there.” Tanglestep mrowed, his voice gentle but firm. Fallowpaw nodded excitedly, Foxpaw yawning once before turning, shaking out her pelt, and picking up a quick trot to the left. Fallowpaw followed, finding it hard to keep up with the older she-cat’s much longer strides. It wasn’t long before she spotted a bright blue butterfly, it’s leaves deeper than the ocean. “Woah..” She breathed, crouching down to look at it. A few fox lengths away, Foxpaw glanced over her shoulder at the younger apprentice who was completely enthralled in her new find, and not paying any attention to the task at hand. She let out a quiet sigh, rolling her eyes-albeit with a small smile on her face-and turned and continued on her patrol. It wasn’t until the butterfly had flapped it’s royal blue wings and flown away that Fallowpaw noticed that Foxpaw had left her. /Oops./ She thought to herself, opening her mouth to scent the air. Immediately, she smelled another cat-only it wasn’t Foxpaw. Or Couragebite or Tanglestep. There might have been two, but she wasn’t sure. There was definitely at least one stranger, though. And strangers were dangerous. Immediately her fur stood on end, smile falling as she hesitated. This was her chance to prove herself. Chasing a rogue off their territory would impress everyone. Determined, she began to follow the scent. She had already been told more than once that tracking was one of her stronger suits, and before long she saw a flash of pale gray fur. And with a yowl, she pounced. There was a short, high pitched scream as she pinned down the small tom, his amber eyes wide and scared. “This is ShadowClan territory.” She snarled, her claws on his shoulders deep enough to sting, but not enough to break skin. Adrenaline and fear were running high-she had heard stories of the horrible things rogues did-and her usual soft, playful persona was gone. As tears welled in the tom’s eyes, she felt a small pang of guilt. He didn’t *seem* all that dangerous. “I-I-I’m so sorry.” He blubbered, shaking. “I-I didn’t mean t-to. I didn’t know!” “Um, well I-“ Before she could think of whether to forgive him or chase him off, there was rustling to her right, and with a yowl she was the one being pinned. On top of her was a large, black and white tom, his amber eyes ablaze with fury. “Don’t *ever* touch my brother again.” He snarled, voice threatening. Her heart was thundering and she felt tears of fear rise in her eyes-gosh, was this how she had made the other tom feel? She hadn’t meant to make him feel like that.. “Got it?” He growled, voice dripping with venom. His lips were pulled back to reveal sharp teeth, and she nodded hurriedly. The large, thick furred tom glared at her for a moment longer before stepping off of her with a huff. Fallowpaw was frozen for a moment as the tom comforted his brother, making sure he was okay. Finally coming to her senses, Fallowpaw scrambled to her feet, swallowing. She felt so bad.. She would never, ever attack a cat out of the blue again! Or, at least not a loner or someone who hadn’t done anything wrong. But, they still had to leave.