A Rogue's Tail(A Warrior Cat Fan-Fic)

Chapter 8 Words

           Just to start it off, I want to give a big thanks to @Spooky_Love_Raven for all her support and tips, and to everyone who has been giving me awesome comments!

           Watersplash opened her eyes tiredly. She yawned and stretched, feeling the ache in her torn muscles. She padded out from the warrior's den and looked at the camp. Every cat was hustling about, fixing up brambles for defense and repairing the dens from the battle. Watersplash just glimpsed Fogmask and Beyrlstar walk into the leader's den. She gave an inward sigh. Fogmask was probably going to be there a lot now, since he was deputy. Then Watersplash remembered, she had an apprentice! She quickly bounded over to the apprentice den. Watersplash looked at Bluepaw's sleeping form and gave a sigh of relief. I mean, how embarrassing would it be if Watersplash had to be woken up by her apprentice!

          Watersplash gave Bluepaw a soft prod. Bluepaw opened her eyes tiredly. "Come out and get a bite to eat, then we'll go train," Watersplash whispered, careful not to wake the other apprentices. Bluepaw nodded and Watersplash backed up from the apprentices den and padded toward the fresh-kill pile.

           As she neared the pile and bent her head to pick up a squirrel, she felt a shove and saw an annoyingly familiar black pelt. Blackshadow looked at her disgustedly and picked a mouse from the pile. Watersplash glared at him, feeling her fur rise in anger. "What're you looking at, rogue?" Blackshadow snarled as he turned and walked away, Ashclaw and Rockpaw at his side. Watersplash gave a low growl and picked up her squirrel. She sat down with a sigh. Snowfrost padded up to her and sat next to her, Willowwhisper behind her.

           "Don't worry about Blackshadow," Snowfrost said. "He's always been prickly!" added Snowfrost. Willowwhisper snorted. "He's just a mousebrain, don't let him get under your fur, sis," mewed Willowwhisper. Watersplash gave a quick nod. The three friends sat together and talked for a while, then Willowwhisper stood up. "I'm on boundary patrol near Duskclan territory," Willowwhisper said. Snowfrost stood up as well. "I'm going on a hunting patrol, bye Watersplash!" Watersplash gave them quick farewells and finished her squirrel. After all, Willowwhisper and Snowfrost weren't the only ones with a busy schedule!

           Watersplash was padding toward the camp entrance, Bluepaw at her side, when Fogmask came up. "Hey, Watersplash! Want to join the hunting patrol with Nightclaw, Mistpaw, Jaypaw, and I?" he asked her. Watersplash looked at Bluepaw, and Bluepaw gave her an excited nod. "Sure," Watersplash replied. "It'll be good practice for the apprentices to train together," she added as she joined the others, Bluepaw clearly excited.

           As the group walked out into the forest, the apprentices started chatting. Watersplash rolled her eyes. Apprentices! Always chattering away like blue jays! Watersplash stopped in a small clearing, and in front of them stood a large beech tree. "Alright, who can tell me why a beech tree like this is a good place to find prey?" asked Nightclaw. Mistpaw and Bluepaw shrugged, but Jaypaw piped up. "Because prey will be most likely hiding under the roots," mewed Jaypaw, manner of factly. "Good," Fogmask said to his apprentice. "Now, what can you smell?" asked Fogmask. This time Mistpaw answered. "Mouse!" she mewed excitedly. "Correct!" Watersplash replied. "Now before you can catch a mouse, you need to stalk it," Watersplash said. "Lets see your hunter's crouch," added Watersplash, gesturing to the apprentices.

            Bluepaw had it right off the start! Watersplash looked at her apprentice in amazement. After Nightclaw and Fogmask corrected their apprentice's crouches, Nightclaw spoke again. "Alright. Bluepaw, since you did the best, why don't you try sniffing out and catching a mouse?" Nightclaw said. Bluepaw quickly scented the air and crouched down. She slid forward, making no sound on the grass. Watersplash saw Bluepaw's target, a fat dormouse. That'd feed the clan well! Bluepaw neared and coiled up, preparing to strike. Come on, come on! Watersplash thought. Bluepaw pounced, catching the mouse squarely between her paws. She gave it a quick bite to the neck and turned to Watersplash, her eyes filled with pride. Watersplash purred and showed Bluepaw how to bury the mouse until they came back for it.