"Come on, Dawnpaw! This is not how you train. You want to be a warrior don't you? Then work harder!" Nightclaw exclaimed, clearly disappointed in Dawnpaw's training session. Tigerpaw looked at Nightclaw and grimaced. "She's clearly distracted, Nightclaw. Maybe give her a minute to clear her head?" He suggested with an attitude. "No. Enemies don't wait for anyone's head to be cleared before a fight. I'll show her how it's done." Nightclaw hissed and tackled Dawnpaw and pinned her down with a thud. She then let Dawnpaw get up but soon slammed her head into the ground. "Would Blackfoot let you fight like this?" Nightclaw hissed with distaste.
Nightclaw kept her head down to the ground, unknowingly and slightly suffocating the apprentice. Dawnpaw heard her mentor's remark and she yowled angrily. She then scrambled out from under her mentor's grasp and tackled, her claws unsheathing on instinct. She slashed at Nightclaw's nose, drawing blood. She slashed her eyes and then kicked some dust up into them and pinned her down while she was dazed. "You have no right to bring him into this!" Dawnpaw yowled and bit at the black warrior's neck and tasted blood.
"Dawnpaw, Dawnpaw!" Snowfur said and grabbed the pale orange and white apprentice by the scruff and pulled her off Nightclaw. Dawnpaw took a deep breath and then had a look of horror at what she had done. She then ran off into the forest at full speed. "Dawnpaw!" Tigerpaw exclaimed and he soon pelted after her.
Dawnpaw ran to the river and once she was there, she stopped and sat down and looked at herself int eh reflection of the clear, rushing water. She had a somewhat blood-stained muzzle and she frowned. She dipped her muzzle in the water to wash it off. She took some laps of the cold water and she took her paw and dipped it in the river and dabbed herself with some of the refreshing water. She sighed and closed her eyes, taking a moment to process her surroundings.
The rushing water of the river, the chirping of the birds. The sound of prey scurrying in the tall grass, the warm sun on her pelt countered by the cooling river water. She then opened her eyes and exhaled another sigh. She heard rustling in the underbrush and tensed for a moment, before smelling the familiar scent of Tigerpaw; pine. He then revealed himself. When he blocked the sun, he looked older and more... handsome. Dawnpaw shook the thought away and allowed him to sit beside her.
"I don't like Nightclaw." He bluntly said with a frown. "Me neither." She admitted. "She didn't have to say what she said." Dawnpaw said with no emotion. "I know. It was uncalled for. But I think she did it on purpose because she knew it would make you fight. But she still shouldn't have done that." Tigerpaw admitted. Snowfur said that we were done training and she gave that black cat an earful. Snowfur sent me to fetch you and to return when you wanted to." He said. When he said 'black cat' Dawnpaw noticed he said with distaste. He then looked at Dawnpaw and smiled.
Dawnpaw noticed this and she looked up at him. "What?" She asked with a frown. "Nothing." He said with a smile as he gazed at her golden eyes. She raised an eyebrow and he got to his paws. "Where are we going?" She asked as she followed the brown tabby tom. "You'll see when we get there." He said with a smirk as she caught up to him and stood beside him. After a moment of padding along, she noticed that he was getting closer to her, and that their flanks were almost touching.
"Wait, do you smell that?" She asked as she stopped in her tracks. He whipped around and started smelling the air. "Wait, nevermind." She said with a smirk and padded along. "You did that on purpose." He whined with a wide smile. "You coming?" She asked as she turned her head and let her tail tip sway gracefully. He smirked and caught up with her. "I'm supposed to be leading." He said with a smile. "Then do it." She said with a smirk. Tigerpaw rolled his eyes playfully with a smile and bumped her hips with his. She did the same as they made their way.
********
Tigerpaw stopped and sniffed the air. "This way." He said and bounded over to what looks like a large badger nest. Dawnpaw ruffled her fur and started pacing. "T-Tigerpaw-" She started but he rushed over to her and placed his paw over hers. "It's ok. It's safe. Would I ever hurt you?" He asked with a small smile and there was something to his eyes when he said it that way. There was a sparkling that was never there before. Dawnpaw smiled and he smiled too. He led the way down the large hole.
At first it was big enough for them both to fit in, with space between them. But then it gradually got smaller and darker as they went deeper underground. Their flanks were touching and Dawnpaw noticed the sudden closeness. She felt heat rush through her pelt and to her ears and nose especially. He felt warm and inviting and it dragged her impossibly closer, since the other side of his flank was touching the wall. "Scared?" He asked, and even though she couldn't see, she knew he was smirking. She didn't say anything except moved a couple inches away so she wasn't smothering him.
"No, it's fine." He said. Dawnpaw smiled and went back to his warmth. A few moments passed and they saw light at the end of the tunnel. Tigerpaw chuckled and bounded forward. Dawnpaw followed and they skidded to a stop at a large, deep hole in the ground that looked like another planet. It was beautiful. There was smooth stone on the bottom with dirt making up the wall. There was a stream that babbled on the right side and goes out through the wall. There was moss patches dotted around and the best part was that there was a hole in the ceiling but it was getting covered by overgrown grass, twigs, and trees growing near it, casting some sun spots, which caught the stream perfectly. It was perfect.
"What do you think?" He asked with a smile as he turned to her. "What do I think? I love it!" Dawnpaw exclaimed as her tail tip quivered with excitement. "How did you find this place?" She asked. "I found it while I was on a patrol a couple moons back. No one goes near it because it was an old badger den but it's now abandoned, but they still don't go near it." He explained with a smile. "So, when the time comes, I'm going to bring a she cat here, one that I love, and I'm going to ask her to be mates with me. Hopefully she'll say yes." He said with a smile as he padded forward and looked around. Dawnpaw felt a sting of jealousy prick at her heart and she didn't know why. She also noticed that the inside of his ears were a deep pink. He was blushing, and that made her smile.
"Who? Which she cat would it be?" She couldn't help but ask him as she padded forward and joined him. "I don't know. But one day we'll both know." He said with a smile as he turned to her. "Why will I know?" She asked frantically. What was she trying to get out of him? She didn't even know. "Because you're my best friend. And you'll be the first to know." He said as he padded away but turned back to look at her. "Oh." She said, her mood deflated. Dawnpaw the began to follow him through the tunnel but stopped in her tracks and smirked. "I think you're lying." Dawnpaw said with a smirk as she sat down. He stopped in his tracks and turned to face her.
"I think you're lying." She stated bluntly with a look of playful denial. "About the she cats. I think you have a secret crush already. I mean, you're going to be a warrior in the next moon and warriors get mates. And you aren't friends with any she cat warriors besides Snowfur and my mother. So your little crush has to be an apprentice." She assumed 'evilly' as she did circles around him, dragging her tail along both sides of his flank, and dragging it along his chin and rubbing her flank against his chest. "Loss for words?" She asked with a smirk as she stopped and sat down in front of the flustered tom.
"You did that on purpose." He said with a smirk. "Which one is it? Cinderpaw? Silverpaw? Lilypaw? Velvetpaw?" She asked smugly. "I'm not answering." He said. "Is it me?" She dared to ask. She saw the inside of his ears turning bright pink at the mention of him liking her. He then turned but not before giving her smug look. "I'm not answering, Dawnpaw." He called as he entered the dark tunnel. Dawnpaw chuckled and padded after him.
********
They entered camp and Snowfur saw them. She narrowed her eyes and stalked over to Tigerpaw. "You were supposed to be here long ago! What took so long? And not even any prey? Really?" She snapped, her neck fur ruffling. When Snowfur was mad, she was mad for the rest of the day. And she was rarely mad. She got mad at Nightclaw, so that's why she's giving Tigerpaw an earful. Dawnpaw didn't hear any of what the white warrior was saying so she tuned it all out. Tigerpaw then sighed and dragged her away to the apprentices den. She didn't notice Snowfur had stalked somewhere else to give another cat a hard time.
Once we were in the safety of the den, he sat down with a slump. "I've never been belittled like that before." He said softly. "I know. She's just mad at Nightclaw. She didn't mean what she said earlier. Do you want to go see Mistyheart?" Dawnpaw suggested. He immediately looked up and then smiled and nodded his head. Dawnpaw giggled and they padded to the nursery. They slipped in and found that the three other queens were huddled over the blue gray she cat and cooing while their kits were playing together. "What's all the fuss?" Tigerpaw asked with a laugh.
"They opened their eyes." Mistyheart said excitedly. Dawnpaw smiled wide and quickly padded over and crouched down. The kits were active today, they were crawling around and meowing. Blackkit crawled over to Dawnpaw and she saw he had the same eyes as his dad; yellow green. He crawled between her front paws and curled up in her chest fur and dozed off. She gently licked the top of his head with a smile. Rainkit had blue eyes and Jadekit has her mother's eyes; pale and light green ones.
"When can they play?" Birchkit whined. He was four moons old and he wanted more playmates. "When they're old enough." His mother, Dapplefur, scolded. "Yeah Birchkit. But you don't have to wait to play with me." Aspenkit, his sister, said as she jumped at him and tackled him. Dapplefur chuckled and Dawnpaw smiled. She can tell which one will be a strong warrior. Dawnpaw yawned and laid on her side and rested her head, making sure not to hurt Blackkit. "Go to sleep, Dawnpaw. You need it." Mistyheart said kindly. Dawnpaw could tell that being a mother had already gotten to Mistyheart. Dawnpaw smiled with a nod and slowly got up. She took Blackkit by the scruff and placed him near his mother, who licked him.
Tigerpaw said he would stay and talk to Mistyheart about what had happened earlier and she nodded and padded to the apprentices den alone. She circled her moss bed and aid down, quickly falling asleep.
A black cat chased her in her dreams. "It's your fault he's dead! You couldn't get up off your selfish, foxhearted back! You are the reason he died, and you better believe that for the rest of your life! You are a waste of everything for this clan. It should have been you! It's your fault, it's your fault, it's your fault!" The black cat said. Dawnpaw was running as fast as she could but her paws wouldn't work. The memory of Blackfoot in the badger's jaws was right in front of her. She couldn't move, couldn't blink, couldn't look away. The black cat kept repeating that it was her fault that he's dead. The cat then leaptat her and thehy became dust with the wind.
"It's my fault!" She exclaimed as she woke with a start. Tigerpaw was looming over her, ready to prod her again. She could tell it was still dark out but she knew it was her best friend. "You were screaming and crying and your legs were going a mile a minute." He said, scared for his friend. "I-I was?" She asked. She then remembered her dream and she hung her head and repeated what was seared into her mind; "It's my fault."