Fall awoke and, realizing it was sunrise, stood up and stretched. Maple was still asleep next to him. He decided to hunt.
First, Fall warmed up to crouch and leap. He flexed his claws. Then he sniffed around, looking for prey. Once Fall found something, he followed the scent. It was a bird.
Birds were tricky to catch for Fall. They had wings, so they could easily get away. But Fall would try to catch birds whenever he could. Maple loved birds.
Fall crouched, slowly inching toward the sparrow. He sprung. The bird ruffled its feathers. As it did, Fall landed right on top of it. The bird chirped loudly. Fall growled softly. It was always bad when prey called out. But Fall killed it swiftly, burying his prey so a cat from the rogue group wouldn't find it. Fall began searching for his next piece of prey.
Unfortunately, there was no prey to be found. The bird had scared everything away. He sighed. Despite this setback, the gray tabby tom refused to give up.
Hours later, he still hadn't caught anything. He was just about to give up when he heard the slightest movement at the base of a tree.
Fall crouched, remembering to be light on his feet. A few minutes later, he had caught a mouse. He decided to head back to Maple. She might be wondering where he was. He was beginning to walk back when he saw something peculiar.
It was a leaf. Just a plain old leaf. But it was falling up. Fall blinked and it was gone.
Fall was sure it was just a trick of the light or something. Though, Fall was fairly certain of what he had seen. He shook his head.
A blinding orange pelt leaped out from the bushes to Fall's left. The gray tabby hissed. His mouse was knocked out of his jaws. The orange tom had unsheathed his claws and yowled a cry for battle. The gray tabby slashed the orange tom's muzzle in retaliation. The orange tom was shocked for only a moment, but a moment was all Fall needed to knock the tom off of him. Fall leaped up, panting. The orange tom stood up slowly as well.
Fall gained a chance to assess his attacker. He was muscly and well fed. He must be from the rogue group.
The rogue group was a horrible organization ruled by a tyrant named Vex. They had taken over the area in just a few short moons. Everyone associated with Vex was a horrible cat, and none of them could be trusted. The rogue group was constantly stealing prey and attacking the loners in the area, which included Maple and Fall.
The orange tom had a cream underbelly. He also had darker orange stripes on his cheeks and back, as well as rings around his paws. He had cream colored paws and the underside of his tail was the same cream. He had eyes that were just a darker version of the sky. His pelt was covered in scars that seemed to have swollen up. His fur was matted and the patches around his scars were covered with dried blood. Fall almost felt bad about fighting him. Almost.
The orange tom was still out of breath, so to stall, he began to speak.
"Do you know who I am?" the orange tom tried to fluff up his pelt, but Fall saw the fear in his sky-blue eyes. "I am Flame, second in command of the rogue group ruled by Vex! And I am going to make sure you don't forget it."
"Isn't the second in command a black tom, not an orange one?" the gray tabby meowed, calling Flame's bluff.
Flame opened his jaws, probably to shoot back an angry retort, but something caught his eye. Fall turned to see what the orange tom was looking at.
It was a leaf. The same leaf Fall had seen earlier. But it was on fire. It was flying, and on fire. Slowly, Fall turned his gray eyes back to the orange tom.
"Did you...?" Flame started, but the rest of the sentence didn't come. The only thing Fall could do was nod. Because he had figured something out.
The leaf was enveloped in flames. And it was not falling. He had a feeling this was about Flame and himself.
I'm fairly certain it doesn't mean one of us will kill the other, though. I don't have to make friends with him, but I would like to know what this means.
"I don't think we should fight right now. Just let me go back to my den," Fall reasoned. Flame was still in shock.
"What does it mean?"
"I... I think it has something to do with us," the gray tabby hesitated. He didn't want to be associated with this rogue cat.
Flame finally turned back to Fall. "I think we should talk about this. Let's meet up sometime."
Fall was stunned. They had just been attacking each other. But something intrigued him about this tom, and he wanted to figure out what it was. "Alright. How about three midnights from tonight, near the Twolegplace? The moon should be gone by then, and no one will see us talking to each other there."
"Alright. Before I go, I have to steal your prey. I know we just became friends, but the rogues will question what happened if I come back empty-pawed. I'm sorry," the orange tom looked away sheepishly. Fall wasn't sure if he was more shocked by the fact that Flame had called them friends or that the orange tom was feeling guilty about stealing from him.
Fall growled under his breath, but tossed the mouse to Flame. At least he still had his sparrow.
"Also, what's your name? I think I should at least now your name if we are going to meet," the orange tabby reasoned.
Fall sighed before responding. He didn't want this rogue knowing his name, but he was going to meet him somewhere far from here, so it seemed fair enough. "Fall."
"I suppose I'll see you in four days, Fall. Don't forget," the orange tom waved his tail in farewell. Fall said nothing. He just sighed and began his journey home.
Maple is going to be shocked when I tell her what happened today. Fall chuckled slightly to himself. He found his sparrow and dug it up, then quickly padded to the den where he and Maple stayed.
"Maple? Are you here?" the gray tabby tom called into his cave-like den. He heard his mate respond, but he couldn't make out what she said. He padded into the den.
Standing in the middle of the den was a tortoiseshell she-cat. She had a mostly ginger face, but the rest of her was a beautiful mix of red and black. Her chest had a small splash of white, as well as the tip of her tail. She had a small scar on the top of her left shoulder, but it was healing and would be gone in a few moons. Her green eyes were a beautiful shade of mint that made Fall fall in love with Maple all over again.
"I brought back a sparrow," the gray tabby purred softly. Maple purred in response and padded over to Fall. She rested her fluffy tail on his shoulders.
"You're too kind. You didn't have to go out of your way to get me a sparrow," the tortoiseshell purred softly. Her beautiful mint colored eyes met Fall's gray ones.
"How do you know I went out of my way? Maybe it was the first thing I found," Fall retorted, teasingly. Maple laughed. Fall loved the way she laughed. It was so genuine. It was always real. At least, it was always real for him.
"I suppose it might have been, but I'm sure you were delighted about it. You would've gone out of your way if you didn't find a bird on your first try. And I love you for it," Maple nuzzled Fall's cheek. His heart pounded. Even though he had heard those words countless times, he couldn't help purring every time.
"I love you, too."
The two settled down to share the bird, though Fall tried to let Maple eat most of it. He would eat something on his hunting trip the next morning.
"There's something I should probably tell you," the gray tabby tom meowed, remembering his encounter with the rogue. He began to recount the events of the day. Maple was astonished by the end of his story.
"I hardly noticed your scratches. I'm so sorry. Are you okay? Should I get some herbs?" the tortoiseshell's mood immediately turned to worry. Fall already felt slightly embarrassed by the few scratches he had gotten.
"It's fine. I'm fine," he insisted softly. But Maple had already rushed to the back of their den to fetch some herbs. Fall sighed, but he couldn't rid himself of the smile on his face. Her tortoiseshell coat reappeared after a few moments and smeared some sort of goop onto his pelt. It stung at first, but then the herbs soothed the aching pain he didn't realize he had been feeling.
"Now is the time where you say thank you," Maple chuckled.
"Thank you," he overexaggerated. He bowed his head and Maple laughed again. This caused Fall to laugh as well. After a few moments of laughing, Fall remembered the conversation they had just been having.
"Do you think I should go? I mean, to speak with Flame in four days," Fall was unsure what to do. He hoped Maple would say he should go, but he could think of good reasons for him to go, and good reasons for him to stay home.
Maple paused for a long moment before she responded. "Don't go."
Fall opened his jaws to defend his side of the argument, but was interrupted before he could say anything.
"At least, not without me!" Maple smiled. Her mint green eyes shone. She laughed and purred at the same time. "You should have seen your face, Fall."
The gray tabby tom loved the way Maple said his name. Her pronunciation of it made his heart beat faster. He began to laugh along with the tortoiseshell.
"It might be too dangerous," he said after a moment.
"I don't care. It's dangerous for you to go out and hunt for us every day. I don't trust this 'Flame' cat. He could be tricking you. And flying leaves are very suspicious. This could mean a fire somewhere. And it could have just caught the wind," Maple meowed, finally bringing up the leaf.
"There was no breeze, Maple. And I smelled no smoke. That leaf meant something. But you can join me, I suppose," Fall meowed, not wanting to upset her. It didn't exactly work.
"I am just as capable in a fight as you, Fall. I wish you would trust me more. I want to hunt, to go out and provide for you sometime," Maple curled her tail in and sat down. Her mint green eyes stared down at the earthy floor.
Fall felt a pang of guilt. He nuzzled Maple. "I do trust you. I just... worry. You know I worry. I can't help it."
"It's fine if you worry. I think it's sweet that you do. I just want you to let me do things for you on occasion," Maple put her head against the gray tabby tom's white chest. Fall hesitated.
"I'll try. For you, Maple, I'll try."
The two curled up next to each other. Fall soon heard the slow breathing of his mate, but it took him a while longer to fall asleep. His thoughts kept circling back to their argument.
I wish I could let Maple wander around through the forest freely. But thanks to these stupid rogues, no one is safe. I hate this worry. I'm so sorry, Maple. If only the rogues were gone. I would do anything I could to get rid of them for you.