Two figures were stood in the forest, both their ears alert for any noises around them.
"We shouldn't be here." Pondpaw muttered to Rainpaw beside him. The territory around him felt unfamiliar, and he knew that he'd never been around this area before.
"Well guess what? We are here." Rainpaw replied sternly, her happy attitude from minutes ago snapped away. The grey tabby tom was confused. He could tell that his friend was tense, stood frigid in the unfamiliar area.
Then there was a rustle of leaves, and Pondpaw could tell that the tortoiseshell had ran off from him.
"Rainpaw, wait!" He strained his ears and tasted the air for anything he may bump into as he trekked after the tortoiseshell apprentice, who had now scurried off into the unknown.
"Great." The tom groaned, sitting on his haunches in annoyance. He'd lost the scent trail of Rainpaw.
"Looks like I'll be here for a while."
~~
The tortoiseshell could feel the anxiety pricking at her back as she rushed through the forest, following the scent trail of Leopardpaw. She knew exactly where he was headed, the AmberClan border.
She knew she shouldn't have ditched Pondpaw like that, especially not in an unknown piece of forest, but there was no choice. Because she did not want him knowing what she was going to talk about.
Finally she could see a dapple of a golden figure in the distance, sat underneath a tree, seemingly doing nothing but observing the territory around them.
"Leopardpaw!" Rainpaw snapped from where she was, skidding to a halt. Leopardpaw's head turned at her call, his ears slightly pinned down.
"Hi, r-Rainpaw." Leopardpaw stuttered, looking down his paws with a slight awkwardness. He refused to look her in the eye, keeping his eyes pinned down to the floor.
"What were you talking to Rubblestep about this morning?" The apprentice stood over the cowering cat, Leopardpaw breathing out a sigh.
"We were talking about how Rowanface had contradicted Duststar in such a way. The cat she was glaring at was R-Rowanface, not y-you." The tom answered honestly enough, giving his sister a sideways glance as she was left in thought.
"Not one mention of Torrentpaw?" Rainpaw hissed under her breath, nodding firmly to Leopardpaw, who nodded firmly back. Rainpaw could feel the tension snap as she stepped away from Leopardpaw, his figure visibly relaxing.
"What did you do today?" Leopardpaw asked, taking the apprentice by surprise, she turned, looking at him for a few seconds. Why would Leopardpaw try and be nice, to her, of all cats?
"Mistflower took me down to the slope on the other edge of the territory. We met Pondpaw and Duststar. By the way, did you know that Mistflower was such a rebel?"
"Why, what happened?" The golden tom asked in response, genuinely curious.
"Mistflower found out about, stuff that Duststar had done. And she did not. take. it. well." Rainpaw emphasised on the last part, remembering how her mentor had managed to get the arrogant leader under control.
"I thought she was quite a quiet cat, like me." Leopardpaw trailed off, his thought trailing off as his ears pricked up and his eyes filled with worry. "Wait here." He commanded, and skittered off down a trail which went down by a small stream.
Rainpaw dipped her head, but narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she watch her sibling skitter down a trail. Then she heard another burble of a voice and a laugh. Intrigued, she peered out from behind the tree, noticing two cats sitting beside one another by the stream, one clearly her brother, and the other a black pelted cat who she couldn't quite decipher yet.
"Who is that?!" She whispered to herself, crouching down to get a better sneak forward. Although, she had only just started training, even though her hunters crouch was half-decent, it wasn't absolute perfect.
"Fox-dung." Rainpaw cursed as her tail hit a bush behind her as she backed into a suitable hiding place, and undergrowth which was thick enough to hide her, but she could still see through.
Then as Rainpaw took another look at the black cat, her eyes widened with shock.
"StarClan, no." She breathed, her heart pounding faster and she shook her head, hoping it wasn't real what she saw.
Turning as fast as she could, Rainpaw released herself out the undergrowth, not caring if her brother or the cat heard her. As she fled off, her head pounded with horror.
Leopardpaw and Brackenpaw are in love!
A/N: ay we got a lil love story going on now! So what do you think of Leopard x Bracken?
Ship it or sink it?
I've been on holiday these past couple of weeks which is why chapters haven't been as frequent.
See ya!
- Ember <3