The light brown tom stretched softly as he let out a loud yawn, looking around the in the warriors den. The den was empty, all the warriors had cleared out already; ready to complete their daily tasks for the clan. Empty nests scattered among the floor and with such little light, it painted the den in a dark forest shade of green. The scent of all the warriors in ThunderClan emanated from this den. He had been a warrior for only a short amount of time, however he could point out each scent by name. His body ached from staying stationary for an extremely long period of time, the tom stretched again, cracking his back and getting his blood flowing. Light peered through the ceiling of the den, showing that it was rather late in the day, as the sun was high in the sky and shining through the cracks brighter than usual. The warrior took a hefty sigh, knowing he had overslept.
He stepped out and his eyes reacted to the harsh new sunlight, it was a bright summer's day, the sun glaring down on everything around in blinding cloak of light. He blinked several times to try and regain his vision, to no avail. As his eyes adjusted he continuously blinked as the camp came into view. The hustle of cats talking, returning from patrols, and chores exploded all at once, a rather busy day for the ThunderClan camp. The glaring ball of fire was directly above him. "Great. It's sunhigh and I haven't done anything." he growled to himself silently. In the hustle, he shot a glance at the grotto that was the camp exit. "I'll just slip past before anyone notices me, just so Bluestar doesn't chew me out...I'll even get some hunting done, then she can't be mad at me." He nodded to himself as he was pleased with his own thinking, cracking a small smirk. The grotto was only a few fox-lengths away from where he was currently positioned. He made it about halfway, past the elders den before hearing his name echoed along the camp.
"Longtail!" The voice cried out, a little too loud for Longtail's liking. He froze in place and turned on the spot; recognizing the crisp, feminine, but bossy tone. "Glad to see you enjoyed your rest." The she-cat said in a slightly annoyed tone as she slowly padded over to him, coming rather close. She walked with a powerful stance, and with the knowledge that everyone respected her for her title, Clan Leader. She was mature, but sometimes it was easy for her to remind her clanmates about her apparent title. It took every fiber of Longtail's being not to snap back at her, he knew she was being sarcastic, and she didn't need to be. He looked at the gray/blue she-cat and dipped his head respectfully, "I know, It won't happen again Bluestar." He said through clenched teeth.
"I would hope not." She said back rather harshly. The sudden sharpness to her tongue had surprised Longtail. She was in a rather foul mood, but not just from Longtail's sleeping habit, but also for all of her responsibilities as Clan Leader, they often left her rather moody towards the end of the day. "First beaten by a house cat, and now slacking on your responsibilities? Maybe you should return back to the apprentice den, shall I call Darkstripe?" she asked. There was a small hint of teasing in her voice, but it was unnecessary. The fact that the clan leader was now embarrassing him was a little too much. Longtail was fond of attention, but not this embarrassing kind of attention. He flicked his ear, a draft was felt through the fresh "V" shaped cut on his ear. Longtail knew she was now on a tangent, and would be in his best interest to just sit there and endure it. All he did as she spoke was just pray to StarClan that she wouldn't mention the fight he had gotten into a few days earlier. The fight with the Kittypet...which he had lost. Just the mere mention of that encounter, or even the apprentice's name made his heart race, his fur rise, and anger to swell inside of him.
"Or maybe I should call Firepaw, maybe he could teach you a thing or two about being a warrior." She chuckled. This may have been in good jest, but it was infuriating to Longtail. His tail twitched a bit as he flicked his ear again in frustration. He growled a bit under his breath, "Very funny Bluestar, now if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of hunting to catch up on due to my own laziness ." It came off as rather presumptuous, but at the moment he couldn't care less. Bluestar had crossed the line in his eyes and he was removing himself from that bothersome situation. Without a second to spare he quickly turned around and began walking out of camp, leaving Bluestar alone.
He stepped outside the hidden grotto and breathed in the clear forest air. The wind blowing softly and the sunlight seeping through the canopy of tall oak trees. Birds chirping and leaves rustling. The scent of cats coming in and out of this area constantly. He loved coming outside of camp, the world seemed much bigger whenever he wasn't in the heart of the territory. He felt the grass flatten under his soft paws and he began to softly walk through the woods. Longtail was still rather fumed from Bluestar's scolding conversation with him. "Compare me to a Kittypet. How dare she." Longtail was disgusted at Bluestar's behavior. "I was born in that Clan, and she has the audacity to compare me to some twoleg plaything!" he hissed to himself as he continued to walk through the woods, too enraged to be heavily focused on the hunt.
"There!" he thought to himself as he scented something nearby. Longtail froze to pinpoint the location of the scent before quickly dropping to his well-trained hunter's crouch. His belly fur barely brushing up against the emerald grass as he slowly inched forward. The warm smell of a rodent flooded his senses as he got closer and closer with every passing moment, he could feel his heartbeat and he could feel his blood pumping with the thrill of the hunt. The brown tom continued on until he had gotten as close as he could without seeing his prey. With his deductions, he had realized that the mouse was on the other side of that tree root. He had been downwind, an unlucky chance, however the mouse was frozen still to the ground, nibbling on a nut that it had found. He tensed his muscles in his hind legs before springing for a proud, powerful pounce.
He was not the only one with this idea, at the same instant of his pounce, a blob of ginger fur pounced at the same time a fox length to his side. "What?!" The light brown tom had not even scented another cat, too caught up in his current objective. His eyes went wide as the two cats looked at each other in surprise. They collided at the point where the mouse once was. Both of them hitting their heads on the other's, causing a decent level of pain for the two of them. The mouse had escaped, leaving Longtail and the ginger cat in the dirt with no prey to show for it.
Longtail groaned in pain as he rose to his paws, glaring at his distraction. "Great! You cost me that mouse, I hope you're happy-" he silenced himself as he noticed who was getting up next to him. That unmistakable ginger fur, those sharp emerald eyes. The Kittypet who had beaten him in a brawl on his first day in camp. "Firepaw..." He hissed as his mood instantly went from decent to sour in a heartbeat. His fur bristled and his blood boiled at the sight of the ex-Kittypet.
"Longtail." The young apprentice hissed back as they circled around each other in a sort of confrontation. "How is this my fault? You're the warrior here, you should have scented me!" The apprentice glared in retaliation. That made Longtail's blood boil even hotter and stronger than before. "You knew that was my catch! I pounced first, you should have stayed out of it Kittypet" He growled. Firepaw's green eyes were flaming with anger, "Call me that one more time..." He said, looking up at the warrior. It sounded an awful lot like a threat. Longtail smirked devilishly as he spat the word again, and again. "Kittypet. Kittypet. Kittypet." Longtail scowled as he turned his back on the apprentice in order to try and resume his hunt. He would not be going back to camp empty handed.
Firepaw had other ideas in store for the warrior. As Longtail turned around, Firepaw pounced directly on the front end of Longtail, digging his head towards the ground with his own weight. The leap took the warrior by surprise as he went down, his jaw colliding with the dirt as he growled at the apprentice on top of him. He twisted his bottom half to shake the younger tom off of him to an awkward success. Firepaw had fallen off of Longtail and onto the ground in front of them. He tensed up, shoulders raised slightly and claws unsheathed. He was not about to lose another fight to this rejected house cat.
Wind was roaring, it seemed like you could hear a mouse's heartbeat, that's how quiet the two toms were. They were staring each other down, without saying a word, neither toms moving quite yet. Birds chirped as they flew overhead. The light beams from the canopy dotting around them randomly, the rest of their 'battlefield' was a deep, forest green. Longtail felt his heart pound as he stared at the young apprentice, "What's with this Kittypet. Why does he make me so hostile...why does he...-" Longtail's thoughts were cut short by the first move, made by the ginger apprentice.
Firepaw had pounced again, making his first move, this time, Longtail was prepared. He sidestepped, avoiding Firepaw's assault as he turned in the direction the apprentice had went. He pounced after without hesitation. The apprentice didn't have anytime to react. The moment Firepaw landed, he was tackled to the ground by Longtail. The warrior had rolled around in the dirt, tussling with the ginger tom before finally managing to pin him. "You got lucky that first time Kittypet. Now understand who's the real clan cat here, it's me." He growled as he slowly rose, leaving Firepaw in the dirt. He had won. A short bout, but it was a victory in the eyes of Longtail either way.
He turned his back on the apprentice once more, as he padded away he spoke, "Don't get any ideas Kittypet. If you do, I'll gladly shove you back into the dirt where you belong." Leaves crunched underneath him as Longtail left the small clearing. Firepaw, in the meantime had gotten up, grumbled something inaudible and left in the opposite direction, supposedly to do his own hunt.
"Stupid runt. Makes my blood boil just looking at him. He doesn't belong here. The only reason he got accepted into our clan was because he got a few lucky hits on me." He said to himself as he continued walking. The lights pooling out from the treetops soon started to dim to a faint darkness. Longtail looked up, the sky had turned into a gradient color between navy blue and orange as the sun was setting. He quickly decided to hunt until nightfall until returning to camp.
Crickets were chirping as he entered through the grotto of the camp. He had stayed out much later than he wanted to. He looked up, the moon was almost above him. The sky was clear, no clouds. Just the beautiful, silver, crescent moon with a navy sky splattered with shining stars. He had to admit, is was a rather dumb thing to even think, but he loved the night sky. "Yup, still as beautiful and as mysterious as ever." he thought to himself as he dragged his prey to the nearby fresh-kill pile. He had returned with three mice, and a nice, plump robin.
He grabbed a separate mouse from the pile, a smaller one as he went to the center of camp to enjoy his meal and watch the night sky. A rather strange pastime for someone of his...personality, but he enjoyed it. However he was rather embarrassed by it. Which is why when he heard his name get called he was shocked out of his trance and growing warm with embarrassment. "What!?" he quickly said, not knowing who said his name, but knowing he had been snapped out of his stargazing.
Bluestar stood before him, "Come see me in my den, we have something to discuss." She said. There was no harshness in her voice, only a serious tone of business. Longtail didn't complain, he'd rather a bossy, business Bluestar; then a teasing, rude one. The sandy brown tom quickly scarfed down the rest of his mouse before quickly following at Bluestars paws, as to not loose her from his sight.
The two warriors walked into the leader's den. When they passed the mossy curtain of privacy, Longtail felt that twinge of warmth in his body. The familiar, burning feeling of a certain flame. He glared as he saw the ginger tom from earlier, sitting, licking his paw, as if nothing had happened, not even acknowledging his existence. Longtail's fur bristled again at the sight of the clean, glossy tom. He looked up and down the clean tom before letting out a rude noise of disgust. He had expected Firepaw to look back and give some sort of retaliation. The fact that he was getting ignored bothered him. He didn't know why, but it was rather annoying that his apprentice rival didn't even acknowledge him.
Bluestar spoke: "Alright, I've brought you two here because I've seen how you two are with each other, and it needs to stop. I'm sending you two on a trip to the RiverClan camp. Riverclan warriors keep threatening our own cats because they claim that the river is their territory. I need you two to go to Crookedstar and find out if this is intentional on his behalf, if it is, ThunderClan's going to have a battle...If not, then we're clearing up a misunderstanding. You two will leave tomorrow after sunhigh." she explained. The two toms stayed silent for a small amount of time. It was obvious Bluestar was now awaiting an answer, she coughed audibly to get the toms to speak up. Knowing better to argue with the leader, the two toms grumbled simultaneously, "Yes Bluestar." they said as they both turned to leave. Longtail looked at Firepaw to glare at him as they usually would, but Firepaw ignored him and walked all high-and-mighty to the apprentice den, acting as if Firepaw had beat Longtail in their little match earlier. Longtail growled, "Two can play at this game Kittypet." he said as he walked back to his den to get some sleep for the extremely busy day he had ahead of him.
The sun leaked through the ceiling of the den. The tom looked up and blinked his eyes as a small stream of sunlight hit his face. He moved slightly before rising slowly with a stretch. He yawned a bit before looking around. It was early, there was still a number of warriors sleeping soundly in the den. He sighed a bit at the earliness of his wake. He shook his head to try and awaken him more, to no avail. With a groggy groan of discontent he exit the den with another yawn. He didn't sleep comfortably. All night he kept seeing Firepaw in his dreams, again, and again, and again, and he had no idea why.
As the light brown striped tom exit the den, he noticed the ginger tom exiting his own den at the same time. Longtail looked over at met the apprentice's shining gaze. Firepaw scoffed a bit and looked off as usual. Longtail smiled a bit at Firepaw's reaction "That's better..." He thought to himself. "It's been about time that Kittypet's been acting normal." Firepaw began walking towards the warrior and Longtail did the same, meeting each other in the center of the camp.
"Let's get this over with, eh?" Firepaw said bluntly. The warrior wasn't surprised with the apprentice's sharp tongue, in fact, he was used to it, and somewhat liked his attitude. Longtail smirked, "Sure thing Kittypet." he said, knowing that it would get on Firepaw's nerves. Firepaw growled a bit and rolled his emerald eyes, obviously not pleased with Longtail's words. Longtail smiled again, seeing the reaction he had hoped for burn within the slightly younger tom.
Firepaw's fur was bristling, and Longtail knew that the "K-Word" had really started to annoy Firepaw. He took a deep breath "It'd be in my best interest to lay off a bit..." He thought to himself before looking off into the distance as to not look at the angry ginger smiled, seeing Firepaw act so...annoyed, so full of attitude, it got his heart pounding. Longtail flicked his ears and blinked away these thoughts. He shook any positive idea of Firepaw from his head, "Let's go." he said, rather sourly, his mood changing rather quickly.
Longtail saw Firepaw's ears twitch in surprise at his sudden mood change. It had appeared that he had wanted to say something, but the apprentice scoffed a bit, and kept his mouth shut. Firepaw took the lead, walking towards the grotto, obviously wanting to get this done as quickly as he could. The wind brushed through their fur, it was getting windy out. He saw the trees above him shake softly in the wind. Longtail followed the apprentice promptly, exiting the camp together, getting their mission started.
The territory had seemed dead. No birds were chirping, just the sound of the wind and the sound of the trees and bushes rustling. He looked over at Firepaw, who was still slightly ahead of him. That ginger fur was still bristling a bit with annoyance. Longtail spoke, "So...This isn't gonna take longer then it has to right?" He said, trying to make a bit of loose conversation. It didn't work as well as he had hoped, the tom turned around, "Trust me, the last thing I want is to stay with you longer than I have to..." he said, trailing off and looking away. Longtail flicked his tail in confusion, the apprentice seemed conflicted about something. Longtail shook that thought out of his mind. "Probably some dumb drama with the apprentices." Longtail stayed silent for the entire walking trip to the Sunning-rocks, and to the river.
As the two toms arrived at the river, Firepaw turned around with an odd look. He had a face of mischief. Firepaw smirked a bit and said, "I bet I could get to the other side of the river without touching all the stones." he said, referring to the steppingstones. Longtail blinked, "You're gonna skip steppingstones? You're a pretty dumb cat, but whatever, you're not gonna do it." he chuckled, "If you do, I'll catch you lunch until the next gathering." Longtail said, slightly encouraging the tom's challenge. "Be careful though, I don't need some wet Kittypet to drag back home!" He shouted as Firepaw rushed off, Longtail followed in hot pursuit.
Firepaw didn't seem to hear Longtail's last warning. The young tom dashed across the steppingstones quickly. Longtail was following close behind before he noticed something that scared him. A big peice of moss was on the rock a few paces ahead of them, no doubt slick from the roaring river below them. "Firepaw! Be careful-!" Longtail's cry was cut short with Firepaw's yelp as his paw stepped on the moss, sliding him off into the river. The back of the ginger tom's head had collided into the rock on his way down, knocking him unconscious as he fell into the river.
The warrior's eyes grew wide with a sudden fear and worry. Without any hesitation, he hopped into the rapids after the apprentice. Firepaw was a few fox-lengths ahead of him, his ginger head barely over the surface to breath. Longtail sped up the pace, he swam with all his might towards the apprentice and finally managed to catch up to him. He dragged Firepaw onto his shoulder, using himself as a sort of flotation device for the apprentice.
Water splashed everywhere, into Longtail's eyes, into his mouth, and into his nose, making it very difficult to breath and to stay focused. "Come on Longtail...You can make it...Just a little bit longer..." He thought to himself as he paddled with all his strength. Firepaw's head was constantly above his own, making it so the apprentice could breath, but Longtail was having a difficult time. His limbs ached from the constant paddling, he couldn't manage to fight the rapids enough to get to shore. "Just a little...longer..." Longtail was panting and sore all over before finally, his body gave into exhaustion, knocking himself out. He felt the water rush over his face a few more times before loosing consciousness.
Longtail groaned in pain and discomfort. He could feel the gritty sand scrape against his belly and paws. He shifted a bit, trying to recall what had occured. He shook his head in pain as he opened his eyes softly. It was nightfall, the wind was blowing and the moon was right above them. He shivered a bit, his fur still damp, but not soaked, he had been knocked out for a long time. He continued to think before realizing, "Firepaw! Firepaw!?" He looked around frantically before noticing the ginger fur of the apprentice a few fox lengths away from him, curled up and sleeping sound. He couldn't help but let out a smile and a sigh of relief as he saw the apprentice safe and sound.
The warrior looked around him, he had noticed that there was a large piece of dry, tree moss covering him. He tugged it off with his teeth and looked at it for a few moments. It was emanating Firepaw's scent. "Did Firepaw go out and get me this...To keep me warm...?" He looked back at the apprentice with a soft, warm smile and looked at him. He smirked as he watched the ginger fur seemingly glow in the moonlight and he sighed deeply before looking back at the make-shift blanket. "What a sweet apprentice-" His eyes grew wide with shock. "NO. Dumb Kittypet. I don't need his help! I'm a natural, blood born clan warrior! I-I..." He looked back over at the sleeping tom and his head throbbed with indecisive pain. "He's not all bad...In fact...He looks kind of...cute...sleeping so soundly..." He shook his head again. He couldn't make up his mind. Did he like the apprentice? Or did he hate the Kittypet. His body froze in fear and shock when he knew his mind had reached a conclusion. "Is this what...love...feels like...?"
Longtail shook his head, "No...Nononononono..." He growled at himself as he began walking softly, his paws crunching the leaves underneath him as he walked to the forest floor. "I'm not in love with a tom!" He growled more, "And definitely not in love with a Kittypet " He shook his head, trying to clear this answer from his mind, but it wasn't leaving. He knew that he was in love with the young apprentice, but he hated knowing it. He continued to walk on a branch, and in his confusion and anger, he felt a stick crack under his paw. He turned around quickly to see Firepaw stirring. "Longtail...?" He asked in almost an innocent, naive tone. "Are you alright?" he asked. Firepaw seemed genuine. His green eyes shone with worry and hope that the warrior was alright. This drove Longtail off the edge, he couldn't handle the apprentice any more.
"Leave me alone Kittypet." He spat, "I don't need your help." Longtail cringed. That came off a lot worse than he had intended. He growled a bit and turned to meet the apprentice's gaze. Firepaw was shocked, that's for sure. His expression was a mixture of shock and disbelief. "Longtail? You're tired, you should lie back down and rest." Firepaw tried to encourage Longtail to lie down and try to get better, alright?"
"NO. Not alright, leave me alone. Before I shove your face down in the dirt where it belongs, Kittypet trash!" Longtail growled, his own words hurt himself as well as it did Firepaw. Firepaw growled and retorted.
"What in StarClan's name is your problem!?" He growled, "Can't you see I'm trying to help you!? Show a little compassion to your clan mate!"
"COMPASSION?" That word drove Longtail crazier. Firepaw had no idea of what was going though his head. His head was buzzing and he finally couldn't hold it back any longer. "I don't fall in love with cats ever. I just can't believe it was you! Out of everyone, you , just had to steal my heart. That's very wrong, you know, to steal." Longtail's own heart stopped for a beat as he realized what he had just said to the ginger tom.
Firepaw's eyes went wide and his ears flattened. It looked like he was happy, confused, hurt, possibly even angry. However, within a few moments, Longtail knew it was all four at once. "Well I doubt you have ANY idea how I feel?! Do you? No, I thought I was insane, falling for a tom, let alone one that hates me! I resent you, and I resent what I feel, because of YOU."
Silence.
The wind howled, rustling the two tom's fur as the both stared at eachother. "W-Whatever. That's off my chest, and I'm glad it's off yours as well." He said, pretending to shrug it off. He was an awful liar, it was obvious that he hurt from what Firepaw had said, but he knew he had it coming for moons now. "Let's get going." He said with a cold tone as he continued to walk up the shore line with Firepaw beginning to stroll shortly behind him.
Silence.
More Silence.
The two toms didn't get very far before Longtail felt his limbs get sore again. He hadn't fully rested up from the river incident, however he didn't want to say anything. Luckily, he didn't have to. Firepaw spoke, "Longtail I'm tired, we're stopping." Firepaw said with the same cold tone that Longtail had used on him a little while back. Longtail looked around quickly and noticed a small alcove a few fox-lengths into the wood. "There, we can sleep in this little den." Longtail said as he crawled in with a yawn, he was exhausted.
It was much smaller than he had anticipated, an old fox nest by the look of it, however the scent was old, way too old for the nest to be occupied. He couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed as Firepaw crawled in, the two way too close for one another's comfort. "Tight fit." Firepaw growled, obviously annoyed. The two were forced into an awkward, silent cuddle. More silence, it aggravated the warrior.
With a deep breath, Longtail spoke, "I'm sorry." He said rather quietly, looking at the apprentice in the darkness. The words surprised the ginger tom. The two gazes met in the darkness and Firepaw asked quietly, "What did you say?" he asked softly, in almost a whisper of disbelief. "I said..." He gulped, "Sh-Shut up. Don't make me repeat it." he said as his pelt grew hot with embarrassment. Firepaw couldn't help but smile a bit, "You did say sorry...didn't you...?" Longtail simply nodded softly. Firepaw took a deep breath as well before repeating what Longtail had said, "I'm sorry too." The warrior's ears flicked in shock as he looked deep in the apprentice's eyes. "I overreacted." Firepaw said with an obvious nervous chuckle.
"Did you mean what you said back there?" Firepaw asked. The light brown warrior could feel the apprentice's heart beat quickly, his own heart started to race as well. "I mean...Love is such a weird word...It has a lot of meanings..." He said awkwardly, turning away from the apprentice's piercing gaze. However it was obvious on what Longtail meant. "Do you love me?" Firepaw asked after a while. He flinched a bit, not ready for that question. "For real?" Firepaw elaborated, "Do you really love me like that?" he asked again. With a gulp, Longtail opens his mouth, "Yeah...Yeah I guess so..."
"Then let's not worry about it...Who cares what others think...? Right...?" Firepaw said as he put his nose to the warrior's. Longtail grew warm and smiles softly before nuzzling into the apprentice softly, "Right. I love you, and it doesn't matter what others think." Longtail reassured, "Now let's get to sleep..." He said softly with another soft nuzzle into the apprentice. Firepaw let out a small purr and Longtail did the same, sleeping close before dozing off once more.
The birds chirped rather loudly, and the river roared as Longtail blinked open his eyes. He yawned and noticed the sleeping tom and smiled. The brown tom licked the ginger tom's ears before slipping out of the small den. "I should do something for him...He deserves more..." He thought to himself before sneaking away with a smile, leaving the apprentice to his soft, happy dreams.
By the time it was sun-high, Firepaw had begun stirring as a familiar, delicious scent flooded his nose. He purred and woke up, "Mouse?" he asked with a yawn, raising his head to see Longtail with two mice in his mouth, dangling from their tails. Longtail had a cute, but dumb little grin as he dropped them in front of Firepaw, "There...I got us breakfast..." he said with a smile. Firepaw's eyes gleamed happily as he crawled out of the den and began eating with his warrior. The two small talked about camp and about other sorts of common chatter between clan cats before finishing their food.
"We should head out now." Longtail recommended.
"Agreed, we should get going sooner rather than later eh? Bluestar probably wasn't expecting us to be gone so long." Firepaw agreed.
The two slowly began to walk along the shoreline, enjoying the time that they were sharing together before they were to return to camp with Crookedstar's answer. Before they arrived at the steppingstones, "Are we gonna keep it a secret?" Firepaw asked.
"It'll be our secret."
"Our crazy-"
"-weird-" Longtail cut off the smaller tom as he wrapped his tail around Firepaw's and began to walk with him along the riverside with a smile that he had never had before. A smile of pure happiness, and who would have thought, he'd find it with a Kittypet?