The forest was thrumming with the sound of busy chatters of squirrels and urgent tweets of birds. They called to each other from the trees, warning them of the predator lurking in the undergrowth below.
The predator in mind was slowly stalking a squirrel who was currently not listening to its fellow forest buddies. It was currently stuffing its cheeks with nuts. The predator in the undergrowth kept low, her ginger fur with barely there tabby markings that weren't there when she was a kit blending with the grass. Amber eyes watched sharply the critter near the tree. Her muscles bunched, feeling the time was right, and she pounced.
The squirrel stood no chance.
With a swift bite to the neck it was dead, and with a triumphant gleam in her eyes the she cat carried her spoils over to a tree where she had buried her other prey. "Finally," a tabby ginger tom hissed. "I thought the prey caught you instead."
"Shut up," the she cat snapped. "Besides, I caught more than you!"
"Hush, the both of you!" Snapped a grey tom. His pale blue eyes glared in their direction, making them shiver in fear.
Beside him stood a tortoiseshell she cat. "Both of you did well, now stop arguing," she mewed softly. She then grinned at her apprentice. "Sunpaw you did excellent."
Sunpaw, the tabby tom, puffed his chest out in pride. "Thanks Poppyfrost!"
Poppyfrost nods and turns to the mentor beside her. "Jayfeather?" she asked questioningly when the tom didn't make a move towards his apprentice. She saw his ears swiveling on his head though and realized he was listening for his other apprentice.
After a while he blinked. "Good job Flamepaw," he mewed with a grunt. "And you too Gingerpaw."
Said apprentice stepped out from behind a tree, a frown on his face. "I thought I could scare you," he muttered grumpily, his ginger light tabby body shaking as he rid himself of leaves that fell on him.
Jayfeather snorted. "I heard you, and Flameblood ratted you out."
"Hey!" Gingerpaw whined. Flamepaw and Sunpaw chuckled and picked up their prey. Gingerpaw returned to the tree to pick up the herbs he was sent to get before he joined his siblings. Then the two mentors took their apprentices home.
~ooo~
"How were they?" Bramblestar asked.
Poppyfrost smiled while Jayfeather lead Gingerpaw to the medicine den. "They were excellent. They caught a lot of prey for their first time."
"That's good," the Thunderclan leader purred as he gazed down proudly at his kits. "Your mother will be proud."
"Flamepaw!" came a high pitch squeal. Well, as high pitch as a deep voice could go. A fluffy golden fur ball with grey flecks came hurtling towards the she cat, and before she could do anything he crashed into her side. Flamepaw offed and fell, trying to catch her breath. He was only a kit, three moons old at that, but he was heavy and big.
"Hi Deathkit," Flamepaw purred after she had finally caught her breath. She licked his ear.
The tomkit purred back and looked down at her prey. "Wow! That squirrel is huge!"
"DEATHKIT!" came an angry yowl. Foxe came storming out of the nursery with anger. His siblings were trailing behind her. Flamepaw stood quickly and picked Deathkit up. She then ran away from Foxe. The angry queen chased after her.
From the elders den Dustpelt and Barley sighed in unison. "Are they at it again?" the blind warrior growled. Barley gave an affirmative grunt.
In the end, Lionblaze stopped the chase and scolded Flamepaw while silently glaring at Foxe. Deathkit just sat there with misty eyes, dizzy and excited from the whole event. When Lionblaze turned to him, however, the look vanished and was replaced with emptiness. It always puzzled the deputy into silence. Foxe snatched up her kit roughly and carried him back to the nursery, his siblings again dutifully trailing behind.
The brambles of the entrance of the camp shook and in walked the border patrol, consisting of Foxeleap, Brairlight, Rosepetal and Sakurablossom. Lionblaze greeted his mate with a soft purr and a playful nip to her ear. Sakurablossom returned it with a light shove. Hunting patrol returned a while after the border patrol. Ravenheart, Ravenwing, Ivypool and Bumblestripe walked in with prey in their jaws. They deposited their kill in the fresh kill pile and went on their merry way.
"Did you see Whitethudner?" Lionblaze asked as he and Sakurablossom sat down beside each other.
The she cat nodded and sighed. "It seems he really hates being ordered around," she mewed with a chuckle. The conversation she and her father had before she left was rather amusing. He ranted and threatened Onestar with all of his being until he exhausted himself and asked about her day.
"Well that's good, he hasn't gone crazy yet!" Lionblaze said in amusement.
"LIonblaze," Bramblestar called. The deputy went over to the leader, Sakurablossom following. "It's been reported that Windclan has been crossing our borders," he growled. Sakura frowned at that, she was the first to smell the scent after all.
"I hope Onestar doesn't think that because they have my mate and kit on their side that they can fight now. Otherwise a great many of his cats are going to die," Cherryblossom hissed from where she had herself laid out over the Highledge.
Bramblestar paid her no mind but silently agreed with her. He hoped the other leader didn't have that thought in mind indeed. "What have you found on your…silent patrol?"
Sakurablossom's eyes hardened at that. Her, as well as Cherryblossom and the rest of their family ha been venturing out, the ones in the other clan crossing over to their border to help scout out the forest in search for the Moonclan, or the other clans', camps. "Nothing," Sakurablossom mews in frustration. She and Whitethunder didn't just go to talk after all.
"Good," Bramblestar muttered, but was it good? "Mousewhisker! A word?"
The gray and white tom walked over to Bramblestar grudgingly. "Yes?"
"How has Foxe been?" He asked in an odd manner.
"Horrible! She's being outrageous," Mousewhisker spits back silently. And no, he wasn't saying this for just one specific reason, Foxe had really been difficult. She hates his guts and will find any way possible to show him just how much she does.
"Really now? I'm sorry about that, but there isn't anything we can do about her rather, irrational behavior. Anything interesting happened between you two?"
"Yeah." Mousewhisker scowled and turned away. "She won't stop glaring at me, it's downright uncomfortable. I also have to avoid squirrels and berries for a while because I caught her stuffing some down the throat of her kill. It gave me nightmares."
"Hmm," Bramblestar hummed. He looked to Sakurablossom who nods and goes to the Medicine den.
Mousewhisker told them in a rather subtle way that Ashfur and Thornclaw had him and Deathkit helping them to destroy the clans, by force of course, about a moon ago. Since then they have been using Foxe as a cover up to subtle speaking.
The cats then go about their own way, clan life being normal, though all knew it was for a short while. Lionbalze and Sakurablossom were sharing prey, Ravenwing and Leafpool her talking and Sandstorm was swapping stories with barely and Dustpelt. Life was, for the moment, peaceful.