Disclaimer : I do not own the series, Warriors, Erin Hunter does. I do take credit for all of the characters in this chapter; Oakpaw, Tawnypaw, and Stonepaw.

Edit : This chapter of Simplicity was improved on June 3, 2015.

Further edits will be added later on.

Prelude : Complication

"Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated." - Confucius

Oakpaw

She didn't understand.

Did she even know?

As Oakpaw watched the russet she-cat practice her battle moves in the training hollow, he determined his question. No, she was not aware. The way she looked at him while they fought, they way she flipped him over even though the match was over - which really hurt, but he wasn't going to admit that - it was just another piece of evidence that she didn't care about him; if anything, she probably hated everything about him from his ears to his tail. He'd tried his best to make up for all the scratches he'd given her during practice all those moons ago, he didn't mean to use his claws, he was just trying to hide that fact that he liked her by being as mean as he could. He had given her first pick at the fresh-kill pile and even purposely let her win during multiple training sessions. It was as if none of those gestures could make up for what he did. He had just been doing what Stonepaw had told him, whether it was stupid advice or not. He was the oldest apprentice, so he had listened to him.

Now he felt bad. Maybe terrible.

In the corner of his eye, he could see her shooting him a look of pure anger. What did he do now?

Oakpaw watched as she ran over to talk to her friends, who seemed to laugh at everything she said. Occasionally, one or two would glance over to him in mean manners, before continuing to speak. In between the crowd of she-cats, he could see the long scar that reached from her shoulder to her front paw - the one he gave her. The pale pink discoloration was nearly hidden under her fur, but parts of the streak peeked out under the red hairs. He replayed the memory in his mind; him running over to push her down from an attack, but his claws had slid out before he could realize it and they had swept over her pelt like a wave of water.

Ugh. Why couldn't she get over it?

It hadn't been a deep cut.

As their mentors instructed them to head back to camp, he eagerly attempted to talk to her but to his disappointment, her stupid posse was gathered around her, gossiping about things that only StarClan knew. Oakpaw really wanted to speak with her, especially when he wanted to apologize for like the hundredth time even though he didn't understand why she was upset. Changing his thoughts, he started to wonder why he liked her so much. Were they meant to be together, or was it just an apprentice crush? After all, she didn't really take the smallest liking to him. Tucking in his long tail in shame, he pondered why it was so hard to get her to be at least friends again; they were so close as kits and now she refused to make contact with him. He felt his gaze suddenly turn into blue slits as he thought about how long he spent every day chasing after her, never getting even acknowledgement. Why was he running around for her when she wouldn't even move a muscle? With a small huff, he walked past her band with his head held high, finally settling on the fact that she would never care.

Oakpaw didn't bother with the reminder that it was a crazy quick transition from liking her to not.

He was done. And if she still didn't give a fox dung, it wasn't his problem.

Vain, selfish Tawnypaw wasn't important anymore. The whole situation was that simple.

Tawnypaw

She didn't understand.

Why wasn't he talking to her?

Usually, Tawnypaw would just ignore him like the universe wanted her to, but she had to admit that she enjoyed the attention she got from him. But why wasn't he coming over to ask what kind of prey she wanted or if she wanted new moss? Some cats might have said she was being devious for manipulating him into doing things for her. She didn't think so. He was always feeling very guilty about hurting her anyway, so she just decided grabbed the opportunity, like her mentor had always told her to. Plus, she technically deserved the somewhat luxurious treatment in exchange for him giving her that nasty gash. Well, it wasn't very bad - she had been kind of thrilled to have her first battle scar. She tried her best to act as if she held a grudge against the accidents for moons; she was kind of offended, and that ultimately ended up in him helping her with whatever. It wasn't like Dark Forest evil.

She hated him.

And she didn't know why.

Frowning, she headed into the apprentices den, where her friends greeted her with a flick of her tails. Settling down into the nest beside them, she buried her muzzle into her paws. As she did so, their expression was a mix of confusion and concern when she didn't speak to them, since they had a routine that they would always talk about their day once all of them were in the rocky room. Honestly though, Tawnypaw didn't feel like talking at all, especially when she was trying to figure out why he didn't even try to make eye contact with her. It was just so strange - Stonepaw had always said that the trick always worked, even on someone as stubborn as him. He was the oldest apprentice and he always boasted about being the wisest, so she had listened to him of course. But now she wondered, if he was always so right, why would the brown feline ignore her? She was perplexed as she didn't really want to think about it anymore, even if she was nearly dying with curiosity. He was always persistent, why would he stop today? Had he had enough of tagging along with her? Was he ill or secretly injured?

She wanted to stop thinking about it.

As she rolled over onto her side and curled her large tail around herself, she wondered why he would do it in the first place. He was known for being quite arrogant throughout the Clan, even around the timidest and innocentest kits. So why? Everything was a question at the moment and she couldn't stop herself from continuing to wonder. Did he like her? It wouldn't be an alarming surprise - a lot of toms liked her, even though she would think she was quite vain. But she didn't really care. Maybe he did harbor feelings for her, and that's why he only determined his thought about making it up to her. If not, he probably wouldn't even have apologized. Only StarClan knew why he decided to do all the things for her. But there was one more question that she feared to answer.

Did she like him?

No, then she wouldn't have rejected him so many times. She knew herself. Didn't she? He was pretty cute...but not as cute as Dustpaw or Webpaw. She dug her thorn-sharp claws into the moss of her nest with a small growl. She could usually stop her uncontrollable thoughts after a while, but this time, her mind was a mess and for once, she didn't know how to fix it. Everything in her world had abruptly gone upside down in a matter of minutes.

Stubborn, persistent Oakpaw was ruining her life. The whole situation was that complicated.