Sandflower went out hunting by herself, everyone else was so busy with the new kits, and she decided the clan could always use more fresh-kill.
She headed towards Barley's farm, which was usually plentiful with prey.
Sandflower walked in a relaxed manner, she noticed how beautiful the day.
The sun shined brightly and there wasn't a cloud in sight.
As she came closer to the farm, the scent of rabbit wafted to her nose.
She looked around the moor and saw a rabbit crouched over eating the vegetation of the moor.
She moved forward until she couldn't get any closer without the rabbit sensing her presence.
Sandflower began to race after it as fast as she could, she caught up to it and pounced on it before biting its neck.
It let out one last desperate squeal as her teeth tore through its flesh.
Sandflower continued on her hunting adventure and decided to bury the rabbit for later.
She quickly dug a shallow hole and dropped the rabbit inside, before scraping the dirt back on top of it.
"I'll come back for it later," she thought.
Sandflower continued walking towards Barley's farm until she finally reached the edge of WindClan territory.
She could see Moonstone in the distance and the Barley's bright red farm was only a few fox-lengths away.
Sandflower began to look around for more rabbits, but saw none around her general area.
She turned around to scout for more rabbits, but saw a dark brown blur chasing what looked like a young rabbit.
"What is that? Can it be…Hey! He's hunting on WindClan territory," she thought, running to confront the blur.
"Who are you and what are you doing on WindClan territory?" she demanded.
He was distracted and let the prey get away as he heard her voice.
The brown tom cursed at the missed catch and looked up in surprise as Sandflower approached him quickly.
"I'm Pine," he said smoothly. "I'm just hunting a little, no need to be so snappy."
"Are you a rogue or a longer?" she muttered quietly under her breath, seemingly to herself.
Apparently not quiet enough, because Pine spoke up, "What the difference?"
"Well loners are cats who pass by and don't cause trouble, rogues cause trouble and hunt on our territory, despite our threats," explained Sandflower.
"I think I'm a rogue then," said Pine jokingly. "So what are you doing to do to me? Kill me and eat my bones?"
Sandflower kept in her amusement at the rumors of what kittypets and rogues thought of the clan cats.
She went along with it and bared her teeth, threatening him, "I might if you don't get out of our territory."
"I don't mean to bother you or your little clan" said Pine.
Sandflower hissed at his blatant tone of disrespect.
"Leave our territory then!" she spat, narrowing her eyes.
Pine looked at Sandflower with what seemed like entertainment at her act of hostility.
He began to walk away and Sandflower watched him with pointed glaring.
She noticed that she could see and count every single one of his ribs.
"He probably hasn't eaten in days," she thought. "And I just made him lose his rabbit…"
Guilt gnawed at her stomach and hesitantly called, "Wait Pine!"
He spun around and asked, "Didn't you tell me to leave?"
"When was the last time you had a proper meal?" she shot back.
"Err maybe a moon ago. If you count scraps as a proper meal, then three days ago," he replied uneasily.
Sandflower's suspicions were confirmed and she said, "Wait here. I'm going to go get something, don't leave or do anything stupid."
She ran back to where she buried the rabbit, digging it out of its grave as quickly as possible.
"Honeystar is going to kill me if she ever finds out," she thought nervously. "But Pine is starving! If I don't help him, I'm as good as another rogue."
Sandflower picked up the rabbit and ran back to Pine.
As she bounded up to him again, she set the rabbit down at his paws.
"Eat," Sandflower commanded.
Pine looked at Sandflower oddly, it was a mix of confusion and suspicion.
"Are you sure I can eat this? You won't hurt me? It's not a trap or poisoned or anything?" Pine asked tilting his head to the side.
"I'm sure you can eat it. It's not deadly to eat or anything," said Sandflower, taking a tiny bite of the rabbit to prove her point.
She wanted to reassure him, but leave him the plenty of prey in case it be his last for several more days.
Pine bent down and took a bite, he wanted more, but didn't want to show it in front of her.
"There, are you happy?" he asked.
"I'll be happy when you eat all of it," replied Sandflower. "But, I don't want to be caught helping you. So get out of here, and take the rabbit with you."
"Alright then," said Pine, shrugging and taking the rabbit in his jaws.
He hesitated for a moment before setting the rabbit down and calling over his shoulder, "Thanks for the rabbit!"
He quickly ducked his head, taking the rabbit and rushing away.
Sandflower's ears burned in embarrassment and she headed back to the open moors.
"I'll need to catch another rabbit," she thought.
Sandflower returned to camp with two rabbits in her jaw.
She set them down in the fresh-kill pile and saw that nearly everyone had gone to their nests.
Sandflower felt her stomach grumble, but decided that her need for sleep over-ruled her stomach.
She padded over to her warm and soft nest, and laid down, embracing the comfortable lining.
Sandflower closed her eyes and grasped for sleep.
Unfortunately, it wasn't coming easily, her thoughts were plagued with questions.
"Why did I help Pine? Is he going to come back? Would it be good or bad?" she thought. "It was just an act of kindness, and of course it would be bad if he came back! He's just another rogue! He's just going to cause trouble!"
Sandflower pinned her ears to her head and forced herself to focus on her breathing as she allowed sleep to embrace her.
Sandflower woke up as the sun bathed her pelt in its warm rays.
She stretched and parted her jaws to let out a large yawn.
Sandflower looked around camp and saw Rainshine coming over to speak to her.
"Sandflower!" called Rainshine. "Could you lead a hunting patrol near the gorge with Thorntooth and Cloversong?"
"Sure," replied Sandflower.
Sandflower's stomach protested, making her note that she hadn't eaten since yesterday morning.
"I can eat a rabbit when I get back," she thought.
She looked at the light brown litter-mates and asked, "Are you ready?"
They nodded simultaneously, and Sandflower led the way out of camp.
Sandflower looked around and saw a rabbit hobbling around near a clump of heather.
She gestured with her tail and went around the rabbit, Cloversong got into position in front of it with Thorntooth flanking her in case it got away.
Sandflower jumped out and started hissing loudly and intentionally stomping towards it.
It immediately sprang away, straight into Cloversong who bit its neck and gave a muffled, "Good job!"
Sandflower nodded her head briskly as she scented more rabbits around, holding her head close to the ground to look for trails and conceal her position as her pelt blended into the sunlight of the moor.
She suddenly smelling something that was distinctly not rabbit...cat to be specific.
A familiar cat as well..."Pine," thought Sandflower narrowing her eyes. "I thought he left!"
Part of her was curious as to why he was back and wanted to find out how he was doing.
She crushed it into tiny pieces and continued following his scent to drive him out.
Sandflower looked up and after she surveyed the area, she spotted his dark brown pelt.
"Cloversong! Thorntooth! I see a rabbit a bit farther away, I'm going after it okay?" she yelled over her shoulder.
They were already chasing another rabbit, green-leaf was causing both cat and rabbit to thrive in the warm weather.
The only sign that they heard her was Thorntooth's ear flicking.
She took off in rapid leaps and bounds until she reached behind him, "What are you doing back here?"
"Just around the area again," said Pine.
"Get out!" hissed Sandflower. "You're not welcome here, if any other cat had found you, you would be dead!"
"Then why aren't you trying to kill me?" asked Pine.
"Because...I felt pity for you," snapped Sandflower.
Pine turned around and began to walk away, Sandflower was happy he left, but couldn't help but feel disappointed.
"Stop that!" she scolded herself.
Sandflower spun around and decided to focus on hunting when footsteps sounded out from behind her.
Pine came back with a rabbit in his jaw, holding it proudly.
"Did you steal that off our territory?" Sandflower asked furiously.
"Nope!" said Pine cheerfully, completely ignoring her tone. "I caught it outside the scent markers."
"Then what are you doing back here?" asked Sandflower.
"Well you gave me a rabbit, I'm returning the favor," said Pine.
"Keep it, it was your catch," said Sandflower.
"Come on! I spent all morning cat trying to catch a rabbit for you! Just eat the dang thing!" said Pine.
"I have to feed my clan first, eating it would be against the warrior code," said Sandflower.
"How about we share it then?" asked Pine. "I'm sure it wouldn't be so bad if you just had a few bites."
Sandflower shook her head, "I'm not hungry."
"Oh please! I've been hearing your stomach grumble the entire time!" said Pine pointing out her obvious lie.
Sandflower looked at the rabbit and Pine, switching between the two for a few moments.
"Fine," said Sandflower taking a small bite.
Pine smiled victoriously and began eating the other side of the rabbit.
They quickly polished off the rabbit and Sandflower contently sat down, washing her pelt.
"Thanks," she meowed in between licks.
"No problem," said Pine.
Minutes ticked by until he spoke up again, "I would like to meet you again sometime."
Sandflower's response didn't come until she had walked away and Pine was backing away dejectedly.
"I would like that," she told him over her shoulder.
Sandflower rolled in a clump of heather to disguise her scent of Pine and rabbit before continuing her hunt.
By the end of the day, she had only caught one rabbit.
Rainshine was sharing tongues with Honeystar and padded over to speak with Sandflower.
"How was your hunt?" asked Rainshine.
"I didn't have much luck," said Sandflower sheepishly.
"Well there's always next time!" said Rainshine, observing her single rabbit.
Sandflower honestly couldn't concentrate, her thoughts were consumed with Pine.
How charming he was, how kind he was, how he smelled.
Sandflower thought back to what she had said about meeting him again, she was excited for it.
"But he's a rogue!" a part of her protested.
"I don't care," she thought.
