Author's Note- Hi guys! Sorry if Blackstar seems kinda OOC (out-of-character) but this is only my second fic, so please no flames! So basically I'm taking Blackstar and plopping him into a sea of own cats. I always thought he deserved a mate and kits, you know. He had to kill Stonefur and watch Russetfur die under Lionblaze's claws, and that's kinda hard, right? So he should deserve some company. Yes, they're gonna have kits, so if you want, you can send in their kits' names in your review. Please add in the kit's warrior name, their description, and their mentor. Oh, wow. This is a really long author's note. Without further ado, the story! *draws back curtain and applauds*
Darkpoppy sighed unhappily, her dark-tipped ears flopping over and her green eyes dimming. She dipped her head toward the tiny bit of fresh-kill she'd chosen, poking at the scraps of what appeared to be a mouse. Why couldn't she do anything right? Anything at all? She had been past apprenticehood for a respectable time now, and she still hadn't made a name for herself in the clan or even manage to forge many strong friendships or relationships. Darkpoppy's paws kneaded into the soft land as she thought, claws sheathing and unsheathing, sinking into the ground with each new miserable thought. Her normally starving creamy belly had ceased its grumbling for once, but even that didn't seem to make things feel much better. Even now, in her moment of misery, she could feel several judging pairs of eyes on her, and she sensed that none of them were friendly.
The evening before, she had brought in a thorn with the elders' bedding, earning Snakejaw, ShadowClan's sole medicine cat, another patient. On the evening dawn patrol, she'd accidentally trod on a stick, scaring away the nearby prey, and all she could snag was a scrawny mouse. That was with the help of Tawnyfur, a kind but strange yellow-brown tabby tom. She couldn't even catch a mouse by herself. A mouse! Grumpy old Swampfur had scolded her for frightening all the prey away, especially during leaf-fall, and only coming up with a raggedy mouse in compnsation. All the patrol could catch was a frog, a lizard, and the mouse Darkpoppy had managed to kill with Tawnyfur. Even worse, Rosethorn, Darkpoppy's faithful older sister, had kitted that morning, and all Darkpoppy could offer to the exhausted Rosethorn was a small frog.
She sighed again, watching as Blackstar padded beside the old pine stump where she was sitting, his jaws full of prey. He dropped his catch onto the fresh-kill pile, and pushed Darkpoppy's stringy old mouse towards her with an enormous black paw. She felt her black ear-tips getting warm, and she backed up slightly, looking at her similarly dark paws the whole time.
"You okay?" he asked. "ShadowClan can't have depressed warriors." In spite of herself, Darkpoppy smiled. "Have a bite." Blackstar swept the mouse towards her with his tail. His amber eyes swept over her. She couldn't remember ever seeing them this caring before, and she watched, the hard edges of his slitted pupils widened, the sharp corners softening in the dying light.
"Thanks, Blackstar." Darkpoppy started to eat, knowing that it would do her no good to mope. Her mother had taught her that. A proper warrior was to respect that another creature had given its life so that they could eat, and so she tore into it in a melancholy manner, savoring the last bits of mouse. She swallowed and headed over to the Tallpine, underneath which Snowstorm, ShadowClan's deputy, was organizing the moonhigh patrols. Duty called, after all. Darkpoppy squeezed her slender white body in between Mintwillow and Foxwhisker, leaning in slightly to catch the last of the patrols.
"...Thornpelt, Mossfoot, and Pinecloud, for the border patrol. Check out the ThunderClan border and report back to Blackstar. Lilytail, why don't you lead a hunting patrol? Bring Whitefrost and Tawnyfur and two other cats over to the old Twoleg nest to see if there's anything there." The named cats nodded and headed over to the thorn barrier that surrounded the camp. Lilytail gathered Whitefrost, Tawnyfur, and Marshpool at the clearing.
"Darkpoppy? Hunting patrol okay with you?" Marshpool called. "I know you just came back from one, but we're running a bit low." Darkpoppy nodded, having finally decided to stay optimistic and ignore the harshly whispering voices in her mind and the churning in her already full stomach.
"Sure." She padded to the rest of the patrol, pretending to be fine. "Anything for the clan."
Tawnyfur sent her a friendly smile, flicking his brown-tipped ear at her and doing a half-shrug.
Whitefrost nodded in respect. "Alright. Let's head out now."
They traveled to the Twoleg nest in somewhat companionable silence. They were in their element here, a patrol of ShadowClan cats shrouded in darkness and surrounded by the majestic pines and marshy ground that they favored. The huge mass of the nest loomed in the distance as they arrived, where Lilytail suggested they split up.
"Tawnyfur, you go with Darkpoppy, and I'll stay with Marshpool. Look out for small animals that might be awake now that weren't before. Good luck," she meowed softly. Marshpool mock saluted them with a dark grey paw before melting into the shadows along with Lilytail.
Tawnyfur motioned to Darkpoppy with his white-tipped tail, beckoning her to follow him. Cautiously, she padded after him, her calm pawsteps turning into leaping bounds as he sped up, eventually racing through the forest. Perhaps he was chasing some kind of elusive prey? He was several moons older than her, after all. Once she had caught up with him behind a weathered old conifer, Tawnyfur took a deep breath. His eyes glinted with something she couldn't identify, something that made her breath catch in her chest and her throat grow dry.
"Will you be my mate?"