And we're back for another installment of the fic that helps me relieve boredom. Please keep in mind that I have been doing the following too much, so I cannot be held responsible for any injury(ies) that may occur after reading this: Zoo Tycoon: Complete Collection, eating cherry cordial Hershey's kisses, drawing Rao and Ninetails from Okami, and typing. I will make each chapter a minimum of 1,000 words... because I can.

Now, any chapter warnings? Meh. If you're old enough to be on this site, I'm sure you can take a cat noticing Whitewing having a nice ass. If not, get off, wait a few years, then come back. Oh, and I have no idea how short this fic will be. I'm guessing anywhere between 10 - 30,000 words, okay?

SRSLY.

Chapter Two: Hardships

Getting out of camp wouldn't be as easy as what I initially thought it would be.

One, Brambleclaw was definitely stalking Whitewing, and two, Firestar was getting it on with any she-cat that was within reach. In fact, just a few minutes, I had to threaten him to get him to leave me alone...

"Heyyy, Thornclaw," Firestar slurred and fell to the ground in a ball of orange fur. "Watchaaaaa doin'?" he flirted.

"If you don't leave me alone, I will play jumprope with your intestines," I threatened. The threat seemed to work, as Firestar quickly made a beeline for his den. "Whitewing! Whitewing!" I called out, looking all around me. Standing in the far corner of camp was Whitewing, and she was saying something. I trotted over to her happily. "Hey, c'mon, we need to get out of camp!"

"Thornclaw, can't you see I'm practicing?" Confused, I stared at her. "Observe," she said flatly. Striking a dramatic pose, she recited, "Even with the threat of saline prickling at the corners of their eyes, belated affection won its way past by the embrace of their lips, their bodies pressing closer while Larsa's hands caressed the mage-pirate's lithe waist, her forearms draped over his shoulders, fingers tangled in his chin-length, ebony locks as the silver mesh of her bracelet curtained over his collarbone." I let my mouth hang wide open.

"Shakespeare?" I asked idly.

"Nope," she mewed. "Okay, I had to get that out. Now, can we please go?" she added. Nodding slowly, we both turned to the exit of the camp. The former guards had left to go do StarClan-knows-what, and, in their place, Icepaw and Daisy stood firmly, their claws rooting them to the ground. "Excuse me," Whitewing began politely, walking up to Daisy. "May we pass?"

"Never!" Icepaw yowled and slashed Whitewing's muzzle. Before a catfight could break, I hurriedly jumped between the two of them and pushed Icepaw away.

"Get away!" I yelled at Whitewing, keeping one paw on Icepaw's throat to hold to the ground. Nodding, Whitewing leaped over Daisy and darted out of camp. I, too, quickly followed Whitewing.

Whitewing and I both ran on for a few minutes, not bothering to look behind us. "Are they after us?!" Whitewing called out to me, her long strides matching my even paces.

"I'm not looking," I growled back. Speeding up, we stopped our run at the edge of the lake. "Do you know the way to the ShadowClan camp?" I asked, pausing to lap up a few droplets of water from the cool, murky waters of the lake. Whitewing gazed back over to me and nodded. "...Is that a yes or a no?" I paused again.

"I think I know the way..." She trailed off and started to stare up at the sky. The sun sat nestled among the fluffy white clouds, its golden rays just barely grazing the forests below. Off in the distance, a few gray clouds were starting to steal the horizon. Whitewing sighed heavily and sat on her haunches, refusing to pull her eyes away from the sky. "I think we're in for some rain," she sighed.

I looked up briefly and nodded. "You think they'll come looking for us?" I asked.

"Who knows. I don't really care." She sighed again. "Besides, I have deep writing to occupy my time."

Cocking my head to the side and raising my eyebrows up skeptically, I mewed, "Really now?"

"Yep!" The happiness in her eyes died off slowly, and she cleared her throat. "Observe." She sat up straight and set her two paws evenly next to each other. "Her breaths went undeterred as he moved towards her, the rapid pounding of his heart not even causing her ears -with all their sensitivity- to stir. The placement of the moonlight prevented his shadow from creeping over her when he stopped at the side of the bed, resigning it to recoil behind him. For however long, he couldn't look away, no matter the sting in his throat when seeing she hadn't parted with the green and gold band around her finger - something he considered to be the lesser of his tangible offerings - , no matter how much he felt as a dense fool to have unwittingly left her in the wake of what developed out of their - or another male's - intimacy, no matter the dismal possibility - reality - that she'd forgotten the tone of his voice, his identifiable pace, or particular pattern of heartbeat."

"...Wow." I was speechless, really. "So, I think we should find some shelter for the night, yes?" Whitewing nodded. Getting to my paws stiffly, I slowly padded over to a small tree and layed down near its base. I kept my eyes focused on Whitewing's still white form, her green eyes scanning the undergrowth expectantly. "You coming lay down?" I called out as I tucked my forepaws beneath my chest.

"Maybe later," she mewed and bent her head down to lap up some water.

Wow. She has a nice ass...

Anybody who caught the Pax Versus reference is my best friend. Seriously. Too lazy to proofread this...

-Ziro/Tainted Lullaby