Hey! Welcome to Chapter 2 of I Hate You, I Love You! I thank you all sincerely who reviewed and favorited. I'll confess, I'm not exactly happy with the results, since the worse version had more reviews and favorites and follows, but no matter! This chapter is not on time, I apologize, as there were issues in the process of sending it in for Stormshadow3 to beta on my behalf. And for that I'm sorry. Truly.

But at least it's here! And again, I have to thank Stormshadow3 for graciously accepting to beta read. Your service has been really helpful. I encourage you all to go and check her profile and stories out! I also have to credit Emberdawn to imdefinitelynotaserialkiller.

Now that we're done with all that, I present to you the second (technically third) chapter of I Hate You, I Love You!


Pinepaw sighed while Petalpaw was glaring. Both at her sister and where Eaglepaw had disappeared.

"Pinepaw-"

"Petalpaw! Pinepaw!" The two she-cats stiffened at the mention of their names. A pure white tom and a petite brown she-cat walked through the entrance. The tom, Frostnose, had been the one calling to them.

"Yes, Frostnose?" they answered in unison.

"Petalpaw, Skyleaf was going out for herbs and was wondering where you were. Pinepaw, Barkpaw, you should get to Shadowstep and Emberdawn. I hear some apprentices have an assessment today, and they shouldn't be late." He whispered something to Briarpaw, the she-cat, and walked over to the Warrior's Den, disappearing inside. Barkpaw and Briarpaw stopped to chat, but Pinepaw dragged him away, eyes flashing.

"You can talk to your sister later! Let's go!" Barkpaw tossed her an angry glance but sighed.

"'Bye, Briar. I guess I'll talk to you after the assessment." He turned and followed quickly in Pinepaw's footsteps. "What's the big idea?" he hissed, "I can talk to my sister whenever I want!"

"Yeah, but we'll be late. And you don't want to fail."

"What if I do want to?" he mumbled as he jumped over a log. Pinepaw froze for a moment, then went on picking her way through the leaves.

"Why?"

"Because…"

Pinepaw wrinkled her nose and thought for a second before catching on, "Did Briarpaw fail her assessment?" Barkpaw clenched his teeth, then nodded. Pinepaw half-grinned in sympathy then looked ahead awkwardly.

She detested the she-cat. Briarpaw, in her opinion, was too- perfect. She was too flirty, the toms came after her in droves at Gatherings, and some of the she-cats, too. Though they merely wanted to learn her masterful techniques of luring toms by seemingly not caring. Briarpaw could have led her own Clan merely by popularity. And not to mention that she was always in the right crowd at all times. No wonder. She had a beautiful chestnut-brown pelt with lovely almond-shaped amber eyes. Briarpaw could talk up a flurry, and no one cared. In fact, they hung on her every word. The tom looked suddenly at her, an expression of fury on his face.

"Why do you always seem so- I dunno- apprehensive around her?" Barkpaw asked after a period of silence.

"What do you mean? I'm not-"

Barkpaw bared his teeth, "Look, just how stupid or blind do you think I am?"

"No- you're pretty intelligent-"

"So treat me like it." Pinepaw dipped her head.

"Fine," she growled, "Then stop poking around in my life and stay concentrated on your steps."

Barkpaw narrowly missed slipping on a mushroom patch, and Pinepaw tried to step over a circle of them, but miscalculated and landed on her belly. She winced as the caps gave a muffled, gooey-sounding crunch. He barked with laughter as he moved on ahead of her.

"Who needs to be watching their steps now?" he taunted.

"Shut up," she muttered, flushing angrily under her thick gray fur. She saw the Training Clearing in the distance and bounded towards it, avoiding any more questions from Barkpaw.

The Training Clearing was about twenty or thirty tail-lengths in length and width, fenced in by pine trees. Grasses grew tall around the edges, but faltered and disappeared a tail-length or so around the border of the evergreens. The rest of the ground was hard-packed dirt that got slippery after heavy snows and rains. A rock was standing like a tall sentry near the center, with smaller rocks surrounding it. These were used as a climbing practice for the newer apprentices.

The two mentors, Shadowstep and Emberdawn, were talking under the rocks. Shadowstep's eyes were shining as she was saying something to Emberdawn.

"I'm certain she'll pass. Anyways, even if she doesn't, I'm not sure if I can take her-"

Emberdawn purred, shifting as he orange pelt reflected light. "Even if she doesn't, I'm sure that Flightstar will-" She paused and dipped her head. "Pinepaw, Barkpaw. How good to see you two." She smiled, "Ready to see if you'll pass the test?" Shadowstep nodded.

"I've trained you, Pinepaw. I'm glad to see how well you've picked up on it. I'm sure that one day, you'll be a valuable asset to MountainClan."

Pinepaw's heart flew but was brought down again by a nasty sinking feeling. What if- what if she didn't pass? What if she had to wait for moons before having another shot? She couldn't bear having to wait for another moon to at least pass. She looked at Barkpaw for a second to see if he was struggling with the same feelings, but his face showed no emotion. His posture was not tense, and his expression was a mask of calm. He exuded a cool manner that seemed to saturate her, flowing over her and reassuring her. Pinepaw, for a fleeting second, imagined him as a leader of MountainClan. One day. She knew that soon, far in the future's horizon, it would probably be true.

"Pinepaw!" Shadowstep was calling her. It seemed like a far voice. Pinepaw snapped out of it.

"Yes, Shadowstep?" Her mentor sighed.

"Pinepaw, you need to pay attention. If you end up like this in the middle of a battle- Well, then may all the stars protect you. You'd be visiting Star Shine—permanently." Pinepaw winced.

"Sorry."

Shadowstep merely whisked her tail on the ground.

"Now, as you both know," Emberdawn meowed, "Today is the day of your assessment. You will have until sundown to prove to us that you should be a warrior. And if you don't, then-" she shrugged, "You don't. But, as you both know, you'll have until sundown to show us that you deserve to become a warrior." She turned around, looking at the sun. "You've been training for about six moons now. We'll see if you picked up well on your training." Shadowstep dipped her head.

"Yes. We'll also see if we need to send out a hunting patrol," she side-glanced at Emberdawn, "You two will do well." Emberdawn got up and swiped at the two apprentices.

"Go on, you two! And just know, whatever you do, we'll be watching." Pinepaw nodded and swallowed, looking around the suddenly large training grounds. Which way should she go? And how far? What were the best hunting spots again? She felt dizzy from the questions and possibilities. She walked straight ahead, almost mechanically, the loud swishing crunch of grasses under paw pulling her to reality.

Her assessment. Today. She needed to catch something. If she didn't, she'd be an apprentice for at least another moon. And she couldn't bear that.

Right.

Now that she'd gotten all her thoughts together, she took in a deep breath and looked around, listening for prey.


And there it is. I hope you enjoyed it!

RQTC: Who is your favorite character so far? Why? Any predictions of what will happen in the future? I'd love to hear it!

Review Responses:

Starrysong Back to School: Haha, Petalpaw isn't playing it to win. I'm glad you like her!

Silver Stars in the Night Sky: Thank you so much! I wasn't sure if anyone really wanted this up, but I felt like I needed to do this for anyone who wanted it.

I'll see you all soon! I hope you like this chapter.

Ciao.

~Shadow