~Dawnleaf~

Chapter 2

Dawnkit's POV

We slunk out of the bracken nursery as the colours of dawn streaked the pale sky. About halfway out the camp, Stonekit stepped on a twig, cracking it. Mistkit giggled noisily enough to make sound for the three of us. She could have woken the whole camp!

"Shush, Mistkit!" Stonekit and I whispered sharply in unison.

Mistkit went silent and looked down shamefully. "Sorry," she whispered back. "Dawnkit, where are we going to hunt, again?" she added.

"BigWoods. You know, where Oaktail and Tigerwing showed us when they were still apprentices," I answered quietly. Stonekit, Mistkit and I had decided to go hunting by ourselves to try and prove our capability of becoming apprentices early. Oaktail and Tigerwing had showed us around our Clan's territory when they were apprentices, not that they were really supposed to. They also taught us a few good hunting skills. Me, Stonekit and Mistkit were only four and a half moons old, but we were ready to be apprenticed. Cloudstar would just have to see.

As we neared the edge of BigWoods, Stonekit began to shuffle his paws nervously.

"Dawnkit, are you sure this is a great idea? I mean- Petalfall and Snowypelt will sure be worried, won't they?" he questioned. I guess he was asking me since it was mostly my idea.

"Don't you want to be apprentices? Wouldn't it be awesome!?" Mistkit exclaimed, her yellow eyes gleaming in the soft morning light. I smiled at her enthusiasm.

"Yes, but-"Stonekit stopped as Mistkit bolted ahead with a surge of energy, only just missing a tree.

I came to Stonekit's side, wondering what was bothering him so much. I didn't mind the idea at all. "What's wrong?" I said.

He sighed. "I don't know. I… I guess I'm just worried we'll get caught, and our parents' will flip out when they realise we've gone..."

Not Petalfall, I thought. She would find it amusing. I touched him with my tail tip. "Hey, it's gonna be okay," I said. "We'll be back so soon, they won't even know we left." I smiled and hoped I was right.

"I guess you're right," Stonekit said. He paused for a moment then grinned widely. "Like always."

Stonekit. You keep saying these things I don't understand. I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant, but Mistkit started yelling.

"Squirrel!" she yelped in the distance.

"Great StarClan! You'll never catch any prey that way, Mistkit!" Stonekit called out to his sister.

I laughed appreciatively and followed Stonekit to the pine tree Mistkit was pawing at after a grey squirrel.

"Be quiet next time," I advised.

Mistkit nodded. "I think we should split up. It would be easier," she suggested.

Her brother nodded his head slowly in agreement. "That sounds good," he meowed, turning his deep amber gaze to me. "I'll go with Daw-"

"Why don't you come with me?" Mistkit interrupted him mid-sentence. "I mean- Dawnkit's a better hunter than us and you're good at keeping me quiet and all." She grinned in a way I would describe as nervous. But why should she be nervous? What are they keeping from me?

"Plus," she added. "I wanted to ask you something, Stonekit." She sort of glanced at me, then turned back to Stonekit. Did she just wink at him? Now I was really suspicious…

"Oh. Okay," Stonekit shrugged.

"We'll meet near Stepping Stones," I decided.

"Okay," the others agreed.

"See you," I told my secret-keeping friends, watching them bound away. Why did they think they needed to keep secrets from me? I felt like an extra sister to them. We were like kin. And I was ninety-nine percent sure they weren't telling me something…

I shook my head as I trudged through the melting snow. I would deal with this later. Tiny snowflakes fell down, sticking to my creamy fur, making it sparkle, and glistening snow sat on nice-smelling pine trees. I sighed. I loved leafbare, the beautiful snow and all, but it was leaving. It would be newleaf soon, which most cats preferred anyway for the prey and warm weather. I stopped as I saw a white pigeon waddling by a tree a few fox-lengths away from me. I almost dashed forward until I remembered the move Tigerwing showed me at camp one day. I crept forward slowly, trying not to make too much obvious noise in the crunchy snow as I positioned myself behind the bird. I would catch this pigeon, bring it to Cloudstar, and she'd make me an apprentice. There. I threw myself at the pigeon and tackled it to the ground with some effort. It was literally almost the size of me, a lot bigger than it looked from far away. I had expected it to sense me coming and fly away, but surprisingly it hadn't. I sank my teeth into its feathery neck and felt it go limp after it squawked a little. I dropped it on the ground. Was it dead? Did pigeons play dead? I poked it. It appeared to be not very alive, but I had to be sure if I'd caught my first prey or not.

I jumped as I heard sudden laughter from behind a bush. Who was there?