Hollyleaf's Second Chance

by Storm-Eyes-Osprey

What if Hollyleaf was never meant to Die? What if she was granted a Second Chance? Sent back to Thunderclan in the body of a young Rogue kit, Hollyleaf must hide her true identity, and unravel the meaning of an ominous prophecy, or the lives of every cat in Thunderclan may be at stake. (The writing and grammar at the beginning is pretty bad, but it does get better, I promise!)

11. Chapter 10: hunting

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, warrior cats.

Hollypaw padded out of the den; dread seeming to weight her paws to the ground.She hung her head in embarrassment as cats stared at her as she made her way to see bramblestar.

"Hello hollypaw!" greeted the thunderclan leader, before adding

"I assume you should be capable of training. I heard you had a disagreement with a thorn." Hollypaw felt her ears burn in shame. The first night in the apprentice den, she was supposedly attacked by a thorn. It's probably even more shameful than the truth… she thought to herself, before replying to bramblestar.

"Yes, I should be ok. What are we doing today?"

"Hunting." Bramblestar replied, gesturing with a small inclination of his head towards the camp entrance.

"We should get going, whilst the prey is still sleepy." Hollypaw and bramblestar left the camp for the forest. A short way from the camp entrance, bramblestar taught his apprentice how to perform the hunters crouch, ducking towards the ground, almost as low as a snakes belly, and creeping delicately forwards, finally launching into an explosive pounce. Hollypaw repeated the motion over and over, until she was confident that she had mastered the technique, each time targeting a small tuft of grass, pouncing again and again, each time trying to land with two paws on her 'prey'. Hollypaw then scented the air, drawing the soft breeze over the scent glands in her throat.

Suddenly, a rabbit came into sight, and hollypaw instinctively dropped into a hunting crouch, but bramblestar tapped her lightly on the shoulders, whispering softly,

"Don't even try. It's too close to its burrow." The tabby leader flicked his ears to a yawning hole in a raised patch of ground.

"It'll be gone before-"

Hollypaw barely heard the last words, as she raced off in the direction of the rabbit. It whipped its head round, shock and fear blending in its eyes as it rushed away into its burrow. The black she cat raced after it, plunging without hesitation into the dark mouth of the burrow. All her moons of life in tunnels like this came rushing back, and she ran confidently, whiskers deftly picking up the curvature of the walls and the vibrations from the rabbit's feet.

Then, abruptly, in a single, fluid motion, hollypaw lashed out a claw, tripping the prey, giving the long furred she cat to bite into the rabbits neck. She felt its spine snap in her jaws, and she altered her grip on the now limp body to enable her to drag it back out of the tunnel.

"Holy starclan above!" exclaimed bramblestar, as his apprentice emerged from the tunnel, the rabbit clasped firmly in her jaws.

"I really should be punishing you for running off like that, but that was amazing! The only other cat I've seen rush into a tunnel like that was hollyleaf."

Hollypaw froze.

"W-who?" she lied shakily, the rabbit dropping from her jaws.

"Oh. She was a cat who lived in thunderclan, not so long ago. She lived in the tunnels for a while, but she came back, and died in a battle." Explained bramblestar.

"I'd ask sandstorm or greystripe if you wanted a longer explanation." He advised, before shaking his head as if to clear bad memories.

"Anyway, we'd better get this rabbit back to the camp. I'm sure the elders will really appreciate it!"

A/N: oh well. This chapter was really short, but I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you enjoy reading it! I'm sorry for not updating earlier! Life and stuff got in the way.