I'm obsessed with reading Hetalia fanfics right now, so apologies if my chapters aren't coming on time. The only way I could convince myself to write this chapter was by giving myself a reward of reading a chapter every two hundred words I get done.

Chapter 9

Eelpaw was standing on a tall hill overlooking the forested mountain, giving me a grin as I padded up to him. "I'm going off to look for lil' Dustpaw!" he exclaimed. "I'm fed up with waiting. Coming or not?" In any case, he didn't give me time to respond. Eelpaw bolted down the crest of the hill and disappeared.

I followed, sighing, hoping the bird would be doing fine until I got back. Jays could go for longer than a day or so without starving, right?

"I'll head back to the camp by evening, whether you're coming with me or not," I told him. "Spiderstar could send out out a patrol to find him if he hasn't already, and we'll just say we had no idea how he vanished and we didn't have anything to do with it."

Eelpaw glanced back at me. "Furzepaw, you're talking like Dustpaw is not a cat. I mean, his mind is sorta foggy right now, but he can just... tell..."

"Then I'll blame it all on you," I replied calmly. "It's that simple."

Despite the branches blocking the sky overhead, it was still midday and sunlight shone cheerily down onto the ground below. It didn't seem to be quite the right mood for six-moon old apprentices like Dustpaw to get into deep trouble.

Maybe if Eelpaw hadn't tried to chase after that rabbit, we wouldn't have ended up in that clearing. But of course, because he was Eelpaw, he took one look at the bundle of joy and nearly fell head over heels trying to sink his claws into its flesh. "See you!" he shouted, bounding after the rabbit.

I didn't bother trying to follow him. The scent of Dustpaw was just getting thicker and clearer, and I wasn't planning to lose it anytime soon. I figured Eelpaw could handle himself, come back to me panting and rabbit-less a bit while later.

Just then, the trail stopped.

I sniffed. No, I was wrong, it didn't stop entirely, it was just concealed so thickly by other scents that I could barely make it out... Stopping in my tracks, I sniffed again to make sure that it wasn't a trick. No, there were definitely cats that had went this way earlier, lots of them, and they were heading towards-

Someone screamed in the distance. (It sounded an awful lot like Eelpaw.) Sighing, I turned my back on the trail. "Eelpaw? What's going on?"

Before I could say anything more, something heavy dropped on top of my head and I reeled backwards, the pain making me feel completely dizzy. It was several moments later that I realized that a stone had just dropped from the sky out of nowhere and hit me.

"Eelpaw," I muttered, trying to regain my balance, "I swear, if it's you-"

Several more stones dropped down onto the ground next to me. "Oi, Gingerbread!" someone's cheerful voice called out. Before I had time to react, the leaves above me rustled and something that looked like a shapeless black mound of fur leaped down from the branches.

Eelpaw stumbled out from the trees, glancing nervously at the new cat who had appeared. "Uh... sorry, you startled me," he said to her, gulping.

The black fur near the front parted to reveal a small white head that peered out curiously. "Sorry, the rug keeps covering everything," she apologized. " 'Ello, Gingerbread and Caterpillar!"

I glanced at Eelpaw questionably. "Do you... know this she-cat?"

"No," he said, still glancing back and forth frantically between me and the new arrival. "I was chasing the rabbit and then it disappeared down a hole in some tree roots, and I poked my head down there and then someone dropped a bunch of rocks on me." He shuddered. "Terrifying."

"Oh, I'm sorry, but we do have to deal with intruders accordingly, right?" the she-cat beamed. "By the way, call me Cakey! Or Cake. Or Cae." She lifted her tail up in the air and showed off the black pelt on her back. "Now that I think about it, you weren't the only intruders in the last few days..."

I stared incredulously at her. "Hold on, you belong to a..." I searched for the right word. "Group? But your name is all weird..." Deciding to ask a question that had been pressing in at my mind, I said, "Did you skin a cat to get that pelt?"

"Huh?" Cakey looked absolutely horrified at this. "No! It's not even real fur. The rug came from that department store a few miles away! This lady was heading out with it and I sorta just snagged it." She shrugged, twirling around. "She was practically asking for it. It looks great on me, right?"

I couldn't understand half the things she was saying. "Okay," I said finally. "But how do you know all those weird terms?"

"Huh... weird terms?" Now Cakey's expression was downright offended. "Excuse me, it's common knowledge among my group. But anyway, I gotta go. My, uh... leader's gonna be worried." She straightened up. "Prey's been a bit scarce these days. I need to go see if I can steal anything else..."

"This chic's crazy," Eelpaw whispered in my ear. There was a wild, almost scared look in his eyes, one that I had never seen on his face before. " Now let's go find Dustpaw and get out of here."

Next chapter, Furzepaw and Eelpaw do... interesting stuff. Sorry if this chapter seemed rushed, I really wasn't in the mood for writing today...