Warning: There is some rated M stuff in here, but it's not major. It's like a few sentences, lol. But I warned you ;D I put it in( ) so you can skim over it, it's nothing that bad lol.
Cheetahpaw sighed, and flicked her tail. The leaf she was laying next to flew into the air again and spiraled softly down. Cheetahpaw thumped her tail against the ground again, and the leaf twirled in the air again. She repeated this until Starlingpaw padded out of the apprentice's den.
"Hi." He mewed, sitting next to her. "Why the sad face?"
What wasn't there to be sad about? Cheetahpaw thought. Her mom died in the battle, her father was no longer trusted, and she had pretty much lost her Clanmates' trust, too. Every cat looked at her with suspicion. "I feel like I'm not trusted anymore." she sighed. The camp was empty, besides the queens and the elders. Since Ferretclaw, Applefur, Snowbird and Ivytail died, the apprentices' training was being sped up and more duties had to be done.
"I trust you." Starlingpaw mewed helpfully.
Cheetahpaw glanced up at him. His green eyes were full of happiness and optimism. Didn't he care that his mother, Ivytail died? Or that ShadowClan was torn to pieces by their Clanmates' betrayal? No cat would talk to - or even look at - Redwillow, Tigerheart or Ratscar. "Sometimes that's not enough. I feel like I have to prove to my Clanmates time and time again that I'm not a traitor. My whole family is... Hawkfrost, Tigerstar and now Tigerheart. My mother's dead, and she was training in the Dark Forest too."
"Life goes on." whispered Starlingpaw. "Applefur wasn't a bad cat. Maybe she's even watching you from StarClan now! My mom's dead, too, but I'm keeping my head held high. Listen, just train your hardest and be the best you can be, and then every cat will know that you're different from your ancestors. Cheetahpaw, I know you're nothing like them. Doesn't that count?"
"More than you think it does." mewed Cheetahpaw, standing up. "Thanks for the pep talk, anyway, though." A half-moon had passed since the battle, and Starlingpaw was almost as tall as the other warriors. Now, he was beginning to grow his muscles and start growing into his bigger frame. Cheetahpaw was more lean and swift, and she knew she wouldn't grow anymore. Starlingpaw was only a half-moon older than Cheetahpaw, and because ShadowClan was speeding up their warrior training, the two would be made warriors in one or two moons, even though they had started their training about a moon ago.
"You're welcome." Starlingpaw meowed, standing up has well. The tom's voice had taken on a deeper quality, and it wasn't squeaky and soft anymore. It sounded determined and brave. The moon was rising, and Starlingpaw glanced up at it. "We should probably be hunting." He murmured. "Want to go hunting together?"
Cheetahpaw agreed, and the two bounded into the forest, and slowed their pace as they left the camp. Their pelts brushed, and suddenly, Starlingpaw crouched down, his eyes narrowed with disgust. ("Ugh! Honestly, Tawnypelt and Rowanclaw need to be quieter. I can hear them from here!"
Sure enough, Cheetahpaw could hear Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt's yowls from the bushes not far away. She scrunched up her nose. "They should really do that somewhere else."
Starlingpaw shrugged. "Elders these days." He mewed, sighing. "Doing that in the middle of the forest! Huh, they're not unlike Russetfur and Blackstar. Now, I heard stories about them from Pinefur..."
Cheetahpaw didn't hear the rest of what he was saying, because she spotted a mouse not far away from Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt's bush. She kept to the shadows, and when she was at a far enough distance she leaped, catching the mouse in her jaws. She didn't notice the root jutting out, and tripped over it and flew over the bushes to where Tawnypelt and Rowanclaw were.
They were in the middle of mating, and they stopped when they saw Cheetahpaw cannoning straight at them. Cheetahpaw crashed into Rowanclaw, and the tom yowled in agony as Cheetahpaw fell on top of him. The apprentice still had the mouse in her jaws, and she scrambled off of Rowanclaw as soon as she became less dizzy. )
"Er - sorry." She mewed, her voice muffled through the mouse's fur. "Well, just forget I ever came here, and uh... continue with what you two were uh, doing." She bounded out of the bushes, and dropped her mouse at Starlingpaw's feet, who was craning his neck to watch what had just happened.
"That was great!" Starlingpaw mewed. "Absolutely hilarious. I saw the whole thing, and it must have been really awkward, but it was really funny."
Cheetahpaw snorted, unable to hide that she too thought it was funny. "Yeah." she mewed. "Well, maybe it will teach them a lesson or something. Can we stay away from this part of the woods, just in case I make a mistake like that again?"
"Yeah." Starlingpaw snickered. "Let's go."
The two returned to camp with a good amount of prey, and their eyes gleamed with amusement as they saw Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt glanced at them, their tails flicking awkwardly. Cheetahpaw placed her prey on the pile, and chose a finch for her nighttime meal. Starlingpaw chose a mouse, and the two crouched together by the apprentice's den.
"Flamekit and Honeykit are going to be apprentices tomorrow." Starlingpaw mewed. Flamekit was a dark ginger tabby tom, and Honeykit was a light golden tabby she-cat. They were calm kits, the kits of Dawnpelt and Smokefoot.
Cheetahpaw nodded. "I wonder who they're mentors'll be."
Starlingpaw shrugged. "I dunno. It's not going to be us, since we aren't even warriors yet." His eyes shone with good humor.
Cheetahpaw munched on her finch thoughtfully. "What do you want your warrior name to be?" She asked.
"Hmm." mewed Starlingpaw. "Well, I'd really like a name every cat would remember me by, you know? Maybe Starlingfang, but that's a mouthful."
"What about Starlingclaw?" murmured Cheetahpaw. "That sounds nice and tough to me. A starling with claws."
"Shut up. It's not my fault Ivytail gave me the most she-catty name ever. I was an only kit, and she wanted a she-cat. Too bad she didn't get one. I wish my name was something tough, like Sharpclaw or something." He looked thoughtful. "What are some other tough names? Tigerclaw - oh, wait." He looked down awkwardly. "Ahh.. Lionclaw's a tough name! But my pelt's ginger, so..."
"Redclaw?" suggested Cheetahpaw. Starlingpaw nodded, but shrugged again.
"It's not really tough! Like Foxclaw, that's tough. So is Badgerclaw... or, ohh! Foxfang!"
"Suits you perfectly." Cheetahpaw mewed, snorting with laughter.
"Well, I think your name should be something pretty and graceful, like Cheetahflower. Or, Cheetahfeather. Something soft."
"Are you saying I'm soft?" Cheetahpaw growled, her eyes lit up with amusement.
"Yeah, I am." Starlingpaw mewed. "You going to do something about it, Softpaw? That's your new nickname."
"Then yours is going to be Brightflower." Cheetahpaw hissed, lunging at him in a mock-fight. The two tussled until Starlingpaw pinned her down.
"Really? You still want to call me Brightflower?" He crowed, his eyes glowing with triumph.
"No, maybe I'll call you Fatface because you're so fat." Cheetahpaw retorted, rolling over on top of him and lightly cuffing his face with her sheathed paws. "You can only pin me down because of your weight, not your skill."
("I've got more skill than you, Softpaw." growled Starlingpaw, pinning her down again. He tried to nip her heel, but Cheetahpaw squirmed her leg away and he nipped the inside of her hind leg. Cheetahpaw stopped squirming and stared up at Starlingpaw, who glanced at the place he nipped her, and Starlingpaw let her go. )
"Sorry, Cheetahpaw." he muttered. "That was a mistake."
"I know." she mewed. "I moved my leg, and..." She took a breath. "I just need some fresh air, okay?"
"Okay." murmured Starlingpaw, watching her leave the camp.
That was so awkward. Cheetahpaw thought, padding up to the lake. Pale streaks of dawn lightened up the sky, and the stars of Silverpelt were starting to fade. She looked at her reflection in the lake, at her mottled golden tabby fur, with darker speckles lining her face. She raised a paw, and so did the reflection of herself.
Cheetahpaw was unaware a shape was two fox lengths away from her, watching her. The shape blinked its amber eyes and padded towards her. Cheetahpaw glanced over and gasped. The cat's tail slid over her mouth.
"I'm not going to hurt you." It whispered innocently. "I'm three tail-lengths from the lake, right? So I'm allowed to be here."
"Who are you?" Cheetahpaw meowed through a clump of fur.
The shape stepped out of the shadows. A lean, black tom with warm amber eyes and small paws was the shape. Cheetahpaw almost fainted... this was the cat who had killed the ThunderClan deputy!
Breezepelt!