Hello! here's this shorter, but very important, chapter!
REVIEWS
"Leviathan48"- Its a possibility.
"Crowstar54"- I always found ominous as a fun word ;)
"Lunastar of InfinityClan"- Patience is a virtue
Dawnfeather- Thanks! I like Half too
"Silverwind of ForestClan"- We'll see her plenty... or not.
"ShadowedFrost"- Thanks! and I already have my own plans, but you weren't far off from my plans!
"ShadowQuest2000"- Yeah! learning French will be difficult... But I'll do it!
Mouseydragonwolf- Well, it can't always be sad! its got to be a little positive now and again.
"Silverblaze72"- We'll see a little of him in this chapter, I only plan this thing chapter by chapter!
Sunfire- No problem! and thank you! it is nice to hear that :)
Chapter 13: Shadows
"This is goldenrod, its pretty rare, but is great for healing wounds," Rainstone mewed, pulling out the rarest herb she had to allow Half sniff at it.
The black and white kit was now five moons, almost finished with her training. Today was the last day. "What happens when I'm done training?" Half asked as Rainstone put her scanty bit of herbs away. As the leader's mate, she used more herbs then before. Not that she'd complained, she enjoyed anything that could keep her paws busy.
"Nothing. Cliff, your mate, is already a fighter, so you just go on and use what I taught you in your life," Rainstone answered. Half wouldn't be going on the assessment around the mountains, pity.
"But I want to do something! Something important!" Half protested, her claws gouging the cold dirt floor.
Rainstone shrugged, flicking a bit of dirt off her paw. "Tough, I'd like to do a lot of things as well, but that's how it is," she growled.
Half flicked her tail mutinously. Rainstone knew she hated the rules almost as much as she did, but she wouldn't say so out loud, her black and white ears were crisscrossed with scars from when she'd voiced her doubts. She'd been clawed more then Rainstone, Cliff wasn't as forgiving as Night.
Speaking of which, his scent drifted to her along with the cold scent of snow. "You're dismissed, we won't be meeting again to train, you've learned all I have to teach," she mewed curtly.
"Will there be a ceremony?' Half asked.
"No," Rainstone answered curtly, turning away from her former trainee, disappointment tugging at her paws at the thought of not spending time with Half again. The annoying little cat gave her enough distraction to get through the cold, lonely days of the cold season, she'd never forget her little friend.
She touched Half's black ear gently, "I'll miss teaching you," she murmured, her heart pulsing in her chest.
Half's eyes glimmered in amusement, "Even if I am a snotty little owl?" Half teased, using the name Rainstone had so often called her.
Rainstone smirked, "Yep, even a snotty little owl can become a friend," she purred, flicking Half's cheek lightly with her tail.
She turned and padded out of the den, her ears twitching as she heard Half's last words echoing after her. "I'll miss your training as well, even if you're an irritable old jay."
Rainstone purred and padded toward Night, he was padding toward her, his paws clean of snow. As the cold season waned off, the top snow would melt then refreeze during the night, leaving the snow icy and slick.
"How was your day?" Night purred, touching her ear as she brushed her muzzle along his cheek.
"Good, I finished training Half today," she reported, pressing against him as they walked to his den, formerly Crag's den. It still held a trace of Night's father.
Inside the dirt and stone ground was covered with lichen that grew soft and feathery and a large round hollow in the back was full of fresh feathers and moss. It was a very comfortable nest. "So how was your day?" Rainstone asked as they settled in their nest, grooming each others fur.
"It was fine, I've got to go out again later though, Pepper told me that he thought he scented those rogues again, but he should be back before long," Night mewed. Rainstone's heartbeat sped up and her ears pricked. Could she possibly get a little sparring match in with Pepper later? They hadn't been out together for what seemed like moons, though it'd only been a few days.
She missed the days when they spent all their extra time together, but now Pepper had kits and was busy being instructed by Hawk on leadership problems. As her thoughts had wandered, Night had began speaking again.
"Do you think it'll ever happen?" Nigh was mewing.
Rainstone stared at him dumbly, annoyed that she hadn't been paying attention. "Do you think we will ever have kits?" Night pressed impatiently.
Rainstone shrugged, "I don't know, we've mated more then enough times, but it just hasn't happened," she mewed discouragingly.
Night's eyes flickered with a bit of fear. "I need you to have kits," he muttered.
Rainstone's ears twitched, "Why? So I won't be thrown out?" she growled.
"Yes!" Night mewed, exasperated.
"But you're leader, can't you change something?" Rainstone groaned.
"No! both leaders have to agree, and I doubt Hawk will turn against the rules," Night growled. "He's a stickler for rules if I ever saw one," her black mate muttered.
Rainstone shrugged, "We can try again later, I want to go see if Pepper's about," she mewed, getting out of the nest.
Night sighed, his eyes worried. But Rainstone just swept out of the den, spotting Pepper and Whisper sharing prey with Blizzard and Sun playing nearby. "Now you be the mouse, and I'll be the hunter," Sun was mewing, his amber eyes gleaming as Blizzard crouched and shuffled along, squeaking like a mouse as Sun leapt at him skillfully.
"Are you kits or Trainees?" Rainstone purred as she swept past.
"Now Rainstone's the mouse!" Sun yowled, leaping for her and hooking her legs out from underneath her and Blizzard jumping on her back. Rainstone purred as she fell to the ground, the two small toms squirming on top of her, their eyes bright with delight as she batted at them with her wide, soft paws.
"Is that anyway to treat your kin?" Pepper mewed, his voice light with laughter and Rainstone looked up at his blue eyes that glimmered with amusement.
"Help me!" she groaned as she rolled on her back, Blizzard pulling at her tail while Sun wrestled her down.
"I think you can help yourself," Pepper laughed, stepping back a pace. Rainstone rolled her eyes and sat up, pulling her tail away and bundling Sun off her chest. She stepped in front of Pepper, leaning toward him.
"Can we take a quick walk?" she murmured. Pepper sighed and nodded, the amusement falling from his eyes to replaced by weary agreement.
"Lets go now, while most cats are resting in between patrols and hunting," Pepper muttered, having a quick word with Whisper before leading her out of the cave.
She breathed in the fresh air, hitting her like a slap after the warm and stuffy air of the cave. But now it didn't burn her nose like it had earlier in the season, it was starting to warm up and she felt the weak warmth from the sun over the chilly breeze that blew down the mountain.
They padded down the slope, Rainstone racing down it, letting her paws slide expertly down the icy snow while Pepper scrambled to keep his grip. She tripped near the bottom of the slope on a bit of slushy snow and fell with a yowl face first into a drift of soft powdery snow.
Her teeth chattered as the freezing snow chilled her to the bone. Shivering, she pulled herself out of the drift as Pepper laughed at her from behind. She turned to him, snow clumped on her fur so that she almost looked white.
"You wouldn't think it was so funny if it was you!" glaring, she grabbed a paw-full of snow and flung it at him. She let out a yowl of delight as it hit him in the face and he stumbled, spluttering.
"Oh yeah!" Pepper shouted, purring. He grabbed a paw-full of snow and flung it at her. She squeaked and dodged, the snow landing at her paws.
She threw more snow at him until he was as white as she was and she was even whiter then before, but she was so warm that she didn't mind, all her problems melting away in that short time of bliss.
She fell on her back, snow puffing up around her, she felt warm through and her laughter rang through the air like the cry of an eagle. Pepper fell down beside her, his black patches mostly clumped under snow.
"I-I haven't h-had t-that much f-fun since I-I was a trai-trainee!" Pepper panted, purring besides her, his eyes narrowed into laughing slits.
Rainstone purred and with one paw slapped a bit more snow on Pepper's face. He laughed, spluttering and wrapped his tail around her paw. She laughed and pulled her paw away, getting back to her paws and looked around.
During the snow fight they'd actually went in the wrong direction, though not far. "We better hurry up, or we won't have time to do anything," Rainstone mewed.
Pepper nodded as he got to his own paws, shaking the snow from his fur. Rainstone did likewise, retaining her dark gray fur. She brushed off a few bits of snow off of Pepper's black patches with her tail and he swiped a bit off her head with his paw.
"Lets race there!" Rainstone mewed, bounding away in the right direction, her paws kicking up clumps of snow in her wake. Pepper pulled alongside her and she huffed as she struggled to keep up, her paws sliding over the snow that flashed with sunlight.
She'd spent most of the cold season in the cave, but Pepper had hunted every day, so his stronger muscles pulled past her, leaving her trailing, panting, and struggling to keep up. Pepper had already leaped down into the clearing, pushing the snow off a patch of dirt as she finally arrived.
She flopped on her belly on a bit of clean snow, closing her eyes against the glare of the sun and struggling to gulp air into her burning lungs. "Are you alright?" Pepper purred, poking her with a paw.
Rainstone groaned, her lungs burned and the sun seemed to bright. "When did running become so hard!" she moaned, swinging herself to her paws.
"When you stopped exercising," Pepper mewed, poking her with a paw again. Not that she was fat, she was even skinnier then before with the reduced food, her skin clinging to her more tightly.
"More like when we got a lack of food," Rainstone grumbled as she followed Pepper into the cleared dirt patch.
She trained all her focus on Pepper, struggling to push all her instinctive and learned training to her paws, though she had trouble recalling every single move. How do I twist again? What timing does that move require? What am I doing with my paws in that move? Confusion flooded her as Pepper leapt.
She tried to dodge, but he caught her tail and she stumbled, not much, but enough for him to leap at her exposed back before she could turn. She rolled into the ground, trying to get back to her paws, but his heavy weight on her shoulders prevented her from doing anything but rolling, with him landing on top when they stopped.
She huffed as he got off, purring. "Looks like you're a little out of practice," he purred.
"Don't sound so happy about it," Rainstone muttered, furious for letting herself be beaten so easily. "Lets go again," Rainstone mewed, wanting to prove to herself that she could still fight.
Pepper crouched, facing her. But she wasn't going to allow him to make the first move. She lunged for him, sliding for his legs on her belly which skidded over the layer of snow. He moved out of reach, but Rainstone twisted around and lashed out, hooking out his front legs with her back ones.
She rolled to her paws and leaped at him, hitting his shoulder and the already unbalanced tom tumbled onto his side, his legs and tail flailing. She leapt at him, but he caught her with his four paws and flung her away with his greater strength.
She huffed as she fell in a snow drift, struggling to get out only to find Pepper's paws pressed on her chest. "I win again!" Pepper crowed.
Rainstone glared at him as he let her up, shaking snow off her paws. Before Pepper had time to look back at her, she leapt at him, landing on his back and after a few moments of struggling pulled him to the ground.
"Now I won!" she shouted, anger still pulsing through her with a savage rush of exhilaration.
"Hey!" Pepper yelped, "You're clawing me!" he cried. The shock in his voice made Rainstone realize she'd unsheathed her claws and had scratched him, though he wasn't bleeding.
"Sorry," she muttered, stepping off of him.
Pepper glared at her and ran his tongue over his shoulders. "And you didn't win, that was cheating!" Pepper protested.
Rainstone sighed, she knew he was right, though in a real fight it wouldn't have mattered. "Lets try again," Rainstone pressed.
Pepper looked uncertain, "I don't know, its getting late…" he murmured, the sun had fallen behind the mountains, the shadows would lengthen quickly and it'd be dark.
The air had gotten colder as well, the wind dying away as the clouds drifted lazily over the sky. "Just once more," Rainstone begged.
Pepper sighed and nodded. Rainstone purred and faced him, fur fluffed up and gaze narrowed. She held her breath, her eyes trained on his muscles as they flexed and slid under his smooth black and white patched pelt.
She saw them strain, pricked her ears to hear the intake of breath. All her senses focused on this fight. Now! She saw his paws fly off the ground and saw them aim for her chest. She was already moving, her paws sliding as if on air and slipping her out of harms way.
Pepper landed on his front paws and twisted on his back ones as they hit ground and turned toward her again. She leaped toward him as she lunged for her, her paws swiping at his muzzle as she twisted out of reach of his flailing paws. She landed gracefully and spun around, wind rushing in her ears as she raced toward her brother who had stumbled after her blow.
Leaping at him from the side, she twisted her paws around his and tussled him to the ground, smothering him with her fur and planting her paws firmly on his shoulders she had pinned him and won!
She purred loudly, looking down into Pepper's eyes that gleamed with annoyance and happiness.
"Good fight," he puffed as she let him sit up, the dark gray light shadowing his fur.
"Thanks," she purred, flicking a bit of dirty snow off his back.
Her eyes traveled to the ground, their black shadows playing on the ground at their paws, stretching forward till they reached the chasm. Rainstone's eyes flew to a moving shadow just in front of her own. Two ears, flicking. Two cat ears, moving away hurriedly.
Her eyes flew to the ledge over their training ground, but not cat sat there, though her heart thudded in her chest. She leaped up, eyes scanning the shadowy landscape. The moving shadows of the sparse trees waved and the cloudy sky continually became darker and made it impossible to make out just one shadow.
"What's wrong?" Pepper asked, leaping up besides her, eyes stretched wide as he peered into the darkness.
Rainstone scented the air. Cat. But she could hardly scent anything but hers and Peppers, the only other scent was so faint the cat could have passed by days ago. Not with all the melting and freezing, the cat was here today.
Was the cat watching them? Her belly churned with unease, nervousness pricked at her fur. "No cats been here recently but me and you," Pepper reported, he'd been drawing in the scents as well. Although she hadn't told him, he had guessed that was what was worrying her.
"G-good," she stammered. She looked at the fleeting shadows. Oh! Why were there so many?! And why were they so dark? All shades of black on the dark gray land. It was an impossible game, the snow was hard on top so there were no paw-prints and no scent was recent.
So where did those shadowy ears come from? And what if there had been a cat there? Her unease grew as she allowed Pepper to lead her back to the cave, not noticing the conspicuous pair of eyes gleaming from the shadows.
...
Oh! we're back to ominous endings! Well, I hope it was somewhat ominous. I won't go dun dun dun, though I totally hear it in my head.
*Sneeze* Please Review!