CRIPES! I just realized that I never put a disclaimer on this story. So, here it is: I do not own the Warriors series, but Erin Hunter does, and she's actually two people. Anyway, on with the story.
When Sharpclaw awoke, she found herself to be leaning heavily forward, nearly dropping off from her high branch, and she scrambled quickly back up. Fully awake now, she looked down below her to see that Nightshade was still sleeping. Sharpclaw yawned and jumped back down to the ground. Deciding to leave him alone for the time being, she looked back up at the sun. She hadn't slept long; it was still close to midday. The black cat gave herself a thorough wash before setting out to patrol the area and see if she could catch anything else for the day.
Sharpclaw decided to set out towards the WindClan camp, her former home. She told herself that she was only headed that way because she knew the land and she'd be able to catch more prey, but a part of her knew she wanted to catch a glimpse of her former Clanmates. The black cat hadn't walked far when she began to hear voices. She dropped herself down into a low crouch far too quickly, slamming her stomach on the ground as she stalked behind a bush of weeds.
"Smell anything, Moonfur?" Lightpelt's voice sounded from a place several yards in front of her, almost startling her out of hiding. But Moonfur's lighter reply came from far off to her right.
"I don't know, maybe. You've got a better nose, Barkface, come smell this." Sharpclaw know heard heavier pawsteps, heavier than Lightpelt's or Moonfur's, heading toward the she-cat's voice.
"It's hard to tell since the rain, but it might be a lead. It smells like it's headed for the Talltree."
"Of course!" Moonfur exclaimed. "Why didn't we think of checking there before?"
"Because Kinkstar called off the extra search patrols because of the rain." came Barkface's reply.
The black cat had gotten so caught up with listening to their conversation and making sure they didn't come too close to her, she'd forgotten about Lightpelt. Sharpclaw had been just about to make a run for it back to Nightshade so that they could get away, when she suddenly turned and saw four cream-colored feet standing right in front of her.
She held her breath and froze immediately before she realized that Lightpelt's feet were facing away from her. He must have backed right up to her weed clump, and he couldn't even smell her. Sharpclaw breathed the tiniest sigh of relief right as Lightpelt turned around. She now saw the front of his feet, and she looked up. Lightpelt's emerald eyes were now locked onto her own sapphire blue ones.
Sharpclaw froze again, still crouched down in front of him, as if she was giving in to an enemy, not trusting herself to move. Lightpelt stared at her still, not moving either. Finally, Sharpclaw blinked and took a cautious step backwards. Lightpelt suddenly turned and ran away from her. Sharpclaw ran away too, meaning to head back for Nightshade, but something stopped her and made pause for a moment before jumped straight up a nearby tree.
She stopped on a high branch, her body partially hidden by leaves and branches. How could Lightpelt do this to her? He'd always been her friend. Now she realized that she'd done the right thing in running away. The cats who she had thought were her friends were turning on her. She couldn't trust them. She would never go back now.
"Moonfur, Barkface! Over here! I think I saw something!"
Sharpclaw stared out of the thick branches for a moment. What was he talking about? He had most certainly seen her. She climbed further out on her branch to get a better look and saw Moonfur and Barkface running toward Lightpelt's voice, and out of her view. She moved over to her right and saw the two cats reach Lightpelt, who was standing far away from where he'd seen her. Thoroughly confused, Sharpclaw crawled forward to hear what they were saying.
"I thought I saw something heading that way, back toward the camp." Lightpelt was saying. Sharpclaw stared as she realized that Lightpelt was trying to help her escape, not bring her back to the Clan. She cursed herself for being so stupid.
"It was probably just a rabbit." Barkface answered. "Moonfur and I have decided that she would probably have headed for the Talltree." Sharpclaw gasped as she realized that if they decided to go to the Talltree, it would take them right past her tree. They would smell her for sure.
Moonfur said something now, but her voice was softer and Sharpclaw crawled forward even more. But she'd gone too far. The branch had become thinner, and Sharpclaw's hind legs slipped off, leaving her hanging by her front claws, right as Moonfur turned around to make her way to the Talltree. But Lightpelt had obviously seen her fall also.
"Look!" he yelled, making Moonfur turn back around. "There it goes again!" Sharpclaw pulled herself back onto the branch as she heard Barkface insist once again that it was just a rabbit, and they should look for her at the Talltree.
"Then we can go this way and catch that rabbit, then head for the Talltree. The Clan needs extra prey, with leaf-bare coming." Lightpelt insisted.
The two olders cats couldn't argue with that, so the patrol headed in the direction Lightpelt had indicated. Once their voices faded, Sharpclaw took a flying leap out of her tree and hit the ground running. It wouldn't take Moonfur and Barkface long to see that there was no rabbit, and they would head immediately for the Talltree. She had to get Nightshade away from it.
She finally tore out of the tall grass of the meadow and into the open field where the Talltree was. She could see Nightshade was awake, washing himself. He looked up as he heard her coming, and she slid to a stop in front of him.
"Run! WindClan patrol!" The dark red tabby didn't hesitate; he turned and ran the other direction, deliberately running over his moss bed to ruin it. Sharpclaw ran after him, stepping on the bed too, and she realized that they were heading down a sandy strip of land that was the border between RiverClan and ShadowClan. Both cats were running away from their homelands, and into foriegn territory.
But Sharpclaw wasn't thinking about that. She had only just realized that they were leaving a scent trail. She called out to Nightshade to see that he too had realized the same thing. She looked around wildly, trying to find something to mask their scent, and saw a bunch of chamomile lying in a patch of sun. Remembering what Foxnose had said, she motioned to Nightshade with a flick of her tail. She ran over and began rolling herself in the strong-smelling plant as Nightshade cautiously did the same.
Once the two of them were firmly covered in the chamomile scent, they wasted no time in running off again. They doubted that any WindClan patrol would follow them this far, but if their scent was picked up and they were led to the chamomile pile, it could mean trouble. They soon came to the edge of the RiverClan and ShadowClan borders, as they could tell from the scent markings, and only then did they come to a complete stop.
They stood there panting slightly for a moment, before Nightshade straightened up and looked around.
"We'd better find some shelter. It won't be long until sun-down." Sharpclaw nodded in agreement, and in amazement that he'd said something to her without managing to fit in a sarcastic or barbed jibe. The two cats still didn't get along so well, but fleeing together from a patrol was something that was bound to bring you closer.
Sharpclaw followed Nightshade closely, feeling how soft the ground was on her paws. The meadows of WindClan had tough, firm ground, and they had to find moss from the damp rocks after a rain for their beds. Out here, the squishy green stuff was all over the place, and in some places, Sharpclaw found she'd stepped into a water puddle.
Soon the two warriors came to a long white fence. The ivy was so overgrown between the rails that it was impossible to see through to the other side. But the cat's noses told them that although they could see the tops of houses over the top of the fence, there was no scent of a cat, dog, or Twoleg.
"I think we could make it through here before sun-down." Sharpclaw said, hoping Nightshade wouldn't argue. The look he shot at her was enough to prove her wrong.
"Are you kidding? We don't know how long those houses go on for. It would be better to go through the woods." He beckoned with his tail toward the forest he was talking about. "No Twolegs or their filthy dogs in there."
The two of them argued for several more minutes, Sharpclaw wanting to get as far away as she could, and Nightshade wanting to take an easy route and simply wander around. After Sharpclaw telling Nightshade that his brain had been messed up by his wound, and Nightshade saying that the sooner they separated, the better, they eventually, but grudgingly, came to a truce: they would spend that night in the woods, then set out through the fence the next morning.
As Sharpclaw followed her dark tabby companion into the forest, she realized that the trees here were thicker and closer together. They felt like they were closing in around her, instead of being farther apart and leaving her feeling free to run and hunt in the woods of WindClan. As she looked behind her, she realized that they were now out of RiverClan territory. In fact, they were now beyond any Clan land. It was an eerily haunting thought.
The two cats hadn't gone very far into the thick trees before they came to a section where the treetops were spaced further apart and the sun was shining through. Resignedly, Nightshade sat himself down and looked around. With a glance at Sharpclaw, he jumped up to a low overhanging branch and laid himself down on top of it. Sharpclaw stared at him for a moment, then turned herself around and strode into the trees, calling over her shoulder.
"I'm going hunting!"
She heard Nightshade hiss a scathy reply as her paws carried her quickly away from him. She hadn't really needed to hunt, she just felt the need to get away from the dark red tabby. Suddenly forgetting what she'd felt about him just that morning, she found she couldn't wait until they were separated.
Spotting a mouse, Sharpclaw decided she could use the prey anyway. She caught it swiftly, with the deftness of a skilled hunter. Holding the gray-brown creature's front legs in her mouth now, she looked around and realized that she'd gone farther than she'd meant too. Deciding that she had better return to Nightshade before she got lost, she turned around and followed the broken weeds and grass and her own scent-trail back to the sunlit patch.
Once she returned, Nightshade was washing himself on the tree branch. Sharpclaw dropped the mouse on the ground and told Nightshade about her plan.
"I figure if we can wake up early enough, then we can figure out a way through the fence and all the Twoleg houses before all the Twolegs and their dogs wake up. That way we shouldn't be bothered."
He paused washing for a moment to glare up at her before settling himself down to sleep. "Well, good luck with that."
Sharpclaw had been washing her face with her paw, but now she looked down at him, startled. "What do you mean?" she asked, not beig able to hide the curiosity in her voice.
"Well I can hunt for myself now, can't I?" he replied none too nicely, not opening his eyes. "And I like it here. If you want to go traipsing all over the world, fine. Go on. But I'm staying here. So good night, and good riddance!"
Sharpclaw fought vainly to suppress a hiss of anger, and picked up the mouse again, grinding her teeth into it's legs. Burying it at the foot of the tree, she jumped up to a branch above Nightshade. She looked out of the forest and toward the sun, and saw that it was indeed beginning to sink below the horizon. She settled herself down onto her branch and slept the night away without a second thought about Nightshade.
Lightpelt, however, could not sleep. He was wide awake, though his unmoving tortoiseshell fur gave him the appearance of being asleep. How could he sleep? Sharpclaw had been there, right in front of him, and he'd led Moonfur and Barkface on a wild goose chase so that she could run off again. He didn't know what was wrong with him. He should've grabbed her right then and he would've dragged her back if he had too.
Rolling over on his back, exposing his tan colored stomach and paws, he wondered what Sharpclaw was doing now. And if she was alright. And if she regretted running. And...Lightpelt sighed. He'd wondered everything he possibly could about the black cat. She'd never paid much attention to him, but he certainly watched her a lot. She was a cat of mystery, through and through. He could just barely remember when Sharpclaw and Flashfur had first come to the clan.
Sharpclaw had immediately taked a liking to the Clan life, and she'd wanted to stay. But ever since Crowstar had died, Kinkstar had become leader, and Patchclaw had become deputy, she'd grown distant. She'd stopped talking to the other cats, except for her brother, but then she fought with him and usually went off to sit on her own. But only several days ago she'd started talking to them again, and she seemed much happier. Then she'd suddenly disappeared. It would make a cat think that she'd been kidnapped, but there were no signs of a struggle.
Lightpelt sighed again. He didn't know when Sharpclaw would be coming back, if she ever did. If she'd run away when she saw him, than she wouldn't be coming back of her own will; she would have to be found by a patrol. And something told Lightpelt that Sharpclaw wasn't about to let that happen.