Ah look, another chapter. Honestly, I could have attached this part onto the last chapter and not have made this one its own standalone chapter, but... I'm stupid.
I also regret everything, because some people ship Firestar and Hanako now. NOPE. This is FireSand! THIS SHIP WILL NEVER HAPPEN THEY DON'T LIKE EACH OTHER LIKE THAT.
I'm getting a little stressed, cause classes(oh boy can't wait to learn stuff that has nothing to do with the homework again!), and also because one of my cats has a bit of a problem. She's been acting out a little regarding her litter box habits, so we took her to the vet, thinking she had stones or maybe it really was a behavioral issue. Apparently her liver enzymes are uh... a little high. Normal enzyme levels are between like 30 to 100. Her levels are... above 800. So that's bad. My parents are afraid that she has a tumor somewhere, and I really don't like the implications that she might have cancer. We're going to take her back for more tests, and hopefully it'll be nothing.
But hey, EnJoY thE ChApTeR
Reviews are appreciated!
In the end of their little hunting trip, Firestar admitted that he was impressed with Hisako's diligence and determination while hunting. With his and Hanako's careful guidance, she was able to catch herself a decent sized mouse. Not a bad catch for a not apprentice-aged kit. Hisako proudly presented her catch to her mother, wanting to give her mother all the food she required, before Hanako gave it back to the kit, telling her that it was her catch and she could have the first bite.
He had refrained from eating the entire hawk in order to give the queen her energy back.
"But don't you need it just as much? If your body needs more food to fuel it, then you must need more than the relatively small amount you've eaten," she said flatly. Well, he was still hungry, but she was feeding herself and for her kit. Besides, he could have easily caught something else if he really needed it.
But Hanako had slammed her paw down, insisting that he needed the hawk just as much as she did. He was instantly reminded of Sandstorm, who had also insisted that he needed the prey much more than she did. He really missed his mate. But at least he was around cats that didn't fear him for being what he was now.
Go and get them back. They belonged to him after all. Get them back. Get them back. Get them back get them back get them back
No one belonged to him! He tried his best to ignore the unhappy hot pulses emanating from the stone.
These she-cats don't matter though. The only ones that matter are my treasures.
"Firestar?" He snapped out of his thoughts at the sound of Hanako's concerned voice. "You were doing the spacing out thing again. Not only that..." she leered at the stone's red glow, "that thing in your chest is glowing. Is that stone making you space out often?"
"I... yeah it does. You were insisting so hard that I eat that I... couldn't help but think about my mate. The stone wants me to go back and retrieve her so badly," he murmured. She perked up at the mention of his mate.
"Oh? You have mate? What is she like?" she purred, intrigued.
"She's... wonderful. She's stubborn and feisty, but she can be gentle when she needs or wants to be. She makes me so happy," he sighed happily. He ignored Hisako's mock gagging as his thoughts trailed back to Sandstorm. Truthfully, there wasn't a single word that could accurately describe how wonderful his mate and treasure really was.
"She's wonderful to you, huh? But she isn't here with you right now. Did she leave you because of what you are?" she frowned.
Firestar flinched. "No she didn't leave me. If anything, I left her. I'm just too dangerous to be around," he muttered.
"Well you haven't done anything to hurt us. You don't seem dangerous to me," Hanako replied blithely.
Yet. He hadn't done anything to hurt them yet. What did this she-cat know anyway? They had been together for one day and she just knew that he wasn't dangerous? He had been doing his best to hold back so he didn't hurt someone again.
"Let's just go," he muttered crossly, walking away swiftly. Hanako stared after him, confused, before picking up Hisako and trailing after him.
'Was it something I said?' she wondered.
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Firestar curled up tightly under the bush, Hanako having gone outside to make dirt, so it was just him and Hisako.
"Do you not like us?" Hisako mewed. He cracked an eye open to look down at the little kit sitting in front of him. "Did we do something wrong?"
"You've done nothing wrong Hisako. I'm the problem here, not you or your mother." The kit still looked confused. "Look, just because I haven't hurt you both, or shown you how dangerous I am doesn't mean that I'm not dangerous. If I wasn't, I would still be back with my clan."
"Why aren't you then?" she asked innocently. He averted his gaze. "C'mon! You can tell me!" she pleaded. He let out a heavy sigh.
"I burned down my territory alright? I endangered my clan. I couldn't stay around them knowing what I did." Well, that wasn't the complete truth- he had been driven out, but even if he hadn't, would his clan have been okay being around him? They couldn't handle his new appearance- why let the cat who caused their territory to burn continue leading them?
"How did you burn anything down?" The kit's face was scrunched in confusion. Deciding to humor the kit, he let his flame rise up in his throat and blew out some embers. Instead of being frightened, the kit stared at the embers in awe. "That's so cool though!"
"It's really not," he muttered. "No one back in the clan thought how you did."
"Oh," she mumbled. "Is that why you're trying not to get close to us? You're afraid you might accidentally spit fire at us?"
Well, that wasn't really the reason, but it was a good part of it. "I don't want to get attached to cats who might only run away in fear in the end."
"But when you were talking about your mate, it sounded like she didn't run away in fear. Why not go back to her and ask how she really feels? If she really loves you, wouldn't she stay by your side?" He stared down at the kit, perplexed. Did kits usually spout out the obvious or was she just smart for her age? He should go back. If his treasures really loved him, they would stay by his side, even if they had to leave the clan.
Especially Sandstorm. But what if she loved the clan more than her mate? Hanako chose that time to return from her trip, and Hisako ran up excitedly to her mother. He shut his eyes, getting lost in his thoughts again.
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"I think I found where those three are hiding," Slash reported to Razor.
"I don't care how you do it, just get those two she-cats away from the interloper. By any means necessary," he growled.
"Yes boss."
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"I think I found his scent trail!" Cherrypaw called out to the other three cats. She stood in front of an abandoned fox den. Squirrelflight came to sniff at it, recognizing her father's faded scent. He must have been using it for shelter before moving on. A more careful inspection of the den told her that it looked ready to collapse. Of course he father had to move on; this den must have been too small for him to continue living in it. His size must have destabilized it.
"Good job Cherrypaw," she praised the apprentice. "Come on, it's not too faint that we can't follow it."
Hisako isn't a certified therapist, but she should go and get the certification anyway. All she has to do is ask questions and Firestar will actually think things through! What a miracle kit.
I still don't ship Firestar and Hanako.
Razor's gonna make his move soon, and the search party is also on the move! Hooray for progression!
Tell me how I did.