A/N: Yay, new chapter! AND MORE PLOT!

8D

Chapter Seven

"Careful, Stormpaw," Sparrowpaw cautioned as she saw the gray tabby playing on a tree bridge. Leafbare had come quickly, and snow deep enough to cover the tall grass had come. They had been forced to dig through it in order to exit their dens just the other morning, and the queens had been temporarily exiled to the Nursery Den to keep the kits alive and warm.

"I'll be fine, Sparrowpaw!" The younger apprentice mewed indignantly. "I'm not some rock-pawed idiot, stumbling around carelessly!" Sparrowpaw huffed softly, and sent the younger cat a glare.

"You wouldn't have to be, in this weather," she hissed back, exasperated and annoyed, but also worried enough to stand and wander closer to the tree, making a show at sniffing bird tracks in the snow. Specklepaw had not survived her second moon as an apprentice, falling to the fangs of a fox while out hunting. Her death had been a blow to the Clan, and her sister had taken to acting out and being rather nasty, especially to Blacktail, who had been crushed with the death of her apprentice. It had gotten to the point where Stonefang had had to step in and scold his only remaining kit, giving her punishment detail, which was what Sparrowpaw was currently overseeing. None of the cats liked hunting in this weather, but food was needed, and so the brown tabby was watching over the younger apprentice while they were doing so.

"The tracks are stale," she meowed, and sent Stormpaw a stern look. "Come, we must try somewhere else." The younger she-cat huffed, but obeyed, reluctantly leaping from the tree bridge and following after the larger queen as Sparrowpaw led her through the snow.

"Are we almost done?" Stormpaw meowed in complaint. "My paws are frozen!" Sparrowpaw snarled at her, abruptly furious with her continued attitude; Stormpaw cringed, eyes huge and ears pinning back.

"This is a punishment detail for you, Stormpaw!" The brown tabby hissed. "You will finish it without further complaint, because that is what it means to be a Warrior! And, honestly, with the attitude you've had for the past four days, I'm not sure if you're even cut out to be a Warrior!" Stormpaw flinched under Sparrowpaw's glare, before the two started walking again, the younger cat walking with her head down and ears back, ashamed. Sparrowpaw felt guilt steadily push aside her ire and, after a few moments, she sighed.

"I'm sorry for snapping, Stormpaw," she meowed quietly; Stormpaw's ears flicked up, turning towards her though her head stayed down. "I understand that you're still mourning Specklepaw's death, but that doesn't give you the rite to disrespect your fellow apprentices or the Warriors, especially when Leafbare is just starting! The Clan needs Warriors right now, not kits, and it is now your responsibility, as an apprentice, to act right." She sighed again and stopped walking, looking down at the younger cat, who was only now reaching her eighth moon, and brushed the smaller cat's shoulder with her tail. "Everyone is hungry and cold and scared right now, Stormpaw," she murmured kindly, and, finally, Stormpaw looked up at her, blue eyes uncertain.

"Even WhisperStar," she mewed softly; Sparrowpaw's whiskers lifted.

"Especially WhisperStar," she replied. "He's the MeadowClan Leader, and every cat in the Clan is his responsibility." Stormpaw considered that, before nodding.

"Sorry, Sparrowpaw," she meowed; Sparrowpaw nodded and rubbed her head against the younger cat affectionately.

"Let's go, Stormpaw," she meowed; the two darted through the snow, ears and eyes alert for danger, Leafbare was the time when wolves and foxes were at their most dangerous, willing to venture close in the hopes of food, despite the many Twoleg dens around the three Clans (Well, two, really, as CreekClan didn't have to worry about them as much). As the sun moved across the sky, however, Sparrowpaw and Stormpaw relaxed and focused more on hunting. They managed to catch a hare together, as well as an owlet Sparrowpaw found in one of the few trees in MeadowClan territory (she had been hunting a squirrel when the owlet hissed at her and she changed prey immediately).

"Let's head back," Sparrowpaw meowed, taking the heavier hair as Stormpaw struggled under the weight of the owlet. As the two moved back towards the camp, a familiar scent had Sparrowpaw pausing, blinking around the white expanse around them. A few dozen fox-lengths away, Windclaw was disappearing through a bush, moving towards the border of the territory near the Snake Pit.

Isn't he supposed to be patrolling the WoodClan border today? Sparrowpaw wondered, before shaking her head and hurrying after Stormpaw, who hadn't noticed, meowed at her curiously. Maybe he's just checking for any Rogues, she decided, and continued on her way to camp.

"Good hunting, I see," Sunpaw meowed warmly as he padded up to her when they entered the camp, earning a purr from his sister, before hurrying forward and helping Stormpaw with her burden. The fresh kill stone had been mostly cleared of snow, and there was already a pair of dead squirrels there, one half-eaten. The Clan would share its meals, with the kits, their queens, and the Elders getting first bits like usual. Once Stormpaw had gotten her part of the meal, she disappeared into the Apprentice Den, while Sparrowpaw decided to join Nightfur and Grasspaw on their Border Patrol, the three of them running down towards the CreekClan Border. When they reached it, Sparrowpaw remembered her confusion earlier.

"Nightfur, what border was Windclaw supposed to patrol today?" she asked her friend as they wandered; the black tom flicked an ear towards her, but kept his eyes on their surroundings, as did the two she-cats.

"WoodClan border," he replied absently. "Why?" Sparrowpaw felt slightly uneasy, but mostly just confusion.

"I saw him earlier, heading towards the Snake Pits," she admitted, leaping over a frozen branch.

"Maybe he's hunting or double-checking for Rogues," Grasspaw meowed; Sparrowpaw nodded in agreement, and Nightfur told them to stop talking about it.

"You never know who's listening," he growled, and the three fell silent.

But, despite this, Sparrowpaw couldn't help but still feel uneasy.

When they returned to the camp for the night, Windclaw was already there, eating some of the hare Sparrowpaw had helped hunt before. He nodded at Nightfur in greeting, gave Grasspaw and Sparrowpaw a polite blink, before licking his whiskers and slipping away into the Warriors Den. Sparrowpaw's unease grew, but she couldn't understand why.

That night, while she curled up with the other apprentices to conserve heat, she realized what had bothered her over Windclaw's actions that day.

Warriors are never to patrol or hunt alone in Leafbare.

Her realization and disquiet followed her into her dreams, which were filled with the memories of the day those Rogues had circled her, but, this time, there was no response patrol, and she woke, gasping and shivering, in the dark before dawn, unable to go back to sleep.

A/N: Short, I know, sorry, but it furthers the plot, so I hope you enjoy anyways! ^-^

I would also like it if you did not review for THIS story, just to ask about another of my stories. If you have a question about another of my fics, please, review for THAT PARTICULAR STORY. It gets irritating, when, instead of feedback on a story, I get:

"Hey, when are you going to update such-and-such?"

It's also kind of rude.

Anyways, please Review! ^-^