Hey, all! Thank you for your reviews on Chapter One. I really appreciate it. =) And, yes, I know Briarkit/claw is a girl. :P I didn't find that out until it was too late. So I'll be sure to mention Briarkit/claw's girl-ness in this chapter. Thankies! :3

Chapter 2

"Yes, yes, you've almost got it. Keep your tail down, it's sticking up like a bluebell!"

Rosefur watched Moonpaw as she crept up on a mouse. She nearly had it right, but Moonpaw couldn't keep her tail from twitching. It twitched again, rustling the leaf litter and alerting the mouse. The mouse scampered under a nearby tree.

"Mouse-dung!" Moonpaw growled. "That's the third mouse!"

Rosefur thought for a moment. They could explore the territory instead. She would teach Moonpaw how to hunt mouse tomorrow, when she wasn't as jumpy as a rabbit.

"Moonpaw." Rosefur began. "We can do this tomorrow. How about we explore the territory, so I can te—"

"Really? Okay!" Moonpaw interrupted her, then dashed off into the bushes.

"Moonpaw!" She yowled, trying to catch up with her. "Wait up!"

Rosefur didn't have to run much longer. Moonpaw swerved to avoid a bramble bush—only to crash into a large tree a few mouse-lengths ahead of it!

A mixture of amusement and worry swelled up inside of Rosefur. What if she broke her paw on her first day as an apprentice? She raced over to Moonpaw, who was lying dazed, but not hurt, at the foot of the tree.

"Whoa, whoa…" Moonpaw stared at Rosefur with a confused look on her face. "Wha..? Mother? What are you doing here?"

Rosefur held back a snort of laughter. "Mother? I think not. Try again, you careless lump of fur!"

Moonpaw hesitated. "Oh, Rosefur!" She sprang up from the foot of the tree, tail lashing. "Weren't we going to explore the territory?"

Rosefur didn't hold back a snort this time. "You almost didn't make it 'till then! You could have broken a paw!" As Moonpaw's tail drooped, ashamed and dejected, Rosefur sighed. "I know you're exited, but be careful, for StarClan's sake!"

Moonpaw brightened. "I will! Now, where are we going to next?"

Rosefur held back a sigh. She hoped Moonpaw would learn to keep control of her seemingly endless energy. Still, she couldn't help admiring it at the same time. She would be a great warrior someday. She beckoned with her tail for Moonpaw to follow, and this time, Moonpaw kept pace with her mentor.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She led Moonpaw to the RiverClan border first. Almost immediately Moonpaw piped up. "Something smells funny."

Rosefur's whiskers twitched. "Yes, Moonpaw. What you smell is the RiverClan scent marker. Do you know what that means?" She inquired.

Moonpaw looked thoughtful. "We're at the end of ThunderClan territory?

Rosefur nodded. "Exactly. That means what?"

"We can't go past this scent marker?"

Rosefur purred. "You know so much already!" She praised.

Moonpaw lifted her chin, basking in her mentor's praise.

"Well, the RiverClan border stretches from here to that tree," Rosefur paused to point out the tree to Moonpaw with her tail, "Over there."

Moonpaw nodded vigorously. "Can we go to the next place? Canwecanwecanwe?" She hopped up and down, bursting with excitement.

Rosefur smiled and flicked Moonpaw's ear with her tail. "Keep you're fur on, we're going!"

She led her apprentice to the WindClan border next. Before Rosefur could speak, Moonpaw wrinkled her nose and mewed, "Is this the WindClan border? It smells all rabbity!"

Rosefur snorted affectionately. "You're already a pawstep ahead of your mentor, Moonpaw!"

Moonpaw's whiskers quivered. "I remember my mother telling me about how WindClan only ate rabbits, so I assumed…" Moonpaw stopped abruptly, nose twitching. "What's that smell?"

Rosefur smelled the air. It was a WindClan patrol! Before she could alert Moonpaw, three WindClan warriors stepped out from behind a large holly bush.

A black-pelted warrior thrust himself towards the startled pair. "What are you doing so close to the WindClan border?" He demanded.

Rosefur held back an annoyed snort. "Keep your fur on, Breezetail." She replied as calmly as she could muster. "I'm only showing my apprentice the WindClan border."

Breezetail didn't reply, his amber eyes scanning the two ThunderClan warriors. He was obviously trying to find fault with Rosefur and her apprentice. Then, he just snorted. "Right, then. Move along." He mewed grumpily to his patrol. Moonpaw watched wide-eyed as the WindClan warriors turned around and went on their way.

"Honestly!" Rosefur grunted, annoyed with the WindClan warriors. "You'd think the sky was falling, the way those WindClan grumps treat us!"

Moonpaw just yawned. "I'm tired."

Rosefur looked at the sky. It was nearly moonhigh. "I know. We'll head back soon, I promise, but I want to show you the ShadowClan border."

As she lead Moonpaw to the final destination, she thought to herself, Am I doing a good job mentoring her? I really hope so. She shows so much promise.

"Yuck!" Rosefur was snapped out of her thoughts by Moonpaw's disgusted hiss. "Is that the ShadowClan border? It smells like crowfood!"

Rosefur nodded, faintly amused. She imagined she said the same thing when she was an apprentice. "ShadowClan eat unusual things for prey, like frogs and lizards. That's why their scent marker smells strange."

Moonpaw's eyes widened. "Strange? Vile is more like it!"

"That's enough of that. If a ShadowClan patrol had heard that, they'd claw your ears off!

Moonpaw responded with a huge yawn.

Rosefur blinked sympathetically. "Come on. You can take a long nap once we get back to camp."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Rosefur took a vole from the fresh-kill pile. She settled down beside Toadear and Bumblepelt to share tongues.

"So," She mewed to Bumblepelt. "How's Patchpaw coming along?"

"He's doing great!" He replied happily. "He's very modest." He took a bite from his sparrow.

Rosefur snorted. "Moonpaw's nowhere near modest! She crashed straight into a tree when I told her I was showing her the borders!"

Toadear chewed on his mouse admiringly. "She was always a pawstep ahead of herself."

She nodded. "She kept quiet, though," Rosefur gulped down a mouthful of vole. "When a WindClan patrol saw us near their border."

Bumblepelt stopped in mid-chew. "Did they harm you?"

Rosefur snickered. "I told them to go chase someone else's tail." She took another bite of her vole.

As she looked up from her meal, she saw Applepaw padding up to Toadear, tail-tip twitching restlessly.

"Father," He began. "Can I talk you for a moment?" Applepaw shuffled his paws, as if something were troubling him.

Toadear's eyes widened. "Of course!" He exchanged a worried glance with Rosefur and Bumblepelt before Applepaw lead him away from the warriors' den.

Rosefur strained her ears to hear what the pair was talking about. Bumblepelt's ears were pricked, so she guessed he was, too. He heard Applepaw's voice, low and urgent, mixed with Toadear's, soft yet stern. Her curiosity heightened. What's so important?

After about a minute passed, Toadear entered the warriors' den. His eyes were wide as moons and his tail was sticking straight up. He finally spoke up.

"He…he wants to be a medicine cat apprentice."

Bwahaha, the old-fashioned cliffhanger! :P I wonder what will happen in Chapter 3..?