Chapter Eight: Hollyleaf

Foxleap's sent wakes me, warm and comforting. All the stress from last night comes back as I raise my head and look around the sun filled den. Hazeltail stumbles in limping, and I mew,

"What happened?"

"Cherrypaw got spooked when an owl hooted and ran into me. I sprained my paw. Jayfeather was all 'well just rest and if you want babying go to the nursery'." She rolls her eyes and then cocks her head. Giving me a sly look she mews, "You two look pretty cozy."

My pelt warms in embarrassment, "Well I-I…" I stutter.

"Don't worry about it." She mews flicking my shoulder with her tail, "Though I should warn you, he is a favorite with most of the younger she-cats. But he's moony enough over you that they probably won't try anyway."

"Sorry about your paw, I hope it feels better." I mew, changing the subject.

"Thanks, I should probably go get that rest Jayfeather ordered." She rolls her eyes again and picks her way through the nests to hers, curls up in a ball and falls asleep.

"Foxleap!" I hiss shifting away from him awkwardly; maybe he does see more than friendship in me. And maybe I feel the same way. He raises his head slowly and shakes the sleep out of his eye. After the gathering, we had sat out in the hollow and filled in the other cats on the events (including ShadowClan's group of three warriors) until dawn light started painting the hollow a kaleidoscope of colors and cats realized that they hadn't slept all night.

Another thing Jayfeather "forgot" to tell me, Russetfur died in a battle with ThunderClan – and it was Lionblaze's fault.

"Whatsgoingon?" he mumbles, still not awake yet.

"Wake up! We need to do something." I mew standing up.

"Why?" he whines.

"Because it looks like we've been asleep the whole morning." I snap.

"Oh! Then… we should go hunting!" he mews jumping up and shaking the scraps of moss from his pelt.

"You think?" I mutter, following him out of the den.

We enter the busy camp walking by Brambleclaw, who is ordering patrols and who looks around at us.

"Good," he mews, "I was just about to have a cat go wake you two. Foxleap you can go with Dustpelt's border patrol." As soon as he mews this Dustpelt flicks his tail to signal his patrol and they race off. "Sandstorm you can have Hollyleaf for your hunting patrol." Sandstorm nods agreeably have beckons me forward.

I wonder if my disappointment shows on my face because as we head out of camp Rosepetal mutters darkly, "Don't worry – you'll see him as soon as you get back."

Sandstorm races through the forest her muscles lean, her sharp green eyes searching for prey. In my memories I can remember receiving praise for being a good hunter, but am I nothing, nothing compared to her.

The rest of the time I devote myself to feeding my Clan. Our patrol is successful, and when we return to camp we are all laden with prey. I carry two mice, a squirrel and thrush.

Foxleap is back and waiting for Cherrypaw and Molepaw to pick prey for the elders.

"Hey!" He mews, "You guys did great!"

"Why shouldn't we have?" Snaps Rosepetal, "It's the middle of Greenleaf and we're all warriors here, aren't we?" She mews, giving me a snide look.

I ruffle my fur and try not to let the barbed insult sting, but it does.

"What was that all about?" I ask Foxleap. He sighs warily and mumbles,

"I don't know, let's eat." I sigh and choose a vole, and then we wander over to a small group of warriors and eat. After we eat we share tongues with the warriors, I purr lazily as Foxleap licks my pelt while the sun slowly sinks.

It's been a few days since Rosepetal's harshness and they've all basically been the same. Waking up next to Foxleap, eating in the morning with Foxleap, going hunting or on a patrol with Foxleap, grabbing a meal in between hunting or patrolling with Foxleap, hanging out with Foxleap, talking about nothing and everything with Foxleap, and falling asleep next to Foxleap. Don't get me wrong it's nice, really nice. Like I'm so insanely happy that it's almost scary.

But I have to know if it's going to last. There's just no point in continuing if it's just a five moon thing. Today I'm going to mix up the schedule.

"Foxleap, do you want to go hunting?" I mew to him as we walk out of the den.

"Yeah, I'd love to!" he purrs gazing at me with those, deep amber eyes.

"That's good." I choke, "The fresh-kill pile looks low." A small flicker of annoyance shadows his face, but it is gone as quickly as it appeared and as we walk through camp he lets his pelt brush against mine, his bright red against my pitch black.

I look over to see Jayfeather, his face is murderous. I don't know what I did, but from the look on his face I might as well have stabbed him in the back. Weird.

The run through the forest is nice and it clears my worried mind.

"Foxleap," I call, slowing to a stop. He turns around puzzled,

"What's up? I thought we were supposed to be hunting?" He mews with confusion.

"I want to talk to you, in private…" I trail off unsure how he will take this.

"Yeah?" His mew is a question and I realize how nervous I'm making him.

"I don't know what we were like before I… went missing, but I really like us the way we are now. I just, I need to know if this is going to last bec-because, I really like you." My voice falters and fades but warmth fills his gaze.

He purrs his amber eyes shining. "Hollyleaf," he mews shushing me with his tail. "I love you, I want to be with you."

We reach the shore of the lake and we sit next to the water. He looks down at me, his amber eyes shining. "Hollyleaf, will you be mine?" He asks with hopeful eyes.

I purr and rest my head on his shoulder. Our tails entwined as I whisper, "Yes." He licks my ear and we watch the waves lap lazily at the shore for what seems like moons. I wish it could stay this way.