It's me again, after a long hiatus. Sorry about that. I had a lot of dance stuff going on, because I had to get fitted for my outfits and warm up blahs and…just stuff. Also Hurricane Ike is hitting tonight, so wish me luck! Here's chapter two-ness.

Silence crept along the walls of the den, brushing over Birchpaw's body, dripping off his whiskers, slipping down his tail, shouting all the things he couldn't do until the next day.

Birchpaw was huddled between Ravenpaw and Mistpaw, shivering with anxiety. Boneclaw? His mentor?

"StarClan, what are you doing?" Birchpaw whispered crossly. He rose to his paws, shaking his striped brown fur, and tiptoed out of the apprentices' den. He was sleepy-very sleepy. But Birchpaw was too concerned about his training to fall asleep.

"It'll be great!" Birchpaw assured himself. He sat down along the reeds, not bothering to push away the ones that tickled his cheeks and poked his tender ears. "Boneclaw is an amazing deputy. Strong, loyal, fast…he'll be fine. I have the best mentor out of all my siblings!"

He sounded like Mistpaw. Shrugging off the thought, Birchpaw tried to think of the positives and shove out the negatives. "It doesn't matter!" Birchpaw hissed. He tore at the sooty ground with his claws. "I can't change my mentor anyway!"

--

"Yes, what are we doing?" Cinderpelt murmured. Her blue eyes were wide as she stared upon the anxious apprentice.

Bluestar shook her head. "Saving the Clans, Cinderpelt."

Oakheart snorted. "Sure. They haven't even started training yet, and the time is almost here!"

"No, it's not!" Bluestar growled. "I know what I'm doing. I discussed this with Thunderstar. This is a fine idea, and we need these cats' help."

"They'll be too busy practicing the hunter's crouch to save any cat," Oakheart muttered, his tail-tip twitching irritably.

--

"Hey, you!" A claw jabbed Birchpaw in the flank and he leapt up, startled.

"Wha…where am I?" Birchpaw stammered, his heart thudding. It stopped when he saw who was hovering over him.

"What are you doing here, you badgerbrain?" Boneclaw boomed.

Birchpaw shook his pelt. "I was, uh, seeing if…I could-"

Boneclaw unsheathed his claws in annoyance. "Whatever, let's go. We're going training."

The tabby apprentice headed towards the fresh-kill pile, waving his tail in greeting as he passed by Dovepaw. "I'm starved!" Birchpaw mewed. "Let's share this." He grabbed a fish off the pile, and just as he was opening his mouth to sink his teeth into the warm, juicy prey…

"Birchpaw!"

Boneclaw stabbed his apprentice in the side with his claw once again. "What are you doing?"

Birchpaw gazed up at Boneclaw. "Eating…"

"Did I say you could eat?"

"N-no, but…"

"Shut up. You only eat when I give you permission to. Understood?"

Birchpaw shuddered as his belly roared like thunder, but he nodded weakly. Dovepaw glanced up at Boneclaw. "That's not fair. Dapplestar gives all the apprentices permission to eat in the morning before training."

"Did I ask you?" Boneclaw snapped. Dovepaw shrank back. "No, but I'm just trying to-"

"-Act like a headstrong mousebrain," the black and white deputy finished. "Birchpaw, come on. I'm going to show you the territory."

Birchpaw scampered after his mentor, terrified for his life. "Hurry up, you're slower than a hedgehog just waking up from hibernation," Boneclaw growled. Birchpaw didn't dare protest or ask the huge deputy to slow down a bit.

The two cats crossed the stream and neared a few trees. "We usually catch our birds from here," Boneclaw meowed. "I was the first of my litter to catch a piece of prey other than a fish, and it was a sparrow from here. Over there is green-leaf Twolegplace. Beyond that is ShadowClan territory. Follow me to the border."

A gust of sour-smelling wind buffeted Birchpaw's fur as he raced after his mentor towards green-leaf Twolegplace. Birchpaw held in a cough and forced himself onward. The scent was growing stronger, and so was the urge to cough. "Right here is the scent marker." Boneclaw motioned to a pair of oak trees that sat right along a wooden thing. Birchpaw reached out a paw and placed it onto the wood. It was smooth.

"Get your paw off of that!" Boneclaw swiped an unsheathed paw at Birchpaw's ear. Birchpaw stumbled backwards, stunned, and squeezed his eyes shut to stop the stinging in his left ear.

"Do you want your paw to be trampled by Twolegs?" Boneclaw demanded. He began licking his front paw while Birchpaw tried to clean the wound in his ear. He shook his head. "N-no, sir."

Boneclaw rose to his paws and shook his black and white pelt, his dark blue eyes gleaming. "I didn't think so. Now let's get going; at the pace we're moving at, we'll finish by moonhigh."

Still shocked, Birchpaw managed to trudge after Boneclaw, the massive deputy. The horrible mentor. The heartless tom.

Birchpaw had to ask Dapplestar for a different mentor.

That was his only hope of surviving. Maybe I'm just overreacting! Birchpaw thought. Boneclaw probably didn't mean to do that. If he were so mean, he wouldn't be Dapplestar's deputy. Yeah, that's it! I'm overreacting. I have to be.

It was late. Sleepily, Birchpaw crawled into his new nest. His belly yowled loudly with hunger; he hadn't eaten anything since the previous evening. But Birchpaw was too tired to even eat. He rested his chin on his paws, pressing his pelt against Dovepaw's. Petalpaw was beside her, asleep.

Petalpaw. Was she still angry with Birchpaw? He stared at her through the darkness, aching for the sisterly love they had as kits. He almost prodded her awake and wailed for her to forgive him, but his muscles burned and the slash in his ear still stung with dried blood encrusting it. He had tried to clean it when he returned from the territory tour, but blood had just kept seeping out.

Birchpaw slowly sank into an uneasy sleep, dreading the next day with Boneclaw.

Actually, the ending isn't that bad for once. I hope you liked this chapter.

xx-Starfall-xx