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Tacos.

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Taking Chances

Birdsong

We were allowed to get some shut eyes to prepare for the journey to the Tribe, I was immensely happy about the cave we found. The moss was extra soft so I didn't care that I was sleeping next to Skypaw. Well, almost. But at least he doesn't turn over and wake me up when I'm sleeping. And, I actually had an interesting conversation with him before I went to sleep.

''That guy, the one that you hate... how do you know him?'' whispered Skypaw.

"Why do you care?'' I retort.

''Well, I think I've seen him before...''

''What?'' I hissed. ''How old are you?''

''I'm going to be 15 moons soon,'' he replied. ''As for me seeing him before, I was really young. It's a very vague memory too. I remember that one day, a cat came into the Clan. He went straight to Darkstar's den. I asked my mom who he was. She only shook her head. A few moments later, Darkstar stormed out, with the mysterious cat behind him. Two sunrises later, Darkstar returned. Everyone asked where he had gone off to. He replied, 'I had some business to settle down.'''

Well, this was another wonderful thing to think about. ''Thank you, Skypaw. For telling me.''

He nodded and closed his eyes.

I muse over that while I sleep. Just another piece of a puzzle that's incomplete.

When the dawn arose, so did we. The instant we were up, we started to walk. In my opinion, it was way too early to be walking. Skypaw seemed to agree with my thoughts. ''I'm tired! I didn't get to sleep at all! We should still be in there! Let's go back! I'm tired!'' he whined. Though, his intensive whining was good for one thing. We were all so pissed with him, we managed to stay wake.

Another thought that kept me awake was the fact that I was going back to that him. I didn't like it one bit. I felt no need to trust him. Of course, this though doesn't bother anyone else. No one here knows how manipulative he can be with feelings. I doubt that he even wants to help us. He just wants more feelings to play around with.

The closer we got to the cave, the more tense I felt. Ravenwing seemed to noticed this and whispered, ''Don't fret, okay? If he does anything to us, we'll apologize to you. Just like Creampaw promised. I don't see why you have to hate him so much. When Ashheart and I spoke to him, he was kind.''

Just because he was kind to you doesn't mean he really isn't plotting against you, I thought.

When we got to the mouth of the cave, Ashheart announced that he would go on ahead. He scampered off towards the direction in which we had entered yesterday.

''How does this Stone cat look like?'' asked Flowerstep.

''He's a cat,'' I replied bitterly.

''Well, that's obvious enough. But what does he look like? I'm fairly certain that he isn't very good looking, since he hung out with you,'' she snickered. Oh, you'll be very surprised when you see him, I thought. I hate to admit it, but he is very good looking. It seems that in the moons had no contact with him he had gotten handsomer. But, no need to tell that to Flowerstep.

''You'll meet him soon enough,''I said.

Right after I had said that, Ashheart bounded up with Stone right behind him. Flowerstep's shocked face made me feel very smug. ''Everyone, this is Stone,'' introduced Ashheart.

Stone smiled, but he seemed a bit sad. He went to each cat he didn't know and asked their names. I nearly laughed when Creampaw asked, ''Are you real?'' Stone had purred and said that he was real. Though, the most amusing was when Stone got to Flowerstep. She was so flustered, her name came out as, ''Flivelstep.''

''Is that an actual name?'' Stone asked.

Flowerstep giggled nervously and said, ''Uh, no. It's Flowerstep.''

When he was satisfied with Flowerstep, he turned to me. The instant he did that, the temperature seemed to dropped. He took a deep breath and said, ''I don't think we properly introduced ourselves before.'' The look in his showed that he just wasn't talking about yesterday. ''So, let's start over. Hi, my name is Stone. And you are?''

I probably should have replied, I'm Birdsong. Nice to meet you. But I didn't. Instead, I replied, ''Doesn't matter which way you present yourself, or how many times you to try change what happened. I'll always view you the same way.'' Stone's eyes widened. Had he thought that I would just forgive him for the grief he caused me? Did he think that starting over works with me?

''Oh,'' he said. He looked down at the floor for a moment. When he looked up again, he had a smile. I small, sad smile, but a smile. ''If that's the way it's going to be, I guess I'll live with it.'' Well, at least he understood. He turned to everyone else. ''Well, I guess I should start leading the way.'' He motioned for us to follow him.

''That wasn't very nice,'' said Ravenwing. We were both relaxing in a cave that we had found. It was late at night, so the stars twinkled high above us, shedding their light. ''What you said back there to Stone. He was only trying to make amends. You should just forgive him for whatever he did to you. I mean, when was the last time you saw him? When you were an apprentice? That would would have been moons ago!'' She flicked me with her tail. ''Plus, he's really good looking. And, it's so obvious that he likes you! You should be thankful that someone that gorgeous likes you.''

''Look, he did something to me that left an emotional scar. Do you really think I would forgive him?''

Ravenwing sighed. ''I guess not. But, couldn't you have been at least a bit nicer to him? You know, that speech you gave can really crush someone.''

''So? He crushed me once! He deserves to feel some sort of pain!'' I rolled on my back to look at the stars. That conversation was starting to get old. The worst part was that it seemed that everyone now hated me because I expressed my feelings.

The worst part was the look of pure hatred Flowerstep had given me. And her speech. She said, ''What was that? Are you trying to make him yours by giving Stone up? Not so fast, sweetie. I don't think you want to cross that sort of territory. So, just back off.''

That is one crazy she-cat.

At any rate, most of the groups wasn't to pleased about that scene. Just like Ravenwing, they all thought I could have been nicer. What was I supposed to say? Oh, Stone. You see, you've hurt me and I don't forgive you for that. Please, don't talk to me ever,ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, again. Like that would work.

As I stared up into the stars, I wondered if there really was another way I could have told Stone. ''Was there another way?'' I whispered to the stars. They didn't respond. Were they going to do anyway? What was I expecting out of stars?

While I was musing this, someone prodded me with their paw. Startled, I faced the cat and was about to give them a piece of my mind. Of course, it's hard to do that when you realize that the cat is Surivorpaw. ''Birdsong, are you okay?''

''Fine,'' I replied.

Surviorpaw looked at me thoughtfully. ''What you said back there...''

''I don't wanna hear it...''

''… I thought that was brave.'' My expression must have been funny, because he gently purred. ''I know the others think that what you said was mean. I think it was a bit mean too. But, it's brave that you were able to say that to his face.''

''Why?'' I asked, suddenly very interested.

''Well, some cats just don't say that in front...'' he trailed off. Suddenly, looked at me with wide eyes. ''Um...'' He looked like a just realized that he was talking to someone casually. He took a couple of steps back. ''I'm sorry...'' and with that, he headed to Creampaw, who was trying to strangle Skypaw. Wonder what happened.

''We're here!'' announced Ashheart. He dropped his share of the catch in what we had decided before hand would be the prey pile. Pinetail came in next. Then, came in Stone. ''Stone knows a lot of good places to hunt,'' Ashheart informed us.

Stone looked at the ground. ''I've been here for a while, so, I guess I should have some sort of knowledge on the area.''

Most of the cats took prey, but I didn't. I was too lazy to get up and get food. Plus, I wasn't very hungry. Stone noticed that I had no food, so he took one and placed it in front of me. I gave him a wary look, asking do you really believe I'll eat this?

He looked at me unhappily. His eyes replied, I just thought you were hungry.

I shoved the mouse to him, as though to say, I'm not hungry. Leave me alone.

Stone sighed. He took the mouse and padded towards the corner of the cave, where Pinetail was eating. Had they become friends? Well, looks like I'll have to hate Pinetail now. That's a bit of a shame, though, because he seemed alright.

''What happened between the both of you?''

''It's none of your business, Ashheart.''

Ashheart cocked his head and rolled his eyes. ''Well, ever since Stone came along, both of you became miserable. Well, in two totally different ways.'' He sat down, completely ignoring my hostile staring. ''I just want an explanation from you about why you're acting the way you are.''

''You could ask that piece of fox-dung over there,'' I said, flicking my paw in Stone's direction.

''I've tried that already. During the hunt, of course. All he said was 'It hurts right now to talk about. it. Maybe later.' ''

I snort. ''He said that? He actually had the guts and nerve to say that? What a lie! He didn't mean it one bit. He was only trying to get on your good side.''

''Is that what you think?'' Stone was standing right above me. His eyes were a mixture of disbelief, hurt, and sadness. ''I... I... I knew you hated me. What happened to... to you? You were... were different. You were... you were...'' his voice shook. He looked at me straight in the eyes. You know what I was going to say, his eyes went.

And I did. I really did. ''Stone...''

But he had already sprinted out of the cave.

Nicer.

I was nicer back then.

D: Birdsong! Bad girl!

Well, yeah. That's all I have on me right now. ^^;

So, how is life?

...

Uh... yeah...

Um... G'bye!