Chapter 15

So...here is chapter 15. :3 I hope you like it...the story will be getting into the main plot more now...it will start getting juicy...kekeke...XD I'm so weird. Also, I posted a new story for CardCaptor Sakura. If anyone in the Warriors section cares. ^^" Just figured I'd advertise anyway, heheh. And, I have a poll on my profile, if you wanted to check it out. Please review! ^^

Oh, and...I would like to mourn the loss of Chibi Ookami Tora's story, Stripepaw's Strange Mind. :'( (TO: CHIBI OOKAMI TORA: ) And by the way, Tanuokami IS a pretty cool name. X3 And I'll beta your Chrno fic. ^^ Sorry to have to write this here, but I have to get off the computer...

Bubblewing woke up from her dream. She had dreamed of her first night as a warrior, when she was on vigil and all six cats had broken their silence and told no one about it. She still felt slightly guilty about it, but she made sure she worked really hard to make up for it, almost always being busy with something.

She had only seen Coyotefur once since that night. She told herself that she was a warrior now, and didn't have time for Coyotefur, but she knew that wasn't true. She could always drop something or other and go see him. But she didn't. Her main reason was that Ribbonpaw was always following her around, and making his mentor, Duckfrost, schedule all of his training so that he would just happen to be everywhere she was…all the time. On her time off, he tagged along with her three out of four times. No matter how many times she told him to get lost, he wouldn't budge. He was still on about making her his mate, and she was still totally against it.

Bubblewing stood up and shook her fur off before licking it down with a few swift swipes. She hadn't told anyone that she was Riverstar reincarnated. She knew that everyone knew something about it, but the most important detail, that of her being Riverstar, was left out among most cats. She had no idea what to do about it, so she didn't do anything. She wanted to be deputy so that she could possibly end up the leader of RiverClan, and the Clan would willingly listen to her if Riverstar's last duty were to come up.

Another thing that had not moved along: Coyotefur being a sort of servant to her. She still knew almost nothing about this, but she knew that Coyotefur had only found her and knew that she was his 'master', but they still remained just friends. He hadn't really voiced anything about it, and she didn't want to ask about it. She was worried that Coyotefur only stood by her all the time because it was an obligation; he had to. That was another reason she didn't want to meet with him.

Bubblewing padded out of the warrior's den. The sun was shining brightly, and she had to squint to see. She breathed in the fresh air. All of that had happened before leaf-bare, which had ended a few days ago. Little traces of snow were scattered randomly throughout the forest, melting smaller with each passing day.

"Bubblewing! Bubblewing!"

She cringed when she heard the familiar voice calling her name.

She turned around, annoyed. "What do you want, Ribbonpaw? Can't you leave me alone?"

Ribbonpaw rushed up to her excitedly. "No, I can't! I need to be with you at all times if I'm gonna protect you! I'm your mate, remember?"

Bubblewing rolled her eyes. "Maybe in your sick fantasies we are. And I'm the warrior here, I protect you," she pointed out, turning her back on the apprentice and walking over to the fresh-kill pile.

Ribbonpaw followed her. "But why are you so against me being your mate? I mean, you have no interest in any other toms, right?"

Bubblewing flinched and Coyotefur came to mind. She kept walking and didn't say anything.

"Hey, aren't you gonna eat anything?" Ribbonpaw asked. "We just passed the fresh-kill pile…"

"I…I'm not hungry," she replied, bounding off in a random direction. I…I have to try and forget. He and I…never.

She suddenly bumped into someone. She shook her head and apologized.

"It's okay," Dreamfur meowed. He looked happy. "You know, Sapphirestar wants you to go the Gathering. Hopefully, you won't decline this time."

"The Gathering…?" Bubblewing echoed. She had been asked to go to Gatherings three times, but had turned them all down. She told Sapphirestar that she wanted to stay and guard camp…all three times. She had been sure the RiverClan didn't believe her even once. There would many questions asked if she turned down yet another offer to go to a Gathering. "Uhh, sure, I'll go this time." Dreamfur looked suspicious. She decided to turn up the cheeriness a notch. "I don't think I'll ever wanna turn down a Gathering again! Guarding camp is pretty boring…but I guess I've just felt proud because I'm an official warrior for RiverClan, guarding my precious camp…"

Bubblewing actually never wanted to go because she feared Coyotefur would be there. But, what are the chances of him being there this time? It's totally possible he isn't going tonight… She tried to convince herself, but she felt like she knew he was going to be there.

A cat called out for Dreamfur, and he went over to them, leaving Bubblewing.

She sighed and walked forward, only to spot Runningsky watching her. His eyes had hardened since the fight so many moons ago, and it took all Bubblewing had to stay far away from him. Whether he still loved her or not, she did not want to talk to him.

"Bubblewing."

She froze as he meowed her name. She decided to just pretend she hadn't heard him and kept walking.

"I know you heard me."

Bubblewing turned to him, but didn't meet his eyes. He had a scar on his cheek where Coyotefur had scratched him. Just as Coyotefur had predicted, one claw mark had remained as a scar.

She finally looked up to see the scar, but ended up locking eyes with Runningsky. They ended up just staring at each other for a long while, not saying anything. Bubblewing's heart started pounding hard against her chest. She was getting scared; she didn't know what Runningsky would do now, after not talking to him for the entire leaf-bare. Was he mad? Sad? Happy?

Bubblewing jumped in surprise when Runningsky finally moved. He was…bowing!

"I'm sorry about the night of the vigil, Bubblewing," he apologized, his head low to the ground. "I ruined it for all six of us, and I'm sorry."

Bubblewing just stood there for a second, her mouth hanging open. She really hadn't expected that! Then she felt guilty; how could she have thought so badly of her friend?

She gathered herself, smiled, and meowed, "It's okay, Runningsky. We're still friends, right? I know you'd never intentionally hurt me."

Runningsky smiled back, though he was a little hurt by the 'friends' thing. He did still want to be more…

He brushed his tail over her ear, and she flinched. They stared at each other, Bubblewing's eyes wide and Runningsky's hurt.

Runningsky turned away abruptly. "I understand," he muttered before starting to pad away.

"Ah-wait! Runningsky!" Bubblewing called out, stopping him. He turned his head to look at her over his shoulder. Bubblewing gulped and mewed, "Please forgive me…but I can't fully forgive you yet. I'm sorry."

"I still love you, Bubblewing," Runningsky whispered, so softly the wind almost took his voice away.

"I still love Coyotefur," Bubblewing meowed, matching Runningsky's light voice.

"I know." A pained smile crossed his face.

Once again, they gazed at each other. Then they burst out laughing suddenly. As they laughed, Bubblewing thought, Just like old times…

A cluster of other RiverClan cats crowding around the camp entrance cut off the two cats' laughter. Bubblewing and Runningsky rushed over to the group, as well.

Doubletooth had found a strangely marked bird in the forest and brought it back to camp. This one had many different colours on its feathers, and it amazed the RiverClan cats.

They had been continuously been finding very strange creatures in the forest throughout leaf-bare and up till now. They had discovered a small horse with black and white stripes grazing in the distance, a small rodent that kept popping out of the ground, rabbits that were much bigger than the ones in the forest, and many others. Bubblewing shuddered as she remembered how she was almost attacked by the weird face-tail. Coyotefur had saved her then, as well. The forest cats had no idea where they were coming from.

"Dreamfur, send a group out to check for any more," Sapphirestar ordered, looking over the bird.

"Yes, Sapphirestar," Dreamfur meowed, turning to the other cats. "Doubletooth, Grassfur, Bubblewing, Fisheyes; go out and make sure there aren't any others."

The four cats dipped their heads and raced off into the forest. Bubblewing glanced sideways at Fisheyes. Her brother had been killed when Bubblewing was still an apprentice. It had taken three moons for her to get over it, and now she was almost back to normal.

They hadn't found any other creatures, and by the time they got back, it was time to go to the Gathering. Sapphirestar brought the bird Doubletooth caught along as well.

While they waited for the rest of the Clans to arrive, Bubblewing tried to stay in one area. She wanted to minimize her chances of running into Coyotefur.

ThunderClan was already there when they arrived, and ShadowClan had arrived almost at the same time as RiverClan. WindClan arrived last, and Bubblewing recognized Coyotefur's silky pelt in the crowd. Her heart ached; she longed to go and talk with him, but she forced herself to pay attention to what the leaders were saying.

Well, she tried to. Her mind kept wandering. What if he comes over to talk to me? What will I do? Will he think I hate him if I don't talk to him…? She was utterly confused, and Vixenfur seemed to have sensed it. She cuffed Bubblewing's ear and brought her back to reality.

Vixenfur's kits had become apprentices the moon before. Eclipsepaw stood beside her mother, but her other three kits were back at camp. Bubblewing flicked her ears in thanks, and Vixenfur nodded.

"…animals entering the forest," the ThunderClan leader, Eaglestar, was meowing. "They eat our food and threaten our cats."

"We have been having this problem as well," Cranestar, WindClan's leader, added. "One of our kits, Brackenkit, was killed by one of them."

"These animals are clearly a threat to us," Darkstar stated. "We don't want to eat them in case they are diseased, and the bigger ones might want to eat us."

"But how do we stop them? We don't know where they are coming from," Eaglestar meowed.

"Dreamfur, the bird, please," Sapphirestar meowed. Dreamfur hopped up to Sapphirestar, placed the bird at her paws, and hopped down again. "Doubletooth caught this strange bird earlier today. We should examine it."

The leaders all mewed in agreement, and they turned away to look at it. The rest of the Clan cats started talking almost as soon as their backs were turned.

Bubblewing noticed Vixenfur and Dragonheart talking excitedly, and was about to go and ask them about it when they dashed off in different directions. Vixenfur ran over to Bubblewing and started pushing her in the direction that Dragonheart had gone.

"Hey-stop! What're you doing?" she protested. Vixenfur ignored her.

Suddenly, Dragonheart popped out of the crowd, shoving Coyotefur along. Bubblewing's eyes widened, and she protested even more, but Vixenfur ignored her still.

They stopped when Bubblewing and Coyotefur were face-to-face.

They stared at each other. Coyotefur had grown even more handsome over leaf-bare; Bubblewing hadn't thought it to be possible for him to be better-looking than before.

"My, you've both grown more beautiful than before, hmm?" Dragonheart meowed, clearly amused.

Coyotefur nodded, and felt the heat resonating off of Bubblewing, which caused him to blush as well. They just stood there, staring.

Not much to say here! Please review! ^^