Darkgaze paced in a loose circle, claws out and digging into the sand-scattered earth. Her tail lashed, and she had the strong urge to run, to just go and move and not stop until she finally found-
"What's got you so riled up?" Hawkstripe asked in concern, his tail touching her flank as she passed him. She shook her head and huffed, but made a cursory effort to calm down. Her brother continued, "You've been like this since the Gathering, and it's been sunrises. What's wrong? You know you can tell me."
Her line of sight drifted to the Shaleclan border as she was trying to think of how to explain her feelings to her brother. She caught the scent of heather, half imagined, and had to shake her head to push it out of mind. "I feel restless," she finally explained, pushing her paws into the ground and ripping up a pawful of crumbly dirt. "Too full of energy. I don't know why," she added before Hawkstripe could ask.
"We're supposed to be hunting," he reminded her, flicking his tail across her side and to her muzzle. "At this rate there won't be any prey left. Let's put that energy of yours to good use."
Darkgaze shook her head again, frustrated, but she followed him through the scrub. It didn't take long for her, crouching low in the brush, to catch a pigeon, and then a mouse, but the hunting did little to get rid of the energy itching in her paws.
Hawkstripe tilted his head as she piled her catch, and the mouse he had just caught, together. Not too long later and he added a starling to the decent pile of prey.
"I'm going to check the border," Darkgaze mewed abruptly, her paws already working to take her there. "Will you take the other prey back to camp?"
Hawkstripe sighed, sounding world-weary and put-upon, but he agreed anyway, adding, "If I must," in a dramatic, but good-natured mew. He maneuvered the catch together and just managed to carry it all. Darkgaze and Hawkstripe dipped their heads to each other in farewell, and then they parted on their ways.
Darkgaze drifted towards the Shaleclan border, hesitant. Her paws itched to run, to carry her straight there, but she held herself back. Her heart panged as she caught the scent of heather.. and rabbit. Her tail-tip twitched irritably.
She fell into a stalking crouch, creeping closer to the border and where she hoped was the prey. She slid past a scraggly bush and the smell of Shaleclan hit her, just as she saw the rabbit. It could smell the border markers too, judging by the way it was nervously looking around. It hopped forward once and then froze, sensing something Darkgaze hadn't yet.
"Hey, a rabbit," she heard, and the rabbit stood stock-still, frozen in place to blend in with the sandy rock.
"Too bad it's on Brushclan territory," another voice mewed, this one familiar. Darkgaze's heart sped up just as the rabbit unfroze and pelted toward her.
She leapt out, pinning the rabbit under both paws. It struggled to get away, letting out a shriek that was cut off when Darkgaze sunk her teeth into its neck. The Shaleclan patrol muttered to themselves, and Darkgaze looked up, her heart pounding, with the prey still pinned under her paws.
Astertail stared straight at her from between three clanmates. Her eyes were wide and bright with an emotion that looked so familiar to Darkgaze. Her clanmates jeered at the Brushclan cat, warning her to stay on her own territory. Darkgaze flicked an ear at them, her pride undented. The rush of catching a rabbit right in front of the Clan who relied on them the most lifted her spirits and put a spring in her step as she picked up the rabbit and walked away. She disappeared back into the brush...
Only to stop a moment later and drop the rabbit again, crouching low in the shadows of the foliage to wait. The Shaleclan patrol moved on after remarking the boundary, having no other reason to stick around. Darkgaze stayed where she was, and as several long heartbeats passed, she began to wonder what had possessed her to stay.
Then a familiar pale pelt appeared again, coming as close to the border as she dared. Darkgaze's heart began to pound again. She opened her jaws to let the wind wash over her scent glands, searching for the smell of heather. She stepped out, and Astertail immediately locked onto her.
"I thought you'd left," the Shaleclan cat mewed quietly, paws a scant mouse-length from the border. "I hoped you hadn't."
Darkgaze closed the distance between them on her own side of the border. "I should have," she mewed wonderingly.
"But you didn't." Astertail paced much like Darkgaze had been earlier. She confessed, "I've been wanting to see you again," and immediately looked stricken with embarrassment.
Darkgaze realized she did too, and reached forward to touch her nose to Astertail's side. When the other warrior had calmed and was looking at her, Darkgaze moved back. "I have too," she admitted, and the emotion in Astertail's eyes brightened. With a start, Darkgaze realized where she had seen it before.
Shrewpelt looked at her like that all the time. It was in his eyes when they spoke, when they hunted together, even as they parted. But Astertail's was different; Darkgaze didn't have to urge to run away from her. Her heart twisted.
"You feel it too, then?" Astertail mewed hopefully, her tail waving. "Since the Gathering, I haven't been able to get you out of my mind. All I can think about is seeing you again."
Darkgaze felt another thrill, but it was dampened by the guilt that numbed her paws. "Astertail," she mewed, aware that the longer they stayed, the more likely it was that they'd be caught.
Astertail seemed to have the same thought. She broke her stare for a moment to glance back to where her patrol had gone. Then her eyes flicked back to Darkgaze's. "Can we see each other again?" she asked, practically pleading.
"We shouldn't," Darkgaze mewed, guilt forcing the words out of her. Longing made her want to take them back. "Isn't.. isn't that against the rules?"
"The warrior code says nothing about having friends in other clans," Astertail assured her. "We can still be loyal."
"Okay," Darkgaze relented a moment later.
Astertail purred loudly. "Let's meet here at moonhigh," she mewed, a blazing warmth in her eyes. She stepped across the border to touch her nose to Darkgaze's, and then she was back on her side before Darkgaze could react. The gray cat's ears flushed hot again.
"See you then," Darkgaze managed, and Astertail mewed an agreement. She turned away, practically bouncing as she pranced into the high grass that dotted Shaleclan territory. Darkgaze watched her go, a mix of dread and anticipation heavy in her stomach.
Moonhigh would not come fast enough.