The thunder that followed the wind (Jayfeather x oc fanfic)

Chapter 12

Spottedpaw's pov

We'd settled down for the night and everyone had split up to hunt. I had been paired with the other apprentices since I was still an apprentice even though I was older and more experienced than all of them. Luckily I had Harespring who had chosen to come with us. He had called it protection but my guess is he didn't want to be stuck as the youngest with all the much older warriors and tribe cats. Even Jaypaw was with us but my guess is he didn't want to be stuck alone waiting for the rest of us to catch prey.
"We would have been fine on our own you know" Breezepaw grumbled, flicking his tail at Harespring. 
"Yeah sure. No offense but you're all much younger than we are and one of you isn't even a warrior apprentice. We don't know what kind of creatures are up here" Harespring stepped into the lead of this mock patrol, flicking his ears.
"Oh yeah. Let's bow to the gracious warrior who chose to accompany us foolish apprentices" I gave him a smirk. He rolled his eyes and swipped one paw at my ears.
"Oh hush you" he laughs. I flick my tail. I drop back a bit when I heard noise. The others kept walking except one cat. I caught his scent and recognised it as Jaypaw. He padded closer. I lifted my tail to let him know I wanted him to be quiet. I focused on where I heard the scrapping and lowered my body into a crouch. I kept my eyes focused on the sound and slowly rounded the brush. The wind brought squirrel scent to my nose. I stepped closer, keeping my weight evenly distrubuted through my paws. I caught a glimpse of the big tail of my prey. I pressed down on my paws, bunching my muscles. I pounced. The squirrel noticed me seconds before my paws slammed down on its back. I sunk my teeth into its neck before it could cry out and alert more prey in the area. I sat up, holding the limp squirrel in my jaws. Jaypaw stared at me. I walked out of the roots and brush that I had lept into and dropped the squirrel.
"Pretty good catch if I do say so myself" I purr. He still doesn't say anything. I lower my ears and turn my head away. Maybe I had messed up somehow. Did I hit him when I leapt? Was he mad at me? Or did he just not like how I complemented myself. Oh idiot that must be it. Of course he wouldn't like me patting my own back for something I do regularly. I open my mouth but he leaps past me. He was running away. I turn around only to flinch when he smacked right into a tree, mouse squirming in his paws. He slumped down which almost let the mouse escape until he sunk his teeth into the mouse, killing it. He scrambled to his feet, giving his chest fur a few licks.
"How embarrasing" he mutters but I hear it.
"Oh thank Starclan" I purr. He stares at me, ears pinning down and shoulders hunched.
"I mean in terms of you were grabbing a mouse. I thought you were mad at me" I dug at some dirt with my paw. His ears pricked again.
"Yeah. I wanted to show you I could do what you do" I laugh.
"I think you overestimated your jump. Normally we don't jump into trees" he turns his head away.
"I could teach you how to hunt. It might not be exactly the sa-" 
"Really?" his gaze seemed to sparkle. I purr.
"Yeah. I know you're a medicine cat but it would be nice to know how if it ever becomes important" he purrs.
"I'd love to" his tail curls around his paws. I walk over, sitting in front of him. Our tails brush. I look down at them and then back at him. His ears are leaned back while he stares into my eyes. His eyes were reflecting the few stars that had begun to show in the sky. I felt myself leaning towards him. He blinked and I think he was doing the same. 
"Oh Spottedpaw, there you are. I was looking for you" I jump to my paws at the sound of Harespring's voice. I turn, he had a rabbit at his paws.
"Yeah. I found this. Just had to catch it" I gestured to the squirrel at my paws.
"And who caught the mouse?" he tilted his head.
"Jaypaw" his eyes widen and he turns to him.
"Really. I didn't know medicine cats could hunt" the awe was evident in his voice. Jaypaw ducked his head.
"I trained as a warrior for a little bit so I know a few techniques" he flicks his tail. 
"Nice" Harespring purrs.
"Lets head back. Its getting late" Harespring nods, picking up his rabbit and padding back towards the temporary camp. I turned to Jaypaw. He didn't say anything, just picked up the mouse and padded after Harespring. I picked up my squirrel and followed. Maybe I made things awkward between us now. I hope not. Jaypaw was one of my only friends. I didn't want to go back to having only one friend again. No cat spoke on the journey back. It felt wrong somehow. I wanted to say something but I wasn't sure if Jaypaw wanted to. So instead I held my tongue no matter how much I didn't want to. If I spoke then it might just cause more damage than good. I didn't want that.