Warriors Fanfiction: Rainfall

Chapter 1

"When rain falls a storm will follow..."

Rainfall's golden gaze widened and her ears lay flat against her head, she bunched her haunches and broke into a desperate run. She ran endlessly in a dark field the grass withered and the sky black with no Starclan warriors to watch over her from above.

"When... rain... falls..."

She yowled in alarm as her paw suddenly got stuck in to a large puddle of dark water, the water begun to crawl up her paw drenching her fur. The dark water crawled over her quickly and her cry was muted by it's murky water filling her mouth and she slowly sunk in to the puddle.

"...a storm will follow..."

The rasping voice was the last sound that echoed in Rainfall's ears as the dark water engulfed her. She reached her paw out, but had no one to grab it.

~ ~ ~

Rainfall had woken with jolt, feeling a paw prodding her side irritably, she looked up to see Ashtail staring down at her with a narrowed amber gaze. "Can't a cat get any sleep without you yowling all the time?" he snapped.

Rainfall flattened her ears, realizing she had woken every warrior in the warriors den. The gray warrior still glared at down at her. "Sorry..." she murmured, standing to her paws and shaking the bedding from her pelt.

Honeyfur flicked Ashtail with her golden tail. "Don't be like that, Ashtail!" she said. "Rainfall is just a bit uncomfortable since we've moved to the warriors den."

She blinked her golden gaze. "Y...Yes" she replied, with a twitch of her ears. "...it's strange to get used to a new den all of a sudden."

 It's probably best I don't inform them of the strange dreams I've been having lately...

"Well, get used to it..." Ashtail snorted, lifting his chin. "...were Thunderclan warriors now, no longer apprentices."

"I know that, stop treating me like I'm some kind of mouse-brain...!" she growled.

Rainfall, Ashtail, Honeyfur, and Foxtail had been together since kithood and had recently became warriors a moon ago. Even if she used Honeyfur's guess to cover up the fact she's been having strange dreams, it was true. It did feel different now that she was a true Thunderclan warrior.

"Well, since were all up, thanks to Rainfall, why don't we all start organinzing for the dawn patrol..." Squirrelflight, the clan's deputy, suggested rising to her paws in to a stretch.

Rainfall tensed hearing annoyed hisses and could feel her clanmates' blaming gazes burning through her pelt as they stood and padded out in to the camp clearing. Honeyfur purred in amusement and licked over Rainfall's ear. "Don't let it worry you, Rainfall" she said. "We all can't get used to a warrior's life so quickly."

Ashtail's tail tip twitched and he stretched his neck forward to put his muzzle to hers. "We'll be here with you, so there's no need to be worried" he said.

A purr rumbled in her throat and she licked each of friends' shoulders in return. "Let's hurry, before Squirrelflight chooses all the cats for the dawn patrol!" she mewed.

~ ~ ~

Foxtail was already in the clearing in the crowd of warriors surrounding Squirrelflight waiting for their orders. The dark red-fur tom's white tail-tip was curled over his paws patiently. Rainfall padded beside him with Honeyfur and Ashtail behind her and they mewed their greetings to him.

"How was guard duty, last night?" she asked, guessing he had guarded the camp entrance since he wasn't in his bedding this morning.

"Nothing unusual..." he replied, without turning his green gaze towards her.

"Unsociable, as ever" Honeyfur purred, taking a spot on Rainfall's other side.

"We have no need to gossip, anyways" Ashtail said, taking a spot beside Foxtail.

Rainpaw twitched her whiskers in agreement, Foxtail had always not been the most talkative cat she ever met or a cat who barely showed emotions at that. She found it very interesting about him. "Rainfall, how did you sleep?" he suddenly mewed, his gaze still fixed on the warriors in front of them.

She blinked her golden gaze in surprise. "Eh?"

He turned to her with his emotionless eyes. "I could hear you yowling all the way out in the camp clearing" he informed her, with a twitch of his ears. "It was very unpleasant to listen to."

Rainfall could feel the embarassment burn through her pelt. "Well, sorry, that my dreams made me yowl so horribly!" she snapped.

All three cats blinked their gazes in surprise at her reply, Rainfall flattened her ears realizing she had just told about her dreams. "What do you-"

Foxtail's sentence was cutoff as Squirrelflight called over to them interrupting their conversation. "You four! We don't have time to gossip all day!" she said. "Foxtail go lead a hunting patrol!"

Foxtail nodded and turned back to his friends. "Let's go" he said, waving his fox-like tail to follow him to the camp entrance.

"Huh? Your choosing us for the patrol?" Ashtail said, tilting his head.

Foxtail frowned. "Who else would I ask...?"

The three warriors exchanged amused looks and purred following after Foxtail. "Right, right! Lead the way, Foxtail!" Honeyfur said.

Rainfall took the rear padding behind him. She sighed softly. Maybe I am as mouse-brained as Ashtail thinks...

~ ~ ~

Rainfall excitedly watched as Ashtail gracefully leaped atop the mouse and swiftly biting it's neck. "Great catch!" she praised, with a purr.

Ashtail arrogantly twitched his whiskers scraping earth over his fresh-kill. "Of course!" he mewed.

Honeyfur put her tail over Rainfall's mouth as she opened her jaws to speak, she turned to Honeyfur and the long-furred golden she-cat angled her ears toward the leaves. Ashtail and Rainfall exchanged glances and stepped closer to her to peer over her shoulder. Through the leaves, Rainfall could faintly make out Fox-tail's dark-red pelt, he crouched to the forest floor and his paws silently moving across the fallen leaves. Rainfall caught the strong scent of rabbit instantly and leaned over Honeyfur more to see a rabbit feasting on nuts and weeds. "He's too out-in-the-open..." Ashtail hissed, in her ear. "...it'll notice him and it will be too late to catch it."

She twitched her whiskers keeping her gaze on Foxtail growing nearer to the rabbit. She held her breath as the rabbit suddenly looked up twitching it's nose. She growled... it's caught his scent! The rabbit instantly stood to it's paws and begun to race away. She heard hiss from Honeyfur and Ashtail. Foxtail leaped without hesitation and bounded after the rabbit in a miraculous speed and Rainfall breathed in awe. His jaws snapped at the rabbit's hind paws and he used his claws to hook it on to it's paws and the rabbit tumbled over and Foxtail pounced atop of it biting it's neck. "Now that, was a great catch!" Honeyfur exclaimed, padding out of the bushes toward Foxtail to examine his prey.

Ashtail twitched his ears irritably and followed after her, Rainfall purred and bounded after them. "That was amazing! We haven't even seen you run that fast during our training when we were apprentices!" Rainfall said.

"I would have thought speed like that would come in handy, during fights with Ashtail while we were training but you never used it!" Honeyfur said.

"Yes, it's almost like you were a Windclan cat!" Ashtail commented, his irritation that he was wrong obviously gone.

Foxtail dropped the rabbit and scraped a mound of earth over it. He twitched his whiskers at their praises. "Isn't it natural that a warrior is perfectly trained?" he said.

All three cats sighed.

"What a Foxtail-like answer..." Rainfall said.