Jaywatcher's Love [Old, DISCONTINUED]

∆ chapter 8 ∆

Leaf-bare was here. Jaypaw had coped. After Tigerpaw's death, all the apprentices had been shaken.

Jaypaw trudged through the light snow, passing brambles and tree roots. She was on her way to meet Leafpaw.

She must be waiting for me. I haven't seen her for a day... Jaypaw thought. It was true, Leafpaw hadn't seen Leafpaw since Tigerpaw's death, which was a day ago.

She snuggled under some bushes and opened her eyes to see Fourtrees. Jaypaw looked down from where she was into the hollow to see Leafpaw's white and brown pelt.

The ThunderClan she-cat lifted her gaze and her eyes lit up with surprise. She was shivering, and very thin, but she ran as fast as she could towards Jaypaw.

"Jaypaw! Oh, StarClan!" Leafpaw cried quietly. "I thought you forgot about me!"

"I would never." Jaypaw purred, resting her tail over Leafpaw's shoulders. "How...How's ThunderClan doing? Is prey running?"

"Not good. Prey's...not good." Leafpaw sighed. "We lost one of our kits. Acornkit. He was Tulipleaf's kit."

Jaypaw dipped her head in respect. "I'm so sorry. May he hunt well in StarClan." Jaypaw had heard of Tulipleaf. She was Jaypaw's first Gathering, though she seemed quiet and didn't talk much. All Jaypaw knew was that she was a light gray she-cat.

"What about ShadowClan?" Leafpaw asked, snapping Jaypaw out of her thoughts. "How's it going there?"

"Um..we lost Tigerpaw. To rats at Carrionplace." Jaypaw croaked out. "He...he was my denmate."

Leafpaw's eyes filled with sympathy. "Oh my. I'm so, so sorry for your loss." She murmured.

"I've made peace with it." Jaypaw mewed. "It's fine."

Leafpaw sighed and locked eyes with Jaypaw. "Jaypaw. You know I'm breaking the warrior code for you." She mewed sternly.

"I...I know. I am too." Jaypaw stuttered. "And I don't mind it. I like seeing you every day."

Leafpaw nodded faintly. "Yeah. Me too. That's why I do this."

Jaypaw knew she would never become a warrior if she was found one day with Leafpaw. But she didn't care.

Leafpaw's ears pricked up, and her eyes went wide. "What's that...sound?" Leafpaw trailed off.

"Patrol?" Jaypaw whispered, preparing to run back to her camp. Leafpaw shushed her with a tail flick.

"No, just a rabbit. I think. I mean, I don't smell any cats..." Leafpaw responded, relaxing and looking back at Jaypaw.

The ShadowClan she-cat shrugged. "Might as well go hunting together." She mewed. "I mean, we don't smell any patrols here."

Leafpaw gave an extra sniff. "You're right. Let's go." The ThunderClan she-cat stood up, bounding past some bushes into ThunderClan territory.

"Wait!" Jaypaw hissed. The scent of ThunderClan flooded over her. "What about ShadowClan territory?"

Leafpaw let out a small snort. "ShadowClan cats don't eat anything but rats and toads." As if realizing what she said, Leafpaw's eyes widened. "No offense, of course."

"None taken, and I see your point. At least ThunderClan have a variety of food." Jaypaw nodded to her ThunderClan friend.

Leafpaw's ears pricked. "I smell a thrush." She whispered, her voice quivering. Leafpaw turned to Jaypaw, eyes sparkling. "Have you ever hunted a thrush?"

"No," Jaypaw admitted. "I don't hunt birds."

"Well now you can. Go for it." Leafpaw stepped out of the way, revealing to Jaypaw a little bird that was pecking at the ground.

Jaypaw instinctively dropped into a crouch, eyes slits. The ShadowClan apprentice stalked forwards, struggling to keep her eyes on the thrush and on the ground below her.

Jaypaw didn't know how Leafpaw and her Clan hunted here. There was way too many trees and branches everywhere.

Jaypaw stiffened as she stepped on a twig. A loud crack echoed off the trees, but the thrush only look up warily and kept pecking at the ground.

Jaypaw relaxed, speeding up as she approached the bird. The apprentice lunged at the prey, paws flying through the air.

Leafpaw snickered before Jaypaw landed clumsily. Jaypaw had missed the thrush by a mile, and the bird fluttered away in a panic.

A flash of white-and-brown fur leapt past Jaypaw, followed by the sound of a thrush chirping. The bird went silent as Jaypaw began to pick burrs out of her tail.

"You killed it?" Jaypaw was surprised; she didn't kill it, and she was probably an apprentice for longer, if not the same age.

"It was easy. To kill a thrush, you have to leap up and grab it's wings." Leafpaw explained, pawing dirt over the prey. "Once you have it's wings, it can't fly away."

Jaypaw nodded, mentally taking notes. Perhaps she could use these methods in her training. No. Someone would catch on that we havent learned this yet, and we'd both be in trouble.

Leafpaw sighed from beside Jaypaw, intertwining their tails. "Are you okay? You haven't been the same since you told me Tigerpaw died."

Jaypaw felt a bitterness well inside her. She wasn't different! Tigerpaw wasn't even her littermate!

"I'm fine." Jaypaw settled on an answer, eyes trailing to the snow-covered ground.

"Are you sure?" Leafpaw prompted. "You don't look like it."

"I said, I'm fine!" Jaypaw hissed quietly. "Tigerpaw was just a denmate. Nothing more."

Leafpaw opened her mouth to say something else, but snapped her jaws shut, as if she was going to regret what she wanted to say.

Jaypaw only shook her tail away from Leafpaw's. "I'm going home before the snow gets bad. Goodnight, Leafpaw."

"Good...Goodnight, Jaypaw." Leafpaw murmured, her light green eyes little pools of sadness.

Before Jaypaw could scamper off, Leafpaw took the lead and ran back through the forest, grabbing her thrush on the way home.

Jaypaw only snorted, trudging back home quietly with her ears pricked for sounds of a patrol.