Through the Dark

Chapter 9 (EDITED)

Leafpaw immediately found the ginger pelt of her...friend? Was that the right word?

"I was waiting for you! I thought you wouldn't come!" Blazepaw came over to her.

"Sorry, Skypaw wouldn't fall asleep...... She's a bit hyper."

Blazepaw nodded. "Okay. Whatever, because now you're here!" He playfully pounced on Leafpaw, catching her by surprise and knocking her over.

She pummelled him with her hind paws. "Get off me, Blazepaw!"

"Never!" Blazepaw purred with amusement at Leafpaw's vain attempts to free herself.

"I'll get Wolffur!" Leafpaw growled threateningly.

That worked. Blazepaw immediately jumped off Leafpaw, eyes wide with horror.

"You wouldn't!" he breathed, looking frightened.

"Of course I wouldn't!" Leafpaw assured him, feeling bad for making her friend all shaky and terror-filled. "I was just kidding, so you would get off me." She purred. "And it worked."

"Not funny." Blazepaw pouted. "You scared me so much!"

"I'm sorry!" Leafpaw apologized. She paused. "Why are you scared of your mentor so much anyway?"

Blazepaw shuffled his paws. "Well, he's just really mean and strict... Whenever you do something wrong, he just lashes at you! I'm thinking of talking to Cloudstar about it."

Leafpaw's breath caught, thinking how similar her and Blazepaw's mentor were.

"What is it?" Blazepaw asked, puzzled.

"I...my mentor does exactly the same thing. One time, I was trying to get a hunting crouch right, and she just kept saying I was doing it completely wrong!

"But ugh! Seriously?! Mentors." Leafpaw rolled her eyes. "They think that we apprentices can get everything right on the first try. I think you should tell Cloudstar about that. Maybe he'll give you a nicer apprentice."

Blazepaw swiped his tongue over Leafpaw's ear affectionately, sending shivers down her spine. "And you should tell your leader that."

Leafpaw shook her head. "That's the problem. Emberleaf, my mentor, is Darkstar's deputy. He'll definitely take her side instead of mine."

Just then, there was a rustling of bushes from behind Leafpaw. She whirled around, the hair on the back of her neck tingling with tension.

Blazepaw shrugged carelessly, nudging Leafpaw with his shoulder to bring her attention back to him. "It's nothing. Just the wind."

But there is no wind tonight.

Leafpaw felt unsure but quickly shrugged it off. She had the whole night with this decent-looking tom; why not make the best of it?

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"WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Leafpaw rolled over, away from the annoying someone that was trying to get her to get up.

She was tired.

So tired.

Why was she so tired?

"WAKE UPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Ugh. There came the shrilly voice again.

"Oof," Leafpaw cried weakly as a weight - and not a light one - landed on her.

"Get off me, you heavy furball," Leafpaw grumbled, struggling to breathe under the burden that was Skypaw.

"Emberleaf is looking for you." Graypaw's voice.