Seppuku

Chapter 23

Once Twistedsky and Pigeonpaw got back to camp, they realized that Cloverpaw and Badgerstripe were already back. Badgerstripe was sitting down and eating a mouse, whereas Cloverpaw was being cooed over by her mother at the other end of the camp.

As soon as Primroseflower spotted her other kit, she called out. "Pigeonpaw, sweetie! Come over here!"

"Okay!" Pigeonpaw called back. Twistedsky caught the eye roll the apprentice gave, but his mother didn't. He sent an apologetic look to his mentor before bounding over to Primroseflower and Cloverpaw.

Twistedpaw sighed, and padded over to Badgerstripe, settling down next to him.

"How was your first day as a mentor?" The black and white tom asked him.

"It was alright," Twistedsky replied, "Pigeonpaw's a great cat, I can't believe that I was actually chosen to mentor him...."

"Maybe Miststar's finally warming up to us." Badgerstripe suggested. "Cloverpaw's great too, she's an amazing listener."

Twistedsky nodded. "Hopefully she is, I can't stand her glares...."

He glanced up at the cloudless sky, searching the endless stretch of blue for an answer. But can Miststar really accept us, or does she have something else in mind?

~

Nettleskip padded at the back of her hunting party, letting the other cats lead the way as her head filled with thoughts. She couldn't believe Miststar chose Badgerstripe and Twistedsky to mentor the new apprentices- out of all cats!

It wasn't fair of the clan to call their leader out on it though, the poor kits didn't deserve their ceremony to be ruined like that, and it's part of the warrior code to always listen to your leader.

"Hey Nettleskip, you okay?" Nettleskip snapped out of her thoughts and looked up to see Rainpuddle padding beside her.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine! Just, thinking...." She replied, licking her chest self-consciously.

"I've been thinking too," Rainpuddle added. "Nettleskip, I really- um... Nevermind." He stopped himself halfway through.

Nettleskip could tell he was nervous, but why? The two of them had grown to be close friends over the moons, and Nettleskip felt a clearer connection with him than she'd ever felt with anyone else.

The patrol stopped walking forward, and the cats started going their separate ways to hunt. Nettleskip blinked at Rainpuddle. "Let's hunt together." She said.

They padded through the trees of the pine forest, Nettleskip lifting her head to sniff the air. She caught the scent of frog, and started carefully padding towards it. Frogs weren't the most savoury of prey, but also weren't that bad, and would fill a cat's stomach.

Nettleskip spotted the creature's greenish brown skin. The frog was sitting in a small clearing, croaking away, and there was a pond nearby. Probably its home.

"Hey, Rainpuddle." She called to him in a hushed voice.

"What is it?" He whispered back.

Nettleskip tilted her head towards the unsuspecting frog, and Rainpuddle nodded in understanding. "Can you hide in those bushes-" she pointed with her muzzle at a few bushes at the edge of the pond, "-and catch the frog when it tries to escape into the water?"

"Sure." Rainpuddle replied, and sneaked away.

Nettleskip waited until she was sure he was in position, then burst out of her hiding place with a growl. The frog immediately jumped and turned around, quickly hopping towards the pond just like she'd predicted.

Before it could get to the water, Rainpuddle leapt from the bushes and landed with his front paws crushing the frog. He bent over to give it the killing bite, and looked back up at Nettleskip.

"Great catch!" Nettleskip purred, padding closer to Rainpuddle.

"It was your idea," he said modestly.

Nettleskip slightly brushed her tail against his, but then decided against intertwining them. Instead, she started walking again. "Come on, let's see what else we can find!"