Warriors Dazed (DISCONTINUED)

Chapter four

"When are your kits due?" Dazepaw was in the nursery with Speckpetal, giving her a wet ball of moss for drinking.
"Not too long now, about a moon," Speckpetal replied.
Dazepaw knew that ThunderClan was eagerly awaiting the prospect of new kits, they hadn't had any more since Snowpaw and Roughpaw had become apprentices. As Speckpetal continued to lap at the water dripping from the moss, Toadfluff entered the nursery. He looked down at Dazepaw disapprovingly.
"What are you doing here?" He snarled.
"Giving Speckpetal some water. What are you doing here?" She meowed. Speckpetal laid her tail on Dazepaw's shoulder. "He's my mate," she meowed kindly. Dazepaw felt hot with embarrassment and licked her chest fur to flatten it. Speckpetal let out a purr of amusement at Dazepaw's uneasiness. Toadfluff let out a snort of contempt and pushed past Dazepaw, knocking her over with his force. He touched noses with his mate and sat down next to her, sharing tongues with her. Dazepaw knew she wasn't needed anymore so she padded out of the nursery and back over to medicine den. She had been helping Stripeblaze lately due to his lack of an apprentice. She walked over to the medicine cat, who was sorting his herbs.
"I gave her the wet moss!" Dazepaw meowed proudly. Stripeblaze jumped around, startled by the suddenness of Dazepaw's announcement. He calmed down and let the fur on his back lie flat.
"That's good. Now I have another job for you, could you come and help me collect herbs?" He asked. Dazepaw thought for a moment, it sounded like a boring job. Finally she made her decision.
"Alright I'll come," she said defeatedly. Stripeblaze could sense her un-enthusiasm. "You don't have to come if you don't want to," he meowed sympathetically, picking up a bundle of leaves in his mouth. Dazepaw felt bad as she watched Stripeblaze pad out of the den and towards the thorn tunnel. Before he could leave the camp, Dazepaw rushed over to him, her guilt getting the best of her.
"I'm sorry, I would love to come with you," she quickly meowed to him. His face lit up and he let out a satisfied purr.
"Welw come on den!" He mumbled through his leaves. Dazepaw giggled at his mumbled speech and followed him out of camp and through the forest.
She had never collected herbs in ThunderClan territory before, so this was another new experience. Stripeblaze looked ahead and placed his leaf bundle down. "We need to find some marigold," he meowed. "We're running low on it. Now marigold looks like-"
"It's a yellow flower," Dazepaw cut in. Stripeblaze looked at her, surprised.
"How did you know that?"
"I trained as a medicine cat apprentice for about a quarter moon."
Stripeblaze grunted with surprise and pride.
He and Dazepaw continued to look for marigold until the sun started setting.
Dazepaw looked out over the beautiful sunset and sighed through her bundle of marigold and water mint that she had found.
"Something wrong?" Stripeblaze asked her, concerned.
"No, just, admiring the sunset," she replied. Stripeblaze looked at her for a moment longer and then spoke up. "We should be getting back to camp," he suggested. Dazepaw nodded and picked up her bundle of herbs and followed Stripeblaze back to the camp. She continued to pad into his den after him and placed the marigold and water mint on the ground. "Where do these go?" She asked, gesturing to the herbs. Stripeblaze pointed with his tail towards a small crack in the wall and Dazepaw placed the herbs inside it. She stood in the den for a few more moments, smelling the herbs. She finally got to her paws and padded out of the den and over to the apprentice's den. Roughpaw was sitting outside the den, devouring a squirrel. Dazepaw quickly made her way over to him.
"Where's Snowpaw?" She asked him. Roughpaw looked at her with his dark brown eyes, and Dazepaw was sure she saw a flash of jealousy in them. He finished his mouthful with a big gulp and licked his paw.
"Out training with Leafeyes," he replied simply. Dazepaw looked at him more seriously.
"Are you okay?" She knew what he was going to say even before he said it.
"I'm fine," he meowed sulkily. Dazepaw shifted closer to him.
"I know there's something wrong," she persisted. He opened his mouth to talk but before he could, Snowpaw walked into camp with Leafeyes. Dazepaw looked over at them and saw both of them covered in scratches, Snowpaw bleeding more than his mentor. She quickly rushed over to her fellow apprentice.
"Are you okay? What happened?" She meowed worriedly. Leafeyes gave him a stern look and Snowpaw nodded.
"I'm okay," he whispered. Dazepaw was sure that something was up, but she let it go for the sake of Snowpaw. Then an idea came to her head.
"Want to go for a hunt?" She asked him. Snowpaw looked at the sun.
"It's sunset though," he pointed out. Dazepaw rolled her eyes.
"So?" She didn't let Snowpaw answer and she bounded over to the camp entrance. She stopped and waited for Snowpaw to catch up and they bolted out of camp together.
As they ran through the forest, Snowpaw looked at Dazepaw amusingly.
"You sure love going out at night, don't you?" He meowed. Dazepaw flicked his ear with her tail and ran ahead. She stopped in the middle of the forest and fell onto her back, breathing heavily. Snowpaw stopped beside her and lay on his back as well. They lay there together, their tail intertwined, until it was moon high.
"We should get back to camp," Snowpaw suggested. Just as he was rising to his paws, Dazepaw looked at him seriously.
"Why were you and Leafeyes covered in scratches when you came back from training?" She asked. Snowpaw looked at her, unable to speak.
"Well, I, you see, um...." He looked at his paws. "You can't tell anyone else."
Dazepaw nodded.
"Leafeyes made me train with unsheathed claws and she's so much stronger than me, and I think one of my claws was pulled out." He lifted his front paw and started licking it and Dazepaw noticed a claw missing as well as some dried up blood.
"Did you talk to Stripeblaze?"
Snowpaw shook his head. "No. Leafeyes told me not to tell anyone because we're not meant to train with unsheathed claws. I didn't want to get the deputy in trouble."
Dazepaw still thought that wasn't a good enough reason.
"We really should get back," Snowpaw continued to complain. Dazepaw rolled her eyes and nodded.
"Okay."
They padded slowly through the forest, letting Dazepaw look at all of it. It was much harder to see it all at night but she strained her eyes so she could see. A small breeze came along and rushed up her spine, making her shiver. The trees seemed more sinister as they rustled about. She looked up at Silverpelt and thought of her warrior ancestors; she always liked to do that when she felt scared. They made it back to camp after a while and found that most cats were still awake. Hopefully they wouldn't be in too much trouble.
As they walked into camp, Leafeyes turned around to face them, her bright green eyes glowing in the darkness.
"Where have you two been?" She meowed sternly. Snowpaw shuffled his paws.
"Just, out."
Leafeyes looked at him for a moment longer before changing her gaze to Dazepaw, making it a lot more sinister.
"You need to learn to not leave every night, or you'll be grounded in the camp." She trotted off towards the warriors den where Leopardpelt was waiting for her. He wrapped his tail around her shoulder and they padded into the den together.
"Don't listen to her," Snowpaw mewed. "She's just a stick in the mud now that she's deputy."
Dazepaw wasn't sure but decided not to talk about it anymore. She padded to the apprentice's den with her head hanging and settled down in her nest. 'I don't care what she thinks, I'll prove I'm loyal to ThunderClan because I know that she just hates me because of my ShadowClan background.' She placed her chin on her paws and wrapped her tail around her, resting in gently on her nose. She could hear shifting next to her as Snowpaw settled into his own nest, and started whispering to Roughpaw. She blocked the noise out and soon she was fast asleep.