Sixteen Paws

Chapter 4

"If we never had agreed to let in this....kittypet, we'd be much better off" Squirrelflight growled, Dawnpaw could see the shadow of Bramblestar in the den rising to his paws.

"Like I said many times, she is a good addition to the clan. Even if she is lazy, she's an apprentice. All we need to do is train her."

Bramblestar padded out of the den and skidded to halt in front of Dawnpaw.

"Oh. Dawnpaw..." He said, casting a glance to the den in which Squirrelflight was still in.

"I didn't know you were here. Um, what do you need?" He asked, shifting from paw to paw.

Dawnpaw yawned, she forgot why she needed to talk to Bramblestar. She shrugged and turned away.

"i forgot." she grunted. She glanced back to see Squirrelflight peeking out of the den with accusing eyes. Dawnpaw leaped off the Highrock. She could feel the two cats's eyes baring into her back. Making her way to the apprentices den, Dawnpaw nodded to Sparkpaw, who also, nodded back politely.

At least the apprentice's were kind enough.

"Wait!" Bramblestar bounded towards Dawnpaw and stopped her with a paw. She flicked her ears in a sort-of-surprise.

"I'm sorry. How much did you hear?" He asked, his question doused with guilt. Again, Dawnpaw shrugged.

"enough." starting to the den again, another cat called. Dawn paw felt frustrated. All she wanted to do was sleep, not be bossed again in "cleaning out moss", or "taking out ticks". She just din't feel like it. At all, to be honest.

Dawnpaw came from a group of twolegs in a big house at the other side of the road. She loved it there. They always fed her, cleaned her, and sleep with her! It was good life.

But one day when she took a nap, she woke up in a strange building. The same twolegs, with the white coats from when she was taken with the twolegs, gave her a shot and put her in the forest.

After a while, she was here. She thought it would be nice to live with her kind. Try new food, sleep in a new den.

But she was wrong.

Instead of living a paradise she wanted, Dawnpaw was stuck with cats who expected better from her. Well, most cats. 

"Hey. I'm talking to you!" Dawnpaw looked up to see her mentor, with a slightly annoyed expression.

"I asked you to line the moss six times already today!" Sorrelstripe exclaimed.

"And it's not even sun high!" The brown fur along her spine rippled.

"What will the other cats think of you if I can't get you to cooperate?" She asked, seemingly helpless.

"don't you mean "what will cats think of you?" Dawnpaw pointed out. Sorrelstripe tipped her head in confusion.

"they already know I couldn't care less about this. You're just concerned for your well-being." she shrugged.

Sorrelstripe seemed taken aback by her retort, padding back a few paw steps. But she recovered  and padded up close to Dawnpaw. So close that she could smell her mentor's breath.

"Are you sure you want to talk back to me that way? I'm your mentor." She growled 

"i mean, i-"

"Okay, that's enough." Bramblestar cut in, he padded between the two she-cats and looked at Sorrelstripe.

"Dawnpaw just likes to take it easy. After all, she was a kittypet. And only for a few moons." he said.  Dawnpaw made a face, offended. Sorrelstripe bowed her head apologetically. The leader then turned to Dawnpaw with a stern look on his face.

"Dawnpaw, if you want to stay in this Clan, you have to participate with us. Wether you'd like to or not." He said, Dawnpaw nodded and looked at her paws.

"yeah, I know" She apologized. Satisfied, Bramblestar huffed padded off. He leaped up the Highrock and disappeared through his den once more.

Sorrelstripe gazed at Dawnpaw. Dawnpaw shivered.

'guess i'll be doing more than what I wanted to do.

"Now go and line the moss" But before she could walk off, her mentor cut off Dawnpaw's path with her tail.

"And you can help the elder's with their ticks." She said smugly. 

knew it.

Padding to the elder's den, Dawnpaw sighed. She just wanted to lie down and rest her paws. Even though sh'e been for most of the day.

Dawnpaw found the medicine den and peeked inside. Leafpool was bundling a bunch of strong  smelling herbs.  Jayfeather and Alderpaw seemed absent.

"Oh! Hello Dawnheart." Leafpool said as she padded towards the apprentice.

"hey." Dawnheart replied, leaning against the entrance.

"Are you here for some mouse bile?" The med. cat asked.

"...yeah.." 

"Oh! Well, here, let me give them to you."

Leafpool padded towards the herb station and did....something. Dawnpaw couldn't explain it. Leafpool  then returned  with a stick covered with a horrid stench that Dawnpaw recognized as "mouse bile". Dawnpaw took the stick from the she-cat and headed out the den.

"Make sure to wash your paws after!" Leafpool called. Dawnpaw nodded in response.

Making her way to the elder's den, Dawnpaw hummed a song that her owner's used to sing. It surprised Dawnheart that none of the cats sang or hummed. Even if she was really bad at it.

Fighting the urge to hurl and throw the stick away, Dawnpaw arrived at the Elder's den.

She paused outside the lichen, listening to the conversation the elders's were exchanging.

"I just hope those young kits can manage in that poor excuse of a Clan" Dawnpaw recognized Graystripe's voice now. It's always been hard to make out, for some reason.

"I'm sure they will be okay." Millie replied. Even though she was an elder, the tabby she-cat still sounded young. ish.

"Yeah, I bet they're tough, surviving a fox attack like that." Purdy said.

Dawnpaw never liked to eavesdrop. So she padded closer to the entrance and cleared her throat.

"uh, anyone need a tick-free checkup?" Dawnpaw asked, entering the den. The three elders were sitting in a tight circle. Their conversation long forgotten.

"Ah, you always know how to make us laugh." Grayling purred.

"Got yourself in trouble again?" Millie asked, her tail twitching.

Dawnpaw flicked her ear self consciously and sighed as she sat down.

"Honestly, I don't know why you stay here." Purdy grumbled.

"You obviously don't like it here. Why did you come here?" He tipped his head to the side.

Dawnpaw just shrugged even though she knew the answer already. Telling it to these cats, then she'll never hear the end of it.

Ignoring the question, she started clearing the ticks off of Purdy and followed their next conversation. Laughing and talking between them.

Sometimes Dawnpaw wished she was an elder with them.

wouldn't that be splendid.

A/N: Wow, it's been forever since I uploaded, I'm really sorry, guys. The only excuse I have besides school/homework is that I like to procrastinate. A lot. I'm trying to upload every chapter after chapter. If that makes any sense. Thank you for reading, I hope you have stayed patient over the, what. Three/four months? Well anyway, I apologize for the long pause. I'm just waiting for summer so I can upload more often. Sorry for the millionth time.

-Shadowlily