Thornheart's Acceptance

Chapter 8

     Thornpaw woke up to the sounds of hushed whispers and snickering. She opened her eyes and squinted through the bright sunlight coming through the small gapes of the den. She pierced around the den as she did so she was met with the amused looks of Hawkpaw and Owlpaw, as well as the smirking expression of Poppypaw. She stared at the confusion then she felt something on her start move. She looked to see if Poppypaw had put something on her in her sleep, but when she turned her head she was she met nose to nose with Timberpaw. Now that she was more awake, she could feel him laying on her. He was on her back coming onto her side, his forepaws went straight down her belly while his head laid on her shoulder. Only the front part of his body was on her while his tail curled and lower part was wrapped around her in a protective manner. She must have been moving, becauses he started adjusting before his eyes opened. They stared at each other for a moment before he looked around with his green eyes. His ears went down as he realized what he was doing and who was watching. Neither of them moved; both too embarrassed.
"Hey guys, the dawn patrol is back. Oh!" Willowpaw said walking into the den, "What's up?" the tortoiseshell she-cat asked, looking at the two younger cats.

"Nothing just getting to see the newest couple in the clan." Owlpaw said with a smile and a mischievous glimmer in his amber eyes.

"Wait Owlpaw, it's not official yet." Poppypaw said, getting a laugh out of Hawkpaw.

Thornpaw got up, with Timberpaw still on her back, gave her pelt a shake, causing

Timberpaw to fall face first into the ground, and walked out of the den.

"Don't forget your tomfriend!" She heard Poppypaw call after her. Making her put her put her head down and started to walk faster as Owlpaw and Hawkpaw started laughing harder. She did smile when she heard an "Ow!" from Hawkpaw because that means his sister cuffed him around the ear, she was not watching where she was going and ran right into someone. She looked up with eyes narrowed only to meeting the forest green eyes of Antpelt. It was now she noticed how big she had gotten. Antpelt had always been a small cat, but she never realized how small. She was almost his height and he was just half the size of Brackenstar.

"Hey Thornpaw, where are you going?" he asked smiling.

"Hey Antpelt, I was going to get something to eat. Do you want to join me?" she said, it felt like it had been forever since she shared prey with him.

"Yes I would." he answered. They walked over to the fresh-kill pile he picked up a squirrel and walked over to the edge of the clearing.

"So tell, how is training coming?" He asked

"You see me train everyday. Why are you asking?"

"I may see you, but I never know how it is going."

"Well, Brackenstar says I'm doing good in fighting techniques, but I need more work in hunting."

"Seems right." He said taking a bit of the squirrel.

"What do you mean?" She asked, looking at him.

"I mean there is nothing bad about being better at one thing more than another. Look at me," she looked at him up and down then shrugged, "I have always been better at hunting then fighting; I had shorter fur so I did not get caught as easy and it was also darker which made it hard for prey to spot me. I was also smaller so most cats are bigger than me and in training it was hard to watch the other apprentices do something I couldn't, but I worked hard to get everything right and I would use my small size and their height to my advantage."

"How did you do it?"

"It wasn't easy, especially after Applefur died she was always really supportive, but knowing that she would want me to keep going and to work hard is what got me through."