Warriors - A New Tale

Chapter fifteen

Nuttree felt someone licking her back. She raised her head and looked behind her. She didn't see anyone. She sniffed the air and realized she wasn't in the warrior's den anymore. She immediately realized she was dreaming. She looked around. She was standing in a field. The sun was shining. She looked to her left and there was a hill leading to a forest. She realized the forest was the forest she hunted in almost every day. GreenClan territory. She looked to her right and saw a down-leading path to the beach. DawnClan territory. So who's territory is this?
Her head bolted up. Her muscle's felt stiff. Ugh she thought. Do I have to wake up painfully every time I visit StarClan?
She stretched her forelegs in front of her. She gave a little grunt. She stood up, stretching her back legs behind her. She saw Smallbolt and Darkenedfur, but no Snowstorm. She wondered how her friend was doing. She had seemed so upset earlier. She padded out of the den and breathed in the fresh air. It was noon. She looked around and saw that everything looked peaceful. She looked near the nursery and saw Leaffall playing with Adderkit, Leopardkit and Cloudkit. Sparrowwing was laying close to them, almost falling asleep. She padded up to them. "Hey guys!" She mewed. All the kits' eyes were open now. Leopardkit and Adderkit turned their gaze to her. Cloudkit was staring in her direction, but not directly at her. "Intruder!" Leopardkit hissed. She dashed at Nuttree, claws unsheathed. She jumped at Nuttree. She would have been a worrisome enemy if she wasn't so small. Her small claws clung onto Nuttree's fur. "Hey, Leopardkit, stop it" Leaffall meowed kindly but firmly. Leopardkit jumped off of Nuttree. "Sorry, pops..." Leopardkit mewed bashfully. Adderkit giggled. "Leopardkit's in trouble!" Leopardkit hissed. "Shut up, furball!" Sparrowwing separated the two kits with her paw. "Hey, hey. Stop it. Both of you."
Cloudkit just kept watching them with blank eyes. His whiskers twitched a bit. "Hm" was all he said. Nuttree liked these kits. They were troublesome, but cute. "Anyways, I gotta get going. See you guys around!"

Nuttree bounded our of camp. Maybe she would visit that field she had seen in her dreams. She was still in the forest. She thought she might as well hunt since she was out of camp. There was a scent of chickadee in the air. Then she heard it's call. "Chickadee dee dee dee dee" it sung. She crouched down and looked around. It was sitting on a low branch. Nuttree could get it. She slowly crawled to the tree, and when she was sure the bird couldn't find her out, she pounced on the branch, catching the bird in her jaws. She bit down hard, killing it, but she slipped off the branch and landed on the ground with a big thump. She grunted and stood up. She dropped the chickadee and buried it. No more wasting time! Nuttree thought. She raced for the hill, until she saw the shape of something. A cat. A cat lying down. She padded forward and realized it was Snowstorm. She was sleeping. She looked at Snowstorm. Poor thing... she's been really sad lately...
She then looked at the background. The field really was here. But now she was more focused on Snowstorm. She sat down next to the sleeping Snowstorm. The white she-cat's fur was unkempt, so Nuttree started licking it. It immediately looked better then it had before. She started licking Snowstorm's head fur. Suddenly Snowstorm's head jolted up and bonked Nuttree in the jaw. "Ow!" She exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" Snowstorm asked sounding annoyed.
"I was just wandering until I found you"
"Why were you licking my fur? I can clean it myself, you furball!"
"Then why don't you?"
Snowstorm didn't seem to have an answer to that. "Are... are you too depressed?" Nuttree asked sadly. Snowstorm dropped
her eyes to the floor. "How could you have guessed?" She asked, her ears and tail starting to droop. Nuttree sighed. "Because Gloomstar showed the same signs. Unkempt fur, change in his personality and generally just looking really sad."
Tears slipped out of Snowstorm's eyes, rolled down her cheeks and hit the ground. "I don't want what happened to him to happen to you, Snowstorm" Nuttree mewed, giving Snowstorm's forehead a lick. Snowstorm looked up again and gazed into Nuttree's eyes. "Would you mind if I shared my emotions with you?" She asked hopefully. Nuttree nodded. "I'm always listening."

"I hate him! I hate the kits! I don't want kits!" Snowstorm bursted. She had just finished telling Nuttree about why she was so upset. I understand everything now. She thought of Darkenedfur in a totally different way. She looked in Snowstorm's eyes. "I'm so sorry. None of this was your fault, Snowstorm" Nuttree purred comfortingly to her best friend. Whatever happened, Nuttree knew she would always be there for Snowstorm. Snowstorm suddenly stood up, looking better than she had looked for a moon. "Thank you for talking to me, Nuttree" she meowed. "But now I think we should get back to camp." Nuttree stood up and nodded. "I think that's a great idea" she responded, starting to walk in the direction of camp. Snowstorm caught up to her.
They walked in silence for a bit, until Snowstorm mewed "Nuttree?" The cream ginger she-cat looked at her. "Yeah, Snowstorm?"
"I'll race you back to camp!" Snowstorm started bounding forward. Nuttree growled playfully. She chased after her friend. Nuttree was faster than Snowstorm, so it was easy to catch up to her. They raced at one another's side, Nuttree occasionally coming in front. But when they were almost at camp, Nuttree hovered behind until they got to camp so she could pounce. "Hah!" Nuttree meowed, not realizing Stormstar, Blackberry and Smallbolt were waiting for them. Nuttree quickly got off of Snowstorm and felt herself grow hot. Snowstorm also looked embarrassed as she got up. Stormstar didn't look impressed. Blackberry looked worried as always and Smallbolt had a smirk on his face with his eyes small slits. "You two have been gone all day" Stormstar growled. "Not hunting, right? Not marking borders, right?" Nuttree felt a lump grow in her throat. "Erm... sorry, Storm-"
"You have no excuse! You two were just slacking off all day, hoping your clanmates would do your duties for you." Nuttree saw Snowstorm's gaze fall to the floor in the corner of her eye; but Nuttree still held Stormstar's cold gaze. "Snowstorm and I are really sorry, and we-"
"I will give both of you two chances, until you fail again. On the third strike, you'll be exiled from GreenClan."
Snowstorm gasped. Nuttree felt her body shake with anger. "That won't happen!" She hissed, half to herself. "I'm trying to tell you that we made a mistake, and it won't happen again. Don't interrupt me."
Stormstar's eyes blazed. Smallbolt started to snicker. "So now you're giving the orders?" He meowed. "'Don't interrupt me!' Silly Nuttree" Smallbolt mocked. "Shut up, Smallbolt!" Stormstar snapped. "All of you get back into your den. Now!"
Nuttree understood that she shouldn't have gotten her leader angry and raced to the warrior's den. She saw Smallbolt running next to Blackberry. Whatever happened to her little brother? Why did he have to change like that?