: p

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I could feel the last dying rays of the sun on my gray fur as I crept up behind the mouse. I pounced, and I rammed head-first into a thick pile of dark brown fur. I hissed in shock and rolled back onto my paws. I bared my teeth at the newcomer, ready to—

"Ti—Tigerheart!"

The handsome brown tabby stood calmly before me, the mouse lying at his paws,"Dovewing."

I crouched down quickly, and raised one of my forepaws,"You are trespassing on ThunderClan territory! Get out,"I jerked my head toward the border,"and I won't shred you."

The ShadowClan tom's eyes glowed with amusement,"Oh Dovewing, you would never shred me. You love me, you said so yourself."

He padded forward, slowly, causing my breath to catch in my throat,"Don't you take one more step!"

As I expected, he purred and came even closer, and embraced me.

"It's been to long, my darling Dove. I missed you!"

His wonderful, tangy scent rushed into my open mouth, and the feeling of his soft fur against mine made me tingle inside. Even though it pained me greatly to do so, I pulled away from him. I felt icy cold were his pelt had been and sighed regretfully.

I turned my head away from him,"Tigerheart, how many times do I have to tell you? We can't keep doing this."

I spun around and and ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I hated the way Tigerheart made me feel! My heart felt like a trapped bird when he was near, and it ached when we were apart. I . . . I hated loving him! What we were doing was wrong! Why couldn't Tigerheart see that?

"Dovewing! Watch out!"

I skidded to a halt in front of the large tabby who had spoken.

"Yeah, watch out Dovewing! You almost ran over Thornclaw and me,"Larkpaw piped up,"Who is the deputy. Who is also my mentor!"

"Stop showing off!" Larkpaw's sister Honeypaw, Birchfall's apprentice, growled.

"S—sorry, Thornclaw." I mewed, still flustered by Tigerheart's boldness.

He sniffed,"Just be more careful. Dovewing, where is your prey?"

My blue eyes widened with shock as I remembered the abandoned mouse. Thornclaw had two squirrels and a finch. Leafpaw's catch was a fat black bird and a small shrew. Birchfall landed three mice, and his white-and-yellow apprentice scored a giant rabbit.

"I didn't catch anything,"I mumbled, beyond embarrassed.

Larkpaw snickered, but Thornclaw stayed chillingly silent.

"I'll go on all the hunting patrols tomorrow,"I promised quietly.

The big tom nodded, seeming satisfied. He pushed ahead with his dark furred apprentice and Honeypaw, leaving my father and me to bring up the rear. The gray brown tabby tom rested his tail on my shoulders.

"Are you okay?"

I shrugged him off,"I'm fine,"

When we made it back to camp, I flew past the freshkill pile without sending a glance its way and collapsed into the warrior's den.

"Dovewing?"

Startled, my head shot up, and I saw my sister in a nest, her eyes blurry with sleep. I realized guiltily that I must have woken her up.

"Sorry. Why are you sleeping anyway? The sun just went down."

The silver and white she-cat licked her paw and drew it over her ear,"I'm on the dawn patrol. Why are you in here?"

I gave my chest fur a couple licks,"I totally flunked out on the hunting patrol and now I have to go on all of tomorrow's hunting patrols."

Ivypool's dark blue eyes were sympathetic,"What's the matter, Dovewing? You are one of the greatest hunters I know. Warriors like you don't just flunk out randomly."

I curled into a tight ball with my tail tickling my nose,"I'm fine, really."

"Dovewing—"

"Just stay out of it, please,"I snapped,"You have your own problems."

Ivypool was definitely not a romantic. She wasn't a moonstruck dove like me, but she did admit, many moons ago while we were still 'paws, that there was one certain tom who stood out from all the rest. The reddish brown tom could withstand Ivypool's sharp attitude, and uhh, well, let's just say he was pretty handsome. He suffered many wounds in the Great Battle, and then he passed away. Ivypool didn't let it show, but she was extremely devastated. Only I knew that she loved him, not even Birchfall and Whitewing. Then the flamboyant Fernsong came along. The yellow tom took an instant liking to Ivypool when he became a warrior. At first, Ivypool only thought of him as a persistent flea, but eventually Lionblaze's only son began to grow on her. She hoped that Fernsong love would fill the chasm Foxleap left behind. Fernsong had gone out tree climbing with Mousewhisker about a moon ago. He fell and broke his neck.Ever since that day, Ivypool hadn't been the same. She was getting back into the swing of things now, but she still seemed kind of down.

I ignored the hurt look on Ivypool's face a closed my eyes. When the inky blackness choked out my vision, an image of an arrogant tabby appeared. I almost groaned out loud with anger.

Help me StarClan! Make Tigerheart leave me alone!

Deep down, I knew I didn't want that.

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"You can share that last shrew with Mousewhisker. No one can hunt on an empty stomach!"

I nodded my thanks to Ivypool, who was the leader of the second hunting patrol of the day, and sat down beside Mousewhisker to eat. In between hungry bites, I noticed Mousewhisker's dull eyes.

"Did you get any sleep, Mousewhisker?" I asked, concerned.

"Yes,"He replied defensively,"I just had a bad dream last night."

I was just asking, sheesh.

"Let's go!" Ivypool called from the camp exit.

The cream and brown tom Molewhisker was standing at her side. I finished my part of the shrew in one gulp and joined them, Mousewhisker was not far behind.

"Where are we going,"I inquired once we entered the forest.

Please don't say ShadowClan. Please don't say ShadowClan. Please don't say ShadowClan. Please don't say ShadowClan. Please don't say ShadowClan. Please don't say ShadowClan. Please don't say ShadowClan. Please don't say ShadowClan. Please don't say ShadowClan. Please don't say ShadowClan. Please don't say ShadowClan.

Ivypool turned her head to look at me," The WindClan border."

Thank StarClan!

As we bounded through ThunderClan land, I became conscious of how strange the toms were acting. Molewhisker had pulled ahead to run with Ivypool; they were so close that their pelts rubbed against each other's. Mousewhisker didn't seem happy with this, and he started to gallop on Ivypool's other side.

Seems like my sister is getting popular with the toms,I fought down a spark of jealousy,If only someone in THUNDERCLAN liked me that way. Then, maybe I could get Tigerheart out of my—Bumblestripe! He likes me! I'll just apologize for being a massive piece fox dung for all these moons and we'll be mates again!

WindClan's moor was right in front of us, but there was a strange smell in the air. It was . . . It was—!

"RiverClan,"Mousewhisker breathed.

The whole patrol gasped when two bands of cats sped across the moor. They were close enough that I could determine one group was WindClan, and the other one was RiverClan.

"This is WindClan and RiverClan's problem, so we will stay here on our own territory,"Ivypool ordered.

No sooner had the words left her mouth, the gray and white tom Mousewhisker darted over the border straight toward the cats. Ivypool let our an exasperated yowl and ran after him. Molewhisker followed her, and I trailed him. Though Ivypool hadn't said it out loud, I knew the sensible thing to do was to fight the RiverClan cats. This was WindClan's territory after all.

What are RiverClan cats doing all the way over here?

There was a screech from up above, a something heavy landed on my back. I hit the ground and wiggled around so I could kick my attacker in the belly. When the RiverClan tom, Podlight, staggered off of me with bulging eyes I lied on the ground for a moment to catch my breath. Ivypool and Molewhisker were tag teaming a brown tabby she-cat. I could see Breezepelt amongst the WindClan cats clawing a light brown tom's face.

Wait, where did Mousewhisker—

My thoughts were cut off by a loud battle cry that rung my ears. Minnowtail, a warrior I recognized from gatherings, was charging toward me. As she closed the gap between us, I reared up onto my hind legs and unsheathed my claws.

"No stop!" Mousewhisker appeared and barreled into me, and I was lying on the ground breathlessly yet again.

"Mousewhisker, what are you doing?"

The RiverClan she-cat and I both hissed the same thing at the same time. I stared at her in surprise. Mousewhisker sent her a fierce look and growled softly, almost playfully, at her. Minnowtail backed away slowly, her face fearful and tail tip flicking. I was beyond confused.

Mousewhisker turned to me with a worried face,"Are you okay?"

I nodded numbly and stood up quickly. I was made of questions at that point, but before I could get one out, the deputy of WindClan let out a caterwaul.

Harespring was standing over Heronwing with his claws on his neck,"Stop fighting!"

All the cats promptly obeyed; most seemed annoyed or bewildered. Harespring let Heronwing go and he scurried over to his bleeding Clanmates.

"What is the meaning of this?" The deputy hissed, glaring at the cats before him.

His fiery gaze landed on Ivypool, who meowed,"We saw you from our territory and decided to join you."

After what seemed like forever, Harespring  nodded and replied,"WindClan thanks you, but we did not need your help."

I automatically glanced at Breezepelt, anticipating a snarky remark. I got nothing. The black tom licked a cut on his shoulder and caught my gaze. He gave me a friendly nod, but I didn't return it.

The brown and white tom snarled at the bristling River' cats.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON WINDCLAN'S TERRITORY?"He yowled.

Minnowtail, who I presumed was the leader of the patrol, screeched,"RiverClan doesn't answer to stick-tailed rabbit munchers!"

She spun around and ran, the rest of the RiverClan cats behind her. Harespring flicked his tail, and about half of the small battle patrol followed them.

"Well, this has all been fun, but ThunderClan really needs to get back to camp and report this,"Ivypool mewed, dipping her head to Harespring.

Harespring agreed and the two patrols padded away. As the WindClan warriors set off, Breezepelt waved his tail kindly at us.

"Breezepelt seems nicer than usual,"I murmured to no one in particular.

"Is Breezepelt being out of character the only thing that's bothering you?"Ivypool muttered.

I shook my head, and glanced at a silent Mousewhisker. His eyes were glued to the spot where the RiverClan cats had disappeared.

Molewhisker flicked his cream and brown tail,"Let's get back to camp."

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What's RiverClan's Problem?

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