The next day, Waterdapple decided, she would go hunting, and learning how to do it better by shapeshifting. She was never the greatest or best hunter, and would never be, but decided she was rather good at it. She could list a lot of cats that were better than her. She suddenly felt a wave of jealously pass over her, thinking about all of the cats. A dark thought loomed in her mind. She could take over the... No. Waterdapple shook her head. She couldn't even bring herself to kill a rouge. It was wrong too and defied every part of the warrior code. Her fur lifted along her spine and her tail bushed up. Lionclaw slid up next to her.

"Are you okay?" He murmured. His scent drifted over hers. "You seem scared." She nodded. "I'm okay, it just the badgers..." She lied. She was worried about the badgers, but they wouldn't attack anytime soon, would they? Who knows. He touched her nose with his and said, "It'll be fine... When we're fighting, nothing can happen." Waterdapple let her fears melt away in that brief moment. She then realized that she was a bit too close and awkwardly took a step sideways and tripped.

"I'm fine," she mrowed. "Let's hunt!"

As they walked in the forest, she said, "How about you take the forest, I will try to get a rabbit in the meadows if I can.

"No, lets hunt together! It will be easier to catch prey," Lionclaw objected. Waterdapple sighed silently but agreed. She was thinking, 'What if I told him? Nothing bad would happen, right?' She wasn't sure what to do. As they caught a mouse, she barely noticed until it ran straight towards her and a messy lucky swipe she hit the mouse. Lionclaw looked at her questioningly. She shook her head and went on with the hunt.

Back at camp, she ate and decided, 'It's time to tell him.' She walked up to Lionclaw.

"Sorry about the bad hunt, I've been thinking. Do you want to go for a walk with me?" Lionclaw agreed a bit too enthusiastically but they went.

As they got at the edge of the forest, overlooking the meadow, she turned to him. "Lionclaw, I have something to tell you. It is very important." The golden tom looked at her with interest.

"I'd like to know what's on your mind this whole day. You usually aren't that ignorant of the world," he said teasingly. Waterdapple swatted him on the nose with her tail. She braced herself for what she was going to say.

Authors note

----

Hehe, a cliffhanger! Well, you all know what she's going to say anyways.

Sorry about the slow updates, I forget easily. :P