The last rays of the day were upon the camp, with spots of fluffy cloud scudding across the indigo-tainted sky. The moon was barely visible; it was merely a claw-scratch in the sky.

After their fight practice, Shadowpaw and Yinpaw went on a hunting patrol with their mentors. The hunt was quite successful — Bronzeflight caught a vole and a mouse, Mousefur caught a shrew and mouse, and the apprentices caught two mice, a small finch, and a shrew. On their way back, Yinpaw even managed to nab a fish from the river.

They dropped off their fresh-kill at the fresh-kill pile, then the apprentices brought two mice to the elders and a vole to the nursery for the queens.

Yinpaw had sought out some borage leaves while hunting, and she kept them under the shrew that she caught, then brought it to Ambereye. "This is for you," Yinpaw meowed, padding into the medicine den with the shrew at her paws.

"Oh, thank you, Yinpaw," Ambereye replied. "I've just replenished my burdock root, thanks to your wonderful idea." The medicine cat licked Yinpaw's shoulder affectionately.

"This is also for you." Yinpaw flipped the shrew, only to reveal several borage leaves, which were good for queens with kits. "I saw a borage plant somewhere on the edge of the forest. If Mousefur allows me to, I'll show you where they are." Ambereye nodded and transferred the borage leaves to her stock.

"But remember," Ambereye spoke. "You cannot neglect your warrior duties. Or apprentice duties, anyway. But once you become a warrior, you cannot see me anymore, unless it has to do with an injury."

"But, that doesn't mean I can't tell you where the herbs are, right?" Yinpaw ventured mischievously, but with a good ambition. "You need to know, right?" The young apprentice tipped her head at the medicine cat.

"Yes, alright," Ambereye obliged, knowing that the apprentice wouldn't stop until she was happy. The apprentice gave the medicine cat a nod and padded out of the medicine den. Ambereye called out, "Don't neglect your duties!" Ambereye just about spotted the apprentice flick her tail.

Yinpaw joined Shadowpaw in the apprentice den with a small mouse for each of them. Yinpaw didn't notice — she was too busy devouring her fresh-kill with a few famished gulps to notice — Shadowpaw had rested his tail over Yinpaw's white one while he ate his mouse.

After the delicious meal, drowsiness was clinging to Yinpaw's pelt like a tick. "I'm going to sleep now," the black and white apprentice informed her friend. He nodded, gulped down the rest of his mouse and padded beside her.

"Great hunt," he murmured into her pelt as they lay down on the soft moss that lined their nests. Shadowpaw intertwined his tail with Yinpaw's and gradually, sleep crept up on them as they fell asleep to the comforting rhythm of each other's heartbeats.

* * *

The sky was pale gold where the sun would come up, but shadows still lay thickly over the SharpClan camp. The air hung heavy with the scent of rain.

The moment she woke up, she knew something was wrong. So maybe her unnatural sixth sense could sense if something was wrong. Nonetheless, it was still dawn and the air stung with rain-scent. It was so overpowering, Yinpaw couldn't even make out where the fresh-kill pile was for a while.

Rain had fallen during the night; her paws splashed through the puddles and she narrowed her eyes as the rising sun glittered on the water dripping from the bare branches of the trees of the forest. Yinpaw floundered through the wet grass to the edge of the river, then sunk her wet paw into the ice-cold water. The cerulean water swirled close to her paws before veering downstream.

Yinpaw realised that there were several floes floating on the surface of the water. Surely it couldn't be leaf-bare already! That — however much she didn't want to admit it — was about less than a moon away, maybe half a moon.. They had to stock up their prey if they were to survive this leaf-bare. Luckily for them, there were several animals that still came out in leaf-bare, like the shrew, thrush, and the unmistakable robin. If they were really desperate, the cats who had the best sense of smell would go out and search for frogs that may have hibernated under dried leaves.

Yinpaw wanted to do some hunting of her own, since that'd warm her up. She didn't fancy going back to sleep again. The sun had almost risen fully and cats would be waking up at this time. So, Yinpaw gave her pelt a shake, then crossed the bridge to the forest. She was proud that the SharpClan territory stretched on for a long way, for that determined that they had a large hunting area without other rival Clans to worry about.

She entered the forest, opening her mouth to taste for the scent of prey. There was the rain-scent mingled with the fresh scents of the forest in leaf-bare. As she trudged on, she heard a soft crunching sound to her left. The whipped her head to the side slowly, as to not scare off whatever was making that sound.

It turned out to be two small mice, one nibbling on a nut, and one rummaging the dried leaves for any other sign of food. Yinpaw was surprised that she found two mice. Normally, a mouse would look for food by itself. She pondered if one of the mice was hurt or injured in one way, but as she watched from her hunter's crouch, Yinpaw didn't see any signs of limp or injury in either of the mice.

She decided that the best way to catch the mice was to just pounce with both paws outstretched and claws unsheathed. Without dwelling any longer, Yinpaw leaped and caught the two nibbling mice without any problem.

She decided that this would be sufficient for the morning and headed back to the camp with the mice's tails in her jaws. The scent of prey was so tempting, but the Clan had to be fed first. Yinpaw reached the fresh-kill pile and dropped off her fresh-kill, noticing other cats who were already awake pad up to her, attracted by the scent of fresh-kill.

"Yinpaw! There you are!" Mousefur trotted up to her apprentice. "I was searching the whole camp for you." 

"I-I woke up early, so I went hunting," the apprentice meowed, flattening her neck fur which was beginning to rise defensively. "I hope that isn't wrong..."

"Oh, no," Mousefur assured her calmly. "I was just wondering where you were, that's all. Would you like to come on a border patrol with me? Otterstep will be leading the patrol, with Sullenleaf and Dullpaw, his apprentice."

Yinpaw was about to ask if Shadowpaw and Bronzeflight could join, but then she thought better of it and kept her mouth shut, only muttering, "All right." and following her mentor.

[edited] 5/6/16