Up Until Now: A Warrior Cat FanFic

Chapter Nine*

Sunpaw's POV

I was attempting to await the returning cats from the Gathering, as I was planning on asking either Owlheart or Thistlepaw what had gone on during the Gathering.

However, shortly after the cats left for the Gathering, Moonpaw came up to me, and mewed, "Hey, Mosscloud and Nettleclaw both want us to come with them on the Dawn Patrol. We should get a little sleep before then." When I didn't move at first, he continued, "Hey, I get that you want to find out what happened at the Gathering, but I'm sure that someone will tell you tomorrow. But we have a duty to our Clan right now."

I looked into Moonpaw's amber eyes, and I knew he was right. I nodded my head to him, and mewed, "Alright, Moonpaw. Let's get going to sleep."

His ears perked up, and we went into the den. My nest was near Moonpaw's nest, so when he curled up to go to sleep, I curled up near him. Sleep didn't come right away, and I found myself moving around in my nest quite a bit before sleep finally washed over me. And it felt as though I had just fallen asleep when I was being prodded awake.

"C'mon, Sunpaw," Moonpaw mewed. "Mosscloud and Nettleclaw are waiting for us."

I opened an eye to stare at him. Seeing that he looked completely serious, I opened the other eye, and got up. I quickly stretched, yawned, and then shook myself, as though I was shaking the tiredness off me.

"Alright, I'm ready," I mewed. Moonpaw purred with laughter. I watched him for a second, trying to determine what he was laughing at, and then shook my head.

We padded out of the apprentice's den, where Moonpaw's mentor, Mosscloud, was sitting with Nettleclaw. Mosscloud had an annoyed look on her face, and I knew she could be a little bad-tempered. I just hoped I hadn't made her too angry by not waking up for Moonpaw right away.

"Now that our apprentices are awake, perhaps we should get going. The borders need to be patrolled."

I gave Nettleclaw a bewildered look, and she looked at the grey-brown warrior. "You can't honestly blame her for sleeping in," Nettleclaw mewed softly to Mosscloud. "After all, this is her first Dawn Patrol."

"That's another thing entirely," Mosscloud pointed out. "She's been an apprentice for a moon, or at least close to it. She should've been on Dawn Patrol already. I think you're going soft on her. You're just afraid that she's too delicate or something."

"I am not. It is up to Lionfur to decide who's going on Dawn Patrol. It is not my fault that he has not chosen Sunpaw to be on a patrol."

"Hmmph," Mosscloud mewed, turning her nose up.

I let out a sigh. Mosscloud could be prickly at points, but she was one of the oldest warriors, and very well respected among the Clans. It was considered disrespectful to argue with her, especially if you were an apprentice, like me. I was just happy I had Nettleclaw as a mentor, and not Mosscloud.

We headed out, going near the Thunderpath. It was always near ShadowClan territory that I hated going. That part of the forest always stunk of ShadowClan and pine, and the constant roar of the Thunderpath made concentrating on my warrior training harder. It wasn't a good place to hunt, because most prey stayed away from the acrid scent of the Thunderpath. It was too easy for a cat to chase prey across the black surface and get run over by a monster, anyways.

Moonpaw must've seen the fear in my eyes, because he murmured, "Don't worry, Sunpaw. I won't let any of those filthy ShadowClan cats get you!"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'll be alright, thanks, Moonpaw."

His shoulders sagged a little, and his ears flattened a second, before they shot back up. They twitched for a second, and he seemed to be sniffing.