Warriors: Starlight

Chapter 17

"Are you just going to stare into space?" Bruno meowed, But Fireheart's head was spinning.
"Hey, how do know about St-" he was cut off by the sound of Sandstorm yowling
"It's coming from this way! Hurry!" She called to her patrol, and their pawsteps through the coarse undergrowth became louder as they approached.
"Aww foxdung. Oh well, what can you do. See you later Orangepelt. Come on Mac, let's get out of here." And with that they hopped through the bramble bushes and like that they were gone, back into ShadowClan territory. "I told you to just kill.." And their voices faded away into the distance. Fireheart released a breath he didn't know he was holding onto, falling to a crouch, panting in relief.
"Fireheart!" Sandstorm burst through the leafy wall of the shrubs, circling him.
"Are you alright? We were patrolling and heard the commotion. Which way did they go?" She asked, while Runningwind and Frostfur circled around sniffing. Darkstripe's eats were pricked, listening for anything out of the ordinary.
"They went this way" Runningwind interjected.
"Fireheart, what happened?" Sandstorm meowed. Fireheart shook his head from his daze and walked them through what had just happened.
"How strange" Darkstripe commented. "Could they be new ShadowClan?" He asked.
"Yeah and hedgehogs fly" Runningwind went off.
"ShadowClan are in a bit of a state, but even they wouldn't act in such a heinous manner. Surely." Fireheart cut in.
"Hmm, I wouldn't be so sure about that. But either way, they don't smell like ShadowClan anyhow. Must be an intruder, but you won't catch me volunteering to risk my pelt going to ShadowClan camp to warn them." Darkstripe cut back in, sniffing around.
The rest us them murmured their grim agreement briefly before they rushed for the camp.
They had pushed through the camp entrance and Sandstorm headed to Bluestar's den to report, while Fireheart visually sorted through his clanmates to find a gray pelt. Hmm. There. He just pushed his way out of the nursery.
"There you are!" He pelted over and brushed against Fireheart.
"Graystripe." He purred. He made every effort to suppress his shock and stop shivering. The last thing he needed was to let his stress spread to the nursery. The camp did not need hysteria. Instead, he chose to breathe in his mate's scent and take a moment to forget his own mortality.
"So what happened out there? The patrol's fur seems pretty ruffled."
He, for the second time, explained the events that played out this morning.
"Mouselegs Fireheart! What's with you and getting into trouble?" Graystripe meowed, fussing over him, licking his ears furiously.
"Quit it furball" Fireheart shied away from his affectionate mate.
"I'm sorry, I'm just concerned. How is it that you manage to get into a tricky situation whenever I'm not around?"
Fireheart shrugged sheepishly.
"It's a talent I guess" he mewed. Just then, he jumped at Sandstorm tapping his shoulder with her tail.
"Bluestar wants to see you" She mewed.
"Hmm. I had a feeling she would."
But as he tried to turn away,
"Oh and Fireheart!" He turned back to Graystripe once more.
"What is it?" He asked.
"you do have kits hey? I just thought you needed a reminder." He meowed from across the camp. Wordlessly, Fireheart turned from him and stalked along to Bluestar's stone den, a spark of hot embarrassment tagging along under his pelt. He felt like he was carrying everyone's gaze with him as he hurried along. It made him want to crawl into himself and disappear. He knew where his mate was coming from, had been growing distant from his kits. He thought he was simply giving them space to grow like he said he would, but common sense said that there was a middle ground that he wasn't hitting, but he was shocked to be reprimanded by Graystripe in the middle of camp with everyone listening. At the same time though... Arg! I'm so bad at this! He scolded himself. Then he paused at the the entrance to the den. But he just couldn't get over how nonchalantly his mate just publicly humiliated him like that. Resentment suddenly struck his mind. How is this fair? I'm the one who tends to them everyday. I clean them, I feed them, I put them to bed. All Graystripe does is play with them! How dare his mate complain when all the work has been thrown to Fireheart? He grumbled to himself as he pushed through the vine-curtain into his leader's den. He'd deal with this issue later, both bettering himself and giving a furball a piece of his mind.