𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐰'𝐬 𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐠𝐞 - seasons of revenge - book three

Chapter 48

Cats remained silent, awkward eyes meeting the direction of Duststar and Rainpaw, who'd remained staring at eachother for what felt like moons with contempt.

"Anyway-" Slightstar brushed forward on the Ridge Rock, making his stature taller and narrowing his eyes at the crowd. "- QuailClan is recovering well since the battle a few moons ago. We have two new apprentices, Rabbitpaw and Molepaw."

There was another blatant silence after that, which left the group of Clans awkwardly hovering around, faces twisting around to see who would talk next.

Rainpaw slithered between gathered cats, crouching down low and scrabbling through to make sure her face wouldn't be seen. She was pretty recognisable, especially with her scars. Absentmindedly, she sought a location ahead of her, rushing forward, and stopping swiftly in front of Leopardpaw.

"What do you want?" Leopardpaw asked, his voice wary with surprise, ears pricked up. Examining him, Rainpaw realised his pelt was fluffed up with worry, nothing unusual for her sibling.

"To talk." Rainpaw ushered him bossily, nudging his shoulder with her paw and walking behind some bushes. A small hiss of pain emitted, yet Leopardpaw trailed behind her, following her until Rainpaw was satisfied that they wouldn't be heard.

There was an awkward silence between the two siblings. Rainpaw questioned what in StarClan's name she was doing, before taking a deep breath. The forest was plunged in an abyss of ebony darkness, an owls screech from afar in the woods. Rushes bristled in the wind, leaves tumbling upon another.

"I know you saw me.. back when we were kits, by the river." Rainpaw stated heavily, waiting for a reaction off her brother. Even though she didn't like admitting it, it felt like a huge weight off her shoulders simply addressing him.

"Torrentpaw." Leopardpaw's shoulders hunched as he looked upon her blearily.

"Why didn't you say anything? When we we all in the clearing, and you and Brackenpaw stood up to me. You had your chance to expose me, but you didn't."

For a moment, Leopardpaw stayed silent, his amber eyes wavering upon here before he spoke. "I couldn't. Do you know how much that would break the Clan? Me and Brackenflower would be over!"

Rainpaw scoffed, her head swaying to the side as she thought of the two and their relationship. Oh of course, he does it for Brackenpaw - too head over heels for her to defend his own sister!

By the look on Leopardpaw's face, the apprentice to be knew that he'd picked up onto her disapproval of the two. Sudden, and out of character for him, Leopardpaw bristled furiously.

"Are you dumb?! It's not just for my benefit - but think about it, you and Pondpaw. Ruined. For StarClan's sake Rainpaw, you killed your best friend's brother!"

Time stopped. Frozen to the spot, Rainpaw's eyes widened in sickening shock. She was aware of her past actions, but having it shouted at her face didn't help at all.

"O-okay, Leopardpaw." The tortie stuttered, allowing her fur to lie flat. "I think it's time to calm down down. None of this is mentioned ever again, you got it?"

Worried eyes gazed back at her, dropping before her brother gave a solemn nod. The golden ticked tom sat up, winding around the back of the bushes, back to the gathering place.

As swiftly as a fox, Rainpaw scurried heartbeats after him, walking towards Pondmist's direction, where he was chatting with Softclaw, Heatherwing and Rabbitpaw. Humoured, she trotted beside him, and his ears instantly flicked up in recognition.

"I thought you were supposed to be sat with all the big, strong warriors." Rainpaw teased her tone light, as Pondmist gazed blankly down, a small smile on his face.

"These lot are more bearable than all three Clans together." Pondmist responded, earning chuckles off the other three medicine cats. Rainpaw could agree with that, as she glanced around, she saw Troutsplash, Jaggedstrike and Smokeflight having a playful brawl, a crowd steadily forming around the three toms.

"Agreed." She responded, with a single nod of her head. Letting out a sudden yawn, the apprentice nudged Pondmist, beckoning his attention. The grey tabby twitched an ear in response, clearly listening.

"Should we go somewhere else? This is kind of getting boring now." Nothing had occurred much, cats were chatting between themselves, and Duststar, Slightstar and Honeystar having a discussion about some boring topic.

"Where should we go?" Pondmist asked, his blank eyes turning to face her, looking around the gathering place. Reluctantly, Rainpaw placed her tail on his shoulder, guiding him through some bushes to a grassy glade, which gave a beautiful view of all the territories below. QuailClan's small, weedy wasteland was barely five foxlengths away, a few pale trees here and there. A sweeping river was next to it, massive comfier trees bordering it from QuailClan's side, BirchClan's territory to the right, a forest with a plume of different types of birch trees, with grassy steeps slopes and hills. AmberClan was in the far off distance, a grassy meadow blooming with different types of wildflowers and thickets of bushes.

And then the sky. Rainpaw's eyes widened at the site of it. Dark aquamarine patches blended with perfect shades of pink and orange, fluffy clouded gazing upon the two cats.

"I wish you could see this." Rainpaw murmured lowfully, hoping Pondmist wouldn't hear her, however, his ears pricked up as he gave a grimace, which turned into a smile.

"I don't need to see to know how pretty something is." Pondmist quickly said back, then turned his head quickly, "Like you."

At that, Rainpaw felt herself flush with embarrassment. In that moment, she felt like the luckiest cat in the world, like she was walking on a field of feathers. He didn't just say that! Or did he?

The apprentice pondered, and Pondmist gave an awkward squeak.

"Thank you." Rainpaw smiled back, trying to ease the awkwardness between the pair, and sighed inwardly. As she gazed upon the sunset, not wanting to look at Pondmist right now in her embarrassment, (it wasn't like he could see her, but still) - she felt warmth gather next to her as she looked up, seeing Pondmist pressing his fur into his. His eyes remained blankly forward, but he did give a nervous twitch, as if he knew she was looking at him.

Settling down, Rainpaw let herself relax, head resting gently on Pondmist's shoulder.

This is okay.

A/N: So Leopardpaw and Rainpaw are keeping their secrets together! I also want to say that Rainpaw is ten moons old and Pondmist is thirteen moons old - so nothing bad is going on here, because there will people thinking that >:/

See ya in the next chapter!
~ Ember <3