Closed (For Blaze and Me only)

Specklepaw sat by the river, staring into it. She thought about her last meet with Flamepaw and purred happily. "I can't wait to see him again!" She thought excitedly.

At dawn, Flamepaw slipped out of camp, and headed towards Sunningrocks. 'I can't wait to see Specklepaw again!' he thought. When he reached Sunningrocks, he saw her sitting on the big rock. "Specklepaw!" he shouted. He raced up Sunningrocks, and licked her, purring.

Specklepaw purred in amusement as Flamepaw licked her. "Hi," She purred happily.

Flamepaw heard the amusement in her purr when he licked her, and he felt embarrassment flooding over him. Was she making fun of him, or was she glad of his lick? Pushing away his feeling, he said in a soft purr, "Hey." He wanted to add, 'I missed you', but he still felt his earlier embarrassment. How would she react?

"Wanna go exploring?" She smiled.

At her smile, Flamepaw knew she wasn't making fun of him. "Sure!" he purred. "How about over there?" He pointed with his tail to a huge clump of ferns, reeds, and bushes. "It looks pretty cool, and I've never been there on any patrols. Come on!" As he dashed over, he flicked his tail teasingly over Specklepaw's head, purring quietly so she couldn't hear him. He longed to just sit on Sunningrocks next to her, and share tongues, but he knew that exploring would be fun too. Exploring was always fun!

When he reached the huge clump of plant growth, he dropped into a silent crouch, and stalked over to it like he was hunting a mouse. He carefully sniffed it, and stuck his head inside a group of ferns. It was very dark inside, and he caught a whiff of pollen, which made him sneeze. He laughed with amusement at his own clumsiness. He crept farther in the clump, being careful not to step on any twigs if it would alert any special prey that he could share with Specklepaw.

Specklepaw followed close behind Flamepaw. "It's so dark in here," She murmured.

Flamepaw could feel Specklepaw behind him, and he purred inwardly at her closeness. When she said how dark it was, Flamepaw felt a feeling of protectiveness, and he wanted to reassure her in ways other than words. But he didn't know how proud Specklepaw was, and he wondered if she would get angry at him if he suggested protecting her. He sighed. He needed to learn a lot more about Specklepaw if he hoped to have a close relationship with her. 'That will just take time', he reassured himself. Out loud he said, "Yeah, I know. Don't let the Dark Bugs get you!" he teased, using his tail to swipe her on the shoulder (gently, of course). He paused, pretending to sniff the air, though actually he was just waiting for Specklepaw to catch up to him so that he could walk beside her.

Specklepaw giggled at his 'dark bugs' joke. "It's ok Flamepaw, I know how to fight." She wanted to let the tom know that she would be fine, even it meant she wouldn't be. "Where will this place lead is to?" She asked Flamepaw. She began padding beside him now. "So… tell me about your family. I'll tell you about mines afterwards." Specklepaw was eager to get to know the tom, and she wanted to share some things about her past.

"Well, my parents are Blazingheart and Hollyberry. I am an only child in my litter, though I have three other siblings that are a litter older than me. They are Gentlebreeze and Greenleaf. Frozenpaw is also about to become a warrior. He fell behind on his training a little bit, so he's going to be a warrior a bit later." He paused, catching his breath. "How about you?"

"My… family." Tears sprang to Specklepaw's eyes. "My real mother w-was, killed on the Thunderpath. My adoptive mother, Icetail found me and my brother, Cloudpaw, with her. I don't remember much of my real family, maybe I had two brothers, I could've sworn I heard three kits mewling…" Specklepaw's voice trailed off as she heard a sound. Her ears pricked up.

Flamepaw felt alarmed when he saw tears in Specklepaw's eyes. As he listened to her terrible life story, he immediately felt a terrible sympathy for her. He wanted to bury his muzzle in her fur to comfort her, but before he could, he saw her ears prick. "What is it?" he whispered, pressing himself to the ground in case it was something bad.

"Did you, hear that?" Specklepaw crouched beside him in fear.

OOC: What should attack them? We need some action I'm this!

OOC: We can't have badger, because they aren't experienced enough to fight one... how about a baby fox? They can fight that!
IC: Flamepaw tensed as he smelled fox. "Fox," he whispered, pressing himself close to Specklepaw. He wanted to yowl in fear, but he knew that would alert the fox. He considered backing away slowly, but the fox would still be in the territory. "We have to fight it," Flamepaw admitted. He didn't like putting himself in danger like this, and he especially didn't want to force Specklepaw to fight. But they had to. "I'm sorry, Specklepaw. It's not my fault. Please forgive me," he pleaded. He didn't want Specklepaw to think he wanted her to die, putting her in battle like this. He would never want her to die or get injured, but he wondered if Specklepaw knew that. "Do you still love and trust me?" he asked softly. He was afraid of the answer.

Specklepaw pressed herself closer to the tom."I trust you and love you with all my heart Flamepaw." She sighed. She got up with her claws unsheathed and lunged herself at the fox. She hopped onto it's back and sunk her fangs deep into its neck. It let out a shriek of pain and flung her off. Specklepaw hit the ground with a thud and yowled in pain. "There's more where that came from!" She growled as she slowly got up.