Caterpillar Den (Clover)

[♫Wither♫]

Rabbitpaw stopped in front of a large clump of green grass; the grass was so tall it two or three rabbit-lengths above his head. His fur brushed up against the soft grass as he pushed his way to the center of the tall grass clump. Once Rabbitpaw had gotten through to the middle his pelt was covered with the caterpillars that had been hiding in the grass, he shook them off causing them to fly in every direction. In the very middle of the grass clump was a tiny clearing that could fit about five full-grown warriors and have some room leftover, the grass only came up slightly past his paws, a few flowers were sprouting out of the ground, the extremely tall grass that surrounded them folded inwards to make some sort of a roof that let in a few streams of light so that there was shade but it wasn't totally dark. But the most noticable trait in this "den" was that is was filled with fuzzy caterpillars, everywhere you turned caterpillars would be there. Rabbitpaw turned to Morningpaw. Ta da! Welcome to Caterpillar Den.

[♣[Clover]♣]

At first, the yellow apprentice was startled when things started falling on her from the grass and she hopped around for a moment before realizing that they were caterpillars. Morningpaw let out an embarrassed chuckle and trotted after Rabbitpaw, settling down next to him and looking around with a smile. "How did you find this place? I've never seen so many caterpillars at once before!" she exclaimed.

[♫Wither♫]

Well, about a two and a half moons ago I had gotten pretty angry about how the warriors wouldn't let me go out of camp; I was used to being able to roam wherever me and mom went when I was a loner, so I was pretty mad about that. So I snuck out of camp. I wasn't really looking where I was going and the next thing I knew I was in here. Rabbitpaw explained. He flicked off a caterpillar that had begun to crawl up his tail, he watched as it flew up into the air and landed miraculously on one of the blades of grass above there heads. Nobody knows about this place and I don't want anybody but us to know. So you have to promise not to tell anyone about Caterpillar Den. Only you and I can come here. Rabbitpaw's voice was firm when he made this demand, but his voice relaxed after a minute. Do you like it here?

[♣[Clover]♣]

Morningpaw's dark brown eyes were fixed on a caterpillar that was slowly making it's way across the shorter grass. But she was listening to Rabbitpaw as he spoke, even if it didn't look like it. "I see," she murmurred, looking up in time to see Rabbitpaw flick the caterpillar onto one of the blades of grass. She laughed at the flying caterpillar and smiled as she nodded to his next statement. "Just us, got it. I think I can keep this place a secret," she promised, holding her injured leg off the ground slightly before planting her paw in the grass again.

[♫Wither♫]

Thanks, it's good that I can trust you. Rabbitpaw smiled thankfully. He layed down in the grass and yawned; big mistake. A fat caterpillar found it's way into his mouth and started crawling down his throat. GACK! Rabbitpaw desperately heaved the fuzzy thing out, well, half of it anyway. He turned green when he realized he had accidentally eaten half of it. Aww, sick! Rabbitpaw desperatley swallowed some of the snow patches that were on the ground to clear out the bitter taste.

[♣[Clover]♣]

Morningpaw laughed, but quickly tried to stop herself. If she'd accidentally eaten half a caterpillar, she sure wouldn't want to be laughed at. "Are you okay?" she asked, clearing her throat to stop another bought of laughter. She seemed to get rid of her giggles enough to put on a serious expression as she looked from Rabbitpaw to the half a caterpillar.

[♫Wither♫]

Rabbitpaw swished the icewater around in his mouth. I'm fine, thanks for asking. He assured her after swallowing. It still tasted funny and it felt like the caterpillar was still trying to crawl down his throat, but it wasn't as bad as before. It's a good thing this a spot birds like to come to. Speaking of which... Rabbitpaw looked up through the grass roof to see three sparrows flying in the sky. He could tell they were going to land here for something to eat. He closed his eyes, a plan formulating in his brain; Rabbitpaw snapped his attention to Morningpaw. We don't have much time before they land, so I want you to listen carefully. We're both going to hide in the grass, but at opposite ends. When the birds land, we'll give them a few moments to relax and let down there gaurd, then we'll attack. You take the bird closest to you and I'll kill the bird closest to me. The third sparrow is going to be trickier. Rabbitpaw paused to take a breath. No doubt it will try and fly off after we kill the other two, so we'll have to be quick. As soon as I kill the bird closest to me the third bird will try and fly off, since I can jump pretty high, I'll jump up right above it before it can reach the grass roof; the bird will probably try and fly back down, that's where you come in, as soon as it flies back down, attack it. Be as quick as you can when we do this. Remember, timing is everything. Got it? Rabbitpaw didn't give Morningpaw time to answer him as he went to hide in his end of the grass.

[♣[Clover]♣]

Morningpaw looked at Rabbitpaw as he explained his strategy and nodded. It was a good thing, more creative than what Morningpaw could come up with. The medicine cat wouldn't be happy to find her hunting, but she didn't care, she wanted to catch some prey! "Got it," she mewed as she turned around and hid herself in the taller grass.

[♫Wither♫]

Rabbitpaw became as stiff as a rock when the three sparrows finally landed. He focused intently on the one closest to himself, it calmly swallowed a caterpillar. Rabbitpaw waited a moment after it went back down to get another caterpillar and sped out of the thick grass. The sparrow barely had anytime to screech when Rabbitpaw snapped it's brittle neck. He reared up his haunches and prepared to jump over the third bird.

[♣[Clover]♣]

Morningpaw sprung out a second after she saw Rabbitpaw move. She came down a bit clumsily on the bird, but managed to kill it before it fluttered out from under her paws.

((Short, sorry))

[♫Wither♫]

The third sparrow was starting to fly up to the grass roof. Rabbitpaw sprung up as high as he could to cut off the frightened bird. Just as Rabbitpaw had predicted, it tried to fly back down so it could escape another way. Now Morningpaw!

[[Mine's short to =P]]

[♣[Clover]♣]

Morningpaw jerked into motion at Rabbitpaw's order and she pounced at the sparrow, killing it quicker than the first one. She looked up at the tabby apprentice and grinned. "We got them!" she panted. She looked proudly down at the three dead sparrows. Copperstar would be so proud!

[♫Wither♫]

We certainly did! Rabbitpaw's paws lightly thudded against the frosty grass as he landed. I'll take this sparrow and you can take that one. He pushed the bird over to Morningpaw. What do you think we should do with the third sparrow? Do you want to share it or take it back to the freshkill pile after we leave Caterpillar Den? Rabbitpaw tilted his head in question.

[♣[Clover]♣]

Morningpaw looked down at the third sparrow thoughtfully. "Now that you mention it, I am kinda hungry. Why could share it," her voice held the somewhat shy tone that said she hoped she'd picked the right answer. She looked at the sparrow for a moment longer before glancing up at Rabbitpaw to see what he thought about all this sparrow-talk.

[♫Wither♫]

Okay, we can do that. Rabbitpaw meowed in agreement. He bent down and took a bite of his sparrow, thankful to get that horrible taste out of his mouth. After swallowing the rest of his sparrow, Rabbitpaw began speaking to Morningpaw. We should do something interesting; but it shouldn't cause anymore damage to your shoulder. Rabbitpaw gazed at the sky, pondering what that interesting was going to be. A sly smile worked it's way on his face. I know just what we can do.