Showing the Territory (@shadowsinrain)

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@shadowsinrain

Dawnwhisker padded out of the camp. She thought of the first place she would show to her apprentice, Sagepaw. Dawnwhisker smelled prey but ignored it. She'd teach hunting to Sagepaw later. "This way!" Dawnwhisker mewed. Dawnwhisker walked south.

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Sagepaw happily trotted behind her mentor, her eyes skipping around the scenery of the forest. A beautiful, yellow and black butterfly circled around her face and she pawed at it, circling and prancing after it. The small creature fluttered its pretty wings and landed gracefully on Sagepaw's nose. "Look, Dawnwhisker!" she gasped. "This thing is on my nose!" Sagepaw giggled.

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Dawnwhisker paused and turned around. A butterfly had landed in her nose. Dawnwhisker grinned a tiny bit. "It's a butterfly, silly!" Dawnwhisker purred.

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Sagepaw tilted her head a bit and giggled. "Oh," she pranced around, her bright green eyes staring at the butterfly so that she was cross-eyed. Her paw got caught on a limb and she tumbled to the ground, sprawling with her legs underneath her. The yellow and black butterfly gracefully flew from her nose and out of sight. "No! D-Don't go!" Sagepaw reached out to her short-term friend. She ducked her head in sorrow and her ears lay against her head. "It's gone, Dawnwhisker," Sagepaw mewed to her mentor. "Why did it leave me?"

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Dawnwhisker looked at her apprentice thinking, "Is she such an idiot?" Dawnwhisker was cross about being interrupted so she took this opportunity to get back at her apprentice. "Simple, Sagepaw, it didn`t like you. You weren`t a still enough branch," Dawnwhisker joked with a glimmer of amusement in her eyes.

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Sagepaw looked up at Dawnwhisker with huge, green eyes. "It didn't...like me?" she sat up and tried her hardest not to appear hurt. She had never made a friend before. "B-but we were friends, and...and friends don't leave eachother. Never ever." Sagepaw looked into her mentor's eyes. "You understand, don't you, Dawnwhisker? You've had a friend before, right?"

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Dawnwhisker grinned. And laughed. "This is hysterical! Sagepaw truly is clueless!" Dawnwhisker thought. "Silly! The butterfly didn`t hate you, it was afraid of being smooshed into pieces. Your jerky movement scared it away, Sagepaw!" Dawnwhisker explained. She thought it was funny that Sagepaw was sad because she thought a butterfly didn`t like her.

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Sagepaw's green eyes lightened a bit. "Ohh, so I need to be smoother, more still, more stealth," her eyes narrowed as she crouched into a hunter's position, tabby tail waggling side to side. "quick, and sly," Sagepaw jolted a paw forward and pawed at Dawnwhisker's front legs with a playful purr.

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When Sagepaw got into a hunter`s crouch, Dawnwhisker knew she was in for something. Dawnwhisker tried to leap back but she failed. Dawnwhisker glared at Sagepaw. "I promised I would show you the territory! I didn`t say anything about tackling me!" She hissed after Sagepaw swept her off her feet.

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Sagepaw coyed back and her amused expression disappeared. "Yes, Dawnwhisker," she mewed respectfully. "I'm sorry that I got distracted." She stared down at her paws, nervously swirling the pebbly dirt around and around in circles. She wasn't sure what made Dawnwhisker so cold. She always seemed to have ants in her pelt. Sagepaw did know, though, that she was bound to befriend the mentor and earn her trust and respect.

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"If you're done talking and getting distracted, I will continue on." Dawnwhisker icily mewed. "This way!" The icy she cat started running. She quickly gained distance from Sagepaw. Dawnwhisker ran quite gracefully. Every muscle was working together to create perfect balance at such speeds. Dawnwhisker paused for a second to let Sagepaw catch up. Then she bolted off when she saw Sagepaw within a feet away from her. This time, not so gracefully. Dawnwhisker didn't run up her energy by using all her muscles, instead, she used the energy to speed up which was a bad idea. She tripped on a branch and fell. "Ow..." Dawnwhisker moaned.

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Dawnwhisker bolted out of Sagepaw's view, and the small apprentice struggled to keep up. She ran as fast as her tiny paws would carry her, muscles burning and tingling. Before she knew it, Sagepaw came upon a furry mass on the leaf-strewn ground a few tail lengths from where she breathlessly stood. The body groaned and rolled to where Sagepaw could make out an all too familiar face—Dawnwhisker. Oh my... "Dawnwhisker?" she called, her hoarse voice shaking as she padded slowly toward her mentor. "Are you alright?"

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Dawnwhisker looked up. Every hair on her pelt standing up. She glared at Sagepaw. "I'd be better if you would help me up instead of standing there!" Dawnwhisker snapped.

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Sagepaw's heart sank at being snapped at and she lowered her head in shame. I'm so foolish. I'll never become a tue warrior and meet Dawnwhisker's expectations...if she has any for me. "Oh, I'm sorry," Sagepaw pulled Dawnwhisker's weight up as she tried to stand, and let the larger cat lean against her.

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Dawnwhisker balanced herself and wondered where she was. Dawnwhisker scanned her surroundings. She realized that she was on the border. "This is the border," Dawnwhisker mewed quietly.
Looking across the border, she mewed, "We border LeafClan. Across there, is LeafClan..."