Together Again {Mid}

[Foxpaw]

Shadowstripe stretched out, his dark pelt rippling over a well-muscled body. His fur had dulled slightly with leafbare, ribs showing, and that was the rason he was out attempting to hunt. He somehow doubted it would go well, but it was worth a shot. His ears perked at the sound of something coming-but it wasn't prey. "Hello?" he called, tone a bit wary.

[Midnight]

Mouse dung. Cindergaze thought, realizing she'd failed. Her pawsteps weren't very quiet at all today, and she'd picked a pretty poor tree to climb on. With that in mind, the solid dark gray she-cat easily maneuvered her way down the tree, leaping to the ground when she was about a tail-length away from it.

Looking at Shadowstripe through narrowed amber-golden eyes, the LeafClan warrior nodded and let out a quiet "Hi."

[Foxpaw]

Shadowstripe blinked his own golden eyes, looking pleasantly surprised. "Oh, Cindergaze," he mewed, padding over to her. "Out hunting?" He questioned, clearing his throat a bit awkwardly. It had been a while since their nice walk in the forest.

[Midnight]

Cindergaze blinked, "Moreover patrolling." She said simply. She was a better hunter, when compared to her battle skills, but she was really more in the mood to leap from tree to tree, quietly search the territory for predators or other cats, which she'd quickly report to Icestar, or the dep- oh, wait, that's right, LeafClan didn't have a deputy yet. What happened to Clans picking their deputies quickly? Cindergaze was a stickler for tradition, and the lack of a deputy bothered her. "What about you?" She asked, instead of bringing up LeafClan's problems.

[Foxpaw]

"Ah..." Shadowstripe murmured in return, pausing to lick at an extremely cold paw. His pink pads had turned almost red, and the scant leaves offered little protection from the wind. He fluffed out his smooth pelt, but it, too, offered little to no protection. "I was hunting, but I seem to be doing more harm than good..." He admitted with a weary sigh.

[Midnight]

"How so?" Cindergaze asked with a tip of her head. Her pale-golden amber eyes stared directly at the tom's face. They appeared cold an uncaring, but in this case, that was not accurate. Sure, they were cold and uncaring, but Cindergaze herself felt quite a bit of concern for Shadowstripe, which she could explain in a few simple words: She liked him. Had a crush on him. She wasn't dumb like many other cats about knowing when she liked a tom, and she wasn't about to go denying it either. Blunt, honest, intelligent, quiet, stepped-on Cindergaze.

[Foxpaw]

Shadowstripe flashed the she-cat a rather sheepish smile, yellow eyes meeting her's. To be perfectly honest, she made him just a bit nervous. He liked her, and the last thing he wanted was to seem stupid around her. Usually, it was effortless. He'd readily admit that he was a great fighter and a pretty intelligent tom. He was rather unique looking at that. Somehow, he didn't think that would impress Cindergaze all that much. It took saving the she-cat from falling out of a tree to gain a bit of her attention, after all. "Ah, I'm a pretty horrible hunter..." he grumbled, glancing down. "I've probably scared away half the forest in my attempt to 'help out'," he admitted.

[Midnight]

Cindergaze shrugged coldly. "We're all bad at things. I'm bad at hunting, too, really, but I know I need to do it for LeafClan, because we can't just fight all of the time. Not enough battles going on for that." She padded over to him and gently nuzzled his left flank, "I doubt that." Cindergaze said, flicking her tail tip near him as she began to climb another tree. "Follow." The gray she-cat mewed as she sat on the lowest branch the tree offered before silently climbing the bark more.

[Foxpaw]

Shadowgaze felt a rush of warmth and affection as he gazed in surprise at the she-cat. He felt like a kit again almost, excitement rushing through his veins. That small bit of contact showed something, something very important. "Coming," he mewed, hiding his purr under a cough as he made his way up behind her.

[Midnight]

As she climbed, with Shadowstripe behind her, Cindergaze remembered that he had saved her life once when she was about to fall from a tree.. Well, maybe not her life, but at least a leg or two. The gray she-cat considered for a moment whether or not she owed the tom because of that, then decided that she refused to owe any cat anything. Debts were repaid by hunting and fighting for one's Clan, as far as this warrior was concerned, and she left it at that.

Sitting on a high branch now, Cindergaze perked her ears and stood tall, looking for prey, not attempting to fill the silence.