~~Shy~~

[мi∂nigнt]

A pure white cat with the tip of her tail black walked into the clearing. Her blue eyes searched for her mentor, Speedwell. She frowned. He wasn't anywhere in sight. She looked at the sky. It was dawn. She was always the early bird.

The small she-cat apprentice walked into the Warrior's Den. She hated it in there. All the cats were bigger and more intimidating. She tiptoed around the sleeping cats, looking for Speedwell. She jumped a mile out of her pelt when one cat let out a loud snort. After a few heartbeats, the she-cat was off looking for him again. She found him in his nest. She nudged him with a paw repeatedly. She didn't want to speak unless she had to.

The apprentice looked at her mentor, blue eyes full of distress. She growled to herself and pulled on his ear.

|Bℓїפнтpaω|

[Hana–♥]

Speedwell jolted awake and glanced at his apprentice, "Okay, okay." He chuckled, and stood up easily, "I'm awake." He murmured and stepped outside of the den. His mottled fur gleamed hansomely in the sunshine, it was glossy and soft, yet not suiting for the grown tomcat, "Today we will be practicing battle techiques." The rather young warrior announced, glancing back at his shy apprentice.

[мi∂nigнt]

Blightpaw padded after him. The sun was rising quickly. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark quickly, but the sun now burned her eyes. She squinted them so they could get used to it again. She looked up at her mentor. She was happy about learning battle techiques, but she was still quiet.

Just seeing him glisten in the sun was enough; she couldn't talk if she wanted to. When she touched his fur, it was always so soft... She opened her eyes fully, now. She knew exactly where they were going to go to train. He had taken her there a lot and many apprentices spoke about it. Blightpaw normally just sat a few foxlengths away, listening.

She padded out of the camp, her paws getting wet soon enough. It felt great, but she couldn't help but miss the sandy beaches of the place where she was born. She looked at her paws as she headed for the Silver Pool, her ears flat on her head. They mostly were flat. She never put them straight up unless she was fighting or hunting. Oh, he was going to get a whiff of her other side for sure today.

[Hana–♥]

Speedwell took three steps deeper to Silver Pool and spun around to face Blightpaw, "Now. Attack me." He said simply in his young, yet experienced voice. His forest green eyes narrowed and he lowered his body slightly in preperation.

[мi∂nigнt]

Blightpaw looked at him. She cocked her head as if she didn't understand him. Slowly, her eyes blazed fiercely. She suddenly ran at him with great speed and, with sheathed claws, jumped onto his back.

It was like she was an entirely different cat.

[Hana–♥]

Speedwell smiled. The large tom-cat reared up on his hind legs and twisted the small cat off his back before coming down to pin her. It was that quick for the tom. His paw held Blightpaw down and he smiled, "Good, good." He murmured and stepped off her. Now he took a couple of steps back and waited for her to attack again.

[мi∂nigнt]

Blightpaw's blue eyes narrowed. She took advantage of her small size; she ran at him, faked going right and went right under him. With sheathed claws, she patted his belly and nipped his right hind leg. She then took advantage of the muddy ground; she pushed off of him with her hind legs and the mud allowed her to slide away from Speedwell so he didn't fall ontop of her and crush her.

Her white fur was caked with mud. Her lips curled back in a snarl. It wasn't real, just show off. Her ears stood straight up, now, but she looked brown, not white anymore. Her blue eyes blazed. She looked totally different.

[Hana–♥]

Speedwell twisted, mud getting all over his soft pelt, and regained his balance, "Good." He said taking a deep breath, "But you have to be quicker, fiercer!" His voice was almost a yowl, but it held an encouraging tone. This time he ran at Blightpaw and tackled her into the shallow waters, "Use your eviorment to your advantage!" Speedwell called, his forest green eyes blazed.

[мi∂nigнt]

Blightpaw let out a surprised squeak. She hesitated for a moment - a huge mistake in her part. If she ever did that in a battle, she would get killed, but she couldn't help it, now. Her ears flattened quickly, but they returned upwards. She slashed a paw at his throat and wriggled out from under him, the mud and water helping her squeeze out. She ran at him again.

She jumped on his back again. She put her tail straight up for balance. She clamped her mouth on the back of his neck where the upper spine was. If she bit down really hard, it would hurt alot, but she wouldn't do that to her mentor. She jumped off of him, panting.

"I did use the environment," she began. "How do you think I pushed out from under you before you tackled me? You can't do that without mud, you won't move." Her voice was quiet, almost like the wind howling.

[Hana–♥]

Speedwell nodded with a smile as he stepped out of the pool, "I know." He purred proudly, "But it's good to make sure you've learned the concept. I can't be sure, that mud trick might have been sheer luck." The tom sat down and licked his chest fur. Apparently it was break time.

[мi∂nigнt]

"I learned that from my mom, thank you," she replied. Her voice was stern but she immediately started to clean herself from the mud. Her voice became softer. "Before she died, that is. It's been embedded into my brain since." The brown fur slowly turned white.

[Hana–♥]

Speedwell nodded to her words. His face didn't show sympathy, or any real care, but it lost the cheerful smile, "Yes," He murmured simply, "Many young cats find their selves alone these days. There isn't a winter that goes by that we don't find an orphaned cat, it's to harsh of a world for you young cats." He remembered the day Blightpaw came into camp as a kit. Speedwell had barely received his warrior name a couple moons before, and was still getting used to the warrior life. Then he remembered how he, himself, had grown up alone, "That is why I prefer Clan-life." Speedwell murmured more to himself.

[мi∂nigнt]

Blightpaw's ears flattened again. She heard the story about Speedwell's past. Sometimes the apprentices would whisper it. Her ears came back up. They didn't want to stay still because the right ear flicked. "You're kind of like me. Mom dies at a young age and we don't know our father." She froze as she noticed it. It was ironic, he knew how she felt. She turned her head to look at him. She hadn't really talked for this long. He just facinated her. She cocked her head again, eyes curious.

"My mom died of greencough before we could reach the camp," She hadn't told anyone her story. "I used to live at the beach far away from here. I lived with the Nofurs since I was born. They sold my sisters and brothers, but no one wanted me; I was too shy and small. The next week, the newborn Nofur started to walk but he tripped and landed on my mom's tail. She attacked the newborn, getting us kicked out.

"She then took me far, far away from the beach. And then the greencough happened. I had to travel by foot to the camp." She was kneading the ground with unsheathed glaws. "I never got the chance to learn who my father was. Right before my mom died, she told me he was a black tom with blue eyes." Her tail moved infront of her paws, showing the black tip.

[Hana–♥]

Speedwell nodded at the story, and took it all in, "I see." He murmured. Well, he was glad Blightpaw was speaking now, she was always so quiet, "My story isn't so complex." He murmured and took a breath.

"My Mother, Elizabeth was her name, mated with a WindClan tom. She moved on to live here at RiverClan and had the litter. I was the only kit that lived out of four." He murmured, not remembering any of his brothers or sisters, "When I was five moons, she went out to take a walk by herself, and later a swim. Her foot got caught in an old fishing net, and she drowned." Speedwell licked a paw and brought it over his head like nothing. His forest green eyes were closed peacefully, and hid any sorrow that might have leaked through.

[мi∂nigнt]

Blightpaw nodded. "Oh," she murmured. She started to lick her chest, then her paws, then her face. She shook herself from head to toe and crept closer to Speedwell. She sat next to him, their fur brushing against each other's slightly. "I hated my Nofur's. They always fed my mom late, keeping me from my food."

She glanced at him. She then put her paws on his side, head cocked again. "Do you know why your fur is so soft?" she murmured quietly, curious.