Foxxtrot chapter nine

The tribe seemed to be filled with much excitement. One of the greatest missions of this season was undergo. A black pelt  blended in with the shadows she lay hidden in. Her tail curled around her, trying to hide her completely, but she failed, exposed by her white tip. She snarled, her dark sapphire eyes shimmered with great irritation. She rose to her paws and walked towards the bushes, she hated crowded places. Each paw step seemed heavier and heavier with the more paces she took. She had a lingering feeling, a dreaded feeling. She stopped, the twitched her ears back, studying the character trotting towards her. His white pelt glistened like the mostly melted, mushy, snow. He gave his usual devious smirk and trotted faster. “Hello Black-shadow.” Black-Shadow gave a regretful sigh. “Hello White-fang.” White fang wagged his tail playfully, obviously excited. “So, you heard about the-” She snarled “yes I have, and I could really care less white fang.” White fang gave his usually, “shape up” face, one ear pricked, the other lowered and the same with his eyebrows. He lifted one side of his lips slightly so his fangs showed partially, Black-shadow hated his faces.  She began to bristle, “Ok I’ve some things to deal with, excuse me.” She pushed past him forcefully, intentionally knocking him off his paws, he gave that playful look again. She winced, and stormed off obviously irritated.
  Her paws pressed deeply into the earth, seeping into it slowly, leaving paw marks. She liked the coolness before the rain, it gave a sense of comfort and reminded her how things could be truly beautiful. She lifted her ears and listened silently to the wind, trying to decode each murmur that passed over the field and into the forest. The loneliness and the comfort of the wind calmed her stirring mind. She could finally think.  She breathed in deeply, taking in the air of distant water, rain was soon to fall upon the earth and pour life once more. She smiled. “A beautiful day today.” She stared up into the deep gray sky, the clouds tying themselves together and knotting with one another. The sun had hid for a while as nature took its course. Black-shadow rose to her paws and stretched longingly.  She lifted her paws and continued to stride forward, she had to get the perfect view of this.  She now began to gallop, one paw flying over the other quickly, she skidded to a stop, sitting on a highly placed cliff, she could see all of the forest, all of the tribe areas, she could see just this small portion of the world. The clouds began to roll and rumble, rain began plopping silently against the rough and coarse rock she stood elegantly upon.  She loved it here, it was a place hard to reach, and most defiantly, worth reaching.
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White-fang gripped tightly to a limp, wet, squirrel. His paws became heavy now due to the water that drenched and clung to his fur. His ears lay folded back, keeping water safety from them.  The scent of worms filled his nostrils and overwhelmed his mind, the scent was stronger than normal, the forest needed this water. White-fang trotted quickly, wanting to get dry, he was also hoping to see Black-shadow, to apologize for whatever it was that he had done this time. He sighed, he had to find a mate soon, and he thought Black-shadow was the perfect pick. But what he didn’t know was that he really was more of a flirt, not quite the liking of Black-shadow.  He thought things like that were perfectly normal. He placed his squirrel down and trotted around camp, stepping into each den just to see if she was there or not. No luck. He sighed.  He had to give up, he already knew she didn’t like to be looked for, she preferred to be alone.
He twitched his ears forward and noticed that the rain began to beat harder on the earth. He began to grow a bit worried, but he shook his head, it must be nothing. He smiled, he began to grow tired, the lullaby of the rain rocked his mind to sleep. He stepped into a nice, warm, and empty den, and  he lied down softly, wrapping his tail tightly around himself. He shut his eyes tightly, hoping sleep would engulf him, but nothing came. His mind was buzzing about, he couldn’t even think straight.  He began to dig his claws into his dry den, raking the earth away little by little. Time began to fly by and still she wasn’t there. He rose to his paws and bolted out of his den, something must have happened.  He tried to sniff for her but no trace. He paced about irritably, struggling to get a straight thought. He stopped, then lifted his head to the sky, leafs fluttered about and drifted about the area. He trampled though the wet, muddy, camp area, leaped across a small creak and bounded past a empty patch of forest, naked and scared from burns.  He skidded to a stop, muddy  gravel fluttering into the air and pelting down quickly. He gazed up a steep mountain side, and on the west side of the mountain jutted large rocks, large cliffs. He sighed. Then his heart began to beat like crazy. He scrambled quickly up the steep, cutting his paw pads now and again with the sharp rocks that cut deeply.
The wind grew stronger, so did the rain. He panted heavily, he’d reach one of the cliffs, and on the edge lie black-shadow, drenched in water, he didn’t know what she was doing, or if she was even ok. He stepped silently towards her, the sound of the rain and wind crashed against the cliff painfully. White-fang squinted his eyes. “Black-shadow?” She leaped to her paws and turned swiftly, obviously startled. She calmed down and relaxed her paws, a look of irritation engulfed her eyes. “What now White-fang.” She snarled, mumbling about him. White-fang stepped forward lightly, a warm, relived feeling, swelled in his eyes, “I-I just wanted to check on you.” Black-shadow stepped back a paw step, she curled her lips back, “I’m fine thanks I don-”
White-fangs eyes grew wide. He fumbled then stomped against the ground. Was he out of his mind?! He didn’t care, he paws slipped constantly on the wet rock. He leapt gallantly over the cliff, twisting his body about quickly, causing it to spin. He dove down quickly, grabbed black-shadow by the scruff, then turned about quickly, aiming just right to fling her back to the tip of the cliff. Black-shadow didn’t understand what had happened, but all she knew was that she was back on land again. She turned to thank White-fang but…. “WHITE-FANG” she peered over the steep cliff, his white body had disappeared into the black forest, taking all hope of surviving from him. She stepped back, for some reason grief overwhelmed her.  She hesitated, she couldn’t’ do anything. She snapped, she turned quickly and pelted swiftly down the steep side. She began to let howls explode from her chest. All that mattered was that she needed to find help, and white-fang at that.  Then she skidded to a halt. Why did she care? She stared to the sky, the rain crashed down harder, pelting her skin, making it sting.  There was no scent of blood, he must have been ok. She trotted softly, her legs aching from such vigorous running. All she wanted to do now was go home.

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White-fang awoke, his vision grew extremely blurry and the rain clung to his fur, making his paws ache with each drop. He attempted to stand, but to no avail.  His body refused to listen to him, and all he could do was whimper. “I hope black-shadows alright.” He winced in pain, he moved his paws too much.  He felt miserable now, incapable of doing anything on his own. The rain poured from the sky, drenching him to the bone and soaking the soft patch of moss around him. Sleep called to him, but he refused. He had to keep going on, but his body wouldn’t move, not at all. He whimpered then let out a strong howl, he hoped that he would be found soon, he didn’t like feeling so helpless. The clouds drifted away and grew darker as time went on, he grew extremely worried now. His legs didn’t’ feel so heavy now, maybe he could walk a little ways. All he had to do was find a patrol. He struggled to his paws, obviously weak, and he dragged himself one paw step at a time. He stop after a good 40 or so paces to catch his breath, and it was being taken from him so easily due to a wounded paw. The blood that was on him so long ago lay caked like a newly formed scab, on his fur, which was plastered with mud and gravel. He howled, he was sure he could be heard, then he sat and waited. He hoped at least black-shadow would come to help him.
A patrol dashed quickly towards the distress howl. Black-shadow was leading the way, along with fang-grip and Claw-swipe, the two strongest members of the tribe. Black-shadow pelted, splattering water and mud with every paw step. She skidded to a quick halt then turned to the left quickly, leaving behind skid marks with her claws. Bounding and plummeting over rocks and creeks, she finally reached the distress sound. Claw-swipe, his raspberry fur smothered in wet gravel and his sand belly caked in mud, trotted forward and grabbed white-fang gently. Claw-swipe spread his four tails wildly to be sure he wouldn’t fall. With every paw step his long claws scrapped the ground. Fang-grip followed afterwards, he was the back up for any trouble that were to come their way. He kept his ears erect, his beautiful blue eyes flitted from left to right, keeping close to white-fang. His long canines extended past his jaws, which made him the perfect guard for a quick attack. His black pelt clung to him tightly and his silver paws sloshed water and mud about. He dragged his seven tails on the ground lazily, to help for a better jump if needed.
Black-shadow just trotted alongside claw-swipe, her eyes kept looking back at white fang, she felt stupid, she should have gone for help sooner. She felt bad, he had saved her life but what if she couldn’t save his? They trotted back into camp, the rain had finally let up and a pale beam of moonlight broke thought the clouds.