A hunting we shall go ||\\-Closed-//||

[Kisa-luff<3]

In the early hours of the morning as light filtered down from the cloudy sky Raindust shivered against the wind. They had just gone through a leaf bare, what was this? Tsuki pressed herself against Raindust's fur trying to share her warmth. Raindust gave the small fox a look of grattitude. With a glance at the freshkill pile Raindust cringed. There was barely a morsel left. A scrawny shrew and a pathetic dove. As much as she hated the idea, there was hunting to be done.Eagle Crag seemed to be the best place for prey, no matter how weak.

Raindust skimmed her pale eyes over her clanmates each looking as skinny as the last. This unuasual change of weather was affecting them all. Even the companions seemed to know something was wrong, they ahd been restless. Tsuki herself, had been giving whispered warnings of some unseen danger to Raindust. She searched her clanmates individually trying to discern who was the fittest and most likely to be up for a hunt. Though none seemed likely, she continued her search.

[Shadow]

Darkshadow padded to a sunny spot in the clearing, his thoughts distracting him. He hoped, so much that it surprised him, that Dapple would be accepted into HorizonClan. The little kit showed promise, and mentoring excited him. Maybe Havenstar would give him his first apprentice. Silently, he sat down and curled his tail around his paws, watching the activity around him. Sapphire settled on his shoulder, fluffing her feathers and sitting low in his thick fur.

Suddenly, Darkshadow felt eyes on him. He looked up, startled. Raindust was looking at him. Feeling slightly akward, he nodded a greeting. Sapphire chirped happily at her and Tsuki. "What do you think she wants?" he murmured softly into his companion's ear.

"I don't know," she giggled. "Maybe if you stop talking to me and pay attention to her, she'll tell you!"

[Kisa-luff<3]

Raindust chuckled as she caught Darkshadow's eye. "I hope I've found someone." she mewed padding over to him. She sat down with a sigh, wrapping her tails around her paws "You looks as bored as I am." she meowed. "Fancy a hunting patrol up to Eagle's Craig?" Tsuki watched Sapphire with narrowed eyes, she hoped the bird wouldn't expect a conversation.

Raindust glanced at the small fox, with a subtle flick her tail met Tsuki's shoulder, trying to tell her to stop glaring. Tsuki's gaze flickered up to her counter partwith a slight snort she dropped her eyes and instead stared at her paws.

[Shadow]

Darkshadow glanced quickly at Tsuki, then back to Raindust. He didn't like the little fox's attitude. What had Sapphire done to him? He shifted as Sapphire ruffled his feathers near him, realizing that he had been talked to. "Uh, sure," he mewed. "Yes, I've noticed the fresh kill pile's low abundance as well." His muscles itched to do something, hunting would be fun.

Sapphire giggled at Darkshadow's language. She found it amusing how he was this way with almost any cat at first. Excitement filled her. Eagle's Craig! That was the best place to fly.

[Kisa-luff<3]

Raindust's eyes flickered over to Sapphire who seemed to be excited about the prospect of going to Eagle's Crag. She gave the bird a nod before nosing Tsuki to her feet so they could leave. The fox scratched open a sore spilling fresh blood down her white foreleg. Raindust sighed and stooped down to help Tsuki lick it clean, it took a few seconds for the bleeding to subside before Raindust stood back up. "Sorry about that. I'm not sure what's happening to her." she meowed unable to hide the worry that tainted her usually relaxed features. If this keeps up, I'll have to take her to Nightstorm. she thought eyeing Tsuki anxiously. "Anyway!" she mewed happily changing the subject "Shall we continue? "she asked.

[Shadow]

Darkshadow eyed them in concern. With all this happening, it made him even more determined to keep Sapphire as safe as possible. She, seeming to sense the concern radiating off him, pressed herself gently closer to his head.

Shaking the thoughts out of his mind, he smiled. "I suppose we shall. Ladies first," he rumbled, standing up and gesturing with his tail. He bowed his head slightly.

Sapphire giggled. "Such a gentleman," she chirped. "I'm going to fly above. I promise I won't go far." With that she flew off his shoulder, resting on a tree branch high above.

Darkshadow lifted his bright eyes, keeping them on her. He promised himself, once again, that he wouldn't let her get hurt.

[Kisa-luff<3]

Raindust laughed lightly "Thank you!" she said pulling herself into an over dramatic bow-like pose before scrambling up onto the crag. She turned herself around to lend a hand to Tsuki who seemed to be lacking the strength to make it up herself. Raindust bent her muzzle close to Tsuki's ear and whispered "Try not to move around to much, I want you to conserve your energy." Tsuki nodded and shuffled off to a mossy spot near the bushes.

Raindust rested her eyes on the fox for a moment before turning back to Darkshadow. "I can smell mouse coming from the left there." she said tilting her head in that direction.

[Shadow]

Darkshadow made his way after her, glancing up every time he heard the flutter of Sapphire's wings as she flew from branch to branch. She settled in on a branch above Tsuki, but refrained from greeting him or starting up a conversation.

Darkshadow blinked up at her before turning his attention back to Raindust. "I'll let you get this one," he rumbled. "I think a rabbit might be near..." Yes, Sapphire would like that. If the animal made him chase it, she could stretch her wings for a fly. He was pleased that she seemed to sense that he wouldn't exactly appreciate it if she were to go flying without him right now.

[Z]

Mountainfang lifted his head from staring at his white paws just to see two cats leaving for a hunting patrols with their companions. He glanced up at his small scorpion, and twitched his ears to make sure she was paying attention. "Are you alright if I go and fallow them?" he asked her quietly.

Sasori barely moved, just clicked one of her claws in a barely audible response. He sighed. She hadn't been acting the same lately... she had just been sitting silently on his head for what felt like moons, hardly speaking to him, though she was normally friendly and crawling about.

Mountainfang sighed again, then stood. He needed to do something, and the clan was in need of some form of prey. He arched his back in a stiff stretch, then trotted after them quickly, trying to catch up.

When he had caught up to them, he slowed his pace and took very careful steps. He padded gently across the cold ground, and stopped a few fox lengths away from where they were hunting, not to scare away their prey. "Hey..." he mewed quietly. "Can I join you...?"

Sasori had finally gotten up from his head and crawled down the side of his leg to the ground. She crawled silently across the ground and stopped nearby the tree where the other two companions had gone to and squatted back down into a resting position.

[Kisa-luff<3]

Raindust nodded and turned to go after the mouse. Before she could do so, she heard Mountainfang call out from behind them. Instead of stopping to greet him she flicked her tail to let him know she had heard and turned back to the scrawny mouse that was nibbling at an equally scrawny seed. She slipped to the mouse's blindside and lined her self so that her shadow wouldn't alert the creature. She slipped stealthily up behind it and swung out a paw quickly, hooking the rodent with outstretched claws. A swift bite to the neck killed it quickly and humanely. Pleased with herself she trotted back over to Darkshadow and Mountainfang and dropped the mouse below them. Raindust glanced over to Tsuki who seemed to be enjoying her rest, before facing Mountainfang. "I'm sorry, I would've come to meet you sooner, but we need to catch all the prey we can get if we want to survive this unusual turn of the weather. I don't have a problem with you coming along if Darkshadow doesn't." she mewed happily nodding toward Darkshadow.

Tsuki blinked open an eye as the scorpion sidled up to them. "Hi." she said curtly as polite as she could muster. Assuming that the scorpion wouldn't be able to respond she turned back to her sleeping position without giving her name.

[Shadow]

Darkshadow shook his head. "Nope, welcome," he agreed, shifting on his paws. "I'm going to go... get a rabbit," he mewed akwardly, getting up. He squinted, his bright gaze flitting up to the branch where Sapphire rested. "Ready?" he called to her.

"Yup!" came her response, seeming far away. She fluttered down until she was at the lowest branch, then folded her wings quickly, preparing for flight.

Darkshadow padded forward and inhaled, the scent of rabbit stronger now in his nostrils. There was only one, that he could tell- and it had no idea the other cats were there. Tensing his large muscles, he crouched down, eyes fixed on the rustling grass ahead of them. He could have- should have- without a problem, caught the rabbit without it having time to react. But no, that would be no fun. Sapphire, not to mention him, too, needed a bit of joy in these dark days. With a huff, he purposely stepped on a twig, making it snap loudly.

Almost immediately the rabbit sprang up and bounded away, but Darkshadow was after it. He let himself relax and stretch out, leisurely running at first. Sapphire burst from the tree and flew high above him, her small shadow making no mark on his dark fur. He pushed himself faster, grinning. The rabbit was a little ahead of him now, which made him have to push harder, harder, harder. He was running flat out now, Sapphire flying as fast as she possibly could. He closed his eyes as the wind pushed at his fur, then opened them and leaped through the air, landing neatly on the rabbit.

Though it took them a few more heartbeats than should have been, Darkshadow and Sapphire returned to the group. "Sorry it took so long," he apologized guiltily. "I wanted to let Sapphire fly."

[Z]

Mountainfang sat silently as the other two took off after their prey, not wanting to step on anything and scare it away. "I understand," he muttered. "We're low on prey, that's why I was being quiet, too..." He glanced back on his paws, but he pricked his ears to listen for any rustles along the ground.

Sasori rotated her body to look at the small fox. She could have responded if she felt like it, but she really didn't, and it didn't look like the fox knew that, so she stayed silent and just clicked a claw in another quiet response. It was strange... she felt different, but really didn't fee like doing anything to fix that. She just didn't want to do anything, not even speak or move that much.

Mountainfang caught the small sound of rustling, but it was just Sasori moving. He focused harder, trying to pick anything up. Finally, after an awkard silence, his ears perked backwards, and he lifted his head to look. He could hear a small crunching noise, so he stood silently and stalked off, not really mentioning what he heard to the others. He put his body close to the ground and his paws barely touched it as he glanced around a patch of bramble. There was a small squirrel, very small squirrel, sitting crunching on a rare nut that it must have found. It froze as Mountainfang poked his nose around, so he ducked back quickly, before the squirrel decided it was nothing, and continued it's rare meal.

Mountainfang lowered his body more, wriggled his haunches, and bursted forwards towards the rodent. Just as he was about to get to it, it dropped the nut and pelted up the nearest, scrawny tree and hopped from branch to branch to get away. Mountainfang growled in anger as he screached to a stop at the base of the tree, but he wasn't going to give up. He leapt up the tree, clawing his way up to the lowest branch. Suddenly, he heard a crack, and the small piece of bark he had just sunken his claws into chipped off, and he slipped and fell straight to the ground with a thud. "Foxdung!" he shouted. He was flat on his back, with his paws in the air. He burried his face in his paws and growled. "Stupid squirrel..." he muttered quietly.

[Shadow]

Darkshadow politely averted his eyes during the entire situation, focusing with mock interest on an interestingly colored red leaf at his paws. After a couple of heartbeats of silence, he looked up. There was Mountainfang, head in his paws. He felt a sudden and unexpected pang of sympathy. Embarrassment was the worse feeling. "I am sorry... for your misfortune," he mewed awkwardly, in a low rumble. He quickly jerked his head up and scanned the treetops, not relaxing until he spotted Sapphire's bright blue feathers among the leaves.

With a grunt, he got to his paws again and looked around, nostrils flared. He smelled voles- many voles. Taking advantage of the opportunity, he bounded forward, but then stopped. He turned around to face Mountainfang again, a small smile pulling up his lips. "And I agree.. Stupid squirrel." With a laugh of a meow, he bounded forward again, shifting his focus to his prey.

Sapphire flitted out of her tree, eager to fly again. Though not as fun as a high speed chase, any hunting was fine with her as long as she got to stretch her wings. With a gasp of realization, she turned in midair to look back down at the other companions. "Bye, be back soon!" she chirped cheerfully, then flipped to the other direction and shot off after Darkshadow.

Darkshadow was in a tense stalk, tail still as he held it, suspended, above the crunchy leaves. His eyes focused on a vole in front of him as he crept forward, and with a sudden lunge he secured his paws around its neck, silencing it mid-squeal. Three more voles appeared out of nowhere, running off in different directions. Abandoning his kill, Darkshadow clumsily sped off after the first, grabbing it. He made a halfhearted attempt at the second, but it was two late. The remaining voles were gone, safe once again underground.

With a sigh, he picked up his first catch again, cramming it into his mouth with the second. The warm scent lingered in his nostrils, making his mouth water. He flicked his tail up to Sapphire, letting her know that he had caught them. She flew ahead as he picked his way through the forest, stopping to deposit the voles on top of his rabbit.

[Z]

Mountainfang glanced up from his paws just in time to see Darkshadow scatter multiple voles, and catching two of them. He grunted quietly, and finally rolled onto his paws. He really hoped Sasori wasn't watching him...

As if on cue, Sasori turned her small head to look at Mountainfang, as he was rolling to his paws. There were dried leaves stuck to the fur on his back, but she made no movement to tell him about them. She just lowered her gaze again and shuffled down deeper into the leaves.

Mountainfang sighed, and glanced around to see if there were any voles that hadn't found a hole to hide in, but couldn't spot any. He had to make that up... that was humiliating. He shuffled a few more fox lengths away from the others, and froze when he heard a scuffling along the ground. He needed to catch this one. He opened his mouth a crack to breathe in the scent, and caught the smell of a mouse. He took a deep breath, and crouched forward and started to stalk it silently. He was two fox lengths away, and he could see the mouse sniffing around the ground, faced the other way. He crouched down even further, tensed his muscles, and leapt forward in a very sudden movement. The mouse tried to scramble away, but Mountainfang was too fast, and he caught it by it's neck, and killed it swiftly.

He let out a huff of a bit of relief and a bit of triumph, and finally brought it back to where the other prey was deposited, and dropped it next to it. It was a small mouse, but it was still something for the clan... and after his failure, it was better than nothing. He sat down awkwardly again, glancing at his mouse, then to Darkshadow's pile. "The clan will eat well..." he mewed quietly.

[Kisa-luff<3]

Raindust glanced from her measly mouse to the pile that had begun to accumulate due to Darkshadow and Mountainfang. Eager to not be outdone she sifted through the scents around her, narrowing in on a pigeon. She could tell it was up a little ways and to the left. Without a word she got to her feet and slunk over to the bird. Tsuki watched with mild amusement as Raindust swaggered over to the pigeon.

Knowing she would have to be quick and precise, Raindust flung her self at the bird quickly, her claws slicing through the air nimbly. She hit tail feathers slowing the pigeon down. She swung another paw over and hooked the pigeon through outstretched claws. Trying not to look too pleased with herself Raindust pranced back to the toms and dropped the Pigeon on the pile.

[Shadow]

Darkshadow nodded as well. "The Clan will eat well," he repeated, purring softly. "If we don't stop soon, we won't be able to carry all the prey back!" He sat there in silence for a few moments, enjoying his little joke. Then, blinking suddenly, he realized that Sapphire was not sitting on his shoulder.

With a gasp, he craned his neck up, searching for his companion among the branches. His pounding heart slowly stopped its fast pace, and he let out his breath as he spotted her, descending towards him. She landed neatly on his shoulder, chirping happily at him. "What are you so worried for?" she asked.

He sighed. "All this... sickness, companions missing.. it's making me on edge all the time," he said, loud enough so everyone in the clearing could hear. He looked down at his paws, anger and fear clouding his gaze.

[Z]

Mountainfang glanced up at Darkshadow in slight sympathy. "I know what you mean..." he rumbled softly. He looked to where Sasori laid, barely visible above the leaves. "Sasori hasn't been acting herself lately..." He looked down to stare at his paws again, hiding his eyes, which were nearly closed. They were clouded up in sadness... He wanted the old Sasori back. "We are entering a hard time..." he muttered quietly. "And we'd better be ready when something bad happens..."

He bit his lip then glanced awkwardly upwards at the others, not really realising what he had just said. "Umm... should we head back...?" he asked softly. "We have plenty of fresh-kill for a little while, anyways." He glanced down at this paws again, which were kneeding the ground. His mind was still on Sasori. Something strange was happening to her... but he couldn't figure out what it was.

Sasori sensed that Mountainfang was getting ready to go, so she stood silently and half crawled, half shuffled across the ground to him, and crawled up his leg to settle between his shoulder blades. Her sharp legs were tucked underheath her, and she let out a short sigh. It was cold... and she felt awful. She just wanted to go home and sleep...

Mountainfang glanced back to watch his companion climb onto his shoulder and out of his view, and he sighed again.

[Kisa-luff<3]

"We do need to head back it's starting to get colder. I don't want to be left out here when the night shill sets in." Raindust mewed fluffing her fur out a bit to warm up. Tsuki flicked an ear to let Raindust know she had heard before getting to her paws. She shook lightly to dislodge the leaves from her coat before shuffling over to Raindust left front paw twitching slightly. "Is your paw okay?" Raindust bent down to whisper noticing the subtle movement. "It's fine." Tsuki rasped shifting her body to hide it. Raindust nodded even though she wasn't convinced. Before standing back up she picked up a couple pieces of fresh kill and meowed in a muffled voice for the others to do the same. She now wanted to get Tsuki and herself to the camp.

As she made her way back to camp, Raindust made sure to keep a close eye on Tsuki who's health seemed to be falling faster than before. She pressed herself closer to the fox trying to share her own warmth. "Looks like I'll have to consult Nightstorm now." she thought thinking only of her companion's health.

[Z]

Mountainfang nodded quietly, making sure not to disturb Sasori, who had seemingly fallen asleep on his head again. He sighed, and grabbed a couple of pieces of prey in his mouth, and fallowed Raindust silently, though he couldn't keep his mind off of Sasori.

He attempted to glance up at Sasori, seeing the tips of her claws again. They were unmoving, but he could still feel her slight warmth on top of his head. He flicked his ear to wake her, and she shifted slightly on his head to tell him that she was awake. He sighed, and flicked his tail, since he couldn't talk with the fresh-kill in his mouth. All Sasori did in response was click her claws and huddle back down again. He sighed, and picked up his pace to get back to camp quickly.

((Honestly, I think this is good enough for a last post... Thread ended?))

[Kisa-luff<3]

ooc:// Throwing Raindust and Tsuki into the camp.

Raindust hadn't forgotten about Tsuki, but had been trying not to worry the small fox by continuously watching her. The worry finally got her, sneaking in a glance a scarlett spot caught her eye. "Tsuki, what's that? Have you been chewing at your legs again?" she asked dropping the prey. The white fox looked down "I don't know." she whispered hoarsly "That wasn't there before we left." Tsuki turned back to look at the spot she had been resting. Her eyes followed it up to the spot they were currently standing at. Amongst the leaves and grass were small crimson drops mingled with bits of white fur. "What's wrong with me?" Tsuki asked eyes widened in fear. "I- I don't know." Raindust said after a slight hesitation. She felt horrible having to tell her compaion that she didn't know what was happening, that she couldn't do anything to help. "We'll go see the Medicine Cat as soon as we get back all right?" Raindust meowed anxiously. Tsuki said nothing more and only nodded in response. Picking her prey back up, Raindust continued on to the camp keep a close eye on Tsuki, even if it did worry the fox.

ooc:// Edit. Making this my final post of the thread.

Upon their arrival into the unusually quiet camp, Raindust suggested that Tsuki go lay down in the den until they went to see Ngihtstorm. The fox obliged and shuffled off tail stirring up the dust around her. The calico set her prey on the pile and followed after Tsuki. "I'll let her get some rest in before we go to the Medicine Cat." she thought curling up next to her companion.