[Amberbriar x Cracklestreak] Leaf-Bare fun.

[Chisato Mikami]

“Cracklestreak, this way,” Amberbriar called to Cracklestreak. Her tail sway gently as the wind picked up. She looked behind her, smiling as she watched Cracklstreak follow her. She wanted to show him her favorite view in the territory. It had been a couple days since Cracklestreak had bumped into her. She liked having him around. He wasn’t like the other males that she had to chase off because of one reason or another. She got to the hill and smiled a little. “This is my favorite view. Look, you can see the camp over there and there’s the river right there.” She smiled at Cracklestreak, completely forgetting that the main reason why they were out was to get fresh kills for the camp, but only for a moment.  

[Falcona]

"Coming! Wait!" Cracklestreak stumbled over his front paws as he caught up to Amberbriar. Watching her was like watching the leaves in the breeze. Her fur swayed and it was magnificent. Shaking his head of those thoughts, he continued to pad beside her - she was fast when she wanted to be. She was leading him somewhere, and no matter how many times he pestered her, she never did say where. 'Well, she is going to said place...I hope' he thougt and smiled as he caught up. He did stumble up the hill though, despite his best efforts.

"Where are-" he word caught in his throat and he stared. The view was..."Wow... how did you find this place, it's amazing! Never been round the camp much but wow.." Turning to her, he could not help but stare at her smiling at him, one he returned.  

[Chisato Mikami]

“I went out hunting one day and came upon it,” Amberbriar said. “Lightning clan territory has a similar spot, but this view is much better.” She looked out over the view. “I made the right decision when I came here.”

Something scurried over the snow in front of them. Amberbriar looked in the direction, but she didn’t see what it was. “Did you see that?” She stood up, craning her neck. “Looked like a rabbit, but I couldn’t tell. Shall we follow it?”  

[Falcona]

"It is a wonderful spot..." Crackleatreak observed his surroundings once he shook the leaves from his fur. The weather of leaf bare is beginning to set in. Blinking at the sound, he turned to where Amberbriar was looking at with interest. Though he could not smell anything, he most definitely heard it.

"It's around here..." He whispered. "Let's do it!" Nodding, he crouched and followed the source of the sound.  

[Chisato Mikami]

Amberbriar nodded and got low to the ground. She crept to the area she saw the rabbit and sniffed around. Sure enough, it was a rabbit that ran in front of them. She glanced at Cracklstreak as she stalked beside him. A rabbit for the clan was a good sign.

“I don’t see it,” she whispered. “Maybe there’s a rabbit hole somewhere nearby?”  

[Falcona]

Blinking, Cracklestreak squinted as he too sniffed around, ears perked and alert to any sound. The sound of soft footsteps next to him did not deter him from this elusive rabbit.

"Hm..." Glancing around, he observed any changes in the ground. "It is hard to tell, it is around here.... it could have wandered further away..." he gestured further towards the trees. "Lets try over there.... i know they do tend to hide in the trees." He nodded at Amberbriar and slowly wandered towards said spot, cautious of the noise they were making.  

[Chisato Mikami]

Amberbriar nodded as she got low to the ground. She made quiet step as she began to circle around. She motioned her tail to have Cracklestreak go the opposite way. Whatever it was, it was going to have a hard time getting away from two cats. She opened her mouth to smell the air. It was a rabbit she saw. She glanced at Cracklestreak for a moment. She admired how his muscles tensed, waitong to pounce on the unexpecting life that would give them energy. She had gone quite fond of the tom. She wondered if Forestclan had purposely put the two of them together for a reason. She waited patiently for Cracklestreak to lead the attack on the rabbit they were both hunting.  

[Falcona]

Cracklestreak was concentrating hard that he barely noticed Amberbriar staring at him fondly. He himself was guilty of staring at her from time to time, finding himself smiling at the female cat from time to time.

But first, rabbit. It was hard with Leafbare setting in but with signs of movement evident in the ground, it made is slightly easier. Tilting his head to listen for any sound, he inches his way forward towards the place he think is the right area. Crouched, his eyes narrowed....

A movement caught his eye and he pounced. Only for the rabbit to shoot out of its hiding place and straight into Amberbriar.

Bushes seem to be very fond of him too, Cracklestreak found out rather annoyingly, as he face-planted himself into a small bush where the rabbit was actually hiding.  

[Chisato Mikami]

Amberbriar watched at Cracklestreak jumped right into the bush. She tried not to laugh as the rabbit ran right towards her. She pounced on it, but the rabbit veered just out of her grasp. She frowned as she tore after the rabbit, kicking up.snow in Cracklestreak's face.  

[Falcona]

Spluttering, Cracklestreak emerged from the bush only to get snow in his face. Blinking as the snow slid down his muzzle, he took off after Amberbriar as she chased the rabbit, veering away to enable them to flank and hopefully gain some ground on the rabbit.

This rabbit was quite adamant on escaping and veered off again, but somehow took a wrong turn. Cracklestreak's eyes had lit up when the rabbit began to inch towards him but when it veered, he slid a little along the snow before leaping at an angle to continue the chase.  

[Chisato Mikami]

Amberbriar watched the rabbit veer in all directions. She followed, but the rabbit was quick to dodge all her attempts to catch it. It wasn’t until she was running straight into Cracklestreak that she finally slowed down. It was already too late, and the slippery snow made her slide right into the male. She tumbled and rolled until she at the bottom of the hill. She laid still, letting her head settle from the tumbling before slowly lifting it above the snow.  

[Falcona]

The angle he thought was okay to veer off to continue to chase was unfortunately not the way he should be going and when Amberbriar crashed into him, he followed her down the hill as the rabbit sped off in a completely different direction and further away from them.

Freaking out, Cracklestreak dazedly got up and began to search for Amberbriar. "Amberbriar! Oh my god... Are you okay?!" Frantic, he attempted to get off her but ended up on his back, snow tumbling to cover him. His brain was still comprehending the fall, after all.  

[Chisato Mikami]

Amberbriar slowly lifted her head. She blinked a few times, looking around her. Her head stung a little, but it wasn’t bad. She saw Cracklestreak tumble into the snow. A giggle escaped her slightly parted jaws. A few minutes later, she was laughing.

“Cracklestreak, are you okay?” she asked as she slowly got to her paws and walked over to him. She licked his head and ear, purring as she did so. “Are you hurt?”  

[Falcona]

Cracklestreak blinked owlishly up into the snow, brain still spinning away. He heard distant laughing, and snickered himself. The "I'm okay" came out muffled with snow going into his muzzle and he sat up quickly to prevent himself from choking. His brain did not like that one bit but it was bearable enough that he could at least sit on his haunches and let his head stop spinning.

"I'm okay! Gah- nope I'm okay!" Cracklestreak might have bumped hie head on something when they both took a tumble as he seems to sound a little drunk. "Are you okay? Oh damn that rabbit... Ya hear that rabbit! How dare you hurt my mate like that!" Shouting to the air did not help (neither did shaking his paw at the hill), especially when he was not supposed to blurt something that important out like that...  

[Chisato Mikami]

Amberbriar blinked for a minute. He called her his mate. His. Mate. She felt whirlwind of emotions at the word mate. First, she was surprised. She never in her life thought she would hear a tom say that word about her in this lifetime. Not after what happened to her friend, Duskpaw. She was sure they would end up together, but her stupid idea got him killed before he could be a warrior. Now, here she was with Cracklestreak. She felt like her heart was going to swell out of her chest with happiness. Second, disbelief. She wasn’t sure if he truly meant it. They had been spending so much time together, she could remember a time without him. Even her life in Lightningclan seemed like such a long time ago. Third, happiness. She never in her life wanted this more in her life. She found that happiness she had been looking for so long. Her world had been turned upside down ever since Cracklstreak bumped into her.

She walked up to him, a smile on her face as she rubbed her head against his body. She was purring so loud she was sure all the cats in Riverclan territory and Lightningclan territory combine could hear her. “Say it again. Call me your mate again.”