"...Jayspirit...?" Sleetstorm called out to his littermate as his paws touched down on the island ground.
His brother had asked him to come hunting, but now he was nowhere to be seen... Sleetstorm had tracked his brother's scent the entire way here, but as he put his paws onto the island, the trail ended abruptly. Sleetstorm's ears flicked in frustration as he padded inland further, seeing no indicators of Jayspirit's presence. Hmph... fine...
Suppose Jayspirit didn't want to spend time with him after all. Turning tail, he started heading back toward the coast. As he broke from the trees and onto the more sandy ground, he spotted Frostflower stepping off the tree-bridge. It was then that he saw the log beginning to slip, and he broke out into a run.
As much as he hated Frostflower, he couldn't watch her be swept away by the moving log.
He sunk his teeth into her scruff, hauling her clear just in time as the log splintered a little and cracked as it broke away, instead lodging itself too far away from their side of the land to be functional. It would take a cat actively pushing it back over from the other side to work again...
He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Frostflower, letting go of her scruff.
"...Looks like we're stuck here." He muttered, lashing his tail. "Great." His voice dripped with sarcasm.
Sleetstorm blinked, seeming to take a moment to actually return to the land of the living. He coughed, before leaning away quickly and turning his head away almost bashfully. Eugh, that was embarrassing as anything.
"I'm not looking at you like anything in particular. And you're the one who looks like a fish!" He stood up and wandered away a few paces- before conveniently, a branch broke further downstream and lodged itself in the same position the first log-bridge had been. "Look, we can get back!" Glad to have an excuse to change the topic, the tom grabbed his prey he had caught, and made a beeline for the bridge.
He ran his way across, ignoring the way his heart fluttered and thrummed in his chest. He wasn't in love! Hell no!
If Frostflower took any notice of Sleetstorm’s tail tip resting on her own, she didn’t bring any attention to it, instead she swiped out another fish from the river nearly in unison with Sleetstorm’s own catch. She let her gaze flick towards him for just a split second to catch sight of the fish he’d hauled out.
It was a rather impressive size, slightly larger than her own catch. It wasn’t until she scented a new aroma of anxiety on the tom, that she locked her beautiful blue orbs lock sight with his own blues and the fur along her spine prickled as she felt the skin underneath it begins to scorch.
Her eyes widen ever so slightly, and she blinks once, twice, and then thrice over. Her ears perk straight up and her large and fluffy tail swoops round to her side, and she stares at him as if he’s going to pounce at her as he leans ever closer.
“W-What are you doing?” She finally manages to eek out, taking a few steps back to get some distance between her and Sleetstorm. “Why are you looking at me like that? You look like a fish.”
"Yeah. Fish-brains." Sleetstorm muttered gruffly, but with his position as the taller of the two, he could see the way her eyes shone. His mouth felt dry, and despite himself, his tail twitched and rest on hers. So gently that he really hoped that she wouldn't actually notice. He wasn't sure what made him do it, but it just felt... right.
"Hmph. Yeah. I'd rather choke on fish-bone." As much as he said it, Sleetstorm had spent some sleepless nights pacing outside of the camp, unable to process his emotions, frustrated, trying to figure out just what to do. As Edgefrost and Snowstar's son, he had such a reputation to uphold, he couldn't be standing around mooning over some she-cat. As much as he wanted to.
To try and distract himself, he splashed out a paw, hooking another fish from the water. With a swift claw-swipe he finished off the fish, leaning down to pull it further from the water. But as he looked up, his gaze happened to meet Frostflower's, and he felt himself almost choking on air. Her eyes were beautiful. Their apprentice-to-warrior rivalry was all forgotten in that moment as he found himself leaning forward, just a little.
"I don't understand what they're thinking, they're all fish-brains." Frostflower grumbled as she intently watched the water, the fish underneath the surface swimming about, and she poised herself to strike, keeping her voice low so as not to scare them off. "You and me, together? That's utterly ridiculous, Starclan would freeze over before that happened." She shook her head, though her words painted one picture, her eyes sparkled with a hidden emotion.
Hope? For what? She struck out a paw and flicked a fish up and onto the bank gracefully, she moved like the river as she caught the fish up in her mouth and clamped her teeth down hard onto the fish, and held it there between her teeth and claws until it ceased moving. She set it aside and reassumed her stance above the water. "Can you imagine...us? Acting like mooning fools over one another? Lying awake at night in our nests, thinking about one another? It makes my stomach churn." Her pelt bristled at the very thought, "I would rather jump into this river and drown."
"Hm. Can't say I know either." Sleetstorm's reply was blunt, but not necessarily unkind. He had filled out since his awkward teen years, and had been taking care of himself since he had let himself go after his mother's disappearance. His whiskers twitched in some form of amusement at the thought of Murkypond having his ears raked by Frostflower,
"I'll do the same to Jayspirit. He should know better." Sitting himself down at the edge of the water, Sleetstorm had been peering down into the depths to search for fish when Frostflower seemed to have realised just why they were there, trapped, on an island together. His lip curled, and a growl rumbled deep in his throat.
"Seriously? That's it. It won't just be his ears I'll rake. It'll be his entire pelt." Sleetstorm's tail lashed wildly, his fury obvious. "Something made them do it. Maybe they both do just have thistles for brains." He grunted, "Every cat knows we hate each other. Stupid fur-brains..." Somehow there was less conviction behind his assertion of his hatred than there usually was.
“I just heard my brother giggling from somewhere off in the territory, I have half a mind to believe that him and your brother orchestrated this little rendezvous for us, though I cannot fathom the reason as to why.”
Frostflower grumbled as she trailed after Sleetstorm, trying her best to ignore just how handsome he was. The white on his fur was as white as freshly fallen snow, the gray was that of pretty mountain ash falling and swirling within sparking embers. The ocean blue of his eyes was as vast as they were enchanting. He had grown into a fine and lean warrior, and his skills as honed and as sharp as his claws.
He truly was a sight to look at, she didn’t doubt that he was sturdy and strong, someone you could depend upon in battle. And although he was prickly with his tongue, she could see something soft inside of him. A gentleness towards those he truly cared for, and she so wishes that she could see it in his eyes whenever it met her own. As they stalked along the shore, Frostflower let her mind wander, waxing poetry about Sleetstorm.
“Might as well hunt together, if our brothers are going to flake out on us, my, I have half a mind to rake my claws over Murkypond’s ears when I get home.” She flicked her tail, her fur ruffling on the ridge of her spine in utter annoyance. How ironic, that this once meek she-cat was now brazen and well...
She seemed to emulate Sleetstorm in a way, as though his constant provoking had shaped her into what she is today. She was much like him, though a tad gentler, though she wasn’t all hissing, she could bite too and hard. She no longer took anyone’s guff, and stood tall and proud, holding her own. She was brave, bold, expressive, compassionate, and so much more.
Frostflower listened to the rapids rolling along, and suddenly it dawned on her what had happened to them.
An exasperated groan escaped her maw before she growled out, “Oh, for Starclan’s sake! This is Valentine’s Day! They’ve set us up on a date, those fish-faces. What in the name of Starclan makes them think I would even want to date you? You hate me and I hate you. Do they have bees in their brain? Surely, they should be able to tell that we can’t stand one another.”
There was a strange weakness in his legs, and the pit of his stomach as Sleetstorm took notice of how close they still were. He moved away a little, tail still lashing back and forth irritably. He hadn't pay Frostflower much mind since they were apprentices. With Galepaw going missing, he had been preoccupied, still trying to keep himself busy and stopping himself from fully spiralling into despair.
Sleetstorm was entirely cast out to sea when he realised just how pretty she had become since she had received her warrior name. Had she always been this pretty? Surely not. Sleetstorm feels like he would have noticed before if she had been...
Now that he thought about it, he had always been too focused on pointing out what she was doing wrong to even look at her in a way more than an annoying fellow apprentice.
...Oh, so her brother was behind this too...?
"...Yes." He confirmed, his gaze stern as ever as he stared at the ground. "...My brother was here, but... his trail ended as soon as my paws touched the island." He snorted through his nose like an angry dog, getting to his paws and padding along the shore.
"...I suppose we don't have much choice but to wait for some cat to come and rescue us. We might as well catch something while we're here." ...Always thinking of his clan, "Then we at least have something to show for being stuck here probably all day."
There was nothing Sleetstorm loved more than providing for his clan and clanmates, and he wasn't about to let Frostflower convince him that they would just laze around on the island. They may as well be productive.
It was just Frostflower’s bad luck that she would end up stranded on this island with Sleetstorm of all felines. Their relationship since kithood had been a rough one, both of them always at odds with one another. Though they had their moments of reprieve where they’d act cordial with one another, something always popped up that made their moods sour towards the other. It was like they couldn’t get along, no matter how hard they tried. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another.
Their personalities always appeared to be in an everlasting tango, clashing with one another, and it was nothing short of exhausting. The two felines had hated one another for as long as they’d known each other, only ever melting on occasion to awkwardly attempt to provide solace. Though mostly it was because they couldn’t stand seeing one another look that pathetic, or at least that is what it appeared to be.
It wasn’t until recently that Frostflower began taking notice of it, a creeping sensation, unpleasant and very much unwelcomed. She knew for a fact that despite everything, the turbulence between them, could do nothing to bury back these newfound emotions bubbling to the surface that she had begun developing for the tom.
Forstflower hated Sleetstorm, but what’s more, is that she hates how she was beginning to love him at the same time. Hate and love, two very conflicting emotional opposites, something that most would think impossible to harbor both at once. But it was very much possible, for Frostflower experienced it every single day when she snuck furtive glances Sleetstorm’s way.
Unfortunately for her, she knew that she was just heading for a scenario in which her heart would be a shattered and withered thing in her chest. She knew for a fact that Sleetstorm hated her completely, he vocalized it every time they were in proximity of one another, mostly whenever they weret sent out on the same patrol.
He was always pointing out her flaws, always criticizing her movements, downplaying her achievements. During their apprenticehood, it did little in way of burning the she-cat emotionally, but now, with these newfound romantic feelings surging forth...
She wouldn’t lie to herself and admit that it stung.
It’s not like she would ever let on that it did, however.
Frostflower wishes she could be anywhere but here right now. The only reason she had even come out to this island was the fact that her brother Murkypond had told her to meet him here for some hunting. Now she realizes, with a sinking feeling, that her brother must have set her up to be here when that broke away from the shore. It was all but confirmed in her mind when she heard her brother’s deep bellied laughter from somewhere behind her, as Sleestorm pulled her up and onto the island bank.
With a huff Frostflower got up on her paws and felt her pelt prickle with embarrassment, “Let me guess, your brother said they wanted to go hunting with you today as well?”