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Shadowfoot sighed, it had been raining for almost a whole day now, and she could see so many puddles to go splash in from the den. Despite all of the cubs' mewlings that they really promised not to get too wet if they were allowed out, their father would not move from the cave entrance. "This stinks..." the dark cub complained to her younger sister, "I get done with lessons really and can't even go play outside!" She seemed to be conveniently ignoring the fact that if it hadn't been raining, her lessons would have taken much longer, since there would have been more to do, but that seemed irrelevant at this moment in the face of the injustice the cubs were facing.

"Dad! Why can't we just got jump in a couple puddles? I promise we'll be back right away after that...." How long did it take to jump in a few puddles? Conveniently the rest of the day, but Shadow hoped her father wouldn't realize that. Much to the cub's dismay, Storm didn't even seem to be listening anymore, just looking out at the rain himself. Twisting her snout into a disgruntled frown, Shadow looked sideways towards Little Cloud, checking to see if the lighter colored cub was looking in her direction.

Seeing that Little Cloud was in fact looking in her direction, Shadow averted her eyes, hoping that her little sister hadn't seen where her eyes were pointing. Unfortunately for Shadow, that was the perfect opportunity for the younger cub to successfully pounce her. "Argh!" Being pinned to the ground, the dark cub couldn't help but laugh, since she had been hoping to do the exact same thing to Cloud if she had had the opportunity. Pouncing was one of the few things still fun to do when the whole family was stuck inside the spacious cave that the clan called home. Feeling little teeth through the fur of her ear, Shadow flipped over, trying to push her little sister off with her stronger hind legs, "Hey! That's my ear you're chewing on squirt!" Once she was in a more comfortable position again, the cub's eyes darted once again to the lighter cub, "Yeah, I guess, but it's more fun to play with them when they are all together in puddles...." When her eyes actually connected with her sister's, however, she could see that the little one was thinking of something. Tilting her head closer, her sharp ears picked up on the whisper, and then got batted once again! "Hey! No fair!"

Realizing that she needed to reassert her authority as older sister, Shadow pushed off of the cave floor and struck her front paws into her sister's chest, trying to push her over into a pin. In the process she nodded conspiratorially to the light cub, but then continued the game, "You really ought to give more respect to an older sister!" Shadow's face split in a smirk, and then a laugh. It was really quite ridiculous to speak of "older sister" since she was literally only moments older than Little Cloud. All the same, a few moments made all the difference!

Getting a response out of her sister had been Shadow's goal all along, and the little growl was a signal of her success. A smirk split the dark cub's face, but it didn't stay long as she was soon pushed over quite handily, and it didn't end there since the pair were soon rolling to the back of the cave. "Oof! Nice going dork." Sticking her tongue in her sister's face, which was far too close to the dark one for her comfort. As little teeth headed towards her face, Shadow's attempts at grossing her sister away from her increased as she attempted to groom her sister's cheek, "You need a bath little one!"

Oh the insolence! It was a true statement, and Shadow knew it, since her sister got many more chances to practice her hunting and fighting skills than Shadow did. As soon as she was clan leader, Shadow would declare mandatory fun days.... No studies, only enough hunting and scouting for the safety of the clan, and lots of wrestling and exploring. As Shadow lay under her sister tried to think of a good come back, suddenly the weight was lifted from her chest. Twisting her head around so that she could follow her sister's position, she watched pad out of the den. Flipping back up to her feet, Shadow looked back to check on her parents, saw that they were both otherwise occupied, and padded to the cave entrance.

She looked backwards to make sure that no eyes had spotted her leaving just as she rounded the corner and suddenly ran into a soft butt. "Oof! Hey!" Shadow whispered, "Keep moving silly!" Moving past her sister, Shadow searched for the biggest puddle in her nearby area, and quickly ran straight into it, nose diving into the mud.

Shadowfoot was thoroughly soaked and completely black long before her sister was able to splash her. She wouldn't have even noticed except for the flick of pressure across her coat. Crawling to the edge of the large puddle, which was only becoming larger, Shadow ran a few lengths away from the puddle, turned and ran back. Just as she neared the dark water, turned muddy from their splashing about, she flattened out and skidded across the muddy bottom to ram into her sister. Mud was now thoroughly worked into her undercoat, and there was no way of telling her black markings from her dark grey markings.

Getting up from her belly flop, Shadow shook a bit and peered up at the darkened sky, squinting her eyes to keep raindrops from hitting them. As fun as puddles were, this one was starting to soak into the ground, since they had churned it up so much, so it was definitely time to move on. Lunging towards her sister, Shadow tapped her with her paw, "Tag!" Laughing a bit, the dark cub ran off into the haze of rain, hitting as many puddles as she could in her path.

Shadow knew that her little sister was faster than her. Cloud had the benefit of time to train in things like running, whereas Shadow was too often stuck padding along behind their mother. Still, with the element of surprise on her side, the dark cub was able to keep away from her sister for a little while at least. Too quickly, though, she felt a tug on her tail, and then all of a sudden, her feet were no longer underneath of her! Instead, a little grey body was. Trying her best to quickly flip off of her, Shadow was slower getting to her feet and so her sister was already long gone by the time the cub's eyes were searching around for what direction to go. Sighing a bit in frustration at not realizing to check which direction Little Cloud had headed, Shadow started padding off in a direction she thought was still away from the family den. That was the last place she wanted to stumble into.

After padding for a few minutes and not hearing anything giving away her sister's location, Shadowfoot started growing a bit worried that both of them were lost. The dark clouds blocked out the sun completely, and the rain was coming down so hard that it was difficult to see more than a few lengths in any direction. Quirking her mouth slightly, Shadow spun in a slow circle, trying to see anything that would indicate where she was....

Seeing a flurry of movement to her right, Shadowfoot spun and grinned at her sister, her worry evaporating. As long as they were together, nothing too bad could happen right? Bounding towards her sister, the dark cub tried to leap and tackle her, but the grass was basically standing water from all the rain, and Shadow slipped as soon as she tried to lift her front feet, and she barreled towards Little Cloud rather unceremoniously. Getting more mud and muck in her fur, Shadow tried to use her front paws to wipe away the mud that had clung to her face. If it got into her eyes it would hurt, and she didn't want that.... Unfortunately her paws were even muddier than her face, and it was only getting worse. With no desire to open her eyes, Shadow sat down and looked up at the sky, hoping the rain would wash away the mud if she sat there long enough.

She was keeping her ears peeled for any hint of her sister's position, but the rain muffled all the sounds so it was difficult. The dark cub hoped that her sister would wait for her to continue the fun, but even if the lighter cub didn't, Shadow wasn't moving until her face was free of mud. While she already knew that she would need a thorough bath when they finally returned to the cave, at this moment she would take care of her face as best she could.

Hearing her sister's laughter, Shadow growled a bit, though it was never that impressive when a cub attempted to growl. "Well, I know that! But I couldn't help it! The mud was too slippery...." She sighed and angled her face towards her sister for easier cleaning. Though accepting assistance from the little one was not something Shadowfoot would normally subject herself to, she knew that it would be the best way to free her from her current situation. Laughing a bit herself at what the two sisters had to look forward to upon arrival back to the cave, Shadow agreed, "Yeah, I don't think the mud is going to be our biggest problem though... Something about endangering our lives and frightening our parents seems like it will be the bigger issue...." Sighing a bit, the black cub could easily recall other instances when she had escaped from the watchful eyes of her mother. Thankfully, both of their parents understood the need the cubs had to get out and explore, so they usually weren't too bad. But Shadow knew that their baths would be uncomfortable and prolonged to reinforce that running around outside during a thunderstorm was not to be encouraged.

As most of the mud was washed from her eyes, Shadow blinked and looked at her sister, "Skipping lessons? There is no way I can escape mom when I'm the only one she is watching...." While this little charade hadn't been too difficult to pull off, running off while her mother was speaking to her about her future responsibilities was not even remotely possible. And even if she did somehow manage to run away for a few minutes, her mother had much longer legs than Shadowfoot and she would be easily caught and plopped back down for another lesson. Shaking her head to send some of the mud flinging, Shadow realized that her eyes were beginning to droop a bit. All of a sudden, curling up with her siblings in warm den was starting to sound nice.... Not being able to hold back a yawn, Shadow looked over at her sister, "I hate to say it, but I'm starting to get tired...."

Shadow smiled through the caked on mud, glad her sister was all right with heading back. She hadn't been sure that she could find her own way home, and she was getting so tired, that if Little Cloud hadn't wanted to head back, she would have just collapsed on the driest spot she could find. At the idea of all the mud drying in her fur, the dark cub grimaced, definitely not enjoying the thought. Thankfully, the rain would wash some of the mud out, and the rest would be tackled by one of her parents. She hoped that she got her father, since Storm was a bit kinder in his bath giving than Senka. They would both be angry that the cubs had run off, but at least her father forgave them quicker.

Nodding to Cloud that she would follow, the cub's black paws fell into step behind her sister's, Shadow being a bit amused that she was, once again, following her sister's lead. She knew that if Cloud had been first born, Shadow would be the one with more practical knowledge, but with her lessons, Shadow would have a lot of catching up to do if she would ever lead her sister around. That is, until her mother surrendered the clan leadership to her and she had to decide how often hunting parties went out and how many scouts to have at the borders and who got to eat first. Then Cloud would be taking orders from Shadow! Increasing her speed a bit at that thought, Shadow was fairly cheerful by the time the two got back to the cave.

((finish up here soon?))