Discontinued because after rereading Sunrise, I realize making Leafpool choose a mate over being a medicine cat is completely out of character, because one of the significant things about her is that she follows her heart, so I'm not likely to continue this. :/
It was a cool day in leaf-fall, a cold breeze sending the leaves skittering through the forest floor. The tree branches, stripped of their fall grandeur, rattled in the wind like bones.
Leafpool fluffed out her fur and shivered. It was too cold to be gathering herbs, but her Clan needed it to be able to recover from the devastating badger attack. Still, she hated being alone out in the forest.
She hated being alone, period. Alone was when no cat was there to take her mind off of the shame of running away with another cat, alone meant the overwhelming guilt of not being there for her mentor Cinderpelt when she died.
Leafpool finally focused on where she was going and found that she had strayed by the WindClan border on accident. Guilty for wanting to see Crowfeather again, yet at the same time scared if she would, she simply stared at the stream. It tumbled by, glittering in the sunlight and free of responsibility.
She sat down and curled her tail neatly over her white paws. The herbs could wait. ThunderClan could wait. She gave up a chance to see what love was like so she could fulfill her duty, it wouldn't hurt them to let her take a moment to miss what she could've had.
A wave of embarrassment suddenly made her ears burn. It wasn't like her to think like this. She wanted to serve her Clan. It was where she belonged, not abandoning her Clan for a WindClan cat like some moon struck rabbit.
"Leafpool?"
Leafpool's head snapped up.
A dark gray cat, lithe and silent, appeared out of the brush across the stream. He gazed at her, his eyes burning with some sort of powerful emotion Leafpool couldn't name.
"Crowfeather!" She hissed. "What are you…we can't! We decided not to," She said, her voice. Her voice, rising hysterically, broke at the end.
"I know." He flicked his ears and stared down at his paws. Then his head flicked up. "Leafpool…It's not too late," He pleaded.
Before she could stop him, Crowfeather waded across the stream. He stepped onto the ThunderClan border, shining drops of dew glistening on his pelt. "Tell me the truth, Leafpool. Do you still love me?"
His eyes burned into hers, a blazing challenge.
Leafpool felt her heart start to thrum faster in spite of herself. Yes, yes, I do! But look where that led us. She dug her claws into the ground and stared at him helplessly, not knowing what to say. It's not fair. Why can my sister have Brambleclaw, yet I can never love a cat?
Crowfeather read the answer in her eyes, and his own glowed with triumph. "I knew it!" He stepped forward, shattering the thin wall between them, and pressed his muzzle against Leafpool's.
She closed her eyes, wondering if she should have said no.
"I'll meet you in three days, at night," Crowfeather told her. "Please- come!" With that, he darted away from her and back across the stream, disappearing into the tall grass.
What have I done? Regardless, Leafpool turned back to the forest, tail tucked low in guilt and heart thrumming in shameless anticipation.
Sorry for the chapter being so short, I wrote it on the spot and it's really late, the other chapters will be longer.
