Bloodfall sat next to his friend, Brokenclaw. He listened to Shade, his leader, and mother. She was just giving normal Clan information to the other Clans, for they were at a Gathering. When she finished, she dipped her head for Moonstar to carry on.
Bloodfall wasn't listening, for he was staring at the cat in front of him; a pure white she-cat of Shadowclan. Jadefire.
She turned around, feeling his gaze. "Hi." she whispered. "What's up?" She said that a little too loudly, and Moonstar stopped talking and raised his eyebrows at her. She turned back around, feeling the glare of Shadowstar, the Shadowclan leader.
Bloodfall nodded and listened to the boring muttering of the big, black tom. He nodded to Birchstar, his mate, to continue. She told them boring information and finally, after what seemed like hours, she ended the Gathering by waving her tail.
Jadefire instantly ran off. She glared at other cats and made a few jokes, naming things like, "You cardboard idiots!" and "Bunch of paint drinkers." Bloodfall chuckled. She was bitter but she seemed to like him.
Brokenclaw stared past him. "Ah." he dipped her head to her. "You like her." he said slowly.
"As a friend." Bloodfall muttered. Brokenclaw snickered and shrugged.
"Okay," he rolled his tiny, black eyes, "whatever you say."They followed Shade back to Bloodclan, Bloodeye following her like a magnet. She didn't seem to like this.
Then, Moonlight, a young she-cat bounded up. "Hi!" she perked. Brokenclaw rolled his black eyes and shuffled off. Bloodfall stayed and chatted with Moonlight for a while. She was extremely pretty and pleasant to be around. Bloodfall bid her goodbye and stepped toward the Warrior's Den.
He soon fell fast asleep and woke early. He went hunting by himself. On his way out, he scraped his paw on a sharp rock. He hissed, knowing Cedarleaf, the medicine cat, wouldn't be awake. He pulled out the rock and started into the forest.
Jadefire was expertly catching a large rabbit. Bloodfall watched admirably and stepped out of the bushes. "Hello," he said.
She dropped the dead rabbit. "Hi," she smiled. "Oh," she noticed his bleeding paw. "Let me help, you idiot. What did you do? A smarter cat would look where he was going." she insulted him playfully as she grabbed a cobweb and wrapped it on his paw. "Okay, I don't have marigold, so get some when you go back to camp." she snapped.
"Okay," he said. "Are you a medicine cat? You sure know your herbs." Bloodfall tested his paw.
"No," she rolled her eyes as if cats asked her that every day. "I know herbs, true, but I don't feel like being a medicine cat." she smiled. "I could, though."
They chatted for a while, until it came down to Bloodfall asking, "Do you like anyone here?"
"Like...like?" she asked.
"Yeah." he raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah..." she said slowly. "Do you?"
"Yes." he said, hoping that she would tell her secret. "Who do you like?"
"Well," she began, twitching her tail. "He's nice, funny, not stupid and really, really cute." she confirmed. Bloodfall tried not to look disappointed, for he didn't know who that could be. "Who do you like?"
He thought about this a moment and then said, "She's nice, bitter, but not to me, funny, and sounds pretty."
Obviously, they knew they were talking about each other, so they left, knowing that someone liked them. Bloodfall caught a small rabbit on the way back.
He dragged the rabbit back and went to Cedar for the herbs. She snorted at his wound and put marigold on it, telling him to be more careful next time. He padded out gingerly and blinked as Moonlight ran up and talked with him. She flicked her dappled, pretty tail and talked to him. "Hey, Blood." she said happily. "Want to go hunting?"
"Sure." he said, even though he'd just been hunting, he would go out again, since he hadn't really caught much. They padded out of camp as they talked about apprentices and prey.
They caught a lot of fresh-kill and headed back, their jaws full. Bloodfall saw a streak of white pass by them. He guessed it was Jadefire, for he didn't know another cat who was white as her.
"Hey Blood," said his sister, Silverleaf, as she padded up to him. "So, have you gotten a mate yet?" she asked, pretending to be casual.
"No," he laughed, "but..." he looked both ways to make sure no one was watching, "I kind of like this she-cat named Jadefire." he whispered.
She looked at him strangely, "Jadefire has a mate, idiot." she laughed.
"W-what?" he asked. They had been great friends and Bloodfall was sure she was talking about him... "Really?"
"Yeah! Duh! Everyone knows that." she padded away, hearing her mentor, Jayfeather calling to her.
Bloodfall felt dizzy. Another mate? He thought that she...didn't she think...? He bit his lip. If she had a mate...she was obviously teasing him. She was so pretty and so perfect. He stalked away, angry at himself.
Moonlight came up to him, looking nervous. "Hey Blood..." she smiled weakly. He looked at her, anger floating away. "I was wondering..." she bit her lip. "Do you want to be my mate?"
He stared at her. Well, since Jadefire had a mate, he could, too! "Sure," he said, almost angry.
She opened her mouth, "Really?" she looked so happy.
"Yes." he nodded.
She ran off, without another word. He smiled. Moonlight was nice and pretty. She would be a great mate.
Blood hadn't seen Moonlight since they had agreed to be mates. And then, when she was there, he started toward her, and then she ran off. He was starting to have doubts. If she didn't want to be with him, why be his mate? He thought about this ever day and became angry at himself. Why was it so hard?
Then, one day, Jadefire came and hit him in the face. "HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME YOU BASTARD???" she asked, clearly angry. He was confused and stunned. His cheek was stinging badly.
"What are you talking about?" he asked, blinking stupidly at her.
"Why are you mates with Moonlight? I thought we were..."
"You HAVE a mate." he frowned.
She ignored him. "YOU LED ME ON! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" She ran off. Bloodfall blinked again and went away, confused.
Moonlight finally faced him. He blinked and went up to her. "I can't do this." he said, almost angrily. "You avoid me on purpose!" he sank his claws into the ground.
"What? No I'm not!" she glared at him.
"Yes, you are. I can't be with you if you don't even like me. I'm sorry." he left, mateless and feeling horrible at what he did to both she-cats.