This is my first one-shot. It's a rewrite of a one-shot that I wrote back in December. Enjoy! I don't own Warriors, it belongs to Erin Hunter.
Title: one eye open
Rating: T
Genres: Drama and Romance
Characters/pairings: Nightcloud, Leafpool, and Crowfeather. One-sided Leaf/Crow and Night/Crow.
The leaf-fall night was crisp and quiet. A white crescent moon floated above the stone-gray lake, casting a faint light on the water. It floated in a black sky flecked with countless glimmering stars. On a island with a massive oak tree, two cats laid down together; gazing up the numerous stars in the night sky. They loved each other deeply, even though their relationship was outlawed by the warrior code.
''We're finally alone together Leafpool,'' a dark gray tom named Crowfeather meowed as he licked the she-cat's ear. ''There are no rules to divide us here.'' Leafpool purred and leaned up against his lithe body, breathing in his scent of wind and moorland. They were so close to each other, yet so far away. She dreamed of an opposite world, one where she wasn't a medicine cat and Crowfeather was a ThunderClan cat like her.
''If only we could be like this forever…'' Leafpool murmured wistfully. She twined her pale brown tabby tail with Crowfeather's dark gray one. ''I don't see why the warrior code has to separate us.'' Her amber eyes gazed the stars that glimmered above. They were brilliant white flecks in an expanse of black.
''I know a way how we can be together,'' Crowfeather meowed. His ice-blue eyes met Leafpool's amber ones. ''You do?'' the tabby medicine cat asked. He nodded in reply. ''We could live as loners! There would be no borders or warrior code to divide us!'' Her yellow eyes sparkled with happiness yet also doubt. ''I don't know about this Crowfeather,'' Leafpool murmured. ''I'm a full medicine cat now, and I need to stay with ThunderClan and concentrate on my duties. You're also a warrior who needs to be loyal to his Clan.''
As the two cats talked to each other, a third cat watched them from the bushes. Her jet-black coat blended in with the darkness of the night and her amber eyes shone with anger. How dare Crowfeather love that pathetic she-cat more than her! Nightcloud buried her unsheathed claws into the soil. That fox-heart! Thinking that Crowfeather loves her! She wanted to claw Leafpool's ears for loving him. The black she-cat relaxed herself, retracting her claws from the soil. She suddenly had an idea. Nightcloud would teach Leafpool a lesson she would never forget.
Nightcloud stretched her legs, feeling the sun warm her pelt. She spotted Crowfeather, who was eating a rabbit. She padded over to him. ''Hey Crowfeather!'' she meowed, trying to sound as friendly as she could toward the dark gray tom. ''Do you want to hunt with me?'' Crowfeather stared at his meal, refusing to meet her canary-yellow gaze. ''No thanks,'' he answered. ''I would rather go by myself.'' Distrust pricked Nightcloud like a thorn, and she felt anger boil inside her stomach. He just wants to be with Leafpool!
''Okay,'' she meowed, ''but will you hunt with me tomorrow?'' Crowfeather didn't reply to her. Avoiding his suspicious blue gaze, she padded away from him.
Nightcloud hid behind a gorse bush, hoping that Crowfeather wouldn't become aware of her. He stood at the edge with WindClan's border, which was separated by a stream. Leafpool emerged from a holly bush on the ThunderClan side of the border. The raven-black she-cat's amber gaze was fixated on Leafpool, whose eyes lit up with joy when she saw Crowfeather. Nightcloud felt sick as the two cats looked at each other. She couldn't take it anymore.
Leafpool padded through the forest of ThunderClan's territory. The trees had lost their green hue colors and had began to take on shades of red, orange, and gold. The fallen, brown leaves crunched under her white paws. Cinderpelt had told her what they were running low on goldenrod, and that they needed more. Little did she now was that Nightcloud was watching her, waiting in ambush. The tabby she-cat bent down to carefully bite the stems of the flowering plants.
That was when Nightcloud made her move. She leapt from the bushes, which startled Leafpool and made her freeze in shock. She screeched in alarm as Nightcloud toppled her and pinned her adversary to the ground. ''Nightcloud!'' she exclaimed. Without hesitation, she unsheathed her claws and inserted them into her left eye.
Nightcloud's canary-yellow eyes gleamed with satisfaction as her claws tore Leafpool's eye from her socket, causing her to yowl in agony. Scarlet blood cascaded from her now empty eye socket, staining her pale tabby face. Nightcloud felt victory surge within her. She carefully grabbed Leafpool's disembodied amber eye with her teeth and raced off toward WindClan territory.
(Yay, it's done! As you can tell, I love Nightcloud and hate Leafpool. In my opinion, Nightcloud doesn't deserve all the hate she gets; for she just wanted to be loved.)
-intergalactics