Sandstorm stared at the mouse at Fireheart's paws, she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. She speechlessly looked back to him then back at the prey. After a few moments of looking between the two, Sandstorm asked, "… Why?"

"It's leaf-bare and I know that Tigerstar has been wasting prey," Fireheart explained, he pushed the prey towards her with a forepaw as he shrugged. His tail end twitched behind him. "So, I figured…" He stopped in his speech, not knowing how to continue. The circumstances around the hunt ran through his head, he had happened upon the mouse's scent trail on his way over to meet her and the idea had hit him. So, he acted upon it.

Sandstorm sighed, shaking her head at his response. Fireheart shifted nervously on his paws, had he offended her in some way? The pale ginger warrior asked, "Where did you get it? WindClan's new territory?"

"No, by the outskirts of WindClan's old territory on the way over. It wasn't on any Clan's territory." He had offended her, hadn't he? Fireheart's ears went back, "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't –" The look she gave the other warrior silenced him.

Sandstorm lowered her head, sniffing at the mouse. It was measly, skinny from the starvation of leaf-bare but it would be better than nothing. Better than letting it turned to crowfood like Tigerstar had allowed so much prey that could have gone to his Clanmates become. Sandstorm looked back up at him as she meowed, "We have the entire forest to hunt now and I am capable of hunting, you know."

"I-I know! I wasn't saying you weren't!" Fireheart shifted on his paws. "I didn't mean anything by it, really."

Through the darkness, Fireheart saw an amused glimmer in Sandstorm's eyes. Oh, so she was not offended by his actions. She lifted her head away from the prey and touched her muzzle against the side of his face. He pressed back against her; a tension that had formed in his chest since he had set out that night lessened. Sandstorm meowed, "That's sweet of you."

Sandstorm pulled away from him rapidly, "You still smell bad, though." Fireheart's ears went back.

He let out a playful growl, lowering himself carefully to the ground in a low crouch. The TigerClan warrior's eyes narrowed at his response. Sandstorm raised her tail as she looked back at him, expectantly. He moved his head from side to side before launching himself towards her. Sandstorm darted quickly out of his way and Fireheart slammed into the snow where the ginger she-cat had just been, stumbling and smashing his head into the cold substance. The claws he had extended to grapple with it sent a fine spray of snow around him.

He turned as fast as he could back towards the other cat, eyes widening as he saw she had double backed and was coming for him. Sandstorm collided with him, sending them both rolling across the hollow.

As they came to a stop, Fireheart flipped them both over, laying on top of Sandstorm. The only sounds there were for a moment was both warriors panting and sound of the wind howling around him. Both of their breath was visible in the dim moonlight. He stuck his muzzle towards her face, "What would you rather I smell like? Do you want me to ask Barkface for some sort of smelly herbs that he keeps? You want me to go up to him – in the middle of leaf-bare when there are almost no plants growing – and ask 'Hey, so you know how I disappear some nights? Well –'" A paw was put over his muzzle.

"That is not what I meant and you know it." He jerked his head away from Sandstorm's paw.

"Then how about the Thunderpath?" Sandstorm curled her lip, as though she could smell the reek of Fireheart's suggestion presently. He continued, "It's on my way over here, I could just stop and roll on it for a bit. That'd cover my scent. How about this: I'll start rolling on the Thunderpath before I come, I'll do that next time and you won't complain anymore."

Sandstorm forced herself up beneath him, in turn forcing the tom on top of her to his paws. She slipped out from beneath him, tripping him with one of her hind paws as she did. The warrior turned back towards Fireheart, putting a paw on his chest as she meowed, "If you do that, I will never see you again."

His eyes rounded and he blinked up at her, "Now, I don't believe that." Sandstorm's ears flattened and she lifted her paw from his chest, taking a few steps back.

Sandstorm turned away from him, heading back to where they had left the mouse. Fireheart followed quickly after her, admiring the way her fur glowed in the moonlight. She stopped in front of the piece of prey as he came up on her side, taking in her scent as he brushed his fur against hers. Sandstorm glanced at him, "You're not fat anymore, actually, I think you might need some. We can share it."

His ears flattened at her remark and tail lashed. "I was not fat!" His gaze went to the mouse, mouth watering at the idea of eating it. Its scent and taste when he had brought it to Fourtrees had been tempting. The idea of stopping and eating the creature before meeting Sandstorm had been tempting.

"Yes, you were." Sandstorm eyed him for a moment, "I don't get why you would leave that much prey behind." She moved to the side, creating room for the other cat before crouching next to the mouse. Fireheart crouched next to her.

"WindClan needed help and they couldn't stay there. So, we left." While he would forever be grateful to Ravenpaw and Barley for what they had done for himself and the others, Fireheart was glad to be back in some sort of Clan life. It was not ThunderClan, but it was a system he was used to and enjoyed. He watched Sandstorm take a bite of the mouse before sniffing at it himself, "If you thought I looked fat, you should have seen Graystripe."

Fireheart sank his teeth into the kill, its warmth and scent filling his mouth and throat as he tore away a piece. He heard Sandstorm swallow her bite, "Oh, I can imagine."

Fireheart and Sandstorm had had a number of meetings at this point. The meeting after TigerClan had taken over WindClan territory had been tense. Sandstorm had not been happy with Fireheart after his taunting of Tigerstar and making the trail away from where WindClan had moved, she had nearly clawed his ears off after those risks. But she, even after that and much to Fireheart's surprised, had still wanted to meet. He had seen it as a good sign. Despite everything he had done, all the risks he had taken, she still wanted to see him and he wanted to see Sandstorm.

After that first meeting, they had fallen into a rhythm for the next few ones. They were becoming less tense and they were fun; they were great in Fireheart's eyes. Neither warrior had experienced any sort of issue with their meetings back at their respectable Clans, so there was no reason to stop. They were able to meet under the moon's light and be together.

Although to Fireheart, it felt wrong. They were both ThunderClan warriors, they should not have been sneaking around at night to see one another. They should not have been keeping this a secret from anyone. It should not have been treated as something forbidden but it was. Maybe in a different timeline where he had been able to stop Tigerstar, things would have been different. Things would have been better. At the very least, they would have been in the same Clan and they would not be treating this as a half-Clan relationship.

As the mouse was finished and bones and fur were buried to cover their tracks, Fireheart leaned against the other warrior relishing in the warmth she provided as well as the warmth that came to his chest.

After a few moments, he felt Sandstorm pull away from him. The other warrior came into his vision as she padded away from him and towards the Great Rock. Fireheart scrambled to his paws, bounding after the other cat. His tail was raised high as he brushed against the pale ginger she-cat.

Sandstorm came into his view again, moving in front of him raising one of her paws. As she swung to cuff him and continuing their play fight from earlier, a sudden rush of fear overcame Fireheart. The pressure on his chest increased and it felt as though his heart had plummeted as he recoiled away from the attack. His fur bristled and claws unsheathed. No!

Sandstorm stared at Fireheart; pale eyes wide with shock. Both warriors were frozen. The tom forced himself to take deep shaky breaths, willing the fogginess from his mind and the pressure from his chest. As he did, embarrassment and fear lit up his pelt.

He had not responded that way to the other warrior before. No other time had he flinched. What would Sandstorm think of Fireheart now? Would she want to stop seeing him? The idea made his heart ache, that was the last thing he would ever want. Perhaps she would think he was weak? He would not be surprised by that if so. Would she blame him? A feeling of guilt formed in his belly. Out of any warrior, he should not have flinched at Sandstorm. She had never done anything.

Sandstorm was not a threat against him, Fireheart knew this, but he flinched away from her. He had been scared by her. Why did this keep happening? Why did he keep messing up?

Sandstorm slowly lowered her paw; a concerned look came across her face. Fireheart felt a flash of frustration, he was fine. She did not need to look at him like that. Why had he done this? She had no reason to worry about him, none whatsoever and he had made her worried.

"Fireheart?"

He looked to the ground beneath him for a moment, annoyance shot through him as he saw his paws were shaking. He forced them to stop. Sandstorm asked, "Are you alright?"

Fireheart nodded, whispering: "Yes. I'm fine." The tom forced himself to his paws, his gaze was still on the ground as shame wracked him. Why had he done that? There was a moment of silence between the two warriors.

"I wouldn't have hurt you; you know." Sandstorm's voice was heavy. He knew she would not have; she had proved it so many times in the past. She had had the opportunity and reason to do so and had not, so why would she start now? Why in StarClan's name had he flinched?

"I know," He murmured. Fireheart forced his gaze back to Sandstorm; she was watching him. Why did that always happen? He needed a distraction; she could not see more of this side of him. He would not allow it. Fireheart's gaze drifted away from the pale ginger warrior and stopped on one of the Great Oaks. An idea came to him.

"It doesn't matter." He forced himself to move towards the oak, balancing himself onto one of its roots and turning back to Sandstorm. He mewed, "Let's climb the tree. I haven't climbed one in a while."

It would distract them both from what had just occurred, he hoped. Sandstorm would probably tease him from his loss of skill after not having climbed in a while and they could go back to how it was before that moment. It would be great and everything would be forgotten. Everything would be fine.

Sandstorm stared at him, "Fireheart, are you certain?" The tom felt the fur on his back bristle, why wouldn't she just listen to him? Why did she have to sound concerned? He was fine, everything would be fine if they could just move on from that mess up.

"I'm fine. It was nothing, I was just a bit startled." Fireheart shrugged, "Can we move on from it, please? Let's climb the tree." Sandstorm looked ready to continue protesting. He stared at her desperately, "Please, Sandstorm. I'm fine. I just want to go back to what we were doing."

There was an unreadable look in her eyes as Sandstorm murmured a hesitant agreement. Fireheart felt his shoulders relax as she padded up next to him, looking up the tree's trunk. The orange warrior turned back to the tree, crouching before jumping onto it, digging his claws into its thick bark. He heard Sandstorm follow his lead a few heartbeats later.

As he continued up the tree, Fireheart realized he truly had lost some of his tree climbing skills. Sandstorm was able to easily surpass him and was waiting for him on a branch as he pulled himself up the tree. He grappled with the branch the other cat was on sloppily as he pulled himself onto it. He stood on shaky legs, trying to keep his balance.

"You're turning into a WindClan cat." Sandstorm's comment made Fireheart's ears go back. He was not! He looked up at her. There was still a bit of tension in her voice but the concern she had shown earlier for him seemed to have been mostly pushed away, replaced by an amused glow in her eyes. Sandstorm turned away from him, jumping onto the next higher branch.

Fireheart hesitated a moment before following the other warrior onto the next branch, his heart felt as though it had stopped beating when it bent under his weight.

He really had forgotten. Sandstorm was a few branches ahead of him now, looking back at him expectantly. How high did she want to go, he wondered, were they headed for the top?

Fireheart continued to follow Sandstorm up the tree, by the time the warrior had caught up with the other cat, she was seated on the branch grooming her side. She looked at him as he pulled himself onto the branch, claws digging deeply into the branch as it swayed under his weight. Sandstorm gave her paw a lick before swiping it over one of her ears. "Took you long enough, slug."

Fireheart's tail lashed at her teasing, even so, this was a good thing. This was what he had wanted and they were going back to it. Everything was going back to normal and what had happened would be forgotten. He rose shakily onto his paws as he moved towards the other warrior, touching his muzzle to her shoulder as he came to a stop and sat on his haunches. He muttered, "I lack practice is all, this proves nothing."

"If that's what makes you feel better, WindClan." Fireheart's fur bristled. He shifted his gaze away from Sandstorm, eyes rounding in awe at the sight before him.

Silverpelt shown brightly, sparkling glints against the endless darkness of the night sky. Below, he could see the Great Rock, if he did not know better, he would have thought it was a small rock from this view. Fireheart breathed, "Wow." He looked back up at Silverpelt. "Do you think they can see us?"

Sandstorm glanced at him, "If StarClan can't see us here, they can't see us anywhere."

What did they think of this, Fireheart wondered. He had not spoken to any StarClan cat in a while, not since the dog pack. He dug his claws into the bark below him. Would they approve of his actions? He had yet to do anything truly against the TigerClan leader and yet he was supposed to stop him. Bluestar told him he was, but how? There was no way WindClan could regain their territory as it was, how was he supposed to stop Tigerstar now? A shiver ran down his spine and an empty feeling formed in his chest, had the leader actually won? Had he failed them all?

Sandstorm pressed against him as a howling gust of wind blew through the tree. A warmth filled that emptiness in his chest as Fireheart pressed back against the other warrior. He was here now, he should focus on Sandstorm. Those issues would still be there when the sun rose, right now, she was what mattered.

Fireheart began to groom the other warriors' pelt, he felt her relax against him as he did. The warmth in his chest was still there and there was a light-headed feeling coming to him. Not the way he would feel during one of his moments, but better. Almost as though all those troubles were gone for now. He felt happier, freer than he had in a long time.

Fireheart murmured, "I love you."

His ears went back as soon as he realized what he had said. Sandstorm had told him once that she used to love him, but this was different. Things had changed so much over the past few seasons; he had no idea what she truly thought about him now. How would she respond to him saying that? It was genuine, he enjoyed spending time with the other warrior and each one of these meetings had better solidified his affection. He did love her. These meetings had to have meant something to Sandstorm as well. But what?

Sandstorm was staring at him, there was a glimmer of sadness in the look she gave Fireheart. Alarm shot through him, why would she be sad? What reason did she have to be? Had he upset her somehow? He shouldn't have said it.

Sandstorm touched her nose to the top of his head for a moment before licking it. She murmured, "I love you, too."