Whoa, past 70 reviews? Wow, thanx! Anyway, new chappie! Hope you like it, as usual.

"Feathertail came to me," Crowfeather went on, his eyes still in the stars. "She told me that I can't grieve for her, not when we won't be together for so long. She told me that she understands how I feel. And she told me...told me that you felt the same." He looked at her questioningly, and Leafpool swallowed, nodding. "I do," she whispered. "She came to me too."

"I know," mewed Crowfeather. "Why else would you be padding along the border in the middle of the night?"

Leafpool's whiskers twitched in a mixture of embarrassment and amusement, and her eyes met a shimmering star of Silverpelt. As her eyes locked with it, she broke away from the WindClan cat, suddenly horrified. "I can't do this, Crowfeather. I'm a medicine cat! I can't break the code that I swore to! How can I?"

He stared at her with eyes brimming with sorrow. "I know," he meowed. "I've told myself that. But why did StarClan send me dreams about you, then? And why does Feathertail want us together?"

Leafpool opened her mouth to answer, but a frightening hiss broke off her words. "Ah, this is sweet. But not as sweet as battle."

She and Crowfeather scrambled to their paws to see a thin, ragged group of cats emerging out of the darkness of the undergrowth. Their fur was torn, their eyes were cold, and they reeked of carrion and battle. "Look at this, Ginger!" snarled one. "These cats think they can live here?"

"Why would we want to share?" answered the one at their head, a large she-cat with dark ginger fur. It was marred with black around her head and over one eye. Leafpool backed up, afraid, while Crowfeather sprang ahead of her, his fur bristling. "This is Clan territory, crowfood! Why don't you all crawl back into the fox den that you came out of?"

Ginger stared at him, her eyes gleaming. "A brave one, that," she meowed. "Pity we have to kill you, isn't it?"

There was no signal, no warning, but suddenly the cats were surging at them, overpowering the two forest cats by sheer numbers. Leafpool registered that these must have been the scents that she and Sorreltail had smelled on patrol before she was slammed by two of them. For a moment she was pressed to the ground. But fire flared inside her and she forced herself up, her claws scratching at anything she could reach, her teeth bared.

A mangy tom, with a face twisted by the snarl he wore, threw himself at her. Leafpool ducked and let him go flying over her, but then she was flattened by another one. She was pressed to the ground, unable to move as claws tore her fur again and again.

Then the weight was off her and she was free, bleeding and panting but still alive. She turned to see Crowfeather, fighting three cats at once, only visible in a whirlwind of gray-black fur. Leafpool turned and bowled another of the rouges over, fighting for all she was worth, though she knew this was a battle that she could never hope to win.

A fierce sound met her ears. The cauterwaul rang through the air for a few heartbeats and then Graystripe appeared, Sandstorm, Rainwhisker, Squirrelflight and Sunpaw in tow. The ThunderClan warriors hurled themselves into battle with cries of defense, and within moments it was the rouges that were outnumbered. Leafpool fought with her Clanmates and Crowfeather, clawing the rouges and forcing them into retreat.

They turned and fled without warning, but the ginger-and-black one was the last to flee. She brushed past Leafpool as she raced past, and she turned around, her pale yellow eyes narrowed. "Think you've frightened us?" she whispered. "You haven't."

Then she was gone, and the ThunderClan cats stood, panting and examining wounds, waiting for the shock to wear off. Leafpool saw Crowfeather, on his paws but unsteady. He shared a long look with her before Graystripe bounded over to him.

"What are you doing here?" he wondered. His voice was curious, not challenging, and Crowfeather stared at him for a moment as he registered who he was.

"I was...patrolling the border," he meowed finally, looking right into the deputy's eyes as he lied, "when I heard Leafpool's yowl. I came to help her against the rouges."

"And what were you doing here in the first place?" Sandstorm demanded, turning her green eyes on her daughter.

"Looking for herbs." Leafpool remembered her reply from earlier. "I told Sorreltail where I was going before I left. The rouges attacked before I knew they were even here. They would have killed me if it wasn't for Crowfeather."

She knew that there was truth in that, and Graystripe turned to look at the WindClan cat. "In that case, thank you," he meowed, dipping his head shortly. "But it's probably best that you return to your own Clan. You should warn them about the rouges and-" humor entered his eyes for a heartbeat- "tell them that ThunderClan's deputy has returned."

"I will, thanks, Graystripe," Crowfeather meowed, and he too dipped his head before bounding back over the border, ignoring his injuries. The sun was rising as he leaped away, and Leafpool looked after him. She had to struggle hard to conceal the longing in her eyes.

&&&

Squirrelflight was just padding out of the warriors' den as the patrol returned, shaking sleep from her eyes. She watched in astonishment as the battered cats made their way into their camp. Graystripe and Sandstorm immidiately began to make their way over to the Highledge. The rest of the patrol began to lay down and lick their wounds. Squirrelflight started towards her sister to find out what had happened, but Sorreltail had already reached her, and the two were speaking softly, their heads together. She found herself beside Brambleclaw instead. He looked at her, and Squirrelflight's tail twitched as she remembered what Stormfur had said.

"So what happened?" she asked in the end.

Brambleclaw flopped down beside her. He looked as if he was waiting for her to storm away, but she didn't. "Rouges," he meowed after a moment. "They were attacking Leafpool and Crowfeather along the WindClan border. We chased them out, though."

Squirrelflight's eyes widened. "Was anyone badly injured?"

"No, they fled before it could get too ugly," Brambleclaw meowed. "But Sunpaw was a fighter, for sure. I was surprised. Most apprentices her age wouldn't have done so well."

"She's had to fend for herself since she was a kit," Squirrelflight pointed out. "It probably wasn't a bad way to learn how to sharpen your claws."

Brambleclaw nodded, and he set his head wearily on his front paws. "It was good for Leafpool that Crowfeather was there," he commented. "If they had attacked her alone, she would have been torn to shreds."

"Leafpool was a fool to go where she'd already smelled rouges," Squirrelflight growled. "What was she doing there, anyway?"

"Collecting herbs," Brambleclaw replied. "That's what she told Sandstorm."

Squirrelflight shook her head. "The day hasn't even started yet, and already I want to go back to sleep!"

Brambleclaw purred with laughter and then rolled over onto his back, feigning exhaustion. "But you haven't been fighting rouges since the sun rose!"

Squirrelflight narrowed her eyes with amusement. Like it used to be, she thought. When we would tease each other like this. Whatever happened to that?

She flicked her tail over him. He scrambled back onto his belly, wincing with pain as he did so. Squirrelflight saw the gaping wound on the back of his neck, and, without thinking, bent over and began to lick it clean. She felt Brambleclaw tense, and then relax. He let out a bit of a purr, and for a while neither of them spoke. Then he meowed, "Do you trust me, then?"

Squirrelflight looked at him. She thought of Hawkfrost, and Tigerstar, and what her father had said. Then she remembered her days as an apprentice, and the journey to the sun-drown-place. How much had she relied on Brambleclaw then?

She twitched her whiskers at him. "Brambleclaw," she meowed, "I'd trust you with my life."

Brambleclaw touched his nose to her ear. "Good," he meowed. "Because I'd give my life for you."

Neither of them said anything beyond that, and neither of them noticed Leafpool, sitting at the mouth of the medicine cats' den. She was watching them, mixed emotions swirling in her amber eyes. There was happiness for her sister there. But greater than that spark of joy was a deep, cold void of sorrow, a sorrow so great that she wondered if she could ever conquer it.

They're not totally back together, but they're getting there! YAY! And poor Leafpool...