Wow! I got six reviews for this one chapter, I have thirty-nine reviews in all! I don't deserve you guys! Ivypool and Bumblestripe are popular plushies. This chapter is fluffy, again!

Review Answers:

xXAurora LightsXx: Something dramatic is gonna happen, just you wait. Drama, drama, drama! Bumblestripe is gonna get reeled into this somehow.

Cherrydawn5: Yup, Ivypool isn't gonna like it at all. Getting more into that in Chapter 8!

Erin Hunteress: Yes, curse school! I lurve Bumblestripe too!

Kooky Kit: Yes, Ivypool and Tigerheart. It is a bit a weird idea, but I immediately saw them together in the last book. I'm glad you like it!

samredlamb7: Those kits are so cute! I might change a few things, but I'll definitely consider them. As for Bumblestripe, the kits aren't his. They are Tigerheart's alone. But that does give me an idea for someone else...

Spottedclaw21: Oops, sorry. Changing that.

Bluefire8123: Thank you so much! The story would hardly be complete without both sisters' thoughts on the matter.

Ivypool POV

"You came!" a delighted voice behind Ivypool mewed. She whipped around, prepared to defend herself, but was greeted by Tigerheart's familiar brown tabby frame. She let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh, thank StarClan! I thought you might be a ShadowClan warrior," she said, fur laying down flat on her shoulders. Tigerheart tilted his head to the side.

"But I am a ShadowClan warrior," he teased. Ivypool purred.

"But you're not just a ShadowClan warrior," she whispered, pressing her muzzle into his soft fur. Tigerheart looked at her through playfully narrowed eyes.

"Oh? What else am I?" he teased, goading her to let her feelings spill. Ivypool didn't respond in words, but just twined her tail in a spiral around Tigerheart's so that brown tabby and white tabby became one.

Guilt gnawed at Ivypool like fox fangs. This was wrong, and yet it felt so right.

"So..." she began, changing the subject awkwardly. "How is ShadowClan?" she asked, wondering what losses the rival clan had suffered.

Tigerheart thought for a moment. "Well, prey is still running well. Starlingwing had decided to follow the path of a medicine cat. Dawnpelt is having Toadfoot's kits. We lost Scorchfur and Snowbird in the battle. Oh, and Redwillow. He was a traitor. And Blackstar lost a life, maybe too," he told her. "And Pinenose lost a kit," he added.

Ivypool's eyes widened in horror. "You mean the she-cat who chased you last time?" she thought, feeling sick with sympathy. Tigerheart nodded solemnly.

"It-it was the liveliest thing she's done since her kits' death." he mewed sadly, looking down at his tabby fur. Then his gaze fixed on Ivypool again. "What about ThunderClan?"

"Well, we lost Firestar, as you've heard from the patrols, and Ferncloud and Mousefur," she mewed, recalling all of the bodies they had collected on that terrible night. "And Hollyleaf," she breathed.

Tigerheart pressed his muzzling against her flank comfortingly. "I remember her," he whispered. "I remember carrying her with you."

Ivypool nestled into him, feeling safer than anywhere else in the world. She remembered, that, too. She remembered their fur brushing as Hollyleaf's bloodied form weighed them down. At that moment, she had never thought that this, what she was experiencing now, was possible. But here she was, and here Tigerheart was.

"Ivypool," Tigerheart suddenly asked. "How is this going to end? Are we going to keep meeting until it becomes to difficult, or until we're discovered? Or will this end in a fight?"

Ivypool didn't know how to answer those questions. How would it end? Could they meet together like this forever? It was only the second time Ivypool had seen him, but still. It had to end, eventually.

"I-I don't know. Maybe it won't end," she ventured to say. Tigerheart looked deep into her eyes, affection just pouring off of him.

"Ivypool, we both know that that isn't realistic. It has to end. But I'm asking you, how do you want it to?" he mewed seriously, amber eyes burning into Ivypool's down-faced head.

Ivypool didn't want to think of it like that. She just wanted to imagine that she was here forever, curled up around Tigerheart, tail entwined with his.

But the truth of Tigerheart's words was as clear as crystal. It pierced Ivypool's consciousness like a claw. Her tail drooped.

"I really don't know, Tigerheart," she said, almost sobbing. The world was so cruel! Why did it have to be forbidden that cats from different clans couldn't be mates? The whole warrior code was a jumble of stupid pointless laws that brought nothing but pain!

A tear trickled out of one of Ivypool's eyes. It was warm, and left a trail of moisture on her cheek fur.

Tigerheart's gaze was so gentle. He wrapped his tail around her and pressed her as close as he could to his heart. "Ivypool, you probably need some time to consider this, and it sounds crazy, but..." he trailed off, turning away. Ivypool tilted her head to the side.

"What?" she asked quietly. Tigerheart looked at her, the meaning of his love showing in his expression, painted on with all manner of possible detail.

"If we want this to be real, we need to run away together."

Ivypool took a moment to register in her mind was he had just said. Run away? Away from the clans, and Dovewing, and all my friends and family... and Toadstep?

Toadstep had hinted more and more in the past few days that he wanted to be her mate. He asked her to share prey with him all the time, and had asked to go hunting and on walks, and had spent one night in the apprentice's den so that he could be close to her.

Ivypool had to admit that the handsome black and white tom was starting to charm her. His random jokes and heartfelt compliments made her feel so special, but it made her feel sick when she thought of Tigerheart around him. One couldn't have two mates, could they?

But to run away...

Ivypool had spent moons training in the ways of the warrior code, hunting and fighting with all of her soul. She had dedicated her life to being a warrior, and a warrior she had become. Could she really throw that all away for Tigerheart?

When Ivypool looked at Tigerheart, she felt fluttering and warm inside, so excited and enthusiastic that all of her instincts narrowed down being as close to him as possible. Did she love him? Could she really give up everything for him?

She didn't know. "Tigerheart... I think what you say is true. But-but I need some time to think about it," she said, not meeting his eyes. Tigerheart nodded in understanding.

"Yes, I thought so," he said. "But until you make up your mind, meet me here each night. Do you think you could manage that?"

Ivypool nodded. She would meet him at any time, if only to feel his fur brush hers and drink in his scent. His scent... oh, his sweet scent. Ivypool inhaled deeply, wanting to remember this scent forever and ever. She opened her mouth to let it fill her senses. It was so familiar, so perfectly right...

There was something about his scent that made it a bit too familiar. Something was mixed in, just ever so faintly, and it was a scent more familiar than any other to Ivypool.

Dovewing.

Ivypool cringed. Had Tigerheart seen Dovewing? Betrayal and jealousy whirled in a storm of rage in her heart. It made her heart ache, oh so terribly.

"Tigerheart..." she said, her voice barely audible. "Have you met Dovewing, too, tonight?"

Maybe Ivypool imagined it, but she was certain that she saw guilt flicker in Tigerheart's amber eyes for a heartbeat before it disappeared. "No, of course not. Why do you ask?" he said quickly.

"I-I thought I smelled her," she said, searching Tigerheart's expression.

Tigerheart shook his head vigouriously. "Maybe she's near," he suggested. "So, do you think we should meet here, or somewhere else?"

Ivypool's heart sank. Tigerheart had changed the subject too fast. He had seen Dovewing, and wasn't going to admit it.

It's not fair! she thought resentfully. Dovewing gets everything that I want. Everything! I'll always be second best.

She remembered when they had been training, and Dovewing had always out-shined her. She was constantly hunting more efficiently, fighting with greater skill, and Cinderheart had even once said that Ivypool should have a better attitude, like Dovewing. Even now, when the prophecy was over, Dovewing still had Tigerheart's loyalty. It was so cruel.

"Ivypool?"

Ivypool shook her head; Tigerheart's voice brought her back into reality. "No, no, this meeting place is fine," she said, not looking at him. "I think I should go now."

Tigerheart let out a disappointed sigh, and touched his nose to Ivypool's flank. "Alright. See you tomorrow?" he asked.

Ivypool nodded, still not letting her eyes meet those burning amber ones. She heard Tigerheart pad away.

Ivypool's emotions boiled inside of her, threatening to overflow. She dug her claws in the leaf-strewn forest floor and clenched her jaws. The unfairness of it all was so unbearable!

Dovewing's fresh scent touched her nostrils delicately, and the silver she-cat entranced with a single quiver of a fern frond. "Ivypool?" she asked, surprise edging her voice. "Are you alright?" she asked, padding nearer.

Maybe Tigerheart didn't see Dovewing! she thought, spirits lifting. Maybe she was just near, like he said.

Ivypool shook her head. "No," she said flatly. Dovewing tasted the air, and hissed.

"Tigerheart! What was he doing here?" she growled, her green gaze burning into Ivypool accusingly. Ivypool shrugged.

"I dunno," she lied.

"You were meeting him!" Dovewing said, eyes widening, and then narrowing. They glowed with hostility.

"So what?" Ivypool said, deciding not to try and cover up. It wouldn't work. She was drenched in Tigerheart's smell; there was no way to explain it. "He loves me!" she spat at Dovewing.

"No he doesn't!" Dovewing protested. "He could never love you! He loves-" she stopped herself, and looked at her paws guiltily.

"He loves you?" Ivypool taunted. "Why should he? He met with me, after all! He wants to run away with me. He never asked you that. And you're having Bumblestripe's kits. He can't still be loyal to you after that."

Dovewing unsheathed her claws, and carved deep ruts in the ground in her anger. "No, I'm not! My kits are Tigerheart's!" she yowled.

Ivypool froze. Dovewing was having Tigerheart's kits? "No!" she screeched. "You liar!"

"No. The kits are Tigerheart's. I'm certain," Dovewing mewed seriously. She looked right at Ivypool with equal defiance.

Ivypool let out a yowl of rage, and almost flung herself at Dovewing. But she stopped when the she-cat's stomach swayed as she swerved to defend herself. It was swollen, Ivypool suddenly noticed, with the kits growing inside. She couldn't attack a carrying queen. And she couldn't attack her sister.

With a hiss of frustration, she sprinted away in the opposite direction. It's not fair! Nothing's fair! she thought.

Her paws pounded on the ground as she sped through the oak forest, bramble thorn tearing out clumps of her fur. A cobweb got caught on her air, and as she tried to remove it, she tripped over a root and was arched out of the ground the bristling spine of a cat. She went tumbling down a slope, and landed with a splash in the lake.

Ivypool's eyes stung with tears as she lifted herself out of the water. She had cuts all along her sides, and there were pebbles embedded in one of her paws. She was freezing, want blood was trickling into the lank from the deepest of her scratches.

Toadstep came racing down the slope toward her, his amber eyes full of concern. "Ivypool! Ivypool! Are you alright?" he asked as he examined her wounds. Ivypool closed her eyes and nodded.

"Yeah, just a bit bruised. " she mewed, rasping her tongue painfully across a long gash on one of her forelegs. Toadstep let her lean on his shoulder as she scrambled up the bank out of the cold lake. The sun was just rising above the RiverClan territory horizon, dying the lake and sky golden.

"The sunrise is beautiful, isn't it?" Toadstep asked as they both gazed out onto the sparkling water. Ivypool nodded silently, the pain of her cuts dulling.

Toadstep sniffed the deepest gash, which went from her spine to right flank. "C'mon, Ivypool. Let's get you to Jayfeather and Leafpool," he said, and she nodded again.

Toadstep, I wish I could tell you everything, she thought as she dragged herself up through the towering oaks. I wish I could tell you about how it's hard to decide between you and Tigerheart, and how Dovewing's kits are Tigerheart's, and how hard it is to be second best.