Jayfeather sensed a feeling coming off of Willowshine when she got onto him. He didn't understand what it was, but he kept it in his mind.

What the hell was that? He thought shocked at what he was feeling.

He thought that a lightning bolt had hit him head on and shocked him only at his heart. He cringed at the pain he felt, making sure to not to let the annoying medicine cat notice this uncertain pain. He remembered that he felt this feeling whenever Songpaw twined their tails together. He thought this over for a bit and decided that he would ask Starclan for answers.

As they made way closer the Moonpool, he decided that Willowshine had a long enough ride.

"Okay Willowshine, time to get off." he said as he now gently put her back on her paws, not dropping her like a sack of herbs like he did earlier.

"Aww, I thought that I wouldn't have to walk the rest of the way. Oh well." she said in an innocent tone of voice which Jayfeather saw through completely.

"FYI, I'm a medicine cat, not a damn pack mule." he said turning around and stalking off from the annoying, over-grown fur ball.

"Well I'm sorry. Which side of the bitching bed did you wake up on?" she said as she tried to tackle the gray tom who dodged effortlessly.

"And what business is it to you if I woke up in a foul mood? I just woke up from being passed out for four days. You would think that I would be in a perfect mood for sleeping so long, but the news I had gotten four days ago, would have made even the calmest of medicine cats get pissed off." he said, adding volume to each of the words in his in his rant.

What happened next surprised him so much that if somebody just sucker punched him, he wouldn't notice. He felt a pelt on him, not Songpaw's, but even better. Willowshine had wrapped herself around him in a secure way that made him feel like a kit again. He was at first shocked and tried to move out of her secure embrace, but then she started purring. That was what kept Jayfeather from moving or even saying the cold remark he had ready for her if she said something about it.

"You can be a real handful sometimes, you know that." she said with a kind of voice that would be used as if a mother was soothing her kit from a nightmare.

"Well it is me and you should know that I'm not a handful when it comes to talking to my fellow medicine cat." he said as he sensed the happiness and a hint of care emanating from the she-cat.

Wow, so this is the feeling that was caught in my throat. It wasn't the coldness of my tongue, but the heat of my heart, the feeling that Songpaw has for me.

. . .

Love.

He thought as he finally came back to reality to notice himself being carried by Willowshine.

"Umm . . . Willowshine? You can put me down now." he said as she froze and grew hot with embarrassment.

"Oh . . . Jayfeather, I didn't notice that you were still awake so I decided to carry you over to the Moonpool." she said.

There was a huge amount of embarrassment coming from the she-cat that it hit him in waves, hitting Jayfeather hard enough to send him flying off of Willowshine. He got back up with a shake of the head and returned to his former state of mood which was bitterness and sarcasm.

"Well, are we gonna go to the damn Moonpool or stand here and talk the night away?" he said. He then rushed passed Willowshine, leaving her to eat his dust, as he made a dash towards the Moonpool with Willowshine close behind.

They finally got to the Moonpool after a series of ranting and comforting scenes on the way.

"Geez, what took you Jayfeather?" said Songpaw. Her pelt pulsated with curiosity when she didn't know what had happened to her beloved mentor.

"We got held up with something." said both medicine cats in unison and Willowshine shot a glance towards Jayfeather. He responded with a blind glance towards Willowshine which made him wish he could see in the real world and not just in Starclan.

They all took up their positions at the Moonpool, with Willowshine on his right while Songpaw was on his left. He didn't mind them as he then touched the icy cold water of the Moonpool and was sent into his dreams.

He appeared in the clearing of Starclan's hunting ground. A ground he knew by heart even without his vision. He then saw a tortoiseshell she-cat approach him.

"Hello Spottedleaf." He said as he made his way to the young, beautiful, dead medicine cat.

"Greetings . . . looks like you have found a cat to your liking." She said in a way that made Jayfeather blush in embarrassment as he realized what she was talking about.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about" he said not making eye-contact with the spiritual she-cat.

"Come on, Jayfeather. You know you like her." She said while bending her head around in an attempt to gain eye-contact.

"E-even if I did, w-we could never be . . . m-m-ma-mates." He stuttered, going near silent on the last word.

"That doesn't matter. You can love her with all your heart, but does she love you back is the question?" she said with a hint of sincerity to her voice.

Does she expect to go and just flat out say 'Hi Willowshine, just wanted to say I'm madly in love with you.' Honestly, this bitch can be really stupid sometimes. He thought, wanting to forget all that they were talking about.

"Well, what are you gonna do? Just sit and wait until you two die or act now and live a peaceful life together?" she said, smacking the tom across the face to try and get some sense back into him.

" . . . I'll do it. . I'm going to say it." He said facing the now smiling she-cat with a new feeling that he hasn't felt in quite a while. He felt that he could move mountains and swim the oceans and do things cats could only dream of doing.

"That's better, now head along now and go get her, word of warning though, don't be too quick with it." She said. He turned to head back to the real world

But Spottedleaf stopped him.

"I almost forgot." She said

she held out a package and opened it to reveal a purple, blue, powdery substance. She stuck her paw in it and pushed into Jayfeather's eyes.

"Ow! What was that stuff?" he said as he tried to keep his eyes from watering.

"Just a little present" she said with a giggle as her she-cat form started to fade to nothing and the world returned to black nothingness.

All of the others were asleep from the sound of their steady breathing. Jayfeather decided that he would sit and wait for the others to awaken.

What did she mean 'little present'? he thought as he rubbed his eyes where she pushed that stuff in to them.

After a while he got tired with just sitting there and decided to sleep. He was feeling cold because of the night chill in the air, so he curled up to the first cat that he would think to be with. Willowshine.

He synched with her breathing till he was then on the verge of sleep.

Goodnight Willowshine, I love you till the day i die. Was his last thought before succumbing to the strength of sleep