This was the last entry of LeafpoolM's contest. I won on this entry. Yay!
~Blaze

Prompt: Have your OC experience forbidden love.

"So then I leapt on its shoulders and sank my teeth into its neck to distract it from eating Acornfall, and when it tried to throw me off I used the claw strike move on its eyes, which I guess was the last straw for it because it howled, swiped me off of its back, and ran towards RockClan's territory. It's their problem now." Mistleap said.

Blazestorm nodded absently to her friend, mind locked on something else. Her eyes strayed across the clearing and locked on the gray tabby medicine cat apprentice, Finchfur, who was sorting through a yellow leaved herb outside of the medicine cat den.

Mistleap paused in her rambling at Blazestorm's lack of enthusiasm. She followed Blazestorm's line of sight and sighed when she saw who had her friend's attention.

"Blazestorm, this is the fifth time today that I've caught you staring at Finchfur! When are you going to listen to me and remember that he's unavailable? It is rather cruel, though. Such an attractive tom and not one of us can actually have him."

Blazestorm agreed wholeheartedly with that sentiment. The medicine cat apprentice had caught her eye while she herself was still an apprentice, stuck in the medicine cat den after doing something mouse brained. He had gently seated her on a bed of moss and carefully attended to her paw, all the while lecturing her about how silly she had been and how she needed to take more care of herself. She was in awe, blushing and stuttering the entire time as he fixed her wounds. In the end she could barely squeak out a goodbye and thank you when their eyes locked and she saw the warm emotions within.

"I don't intend on doing anything about it, Mistleap. I know full well how off-limits he is." Blazestorm grumbled. Mistleap flicked her nose with her tail.

"I hope you stick to that. I know how impulsive that you can be, especially when you let your emotions take over. Don't give me that look." She added when Blazestorm glared. "You know it's the truth."

Blazestorm snorted at her. At that moment, Birchfang beckoned to Mistleap from the camp entrance.

"Oh, I have to join that hunting patrol! I forgot. See you later, Blazestorm." Mistleap jumped to her paws and darted across the camp, tail weaving with Birchfangs. Blazestorm sighed as she watched her go.

"What's this? A Warrior lounging around camp with nothing to do? I think I recall a young apprentice that looked just like you who had a never ending list of excuses to get out of the camp. What happened to her?" Deerleap, Blazestorm's mentor said from behind her. Blazestorm turned around, purring loudly.

"It's hopeless, Deerleap. I've become a lazy good-for-nothing who leeches off the Clan. You'll have to throw me out to become a rogue lest I eat us out of our territory." Blazestorm said. Deerleaps eyes twinkled.

"No, nothing that drastic. I'll just have to assign you chores like an unruly apprentice." He intoned, head bowed in mock shame.

"No! Perish the thought! Not apprentice duties! I'll do anything. I'll go with you to the training hollow and practice battle moves. Anything else but apprentice duties." Blazestorm cried out. An apprentice walking near her shot her a dirty look at her comments, and set Deerleap off laughing.

"Are any of you free? I need some cat to escort Finchfur to the LakeClan border to collect some herbs." Whitecrest, the medicine cat, interrupted.

"Blazestorm isn't doing anything for the foreseeable future. She'd love to help Finchfur." Deerleap said. Blazestorm glared at him even as her heart leaped. Alone time with Finchfur? It was sure to be disastrous. But she had no excuse to avoid him, and soon she found herself walking beside the gray tom outside of the camp.

"So... what are we searching for?" Blazestorm asked after the walk became awkwardly quiet. He took a moment to scrutinize her, eyes filled with an unreadable emotion that made Blazestorm wary. She felt anxious under his gaze

"We are going to try and find some horsetail and hopefully catmint. Our last catmint garden dried up and catmint hasn't grown there since, so we need to find some more. I hadn't checked by the LakeClan border yet, so we're doing that now. Oh, marigold! Hold on."

Finchfur stopped in his tracks and headed for the base of a tree where a thick clump of puffy yellow flowers grew. The apprentice carefully bit off one of the globes, and rolled it in a large oak leaf to protect it.

"I'm leaving some to let it grow more. This is a wonderful spot for marigold, and I hope that in the future more will grow here." Blazestorm felt herself loosen up from his enthusiasm. No doubt he was cheerfully rambling to calm her nerves; he was intuitive like that. In any case, she was now feeling much more comfortable with him.

"Marigold is used to heal wounds, right? What does horsetail do?" She asked.

"Yes, Marigold does heal wounds." He said with an approving nod. "Horsetail does the same thing. It acts as a substitute for marigold, especially during leafbare when there is no newgrowth and we run out of marigold." He skillfully tucked the marigold bundle under his chin and continued walking.

"How many different herbs heal wounds?" Blazestorm asked for lack of anything else to say. She was actually curious about it though.

"Well goldenrod is a very good herb for poultices to heal wounds. Chervil and comfrey are good for soothing infected wounds while burdock root is good for rat bites specifically. There are a ton of other herbs that soothe joints and ease panic but those are the main herbs that work specifically with open wounds." He said. Blazestorm nodded. These were actually useful things to know. "What other herbs do you know? StarClan knows you visit my den once a quarter-moon." He teased.

Blazestorm flicked him with her tail. "Well that's because I'm always out risking my neck to save you and the Clan. It's the least you could do to heal me." He snickered.

"Half the time it's from stepping on very large thorns. What is your excuse for that?"

"I focus so strongly when I hunt that I accidentally do dangerous things." She deadpanned. "That's why the other day I came in with a sprained forepaw. I chased the squirrel into the tree." He laughed a high cheerful sound that made Blazestorm perk up even more.

By that time they reached the border, the two cats were in deep conversation. Blazestorm was immensely enjoying their interactions, and didn't want their conversation to end.

"Wait so last moon when Birchfang said that he..."

"Yes! Yeah he came to me and started asking abou- whoa! Stop!" Finchfur shouted, throwing a paw in front of Blazestorm. Blazestorm, who had simply been walking beside him, skidded to a halt and tripped over her own paws in her haste to stop walking.

"What?" She asked. He pointed at the flower standing innocently in front of them.

"You nearly crushed some catmint. We have none left in the medicine cat den; it would have been a devastating loss." He enthused. Blazestorm would have snorted from the serious look on his face if not for the fact that leafbare was approaching and catmint was a very important plant.

"Sorry about that. At least you stopped me first." She said. He nodded absently, already bent over the herb. She found herself admiring him as he bit off leaves from the precious plant. His enthusiasm and care for his work made him much more attractive in her eyes.

"Come here." He commanded after wrapping the catmint in a different oak leaf. She followed him to a patch of tall, fleshy, green stalks. "This is horsetail. Since leafbare is around the corner, Whitecrest told me to gather as much of it as possible since the plant will most likely die in the next moon anyway."

"Ok." Blazestorm said, committing the plant to memory. Maybe if she went hunting around here and found more, she could give him some as a present!

As she became occupied with other thoughts, she didn't realize that Finchfur was talking to her until he waved a paw in front of her face.

"Hello? Blazestorm?" She shook her head and focused on him.

"Hmm?"

"I was trying to tell you that I want you to help me gather these." He said, pushing her closer to the herb. "I need to go pick the watermint over there, and if you wait for me to do both it's just going to take too long. So watch me carefully."

Blazestorm obeyed, crouching to get a closer look at how he used his teeth to snip off the bottom of the stem. "You should leave about a mouse-tail's length of stem so that hopefully the plant survives the leafbare; and try not to tug or you'll pull the plant's roots out and then it's definitely not lasting through leafbare." He said, placing the full plant on a soft, dry, patch of moss.

"Try it. I want to check your work before I go off." Blazestorm crouched in front of the plant and stared at it. She tried to judge how long a mouse-tail off the ground was, and then tilted her head to bite off the plant.

"No. Wait, here." Blazestorm startled when Finchfur pushed his face up next to her, closely examining her grip on the plant. "Tilt your head a bit more... yeah like that. Now try to bite with the front of your mouth to get a cleaner cut. Otherwise you might not cut the whole plant off properly."

The brown she-cat tried once more, taking special care to make a hard, swift bite. To her delight the plant dropped with a relatively straight cut at the end of the stem.

"I did it!" She crowed, looking happily at her work.

"Of course you did, you're smart." He said. Blazestorm gazed upward, realizing just then that he was a breath away from her. She sucked in a nervous breath, inhaling his sharp, tangy scent. His eyes danced and his ears twitched as he watched her before he finally pulled back. Blazestorm exhaled again, trying to ignore how fast her heart was pounding in her chest.

"You are obviously competent enough to get this done properly. I'll be over here, picking this." He said, padding his way over to a deep green plant with purple thistles. Blazestorm continued to watch him for a few moments, taking in his sudden fierce concentration and skillful attack on the plants.

She tried desperately to concentrate, and just barely returned her focus to the herbs. She managed to harvest the plants correctly, messing up only one time.

"Excellent! Now, bring me some of those dry oak leaves from over there. We need to wrap these up to bring them home."

Blazestorm and Finchfur worked quietly side by side, bundling the herbs into manageable leafy containers.

"Hold still. And try not to move your mouth too much after I tuck these under your neck." Finchfur told her. Blazestorm, mind already wrecked from earlier, could barely take his close presence as he tucked bundles under her chin.

The walk back to camp was silent, both cats overburdened by herbs. When they got to the medicine cat den Finchfur gestured inside with his paw, inviting her in. Blazestorm took one look at the private den and took a step back.

"Actually, I, uh, promised Mistleap that I would hunt with her right after we gathered herbs. Maybe later?" She said. Without waiting for his answer, she jumped up and ran out of the camp.

Blazestorm ran to the MoorClan border, pushing herself as much as possible to prevent her emotions from getting the better of her. She wanted to talk to the only cat she intimately knew that had experience with forbidden love- Hollowtail- who now lived in a different Clan with his mate. He of all cats might be able to help her figure out what she was feeling.

Blazestorm waited with little patience by the border, concealing herself behind the rocks in the territory. She knew that Hollowtail typically was assigned patrols by the TreeClan border, and would soon be along. She didn't know if it was out of spite or the Clan using his knowledge of TreeClan to their advantage, but whatever the reason she knew that he should be there soon.

"Hi Blazestorm." A voice said from behind her, causing her to jump and whirl around. When she saw her black pelted friend she sighed, relieved, and rushed forward to nudge his shoulder in greeting.

"Oh Hollowtail, thank StarClan you're here!" He stepped back, nodding his head.

"What's all the commotion? Has something happened?" Confusion clouded his features. Blazestorm shook her head.

"No, no, nothing like that. I just really needed to speak to you." She moved further behind the rock, well aware that it was literally on the border between their territories and was therefore a very dangerous meeting place. They both sat down, facing one another. "I wanted some advice."

Hollowtails confused expression intensified. "About what?" Blazestorm stared at her paws.

"I think I'm in love with Finchfur." She whispered. Hollowtails ears perked as he tilted his head.

"What makes you say that?" He asked. Blazestorm sighed.

"He won't leave my thoughts! I mean, it used to be a cute little kit's crush on a very attractive but out of reach tom. Today I spent ONE day with him, just one, and he's already managed to steal my heart! Hollowtail, we went out to gather herbs and it took only half of the morning for me to fall for him."

"How? Tell me what you like about him?" Hollowtail asked. Blazestorm fixed him with a glare. He knew full well that she didn't like to discuss it.

"Well why else does any cat like any other? He's funny and witty (we had an entire conversation during the walk to gather herbs), he's attentive and tactful (he noticed how weird I was acting when we first went out of the camp and he calmed me down), and he's patient and loves what he does with a startling intensity. You should have seen him gathering those herbs! It was so attractive, hearing him blither on about all the different types of healing plants and seeds and flowers and oh StarClan, Hollowtail I really like him."

Hollowtail had stood during her speech (or spiel, depending on how you looked at it) and now he approached her with his tail twitching. He wrapped his tail around her back and let her head rest against his shoulder.

"Well it sounds to me like you do like him." He stated.

"I don't know what to do." Blazestorm wailed with her eyes screwed shut. "I don't want to break the Warrior Code! Besides, what if he doesn't like me back?" At this, Hollowtail snorted.

"Blazestorm, what's the most important thing that every relationship needs?" At her blank stare he sighed. "Communication! You need to TALK to him about your feelings. If he reciprocates, then that's the first problem solved. If he doesn't then hey, it's off your chest. But you're going to tear yourself apart if you don't tell him about it."

Blazestorm nodded, taking his words to heart. "The only reason that Owlfeather and I ever remained together is because we talked everything through. I honestly think that I would have left MoorClan a long time ago if we weren't dealing with all the Clan's hatred so well together. We've been talking through all of the stress. It's what you have to do. And forget about the Warrior Code right now. We can deal with that later."

"Alright. I'll go talk to him then." Hollowtail sighed again, this time in mock relief.

"Good, because I know that you would just let yourself suffer in silence. It's a good thing that you have me for a friend." He said. Blazestorm giggled.

They said their goodbyes very soon after that, Blazestorm clearly distracted from her upcoming confrontation. The journey home was just as anxiety ridden as the run to the border was, and Blazestorm felt exhausted when she found herself in the camp. She headed straight to the medicine cat den, and pushed her way through the vines.

"Finchfur? Finchfur, can I talk to you?" She called out.

"Yeah, come on over!" He called from the back of the den. She padded over the sandy ground and came face to face with her crush.

"Hi!" She squeaked. His tail twitched in amusement.

"Hi yourself." He said, peering at her. "What's gotten into you?" He asked, noticing her anxious expression. Blazestorm took a deep breath.

"So I maybe kinda sorta reallyreallylikeyouandIwantedtoknowifyoulikemeback." She muttered, ducking her head in embarrassment.

"Sorry I didn't catch that." Finchfur said, taking a step towards her.

"I think you are very attractive and wanted to know if you would like to be my mate." Blazestorm said. A moment later her brain caught up with her tongue and she realized that spitting it right out was probably a bad idea. But it was too late. She tentatively lifted her eyes off of the ground and warily looked at Finchfur.

To her surprise Finchfur had a happy expression on his face. "I was wondering how long it would take you to actually talk to me." He said. Blazestorm blinked.

"Huh?" He gestured for her to sit in one of the moss nests.

"Blazestorm, I'm not blind. I could feel you staring at me for the past moon. I admit that I've liked you for a long time but I wanted to give you the time that you needed to figure out your own feelings. You needed to sort through that in your own way."

"Huh?"

"I thought when we went out today that you were going to say something, and I was rather disappointed when you didn't and then refused my request for us to spend even more time together. But I guess you were really figuring out those emotions."

Blazestorm could barely wrap her mind around what he was saying.

"Wait, are you telling me that I spent all this time mooning after you like some mouse-brained fool because I was too scared to talk to you?" A nod. "And I could have just spoken to you at any time about this?" Another nod. "StarClan Hollowtail was right."

Finchfur chuckled before stepping into the nest beside her. He pressed his pelt against hers and curled up tight with her.

"So you're willing to, uh, do this?" She asked. He locked eyes with her.

"Yes." Then he wrapped his tail around hers.