The most soulful ginger evar <3 *shot*

Cedarfur crouched by the river, at the edge of Riverclan territory. From here he peered into the trees and foliage of Thunderclan territory, wondering if the cats there were the same ones he had fought on Shadowclan territory. Surely Thunderclan could not take on that powerful group of rogues themselves. Shadowclan was the strongest clan in the forest, no doubt, and they had been defeated by the cats.
He looked at his reflection next, and an unfamiliar cat looked up at him. He looked older, more wise and worn, as if the experiences of Shadowclan over the past week had made him mature. He laughed softly, and lapped from the crystal river, keeping an eye on the fish lurking below it. He didn't trust the creatures. They tasted disgusting and probably were shady when alive. The river was cold on his tongue, which he expected due to the cold weather. It refreshed him, and he felt the liquid trickle down his throat. He had not had water in a long time, and he did not realize this until he had taken the drink. Silently, he looked back up, and saw another cat's reflection.

Gingerheart had padded up behind Cedarfur although she hadn't really noticed until she came up to the river. It was eerily quiet, other than the sound of the running water, but after being able to hear it for so long, even though they'd only been in camp for a short time, she had become accustomed to the noise so that she basically tuned it out. As she walked, she finally took notice of just how damp and muggy Riverclan territory was. Yes, Shadowclan was also damp and muggy, but this was a foreign feeling. It wasn't home, and Gingerheart hated that fact. Even after such a long time after the battle, she still felt devastated by their loss. It was still painful even though her wounds were healing just fine; and that pain still showed on her face as she approached Cedarfur.

"Do you think we could have won?" She asked him sullenly, not even thinking about how random that probably was for him to hear. It had been on her mind all day, yet he could have been thinking about something completely different.

Cedarfur didn't say anything for a while. He was looking at the cat from her reflection in the river. Finally, he smiled, though said: "Truthfully, I have no idea."
He stretched, the tips of his cream white paws touching the water. "Don't beat yourself up about it, Gingerheart. We were all in the battle, after all. Plus, Amalric apparently has a plan he thinks is a winner."
He turned to her, purring. "Everything will work out." he ended the statement there, in a rather optimistic tone.

"I sure hope so..." She muttered before finally taking a good look at Cedarfur. It was amazing to her how he could be so optimistic in the middle of... well, this. Riverclan? Ugh. Gingerheart would rather go back and take out the rogues herself just to be able to get their own territory back. But even in the midst of what she thought was a complete disaster, she couldn't help but give the tom a smile. Maybe Amalric was onto something. It was pretty much one of the only reasons she could be happy about this situation. "Alright. I'll try to keep from beating myself up. I just really do hope that Amalric knows how to beat these guys. I'm ready to kick some more tail!"

The tom smiled. At least she didn't explode on him. With hope surging through him, he didn't realize what he had said next.
"I love you."
Silence. Wait, what? Without meaning to, without thinking about it, without knowing for sure, Cedarfur had just confessed love for his fellow warrior. He felt his face heat up, and stepped backwards. "I mean, I love your...optimism. It helps the clan out a lot to have cats who still believe in it." he murmured, turning his face from her and lashing his tail at the awkward subject. He doubted that he had saved the situation, for the sincerity in this first sentence was there. Oh, why did he have to blurt that out so randomly? Emotions surged through him, as he realized he did love the she-cat, and felt saddened whenever she was not near him, and always wanted to cheer her up when he was sad. Why had he not noticed this sooner?

Wait... There was no way that Cedarfur could have just said what he said. Gingerheart stopped suddenly and just gave him a blank-- or rather surprised look. She had no idea what to say back, if anything at all. For the first time in her life, she was completely speechless. No matter how hard she tried, she could not think of anything to say, and the longer she stood there, the more she realized just how much she had stiffened up over his words until he tried to save himself by commenting on her optimism. Instantly, she began to shy away from him, trying to figure out some way of keeping it from getting too awkward even though she had a feeling that it was too late for that. Taking a quick glance around as she shifted from paw to paw, she finally had some kind of sentence formed in her head. "Oh, um... Thanks. Yeah. You're right. Optimism is good, isn't it?" She asked, feeling completely stupid afterward. Yeah. Thanks. What a great thing to say after Cedarfur just probably made the biggest confession of his life. In some ways, she couldn't help but feel bad for avoiding the subject, but what was she going to say?

Thanks.
Cedarfur stood there as if a monster had hit him. She said thanks. In all honesty, that was better than a rejection, but still wasn't all that great. He debated ducking out of the area, but it would not help. Rather, instead of replying, he found himself whipping around to the stream behind him and taking another drink, as to do something for the sake of easing the moment.

Great. Just more silence. Just what she needed. Couldn't he just say something to try to make this less awkward? A little bit of "Ha, I was just kidding! might help more than this. Although she was sure if he said that it would be a big fat lie. Instead, his action of just drinking more water made her feel worse, but she just couldn't think of anything to say at all. Ugh, she felt like she had bees in her brain. She really liked, Cedarfur but she didn't know if she loved him. Well, maybe she did. Did she? What did being in love feel like? How could she know what it felt like? "I.. I'm sorry," She told him softly, breaking the silence and hopefully some of the tension. "This was just all so sudden. I just.. I don't know what to think about it. It-It isn't you, I promse..." Her voice trailed off as she realized how much she was rambling.

"I understand, really." meowed the tom with a smile, raising his head. "I didn't mean to say that, anyhow. It was an accident. Don't worry about it."
The tom stretched, taking the cold air into his lungs. Finally, when he had finished this, he straightened up. "Let's go back to camp." he purred, in a warm tone.

"Oh, alright," she replied, her paws already leading her that way. Although, before she really began to move, she got a good look at Cedarfur before she smiled. It was amazing to her how happy he could be almost all the time. Maybe she actually did love him. Maybe it was really more than a feeling. It was something she would surely have to think about, but she couldn't get how awesome he was being about the whole situation. Finally, she began heading that way, checking behind her to see if the tom was following.