The Grape Vine (A CrimsonGaze Fanfiction)

**The Grape Vine**

**Chapter one**

A gentle breeze waved through the trees, leaves rustling while a huddle of Shadowclan felines gathered around a body. Skeletonstar, the former leader, had recently passed away, presumably from a bus or truck hit. Frostgaze heard someone stand up before Crimsonstar, a russet and black tom and the new leader, muttered, "I'm going for a walk, see you all soon." He padded into the deep brush while the others muttered a quick goodbye and resumed their silent farewells to the deseased cat.

Crimsonstar wandered through the forest, letting sorrow wash over him. Suddenly, a small rumble in his stomach reminded him that he needed to hunt, and soon. The russet cat hunted and killed several animals, but couldn't eat any without their crumbled bodies reminding him of Skeletonstar and making him feel sick. Still needing to eat, he quickly spotted a small clearing with a few grape vines hanging on a wall. "This will have to do." he thought, and quickly ate several mouthfuls of the grapes.

Back at camp, Frostgaze and the others were getting worried and started to wonder where Crimsonstar was. Frostgaze volunteered to check for him and quickly padded off. He looked worriedly around trees and through clumps of leaves and moss before finding the russet cat draped across a mossy log. "Crimsonstar!" he exclaimed, helping him stand up and half carrying him back to camp.

Everyone swarmed around Crimsonstar before Darkheart -the dark black and grey medic with rippling scars- and Frostgaze helped Crimsonstar up to the medicine den. "Wha.. what happened?" the russet cat stirred. "Judging by your pungent breath and drowsiness, you ate some fermented berries. (crimsonstar is practically drunk)" The dark tom turned to Frostgaze. "Just let him rest and he'll be fine." Frostgaze nodded before Darkheart smirked and muttered, "I'll leave you two alone." leaving Frostgaze blushing and angry.

When Crimsonstar finally came to again, he kept mumbling about a secret he was keeping, refusing to tell Frostgaze while giggling profusely. Frostgaze fell silent until the larger russet cat started rubbing up to him and nuzzling him, giggling and making the smaller grey tom blush a little. "Stop.." he kept muttering unsmilingly, and eventually the giggling kitten-like mess of russet fur fell back into a deep slumber.

While Crimsonstar slept, Frostgaze was thinking about what the russet tom meant. "I wonder what he meant.. Probably something weird or stupid.." he thought. Suddenly, a little voice in his brain commented, "You know you're hoping its-" Frostgaze cut the voice off, blushing and slightly startled. As if on cue, Crimsonstar woke up and started to get up slightly, looking up at the still blushing Frostgaze. "So what was that secret..?" the grey cat meowed. Crimsonstar stared at him before blurting with slurred meows, "Oh. I forgot, Frosty!! But I have an idea!" giggling and rolling around. "Wha.. What kind of idea..?" Frostgaze asked quietly. "Its to make you smile!!" the russet cat fell to the ground laughing about whatever was the "idea". The grey cat rolled his eyes, meowing "I don't need to smile, it won't make me anywa-" before being cut off by a sudden "I love you!" from Crimsonstar.

"Wh..What?!" Frostgaze exclaimed, extremely surprised but somehow satisfied by the three words. The russet cat across from him suddenly became serious, pressing his nose onto the grey tom's and meowing, "I've been admiring you from a distance for too long now, Frostgaze." Frostgaze was speechless, muttering "I..I.. you .. what?" Crimsonstar looked down sadly and meowed, "Oh. You don't feel the same, do you? Of course a handsome cat like you would be looking for other cats besides stupid me.." The grey cat looked surprised and meowed back, "I'm not sure.. I'll think about it." before padding out of the den just as Darkheart and the other cats came back.

Frostgaze padded up to Tigerfur, a brown tom with black stripes for advice. "Hey, can I talk to you?" he asked before leading him aside from the group. The grey cat proceeded to confess how he was attracted to someone in the clan and knew they probably felt the same, but didn't know how to tell them. "I know that feeling.." Tigerfur meowed, looking into the light blue eyes he found so beautiful. "I would suggest telling them how you feel right away!" the brown tom exclaimed, waiting for a certain answer that would make his life happier and fufill his dreams. "Ok, thanks.." Frostgaze mumbled before padding back into the medicine den, leaving Tigerfur angry and mumbling things under his breath.

"Crimsonstar.. I thought about what you said. Truth is.. I feel the same." the slightly less druken Crimsonstar stared up at Frostgaze. "So.. So you mean..." "Yes. I mean I love you." the grey tom confessed, shifting on his paws. "I just.. I don't know how this will work.. I don't really know how courting.. works.. I mean its so confusing and I just-" he was cut off once again as Crimsonstar exclaimed, "Frostgaze, will you be my mate?!"

The clan had a small mating ceremony to celebrate, and mainly everyone was happy except for two cats.. Willowtail and (surprisingly) Tigerfur sat angrily, frowning and tracing shapes on the ground with their claws as Darkheart smirked at both of them knowingly. After the celebration, Darkheart padded up to the new mates and said "Well, I guess you should be happy Crimsonstar ate those berries, eh?" leaving both Frostgaze and Crimsonstar blushing. "I guess he's right." the russet tom meowed. "Yeah." Frostgaze responded, nuzzling against him and saying "I love you" before they both walked into Crimsonstar's den with big plans. **\*wiggles eyebrows\***

**Chapter 2**

Frostgaze sat in the small clearing of the Shadowclan with his new mate, Crimsonstar, by his side. He merely watched the clouds on the horizon move by, wrapping his tail around Crimsonstar's gently while a slow breeze flowed through the air. The slightly larger russet tom meowed, "I'm glad you accepted to be my mate." while nuzzling Frostgaze in the shoulder with his short muzzle. "I am too." the grey and smaller cat answered, resting his head on Crimsonstar's shoulder gently. A voice cut through the air, Tigerfur calling Crimsonstar over in the distance. "I'm gonna go check what he wants." Frost nodded to Crimsonstar as he padded to where the brown furred tom was standing.

"Hey Crimsonstar." Tigerfur called to the russet cat, showing him a rabbit recently caught. "Do you want this rabbit? I was going to have it but I'm full." Surprised by Tigerfur's sudden kindness, Crimsonstar looked at the rabbit and examined it a little. "Um, no thanks, it smells a bit funny and I don't want anything happening like last time with the berries." he meowed, remembering the time he accidentally ate fermented grapes not too long ago. The russet tom walked back to where Frostgaze was, not seeing Tigerfur's slight smile quickly turning into a sour expression as he left.

Crimsonstar calmly told Frostgaze how Tigerfur wanted to give him a rabbit, while Frostgaze scowled. "Stupid Tigerfur, always trying to get in between me and my mates..." he mumbled, his expression only changing when Crimsonstar reassured him that nothing could ever separate them. "Don't worry Frost, I would never leave you... especially not with all the things you know about.." the russet tom smirked, eliciting a blushing face and a short "be quiet" from the grey tom. Suddenly, Willowstar called the clan members. She told them all that there would be a few patrols she'd like to carry out. The russet fae split some of the clan into groups, Frostgaze with Brokenfeather for hunting, Tigerfur and Crimsonstar for patrol, and Darkheart and Sandflight for gathering herbs. All the cats exchanged a short farewell from their clan members, then carried on their ways.

Crimsonstar and Tigerfur went off to patrol the Shadowclan territory, padding in different directions to check everywhere. Suddenly, Tigerfur had an idea.  'Here's my chance!' he thought wickedly. "Hey Crimsonstar, can you come over here?" Tigerfur asked innocently, waiting for the russet tom to walk over to where he stood. "Look at this.." the brown tom meowed. "What is i-AHH!" Crimsonstar yowled as Tigerfur slammed his face into a nearby log. He got back up, nose bleeding slightly. He snarled at Tigerfur before being pounced on again. As Tigerfur almost dug his teeth into Crimsonstar's neck, the russet cat knocked him off and proceeded to claw his stomach as punishment. "Never say anything if you want Frostgaze alive." the brown tom growled menacingly, then continued to patrol until they were done.

When Crimsonstar and Tigerfur returned from their patrol, they were almost instantly swarmed by the other clan members. "What happened?" asked the cats. Tigerfur glanced at Crimsonstar and meowed confidently, "We ran into some grizzly bears. They were rough, but we're ok." Crimsonstar looked at Frostgaze worriedly before muttering "Yeah.. the bears were pretty tough.." Darkheart wove cobwebs around Tigerfur's stomach wounds, then took Crimsonstar into the medicine for a closer look at his face and back.

As Crimsonstar and Darkheart entered the den, the darker grey cat gave the russet tom a few herbs to stop bleeding and heal him. Then, Darkheart asked, "Did you really get attacked by bears, or was it something else.. Cause these don't look like bear claw marks." Crimsonstar quickly answered, "Well, it wasn't bears.. But let's just say the one attacking me was BARE of intellect.." while walking out of the herb covered den and leaving Darkheart slightly confused at his remark.

**Chapter 3**

Later that evening, the entire clan had a meeting about the "bear" attack, Willowstar talking about how the clan needed to be a bit more careful now that grizzly bears were wandering their territory. After a couple of different cats like Tundrapelt and Arrow brought up a few points of advice and asked questions, the meeting was dismissed and Frostgaze confronted Crimsonstar. "Crimson, was it really a bear attack?" he asked, mirroring Darkheart's earlier question. "Yes.. yeah.. it was bears.. ok?" he replied quickly, confusing Frostgaze with his tense tone and snappy comebacks. "Are you ok...?" Frostgaze pestered Crimsonstar with many concerned questions until Tigerfur walked over and he blurted, "It wasn't bears!"

"It.. wasn't? Willowstar asked, confused as she walked over. "Ye.. yes.. it wasn't bears... it wasn't wolves or foxes either." Frostgaze and Willowstar asked him who it was when Crimsonstar glared over at Tigerfur and snarled, "It was Tigerfur!" angrily. The cats were shocked and didn't believe him at first until Tigerfur stepped out of the dark brush and meowed menacingly, "It WAS me. It was me, for reasons I will explain now." he padded around the group of cats in a circle. "Oh you wont get to explain once we're done with you!" Frostgaze snarled. "Hahaha... The old 'strong cat saves the day' thing, right? Well not THIS TIME!" Tigerfur finished with a growl as several rogue cats ran out of the shadows and attacked the cats.

While they tried to fight, Willowstar, Sketchedfur, and Frostgaze were outnumbered and were quickly subdued. Crimsonstar tried to struggle against the unknown cat's claws, but was quickly kicked by Tigerfur. "The more you struggle and don't let me explain.. the worse it'll be for your friends." as the rogue cats' claws drew nearer and nearer to Willow, Sketched and Frost's necks.... "Ok ok!!! Explain. Just don't hurt them.." the russet tom growled.

"As yes." Tigerfur began. "I had been hiding my emotions from someone... the someone being Frostgaze." The cats were shocked, but still listened silently. "You.. You, Crimsonstar, ruined ALL of my CHANCES by being stupid and eating some grapes!! All in one day!" the brown tom hissed, continuing angrily. "I coudln't let my.. My whole world fall apart like that!! I had to do something. So. I made a plan. First, I poisoned a rabbit's meat with Deathberries to get rid of the cat tearing my dreams apart, but of course that didn't work. So I went on a patrol, and had an idea. I attacked him, and blamed it on grizzly bears. I can't believe you mouse-brains believed me! Anyways, I also assembled a team of strong rogue cats to hold you prisoners while I talked and attacked Crimsonstar. Tigerfur lunged towards the russet tom when suddenly he was hit by a flash of white and black fur!

Brokenfeather and the other clan cats had heard a commotion and went to check it out to find Willowstar, Sketchedfur, Frostgaze and Crimsonstar captured! Broken couldn't let them be killed, so she led an attack against Tigerfur and the rogues. After a whole lot of pouncing, clawing, and definately bone-snapping, the Shadowclan cats emerged victorious, chasing the hurt rogues out of their territory. When Crimsonstar and the others captured were freed, they quickly pounced on Tigerfur and prepared to maul and exile him. "You.. you don't understand! I couldn't let you ruin my dreams, my future, and take the only one I love!" the brown traitor yowled and snarled, trying to fight against the claws of the group. "Save it!" Frostgaze snarled as him and the rest of the clan pounced.

**Epilogue**

Frostgaze, Crimsonstar, and the rest of the clan sat quietly in the summer breeze, relaxing and putting the last few days' events behind them. "I hope nothing ever gets between us, Crimsonstar." Frostgaze blushed, nuzzling his mate while basking in the warm afternoon sun. "Don't worry. I'll make sure we'll never be apart even when we're in Starclan." Crimsonstar purred, his soft tail tapping against Frostgaze's foot lightly as they looked up into the sky calmly. As the afternoon faded into evening, and evening into night, the mates purred a soft "I love you." and "I love you too." before heading off into Crimsonstar's den together.

Click Here to read the continuation made by Tundrapelt

Click here to read a Frosttail fanfiction