-Hope- In the Name of Love: I hate the stereotyping in Warriors so much – especially in ShadowClan's case. (They are not ZOMFG evil, no matter what the Erins say.)

xx-Starfall-xx: I lost the link. Don't worry about the requests thing, though. My fault. :) Oh, and I knew you were Amberstar.

Darren's Wings: Yes, I capitalized "Does" and "It." Aren't you so proud of me? XD Well, there was Gorsepaw, who died in the battle, and then Gorsekit, who you hear about in the canon. The latter was named after the first Gorsepaw.

Duckstar: Yeah, whatever. N00bishly hating a cat for doing nothing really grabs my attention. end sarcasm

Kaloleina: -pokes the reply she gave to Darren's Wings- Gorsepaw I and Gorsepaw II are two completely different cats.

Summary: Poem. The death of a close friend makes a certain cat realize that, maybe, she was looking for a bit more than friendship ...

Chapter 8

Things Left Unsaid

In silence I sit vigil,
In silence I reflect
Upon things kept hidden
And things left unsaid.

I sit beside the body
Of a dear friend of mine.
She died today
In a battle not hers to fight.

Others like her fell
To the same deadly enemy,
But I grieve for her the most
On this bloody day.

And as I reflect in silence
I wondered what it's like
To live the life she lived,
And to die the death she died.

She was my apprentice once
Before she hurt her leg.
She could never be the warrior
She always wanted to be.

She became a medicine cat instead.
Then, it became hard to see
The energetic apprentice
She was before.

And moons ago she told me,
"I'll always be your friend."
And I never once wondered
If she wanted to be more than that.

The thoughts begin to nag at me,
Thoughts I'm afraid to think.
It's too late now to ask her
What she really thought of me.

As I bury my nose in her fur
And try to smell her scent,
I wonder if I'm acting crazy
Because it simply can't be true.

But as time passes
I find myself thinking it's correct.
She argued with my mate a lot
Before I admitted my love to Sandstorm.

The horizon is turning different colours
As the sun begins to rise;
And the others sitting vigil
Begin to stir.

I don't move from where I sit,
Even when the elders come
To take her body away.
I want to stay here all day.

They tell me they have to take her
To bury her in her grave.
I bury my nose in her fur
To try and smell her scent again.

The scent is gone, just like her,
And I'm forced to step aside
So the elders can take her body
To the unused burying place.

I watch her body
Until it's out of sight.
Then I lie down
And begin to think again.

My heart feels ripped in two,
I wish she wasn't dead.
I wish I had known sooner
And spoken to her about it.

But now, it's too late;
She's dead and gone.
There's nothing I can do about it,
No matter what I try.

I get to my paws
And walk away from where I'd been.
I wish I could think about it more
but I need to help my Clan.

Before I go to help
I send a silent prayer to her
Though first I look around
To make sure no one's near.

"I'm sorry for everything I did.
I'm sorry I never cared enough to ask,
I'm sorry it's too late
To tell this to you in this world.

I love you too
But like a friend, or a sister.
As much as I wish I could,
I never loved you like that.

Sandstorm was the one for me,
With Spottedleaf in second.
But I will always love you like a sister, Cinderpelt,
Though you're with me no longer."

And as I turn to leave
A gentle breeze wraps around me.
A familiar voice whispers in my ear,
"It's okay – I always knew we were never meant to be."

As the voice fades away
And the breeze ebbs as well,
I know she's lying;
It was never okay with her.

I realize with a pang
How much it hurts to learn
Of things meant to be kept hidden,
And things meant to be left unsaid.

Well, I promised this, didn't I? Another Cinderpelt x Firestar one-shot. And I gave it to you. :) I always knew that a one-shot concerning this pairing would be the one to end this collection.

Yep, you read that right. This is the last one-shot.

I know I promised to extend the amount of one-shots in this collection to ten. I changed my mind again. Don't eat me, please. Either way, this story will be completed. I'm not changing my mind. :) I wanted this fic to be done so I could start a new one for Warriors, which will be entitled "What Hides in the Night" and will be an AU, where the badgers actually succeeded in killing the Clans ... except for a few cats. :) (Thought I'd advertise while I still could. XD Keep an eye out for it? Please?)

Now, for dedications!

--This story is dedicated to:

Every single reviewer. I platonically love you all!

Darren's Wings, who somehow managed to inspire the seventh one-shot during a conversation at Ravenclaw's Secret Bookshelf.

Everyone who added this to their favourites and/or alert list.

AND

The readers, obviously. Can't forget you, can I?--

Thanks to you all!