[MillietheWarrior]

Jaypaw blinked. "Sorry? For what?" he asked incredulously. This wasn't her fault. It wasn't her fault he was blind, or had been chosen to be a Medicine Cat. His thoughts startled him, however. Usually, he would lash out at anyone who felt sorry for him. He didn't need their pity. But he knew Bearpaw wasn't talking about his blindness. No, there was something else hidden deep within her mind, something he had felt when he was around Leafpool. A deep sadness, a longing, a regret. He wondered why.

"Well...I'm sorry you'll never know love. I don't think it's fair. You do so much for your Clan, for everyone here. But you have so many things taken away from you. It's just not fair...I'm sorry, Jaypaw, I really am." Bearpaw sounded genuinely sorry. Jaypaw felt his heart leap, but only for a moment, before it settled back into it's normal rhythm.

[MillietheWarrior]

He chuckled softly, and his voice was warm, different. He had never heard himself sound this way. And he'd bet than no one else had either. At his soft laugh, he felt Bearpaw's mood lighten, and a spring of hope well up in her mind. Why? He did not know.

"Well, I wouldn't say that I could not love, exactly. I can...But..." His ears flicked in different directions. "But...Only if I choose to. No one would ever know. I'd make sure I never told them. And StarClan cannot read minds. They could never find out." He grinned, something he had never done before, except to openly mock another cat. "So, you could say, that yes, I truly can love. The question is, would anyone love me back?"
It was a rhetorical question, one not meant to be answered. But it would get one either way.

[MillietheWarrior]

Bearpaw couldn't stand that last sentence. She felt her heart do a little flip, and purred softly. "Of course they would Jaypaw. Who wouldn't? You’re kind, intelligent, handsome..." She blinked, and covered her mouth with her tail, eyes wide. Jaypaw's eyes widened as well, and he looked startled.

He looked even more surprised as a deep, rumbling purr wrenched itself from his chest. He had never purred before in his life! His ears flattened against his head, when he felt a pelt brush his, and Bearpaw was beside him. He jerked away, but when he felt her fur brush his once more, in a comforting manner, he sighed and relaxed against her, another deep purr vibrating in his chest.

[MillietheWarrior]

Relaxed, his eyes shut, and leaning against the sweet smelling she-cat, the question came unbidden to his mind, and left his lips before he could stop himself. "Would you?" he murmured in the darkness, his sightless eyes finding and holding her gaze. He wanted to see her. See her face, her eyes, her nose. He wanted to see her. StarClan! Why had he been born blind?

Bearpaw looked uncertain, like a deer caught in the headlights. Her eyes were wide, and when the question shimmered in the air between them, she did not know what to say. She still sat beside him, their pelts brushing, gray and brown intermingling. Without thinking, she pressed her nose to his, letting a small smile flicker across her features. "I..." she paused, and felt Jaypaw tense beside her. "I really think I would..."

[MillietheWarrior]

She heard his small intake of breath, saw the shocked expression written on his features. He opened his mouth to say something, when a shadow fell over the entrance to the den. Leafpool stuck her head inside. "Bearpaw?" she called, amber eyes shining in the dim light. "Millie is looking for you. She wants to take you on a tour of the territory."

Startled, Bearpaw leapt to her feet, her tail twitching wildly. She glanced at Jaypaw, trepidation shining in her eyes, then dipped her head. "See you later, Jaypaw," she mewed frantically, nodding to Leafpool in thanks as she raced out of the den like her tail was on fire.

[MillietheWarrior]

Leafpool stared after her, looking perplexed. "What's gotten into her?" she swiveled around to look at Jaypaw, a silent question hanging in the air. The gray apprentice looked stunned for a moment, shock, pain, and confusion dancing across his face, before he grunted, and turned away, finishing his vole.

"I don't know," he muttered, his mind still on the pretty apprentice and her silent declaration. "I really don't."