Crowfeather and Leafpool’s relationship

“I would give my last drop of blood to save your kit. You know that.” — Leafpool to Crowfeather

Sympathy

Leafpaw begins to notice Crowfeather after his warrior ceremony in Dawn. He tells Tallstar to name him Crowfeather in honor of his lost love, Feathertail. Leafpaw believes that she sees the spirits of Feathertail and Silverstream, Feathertail’s mother, watching the ceremony. As Crowfeather’s grief lessens, he gets closer to Leafpaw on the journey to the lake.

After the Clans get to the lake, a patrol is set out to explore the territory more. All the cats who made the journey, plus Mistyfoot, were sent on the patrol. Leafpaw was determined to get to know Crowfeather better, but she wasn’t sent on the patrol. Cinderpelt asks her if she wished she were sent on the patrol, but Leafpaw lies to her and says she doesn’t.

Once the Clans have to separate again to go to their new camps, Leafpaw offers to help Crowfeather with a sick elder. He snaps at her, and Squirrelflight defends her sister to the dark gray tom and he apologizes. Leafpaw thinks he snapped at her because he was still grieving for Feathertail. Leafpaw goes back to her patrol and leaves the WindClan one alone.

Later on, Leafpaw goes to WindClan to deliver herbs for their elders. Crowfeather is angry with her and wants her to leave, but One whisker tells him to help her and then escort her back to ThunderClan; Crowfeather doesn’t speak on the way to ThunderClan.

When Leafpaw discovers the Moonpool, Feathertail speaks with her and tells her to send this message to Crowfeather: to not grieve over her and not blind himself to the living. Leafpaw goes to WindClan to inform them of the Moonpool, and passes Feathertail’s message to Crowfeather out of earshot. He becomes angry and says there won’t be another cat like Feathertail. During Mudclaw’s rebellion, WindClan and ShadowClan cats supporting Mudclaw invade ThunderClan camp, and Leafpaw (now Leafpool) is knocked off the edge of the hollow, barely hanging on. Crowfeather comes to rescue her but he freezes, remembering Feathertail’s death. He saves Leafpool from falling, and he confesses his feelings for her. Leafpool is shocked by his confession, but she knows she feels the same way.

Sneaking Out

After the invasion, Leafpool and Crowfeather sneak out of their Clans secretly at night and start seeing each other regularly at the border between ThunderClan and WindClan. The two believe that they will become mates despite the warrior code saying cats from other Clans mustn’t love each other, and that medicine cats can’t have a mate and kits.

Eventually, Cinderpelt, Leafpool’s mentor, finds out about their relationship and reminds Leafpool of the code she promised to keep. Leafpool says that she loves Crowfeather and doesn’t want to stop. Cinderpelt tells Crowfeather to go away and then slashes Leafpool’s face, forcing the medicine cat apprentice to run off. Spottedleaf meets her and tells her to follow her heart. Leafpool and Crowfeather meet at the border, and the two run off together beyond the Clans’ territory.

Leafpool begins to doubt her decision to leave, missing her Clan and sister. Crowfeather seems happy with the decision, though, and reluctantly agrees to go back to the Clans with Leafpool. The two go to ThunderClan after being warned by Midnight, a badger, about badgers attacking the Clans. Leafpool is devastated when she finds Cinderpelt dead, and tells Crowfeather that they cannot see each other anymore. This breaks Crowfeather’s heart, but he respects her decision.

Their Kits

A few days after the battle, Leafpool realizes that she’s pregnant with Crowfeather’s kits. She intends to tell him when she sees him at the border they used to meet at. Crowfeather starts telling Leafpool that he has a new mate, Nightcloud, and that she’s expecting his kits. Leafpool is hurt and decides not to tell Crowfeather about her pregnancy.

Mousefur starts to notice Leafpool getting heavier and thinks she’s been eating too much prey. Leafpool uses the excuse of finding a rare herb to escape from the camp and give birth. Her sister comes with her to help since she’s the only one who knows about Leafpool expecting Crowfeather’s kits. The two sisters journey until they’re good enough away from the Clans for Leafpool to have her kits.

Leafpool first gives birth to a black she-cat, then a big golden tom, and lastly a small blind gray tom. Leafpool names the golden tom Lionkit and wants to name the black she-cat Crowkit since she looks like her father, but Squirrelflight wants to name her Hollykit. Leafpool knew that if she claimed the kits were hers, she’d have to step down as medicine cat. She agrees to name the kit Hollykit since Squirrelflight will be her mother. She finally names the last tom Jaykit.

When they return to ThunderClan, Squirrelflight claims the kits are hers and Brambleclaw’s, lying to everyone.

The Truth

When Lionblaze, Jayfeather, and Hollyleaf find out that they’re the kits of Leafpool and Crowfeather, Hollyleaf tells all the Clans the truth at the Gathering. Crowfeather denies this, saying that his only mate is Nightcloud and his only son is Breezepelt. Leafpool tells Crowfeather that it’s true, and she gave birth to them in secret, giving the kits to her sister so that nobody knew.

Leafpool turned down her medicine cat duties after the truth was spilled. Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw broke up since she had lied to him. Hollyleaf went into the tunnels since she couldn’t stand being a half-Clan kit. Jayfeather and Lionblaze stuck together and pretended Leafpool and Squirrelflight were just ordinary Clanmates.

After the Great Battle, Crowfeather sits vigil for his daughter Hollyleaf. Leafpool tells the WindClan tom that she never intended for any of this to happen and things might have turned out differently if they had stayed together, but he tells her it was never supposed to happen, and she flinches. He strokes her cheek with his tail and tells her that he regrets none of it.