This is a new story…yeah…if you didn't notice. –sweatdrop- Um, just letting you guys know that I AM xx-Starfall-xx. So, yes. Let us begin. :D
At first he didn't hear it. The faint wailing and whimpering coming from the nursery. But by the time it was over, Brackenclaw was awake. But let me start from the beginning.
It was a cool new-leaf night. The almost half moon poked through the branches of the trees, sending a watery, milky light upon the sleeping forest. A slight breeze ruffled a few leaves on the trees, casting strange silhouettes on the ground. Brackenclaw was of course, like almost every other Clan member, asleep in his den.
Brackenclaw was a young warrior, fighting his way towards seniority. He was most definitely a pleaser, always trying to find the most prey, offering to go on patrols, or helping other warriors with their mentoring if they needed any help. It really was about time Brackenclaw received his first apprentice, but the Clan had no queens except two.
One was an elderly queen named Leafwhisker, about ready to retire, but she couldn't until her kit was made an apprentice. And that kit was called Graykit. A simple name for a blind, gray kit. The other queen just so happened to be Brackenclaw's mate, Silverpool. She was a beautiful silver tabby she-cat with stunning blue eyes-the dream mate of any tom. How Brackenclaw managed to snatch her, and how stupid Silverpool could've been for accepting him as her mate, we'll never understand.
Silverpool was very pregnant. Her belly was largely swollen. The medicine cat, Ashfeather, claimed he had never seen such a huge belly full of kits. And that night happened to be the night in which they were released into the dangerous, cold world full of battle, disease, and natural disaster.
Brackenclaw had always been a deep sleeper. If he ever fell asleep while guarding the camp and a fox came inside, he'd never notice. So the wailing continued while Brackenclaw snored in the warriors' den.
"Brackenclaw, stop being a lazy badger and come see your kits!"
"Wh…wha?" Brackenclaw groggily lifted his head, snorting while doing so. "I don't have any kits. Would you stop prodding me like that?"
"Now you do," Flamepelt meowed excitedly. "Silverpool had her kits!"
Brackenclaw leapt to his paws. He could finally have something that the other warriors would be jealous of! He dashed out of the warriors' den, a stray scrap of moss dangling from his tail, and into the nursery as quickly as he could.
He had never seen so many kits. And in one litter, at that.
"Silverpool," Brackenclaw breathed. "Six kits?" Ginger, brown, black, white, gray, and blue-gray. Six kits.
Silverpool purred and rasped her tongue over a gray tabby tom. It gave a small mewl and curled into a ball closer to her belly. "They're beautiful. We must think of names for them, though."
Brackenclaw, who was still in shock, nodded dumbly. "Um, sure."
"There are three she-kits and three tom kits," Ashfeather explained. "Happy raising." He padded out of the nursery, his smoky black tail disappearing behind a wall of bramble.
"How about Dovekit, for the white she-cat?" Silverpool asked.
Brackenclaw nodded again. "And maybe Pebblekit, for the gray tabby tom?"
"For the ginger she-cat, Petalkit. Oh, she has white paws?"
"Apparently. Do you like, uh…Ravenkit for the black tom?"
"Sure. I've always wanted to name a kit Birchkit. Is that okay for the brown tom?"
"Fine with me," Brackenclaw meowed, shrugging. "What's the blue-gray she-cat going to be named?"
Silverpool studied the little kit, her tail-tip twitching thoughtfully. "Maybe…Moonkit?"
"No, Mistkit!" Brackenclaw's eyes gleamed and he flicked his ears proudly.
Flamepelt, on the other hand, was amazed that the headstrong, ignorant tom could think of such a beautiful name for his own kit.
--
"Are they the ones?" Cinderpelt stared down upon the six, tiny, newborn kits curled in the curve of Silverpool's belly.
"They can't possibly be the ones," Oakheart scoffed. "By the time comes for them to leap into action, they'll just be learning how to walk."
"Patience, Oakheart," Bluestar purred, flicking his ear with her tail. "I promise you, they are the ones."
Mysterious, ne? No, not really. xD School (schol, for Ziro) started! Now I can't update as much. Stupid school, or schol. See ya'll in the next chapter.
xx-Starfall-xx
xx-Moonshine-xx