A/N: This will probably be my last fic for awhile, I hope you all enjoy it.
Leaves swirled around Kestrel, as a gust of wind breezed past, causing her fur to stand on end. She glanced over at her brother, Little One, who was now on his back, with his legs churning the air.
"Hah! The wind knocked Little One off of his paws," her other brother, Cotton, snorted.
"Yeah, if he was smart, he'd grip the ground with his claws like I am," her final brother, Thistle, meowed.
"Be nice, Little One is much smaller than you," their mother, Annie, scolded them.
"Sorry," the two toms sighed in unison.
Kestrel rolled her eyes, and padded over to Little One, helping him up.
"Thanks," he mewed, shaking the leaves out of his coat.
"Come on kits, we'll be protected from the wind when we reach Barley's barn," Annie meowed, flicking her tail, signaling for them to follow.
"What's Barley's barn?" Thistle asked.
Kestrel had been wondering the same thing, but she didn't want to bother her mother by asking her so many questions. Not when she could see how tired she was. It was like she was having trouble just standing, much less going on this journey, and wasting her breath answering questions that they would probably find out anyway.
Despite her tiredness, Annie meowed.
"Barley is an old friend, his barn is where he lives."
"Is he like a kittypet?" Cotton spat, bristling slightly.
"There's nothing wrong with kittypets, my grandmother Smoke was a kittypet, before she met Onewhisker.." she suddenly broke off, and her blue eyes hardened.
Kestrel wondered what that could be about, but she didn't ask.
"Anyway," Annie meowed in her usual chipper voice, and it was like she had never been angry.
Maybe I was just imagining it, Kestrel thought, or maybe the tiredness was getting to her mother.
"Barley is a very nice cat, and I'm sure he'll be thrilled to see you, he doesn't get much visitors, and I suspect he's been pretty lonely since his mate died," Annie continued.
"His mate died?" Little One gasped, with horror in his blue eyes, "What happened to her?"
"He got really ill, that's all I know."
"He?" Cotton let out a hiss of disbelief, "But Barley's a tom too right? How can his mate also be a tom? That's so weird!"
"You're so weird you mean," Thistle spat, cuffing Cotton over the ear.
Cotton let out a growl, and pounced on his brother, pinning him under his much larger weight.
"Get off me!" Thistle spat, kicking Cotton in the stomach with his hind feet.
Kestrel took a step forward, to break up the fight, but Annie barred her with her tail.
"Let them fight it out, they're going to have to learn how to defend themselves someday."
"But they're really hurting each other!" Kestrel gasped, when Cotton raked his claws across Thistle's shoulder, red stood out brightly against white, as blood seeped through the gashes.
"They have their grandfather's fighting spirit, that's for sure," Annie purred.
Kestrel stared at her mother in disbelief, was she actually praising her kits for fighting?
She shook her head, her mother was obviously tired, and not thinking clearly.
"Do you give up?" Cotton growled at Thistle.
"Never!" Thistle screeched, kicking Cotton off of him, and pinning the larger tom down, before he had time to recover.
"Stop it," Annie spat, much to Kestrel's relief, "We're almost there."
In the distance, she could see a large barn, standing in front of that barn, was a black and white shape.
The two tom-kits grumbled, but they did as Annie instructed them to.
"That was awesome, you're getting really strong!" Thistle exclaimed, praising his brother, though they had just been clawing off each other's pelts only moments before.
"Yeah, I can't believe you actually managed to get the upper paw this time," Cotton meowed.
Kestrel shook her head, and rolled her eyes, brothers were so weird.
She decided to push her thoughts about her brothers from her mind, and focus on what was happening now. As they got closer, she could see that the black and white shape, was actually an elderly stocky tom.
She felt a bit hesitant about approaching him, and she could tell Little One felt the same way, from the way he hid behind Annie. Cotton even fluffed up a bit. Thistle however, had no qualms. He ran right up to the tom.
"Hi, I'm Thistle, our pelts match! Though, not exactly, you have way more white than me, I only have white on part of my face, and on my leg."
He lifted up his white foreleg.
"I'm Thistle by the way, these are my littermates, Cotton, he's really big and scary, but he's not so bad once you get to know him, Kestrel, she's a she-kit, but don't let that fool you, she can fight just as well as the rest of us!"
Kestrel's pelt warmed with pride over her brother's praise.
"And lastly, there's Little One, he was named Little One because he's the runt."
"Sorry about him," Annie meowed, padding over.
The elderly tom mrrowed.
"I don't mind, it's nice to have some cat to talk to."
Annie dipped her head.
"Thank you for letting us stay here, I just don't feel comfortable with them being out in this weather, now, if they had a clan to protect them, then that would be different."
"I thought Mother hated the clans," Little One whispered in Kestrel's ear.
"Shh!" she hissed back, "We're never supposed to tell anyone about her past, remember?"
For as long as Kestrel could remember, her mother had been making up stories about where she came from. One time, she told a cat that she was a kittypet, whose twolegs had abandoned her, another time, she told another cat, that she was just a loner passing through. Kestrel didn't know why she never wanted any cat to know the truth, and she never asked.
She turned her attention back to her mother and the other cat, who she guessed was Barley, who else could he be?
"Stay as long as you need to, there's enough room and mice for everyone," Barley meowed.
"Mice?" Cotton's ears pricked with interest, and he took a small step forward.
"I bet I can catch more mice than you!" Thistle challenged, lashing his spiky furred tail.
"You're on!" Cotton exclaimed, no longer sounding timid, and both toms scampered into the barn.
Even though Kestrel's mouth was watering with anticipation of catching a mouse or two of her own, she stayed back with Little One, she figured it'd be a bit rude, to just barge in, even though Annie and Barley didn't seem to mind.
"Come on in out of the cold," Barley meowed, waving his tail, beckoning them forward.
Kestrel took a step forward, but then turned back around, when she didn't hear Little One follow her. He was lying there, curled up in a ball, and shaking, and she knew it wasn't just from the cold.
"It'll be okay," she reassured him, "I'll protect you."
"O-Okay," he mewed, still sounding uncertain, but he followed her anyway.
Warmth surrounded Kestrel, and for the first time in what seemed like moons, her paw pads didn't feel frozen.
"Hey Kestrel, I caught you a mouse!" Thistle exclaimed. He started padding over to her, when his path was blocked by Cotton.
"We're supposed to feed the biggest cat first, and that would be Barley, besides, it's his barn, it'd be the polite thing to do."
"He's right," Kestrel meowed, ignoring the gnawing hunger in her belly, as Thistle dropped the mouse at Barley's paws.
The stocky black and white tom looked taken aback.
"Thank you, but I've already eaten, and you kits need it more than I do."
Kestrel bent down to take a bite out of it, when Cotton pulled it away from her, much to her dismay.
"Mother is the second biggest cat here, she should get the food."
"Okay," Kestrel meowed with a reluctant sigh, following her brother, who was carrying the mouse towards their mother.
"I can't eat right now," she meowed, "I have to go somewhere."
"Where are you going?" Kestrel asked with disbelief, her hunger forgotten.
"Away, I need you four to go to the clans, they'll accept four helpless kits, but they'll never accept me."
"We're not helpless!" Cotton protested.
"Find the clans," Annie meowed, ignoring Cotton's outburst, "Barley will help point you in the right direction, but remember, never ever tell them about who you are, or where you came from."
"But why?" Thistle asked, now standing beside Cotton. Kestrel glanced over his shoulder, to see that Little One was fast asleep, completely oblivious to what was going on.
"Just do as I say, and when you four receive your warrior names, I want you to come and find me, then, we can work on the next step of our plan."
Without another word, Annie darted out of the barn.
She didn't say goodbye to Little One! Kestrel thought with dismay, wondering how hurt her brother would be when he woke up.
"What plan?" Thistle called.
Nothing but the howling of the wind answered him back, and Kestrel knew in her heart, that their mother was gone.
A/N: The OC sheet
Name:
Appearance:
Gender:
Rank:
Do you want them to have a mate/do they already have a mate:
Do you want them to have kits/do they already have kits:
Do they prefer toms or she-cats?:
Personality:
Family:
Backstory (optional):
Anything Else: