Willow was walking through the slightly wet forest from the sprinkling the other night. The sun was barely up but Willow and her kits were walking for a long time. Their legs ached, begging for them to stop and rest but Willow was determined to find a good home for her to raise her kits. Not a twoleg place, no; ever since Newt's death, Willow couldn't bring herself to find a twoleg, not forgiving them. The sun raised higher as it shined through The young she-cat stopped and looked at behind her; Oak was running and bouncing after her as if playfully chasing a butterfly while Wolf has his head lowered and was speed-walking towards his family as fast as he could. Oak yowled with laughter, zooming past Willow as she looked with shock before rolling her eyes tiredly; Oak was always hyper, sometimes it's tiring.
"Oak! Oak! Wait for your mommy and brother, Dear!" Willow speed-walked towards the hyper kit and gently grabbed his tail with her mouth, causing him to stop. Oak squealed before twisting around and batted his soft paws rapidly at Willow, who purred in amusing at her son's determination.
"I'm here! I'm here!" Wolf exclaimed, managing to reach his mother before slowly collapsing, looking tired. Willow let go of Oak before turning her attention towards Wolf. "Do you want me to carry you?"
"No, no. I got it" Wolf yowled, struggling to his feet and started walking. Willow watched her son before shrugging it off and continued her way behind Wolf with Oak once again bouncing after them with a happy yowl. They continued walking before finally Wolf stops and sat down, taking a few deep breaths. Willow shook her head with a small purr before reaching down and grabbing a mouthful of his fur and picked the gray tom-kit up, it was obvious that Wolf wanted to complain but he didn't say anything. Willow jogged quickly with Oak literally right behind her, jumping every now and then while batting at the gray cat's tail.
Willow turned and looked at her son in teasing amusement as she suddenly started swiping her tail around rapidly, making it harder for the auburn tom to bat at it; he squealed in laughter and shock as he jumped higher and harder to try to catch the tail. Wolf just dangled from Willow's mouth, being curled in a ball with his ears flattened and eyes closed; his fur was bushed up in embarrassment at the fact that he still had to carried by his mother, especially since Oak was zooming all over the place without breaking a sweat.
"How far do we have to go until we get to our new home?" Wolf whispered, slowly opening his eyes and looked up at Willow. The young she-cat tensed up, flatten her ears slightly. She has honestly doesn't know, all she wanted to get as far away from that twoleg place as possible; never thought of their final destination. Willow stopped, needing to think which caused oblivious Oak to bump into her leg and collapsed on the ground with a quiet 'oof!'.
"I don't know...Little Wolf.." Willow answered, honestly. The kit looked up at her while Oak walked in front of them and leaned his head back to see them. Willow stared at Oak with her soft eyes, failing to hide the negative emotions that swirled in them before lowering her head and placed Wolf down, sighing. Wolf walked around Oak before standing then sitting next his elder brother as they both looked at the confusion she-cat.
"I...Mommy...did I say something wrong...?" Wolf asked, walking towards Willow and gently placed his tiny forepaw on hers. Willow perked her ears up and stared at Wolf with slightly widen eyes before slowly softened them with a quiet purr.
"No...You didn't.." Willow said, giving the gray tom-kit a lick on his forehead before slowly raising her head and stared blankly ahead of her, saying: "Mommy is just thinking, that's all". That really didn't convinced the brothers as they stared at each other with concern and confusion before shrugging slightly and stared back at their mother. Willow sighed before flicking her kits with her fluffy tail.
"Let's go"
(Few hours later)
A mouse was quickly zooming around a grassy area, digging around and twitching it's whiskers. It got on it's hind legs and gently brushed cleaned it's nose with it's forepaws when it felt movement in the ground. It looked around alerted before paws rammed it to the ground. Willow gently gave the mouse a quick bite so it would have a quick death; she stared at the now-dead creature before picking it up and walking over to her kits, who were cuddling together underneath a bush. Willow didn't know how to watch her kits and hunt at the same time, she tried hunting with them once but Wolf didn't like the sight of his mother killing something and she didn't want them separated. So she made a routine; whenever she goes hunting, her kits would hide in a bush and no matter what, not move a muscle until they see her walking towards the bush.
"Here, little ones" Willow said, placing the mouse in front of them. Oak and Wolf sniffed the fresh kill before starting to nibble and finally, took big bites. Willow sat down, wrapping her tail around her paws and watched the two youngsters eat. It was so calm and peaceful, Willow always loved the forest despite being raised in a nasty twoleg place where it was hard to find food and twolegs would leave some disgusting things with some food.
(Flashback)
"Mommy, it's icky!" Willow as a kit whined as her mother placed a sticky and rotten chicken leg in front of her. Her mother growled, jerked her head up, and stared at her with anger, yet, sadness while twitching her right ear. Willow flinched in a frighten crouching position as her mother glared at her with such anger and hatred, a hint of annoyance but she knew she wasn't mad at her. She was mad at something else...
"I understand, little Willow" her mother whispered in such a depressing voice, wrapping her tail around the small kit. "But this is the only food I can find...I wish I could find something better for us but the cats here are greedy...they will hurt the both of us for food.."
"Why are the cats so mean?" Willow asked, looking up at her mother. Fern's mother twitched both of her ears down and up before looking down at her but right when she opened her mouth...
"Because they hold such pride that in themselves that they believe that they shouldn't help suffering mothers and kits" an angry snarled was heard behind them. They both turned around to see a tom walking towards them, tail swaying rapidly side to side; this tom was Willow's father. He stopped and sat across from Willow's mother, next to Willow; he then looked down at his only kit before speaking in a soft tone. "Eat up, young one. You should appreciate the food we have now. It's best to treasure something before it is truly gone...", Willow twitched her right ear before looking down at the chicken; she swallowed before slowly opening her mouth and took a bite.
(End of Flashback)
Willow twitched her right ear as she looked down at her kits, who were still eating the mouse. 'best to treasure something before it is truly gone', Willow's father lived by those words for almost his whole life. Whenever Willow would complain about something, her father would repeat the words to her, saying she should appreciate what she already has before truly losing it. She treasured her family and Newt for as long as she could remember and now she lost them all. Her father was killed by a twoleg while trying to find food for his mate and kit. Few moons after that, her mother vanished after a monstrous rainstorm; she felt so lonely without her parents but then Newt came and now he's gone. She would have felt lonely but she still had her kits- her small, fluffy, and adorable bundles of joy.
"Treasure something before it's truly gone...I will treasure my kits just as I treasured my mate and parents" Willow thought, letting out a soft purr.
