So here it is. A chapter of an old story that I never forgot, but got uninspired in. Hope you enjoy!

It was a dark and stormy night, and the rain was pouring down over the ThunderClan camp. Lightning flashed and cracked, illuminating the forest in an odd way, and turning the regular shadows into dark creatures of the night. All was silent in the main part of the camp, and no cat had dared to venture outside unless in some emergency or an urgent need to go to the Dirtplace. In the Warriors', Apprentices', and Elders' dens, all was very still, except for the occasional snores or loud breathing. But now and then, a cry of pain came from the nursery

Inside the nursery, two figures were huddled over one queen who was lying on her side. It was Frostflight and Oatspeckle who were trying to help Leaflight with her first kitting. They tried to quiet her down, but the tortoiseshell kept on wailing or crying out in pain.

"Push, Leaflight, push!" Oatspeckle, the medicine cat, encouraged, "Almost there!"

The queen moaned in low tones, then shrieked and yowled in pain as another contraction gripped her body. A kit slid out from beneath her tail. She groaned loudly.

"It's ok, Leaflight! You're only giving birth, not dying!" Oatspeckle huffed. The golden she-cat was trying to keep down the noise, or else the other cats would probably complain to her the next day.

"Easy- for- you- to- say," Leaflight panted, "You're- not- giving- birth!" She yowled again, quieter than before. Oatspeckle flicked her tail at the sight of the kit. She bent down and nipped the sac surrounding it, took it out, then started ruffling its black fur with her tongue. It started wailing as it crawled over to Leaflight's belly, then was suddenly quiet as it started suckling.

"It's a tom!" Another kit came. "And another!" She sniffed him and lapped at his fur the wrong way. She left the task of licking the second kit to Frostflight and ran her paw over Leaflight's belly. "There's only one more left! Keep pushing!" she meowed over Leaflight's quieting yaps of pain. Oatspeckle tried to help it out, but it didn't seem to want to come out. "I think," she mewed quietly, "I think it might be... Stuck." Leaflight looked panicked, her eyes darting around as she struggled to push the kit out.

"Stuck?!"

"Yes. Stuck. I don't know what to do..." Oatspeckle tried to reposition the kit, and give her herbs, but to no hope. She tried to massage the queen's belly to glide the kit out to try to save the queen and her kit. But to her dismay, blood started pooling slowly at Leaflight's feet. Leaflight stared at her blood-covered legs in confusion, as if she was in shock. She looked dazed.

"I know what we need to do!" A ginger head bobbed in the entrance of the nursery.

"What?"

"It's our only hope to save her... She's too far gone-" the ginger she-cat murmured, "Look at her." The queen was eerily still, jerking from time to time, but her breathing was getting shallower. "She's losing too much blood."

"Then tell me what we should do, Sunsky!" The she-cat looked Oatspeckle in the eye and took a deep breath.

"We need to take her to the Cutter."

"The Cutter?! Are you MAD?"

"I used to live with them, you know! And their medicine is much, much stronger than ours." Oatspeckle sighed.

"Oakstar?" He had a worried look on his face as he watched the weakening queen.

"No, Oatspeckle. Work harder. Surely there's something you can do!"

"I can't!" the golden she-cat snapped, "I've tried everything! It isn't working!"

"Then try harder!"

Leaflight let out a moan, long and deep, and full of suffering. Then, she slipped into unconsciousness. The two fighting cats looked at her in horror. Sunsky shouldered past them and grabbed Leaflight by the scruff. Then, she dragged her out of the nursery.

"What are you doing?!" Oatspeckle yowled.

"Saving my sister!" Sunsky snarled back. She turned and ran out of the entrance. Oatspeckle and Oakstar went after her.

"Stop!" Oakstar snapped, "You're going to kill her!"

Sunsky tried to avoid a muddy puddle and dodged branches. She was faintly aware of the fact that Oakstar and Oatspeckle were after her, and that she was leaving a trail of blood. Her sister's blood. She ran through the forest, going through the bracken and undergrowth, her own pelt cut and bleeding in countless places. But her mind was focused on one thing. Saving her sister. She sighed with relief and almost stopped when she saw that she had reached the outskirts of Twolegplace. She followed her nose and her sight-memory to the place that she once called home.

She got up at one of the brick dens and scratched at the back door. They hated that, but there was no response. Sunsky started yowling and wailing in distress, and a light was quickly flipped on, and the sound of feet pounding urgently down the stairs was heard in a moment. Sunsky shivered as the rain poured down on her pelt, and waited for the door to open. She looked up as the Twoleg opened the door, then Sunsky almost howled with relief. It was her old Twoleg! The female Twoleg gasped in surprise and uttered only two words that Sunsky understood.

"Rose! Clarabelle!" she exclaimed, along with other words Sunsky couldn't understand. The Twoleg let them inside. Sunsky sighed as she absorbed the warmth of the den. The Twoleg picked up Leaflight, and went up the things that Twolegs called "stairs."

A younger female, young, but not a kit in Twoleg's terms, came down with a soft white pelt and quietly started rubbing Sunsky with it, drying her off. She gave Sunsky a pat, then went and filled some shiny dishes with what looked like brown pebbles. She went up the stairs, and a door closed quietly. Sunsky curled up on the soft white pelt and fell asleep.

Sunsky woke up with Leaflight sleeping next to her, with the one kit. They were sleeping on the white pelt, and the orange kit, it was a she-kit, was curled up at Leaflight's belly, sleeping peacefully. She prodded Leaflight with a paw.

"Leaflight. We have to leave." Leaflight groaned, then got up. It was still dark and raining. They walked over to the door, and went out through a tiny one inside that, the perfect size just for them, and they slipped out into the night.

The orange and white kit whimpered, swinging in Sunsky's powerful jaws. They ran back through to the camp, but had to stop several times in order for Leaflight to catch her breath briefly, then started running again. They reached the camp, just as drenched as when they had reached the Twoleg dens. Oakstar and Oatspeckle nodded.

Leaflight headed into the nursery, then collapsed around her kits, licking them to get them dry from the rain that leaked through the top of the nursery. Sunsky started lapping Leaflight's fur, to dry it, then started licking the orange and white she-kit.

"What will they be named?" She nosed the first-born tom. "What's his name?" She looked wistfully at his raven-black pelt, and tiny little white paws.

"Crowkit," Leaflight muttered.

Sunsky nuzzled the other tom kit, the brown one.

"And this one?" Leaflight thought for a moment.

"Darkkit."

Sunsky looked at the tiniest one, the orange little she-kit. She looked shyly at the litter. She gestured with her tail to the she-cat.

"What's her name?" Leaflight thought for a moment. Her eyes rolled over the nursery, and came to rest on a tree outside. She murmured something. "What was that?" Sunsky asked.

"Her name is Maplekit," Leaflight rasped.