This one was a request from a review! Thanks for all of them! I really appreciate it. :) And srry about the slowslow update! I've been sooo busy with school. :( Please review and here it is!

The russet warrior padded through the shadows. She was looking for a white warrior; she was supposed to meet him. The pine needles crackled underneath her paws, and she soon came to a clearing, farther away from her camp than she had been in a long while. The tomcat she was looking for was the most elegant and regal tom she had ever met. The russet she-cat wrapped her tail around her paws, waiting for him to arrive.

"Russetfur!" a male voice called. "Are you there?"

"Blackstar!" the she-cat called. "I'm over here!"

The white warrior padded over to his love. He pushed his muzzle against hers.

"Blackstar, I have something to show you…"

"What?" the leader was alarmed. "What is it? Are you hurt? Have you found some other tom?"

Russetfur cuffed him over his ears. "Of course not! Here, follow me."

Blackstar followed his mate, dazed, over to a small fern by some small, new-leaf pine trees.

"They will be warriors!" Russetfur whispered.

"They?" Blackstar gasped and pushed his head into the bushes. Small mewing noises were coming from the bushes. Blackstar gasped as he saw four little bodies pawing at the air, their eyes not even open yet. "Russetfur, what in the name of StarClan…"

The she-cat flopped down and let her kits drink her milk. They stopped mewing.

"This is Dawnkit," she pointed to a she-kit. "And Flamekit, and Tigerkit."

"What in the…"

"Blackstar," the russet she-cat was concerned. "Do you like them?"

"Do I like them?" Blackstar breathed. "They are my kits. I don't like them at all. I love them!"

Blackstar nuzzled Tigerkit back at his mama's belly; he had wriggled free. "We can't let anyone know about them," he meowed.

"I know," Russetfur was crestfallen. "But we can't let anyone know. You told me that Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt are becoming close, right? We could give our kits to them."

Blackstar nodded. He whispered something and let Russetfur stay there.

"Littlecloud!" Blackstar hissed into the blackness of the den. "Littlecloud!"

A white head lifted up from a pile of bracken. Blackstar's eyes were adjusting quickly to the dark.

"What do you want?" the medicine-cat blinked, his eyes sticky with sleep. Littlecloud yawned and stretched. "Is something wrong?" he meowed, surprisingly alert.

"No, but I need some borage."

"Borage?" Littlecloud licked his front paw. "Isn't that for she-cats? You should know this, Blackstar."

"Yes, yes, I know," Blackstar hissed again. "I need it for Tawnypelt. She needs milk. For Russetfur, please! This is important."

Littlecloud's eyes darkened. "Ah, those kits finally came. Here, take some. I'll go warn Tawnypelt."

The white medicine-cat pounced out of the den, and into the warriors'. Blackstar shook his head.

"Littlecloud's a medicine-cat, frog-brain?" he scolded himself. "He, at least, should've noticed Russetfur's kits."

Tawnypelt bounded into the den. She thought that Russetfur was dead! Ever since that battle… she shook her head. She had always wanted kits, even when she was in ThunderClan. And Rowanclaw would be the perfect father…

"Russetfur! What has happened to you? Why didn't you come back? Russetfur!"

The she-cat gazed at her, her years of experience showing in her gleaming eyes.

"Well, I guess that I'll have to take in these kits, anyways," Tawnypelt took in the sight of the three little scraps of fur.

"This one is Dawnkit, the only she-kit, and then the other two are Flamekit and Tigerkit," Russetfur touched her tail tip to b the three kits as she said their names.

"They're so… precious!" Tawnypelt was nervous. Was Tigerkit such a good idea? Even the tiny, mewling kit reminded her of her bloodthirsty father. Tawnypelt took one step away, but then padded forward again.

"They're just kits, frog-brain," she scolded herself. And Tigerkit would help the Clan belive that these were her kits.

"I'll take them," she meowed.

"I know just how to get you seem like you're expecting kits," a voice spoke behind her.

Tawnypelt jumped around, shocked and then fierce, ready to protect the kits soon to be claimed as hers.

"It's just me, Tawnypelt," Littlecloud grumbled. "No need to be a mouse-brain."

"Sorry Littlecloud," she apologized. "So you were saying?"

"You need two-legs."

Tawnypelt wrinkled her nose. "Those clumsy, hairless creatures? Why?"

"They'll feed you."

"No!" Tawnypelt hissed. "Not that disgusting slop, it looks like rabbit-dung! And it smells like fox dung. I, for one, am a regal she-cat. I'd prefer to be a million fox-lengths away from two-legs."

"Now, now Tawnypelt," Littlecloud padded forward and put his tail on her shoulders. "You're doing this for the kits. Not for anything else."

Tawnypelt sighed. "For the kits… but don't think I'll go mewling like a new-born to those clumsy creatures. I still have my pride, if anything at all."

"She-cats," Littlecloud mumbled.

Russetfur raced through the forest. It had been a long time since she had been around these parts. She was nearing the camp when…

"Get off of our territory you mangy flea-pelt!" a she-cats voice called.

Russetfur turned around to see a cream-colored she-cat staring at her with bristling fur. A dark tabby tom followed behind her.

"Dawnpelt!" he bristled when he saw Russetfur. "Who's this?"

"An intruder, Tigerheart."

"I'm not an intruder," the russet she-cat purred. "Where's your brother?"

Tigerheart flinched and Dawnpelt's eyes clouded with grief for a few seconds, and then she arched her back. "How do you know we have a brother?"

"Where's Blackstar?" Russetfur asked.

"I'll fetch him…" Tigerheart leapt into the dark foliage almost sorrowfully.

After a while, the white leader entered the space.

"Now, Tigerheart, I don't know why you would bring me to some random clearing in the middle of the territory…"

He stopped dead when he saw the russet warrior. "Ah, a musty rogue!"

Russetfur spat at the tom. "What? Don't you recognize me, or did someone replace your brain with a flea?"

Blackstar's fur bristled. "Leave," he ordered Tigerheart and Dawnpelt. "I'll deal with her."

The two littermates bounded into the bushes. Blackstar curled his tail around his paws. "Russetfur, how've you been? I haven't seen you in moons!"

Russetfur spat again. "What, now you're friendly?"

Blackstar laughed and touched his tail to her shoulders. "I see you've met your litter."

"Your litter?" Dawnpelt's voice came from the shadows.

"I told you to leave! How dare you disobey your leader?"

"We just thought you'd need some back-up," Tigerheart muttered as he pushed his flank through the bracken.

"What, one rogue isn't enough for a clan leader?"

Tigerheart dipped his head in shame but Dawnpelt held her gaze. "So this is our mother?"

"What's it to you, kitten?" Russetfur said half-jokingly. She attempted to touch her muzzle but her daughter baked away.

"Well why bring Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt into this? Why not just say that we were found in the forest?"

"Because," Russetfur hissed. "Then, little Dawnkit, you're cream fur would come from your grandmother's golden pelt in a paler form. And Tigerkit would be like Tigerstar, your father. And as for Flamekit, he could get his form from Rowanclaw. Now, where is your brother? I want to see him!"

"He's…" Tigerheart started.

"You're too late, mother," Dawnpelt said somewhat less fiercer than she was trying to sound. "Flametail's in StarClan now, no thanks to your love and support."

Russetfur felt as if a piece of prey was stuck in her throat. "He's dead?" she whimpered.

Dawnpelt choked out something then just nodded.

"He fell through the ice," Blackstar said. He somehow managed to sound strong. "No thanks to Redwillow and all those other fools."

Russetfur nodded. Dawnpelt meowed, "Who's our real father then?"

"I am," Blackstar purred. Dawnpelt's muzzle fell open.

"The leader's son's mate is in Thunder…" Tigerheart cleared his throat awkwardly. No cat seemed to notice his mishap.

The family sat in silence.

After the Great Battle, all the cats went home with limp limbs.

Dovewing still met up with Tigerheart.

"Jayfeather knows that these are ours," she admitted to him one night.

Tigerheart slowly nodded, still taking in the image of his kits in the moonlight. Though they were born over the border, they still belonged in ThunderClan. "Will they know that they're mine?"

"I'll just say that they're Bumblestripe's," Dovewing murmured. "Even he will believe that they're his."

The four kits nuzzled at her belly. "What will we name them?"

"Thornkit for the dark brown tom, and Dawnkit for the brown and white she-kit," he meowed.

"And Tigerkit for this one, who looks like you," she whispered. Even Tigerheart could sense that after this, the two would never be able to meet. "You can take this last kit with you. To remember me," Dovewing's voice was choked with sorrow and tears were forming at her eyes. "This strong, russet she-kit."

The russet one meowed. Tigerheart gasped in as he recognized that tiny kitten babble.

"No," he whispered.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said. Tears were coming in steady streams from both of the cats. "I'll take her. And you will live once again in ShadowClan, Russetfur," he added too quiet for Dovewing to hear. He hadn't seen his mother since he found out that she was his mother. It was so long ago, and she must've been dead or just died… along with Blackstar in the Great Battle.

"Your spirit's run in the clans," he breathed. His sister had a litter with a flame-colored tom and a white tom with black paws.

Dovewing was still crying as she looked up at her mate. "You still live in the shadows," she understood the omen of the litters. "The flame will burn, to last longer than before. Russet no longer pads in the stars, her soul is in the shadows. And the tom with the dark feet will lead the shadows once again."

The tears from both of the cats flowed from the border into the stream, sparkling. The sparkles continued down the stream and into the lake. It curved along the borders of the lake, joining again in the middle. The sparkling form of a heart showed that wherever the two souls may walk, their hearts were forever entwined.

The Dove and the Tiger,

Though enemies they may seem,

Have joined in the fire of love.

The flame burns to light up the darkness,

And Russet paw steps will walk in the Shadows,

With a dark-footed warrior,

To lead the path to the Stars,

And for Shadow's distant destiny.

Wow my heart and soul went into that last part. I might actually continue this on... and the Leaf X Crow would be a two-shot. Wow, ok. So, please review!