Love

Story Four

Forgiveness

"Sandstorm, won't you listen to me?"

"Won't you listen to me?"

Firestar awoke with a jolt, the dream slipping away from him. He had been having dreams much like this for the past few days, and although his relationship with Sandstorm was stronger than ever, with kits coming in less then two days, and, according to Cinderpelt, the pregnancy going better than expected.

Still, he had those little nagging thoughts that the raging seas nearly dried up would soon come back, at full force. He tried to kill those thoughts with dreams of healthy kits, maybe three. A two toms and a she-cat, he could already see it, teaching his eldest son how to hunt, playing with his other son in the nursery, finding the perfect feather on patrol and bringing it back, just to see the happiness in his daughters eyes.

Yes, those would be the days….

"Firestar?" a friendly voice broke the flame orange tom out of his dream-state.

"Yes?" he mewed, turning his head to see Greystripe standing in the entrance of his den.

"Finally, your awake, you sleepy-head!" Greystripe yowled in laughter, "Sandstorms been up for awhile, asking for you since dawn! Now hurry up, or she'll chew my tail out."

Firestar smiled, as well as a cat can smile, and followed his grey friend out into the clearing. The sky was clear and creamy blue, the sun casting a warm glow on the camp. A few cats were wandering around, some still sleeping, Firestar could also see that dawn patrol was returning, and from the peaceful looks on their faces, he could tell that nothing bad had happened.

Greystripe yowled for Firestar to hurry up and he obeyed. When they stopped at the front of the nursery Greystripe added to Firestar, "Hope you didn't do anything wrong."

"So do I," Firestar mumbled under his breath has his friend left him alone to his mate.

Sandstorm sat in the back of the nursery, rays of sunlight shining through the harmless cracks in the den wall, making the ginger queen look like StarClans most prized warrior.

"Hello, beautiful," Firestar greeted, not in a rude way, but more sweet than anything.

"Hi honey." Sandstorm purred, "I want to talk to you something that's been nagging me for, quite a while now." His mate's gaze didn't waver.

Here it comes! The ThunderClan leader braced himself for the very worse, but all that came out of the she-cats mouth was, "I was wondering about kit names,"

"Hmm?"

"Kit names! I want to know your top she-cat and top tom, my top tom is Flamekit, and my top female is Squirrelkit," Sandstorm purred.

Firestar sighed and purred slightly, "Good, my top male name is Lightningkit and my top female name is," Firestar paused. He had never thought about this, really. What name would he choose? There were so many. One cat pranced lightly into his mind, her name was Leafstar, she was intelligent, pretty and important… that was it! "And my top she-cat name is Leafkit!"

Sandstorm widened her eyes and humpfed.

Firestar freaked out silently. He knew that face, but what had he done wrong? "What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's just you to ask!"

"I don't know what I could have possibly done!" The heavenly glow that surrounded Sandstorm was gone, and she shifted away from her mate, showing a very pregnant tummy.

"Oh, really? Well, let's see, Leafkit, who does that remind you of?"

"You're kidding me! You always bring that up, over the littlest things! Besides, it was just an apprentice crush, and she's long and dead!"

"So you think that our kits name is just a "little thing"!"

"No, that is not what I mean!"

"Well then enlighten me, "all perfect leader of ThunderClan"!"

Firestar sighed. This is exactly what he didn't want to happen. "Please, Sandstorm, why won't you listen to me?"

"Why won't you listen to me!?" Sandstorm hissed at the orange tom.

Firstar sighed and shook his head. "You know what, I'm not doing this. I don't want to put any stress on you when you're like this-"

"Oh, so now I'm the damsel in distress!?" the ginger queen cut him off.

Firestar sighed again and turned his head. "I wanted to name our daughter after Leafstar, not Spottedleaf. So if you'll just let me leave, I will." Sandstorm said nothing and let her mate walk out the entrance to the den.

The leader noticed the strange change in weather, as dark storm clouds began to gather over the forest, sending cold gusts of wind. As if on cue, a heavy shimmering rain sprinkled out of them, growing in force. Firestar saw Greystripe out of the corner of his eye, wondering what had happened in the nursery.

When the former-kittypet finally reached his den, he stretched on the cozy nest. He could sleep the day away if he wanted. In fact, maybe he would…

--

"Firestar! Firestar! Wake up!" The tom once again awoke to the face of his best-friend, this time the sky view from the entrance of his home was dark and a few stars twinkled against the black back-drop.

"What is it? I'm not really in the mood," he groaned.

"But Sandstorm's kitting!"

Firestar jumped up and nearly beat Greystripe out the door, he sprinted through the dark camp and was only stopped when Dustpelt, who was hired by Cinderpelt, apparently, told the excited going-to-be father to wait.

Although it was probably only and hour or so, it seemed like forever and a day, when finally, Cinderpelt stepped out.

"They're waiting," she purred and added, "I'm sorry it took so long, I had to let Sandstorm rest,"

The tom stepped into the nursery, happy when he saw Sandstorm's eyes gazing back at him peacefully, and two kits, happily suckling their mother.

"They're beautiful!" Firestar gasped.

"Two females, both absolutely beautiful and healthy, the delivery went wonderfully," she then added, "I want you to name the first one."

Firestar paused and looked at the beautiful young kit with a warm mix of ginger fur.

"This one will be named Squirrelkit," he purred warmly, with this "tribute" Sandstorm couldn't be mad at him anymore, right?

The ginger queen purred in agreement and looked down at the light brown tabby she-cat with white paws and chest. She looked thoughtful for a moment before finally mewing quietly, with increasing volume, "And this one will be named Leafkit, after the strong, caring and kind leader of SkyClan."

The leader let out a rumble of a purr and licked his mate on the head once, before snuggling up against her.

"I love you, Sandstorm."

"I love you too."

In reply to the reveiw: I'm sorry and thank you for all the requests! I just can't write FireXSpotted.

Sorry about the long no-updatey. I realized yesterday that it was two months since I last updated and I'm like, Uh Oh!