I seriously apologize for not posting in so long. It's hard to come up with things sometimes, but I promise I won't stop without warning.

Emberflame: No, Willowkit will recover. My logic for how they weren't injured was that they were in a hole, where the fire was not quite reaching, and when the other warriors came to save them, they managed to get through a break in the flames until Willowkit was burned.

Sharpbreeze: Lol, I totally agree. Now that I think about it, their personalities are a great match.

Wolfwhisper of RiverClan: I'm so sorry about that. Sometimes it's really hard to keep track of who wrote what. The fire was most likely lightning, though Willowkit didn't know, and the reason there wasn't more damage was that the rain put it out quickly.

Willowkit sighed, rolling over in her nest in the medicine den. It had been nearly two moons since that awful fire... She shuddered just thinking about it. She was eager to get back to her parents and even Breezekit. Smokethistle and Swiftfoot had visited her every day, sometimes bringing Breezekit, who had actually shown some kindness toward her. However, she was still jealous of how he had escaped with only some singed fur, while half the fur on her side had only just begun to grow back, wispy, thin down hardly covering the ugly red burn scars. At least it was growing back... Birchnose had told her about a cat from RiverClan, moons before she was born, that had suffered a massive fire and now only had some grayish tufts on his ears and tail.

She felt mostly better. Now and again, it would sear again, but for the most part, it was relatively painless. And the best part was, Birchnose had deemed it healing well, which was great because about a moon ago he had said to her parents (when she was supposed to be asleep) that she was in danger of dying since she was such a young kit. Since then, she had vowed to never leave again.

Willowkit hoped Breezekit had made some friends in Sunkit, Hawkkit and Rosekit. They had visited her a couple times, but she was positive Berryleaf had forced them in. She did feel like she had a new friend in Rosekit- they had chatted a little bit when the kits visited. The smaller, cream-furred kit was very talkative, and always had a lot to say about everything. Rosekit especially loved gossiping about the apprentices' relationships- apparently Duskpaw had a crush on Sparrowclaw, and Falconpaw was "totally into me." The small she-kit, not even 3 moons old, was head over heels for an apprentice that was nearly 10 moons old. Willowkit found that amusing, as she considered herself a mature kit that was too focused on her great future to be preoccupied with petty crushes. Breezekit, however, disagreed. He had confided in her that he had a crush on Rosekit, which she found hilarious- totally predictable, when there was only one other female kit in the den.

She stretched again, then collapsed into her nest as Birchnose's approaching footsteps sounded up the path. She should have been sleeping, and she hoped that the rise and fall of her wispy-furred, red-scarred flank was convincing. Cracking one blue-green eye open- a few days ago she had noticed the ring around the pupil beginning to lose its sky-blue color and turn grass-green- she carefully watched the black and white tom scuttle around the den, apparently very busy with some herbs. He stacked a few up, grabbed a bundle of yellow flowers in his white maw and leave, glancing toward her face as he left. Willowkit shut her eye quickly, but she was sure he saw her. She curled up in her nest and tried to sleep until Birchnose reentered and prodded her "awake."

"Willowkit. I'm going to put a new poultice on that so the hair can keep growing, and then you can go for a quick walk, alright?"

Willowkit practically jumped with joy. She could finally go outside! She wanted to meet Falconpaw and Duskpaw, see the energetic Sorrelstar again- she'd heard the leader was pleased to hear she was recovering, greet her mother, see the soaring cliffs again. It had been two moons since she had been outside...

As Birchnose chewed up herbs and rubbed them onto her flank, she squirmed in her nest as the juices soaked into her scarred skin. It hurt, but she was used to it. She did her best to wait patiently as the medicine cat wrapped sticky white cobwebs over the poultice to hold it in place. She wriggled and squirmed, her small gray paws itching to feel the rocky ground beneath them. Finally, Birchnose finished. As soon as he stepped away from her, she bolted to her feet, ready to dash away. She had it all planned out. She would run out of the den as fast as her paws could carry her. Her parents would gaze proudly at their daughter, able to overcome anything. Breezekit's fur would turn green with envy. Sorrelstar would make her deputy. She would be famous!

Okay, maybe that was a little far-fetched, she decided.

But in fact, that's not what happened. As soon as she got to her paws, she nearly fell over. The last time she had stood up was nearly a half-moon ago, when she had tried to sneak out for a walk, fell over, and lay there until sunrise, squirming and helpless.

Determined to carry out her plan, she stood shakily to her paws again, and made a mad dash for the entrance. She heard Birchnose give a startled shout as she tripped over her own wobbly paws and face-planted into the dirt. Birchnose stifled a chuckle and padded over to help her up. When he reached her, she hissed through her teeth and got up carefully on her own, wincing as her injured flank seared. She took slow, careful steps, and with Birchnose to lean on, she made it outside.

Blinking in the harsh daylight, she glanced around, still amazed by the enormous cliffs circling around her. The Clan was busy. Sparkface sat by the rockpile, assigning patrols. Warriors talked and ate and shared tongues. The only reason she knew everything about Clan life was that all her visitors would catch her up on everything Breezekit would learn on his own.

Leaning more heavily on Birchnose than she would prefer to admit, she limped over to the nursery, planning to surprise her mother and brother. Birchnose serving as her crutch, she wobbled inside, feeling like a newborn kit trying out its legs for the first time.

Smokethistle was lying half asleep in her nest, eyes half-closed. Berryleaf was grooming her soft, creamy fur. Sunkit and Breezekit were playing moss-ball. Hawkkit was asleep on the ground, stubby brown legs splayed out revealing his fluffy, speckled belly. Rosekit was sitting primly, her tail tucked neatly around her paws and creamy fur neatly groomed. Her pale eyes darted back and forth as she watched the two toms play moss-ball, but Willowkit noticed that her eyes lingered on Breezekit. She chuckled quietly to herself.

Smokethistle started, her round amber eyes flying completely open and trained on Willowkit. She looked at her first with disbelief, then with joy.

"Willowkit! You're up!" she exclaimed, flying out of her nest and covering her daughter in licks. The gray she-kit squirmed under her tongue, but secretly she felt amazing.

The other kits had stopped. Hawkkit was being woken by Sunkit. Rosekit had bounded over to her, tail raised high in greeting.

"Willowkit! I'm so glad you're out and about! I have so much to tell you!" the fluffy she-kit mewed excitedly. Willowkit nodded, suddenly feeling very tired. She glanced over Rosekit's shoulder. Breezekit was padding towards her hesitantly. She noticed that the ring around the pupil of one eye was turning a warm amber-gold color, and the other had the same shade as hers. Interesting.
The black tom-kit licked her on the shoulder, and looking at his paws, said,

"I'm glad you're up."

Then he returned to where Hawkkit was still sleeping, Sunkit having given up and giving her a cheery wave of his tail before returning to the game.

Smokethistle licked the top of her head again, and whispered, "I know you must be tired, and you can go back if you want. I love you."

Willowkit nodded. She licked her mother's shoulder, and stumbled back to the medicine den, where she lay down and quickly slept.

Fun fact: I was going to make Breezekit bisexual, but I decided that it wouldn't add much to the story, and I already have a planned storyline for him. Rosekit is going to evolve a little like Squirrelflight, where she has a very bold and sometimes obnoxious personality, but evolves into a very developed and mature cat.

QOTD: What's your opinion on Breezekit?

-Stormbreeze