Barktail felt the kits kick her stomach. Her ears flattened watching it, 'Come on….just come out of me already!' she demanded glaring at her plump stomach. Adderkit waddled up to the queen. His eyes looked at her stomach for a few seconds then he sat looking Barktail's stomach. Petalface chuckled and walked over to the kit "Come on Adderkit, this way" the queen pushed the kit back to his own nest and Barktail laid her head down with a sigh.
The only thing that could be heard from the nursery was Gingerkit and Barkkit play fighting. Licking her white paw she sighed and shut her eyes. Lightkit must have joined in with the fighting by the sounds he was making. She yawned and lifted her head to look at the playing kits. They were in such a flurry that it took Barktail a moment to identify what kit was doing what. Lightkit was on the ground squirming against Gingerkit while her black and white paws where on his chest. Barkkit was laying on Gingerkit's back making her look like she was lying down while pinning Lightkit down.
Barktail let out a silent laugh as she looked at the kits. The only kit not playing was Blackkit, she was laying by Tailwind's stomach just watching. Shutting her eyes she laid her head down again. Her kits kicked again getting restless. She gritted her teeth as one of them gave her a painful nudge in the ribcage. 'Keep calm will you?' she thought as she glared at her swollen stomach. Almost as if the kits understood they stopped kicking and she sighed. 'Not long…they should be out soon..' She couldn't help but smirk as she remembered the last time she was pregnant.
The crazy twolegs had her captured with that stupid kittypet and they got her out. Then it brought up memories of when Nightclan was thriving. 'Why…why did you take that away from us?' Barktail asked keeping her eyes closed feeling a painful sensation. She shifted a little and got comfortable. Laying her two paws over each other she then laid her head down on her paws. The kits got louder as they continued to fight. Barktail lowered her ears in frustration and snorted wanting the noisy kits to hush up and do something else.
The three kits rolled around and one of them, Gingerkit, tumbled from away from the group and wound up getting thrown at Barktail's stomach. Barktail's head shot up and she opened her eyes glaring at the kit. Gingerkit's ear's lowered and she ran back to Tailwind. Letting out a huff she got up with a painful grunt. Nobody said anything as she walked out of the nursery and laid down in the sun light warming her brown fur.
"Barktail, is everything ok?" Midnightclaw asked walking towards his mate. He sat down next to her, his black fur glowing slightly in the sunlight. Barktail sighed and looked at him. For once she thought of nothing. Her eyes must have given away something because Midnightclaw rubbed against her brown fur.
Barktail gave her chest a few licks, keeping her eyes on the ground. Midnightclaw sighed and lay down next to her so his flank was touching hers. "Everyone is staying away from me, I can hear them whispering about me and the rest of the Nightclan warriors…" he whispered and Barktail rubbed her head under his chin and tried to purr. But she couldn't.
She can't purr….
She blinked a few times and tried again but nothing. 'What's going on…' she thought her breath quickening. She kept on trying to purr but still remained silent. After a few moments Midnightclaw noticed something was wrong. "Are you ok?" he asked. Barktail nodded even though it wasn't true. She tried to purr once more and she slowly down casted her eyes.
She's truly mute now, she can't even purr, she has no way to communicate. She truly was mute now…
Her heart broke, she felt it break into a million pieces.
Then, she saw red.
'What did I do to deserve this?! Why are you punishing me Starclan!?' getting up she startled Midnightclaw. "Whoa, are you ok?" he asked but she just turned around and stormed away. "Barktail!" Midnightclaw yelled as she walked out of camp. She didn't turn around or go back.
As she walked she felt a small pain but chose to ignore it. 'Starclan! Why can't I purr?!'she thought still seeing bright red as she walked. Growling she unsheathed her claws, as she walked her claws angrily scrapped the ground. 'I did nothing wrong! I don't deserve this!' the pain in her stomach increased but like before she ignored it and continued to storm though the forest. 'it wasn't enough to make me mute was it?! No! You had to take away my only communication with the other cats!' at this point her mind exploded and she was unaware of the bits of leaves attached to her white claws. Her breathing increased as the pain started to grow. Slowly the redness decreased and she started to see the colors of the forest. From the brown earth to the blue sky. A great pain over swept her and she collapsed on the forest floor. She panted as the pain increased. 'Starclan what did you do?!' her mind yowled.
Her eyes then widened as she realized what was happening 'now?!' she thought her eyes widening. She started to pant again as another pain overcame her then she felt the first kit come out. Let out a silent grasp, her eyes felt like they were going to pop out of her skull. There was a wet 'plop' as the first kit came out on the forest floor. She grabbed the wet kit and licked it to get the blood flowing and to warm it up. After it was clean Barktail looked at it.
It was a bright orange she-cat with white tabby stripes just around the paws, tip of the tail, and face. (Just paws, tip of the tail, and face nowhere else) she licked the top of the kits head and the she-cat opened her pink mouth and squeaked. She grabbed the kit and placed her by her stomach. She shut her eyes as another pain came though her.
Panting she gritted her teeth as the second kit came. She opened her mouth in a yowl as the kit came out. Another wet 'plop' and she sighed. The pain was gone and she slowly grabbed the second kit. she did what she did with the first one and cleaned it. Once clean she looked the kit over a few times and sighed. It was a she-cat like the last one. Almost all white except for the silver fur starting around her eyes and going through the underbelly then ending at the tip of her tail.
Realizing that these two where the only ones coming out of her. She gently grabbed the new born kits by their scruffs and painfully got up. Her vision swirled a little but the yowls of her kits told her that she needed to get to the camp and fast. Her kits squeaked and squealed as she walked. Her legs felt heavy and her vision was unsteady. She then fell on to the floor out of exhaustion. The kits squealed as they landed on the floor.
She tried to get back up but couldn't. Feeling something cold on her nose she noticed a snow flake. 'No! No!' her mind yowled as the snow started to float to the ground and on her new born kits. The kits continued to squeal loudly. She opened her mouth but nothing came out. 'Please Starclan, just let me talk please!' she opened her mouth again trying to yowl. The snow didn't let up, in fact it increased. She heard her two kits squeals grow softer.
She opened her mouth again she felt something in her throat, it felt weird but still she tired and tired. Shutting her mouth she growled and opened her mouth once more not wanting to give up. The two kits started to shake and Barktail felt a wave of panic over take her. Once again she opened her mouth this time something did happen.
She yowled.