~ I'm gonna watch you shine, gonna watch you grow, gonna paint a sign so you'll always know. As long as one and one is two. There could never be a father who loves his daughter more than I love you. ~ Father and Daughter, by Paul Simon

Chapter 36

"Father and Daughter."

6/13/14 - 6/14/17 - 6/15/17

~ Otterheart ~

She dives into the open water with euphoria. Otterheart smells the fresh scent of fish and sighs.

I never realized how much I missed swimming.

Otterheart climbs onto shore and sees a ginger and white tom staring at her.

"That's because you are RiverClan, and you'll always be RiverClan."

Otterheart stares at the tom closely, his appearance reminds her of someone. His pelt, his muscular shape. He looks like… Heavyclaw.

Otterheart blinks and steps back. "D-Dad?"

Heavystorm gives her a small grin. Otterheart raises her paw and touches Heavystorm's muzzle. She then rests her head on his wide shoulder.

"I saw your kits."

Otterheart looks her father in the eye.

"They're… cute." Heavystorm said, begrudgingly.

"You don't have to lie. You're angry."

"I'm not angry, but I'm not happy about it either. Though that's just my bruised ego talking."

Otterheart frowns. "You hate Smokeclaw for what his brother did…"

Heavystorm twitches his whiskers. "I'm learning to get over it. I'm angry only with Owlflight, not Smokeclaw, no matter what Applefoot said."

Otterheart flattens her ears. "Why couldn't you have lived?"

"Then Specklepaw, Pebblepaw and Whitepaw wouldn't be here."

"You know what I mean."

Heavystorm shakes his head. "Even so… She would've left me because of what happened. She's all about a perfect family and whatever."

"If it's any consolation, you're a much better mother than she is."

Otterheart doesn't want to be compared to her RiverClan mother in any sort of way.

Heavystorm frowns. "Otterheart, just… look out for Streamkit. She's going to have a tough life in ShadowClan."

~ Smokeclaw ~

Smokeclaw watches the kits while Otterheart is out hunting. Fuzzykit and Reedkit are play fighting with Adderkit and Mudkit as well as Doekit. Streamkit stays off to the side where Owlflight continues to look over her. Smokeclaw notices the extra attention Streamkit is getting from the medicine cat, and cats are starting to notice it, too.

Swiftstrike and Firepaw return with a few, bad claw marks on Swiftstrike's flank that didn't go unnoticed by him or their littermates.

"That was a good fight." Swiftstrike told his apprentice. "But you should really keep your claws sheathed."

Firepaw narrows his eyes and nods slowly. "I understand."

"Why don't you practice on your own?"

Firepaw nods again and turns around, Swiftstrike limps towards Mosscloud and Shrewnose.

"Those look nasty." Shrewnose pokes at Swiftstrike's claw marks.

"Maybe you should ask Heatherstar to switch apprentices, Firepaw is too aggressive for you." Mosscloud suggests.

"He's just enthusiastic." Swiftstrike told them. "I'm sure he'll grow out of it."

Smokeclaw still didn't like the looks of it. Firepaw is gaining popularity within ShadowClan, a gifted fighter is what they called him, and ShadowClan's new pride and joy.

Firepaw scans the clearing and stops on Fuzzykit and Reedkit, making Smokeclaw tense up. Firepaw looks away, leaving him with relief. But Firepaw focuses on and pads toward Streamkit and Owlflight.

"Is she able to fight?" He asks Owlflight. Streamkit looks at her uncle in alarm with being called out by a popular apprentice.

"She's not feeling too well, Firepaw. Maybe next time."

Firepaw glares at Streamkit, making her shrink under his yellow gaze.

"She doesn't look sick."

Streamkit looks at Owlflight, then notices Smokeclaw and pleads to him with light blue eyes.

Don't look at me, say something and tell him no.

Streamkit looks to Firepaw when he reaches his paw on her back. "Let's try it."

Owlflight uses his front foreleg to block Firepaw from moving her.

"Firepaw, why don't you practice with your sisters instead?"

"They're no fun." Firepaw huffs. His claws slide out on Streamkit's back, and that's when Smokeclaw decides to step in.

"Firepaw, I need Streamkit to take a nap before sun high."

Firepaw looks at him with annoyance, but he hides it behind a deadpan expression. He nods and pads away from the three cats.

Smokeclaw looks at Streamkit as she gives out a silent sigh, then looks at Owlflight.

"Owlflight, what is going on?"

The light brown tom is uncomfortable. "Nothing… Streamkit is just…"

"... Is something wrong with Streamkit?"

Smokeclaw feels like his fur coat is crawling off of his back, exposing him to the cold. Owlflight gives Streamkit a brief glance.

"Streamkit is mute."

Smokeclaw stares at Owlflight, almost in disbelief.

"No… Maybe she's just delayed. Isn't there a ThunderClan apprentice that did the same thing?"

"No, no, Streamkit isn't delayed. She's still able to learn at a normal pace, she just can't speak."

Streamkit pokes Smokeclaw's belly and narrows her eyes on her father.

She doesn't like being talked about like she's not here. He realized.

Smokeclaw wraps his paw around Streamkit.

"Are you okay with this?"

Smokeclaw nods. "Streamkit is still Streamkit, she just has something that makes her different, that's all."

Owlflight grimaced. "I'm glad you accept her, it's the Clan who probably won't. Even with Heatherstar's support, ShadowClan doesn't like weaknesses. Streamkit is half-RiverClan and half-ShadowClan, and mute, she might become a target for…"

"She'll have her brothers and Otterheart." Smokeclaw insists. He moves Streamkit close to his dark grey underbelly.

I promise you that you won't feel less because of one flaw, I won't let you feel that way.

An early Father's Day chapter, because I'm an impatient writer. Enjoy. ~ Kyubi