"Tell us a story, Russetfur!" Falconkit cried. "Please, please, please! A funny story!" Russetfur was sitting by Flamesong and the kits in the nursery, cobwebs covering the wounds she had sustained as ShadowClan drove out WindClan.
Quakekit looked up at her and said shakily, "Y-yeah, Russetf-fur." The little tom was small and thin, and he had yet to quit shaking, which made his speech stutter.
"Alright..." she agreed reluctantly. "Just let me think for a minute. A funny story..." Falconkit and Quakekit looked up at her expectantly with wide eyes, the she-kit's paws kneading the ground. "Okay. I had only been a warrior for a couple of suns, and it was my turn to go out and collect herbs with Runningnose. So I had Nightpelt - he was my apprentice Nightpaw at the time, play with the kits while I was gone. One of those kits was none other than Skyheart, then Skykit, your father. You both look quite like him. " Quakekit drew himself up proudly. "He's coming to visit you once he can leave the medicine den." The tom hadn't had the chance yet to meet his kits, much to his dismay. His injuries from the battle had kept him in the medicine den for the better part of a moon.
Russetfur gave Quakekit's spiky fur a smoothing lick, but it did no good- his fur just stuck up again, as if it had a will of its own. "So once we left camp, Runningnose told me to look for catmint. Catmint is an herb used to cure cats from whitecough or greencough, which usually only infects cats in late leaf-fall or leaf-bare. At this time, it was early greenleaf, and so I asked him why we would need it if leaf-bare wasn't for a long time." The dark ginger queen's whiskers twitched in amusement before she even finished.
"And Runningnose told me that we would probably need it because all the kits in the nursery would be running around licking each other." She laughed. Quakekit let out a shaky chuckle, while Falconkit, eyes bright with amusement, immediately got to her paws and turned to lick Volekit's face exaggeratedly. The excess saliva on his face made him jump to his paws.
Rubbing at his wet muzzle with a white paw, he exclaimed, "Gross, Falconkit!" The tiny she-kit laughed devilishly and dodged around the much larger kit to lick his side as well. "Yuck! Stop it!" Volekit cried, though he seemed to be more embarrassed than grossed out.
Falconkit grinned but stopped licking him. The black and white tom shot a glance at Falconkit, but when she was looking to, his eyes moved away faster than ever. Awkwardly, he jumped over to Quakekit and tussled with him, but very gently, as if he knew Quakekit couldn't put up much of a fight. He had jostled Mosskit as he did so, and she sat up, blinking.
Not saying a word, the small brown she-cat padded over to fall asleep again behind Russetfur, where she wouldn't be disturbed. The ginger queen smiled. She and her brother were polar opposites. Mosskit was very quiet, more clever than any kit Russetfur had ever met, and she usually slept the day away, never wanting to really play-fight. She hardly spoke, but when she did, her words were well thought through.
Volekit, however, was large and strong and a bit slow. Words fell out of his mouth without pause, and he thought that being the best fighter in the Clan was the most important thing in the world. He was always scuffling with Thornkit, Snowkit, and Frogkit, and sometimes even with Blossomkit, Falconkit, and Quakekit, though the latter three were not much on fighting. He knew from a rare lecture from Mosskit to be very gentle with the new kits, especially Quakekit, and that Blossomkit wasn't a good fighter. He had never scuffled with his sister, though, simply because she was never awake or willing.
Brokenstar's voice cut through her mental comparison, calling for yet another Clan meeting. It seemed like a daily ritual now, and Russetfur was tired of listening to his lies. Not tired enough to risk endangering her kits, of course, but very, very tired. She got slowly to her paws, careful not to wake Mosskit, who was sound asleep again, and padded heavily out of the den.
Brightflower rounded up the kits- her own and Featherstorm's, with whom she was left to mother- and told them to play outside the den. Glancing back, Russetfur's whiskers twitched in amusement when Mosskit barely opened her eyes, only padded to a nook between a bit of bracken and the nursery wall and curled up again.
"I would like to introduce you to some new members of the Clan." Brokenstar began.
Not more rogues! Russetfur cried mentally. Half the new ShadowClan was rogues, and none of them seemed to be at all trustworthy. The leader flicked his tail, and and a small black tom with a white chest came forward, a tortoiseshell kit in his mouth. A tortoiseshell queen stepped nervously up behind him, their fur brushing, and a second kit, also a tortoiseshell, dangling from her jaws.
The pair looked very frightened, and their fear-scent just reached Russetfur. She presumed they were a family from the way the queen pressed against the other. "They are Whitethroat, Poppyfeather, Hazelkit, and Grasskit."
Greenfang, sitting besides Rusetfur, muttered out of the corner of her mouth, "Are they more rogues? Or did they come from another Clan?" The queen shrugged in response.
"And also, it is time to appoint new apprentices." Murmurs echoed through the gathered cats, and Russetfur exchanged a glance with the she-cat beside her. The oldest kits were Mosskit and Volekit, and they were only three moons. The new kits looked less than a moon, so it couldn't be them, either. Brokenstar waved his tail for silence, which fell as quickly as a rock from above. "Mosskit and Volekit, please come forward." The mutters that had rippled through the Clan now became shocked gasps.
One cat, possibly Sleetpelt, yowled, "They're not old enough!" Russetfur had a sinking feeling that this would go like the Clan meeting before they drove out WindClan- the cat who disagreed, like Darkflower before, would be provided with an excuse, and his words no mistake.
"They are a bit young, but they are strong and we need more warriors. You are now Mosspaw and Volepaw, and I will mentor you both." Brokenstar said. Mosspaw, who had finally awoken, met his gaze with a mixture of fear and determination, while Volepaw simply looked excited. No ct dared question the Clan leader this time, about mentoring two apprentices - kits, really- at once."Russetfur, show Poppyfeather the nursery." he added before leaping down from the branch.
Hurriedly, the queen led the three tortoiseshells -Whitethroat passed her the first kit- to the nursery, in time to hear Brokenstar tell Volepaw and Mosspaw he would take them out for battle training later, and that they should get some rest beforehand. The two "apprentices" gave their mother a quick lick and padded to the apprentice's den. Brightflower entered the nursery with her adoptive kits at the same time as Russetfur and the newcomers.
"Oh, Shadestorm!" the black and white queen cried, her eyes huge. "Did you hear?" The dark queen nodded. "It's too soon, they won't be able to do what Brokenstar asks... He's taking them out for battle training. They can't fight! They're too small!" No tears fell, but Nightpelt's sister was nearly hysterical. Shadestorm nodded sadly, trying to comfort her friend.
Russetfur looked away awkwardly and set the kit- probably Grasskit, because of her green eyes, on the floor of the den. "I'll make you a nest..." she said quietly. The queen didn't respond, only set the other kit beside her sister. They stared up at their mother silently. Russetfur tore some moss from a pile in the back of the den and squished it flat between her own nest and Shadestorm's.
"Thank you." The queen murmured. Russetfur was struck by the strange accent she carried, btu dismissed the questions rising in her. It wasn't really her business, and it seemed like all Poppyfeather wanted to do was sleep. The trio of tortoiseshell she-cats huddled in the nest, eyes wide open. Russetfur herself was overcome by tiredness, and quickly fell asleep.
A wail of grief woke her suddenly. The cry came from the nest beside her, not Poppyfeather's, but Flamesong's. "What's wrong?" Russetfur asked desperately, but Flamesong only sobbed incoherently. Looking around, she saw Quakekit, lying in an unnatural position by his mother's stomach. Dread coursed through the ginger queen as she rose, the kit completely still. It wasn't just the absence of shaking that disturbed Russetfur, but that his lungs appeared still as well. She leaned down, listening for any trace of a heartbeat, and found none. She leaned close enough that her nose touch his body, which was stiff and cold. The kit was dead.
She held back her own cry of grief. How could Quakekit be dead? Just a little while ago he was laughing and tussling with Volekit... And now he was gone? Just like that? "Shhh..." she said slowly, pressing her fur against Flamesong's. "He's with StarClan now. He's safe there. Safe and warm and happy. He will never go hungry or be injured. He's alright. It's okay. Hush..." Falconkit crouched by her mother's paws, staring at her brother in horror. Russetfur placed a paw by the she-kit, who leaned against it as though she could no longer hold herself up. She wasn't quite a moon old, but she knew that Quakekit was gone.
Poppyfeather stood and stepped over to the black she-cat's other side, murmuring quietly to her. Falconkit retreated so that she was almost completely hidden by Flamesong's belly fur, only her golden eyes peering out. Russetfur carefully moved and picked up Quakekit's body. It being there would only make things worse. The weight of his form was multiplied with grief as she padded out into the light rain.
Realizing that no cats would hold a vigil for the kit they didn't know, she went to the medicine den and quietly nudged Skyheart awake. He saw what she carried in her mouth, and asked, "Is Quakekit hurt?" The emotion in his eyes made tears spring to her eyes. Setting the kit down beside the father he never met, she shook her head.
"He's with StarClan now." Skyheart seemed to fold to the ground, burying his nose in his son's fur. He cried, tears soaking into the gray and white kit's already damp fur.
"Take him away." he choked after a minute. Her throat closing up, she gently picked him up and took him out into the rain. Since there were no elders in camp, and it was the middle of the night, she decided to bury the kit herself. Padding out of camp, she set him down and slowly dug a hole, the rain making the job difficult. Mudkept sliding back into the hole, but she kept digging mechanically, her mind elsewhere.
The sprinkling rain held off for a few minutes, and she managed to get the grave deep enough. She nuzzled the kit, cold and wet and dead. "Your family loved you, and so did the rest of the Clan. We will miss you, and we know that you would have been a valiant and loyal warrior. But you're safe now. Goodbye, Quakekit." With those words, she set him down in the muddy hole and pushed the rest of the dirt on top of him. As she got to her filthy paws once more, the rain started to fall again.
A/N: My these are bleak and depressing chapters lately, huh? Well, Brokenstar kind of makes everything bleak and despressing for ShadowClan. Grrr. Anyway, it wasn't very clear in the story, but since Quakekit was prematurely born (why the unnamed kit died), he was born with cerebral palsy, which made him shake. His heart and lungs were underdeveloped, and they failed as he slept. No one killed him. Anyway, I'm sorry this took me so long, it was just really difficult to write. R&R.