Chapter 27
The blazing sun scorched Ripplesky's back as he pushed his way through the tall grass. Pausing, the silver tom dropped his vole and looked around for a shady place to rest. It was too hot to be outside in such extreme weather, but he had to feed his family. Due to the heat and lack of rain, prey was hard to come by.
Letting out a sigh, Ripplesky decided to just go ahead and return back to camp. Picking up his vole, he headed in the direction of the abandoned Twoleg nest where RippleClan made it's camp. As he squeezed through one of the gaps in the walls, he was immediately surrounded by three little kits - his kits.
It had been five moons since Willowblaze had come to live with Ripplesky, and three since she had given birth. The labor had been difficult at first, but after the first kit was born the rest came out easily. In the end, there were two toms and two she-kits.
"Is that for us?" the largest kit of the bunch, Lionkit asked. He was an exact copy of Willowblaze, only with slightly longer fur.
"Yes," Ripplesky purred, setting the vole down in front of the kits. They let out excited squeals, before digging into the prey. As he watched them, he started to notice one of the kits was missing. "Where is Icekit?"
Poppykit looked up, licking blood from her lips. "I think he's with mother."
Ripplesky quickly padded over to Willowblaze's nest, where sure enough, Icekit was curled beside his mother's sleeping form. "Icekit, what are you doing over here? Aren't you hungry?"
Icekit quickly shook his head. "I already ate," he whispered, not meeting his father's gaze.
Ripplesky let out a frustrated sigh. Icekit was the shyest of the bunch, and the most difficult.
"You can't survive on milk alone," Ripplesky growled. "What will you do when Willowblaze's milk dries up?" The queen was already beginning to lose her milk, so it was important for Icekit to get a taste for prey. I can't let him die, he thought, clenching his teeth. Over these past few months, Ripplesky had grown extremely attached to his kits, more so than he expected to.
At the sound of his voice, Willowblaze woke up. As soon as she saw Ripplesky, she let out a happy purr. "You're back! How was the hunt?"
"Not good," he confessed, glancing back down at Icekit. "I only managed to catch one vole. I gave it to the kits, but Icekit doesn't want any."
Willowblaze frowned, before nudging Icekit up. The fluffy silver-gray tom let out a cry of protest, before burrowing back into her silky belly fur. "I don't want prey! I want milk!"
"You can't eat just milk," Willowblaze whispered, giving him a lick on the ear. "One day-"
"Your milk will dry up. I know that already..." Icekit interrupted, looking sad.
"Why are you so afraid to eat fresh-kill?" Ripplesky wondered.
After a few moments, Icekit sat up and sniffled. "I'm not afraid. I just don't like it."
"Stop being so ridiculous. You've never even tried it!" Ripplesky exclaimed, his neck fur bristling. Why does he have to be so stubborn?
Willowblaze shot him an angry glare. "Icekit, why don't you go play with your brother and sisters for a few minutes while I talk to your father?"
Icekit looked down at his paws, before reluctantly scurrying towards the other kits. As soon as he was out of earshot, Willowblaze snapped, "You have to be gentle with him. You know how sensitive he is!"
"We can't coddle him forever-"
"I'm not asking you to coddle him. I'm just asking you to be nicer to him. I've seen how you treat him compared to the other kits, and I don't like it one bit," Willowblaze meowed.
"What are you talking about? I don't treat him any different from the rest of our kits." Ripplesky stared at her in confusion. Did he really treat Icekit differently? If he had, he didn't mean to. She's just exaggerating, he finally decided. I treat the kits just fine!
Willowblaze let out a snort. "Just... leave me alone," she finally said, turning away from him.
Without saying another word to her, Ripplesky padded back out of camp. He didn't feel like arguing with Willowblaze, which was something they did nearly every day. He had no idea why she was always so angry with him, but she was always nagging him about something.
You didn't bring back enough prey! Our kits will starve because of you.
You need to collect more wet moss, or the kits will become dehydrated.
You need to stop being so lazy and collect fresh bedding for us.
Once he was far enough away from camp, Ripplesky plopped down underneath a dying oak. Its green leaves had shriveled up and were beginning to turn brown due to lack of water. Suddenly, one of the leaves fell from the tree and landed on Ripplesky's head. He quickly shook it off, before glancing down at it. There was something about the leaf that made him feel uncomfortable, but he wasn't sure what. It's just a leaf, he thought. No matter how hard he tried to convince himself of that, he knew this leaf had to represent something. What if it's an omen from StarClan? As Ripplesky studied it, he desperately wished that Nightsky had taught him how to interpret omens. Since he had been rejected by his starry ancestors, she had felt teaching him omens would be a waste of time.
"They'll never send you any, so there's no need to learn. We'd just be wasting our time," she had told him.
As Ripplesky sat there, a few more leaves fluttered down to the ground. As he watched them, he began to reflect on his life. I really screwed up, he thought. I could have worked things out with Nightsky, but instead I listened to Snowdust and now look at me! I'm a murderer who just ruins everyone's lives.
"Dad?" a voice squeaked, shaking him from his thoughts.
Looking up, Ripplesky saw Poppykit and Blossomkit standing there. "What are you doing out here? You know you aren't supposed to leave camp!" he scolded, jumping to his paws.
"Don't worry, I'm with them," Frogtail meowed as he stepped out from the tall grass. "They were worried about you, so they wanted to come check on you."
Ripplesky narrowed his eyes at his daughters. "You don't need to be worried about me. I can take care of myself just fine."
"Lighten up," Frogtail said. "They wanted to check on you because they love you. Isn't that a good thing?"
"I don't care. It's too dangerous out here, even with you watching them. What if a dog suddenly jumps out and snatches one of them up? Or what if a RiverClan patrol kidnaps them? I clearly stated I don't want them leaving until they are six moons old. Until then, they can remain in camp and that is final!" Ripplesky hissed, marching over to Blossomkit. He quickly snatched her up by the scruff, before heading in the direction of camp.
Frogtail hesitated for a few moments, before doing the same with Poppykit.
As he walked, Blossomkit dragged along the ground. She was far too big to be carried, but Ripplesky didn't care. Willowblaze is going to rip my fur off when she sees the kits have left!
Sure enough, as soon as he arrived in camp, Willowblaze ran up to him, her eyes filled with anger. "You know they aren't supposed to be out of camp!"
"I'm not in the mood for this conversation," Ripplesky muttered as he sat Blossomkit down.
"You're never in the mood for anything, are you?" she retorted. "If that's the case, then I might as well take the kits and go back to ShadowClan. At least there they'd be properly cared for."
"ShadowClan will never take you back and you know it!" Ripplesky screeched. "Now leave me alone!"
"I hate you," Willowblaze suddenly snapped. "You ruined my life. If it hadn't of been for you, I would still be a medicine cat, living happily alongside my family and friends. But you ruined that all..."
Before he could say anything else, Splashflower jumped into the conversation. "That's enough. You two should know better than to argue in front of the kits!" she scolded, before leading Blossomkit and Poppykit over towards their nests. Out of the corner of his eye, Ripplesky could see Lionkit and Icekit were already huddled there, their eyes wide with fear.
"You hurt their feelings," Ripplesky said, narrowing his eyes at Willowblaze. "They think you don't love them."
"Stop trying to make me feel bad. I never did anything to hurt them and you know it."
"Well, then maybe you should be quiet and stop nagging me about every little thing!" Ripplesky hissed, before giving her a rough cuff around the ears. She immediately shrank back, her eyes wide. Without saying another word, she turned and padded away, leaving Ripplesky alone.
"What was that?" Frogtail exclaimed.
"I had to teach her a lesson," Ripplesky told him.
"You shouldn't hit her," Frogtail meowed. "It isn't right. Besides, she's just stressed out with this drought going on and everything."
"Did I ask you for your opinion?" Ripplesky snarled.
"No..."
"That's what I thought. Now go!" he hissed.
Frogtail flattened his ears to his head, before padding over to Minnowfur. As he watched him go, Ripplesky felt a surge of anger go through him. Why was every cat trying to ruin his day? I work so hard every day to keep us safe, and I get treated terribly in return. It's a shame. One day they will be sorry.
Little did he know, it would be him that would be sorry.
I just want to say thank you for almost 200 reviews! This is the most I have ever gotten, and it means a lot to me. I love to read your feedback on this story, so I am hoping you enjoyed this chapter. I am not completely certain, but I believe the next chapter is going to be the very last one. I will try to have it out as soon as I can, but until then thank you so much! Also, here are the descriptions for the kits.
Lionkit - long haired pale brown tom with amber eyes (first born)
Icekit - long haired silver-gray tom with blue eyes (last born)
Poppykit - long haired dark brown she-cat with green eyes (second born)
Blossomkit - brown tabby she-cat with green eyes. (third born)
