Disclaimer- I do not own the Warriors Series.

The Second Challenge

Amberclaw wobbled slightly and sunk beneath the cedar tree with an angry hiss. Her kits had obviously chosen that day to enter the world. She hated each and every one of her kits. They were becoming Amberclaw's greatest regret. How could she have known that she and Falconstar were going to end up with kits? How could she have even guessed that he liked her back? Even if it was only one shared night... How was she going to even live with that secret? Better yet, Amberclaw could never even say a single word about who the father was. Falconstar had a mate, and she was not Amberclaw. No, Amberclaw's current predicament was entirely her own fault. She just hoped that she wouldn't lose her position as deputy.

"Littlestep," Amberclaw meowed softly. The quiet medicine cat seemed to hear her and padded over quickly. She had safely hidden herself in the cedar tree on the ouskirts of the camp, where none of the cats had made their nests. Amberclaw felt ashamed of her current situation. She fancied that none of her fellow clan mates knew that she was pregnant. "Are your kits here?" Littlestep asked. The pair were hidden within the great limbs of the cedar tree. Amberclaw let out a grunt, trying to hide the pain that was splintering through her. Littlestep stroked her side with his tail, his yellow-green eyes attentive to the deputy's every breath.

"Push," he commanded her. Amberclaw listened and out came a tiny kit and then another. Amberclaw had been blessed with two kits. Amberclaw glared at the two bundles, her amber eyes harsh and cold. She didn't want them. Not even a little bit. Falconstar would accept them as a part of the clan, but they weren't his kits. He would never care for them like they were his children, give them that type of love. Amberclaw hated herself for putting Falconstar and herself in such a spot. She couldn't bear her self-hate, and thus pushed it onto the innocent kits. Littlestep stared at her sadly. He licked the two kits quickly, and they let out little mewls. Amberclaw's eyes softened slightly. She looked from the mottled brown kit to the sandy colored one.

"Spiderkit and Squirrelkit," she named them softly, then her amber eyes grew wide with realization. She was letting herself care about the two atrocities! She turned away from them quickly, her tail flashing back and forth.

"Give them to Miststream," she ordered the quiet tom in a harsh tone. Littlestep lifted the pair in his jaws and hurried them off to the nursery.

A surprised gasp could be heard from Miststream as she was given the two kits. What mother would just give her children up like that? She gently swept them up to her belly with her, long feather-like tail. The two began to suckle happily, newborns and already abandoned by their mother... Miststream just couldn't believe it.

Amberclaw sat beneath the cedar tree in silence, tired and empty. All her love and hate seemed to have left with the kits. All that was left was her guilt, and it was boundless. Guilt poured in every inch of her body, trying to fill the gaps within herself. She allowed herself to sleep, half expecting her kits to curl up to her stomach. Infinite emptiness, like the whispers of wind under a full moon. ... Amberclaw woke with a start. Littlestep sat next to her, his yellow-green eyes full of infinite pity and sadness. She hissed at him.

"Why do you look at me like that?" she growled at the medicine cat, and he only sighed.

"Don't you love them?" he asked her. Amberclaw stared at him, her tail lashing back and forth. Her amber eyes narrowed in thought.

"Of course not," she snapped after a long moment, but the she-cat looked emptier than Littlestep had seen her in a long time. Amberclaw was lost, and her only family that would accept her regardless of it all was being rejected. Lilypool had no idea of what was going on with her sister. The warriors were stressed out enough with the lack of prey. The freshkill pile was looking more and more measly as they approached leafbare.

"That's too bad," Littlestep murmured as she padded past him, her fur fluffed out a bit in defiance. The black tom was worried about the deputy. He knew all too well who the father of her kits had been. Falconstar wasn't always the best in decision making, and he had always had a slight fancy for Amberclaw. She was a very beautiful cat, just not as loving as she used to be. Littlestep padded back into camp in silence. He was going to go brief Miststream on the situation of her two new charges. He would keep Amberclaw's secret, and the she-cat knew that when she confided in him. Littlestep just felt bad for her and Stormfur, Falconstar's mate. He entered the nursery, where Miststream lay with her five bumbling kits. Two of the five, however, weren't hers at all.

"Littlestep, where's these two's mother?" she asked in a soft, caring voice. Littlestep looked at her, sadness flashing through his yellow-green eyes.

"She does not want them and refuses to be acknowledged as their mother. I hope that you will love and care for them as much as a mother would," he answered. Miststream looked at the two with pity gleaming in her blue-green eyes. The leaves of the bush that surrounded the nursery and kept the kits warm were as waxy and green as ever. It was comfortingly warm and the soft, happy scent of milk found its way to Littlestep's nose. Still, the two cats felt bad for the pair of kits that had been abandoned by their mother.

"I'm sure that they'll never know I'm not their mother... in spirit, at least," Miststream purred kindly. Blazekit looked up at his mother, blinking and yawning in her face as if he needed her attention right at that moment. She licked his head gently, and Littlestep believed that Miststream would be the perfect mother for Amberclaw's kits.

...

Amberclaw began to crack down on Cloudpaw's antics. He had been acting too much like a kit for too long. She took him and Nightpaw on a few battle training sessions, but most of the time Amberclaw just pounced on the tom when he wasn't expecting it. Even if they were on a hunting patrol. Cloudpaw found himself growing to hate his mentor for it. She belittled him at every window of oppurtunity, and her amber eyes always viewed him as a kit. He thought she would be gentler after the birth of her kits, but all that did for the strict cat was make it easier to catch her on the wrong paw. Cloudpaw could barely stand it, but he also wasn't the liveliest of cats. So he just kept his head low and tried to do everything perfectly.

"Cloudpaw! Your tail is all over the place!" Amberclaw meowed, pointing out the action to the fluffy white cat. He steadied it quickly, afraid of the metaphorical thorn in her flank. Why was she always so angry? Cloudpaw stalked through the grass, making sure that his tail didn't give away any more of his irritation. He felt like he was walking on a sweetgum tree's fruit, a spiky and dangerous thing to tread on. Cloudpaw had learned this the hard way in leaf-fall, when he was only a kit. He cringed at the memory. Amberclaw herself was like a sweetgum fruit. Spiky and hard to understand, she was beyond Cloudpaw in a great many things. Sometimes he wondered if that was what it meant to be a warrior, if so he wanted nothing of it. She looked so stressed all the time, but then she was also the deputy... The two returned from the hunting patrol with a squirrel, but that was all. There had been a few more dead birds found, all of which had been buried carefully. All of the cats in FireClan were beginning to worry about this. Cloudpaw couldn't forget the partridge he'd found either. It bugged him endlessly. Why were the birds dying? There had to be some kind of explination for it. It just didn't make sense to him. Cloudpaw pondered this for a long time, his ears pricked as he remained attentive to Amberclaw as well. He didn't want to delve too deep into his thoughts and end up with Amberclaw more upset than she already was. Amberclaw's eyes strayed to the kits as they rolled out of the nursery with a mixture of squeals and yelps.

"You'll never catch me! I'm going to take over all of FireClan!" Blazekit meowed with an playful roar. Spiderkit squared her shoulders, facing him off. She reminded Cloudpaw of Amberclaw, but much more like his mentor used to be... before having Spiderkit and Squirrelkit. He just didn't understand why she was angry at her kits. What had they done?

"Not with me, Spiderstar, around!" she meowed in reply. Amberclaw watched the two in silence. Cloudpaw noticed a strange emotion pass through his mentor's eyes. Longing. She seemed to care about them in some moments, and in the next, she was as angry as she was before, if not even more so. It scared Cloudpaw. Squirrelkit pounced on Blazekit, causing Graykit to jump to his aid, and then Spiderkit was tackled by Tigerkit. Amberclaw almost longed to watch the kits play all day and care for her own two like any other mother. Then she saw the resemblance Squirrelkit and Spiderkit had to Falconstar, and she hated them again. She couldn't help the overwhelming rage that fired through every fibre of her being. Her kits had too much of a resemblance. What if someone noticed? Thus, Amberclaw refused to give the pair the love and attention that they deserved. It emptied her though, and all that was left was always the guilt and anger. She hated them. She cursed their innocent souls and the anger only continued to build. Amberclaw couldn't help her short temper and quickness to scold Cloudpaw. He was turning out to be a good warrior, but she might just reverse all of that with her snappiness.

Cloudpaw had padded away to talk to Lilypool. Amberclaw could tell that her apprentice was infatuated with her sister, but she could also tell that Lilypool didn't feel the same. She saw him as a young cat, nothing more. Amberclaw hailed Foxheart and Nightpaw to join her on another patrol. She never had time to be in the camp, she was always busying herself with one thing or another. Amberclaw knew that her clan mates were beginning to notice, but until her kits were apprentices, she was going to be moving about as much as possible. Foxheart joined her with Smoketail and Nightpaw for a border patrol. Amberclaw led them out of camp quickly. She had to get away from her kits as quickly as she could manage. They pissed her off.

This point doesn't really elude much to the next chapter's happenings, but basically, it's about Amberclaw's unwanted kits. I hope you guys enjoyed this... And please review!

~AS

**edit**

Still doesn't elude. Oh well, I couldn't really figure out a way to make it do so more than it already did. Bleh.