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Starblaze streatched out her hind legs and back, giving a purr of pleasure at the feeling. Standing, she shook her head and walked out from the warrior's den, and into the camp clearing. Early morning, she looked over to the fresh kill pile, and saw it was mostly empty, but took a mouse for herself. She glanced over to Blazestar's den, and saw the orange-gold leader talking with Whitestorm.
"Starblaze, good morning!" Whitestorm greeted her as she walked over, carrying three mice, instead of one. She gave one to Blazestar and Whitestorm.
"Starblaze, I want you, Whitestorm, and Turtleclaw, along with your apprentice, to go on a hunting patrol this morning." Blazestar said. Starblaze finished her meal and nodded.
"All right. I'll go get Wolfpaw now." She said, trotting to the apprentice's den, to wake her young apprentice. Wolfpaw was as silent as ever, but he accidently woke Flamepaw, when he stepped on her tail by accident. Giving her an apology, he met Starblaze by the opening of the den.
"We are going hunting with Turtleclaw and Whitestorm. Meet me at the camp enterance once you've eaten." She said. Wolfpaw streatched and nodded, heading to the fresh kill pile. Starblaze herself walked to the warrior den, and peered inside. She backed away as Smallclaw came out, shuffling a bit to get the sleep out.
"I'm going on the morning hunting patrol." Starblaze said, nuzzling the side of Smallclaw's head. Smallclaw nodded, and returned the gesture.
"When you get back, I wanted to ask you about kits.." Smallclaw said, a little uneasy. Starblaze nodded, giving him a warm gaze.
"We'll see about it." She said, walking to the entryway to the camp, Wolfpaw joining her, and giving her a questioning glance. Starblaze just nodded to him as they joined Whitestorm and Turtleclaw at the camp enterance.
-
Starblaze knew, as a warrior, she should not be doing this, but still chose to meet with Nightpaw at night, at Small Land. Tonight was no different, only this time, she had something more to tell him.
She waited for him, near the High Rock, sitting patiently, and listening to the sounds around her. Her eyes darted to the bushes when she heard them rustling, and saw a tom cat slink out. Nightpaw.
"Nightpaw, good to see you! I didnt see you for a while, and got worried." Starblaze said. Nightpaw nodded, and sat in front of her. He seemed worn out.
"Sorry, I've been a bit busy. My warrior ceremony wasnt to long ago, and Shadowstar kept me mostly on patrols since. My name isnt Nightpaw now though, it is Nightfrost." Nightfrost said, looking at Starblaze warmly. Starblaze nodded.
"There is something I need to tell you, though, and then I need to get back to my clan." She said. Nightfrost looked at her curiously, before nodding uneasily.
"What is it?" He asked. Starblaze blinked one, and took a breath.
"Tomarrow I am moving into the queen's den. I'm having Smallclaw's kits, so it will be a while before I am able to meet up with you again." She said. Nightfrost gave her an uneasy look, one Starblaze couldnt quite grasp, but it made her heart clench.
"I see..." He said simply. Starblaze stood, giving him a nod, before taking a step away.
"I don't think we should meet up again. Ever." Nightfrost said suddenly. Starblaze gaped at him.
"Wh-why?"
"This made me realize that it isnt right. You have a mate now, and you are in a different clan." Nightfrost said, his tone was calm, but you could hear he was holding back unwanted emotions. Starblaze's ears flattened, she felt horrible, like she was going to throw up. Suddenly, that sadness turned to anger.
"Well fine!" She spat at him, running off before he could respond. Starblaze didnt stop running until she came to the training hollow. She felt rather hollow herself, and prayed that Starclan would give her guidence, but somehow, she wasnt surprised when no cat came to help her through her turmoil. She shook her head, before getting up, and walking back to Sunclan. Tomarrow, she'd be telling Blazestar she needed to go to the nursery, and tomarrow was also Wolfpaw's warrior ceremony. She thought again of Nightfrost, but banished the thoughts from her mind, slipping into the camp, and then quickly to the warrior's den, and right next to Smallclaw.
-
Starblaze was exhausted, as she shuffled a bit to get more comfortable, three kits feeding. She felt happy though, in the queen's den, having just given birth. Dawnflower had joined her yesterday, so she wasnt at lack of company, since Pantherheart didnt talk much at all, and it was nice having a queen that had given birth before with her and Ravenfur when she'd finally had her kits. It was the middle of the night when she'd gone into labor, and Sandtail had gone to get Smallclaw.
Starblaze licked the top of each kit's head, thinking of names for them, and also thinking of how the clan took her going to the nursery. Blazestar had been shocked, but happy for her, Tigerstripe took one look at her and Smallclaw, and hasnt spoken to them since. Starblaze felt a little bad, since Smallclaw took that a little hard. Leaftail, likewise, gave praise to Starblaze, but wondered at her choice. Starblaze said Smallclaw wasnt the kind to hold a grudge, and had forgiven her for the little incident from when she was a kit. Bluefire was estatic, going off on being an 'aunt'. It had worried Starblaze a bit, but since she had been mentoring an apprentice at the time, Starblaze hope she'd calm down. Eventually. Shadestalker seemed a little taken back at her choice, but didnt take it that hard. Whitestorm seemed happy for her, and Sandtail was just happy Smallclaw was finally getting some kits.
Starblaze sighed, looking down at the three kits close to her belly, one mewling, its pink mouth wide. Starblaze nudged the little kitten closer to her stomach, and it began to feed again. Starblaze looked the little kits over, from the largest, and first born, a tom, black with a white underside, and a brown stripe on his shoulders, pointing to his chest, to the middle sized kit, a dark gray, almost black she-cat with darker tabby stripes, almost invisible, giving her the appearance of a shadow shifting whenever she moved. She then looked at the last kit, the one that had been crying, the runt of the litter. He was much smaller than his two sibling, the last born. Gray with a lighter gray underside, dilluted black stripes running down his back and sides, dilluted black rings along his tail, the black fading into the darker gray pelt, and black paws, and a black mask over his eyes, reminding Starblaze of a raccoon creature she'd once heard of.
She looked up as Smallclaw came in, shaking his head to dispell the sleep that had claimed him earlier. He nodded to Pantherheart and Dawnflower, whom had been steadily getting back to sleep before going to Starblaze, nuzzling her head, before sitting down, gazing at the three small scraps of fur at her side, their dark coats stiking out strikingly against her pure white fur.
"Have you thought of any names?" He asked, reaching down and nuzzling the kits lightly, licking the smallest one on the head.
"I was thinking of Shadowkit, and Coonkit for these two." Motioning to the dark tabby, and the dilluted tabby.
"I can't think of a name for this one yet though." She said, motioning to the largest one, whom had fallen asleep, his head resting on his smaller sister's back, pink mouth open, a small thin thread of milk sticking to his sister's fur.
"How about Talonkit?" Smallclaw asked. Starblaze nodded. Smallclaw nodded as well, nuzzling Starblaze again.
"Talonkit," Smallclaw nuzzled the largest kit, "Shadowkit," The dark tabby, "and Coonkit" The dilluted stripped tabby last. Starblaze licked the top of Smallclaw's head, and laid down fully. She felt Smallclaw nuzzle her neck, before getting up.
"Good job. I'll see you in the morning before I go on morning hunting patrol." Smallclaw said to her, before leaving. Starblaze's only reaction was to wave her tail slightly, before letting herself drift off into sleep.
She was in the middle of a particularly lovely dream where she'd just caught a squirrel, when she felt something prodding her in the side annoyingly. Waking up, she heard one of her kits giving light mews, and looked down to discover it wasnt her kit! There were two new kits among her own, a bright yellow kit with black ears, paws, tail tip, and if Starblaze was seeing correctly, a black underside. The other looked strikingly familiar, brown with a black stripe running vertically along its side and a black paw. She looked up drowsily, noting there was a light, pink tint outside, meaning dawn was just arriving, to see Blazestar nuzzling one of the kits closer to her.
"Blaze... star..?" Starblaze mumbled. Blazestar flinched, and stood up.
"Please, Starblaze, you are the only queen that can feed them at this time!" He said. Something about the way he said it made Starblaze worry.
"Were did these...?" She didnt finish, shaking the sleep from her eyes, and looking down at the two kits.
"The brown one is Dark-kit, the yellow one Yarrowkit. It doesnt matter where they came from, will you care for them? Please?" Blazestar asked. His voice was hushed, to not awaken Pantherheart or Dawnflower, but something about him seemed desperate.
"I will, but Blazestar, are these your kits?" She asked, sniffing the kits. They both smelled familiar to her, one distinctly had something akin to his smell to it, the other, she couldn't quite recognize.
"... Yes." Blazestar admitted to her. Starblaze looked up, but didnt press any further. It was against clan code to be with a cat from another clan, and she couldnt only guess that he had broken that code, as the kits did not come from any she-cat in Sunclan, if they were indeed his own kits.
"Don't worry Blazestar, I'll care for them." Starblaze said, nudging the brown one closer, so he could get milk as well. The mewling died down, and Starblaze saw Blazestar nod greatfully.
"Thank you, Starblaze." Blazestar said as he slipped out. Starblaze nodded, and laid her head back down, but she couldnt sleep. She yawned, and thought of the two new kits. It wasnt the first time the clan had taken in abandoned kits. Palekit and Smokekit, now Palepaw and Smokepaw, were abonded, and she herself wasnt born of Sunclan, but this time, the kits belonged to Blazestar! She looked down at the two kits, wondering who their mother was. She looked at the brown one, the familiar design of the fur. She blinked once, then twice, before it dawned on her who their mother was. Many cats in Sunclan, evn Blazestar's mate, and Starblaze's milk mother, Leaftail, would be furious if they found out the identity of the kit's mother. She decided then to keep it to herself.
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Anyone with a brain should be able to tell who the two new kits mother is (there is only one kit with a design similar to Dark-kit's)
Anyway, this is the final chapter of Book 2, and I wrote myself into a pretty big hole with it. You see, the original main pairing of the fanfic was StarblazeXNightfrost, but now I am unsure if I should keep it that, or make it into StarblazeXSmallclaw. It is so bad, that I need to re-do my design for book 3 (it will be longer, and honestly, it lost a majoring part of its' plot other than focusing on Starblaze's origins) btw, once Starblaze temporarily leaves Sunclan, it will be written sort of like how The New Prophecy was written (in that each chapter goes back and forth from the clan, to the group of cats that had left)
The rest of Sunclan will get more screen time durring that time, I promise (like all the non-existant members, such as Whitestorm, Mousefang, Braveheart, Snowfur, ect.)
Tigerstripe isnt proud of his son's choice in a mate(?) but I don't think we'll have to worry about him. It is Ivykit/paw/Spirit (Smallclaw's originally intended mate) that you need to worry about.
Coonkit will become important, but only becouse his design and character is kick ass -has all ready planned a lot of stuff around him- the focus durring book three will be shifting between him and Starblaze (him when it is centered around Sunclan, Starblaze when it is centered around her journey back home)
Chapter is short, only becouse I got Writer's Block half way through.
The new kits arent that important, so dont over think them to much.
Btw, the reason when Starblaze moved into the Queen's den there was only Pantherheart and Dawnflower is becouse Dawnflower is expecting another litter, and Pantherheart still hadnt given birth. Starblaze became the mentor to Wolfpaw soon after the events of the last chapter (Bluefire became Flamekit's mentor btw)
Book 3 is taking place 6 moons from now btw (why six moons? becouse I dont feel like writting Starblaze raising her kits) Well, not exactly Six moons. The first or second chapter of the next book will have the kits' apprentice ceremony in it. I would also like to point out that Jayfeather and some of the Starclan cats will become more important, and more promiment in the next book.