Sunshade:
Sunshade groaned in pain as another spasm overtook her, and her body convulsed. She felt herself push out, and Poppyfoot placed a paw on her belly. "That's the last one," she mewed.
Thank StarClan! Sunshade let out a sigh of relief.
Great job, daughter. She had never met Blackstream before, yet somehow, she knew that this was her mother who had guided her through her kitting.
"You can come in, now, Cloudpatch!" Poppyfoot yowled. Sunshade was in the nursery, lying on one of the mossy nests that Cloudpatch had "reinforced" with soft feathers and the softest moss he could find for her, out of love, of course. Sunshade lifted her head weakly as her mate bounded into the den, his blue eyes bright with excitement.
"Well done!" he mewed warmly, nuzzling her gently.
Sunshade simply nodded, exhausted, feeling her eyes starting to close. She felt tired, her eyelids heavy. "Sunshade!" Poppyfoot mewed, making her head lift. "I think you should name your kits before falling asleep."
Right. The kits. Sunshade craned her neck and got into a sitting position as she cast her glance over the three small kittens that she had given birth to. Her eyes glowed as she looked at them. "Perfect..."
"They're wonderful, Sunshade!" Cloudpatch mewed. "Two she-kits and a tom."
"What should we name them?" Sunshade whispered, still in wonder as she gazed at her kits.
"You decide," her mate mewed gently, pressing against her. Sunshade looked at her three kits, her eyes brimming with pride. She let out a warm purr as she found herself unable to tear her gaze away from her three kits: a light gray she-cat with blue eyes, a golden she-cat with amber eyes, and a dark gray tom with blue-green eyes.
"The light gray she-cat will be Cinderkit," she decided.
Cloudpatch nodded. "Then the golden she-cat is Goldkit."
"And the dark gray tom is... Rainkit." Sunshade thought he looked a lot like Rainblaze, except for the fact that his underbelly was a little lighter than Rainblaze's. "For Rainblaze."
Cloudpatch nodded; Rainblaze was his sister. Poppyfoot dropped something at Sunshade's paws. "Lick this up," she mewed. "It's borage. It will help your milk come, so that you can feed your three kits." Sunshade nodded and licked up the herb before nodding her thanks to Poppyfoot.
Just then, Shadowflame burst into the den. "Did I miss something? I went to drink from the stream."
"You did," Cloudpatch mewed, beaming. "Sunshade gave birth to three kits."
"Well done! Have you named them?" Sunshade heard Shadowflame asked.
Sunshade lifted her head. "Yes, the gray she-cat is Cinderkit, the golden she-cat is Goldkit, and the dark gray tom is Rainkit."
"Wonderful," Shadowflame mewed. She peered over to look at the kits, who now were letting out whimpers and edging closer to Sunshade's belly, for milk. Sunshade sighed, recognizing Rainblaze in Rainkit and Shadowflame's head shape in Goldkit. Curling her tail around her kits, Sunshade let out a purr and drifted away into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.
She felt as though she was jolted awake too soon, but when she opened her green eyes again, she no longer felt tired, as though a weight had been lifted off her. She looked around to see that Cloudpatch had drifted off to sleep beside her, and that Shadowflame was getting a little annoyed at Snowkit and Flamekit, who were trying to catch her tail. Cinderkit was awake, her eyes wide and blue, and Rainkit was just opening his eyes. She prodded Goldkit a little, and her eyes fluttered open, and she looked around.
"Do you three want to go and play outside?" she suggested to her kits. She purred in amusement as Rainkit was on his paws already, heading out of the den. Goldkit looked excited as well, and Cinderkit was bouncing up and down, purring.
"I want to be an apprentice!" Rainkit complained.
"In six moons, little one," Sunshade promised.
Cinderkit let out a protest. "But that'll take forever!"
"It'll come, don't worry." Sunshade sighed as the three of them bounded out. Did Shadowflame and I have that much enthusiasm when we were kits? She turned to her sister. "Why don't you send Flamekit and Snowkit out to play? That's what I did to my three."
"I would like to," Shadowflame growled, "but these two seem to like catching my tail more."
Sunshade padded over. "Flamekit! Snowkit!"
She purred in amusement as Flamekit widened her eyes at the sight of her. "Who's that?"
"That's my sister, Flamekit," Shadowflame mewed.
"You have a sister?" Snowkit asked, his eyes wide and wondering. "Just like I do?"
Shadowflame nodded. "I do. That's Sunshade, my sister. She was stolen by RiverClan as a kit, because we were born during a RiverClan invasion. And she grew up thinking she was RiverClan, until we figured out that we were littermates. As a warrior, she joined ThunderClan with her mate, Cloudpatch."
"Does she have kits?" Flamekit asked.
"I do." Sunshade padded closer, seizing the opportunity. "Why don't you go and meet them? They're outside. They're Cinderkit, Goldkit, and Rainkit." Even before she had finished speaking, Flamekit was beckoning to her brother and racing out of the nursery. She turned to Shadowflame. "Did we have that much enthusiasm when we were kits?"
"I would never have imagined," Shadowflame mewed, "that kits could be so... playful all the time. Maybe we were, Sunshade."
"Well, maybe you weren't, because you didn't have any other kits to play with," Sunshade suggested.
Shadowflame snorted. "I would talk to Silverpaw and Ashpaw," she mewed. "You see them as Silvergaze and Ashfire."
Just then, two apprentices padded in. One was Stormpaw, Silvergaze's daughter, and the other was Lightpaw, one of Nightbreeze's kits, the one that Shadowflame had saved during the fire in ThunderClan's camp. "Have you seen Poppyfoot?" Lightpaw asked.
Sunshade shrugged. "I saw her when I gave birth to my kits and when she gave me borage," she mewed.
"Congratulations!" Lightpaw mewed. "What are their names?"
"Goldkit, Cinderkit, and Rainkit," Sunshade mewed, a spark of pride evident in her gaze. "Why?"
Stormpaw turned to glance at Lightpaw. "Well... we found a clump of celandine, that Poppyfoot hasn't found before, so we want to tell her."
"Well done!" Shadowflame mewed. "Sorry, we haven't seen her, though." Lightpaw nodded, and the two she-cats padded out of the nursery and back into the clearing.
The sun was still high in the sky as Shadowflame pressed against Sunshade. Sunshade purred and twined her tail with her sister's. Cloudpatch lifted his head and purred, pressing against Sunshade as well, and Ashfire padded in, purring as he nuzzled Shadowflame gently.
"All that confusion of before, I guess, everything ended well, after all," Sunshade murmured, touching noses with her sister. The two would be inseparable, bound by love, forever.
oO0Oo
THE END
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Author's Note: Thank you all so much for reading! It was my first fanfic! I hope you enjoyed the story. - Firestream of Ice