A/N: Once again, I'm late in updating. I'm sorry. Oh, and I have yet another excuse (all of which, actually have been true, but they're still excuses...) I'm doing LeFiWriMo! It's similar to NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month, but it's only 25,000 words and it's in September. So I've started that, but honestly... I'd rather work on this, which means I'll probably lose LeFi, but oh well. Ha ha, anyway, thank you so much, all of you. I have over a hundred reviews for this story, I feel incredibly proud of that. Sure, a lot of fics get a hundred reviews by chapter ten or even sooner, but let's face it, I'm not extremely talented so this is a big deal for me. Thank you all. My head is as swollen as a watermelon for the praise. =)
Falconkit's eyes widened in realization. "The kits are coming, aren't they?" she asked in a slightly panicked tone, her voice cracking.
Russetfur started to reply but was hit with another pain. Focusing on her surroundings, she saw that giving birth here would be terrible- it was open and the blood would attract foxes and Twoleg dogs... Twolegs. That was a Twoleg fence! Through the mist she saw they were not a great distance from Twolegplace. They were even close to Charlie's yard. Her pride swallowed by the desperation of the situation, she picked up Falconkit kit in her teeth again and staggered to her feet.
"Not supposed to walk..." she thought, but ignored it. They reached Charlie's fence, and Russetfur looked up at the top of it, the task seeming impossible. "Can you jump up there on your own?" she asked Falconkit, setting her down for a moment. The kit shook her head, and Russetfur narrowed her eyes in determination as a pain struck her. "Fine." she picked her up again, crouched, and leaped to the top of the fence with a tremendous effort. Her front claws just gripped the edge of the top, and she struggled up there, dangling on the side for a scary minute, back feet scrabbling against the smooth wood.
Feeling light-headed and dizzy, she stumbled as she leapt down to the Twoleg thing where she and Charlie usually talked, and smacked her shoulder on it, hard enough to dislocate it. Falconkit's hind flank also hit and it would bruise, but Russetfur's shoulder had actually come out of place. That agony coupled with yet another pain was enough to make Russetfur jerk and cry out, making her back half slip over the edge of the table. With her left front leg useless, she started to fall to the ground before another cat saved her. Charlie balanced on a Twoleg object and supported Russetfur, before slowly sliding down with the queen. Falconkit leaped down beside them as Charlie laid the queen down on the grass behind a shrub. "Charlie..." she murmured.
"Russetfur, what were you thinking, jumping on that fence in your condition? And don't think I don't know what's going on, I might be a tom but I know what a pregnant she-cat looks like! And after all these moons of me just sitting around in the yard, waiting for you to at least come by and say hello, even for a second, and when you finally do, I have to sprint across the garden and save you, and now you're having kits in my Twoleg's garden? Why aren't you in your camp?" the white tom ranted, light green eyes huge with worry and anger.
Falconkit, standing on Russetfur's other side, said bitterly, "She was exiled."
After a shocked moment's pause, the kittypet asked, "Who are you? Don't tell me Russetfur had a litter and is pregnant a second time and I never heard a thing about it?"
"No. I am not her kit." Falconkit said shortly.
Charlie shook his head. "The whole of ShadowClan is going to show up in the garden..." he muttered, before looking at Russetfur, who was oddly silent. She was close to passing out, her eyes mostly closed and her breath shallow. "Woah, don't you even think about dying on me, Russetfur. I haven't even begun to tell you how angry I am that I didn't know you were pregnant. I love kits!"
"Yeah..." the slightest of smirks flickered on her face.
Charlie smiled too, but didn't let her see. "This bite on your shoulder... It's really fresh... Who bit you, a pregnant queen?" The outrage in his voice was apparent as he examined the small wound.
"Just my apprentice... That's not... The shoulder I'm worried about... Though..." she panted as a pain struck her.
The white and gray-furred tom took a look at the other and winced. Without warning, he braced one paw on her spine and shoved the leg back into place. Russetfur screamed as cats could only scream, and he flattened his ears. "Sorry about that. It hurts less if you don't see it coming. Happened to me when I was barely more than a kit."
"Kit!" she cried as the first kit came. Charlie, unsure what to do, looked at Falconkit.
The small she-cat darted over and nipped the birthing sack open, a tabby tom slipping out. "Lick his fur backwards. Right, Russetfur?"
"Y- yes." the dark ginger she-cat panted. Lines scored the earth where she flailed her paws in pain. A second kit started to come, and she snarled.
This kit, a marbled ginger tabby, had it's fur licked by Falconkit. "Are - there- more- ?" she asked between licks.
Russetfur didn't answer, only let out a stream of curses. She thought of how, as an apprentice, she thought birth was beautiful. New life, and all that. Beautiful? This was bloody, painful, hideous. The farthest thing from beautiful. And yet, a fierce joy wracked her heart even as a third kit's arrival made her beg mentally to join StarClan.
The third kit was a light brown tom with a white-tipped tail, who started breathing with the first lick delivered by Charlie. He squirmed and squirmed, full of life. He did not flinch as his mother cried out one last time, the fourth and final kit being born. This one was a large dark brown tabby, like the first. Russetfur knew it was over, all over. Her breathing slowed slightly. She stared at the four beautiful kits that had been placed at her belly. All were safe, breathing, alive. And beautiful.
The ginger tabby was the only she-kit, but she was a bit bigger than the light brown tom. They were sandwiched between the two dark brown tabbies. Russetfur's mind noted that they had Tigerclaw's pelt, but she didn't mind. These were her kits, and she loved them so. She was exhausted and desperately wanted to sleep for hours and hours, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from them.
"I'm going to name you Foxkit, after my brave sister." she licked the head of the ginger she-kit. "And you will be Raggedkit, for the ShadowClan leader who will be remembered forever for his noble and kind approach to every day and every cat. "She nuzzled the dark brown tabby who also had Tigerclaw's large claws. Foxkit did too, but the unnamed two did not. "And I want each of you, Charlie and Falconkit, to name one of these two."
Charlie's eyes softened. "Really?" he asked, knowing how important the naming of her babies was.
"Yes." The dark ginger queen still hadn't looked up.
Charlie studied them. "I think you should call him Leaf. Er, Leafkit. He looks just like a leaf in leaf-bare, with a speck of snow on the stem." He nudged the light brown kit. Russetfur nodded, finally looking up to glance at Falconkit.
"Berrykit. For his nose." she said quietly. The second dark brown tom did have a bright raspberry-red nose, unlike Raggedkit.
Russetfur sighed happily. "My kits..." She closed her eyes for a minute, before saying slowly, "Charlie... I need a favor."
"Well I guess I owe you that. After all, I'm the one who disappeared for moons before falling into your den and giving birth, right?" Charlie rolled his eyes.
If she had had the energy, Russetfur probably would have cuffed his head. "I need you to find a Twoleg home for Falconkit."
"What?" the kit asked sharply. "Is that why you took me away from ShadowClan? To give me away, turn me into a kittypet?" Rage burned in her eyes.
Russetfur's dark green eyes smoldered. "Don't act surprised. Flamesong made her wishes very clear. This is what she wanted for you, Falconkit. And I for one will not stray for her wishes."
"Don't talk about my mother!" she spat. "You don't know anything!" The kit was trembling.
The ginger queen's eyes narrowed. "My mother died recently. And I lost my father when I was a kit. And I heard what Flamesong said the night she died. She wants you to be a housecat. She doesn't want you to have to die so young, like she did. And she trusted me to make that happen. And so I will respect her wishes. What we might consider the right choice doesn't matter now. Flamesong's wishes come before anything else."
Falconkit opened and closed her mouth. "I want to be a warrior..." she said in a small voice. "I want to fight for my Clan, and fight for Flamesong."
"And she wants you to live a long, healthy life." Russetfur turned her head to Charlie. "Please, find her a home."
Charlie nodded slowly. "There is a Twoleg couple who live only a few houses away, and their cat passed away recently. They are kind, and they visit my owner's nest often. It would be easy to check up on her..."
"Take her there." Russetfur said. Charlie nodded and picked up Falconkit by the scruff, jumping up onto the fence and trotting away. The black and gray she-kit did not resist.
Her dark red fur showing up starkly against the green plant, Russetfur felt conspicuous, but didn't want to shift for fear of making the kits cry out and maker her even more vulnerable. The kits... she thought. These are tiny lives, tiny precious lives that I must care for and protect until they can protect themselves. She could almost tell the kits' personalities already. Leafkit could not be still. He kept wiggling and squirming around, occasionally accidenlty jamming a paw into one of the other kits. Whenever this happened, Berrykit would growl and jab his paw back, as would Foxkit, but Raggedkit simply moved the paw away judiciously, like a little leader.
Berrykit and Foxkit were somewhat aggressive, but Foxkit was also very smart, using her small size to get to her mother's milk with ease, and sounding so fierce when she growled that Leafkit would take care not to accidentally poke her again. Berrykit, while he didn't have the cunning of his sister, seemed as though he would amount to a great fighter. His size gave him an advantage, of course, but the tom met blow with blow whenever Leafkit got him, and unlike Foxkit, his bark was not as bad as his bite.
Chuckling at how well she felt like she knew her kits already, Russetfur slipped into sleep, happiness flaring through her exhaustion and humiliation, and aches. Even her exile from ShadowClan could not stop her from smiling as she fell asleep - her kits were alive and well. Nothing else mattered.
