The two forest cats were running fast, and both Rusty and Henry were having trouble keeping up. The forest was dense with plants, and Henry lost the cats a couple times. But he was able to hear the crunching plants under their feet.
The cats stopped in front of a thicket of brambles. Henry stopped dead in his tracks. Something about the brambles made Henry feel uncomfortable. Something…
*Flashback*
"Great hunting today Dapplepaw!" Windflight praised his apprentice. Dapplepaw held her head high, showing off her two mice and a shrew.
Henry looked at the cats around him. Adderfang and Robinwing also had their mouths full with prey. He swelled with pride at his friends, his….his…
Clan.
*End of Flashback*
The cats had slipped behind the brambles, leaving Henry by himself. He peered through the tunnel.
Through the brambles there was a big clearing. There, tons of cats were cleaning each other, sharing something to eat, and the little ones were playing together. He saw old cats, strong cats, and young kittens with their mothers.
*Flashback*
"He's beautiful Sweetbriar! What did you name him?"
"Pinekit, after his brown fur."
Henry looked up through blurry eyes. He saw a tortoiseshell cat with green eyes staring down at him. He squirmed closer to his mother, letting her warm fur engulf him.
*New Flashback*
"Leopardfoot! What's happening to our kits? Featherwhisker, what's going on?" Henry was panicking, pacing back and forth outside the brambles, sticking his head in and out. Inside, a she-cat had finished kitting. There were three kits on the ground. One was being licked by Featherwhisker, one was being licked by Leopardfoot, and one was being licked by a plump blue she-cat.
Henry's worry was all that he could feel. He wanted more than anything to see his kits grow up. And it pained him to see the worry on Leopardfoot's face.
*End of Flashback*
Henry looked around the clearing. There, at the edge, was the pile of brambles Henry remembered. A dark-grey kit poked her head out, followed by three others. They tumbled out, wide-eyed by the newcomer.
By now, most of the cats had noticed the kittypet, and were staring intently, whispering to each other. Only a blue she-cat walked up to them.
"Well Lionheart?"
*Flashback*
Henry jumped down from a big rock, purposely avoiding any of the cats' eyes. He walked up to two cats, one a smaller golden cat, and one the same blue cat he's seen through all of his memories.
He turned to the golden cat. "You kept my secret through all of this. Thank you. Tell Sunfall that if I stayed, I would have named you Lionheart."
*End of Flashback*
"Then it is decided. I will tell the Clan." The blue cat leapt onto the big rock. Henry drew his head back from the brambles. He raced through the forest and didn't stop until he reached his Twoleg nest. The entire way there, he didn't look back once.