The Heart of a Lion

Chapter 8: The Kits

I had no idea having kits would be such a nerve-racking process. I started having pains, and I already knew my kits were coming soon. I flinched, and wondered what in the name of StarClan were my kits doing inside of me.

"Heathertail, are you all right?" Breezepelt asked me.

"What does it look like? I'm not fine!" I snapped at him. I just wanted him gone. I wanted everyone gone except Lionblaze. Especially since the cat checking up on me was the very cat I was trying to avoid since he took so much pride in taking the credit for these kits. When would he realize they weren't his? I couldn't tell him this in case he spilled the news out to the whole Clan.

"Should I go get Barkface?" he offered. "He'll know what to do."

I didn't want to have my kits in the smelly nursery, crowded with a medicine cat to tell me I was doing fine when StarClan knows I wasn't.

Breezepelt didn't even wait for my answer. He bounded out of the nursery to fetch the medicine cat.

I was scared. I didn't want to go through this alone. The only cat who could comfort me was Lionblaze, and he could be anywhere in ThunderClan territory right now. I was going to get to him.

I crawled out of the nursery, me cramping all the while. No one noticed me because I kept the yowls swirling in my head, and went out the back entrance, snagging my tabby brown fur on the briars as I went.

Why do these kits hate me so much? I grumbled silently. I thought kit-birth was supposed to be a good thing!

I wasn't going to make it. What was I thinking, thinking I could make it all the way to ThunderClan territory like this? I had to stop, heaving. I should have never left the nursery, and now I was out here all alone without anyone to help if things went wrong. Great StarClan!

I don't know if it was my clouded thoughts, or my pain-glazed eyes, but for a moment I thought I saw a cat. I held my breath and looked around, but it was gone. I focused back to my kits. I wondered how many I would have. Some litters were as big as five or six kits. Would I have that many?

Then I saw the cat again. It was Lionblaze, and I was about to cry out with delight, but the cat was more of an apparition than a cat; just a clouded image. Still, he was there. I was going crazy. I was sure of it.

"Heathertail, focus on the kits. That is what is important right now," the Lionblaze meowed. "Don't worry, I'm here."

That was all the reassurance I needed. I fought through the contractions that came before the kits, all the while looking at Lionblaze for encouragement. And then the kits were born.

"Look, my love. It's our kits."

I hardly even noticed. I just wanted to snuggle close to him if he weren't just a few tail-lengths out of reach. Then I noticed three small wet things that had to be kits.

I never knew I had it in me, but maternal instinct took over, and I licked the precious kits. They were beautiful, and I could hardly believe they were mine. One was like a miniature Lionblaze, the second was a little black she-kit, and the third one was a small tabby she-kit. They were all small, but she was the tiniest.

"Lionblaze, look at them," I purred, but he was gone. I had pictured him the whole time, and I felt a little disappointed that he wasn't here to see them. I would find him as soon as possible to spread the news.

"Heathertail! Heathertail!" Barkface, Ashfoot, and Crowfeather rushed toward me and looked like they were about to fall over from shock when they saw my kits.

"They are born! What are you doing out here though?" Crowfeather demanded. "You should be in the nursery."

"We have searched the whole camp for you," Ashfoot added.

"I just wanted to have my kits out on the open prairie," I answered innocently. "Aren't they precious?"

The three cats stared at them with adoration, and purrs came from all of their throats. No one could resist the newborn kits.

We carried them back to camp, me holding two of them and Crowfeather held the last one. "What are going to call them?"

"I will decide that later." I wanted Lionblaze to name them. It was only fair. I couldn't wait to show him how our relationship paid off.