Finding the Father-to-be of RiverHeart's unborn kit

RiverHeart strode into Fox's Hill. After her journey from RiverClan Main Camp, she was feeling hungry. She hid in a bush and watched a fox's den closely. Her long tail made a final flick before RiverHeart's body was completely still. Soon, a young fox cub emerged from the den. RiverHeart waited until three quarters of its body was out until she pounced, slashing the cub's neck. The cub died instantly and RiverHeart dragged the body away before the cub's parents saw her. She feasted hungrily on the meat and licked her nose to remove any blood stains. She carried on walking, wondering what she would say to the kit's father when she saw him.

ShadowStar sneaked up behind Riverheart, keeping upwind so she couldn't be smelled. Silently, she reached the deputy's side. "You shouldn't be here." she said, flicking her tail, "Especially not in that condition."

Nodding towards River's bulging belly, she giggled a little at the look of shock on the she-cat's face. "I'm not stupid - I can tell when you're expecting kits." she smiled, showing long white fangs. "Now tell me. What are you trying to find?"

RiverHeart was surprised to find her leader suddenly by her side. "What are you trying to find?" ShadowStar asked. RiverHeart ducked her head and sighed. "My kit's father." she whispered. She wandered away from ShadowStar. She was appalled at herself about who the father was.

Shadowstar followed and quickly caught up. "Well, which toms do you know?" she asked politely. It was likely that Shadow would know some of them, from her days when she wandered around the country. Since she had found the cat in Windclan territory, it was likely that the tom was from that clan.

"Not many." She answered truthfully. "But there is really only one tom who I..." she paused. She couldn't possbly say it. She looked into her leader's eyes. She knew she had to tell her. "who I really love." she finished. She looked to see if hewas there.

Shadow nodded understandingly. "Go on," she urged quietly, "Do you remember his name?" she looked away, not wanting to scare the she-cat. Her heterochromic eyes glinted in the sunlight. She had never experienced love, and preferred to be alone, stay alone, die alone. Much less having kits. A small part of her wanted to know what it was like to care about someone deeply, to want to help them and keep them going, but Shadow was a loner at heart. That type of thing would never happen to her. "Go on." she murmured again, coaxingly.

RavenFang wandered across the frosty ground. Winter always came early up north where they lived. He carried in his mouth a couple of fat mice and dropped them on the freshkill pile. "I'm going on a solo patrol." he mewed softly to a nearby cat.

Kicking up shards of ice from frozen puddles as he went, Raven trudged out of the WindClan camp and toward's Fox's hill. He stopped short and crouched low, unfortunately downwind, when he saw two strangers approaching. Being downwind couldn't be helped - they had come from the winpwind side.

RiverHeart was about to answer when she saw him. It was RavenFang. She took and deep breath and approached RavenClaw. "RavenClaw," She said. "I've got something to tell you," she nudged RavenClaw and they wandered off alone together. "Raven, remember that night a few moons ago?" she said. "Well," she took a deep breath, "Now I'm pregnant."

Shadow hissed warningly. Against the white background, the dappled tom's tail stuck out prominently. Then River moved away from her side towards the cat. Respecting the deputy's wishes, Shadow waited where she was, keeping an eye out for any patrols. Her dark colouring also stuck out against the background, as she was painfully aware.

OOC: OMG this is the longest post I have ever written in my entire life!

Raven jumped to his feet. Riverheart was...beautiful. He looked to the dark-furred cat with the strange eyes behind her and shivered. She was glaring fiercely, and had very long canine teeth. Without hesitation, he followed River away from the cat. He stopped himself from yelling out in delight and listened to Riverheart's words.

"You're pregnant?" he repeated slowly, his tail swishing side to side. He was delighted, but he could hear the wariness in River's voice. He could see the problem: they would grow up in different clans, and he might have to face his own kits in battle. He wrinkled his nose. he was torn between loyalty to River and loyalty to WindClan. He couldn't just join RiverClan...MossStar, the WindClan leader, would most likely be furious that he still saw Riverheart at gatherings. The RiverClan leader might not take kindly to it either. Unfortunately, he never paid much attention to gathering announcements so he had no idea what the famed 'ShadowStar' looked like.

Ravenfang looked back at Riverheart. "What're you going to do? Ask a medicine cat to abort them using those herb thingys? Or are you going to keep them? What will our clan leaders say?!" panic rose in his throat like bile and he coughed to calm down. Becoming sensible again, he repeated the questions.

They continued walking, and as they passed a thick-trunked tree, Raven spotted two of the 'flirty' cats heading their way. "Stay hidden." Pushing Riverheart behind the tree, he yowled loudly, "See you soon, FrostClaw!" as they approached. He sighed. It was a couple of she-cats his age who were obsessed with him. It was Mistypelt and Foxtail. "Um...hi?" he smiled softly.

The she-cats burst into fits of giggles. "Hey, beauty!" purred Mistypelt, pushing her face a mouse-length away from his. Raven backed onto his haunches, his whiskers prickling. The second cat, Foxtail, wrinkled her nose and sampled the air.

"It smells like RiverClan here." she noted, looking at the frightened Ravenfang.

"Oh? That's because, uh...FrostClaw was hunting on the border again, and told me that he found a good scratching tree in RiverClan near the gorge. So he reeks of it." he gave a nervous laugh as Mistypelt advanced again.

"Aww...well Frosty's gonna get it if he keeps going there, isn't he?" Foxtail cooed. "But you're good; you like to stay here with me, don't you?" she paid no attention to Mistypelt's cry of agitation or Raven's frantic shake of the head.

Mistypelt pushed forward again, and now her nose was a claw-length away from Raven's own. "Girls, I have to go now...I'm on patrol." Raven stuttered, shivering and trying not to fall backwards from leaning to far back. He knew once he was on his back he had lost.

Mistypelt sighed. "You spend too much time alone..." she smiled mysteriously. She took her front paw and slightly tapped Raven on the chest. He rolled over and landed on his back. She pinned him down with her front paws and held her head a rat-length away from his. Raven's ears were pointing down in uneasiness. His back feet were pressed against her back legs, trying to push her away off him, and his front left paw was planted just below the bottom of her throat, at the chest. "But if you have to go..." she purred, "This will have to do." bending her head, she licked him slowly on the nose, before releasing him and calling to her friend Foxtail.

"But there's no one else here - we can stay until someone comes." Foxtail pointed out. Before Raven could haul himself shakily up, Mistypelt landed on top of him again. Raven shivered violently and braced himself for another lick on the face, but the next moment the cat's had run off, screaming in terror.

An ear-splitting yowl sounded across the moor. It was definitely made by a cat, but sounded like more of a howl than a cat-noise. It was the dark-furred cat with the green and blue eyes, standing on the top of Fox's Hill and glaring at the group. The WindClan she-cats ran off in terror and Raven himself nearby bolted too, before he saw who it was. **

Getting up shakily, he went over to Riverheart and they rubbed faces. "Anyway..." he smiled as best he could, his evergreen eyes glinting, "Your answers to the questions?" he coaxed as the other cat went back to where it was before.
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** I discussed this paragraph with ShadowStar over the C-box. She'll probably echo this in her next post.

RiverHeart was shocked at RavenFang's abortion suggestion. "Absolutely not!" she yowled, horrified. "We will raise them like normal parents, but we'll have to cover it up somehow," she mewed thoughtfully.

She turned to Shadow. "Do you have any suggestions?" she mewed hopefully.

Shadow trotted over to them after she yowled. "Do you have any suggestions?" Riverheart asked.

Shadow sat back on her haunches, her ears flat against her head. She looked carefully at Ravenfang. He doesn't know I'm the RiverClan leader, she realised.

Picking her words carefully, she tried, "Well, I would have no problem accepting half-breeds into my clan...most cat's are polite enough not to ask who the father is, so you wouldn't have to tell them who. On the other paw, Ravenfang would probably find it hard to see his own kits grow up in a different clan - especially when we're not allied with you." she twitched her whiskers. "The kits would certainly have a life ahead of them in RiverClan, but what of the WindClan father? Not many cats in my clan would accept a WindClan cat into the territory, let alone as part of the clan. This is the real problem."

Raven looked at Shadow. She's the Clan Leader?! he gasped, shocked. We could be in serious trouble if she disagrees with the whole thing! but then he listened to what the young she-cat had to say, and nodded his head.

"I don't want to stay here sometimes, cats like those two do that to me a lot. But MossStar might not let me go easily, because he knows I'm a valuable warrior." he said, scuffing the ground with a paw. "And a WindClan cat would not be welcome. But even if we could meet only in gatherings, I still might have to face my own kits in battle. If I killed one...I wouldn't bear it. But if I let it escape unharmed, I would be severely punished and possibly exiled. And a Rogue cat is even harder to accept into a clan!" he pointed his ears back in distress. "I don't know!" he meowed uncertainly. He looked at his mate, "And I'm sorry about the abortion question. I didn't mean any harm."

RiverHeart looked into RavenFang's mysterious eyes. A small tear drop appeared in the corner of one of her own. She cuddled up to RavenFang and licked his ear fondly. "We shall each have a kit each." she said. "We'll work it all out when they come. Shadow, may Raven stay with me until my kits are born?"

Shadow licked her paw and brought it over her ear thoughtfully. She was the RiverClan leader, and it would be foolish to bring in a WindClan cat. But he seemed trustworthy, and Riverheart loved him wholly. She sighed.

"Yes. Until the kits are weaned and old enough to leave. Then you each care for one...make sure they know who their family is, both of you. RavenFang will be able to meet at gatherings and will sometimes be allowed inside the border. I go out on patrols sometimes, and if I catch you I won't send you away, but if someone else does it is up to them whether to let you pass or to fight you off." she looked at the two cats, who were both the same age as her. Young, but mature. "While you stay in my camp, you'll have to stay in a special area of my den. At the back of mine there is a tunnel. It leads underground to a 'honeycomb' area, like a large hall. It is used for when the clan falls under attack and kits, queens, and elders have to be protected. You may stay there." she paused,

"Riverheart, do you think it wise to tell MossStar about this? RavenFang, you too?"

Raven shook his head. "I'm not sure. Would it be breaking the warrior code to - yes, it would. It would make people think I'm disloyal to the clan." he lifted his head to look at the cats. He saw that all three of them had dark fur. Riverheart's jet black pelt made her look like a typical RiverClan cat, because of her soft green eyes. But ShadowStar's ornate dark markings reminded him of ShadowClan, and he couldn't stop himself bristling. "I'll come." he said finally.

RiverHeart licked him with joy. "Oh, thank you, Raven!" she mewed happily. "Thank you so much!" Just then, she felt the kicking. "Oh my goodness!" River cried, looking astonished. "I'm getting four seperate kicks, each to far away from the other to be the same kit!" She turned onto my back so that Raven and Shadow could feel them.

Shadow watched Riverheart roll onto her back. Sniffing at the she-cat's tummy, she pressed a paw to it and applied a small amount of pressure. Riverheart winced, and Shadow moved her paw to a different place an pressed again. She did this several times, before looking at both cats before her. "Four." she said plainly, lifting her paw away and sitting down. She looked at the two cats. They looked similar, the same age, Ravenfang a little taller than Riverheart, and Riverheart was all black with witch-cat green eyes while Ravenfang was dappled black and dark grey with soft green eyes. ShadowStar stood up. "Let's go." she said, turning and trotting back towards her own camp.

Raven stepped back and watched. He smiled happily as ShadowStar announced that there would be 4 kittens. He nodded and followed ShadowStar with Riverheart at his side. "Let's go quickly, before any patrols find us." he mewed.

RiverHeart nodded and rolled back onto her paws. She padded back towards her clan after giving RavenFang one final lick. "Shadow! I need to talk to you," she called, running to catch up with her leader. "Are you okay with this? Having part-WindClan kits in our clan? I mean, you are the leader. If you are uncomfortable with it, I will..." She took a deep breath for she wanted to show her dedication to the clan by saying this. "I will abort them." she whispered finally.

ShadowStar halted and looked at Ravenfang. "Go on ahead, but only as far as the gorge. Then wait for us." after he was out of sight, she went and sat next to Riverheart. She looked slightly shocked at what Riverheart said. "There's no need for that." she said kindly, "Anyway what is it?" she asked.

Raven nodded to the RiverClan leader and kept walking. His paws kicked up little stones as he went and he kept his head down so he didn't walk off the edge of the gorge by mistake. When he got there, he sat with his tail curled around his paws and just watched the rushing water below him.

"I'm just worried that other cats will find out and if they do my kits could be discriminated or..." she couldn't say it. "Or..." - a tear appeared in her eye. "Or killed." she whispered finally. She was ever so angry with herself. "How could I be so irresponsible! Doing that with RavenFang! I've scarred every opportunity that my kits could ever get now!" RiverHeart stalked over to a tree and banged her head against it. "Horrible, cruel, terrible mother!" she shouted at herself.

Shadowstar whirled round and placed herself between Riverheart and the tree. Fireheart banged into the clan leader's chest and stopped, shuddering with anger at herself. Shadow raised a paw, and cuffed her round the head. "Stop it." she said coldly. "You haven't damaged the kittens' opportunities. Not by a long shot." she sat down facing Riverheart.

"If any cat from my clan harms those kittens, they'll be breaking the warrior code. They will be severely punished, and I would announce their wrongdoings at the Gathering, for all cats to know. No cat in the same clan can be discriminated against, and that is Law." she growled.

"Those kits will get the same opportunities as everyone else, based on their skills and readiness to learn - not their parentage." her eyes softened, "Now, is that all?" she licked Riverheart's shoulder kindly and stood up.

Ravenfang had fallen asleep by the time it started to rain. It was a light drizzle, and he lay on his back and stared up at the dark rainclouds above him. They were moving quickly, and Ravenfang knew the shower would be over soon. He yawned, little raindrops falling into his mouth. Turning over to lay on his side, he stretched one leg before half-curling up into a ball and falling into a light doze.