Changing for the Better (Closed)

Shira was resting in the Shadowclan nursery.  Then pain started going through her.  She was correct, the kits were coming within a week of when they came to Shadowclan.  Actually, they were coming just two sunrises after they had arrived.  She lifted her head up quickly, sort of freaking out.  She had never been a mother and she was not sure if she even knew how to be one since she had no mother herself for most of her life, but this was a sure way to test it.  "Spark," she nervously mumbled through mostly closed jaws that felt as if she could not open, "I-I think the kits are coming."
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"Perfect," she whispered breathlessly after the kits were born.  It took a lot of the day for the kits to be born.  She was mostly civil to other cats there having not much else but giving birth that she was able to focus on, although she did manage to hiss at the medicine cat at one point.  By the end she was exhausted and breathing heavily.  After not to much rest, she pulled each kit close to her to clean.  There were two she-kits and two toms.  They are fragile little things she noticed.  Even though they were just born, she loved them already and would do anything for them.

After they were done being cleaned, she realized the last thing she needed to do was choose names.  She looked at the small ginger she-kit that looked sort of like Spark.  The beautiful fur reminded her of a fire, like the one she had heard that Skyclan had but had never witnessed.  "Fire...kit?"  She added the weird name ending thing that all clan cats had.  If she wanted her kits to be accepted, giving them a strange rogue name probably was not the best way to go about it.  Then her eyes went to the other she-cat that looked much like her.  She did not really know what to name this one.  Clan cat names were weird and she was still getting use to them, so choosing a name like one the others in Shadowclan had was very hard for her.  Maybe she could name them the opposite... maybe that could work.  "What about Rainkit?"  She asked.

Both of the she-cats were done being named, now all that was left was the toms.  Then, she thought of Spark.  There relationship was not in the greatest place right now, but that was no reason that he should not be as much of the kits lives as her.  Her eyes shined slightly brighter than they had in moons even through the exhaustion.  "You can name the toms if you want," she said in a tone warmer than normal.  Then she rested her head down on the nest, unable to hold it up any longer and, thought with a nervous and excited feeling how happy she was to be a mother.

Spark lay in the nursery, next to Shira. Besides the times when he had to leave to go on patrols, he tried to stay by his mate's side. Perhaps it was to show that he wouldn't think of leaving her ever again. RiverClan was... too much for him, but he should have alerted Shira earlier that he was near his breaking point, before he ever reached it. And now, he had to deal with the consequences.

When Shira told him that the kits were coming, he immediately dashed out of the nursery and to the medicine den. "Rookfire!" the ginger tom shouted. "The kits are coming!" While Rookfire looked for the right herbs for the job, Spark was next to Shira trying to comfort her.

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Rookfire knew that Shira was heavily pregnant, and that the kits would come soon, but he didn't expect it to be this soon. Upon Spark's loud voice, the black tuxedo looked for herbs that he could use to help Shira. What was good for litters? The black tuxedo was blanking on it, though Iniko taught him of many different herbs. Chervil. The herb was one of the first that Rookfire ever learned, so it ended up being the easiest to remember. Grabbing the chervil from the medicine den, he gave it to Shira. "Here's some chervil. The juices should help with the pain."

Receiving a hiss from the she-cat in response, Rookfire instinctively defended himself. "I'm trying to help!" he said without thinking, before realizing that his tone of voice wouldn't help the she-cat. "It's gonna be alright," the tom said calmly, trying to compose himself for his clanmate. "Just remember to breathe, and the pain will be over soon."

Eventually, the four kits had all come out. Rookfire gave his clanmates a grin that said "Told ya I could do it", but inside he was breathing a sigh of relief that nothing bad happened in his first time helping someone with the litter.

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Spark turned to Shira. Him, name some of the kits? He couldn't think of any good names himself. One of the toms had a deep gray pelt, similar to Shira's. "Maybe... Deepkit." The tom felt very unsure about this name, but it probably would end up sticking. Turning to the other tomkit, Spark tried naming him as well. He had a dark pelt as well, but Spark had no idea what he would end up naming him. "And this one is... Webkit." Webkit just happened to be the first name that came into his head, so this tom would be named Webkit. He doubted his skill in naming the two kits, but he was their father, which meant that he had some obligation to name them. Also, he had an obligation to take care of them as well, a task that he felt more comfortable doing.

The first thing the kit was aware of was darkness.

It wrapped around him, enveloping him in nothingness, a place where silence and night reigned, as he slowly gained consciousness.

The second was warmth. The rasping feeling of a rough tongue, traveling over his back. A rumbling purr, causing his own body to respond in kind, purring back in a shaky, new sort of way.

There was hunger, then. And the sensation of other bodies.

And a voice.

"...Deepkit."

That was him, he thought. Deepkit.

The first thing the kit felt was that he was uncomfortable.

It was cold and dark and cold, and he wanted to protest with everything in his little body. Try he did, opening his tiny jaws over and over to no avail, until he finally felt something warm and wet against his fur. It made him squirm at first, but he quickly settled into it, and found it gave his lungs strength.

He mewled away, pawing blindly at his siblings and his mother's belly. He heard– well, felt more than anything, really –something deep rumble out what could've been his name, and Webkit shakily raised his head to squeak back at him, a tiny and sharp little noise of.. defiance, almost, at being named.

"What about... Rainkit," a soft voice murmured. Rainkit shivered and blindly inched her tiny body closer to the warmth that was her mother. A gentle tongue guided her unruly fur into place. She let forth a small, subtle noise to signify her contentment as she lapsed into the mist of sleep.

Firekit was anything but conscious, her head empty, and soul without a spark. But that was okay, she was just born and hardly without a personality. The only thing that drove her forwards was her instincts, the yearning for warmth and companionship, and a rumble in her stomach that prompted her to latch onto a teet. She felt her sibling's wiggle next to her and felt the vibrations of purrs and voices and the brush of her mother's tail. Maybe she did not know her name now, but she would certainly learn it soon.