“Come on, quick paws now Pepperkit, Papayakit, Bisonkit.”
Pitter patters of small kitten paws rushed to keep up with the confident strides of creamy molly, who was already running late. Getting out of her nest and way from her large, constantly hungry kittens was a relief to get a break. Peahcblossom might have raised her other two litters but she didn't have to constantly be around them for feedings, she really admired the other queens who did this constantly. She knew her babies were safe with their father back in Thunderclan camp but she couldn't help but feel her nerves prickling at her paws.
Her concerns for her newest litter was soon replaced when the mawls of her son, Bisonkit, pierced her ears.
“Momma! Momma, my paws hurt!” His voice was loud and squeaky as it rang through the forest. Peachblossom couldn't help but giggle softly at her son, this was their first time leaving the camp and walking such a long way, she couldn't blame them for feeling a bit tired after walking for so long. Pulling her son closer to her, she nuzzled the tom of his head, “I know my sweet but I promise we are almost there. We can take a break in just a few moments.”
Bisonkit wiped away his tears, sniffling as he tried to fight back his urge to argue with Peachblossom more, but this was his decision to come along with the others. Peachblossom had told the kits she was going to be taking Pepperkit and Papayakit to the border to meet up with Ravenkit. Bisonkit missed his half brother and wanted to get a chance to play with him again.
As they grew closer to the border two silhouettes appeared in front of them, which gradually turn into the small black tom kit Ravenkit and the beautiful Mercuryrose. “Take a look over there kits, it looks like the others made it to the border before us.” Peachblossom large fluffy tail lifted into the air as it waved in greeting to the Shadowclan queen. The Thunderclan healer had grown quite close to the Shadowclan feline, not only being there by her side when she gave birth but also spending most of the time laying in the nursery by Mercuryrose side so the kittens would get use to both of the mollys. Watching her kittens rush towards the border warmed Peachblossoms heart, they were so excited to see their brother.
“Ravenkit!” Bisonkit small paws lifted from the forest floor as he bounced towards the black tom kit. The small brown kit only showed a bit of hesitation when he was faced with the very clear Shadowclan border. He was always told the borders were not physical items that indicated where to stop but he never could understand how you could tell where to stop; Now here he was and while they were right it wasn't a physical thing, the scents were so different and so strong it felt like he was being stop by an invisible wall. A small whimper left the kit's mouth as he looked back towards Peachblossom, looking for approval before crossing. After receiving an encouraging smile and nod from his mother Bisonkit took a deep breath trying to mentally prepare. Taking a moment to look over at the other molly, "Hello Miss Mercury". The moment his paws crossed over the invisible border all of Bisonkits worries floated away, leaping towards Ravenkit throwing his body against the Shadowclan kit. “I missed you so much Ravenkit!”
“You look as beautiful as always Mercuryrose.” Peachblossom stepped without worry over to Shadowclan, thankfully as a medicine cat she was able to cross without having issues due to her title. The healer offered Mercuryrose a small friendly headbutt, she didn't realize how close she had grown to the black and golden cat but yet here she was acting as if they had been friends her whole life. “I hope you two are doing well in Shadowclan. We miss you over in Thunderclan.” Interrupting the two tom kits wrestling on the forest floor, her paw scooped up the black tom kit. “Raven my brave little warrior I hope you’ve been behaving in Shadowclan.” Her purrs loudly accompany her words.
Peachblossom + Bisonkit
f6b8ff + f0b2b2
Peachblossom smiled happily down at her young son, she felt so much joy getting to see how large Ravenkit had grown, but even if he was away from his siblings he still seemed like the same happy Ravenkit she knew. She felt content watching the kittens get to play with each other again, it was good for them to continue meeting like this, it would ensure that they maintained a strong relationship even when they grow up. “Sweet ones please make sure you don't play too rough.” Her voice was soft and sweet, but you could still hear the tiredness that accompanied it. Having so many kittens, all at different ages was a lot harder than she thought, while one litter wants to do nothing but rough house, the other litter wants to nap, though her newest litter just wanted to eat. Snarlingbadger helped where he could but it still took a lot out of her.
Peachblossom settled down close to Mercuryrose, enjoying the mollies' company more than most of the other felines she interacted with. “I'm glad to know I did a good job hiding how exhausted I am.” Her mews were followed by a breathless chuckle. “Oh Mercuryrose they are growing so quickly, I can’t keep up with them anymore, thankfully Snarlingbadger takes them on outings to get rid of their energy. I know it's been hard on them with this new litter.” Peachblossom loved all her children equally but this new litter took a lot of her attention, with them being the youngest and such a large litter. “They are so beautiful, Merc. We have 5 kittens, one of them keeps me up constantly with worry. She isn't the healthiest kitten and I find myself checking on her multiple times throughout the night. Bunnykit, she was actually named after Hareflight. Then I have Badgerkit and Honeykit who are already the best of friends. Pearkit is my smallest son. Then there's Applekit, she looks just like me. It is kind of terrifying.” Peachblossom loved that her kitten looked like her but part of her constantly worried that the young Applekit would turn out just like her, she prayed that wouldn't happen. “I hope you didn't have any trouble back in Shadowclan after spending so much time with us.” Snarlingbadger and herself were both worried that Shadowclan would reject the molly after she spent moons in Thunderclan helping raise and nurse their kitten litter.
Bisonkit was overjoyed to be with Ravenkit again, his family might be large but even with one of them missing it felt a little lonely. He loved his family, he wanted to be together always. Bisonkit lowered himself down into a crouch, his tail lashing happily in the air behind him, “Hey hey Ravenkit is Shadowclan as scary as they say?” Thunderclan elders loved to tell the kittens stories of how Shadowclan cats were dark and scary felines who were beast. Bisonkit didn't believe them fully, how could he Mercuryrose was wonderful and she was a Shadowclan cat, but he still was unsure about the others
Mercuryrose + Ravenkit “Ravenkit, I need to see you!” Mercuryrose called as she watched the small black and white kit running ahead of her with his golden eyes lit up in excitement. The black and golden molly had decided to keep this visit a surprise to Ravenkit, until she brought him out of camp to announce that they would see Peachblossom and the others. A small smile appeared on her face when Ravenkit suddenly stopped and went towards his mother and bumped into her affectionately, a loud purr coming from his throat “Thank you Mom.” He whispered before Mercuryrose smiled softly and leaned down to lick the top of his head. “I know that you’ve been wanting to see everyone for a while, we just had to wait for Mama Peach to give birth to the younger siblings and let her recover.” Mercuryrose explained softly, as she wanted to make sure that Peachblossom and Snarlingbadger were settled as they had their pretty huge family back at Thunderclan. Peachblossom and Mercuryrose had developed quite a bond, one that the black and golden molly didn’t expect. Both seemed to have similar personalities that most cats would assume would have caused them to hate each other.. But it was like they instantly became best friends, like family. Looking forward as she saw that Ravenkit’s tail raised up as it was wagging back and forth in happiness as he was carrying his favorite pebble. He had wanted to bring the red cardinal feather that Peachblossom had gifted him when Ravenkit was well enough to travel back to Shadowclan, but Mercuryrose had to gently explain that the feather was very important and could get lost easily. Stopping once they made it to the border, her dark green-pink gaze looked around as it seemed like they arrived early.. But she knew that Peachblossom must have made sure her youngest litter was taken care of before stepping out of camp. It wasn’t until spotting the familiar shape of the Thunderclan medicine cat with a couple of bouncing kits around her. Ravenkit looked back towards her, a smile appeared on her lips as she nodded and suddenly Ravenkit took off at high speed before letting out a squeal of happiness as Papayakit clashed into him before giggling when Pepperkit and Bisonkit joined in. “You’re squishing me!” Ravenkit laughed as the group of kits were laughing before getting off their brother and the kit beamed when Peachblossom picked him up “Hi Mama Peach, I missed you.” He purred before moving to rub his cheek against hers, letting out a loud purr before being placed down. Mercuryrose had caught up to them and let out a soft smile towards Bisonkit, Pepperkit and Papayakit “You've grown so much, I’m fearful that you’ll all beat me in a future sparring match.” The large female chuckled before leaning down to touch noses with each of them before letting out a gentle purr towards Papayakit when the small kit was rubbing herself against the large molly. Mercuryrose adored the kits, loved them, nothing would change it and she was grateful that her and Peachblossom remained close.
Ravenkit knew that he had two mothers and two fathers, it was a different family concept than other kits in Shadowclan.. But he loved it; his massive family. “Hey guys!” Ravenkit said, getting his siblings' attention before going towards Mercuryrose and grabbing the little pebble that he had found the other day “I brought something for us to play with!” The black and white kit said before pawing it towards Pepperkit “Catch Pepperkit!” He called, and laughing as he couldn’t help but be happy.. Mercuryrose grinned as he bumped her head into Peachblossom’s shoulder lightly in return “Peachblossom, you look stunning.. Motherhood looks lovely on you.” The molly said before moving to sit with the medicine cat and wrapping her featherly tail neatly around her paws “How are the little ones? The others must be growing like weeds.” Mercuryrose said, as she was excited to had found out when Peachblossom had given birth, as she knew Peachblossom was enjoying motherhood just as much as Mercuryrose was.
❉ ℙ𝕒𝕡𝕒𝕪𝕒𝕜𝕚𝕥 ❉
𝕂𝕚𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕙𝕦𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕣ℂ𝕝𝕒𝕟
Some say that it takes moons before a kittens personality starts to become prominent, giving the world a taste. However, that had not been the case with Papayakit. From the moment she had opened her eyes and learned how to run, she was always keeping her parents on their toes. Snarlingbadger could barely keep up with her energy, Peachblossom’s running mouth tried to slow her down but that didn’t work either. Her mother wasn’t as scary as she seemed. But today was an exciting day! The weather outside was still chilly, her honey brown tabby pelt sticking up in order to block the breeze but it was also warm enough to where the sun was beginning to melt the snow. Slush clung to her toes as she pranced after Peachblossom, her eyes focused as she jumped from one slush puddle to the other. This kept her occupied, instead of thinking of the incredibly long walk, unlike her brother Bisonkit, whom was whining of his aching paws.
Giggling softly, the short molly rubbed in close to her brother, giving his ears a soft lick as he sniffles. Truthfully her paws were aching as well, but the thought of seeing Ravenkit and Mercuryrose outweighed the ache. “It okay. Play in snow!” She giggled, her speech was lacking just a little bit but it did nothing to dull her spirit. Pepperkit had a skip to her step as well, her bi-colored eyes looking around, glancing at their mother before looking around again. Little ears perked up as Peachblossom directed them towards the waiting figures of Ravenkit and Mercuryrose. An excited squeal left the little molly as she ran towards the border. Bisonkit was right on her heels, that was until he scented the border, skidding to a stop with unease. But not Papayakit, she zoomed as fast as her little legs would carry her, laughing as her body collided with Ravenkit, knocking the two of them to the ground. “Ravenkit!” She squealed, lowering her head to tug at his black ear playfully. Tail wagging excessively, her other siblings quickly joined in on the fun, piling on top of their brother with giggles and nibbles.
Smiling, she wiggled off of Ravenkit as Bisonkit’s large body threatened to crush her. Lips parted as she panted from excitement, magenta colored hues shifting towards the black and golden molly. She knew her, missed her, but ultimately Peachblossom was called mother. “Miss Murkyrose.” Papayakit beamed, stomping her way over towards the molly as she rubbed her cheek against the foreleg of the ShadowClanner, unfazed. Leaning against the mollies leg for only a brief moment, she quickly jumped away as she bounced on Pepperkits rump, leaning over her sister to bay at Ravenkit’s tail.
"Ravenkit!" Pepperkit's mewling morphed into high frequency purring, and she all but leapt over the border and into the furry pile that was her siblings. She squealed with delight as she got to nuzzle and lightly press her head against Ravenkit's in a thrilled greeting. "Ravenkit, Ravenkit, Ravenkit!" She repeated over and over like a mantra, she had missed him so very much.
She took a moment to pause to smile up at Mercury, "Hiya Mercury! Missed you too!" She rolled off of Ravenkit for a moment to trot over to Mercury and rub her tiny little head against her chest, before turning back around and gazing intently at Ravenkit, crouching downward, wriggling her tiny little behind in the air.
"Ravenkit guess what! I saw a big bird in the sky a few days ago! It was as big as a whole badger! But flying!" Of course, she didn't really, but don't tell Pepperkit that she just saw a rather plump peregrine falcon flying over camp, of which was large but not as massive as she was exaggerating it to be.
And definitely not much of a threat to the clans, more like a meal waiting to happen. But everything was huge to a little kit such as herself.