Stardust }{ AshxSquirrel, Kits, Unfinished

[Blizz]

Title: Stardust
Chapter: 1
Author: Blizzard
Pairing: AshxSquirrel, SquirrelxBramble
Rating: G
Summary: Brambleclaw is finally deputy of ThunderClan-- but all is not well for the tabby tom. Ashfur and Squirrelflight are having their first litter of kits, and who should receive young Ponykit for an apprentice but the deputy?
Warning: N/A
Disclaimer: Warriors is not mine... unless you want to buy it for me. =D
Beta: Blackheart
Music: Flyleaf - I'm So Sick
Cover: [x]

Author's Notes: Okay, here's my new project ^-^;; Those who bother to keep track of my fan-fic with know that Sinister Winds is still being edited, but it is completed. You may have heard of my new big non-canon fic is called "Moonstone Shard" is is done maybe the first... three chapters? Since then I've been working on canon fan-fictions. Little one-shots and challenges mostly, but now I have three small projects lined up. This is the first-- Stardust-- about Ashfur's daughter Ponykit and her mentor, Brambleclaw. It will be featured in TDP as serial fan-fiction, so fan-art and stuff would be oh-so appreciated. Thanks, and please enjoy!

Chapter 1

Brambleclaw followed Firestar, second in the patrol, his rightful place as deputy. The large tom held his head proudly, finally, after moons of waiting, Firestar had awarded him for his patience with the position he had yearned for. Brambleclaw was a powerful and commanding deputy, but many found him almost moody, switching between the passionate Brambleclaw who went on a journey to the Sun Drown Place, and the cold, commanding deputy he had become.

Many knew the reason though, it was no secret. They knew that Brambleclaw resented his two fellow warriors, Ashfur and Squirrelflight, and all who supported their love. Now he was cold almost all the time, even vicious and quick to lash out at those who displeased him. Squirrelflight was pregnant with Ashfur’s kits, and was due anytime that moon.

As they entered camp the dark deputy slowed down and looked around, but the other cats avoided him and went to share news with the other ThunderClanners who had not attended the gathering, so he sat alone, feeling like a fool as his Clanmates shared tongues around him.

He watched with barely contained rage as Ashfur slipped into the nursery, where Squirrelflight surely was. It was hard not the blame the ash-colored warrior for all his misfortunes, and Brambleclaw was making no attempt not to.

If the gray warrior felt amber eyes seering into his pelt, he took no notice, and disappeared from the deputy’s view, if not from his thoughts.

†††

“Squirrelflight?” Ashfur asked hesitantly at the entrance of the nursery, peering inside. He saw his mate’s bright green eyes, dancing like the green-leaf canopy.

“Honestly Ashfur, just come in, you don’t have to ask permission.” She teased, and Ashfur purred and came to sit beside her. He licked her ear gently.

“How are you?” He asked.

She sighed, very uncharacteristic for her. “Tired.” She murmured, eyes drooping at Ashfur’s rhythmic licks. “And bored.” Her ears perked up, and the hunt of good humor entered her voice again. “How was the gathering?”

Ashfur smiled, eager to tell his mate about the meeting of the four clans. “Blackstar claimed that on his way to the Moonpool, he was stopped by Brambleclaw and some of our other warriors.”

Squirrelflight snorted in disbelief. “Even Brambleclaw wouldn’t be as mouse-brained as that.”

Ashfur almost winced at Squirrelfight’s scorn for the tabby deputy, they had once been so close, and he felt bad for splitting them apart. But he continued anyway, “Brambleclaw said that Blackstar had not looked like he was heading towards Moonpool-- that he had four warriors and an apprentice. Said he had used his better judgment and sent them away, for traveling with a war party on ThunderClan territory.” The gray tom waited for Squirrelflight to interrupt him with a snide comment about Blackstar, but to his surprise she did not, so he continued “Firestar apologized to Blackstar and promised it wouldn’t happen again.” This time he paused, his brow furrowed.

“Yeah, so?” Squirrelflight looked at her mate curiously.

“Well...” Ashfur hesitated, knowing how Squirrelflight was protective of her father, “Don’t...” He started, “Don’t you think a leader should stand by his deputy’s decisions?”

“And if they’re wrong?” She retorted, staring at Ashfur in disbelief that he would doubt her father, and their leader.

“Well... Spiderleg, Rainwhisker, Cloudtail and Birchpaw all backed up his story.” He mumbled, dropping his gaze from her burning green eyes. Squirrelflight snorted angrily, but before she could turn away Ashfur attempted to make peace with her.

“You’ll never guess what I saw,” He teased, a thin smile on his face.

“What?”

“Well, it was a small horse... You remember horses right?”

“Of course I do! I haven’t been here for that long.” Snapped Squirrelflight rather irritably, then she reconsidered, “I’m sorry Ashfur, I’m just tired. Do go on.”

“Anyway, it was strange. It was a miniature horse, the strangest thing, I thought maybe it was a horse kit, so I asked Whitetail. She said it was called a pony.”

“A pony?” Squirrelflight laughed, she looked at her mate with big green eyes. A strange flicker of surprise ran through her as she met not amber eyes, but blue ones.

Ashfur blinked, then smiled. “I must go now though, sunhigh patrol. I’ll bring you something alright?”

“Perfect! I’m starved.” The ginger queen watched her mate leave the nursery, and sighed, it seemed as if he was only in and out of the nursery before he was do on another patrol. As if I don’t know who’s to blame for that. She thought mutinously through slitted green eyes.

[Blizz]

Chapter 2

“Leafpool!” Yowled the framiler voice of a ThunderClan queen. Ferncloud, a pretty pale gray she-cat, had stopped outside the medicine cat’s den. “Leafpool!” She called again, loud enough to wake up the warriors in the den nearby.

The head of a brown tabby cat poked out of the den, blinking the sleep from her amber eyes and looking at Ferncloud in confusion. “What is it? Is it Squirrelflight’s kits?” Leafpool’s voice grew more urgent as the fog of dreams escaped her and she could concentrate on whatever it was the queen urgently needed her attention for.

As it was, Ferncloud nodded, and waved her tail in antexty. “She wanted to see you! I think somethings wrong!”

Three toms, one gray with darker speckles, one a white, and another, a massive brown tabby, had appeared behind Ferncloud. “What in StarClan’s going on?” Growled the white warrior irritably, “You mouse-brains will wake the elders, and we’ll never hear the end of it if Mousefur is woken up.”

The brown tabby shot a glare at Cloudtail, the one who had spoken before, but turned to Leafpool, “What’s going on?”

But the medicine cat had already ducked inside the den to get her herbs, and now started to follow Ferncloud towards the nusery. She shouldered past the three toms in a hurry to meet her sister, but Brambleclaw stepped in front of her. “I said, what’s going on?” He growled again.

“Brambleclaw, get out of my way! Squirrelflight’s having kits. If you care about her at all you’ll step aside.” The brown deputy flinched, amber eyes set aflame at her words. But he stepped aside and she hurried past. Ashfur glanced at Brambleclaw, who had taken on a stony expression, and without waiting for permission hurried after Leafpool, half expecting the deputy to call him back.

Cloudtail glanced warily at Brambleclaw, who hadn’t taken his eyes off Leafpool. He brushed his tail against the younger warriors flank, “Hey, come on, let’s go back and get some sleep. I was catching a vole to...” Cloudtail joked, not admitting how he was actually annoyed that he had been woken up when prey-- even if it wasn’t real-- had been in his grasp.

“Yeah... go ahead, I’ll wait.”

“Wait for what?” Grunted Cloudtail, but started towards the warriors den anyway. He sincerely felt bad for Brambleclaw, the tom was still obviously in love with Squirrelflight, even if the she-cat had dropped their relationship long ago.

[Blizz]

Chapter 3

"Squirrelflight?" Mewed Ashfur hesitantly, trying to peer past Leafpool into the nursery. His voice was shaky and obviously nervous.

"Come in Ashfur." Purred Leafpool, and she heard Ashfur sigh in relief as he entered the nursery. "Ferncloud was over-reacting." She mewed, a bit of tiredness working into her voice at being woken up so early. "This little one came out tail first." Leafpool watched as a tiny gray kit squirmed near her mother's belly as Squirrelflight, exhausted, started to lick it clean.

Leafpool looked hesitantly at the other kit--it did not move. With a pang of sorrow, Leafpool took the small kit, a stillborn, by it's tiny scruff and placed it farther away from Squirrelflight. She didn't want her sister to have to deal with more stress--at least, for the moment.

Her voice was warm when she called to Ashfur, masking her guilt and sadness. "Come and look at her Ashfur, she's your beautiful kit." Leafpool had been overjoyed when Ashfur and her sister had announced that she was going to have kits, but she had been surprised as well. Squirrelflight had also been very close to Brambleclaw...

"Just one?" Asked Ashfur hesitantly, looking at the pale gray kit, her darker speckles almost invisible.

"Yes." Said Leafpool quickly, her heart plummeting. She knew it wasn't right... But she just couldn't tell Ashfur or her sister that the second kit had been born dead. She licked his ear affectionately. "What will you call her?"

Ashfur blinked, as if the though of a name had just occurred to him. Luckily, Squirrelflight had regained enough energy to glance up at them both, her eyes shining with tiredness but happiness. She looked at Ashfur, and Leafpool felt the connection she shared with her sister swell with warmth. "Ponykit."

Ashfur grinned from ear to ear, and settled down beside his mate and newly named daughter. Licking Squirrelflight's ears gently, he purred happily along with his new family.

Leafpool left them, feeling a stab of pain that coursed through her like lightning. Knowing it was happening, she felt the tight bond that she had shared with her sister from birth--the way she had always known what Squirrelflight was feeling--end. As a medicine cat, Leafpool would always be alone. Since she had last seen Crowfeather, she had accepted it.

Picking up the dead kit gently and discreetly, though Ashfur and Squirrelflight where too busy cooing over their new kit to notice. She slipped out of camp as the dawn rays seeped over the hills, filling the red stone hollow with warm light. It was only then that Leafpool saw the dead kit was a dark brown tabby, his never to develop body still masking a potentiality powerful frame.

Something about the small cat seemed familiar, though Leafpool knew it was impossible. "Lostkit." She murmured, eyes filled with guilt and puzzlement. "One day we shall speak in StarClan."

[Blizz]

Chapter 4

Leafpool stumbled back into camp, lost in spiraling thought. Lostkit didn't look anything like Squirrelflight, or Ashfur... He looked a bit like her, but too dark, too...

"Are you alright Leafpool?" A gruff voice brought her back to the surface of consciousness. She blinked and looked up at icy amber eyes, set in a dark tabby face, a barely detectable sense of concern reflected in them.

Leafpool stared at him like a cat on the Thunderpath, the sudden realization striking her like she had been hit by a Monster. "I'm fine," she gasped, blinking quickly and slipping around him towards her den.

Brambleclaw narrowed his eyes and turned to follow her with his withering gaze. "Are you sure? I heard that Ashfur's kit may be coming down with whitecough."

Leafpool blinked at the large tom sadly, sensing the bitterness in his voice, the hurt that raged on in his heart. Nearly forgetting what she had just learned, she chose her words carefully. "I'll check on Ponykit then, the last thing we need is more... Sickness."

"I just thought you'd be quite concerned, it's your sister's kit, after all."

I wish it were just her and Ashfur's kit, the voice flared up within her, and she turned away from Brambleclaw before she said something she would regret.

She really couldn't bear visiting her sister now, not after... How could she? Much of the Clan had been secretly disappointed in her sister, especially Firestar, for the way Squirrelflight had played what they saw as cruelly with Brambleclaw and Ashfur's hearts. Leafpool knew it hadn't been like that, Squirrelflight hadn't meant to hurt them. But this was going too far.

There was only one cat Leafpool had ever loved... Her heart clenched painfully and she forced the memories down. She couldn't even imagine loving two cats that much... Wasn't that what love was about, giving one cat all your love?

Just when she thought Squirrelflight was finished playing games with them, and that maybe Brambleclaw would eventually get over her sister, she had to start it up again. She couldn't let anyone know.

After all, what would Brambleclaw say, if he knew that Ponykit was his daughter?

[Flowerclaw]

I love it! Please continue.

[Autumnstorm]

Cool! I love it! Don't stop writing it!!!

[Waterfall]

I love this please please continue!!!! This is really good!!

[2]

:Dplease please write more!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Rainstar]

um that was good i just dont like the name ponykit but it is good so fat LOVE lostkit