ColdClan: Sky Of Blood [2]

9. Skyleap

"Me!? No, what are you doing here?"

Skyleap's instant retort was spoken with a forked tongue, the words piercing through the air at such a force she thought it might knock the cat off the cliff backwards. Every second the cat didn't answer, she took a menacing step forward. Neck bristling with anger, there was nothing in the silence except the regular click of her paws against the rock and the heavy breathing of her kits behind her.

"What am I doing here!?" The reply came with more anger than she'd been expecting, and she pulled her head back out of shock. "I can't believe you'd even ask me that when you've brought your kits with you. Wait, what am I even saying? Your kits?! They're our kits! You mousebrained fool, they're only, what, five moons old? How could you bring them out here when there is a possible murderer on the loose?"

As if she wasn't feeling guilty enough for bringing her precious kits along already, their father was now stood there in front of them making her feel even worse. This made the new mother all the more irritated. How dare he criticise her when he wasn't even around to take care of them!

Now only a fox-length away from him, she snarled up at the tom. "A possible murderer, huh? My father was potentially the supposed victim of that 'murder' but they got the wrong cat. Don't you dare say that I need to protect my family when that's exactly what I'm trying to do!"

Marshfoot flicked his tail in rage. "You still brought the kits out here. That was irresponsible, Skyleap. I thought you'd know better than that."

She was about to launch into a torrent of bitterness when she was reminded of the presence of her kits.

"Mama?" A questioning Batkit stepped forward, cocking her small head to one side. "Who's this? He smells like HeatClan." She wrinkled her nose a little.

With a sigh, Skyleap threw an exasperated glance in Marshfoot's direction before rounding back towards her children, nudging them into a small huddle and sitting before them. Each one looked up at her with inquisitive eyes, blinking at her, steady and patient. Once more she felt the guilt dripping into her like raindrops on soil, sinking slowly but surely into the ground. With every small mew of anticipation that they made, the storm brewed all the more fiercely inside, but she bottled the thunder inside of her for the sake of the kits.

"Isn't it time they knew, Skyleap?" Using a more gentle tone, she felt Marshfoot's presence stepping closer to her. Torn between telling them and protecting them from the truth, she could hardly bring herself to make a decision and wished that she'd never gotten into the mess in the first place. 

Inhaling deeply, Skyleap stepped out of the way so her kits could see Marshfoot. 

"Batkit, Antkit, Mothkit... meet your father. This is Marshfoot." The words dripped off her tongue like oil, tangible as opposed to fluid; they travelled to the ears of her kits and sparked different reactions. Batkit, the stubborn she-cat that she was, flinched like she'd been struck by lightning. Antkit was more curious, tilting his bay-coloured head in his father's direction, but he too was just as confused as his sister. And Mothkit... the she-cat showed no expression. In truth, it was her blank face that worried Skyleap the most. Icepaw sat staring at his siblings, waiting to see what they had to say. He knew more than anyone what it was like to have your father be absent from your life. She couldn't help but think that perhaps this was a bad idea.

Stepping forwards to greet them, Marshfoot offered them each a nod of warmth. Skyleap could see on his face that he was thinking how to react, deciding how to proceed... there were no guidelines for this type of thing! Neither of them knew what they were doing! Wishing it was easy, that somehow they could travel back in time and fix their mistakes... but no. These kits were not mistakes. They were the best thing that had ever happened to Skyleap, and if Marshfoot had missed out on their kithoods, then that was his loss.