Warriors: Deerleap's Loss (Complete)

Chapter 24

 Deerleap padded back to camp, carrying two frogs in his jaws. He quickly rushed to the fresh-kill pile, dropped his prey, grabbed two squirrels and padded to the nursery.

 He gave a nod to Sunflowershade and dropped a squirrel to her paws. Then, he padded towards Irissmoke. Deerleap purred and dropped the squirrel close to her and nuzzled her.

 Irissmoke purred. ''Thank you.'' She nodded and began to eat.

 ''Are you our father?''

 Deerleap blinked and looked down. His kits were looking at him.

 ''Did they... did they open their eyes already?'' Deerleap asked.

 ''Yes!'' Irissmoke purred. "They opened their eyes this morning."

 Deerleap smiled and lay down. ''Yes, I'm your father.''

 ''Father, father!'' Featherkit purred, jumping around Deerleap. Acornkit did the same.

 Coalkit sniffed Deerleap. ''I want to be a warrior like you!'' He purred.

 Deerleap smiled and licked his son's head. ''And you will be. One day.''

 Then, he noticed that Bearkit didn't come to greet him. Instead, the she-kit was silently watching him.

 ''Bearkit, go greet your father.'' Irissmoke meowed. 

 Bearkit shook her head.

 ''Why?'' Irissmoke asked. 

 ''I'd rather see how he acts first.'' Bearkit mumbled.

 Irissmoke tilted her head. Deerleap sighed and looked at the three kits.

 ''Mother says we can't leave the nursery yet.'' Acornkit sighed.

 ''We're big enough to take care of ourselves in camp, though.'' Featherkit meowed.

 ''You're not even a moon old. Maybe she wants to wait and make sure you're all strong enough.'' Deerleap purred.

 ''But we will be one moon old in a week!'' Coalkit protested. ''It's not a big difference.''

 Deerleap twitched his ears and looked at Irissmoke. ''I think we should bring them out in camp and introduce them to the others. And then, you can take them back to the nursery if you want.'' He suggested.

 ''All right!'' Irissmoke purred and got up. ''Kits, come on, we're going to introduce you to our friends, but stay close to us.''

 Bearkit's eyes sparkled and rushed out. Irissmoke followed her, and the other three kits followed quickly. Deerleap smiled and got up, padding after them.

 ''Woah!'' Featherkit exclaimed, looking around camp. ''There's so many cats!''

 ''Yes. And there's even more!'' Irissmoke purred, then looked around. ''Come on, follow me.''

 Irissmoke padded towards Turtlepond, Iceskin, and Ferretbounce. The kits followed, and Deerleap made sure that no kit tried to sneak away.

 ''They're out of the nursery!'' Iceskin purred. 

 As soon as he said that, both Turtlepond and Ferretbounce turned their heads to look at the kits. Irissmoke nodded and sat down, and the kits looked at the older cats.

 ''H-Hello.'' Coalkit whispered. 

 Turtlepond purred. ''Hello!''

 ''Kits, this is Ferretbounce.'' Irissmoke gestured towards the brown tom. ''He's Deerleap's brother.''

 Acornkit padded over to him and sniffed him. ''Hello, Ferretbounce!''

 ''Hi, Acornkit.'' Ferretbounce purred.