Sweetberry watched her kits play near the edge of the river. Rabbitkit and Lilykit were leaping on each other, squealing, while Silverkit shredded a tuft of moss. One of Willowmist's kits, Tanglekit, snorted as he caught sight of them. Sweetberry sighed. Her kits were sometimes scorned by other cats, because of their WindClan blood. Ripplestrike settled beside her. "It'll be fine, you know. They're the strongest kits in the Clan! We just have to wait until their apprentices so they can prove it to every other cat!" he meowed, with a glare at Tanglekit. The dark gray kit ducked his head and scrambled away. "Ripplestrike," mewed Sweetberry. "Do you think that they'll ever accept me? I mean, I know Driftstar let me join RiverClan after . . . what happened that night, but some warriors . . . ." Ripplestrike flicked his tail dismissively. "Don't let them get to you." Sweetberry sighed again, slightly annoyed. "You know the way Foxscar reacted when Driftstar accepted me." Ripplestrike shrugged. "Foxscar was born with a burr in his fur. Soon he'll join the elders and you won't need to be around him anymore," he meowed. Sweetberry purred. RiverClan wasn't as different from WindClan as she had expected. Some cats didn't like her, while others were friendly. She could get used to it. Sweetberry let her gaze drift back to her kits. Now Silverkit and Rabbitkit were in a heated game of moss-ball against Pouncekit, Willowmist's second kit, and Lilykit. Tanglekit stormed over, his ragged gray fur bristling. "Why didn't you tell me you were playing?" he demanded, his amber eyes flashing angrily. Pouncekit blinked at her littermate. "Because you said that you wanted nothing to do with so-called 'half-Clan mange-pelts' while I wanted to play with them." Willowmist peered out of the nursery. "Play nicely, you two," she mewed. "Okay!" Pouncekit meowed cheerfully,her slender, dappled body gleaming in the bright sunlight as she batted the ball of fresh moss towards Lilykit. Rabbitkit sprang into the air and snatched it away, tossing it to Silverkit, who pounced on it, yowling gleefully. Pouncekit leaped at him, her clear blue eyes shining. Silverkit twisted away and slipped on the mossy banks of the river. He landed with a splash in the shallow water. Before he could be swept any further into the river by a passing wave, Sweetberry rose to her paws and lifted him out. "Be careful," she mewed sternly. He wriggled away from her. "I'm RiverClan! I'm supposed to get wet!" Sweetberry had remembered how shocked she had been when she had first come to RiverClan, and the cats encouraged their kits to play in water, instead of telling them to avoid it, other than the smallest streams and puddles. Though RiverClan wasn't as strange as Sweetberry had thought, it was a change. But mostly in a good way. Sweetberry liked the strong, fresh flavor of fish, and she preferred RiverClan's dens, made of reeds and twigs, versus WindClan's gorse bushes and patches of tall grass. Sweetberry watched Silverkit leap back into the game. Ripplestrike stood up beside her. "I have to go. I told Mossypool I'd join her, Heavybelly, and Copperstripe fishing near the stepping-stones." "All right," meowed Sweetberry. "Catch me a carp, will you? I'm starving," she added. Ripplestrike purred and trotted away. She felt tiny claws hook her pelt and winced. "Attack!" squealed Silverkit. Poucekit and Rabbitkit charged at her, and Sweetberry allowed herself to tumble over. Lilykit sprang onto her back and Silverkit battered her belly. "You win!" yowled Sweetberry. The kits scrambled off her. Sweetberry stood and shook the dust from her cream-colored pelt. "You're all growing into fine warriors," she mewed. A gray and white queen, Curlwing, who had befriended Sweetberry when they had met as apprentices, padded over. One of her daughters, Sandykit, bounded beside her, her pale ginger fur caked with mud. "What happened?" asked Sweetberry. "Sandykit," meowed Curlwing, lapping at Sandykit's pelt, "Decided to go play in the mud without any cat knowing." Sweetberry twitched her whiskers, amused. Curlwing's three kits were always getting into trouble. "Kits will be kits," she purred. Curlwing finished cleaning Sandykit and looked up. "So, how has everything been?" "Good," meowed Sweetberry. "I mean, things are certainly different. But I like almost everything here. And I think it's the perfect life for my kits." Curlwing nodded. "They'll be happy in RiverClan," she agreed. Sweetberry knew they would be. It was where they belonged, living among the reeds and the river. This was their home. Her home.
My entry for NotAMedicineCatYet's Cat CC! This is Sweetberry, my character!
