The Hunger Games - Warriors Edition

CHAPTER SEVEN - sagenose's kits

Sagenose's p.o.v

I rolled over in my sleep, moaning, as pain came searing through my belly. I pressed a warm paw against it, hoping to sooth the ache. I rolled over again, and this time it ebbed. I felt grateful for the little moment it lasted--it started to come back right away.

The she-cats of SunClan had just went to sleep. Earlier in the day we had just been out hunting. I had a vole, two crows, and a sparrow.

Have I eaten a bad piece of prey or something?

I rolled over for the third time, and this time I just couldn't take it, as it came flaring up to my chest. I gasped quickly at the sharp tingling sensation. Concentrating on breathing slowly and ebbing the pain, I didn't realize I was bleeding, until I created a puddle.

My long fluffy tail swished into something wet and sticky behind me. I turned my head swiftly.

Nothing. Just dry floor and nothing else except darkness and Mothpaw's mossy nest behind me.

Under,...maybe?

I half-stood, expecting to see the same, when I ended up in a pool of red goop. "Aahh!" I screeched as it flooded around my paws, lapping up at my body when I moved. My long fur swished in it, and I gagged as I felt it seep through and onto my soft pink skin beneath.

Grassleap awoke beside me, resting her chin over the edge of her nest. "Is-is everything alright, Sagenose?" she whispered, yawning afterwards.

I just stared at her, horrified. Then glanced down at my puddle of blood with watery eyes.

"Oh-oh my StarClan, Sagenose! You're dying!" she leaped out of her nest, eyes wide and neck fur bristling. She sprang towards the entrance of the den and poked her head out while another cat named Poppystem scrambled to her paws.

At the sight of the amount of blood I was loosing, I felt like I wanted to faint.

No! I can't! Whatever this is, it's serious. I did not just eat a bad piece of prey. This is more than that; and I can't be asleep while everyone helps.

But my stomach felt heavy, and my vision was blurring as I swayed on my tiny white paws. My mouth felt dry. My eyes watered and my pads went numb as I crumpled to the ground.

"Oh-Sagenose!" Poppystem gasped from behind me. She nudged her head underneath my slim shoulders and began to haul me back up. My paws were so weak, I could barely lift it up, let alone stand all my weight on it.

"I-I can't," I whispered to the red she-cat. I looked down. Blood was seeping into my coat now, all the way up to the tops of my flanks. My tail was already drenched, and my legs were covered. I was about to collapse again when Robin and Flora rushed into the den, panting.

"Come on, come on," the big mottled tom meowed, scrambling to get his shoulders beneath me and haul me out with the help of Grassleap and Flora. Poppystem held the fern covering up while I was carried. "You're going to make, it Sagenose, just keep breathing."

He cares! I yowled inside, relieved, but was pushed aside as another wave of agony swept through me. But he's a heartless DeathClan rogue!  Were these blood-thirsty, war-ruling cats actually trying to save her life? Did they really care if she died or not?

I suddenly felt my body being dropped, and I dragged myself into a hollow tree, collapsing onto the leaf mulch with a groan. I was dimly aware of the others fluttering around me, shoving more dried leaves beneath my belly to stop the bleeding and placing a bundle of dripping moss near my head.

What is all this for?

I was dying anyways!

I now felt as if the whole world had shrunk to the dimensions of my body, a world that was full of scarlet pain and throbbing fear. There was a pulling sensation underneath my tail and I cried out in alarm.

Then I saw a cat I had never seen before, standing over me with his paws resting on my flank and he was holding odd, strong-smelling plants in his mouth.

"Greetings. I am Thrush, just one of DeathClan's many medicine cats. Sagenose," he meowed calmly, gesturing with his tail for the others to leave the hollow tree den, "do you know what is going on?"

I looked up into his pale green eyes with uncertainty. "No," I admitted, looking down with a gasp of pain as the pulling sensation grew stronger. "I have no clue, and I think-I think I'm going to die."

"No, no, Sagenose," the pale tan tom whispered soothingly, continuing to rubs his paw up and down my flank. He tipped his head and smiled. "You are not going to die. You are simply having your kits."

*****

The pain lasted for hours, on and on into dawn. Weak morning sunshine was filtering in through the holes in the side of the trunk, dappling my matted white coat. None of my kits had been born yet, but Thrush could tell that they were near.

He leaned closer to my haunches as I screeched in agony. "I can see a kit coming!" he yowled, and his medicine cat apprentice handed him a bundle of moss she had been holding.

Thrush glanced at the she-cat, then told her to take his place.

She stared, wide-eyed, until her mentor told her to keep calm and help me birth my kits.
"Tell me what to do, Thrush!" she pleaded, placing a paw down beside the kit's head as it squeezed out.

I gritted my teeth against the next pulse of agony.

"Wait until it is free, Jasmine, then nip open the sac around its body. Push it toward Sagenose so she can lick it," he instructed the silver tabby she-cat. "Got it?"

Jasmine nodded vigorously in understanding, but her fur still stood on end and she trembled anxiously.

I yelped at a wave of sharp stabbing pain across my belly. I lifted my head and saw a small, slime-covered white shape slither out onto the bundled moss. Jasmine tugged away the transparent sac that covered its head and I stiffened as a wail pierced the air.

Jasmine nudged the kit closer to my belly and I curled myself around it. My world expanded just enough to enclose this beautiful, perfect kit. I started to lick its fur clean as i felt its tiny mouth latch onto me.

Then I wriggled as another spasm racked my body, stronger than any before.

I waited for the wave of pain to die away as the kit shifted inside me, and it did. Soon another tiny bundle slid onto the moss, and Jasmine once again opened the sac. Then she gave the kit to me.

Both kits were the same right now, with their mother's fresh white pelts and thick-furred, stubby little tails.

*****

On and on through the morning I gave birth to my wonderful kits. Soon enough I had two more. A third white she-kit and one small, orange tabby tom-kit.

What amazed us all was that he had his eyes open from the moment he was born. I got to name them.

I named him Squirrelkit.

The first white she-kit is Snowkit, the second Stormkit, and the third and final, Sweetkit.