By the time Mosswhisker had finished telling Smokekit what was meant to be a story, but had turned out to be multiple stories, it was nearly moonhigh. "Off you go now, little one. Get some rest," Mosswhisker prompted.

"Aww," Smokekit whined. He was hoping to hear more stories.

"Your mother will be waiting," The elderly she-cat added.

"Fine." Smokekit padded off to the nursery, sighing slightly. Luck was not on his side, unfortunately.

"Hey runt," Duskpaw teased the gray tom.

"What?" His reply was a sigh of no emotion. Sparrowpaw looked a little nervous, not expecting him to react that way.

"Oh, um..." The dark tom trailed off. Smokekit looked up with dull eyes, making the newest apprentices pad off, exchanging mumbles.

The first thing Smokekit seen when he entered the nursery was Tigertail sharing tongues with his mother, Palestripe. He picked up small bits of their conversation, but he was paying little attention to the two she-cats. Silently, a slothful Smokekit, padded to his nest and curled up inside it.

Moments passed, and he couldn't relax with Tigertail constantly prattling to Palestripe. But Smokekit picked up a few interesting sentences.

"It's a shame Smokekit will be an apprentice by that time, isn't it?"
"Yeah... But maybe another queen will move into the nursery. There's plenty of toms to choose from in our Clan."
"So, what else has been happening?"
"Well, Shadowbreeze is in the medicine den right now. She has a fair chance of dying, but we'll see." Smokekit noticed the sadness in Tigertail's voice as she spoke about Shadowbreeze. He felt sorry for the entire Clan, and Shadowbreeze herself. Losing a warrior must be tough.

・・・

Smokekit stretched. He quickly spotted Tigertail resting in a nest. Why is she sleeping in the nursery? The young tom pondered. He realised how tired he must've been. She's expecting kits! That's awesome! I won't be the youngest in the clan when they're born...  He caught Tigertail stirring. Now he could ask her who the father was! The gray tom giggled to himself. He always sounded like an elder when he thought about these kind of things.

"Tigertail?" He mewed.
"Yes, Smokekit?"
"Who's the father?"
She paused before answering, "Beeclaw." Smokekit purred and nodded to her before bounding away to the elders' den to listen to stories from Mosswhisker and Berrytail.

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in forever >.<
But I have now! So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter ^_^'