All cats have a base coat color. From this, all other colors are possible.
There are two base coat colors a cat can inherit; black or red (orange).
The color your cat inherits is determined by the X and Y chromosomes that they possess, also known as sex-linked. This is because the sex of your kitten is also determined by the number of X and Y chromosomes they inherit.
A male will have the genotype (genetic makeup) of XY, whereas a female will have the genotype XX.
Because of this, males will typically be either black OR orange since they only possess one X chromosome. Females, on the other hand, can be black, orange or both (known as tortie) since they possess two X chromosomes.