Prologue

The kit was small, smaller than its siblings. It crept closer to its mother, crying softly for milk. The mother nosed the tiny she-cat closer to her warm belly. As the kitten began to suck, the mother started thinking about names for her kittens. The strongest of all was a brown tabby tom, so she would name him after their father, Leaf.

The next kit was another tabby, and looked almost identical to her brother, Leaf. The mother thought that because her nose was bright red, she would call her Rose. Leaf snuggled closer to Rose, and their mother knew instantly that the pair would be inseparable.

Finally, there was the last kit. Star, their mother, thought for a long time about the name for this pretty pale white kitten. Though the kit was the smallest, she was the most beautiful of the three. Star stifled a laugh as the kit mewled with frustration when Leaf blindly pushed her out of the way to get to Star's belly.

A shaft of moonlight fell down upon the tiny kitten and, much to Star's surprise; she began to glow, her white fur reflecting the moon's bright light. Star's eyes filled with admiration as she realized that this tiny kitten was more beautiful than any cat she had ever seen. The mother gazed up at the moon, still thinking about what to name this kitten. The answer came to her easily. Star bent over to give her kit a long and loving lick on the head.

"Luna," Star whispered lovingly. "My beautiful Luna. You will love another cat, and you will have wonderful kits to call your own in time."

Star settled down to sleep, tired after kitting for so long. Her kits crawled closer to her, still trying to suckle some milk. Star sighed with content. Three kits, Leaf, Rose, and Luna. Destined for greatness.

CHAPTER ONE

A breeze rustled the pumpkin leaves in the garden as Luna crept through it. She was playing hide and seek with Leaf and Rose. Luna tasted the air and could just barely pick up Rose's scent. Luna padded in that direction and as she turned a corner, she crashed straight into Leaf.

"Hey, watch it!" he yowled as he crashed to the ground. Luna stood and shook the dust from her fur. "Sorry." Luna turned a pebble over on the ground.

"I should hope so!" Leaf spat, and bowled Luna over angrily.

After Luna opened her eyes for the first time after being born, she began to notice that Leaf had quite a temper. He snapped at anyone who tried to comfort him, or talk to him, for that matter. The only cat he was gentle with was Rose. As Star had guessed, the pair was inseparable. This made Luna feel slightly left out, but she was able to confide with her mother, and that brought them closer than ever.

Luna yowled with pain as Leaf clawed her with tiny sharp claws. Luna broke free and ran blindly towards home. Star had been dozing on the porch when Luna came crashing out of the garden. "Mommy!" Luna cried. "Mommy, Leaf hurt me!" Star sighed and padded over to Luna and sat down.

"Come here, little one. What happened this time?"

Luna crept forward and whimpered. "We were playing hide and seek, and I crashed into Leaf, and then he attacked me!" Star sighed again. Luna tended to exaggerate a lot, and she could never tell if she was lying or not.

While Luna was talking, Leaf had come out of the garden with Rose. "Tattling again, Luna?" Leaf snarled.

"Calm down, Leaf," Rose said, slowly drawing one paw over her ear. "It was an accident." Leaf huffed as he sat down, but he wouldn't defy Rose.

Star tried not to laugh at the three of them. Rose was always trying to get Leaf to calm down, and she usually succeeded, since Leaf would never refuse her. Luna was always making a big deal out of things, and she was very close to Star.

Rose padded forward and gave Luna a lick on the shoulder. "Come on, Luna. I'll be the seeker this time." Luna sniffled and followed Rose and Leaf back into the garden to play some more.

"Ready, set, HIDE!" Leaf yowled as broke away from Luna and Rose and ran. Luna squeaked with surprise and dashed in the other direction.

"I'm gonna get you both!" Rose cried.

"Good luck," Luna meowed over her shoulder.

Luna raced forwards as fast as she possibly could, and, once she had found the perfect hiding place, she screeched to a halt. Luna pulled herself under a low bush and crouched there. She was smug with happiness, knowing that she had found the best hiding spot of all.

After a little while, Luna heard Rose crashing around the garden, searching for her siblings. Luna tried pulling herself deeper into the bush, to hide better, but she stopped short as something pricked her hard in the back.

The little kitten stifled a squeak of pain and attempted to turn to see what the sharp thing was. But more little sharp things poked her, on all sides this time.

Luna soon realized that she had hidden in a rose bush. She twisted, trying to get out; but this only made her more entangled.

"No! Help! Star!" Luna yowled desperately, but no one was around to hear her. Panic filled her, making it difficult to think, let alone breathe. Thorns became deeply embedded in Luna's fur, and tiny beads of blood were forming on her skin where Luna had managed to rip thorns out.

Just when Luna was beginning to lose all hope that she would never be found, that she would die here, stuck under a rose bush, someone began clawing their way under the bush.

"Hang on, Luna."

Luna couldn't tell whose voice it was, but it didn't matter. As long as they could get her out.

The cat (whoever it was) finally reached Luna and untangled her easily from the thorns and nudged her out into sunlight. Luna blinked under the harsh light, and stumbled to her paws, thorns sticking out of her every which way. She faced her rescuer, and let out a squeak of shock.

"It's okay, Luna," Leaf murmured affectionately. "I've got you. You're safe now."

"Honestly I don't know how the pair of you managed to get so many thorns stuck in your fur."

Luna winced as Star pulled another thorn out of her fur as her mother spoke. After Leaf had pulled her out, he had helped Luna back to the human's home, where they all lived. They were now all on the porch, and Star was attempting to get every single thorn off of Leaf and Luna.

"I wish that I could have been there too," Rose complained loudly. "It would have been an adventure."

"Oh, and I suppose you would like to have a thousand thorns stuck in you as well?" Leaf snapped.

Luna stared. This had been the first time Leaf had ever snapped at Rose since the day of their birth. But Rose didn't seem to mind, she was too busy complaining.

"Well yes, but it would have been fun."

Finally, after an hour of yelps and complaints, Star had pulled out all of the thorns successfully. "There," Star sighed, finally satisfied. She turned to Luna. "Now, Luna, I hope you've learned your lesson. No more hiding in rose bushes, you hear?"

Luna ducked her head with embarrassment. "Yes, Mama. I won't, I promise."

Star nodded. "Good." Playfulness sparkled in her eyes as she spoke again. "Now get off the porch so I can get some sleep."

The three kits purred as they leapt away from the human's house. They returned to the edge of the garden.

"Okay so what do you want to play now?" Rose asked excitedly.

Luna curled up her tail as she thought about a good game to play. They could always play hide and seek again, but Luna was in no mood to get stuck again. Besides, her siblings were probably bored of that by now.

No, they would have to think of a new game to play. The idea jumped out a Luna as though it had been waiting for the perfect chance to pounce.

"I know!" Luna meowed. "Let's go hunting!"

Leaf and Rose both bounced excitedly. They had always dreamed of catching mice in the forest, getting enough food for their mother and themselves.

"Oh yes!" Leaf wiggled with happiness. "I'd love to sink my claws into a tasty vole or two."

"Yeah, right," Rose teased. "As if you would ever catch anything."

Leaf stalked forward, and with a growl, he leapt. "You're one to talk!"

Luna watched her littermates scuffle on the ground, but she didn't join in. She felt stupid after getting stuck in the rosebush, and wanted to make it up to both Star and Leaf. And she was going to do that by catching the biggest piece of prey in the forest.

"I'm going to catch a rabbit!" she declared with authority.

The other two kittens stared at her. No prey had been caught by them at all, let alone a rabbit. Star had told them about the rabbits, so they knew what the creatures looked like, even though they had never seen one before.

"Are you crazy?" Rose smirked. "If anyone's going to catch a rabbit, it would definitely be me."

"No, it would be me!" Leaf cried, refusing to be left out.

"No way! I'll get the rabbit, you get the vole."

"Not a chance, slowpoke!"

"I'll show you slow!"

Rose raced off deep into the woods as soon as she had finished speaking. Luna blinked. Maybe Rose and Leaf weren't close as she'd thought. They were certainly quarreling a lot more than usual.

Luna scrambled to follow her sister. No matter what her siblings said, she was going to get that rabbit first, and make her mama proud.

She didn't check to see if Leaf had followed them, but Luna knew he would. Leaf hated to be outdone by his sisters.

Racing through the woods, Luna truly felt like her mama. She was going to catch that rabbit, no matter what. Luna skidded to a stop and tasted the air. A thousand scents jumped out at her, and Luna tried to single out a rabbit, but there was nothing. She would have to look somewhere else.

Luna took off in a different direction and tried to smell something while she ran. This proved too difficult, so Luna stopped to scent the air. The smells were mixed and confusing, so Luna wandered around, her nose practically pressed against the ground.

After a few minutes of sniffing around, Luna had to admit that she had found nothing. Frustrated, she swiped her tiny claws against a large oak tree. Startled by the movement, a squirrel shot out of the tree and raced towards another.

Luna leapt up instantly and dashed after it. She felt like her paws were barely hitting the ground as Luna flew after the squirrel on wings. She was going to catch that squirrel. She had to. Leaf and Rose would never look at her the same if she did.

Luna wanted to jump straight into the air with pure joy when she realized she was gaining on the furry animal. Star would be so proud of her!

Suddenly, the squirrel veered off track and scrambled up a different tree.

Luna let out a yowl of surprise as she crashed into an oak tree. The white kit wandered around, dazed, as she tried to get her senses back together. Star's calls pushed her back to the waking world.

"Rose! Luna! Leaf! Time to come in." Her mother's voice could have been heard from miles around. Now that Luna was thinking about it, she noticed that it was getting dark.

Luna flattened her tiny ears with disappointment as she headed towards home. Just when she was about to catch that squirrel, too. After she got it to come down from the tree, that is.

Later, the small family of cats were reunited at the Tallcreature's house, and Luna was telling them all about her near catch with the squirrel.

"And right when I had my claws inches from it's tail, it raced up a tree so fast even Mommy couldn't have caught it," Luna exaggerated, changing the story just a bit.

Rose yawned, looking bored. "Yeah right, Luna, and I almost brought down a human."

"It's true!" Luna cried, outraged that they didn't believe her. "I really did almost catch a squirrel!"

"Whatever. I had just caught a whiff of rabbit when Mama called us in," Leaf grumbled. "You called us in early, didn't you, Mommy?"

Star chuckled. "Maybe, maybe not. Anyways, it's time for bed. Off you go."

Still upset, Luna wandered over to the bed that the humans always left for them. She settled inside, tucking her little tail close to her. Sometimes Leaf would start clawing things in his sleep, and her tail had taken enough damage from the rose bush.

Rose and Leaf crawled in too, tired from their unusually long day. The three kittens curled up together for warmth in the basket. Star would join them when she felt tired enough.

Luna closed her shining blue eyes. Tomorrow was another adventure, just waiting for her.