Sand opened her eyes. She was in a warm basket at her mother's soft ginger belly. Next to her was her brother, a small tom called Smoky. Unlike Sand and their mother, he had a dark grey pelt.
Sand blinked and saw that her brother was starting to wake, opening his milky blue eyes. "Hello Sand." He mewled, liftinghunt his head.
Their mother shifted in her sleep and Sand saw her paws twitch. "She's probably dreaming of something running." Sand mewed, her whiskers twitching. Smoky gave a huff of laughter. "Yeah...maybe she's running after a mouse."
The kits gossiped as their mother slept.
When their mother woke, the two kits were hungry. "Mother! Can you catch us a mouse?" Sand pleaded. Their mother gracefully leapt out of the basket and stretched. "Of course" She meowed after yawning.
Sand clambered onto the edge of the basket and half-fell to the ground, Smoky right behind her. "Can we come?" Smoky asked, scrambling to his paws.
Their mother thought for a moment. "I guess...but don't interrupt my hunt, okay?" She looked at her kits with a serious expression. They both nodded, and followed her into the kitchen, and then out the cat-flap.
The grass was soft on Sand's paws. This was the second time that she and her brother had been outdoors. The first time they stayed in the backyard and played with the twoleg kits. But this time we're going into the forest with Mother! Sand thought cheerfully.
Their mother stopped when they came to the fence. She turned and looked at them. "Sand and Smoky. Theres a small opening in the fence behind that bush. Squeeze through it and meet me on the other side." She ordered and watched as they bounded towards the bush.
Sand reached it first. "Haha you lose, Smokes!" Sand mewed, squeezing through the opening. Smoky was on her tail. "I didnt lose! I was in second place."
"That's last place, dum dum."
"No, it was second place!" Smoky protested.
"No way!" Sand mewed, leaping at her brother, who squeaked in shock.
They rolled around on the ground, play fighting, until they were interrupted by a stern mew. They looked up and there was their mother, a mouse hanging from her jaws. Beside her was a plump black she-cat who Sand didn't recognize.