Foxkit and Tigerkit were barely into their sixth moon when they just couldn't take it anymore. Wolfkit had become an apprentice, and constantly snickered and made fun of Tigerkit and Foxkit every time he walked by the nursery, which he seemed to try to do as often as possible. They had to prove to Frozenstar that they were ready to become apprentices.

One day the kits were laying by each other in the nursery alone. Their mothers had joined with the warriors again since they were only supposed to nurse them for six moons. They were just laying there, grooming their fur, bored out of their minds, when Wolfpaw walks over to them.

"You stupid kits! What is it now, your going to be kits forever? I bet you will never be apprentices! All you do is lay around and be lazy!" Wolfpaw taunted the two frustrated kits. He was the same age as Foxkit; he had no right to talk down to him, or act like he was older. Every cat knew Foxkit had been his mother's firstborn, with Wolfpaw minutes after.

"You've no right to talk to me like that." Foxkit replied calmly, grooming his claws. "Or Tigerkit." Which was true. Tigerkit was technically a couple days older than both of them.

"Oh yeah? You got a problem with me? Attack me, Foxkit!" He put extra emphasis on kit. "Just attack me, and we'll see who will have their apprenticeship delayed again!" He taunted.

Wolfpaw had never expected him to actually attack him. He knew if he showed one sign of hostility, Frozenstar would be there in a heartbeat. But today, he just couldn't take it. He bared his teeth, showing razor sharp fangs, hissed and lunged at Wolfpaw.

He mounted Wolfpaw's back, and raked his stubby claws along his rough back, but Wolfpaw was ready for him. Wolfpaw fell back, crushing Foxkit against the rough forest floor. Tigerkit lunged at Wolfpaw's exposed soft belly, and raked her claws along it, making him bleed. He yowled and released Foxkit, and he lunged right at Wolfpaw's back once more, and scrambled his claws along his back. He yowled, in much pain, and scrabbled to his paws, then ran off. Probably to Frozenstar. "I can't believe Wolfpaw! I thought he was supposed to be nice to us!" Tigerkit complained. Foxkit was more worried about what he saw in Wolfpaw's eyes when they were fighting. Pure hatred.

. . .

The kits laid in their moss, playfully batting and grooming each other, when Frozenstar walked in, his fur bristling in anger. "What was all that about? You wounded an apprentice!" He yelled in anger.

The kits looked at each other, unsure of what exactly to say. They decided to just say silent, at least for the time being. How severely could kits be punished? Most clans didn't punish kits, or if they did, only minorly scolded.

"Well?" He insisted. The kits stayed silent and merely stared oddly at him, as if to say "What are you talking about?", and Frozenstar did not like it one bit. "Fine! Until you kits start talking about what you did to Wolfpaw, how about we up the punishment? 8 moons?"

Foxkit was about to protest, but Tigerkit did first. "What? You can't, you just can't!" She wailed like a 2 moons kit. "Please, no!"

Foxkit couldn't take it anymore. He hissed as loud as he could at his leader, "You stupid piece of fox dung! You really think you can just add on moons forever to our delayed apprenticeship? 1 moon is long enough! Have you no heart? Its like your targeting us in particular! Wolfpaw is walking under your nose!"

Frozenstar hissed at the accusation "You have no right to accuse me of such treachery! Wolfpaw is a valued apprentice, more loved in this clan than you ever will be!"

Foxkit opened his mouth to protest, but Frozenstar spoke first. "One more word and its nine moons!" He hissed. Foxkit flattened his ears and padded back to the far corner of the nursery, his eyes clouded with emotion. He put his paws over his head and silently asked Starclan to get him out of this. He was certain Frozenstar was targeting them. Then a thought crossed his mind. Did Frozenstar we would be too dangerous if we had warrior training, to the point where he did not want to risk us turning on him?

Several days had past, and Foxkit felt the need more and more to get away from camp, for he thought Frozenstar may attack them. He had told Tigerkit about his suspicions, and they devised a plan: They would wait till dark, and then sneak out of the nursery. If no other cats were up, they will sneak out. Night had almost fallen on them, and they were just biding the time. Foxkit was taking a nap, while Tigerkit was grooming his fur. She was very anxious, and her licks got more brisk the closer nightfall had come. After she licked his fur, she licked his legs and his back claws.

Just then Foxkit muttered in his sleep, unaware, "...Love you, but I could never say it, Tigerkit..." Though he was unaware he said that, Tigerkit placed her head on his belly and quietly replied "Love you too."

She kept on washing him till he awoke, where Foxkit noticed she had groomed. Foxkit knew from what Tigerkit had often said that he muttered in his sleep. He had just had a dream with Tigerkit in it, and he wondered how much he had said. Embarrassed, he turned away and focused on what lie ahead.

The moon had risen, and all the other cats were sleeping. Foxkit padded out of the nursery, with Tigerkit following close behind him. Before he knew what was happening, the scent of rogue washed over him. He hid in the bush, and peeked his head out to see Frozenstar talking with a band of rogues. They looked bloodthirsty and ready to kill at a command or not. And then Foxkit saw the unthinkable: Wolfpaw was among them. Betrayer! He thought bitterly.

"Frozenstar," One of the rogues began, "How is delaying those kits training coming? Remember when we stage the raid on Windclan, and we bring the two kits to Rust, He's gonna want to train them himself!"

"Of course!" Frozenstar replied, "They are already set to 8 moons! Will you need more time? I can go 12 moons, or 24 moons, or-"

The rogue laughed. "Don't worry, Frozenstar! We're staging the raid tomorrow. Go make sure those kits haven't snuck off!" He laughed.

"Hah, I'll do the honors!" Wolfpaw said grimly. The two kits quietly walked back into the nursery and pretended to sleep next to each other. "Aww, look! These kits love each other. Too bad for them, where they're going they won't have love, just cold dark hearts."

Foxkit couldn't believe what they were saying. He just flattened his ears against his head and curved his body around Tigerkit, as if to protect her, from what they know would be the hardest thing they would ever come against.