Enjoy chapter one~!
"I've got you now!"
Mousekit narrowed her eyes and waggled her haunches, ready to pounce at Adderkit. With a leap she raced toward him, eyes fixed on his brown tabby back. Her littermate Icekit scurried after, paws pounding on the sandy floor of WindClan's camp. Adderkit yowled in surprise as he was thrown off his paws by Icekit, who jumped on his back and pummeled his shoulder with her dainty forepaws. He shook her off with an annoyed huff. Mousekit skidded to a halt and crashed into the tabby kit, landing whisker-lengths away from Sandytail's small paws.
"Hey, watch it!" the ginger warrior muttered, but her revealing green eyes were sparkling with amusement.
Crossly Adderkit hissed as Sandytail padded away. "Bet you can't do that again," he taunted, licking his shoulder fur so it laid flat.
For a moment Mousekit's neck fur bristled. He couldn't tell a mouse from a bird. She scrambled to her paws and shot him a glare.
"Ha!" Icekit mewed, shaking out her fur as she leaped away from the bigger kit. "We so totally got you!"
Mousekit scampered away so she could sit by her sister. "You don't stand a chance against us!" Pride welled up in her chest. I'm going to be the best WindClan warrior ever!
Adderkit was still glowering at them when Coalfeather walked up, obviously suppressing a purr. "What are the future warriors of WindClan doing today?"
Mousekit opened her mouth to reply when Icekit cut her off.
"We're hunting! Adderkit's the rabbit and me and Mousekit teamed up to catch him." She puffed out her chest and stared at her father eagerly. Mousekit ducked her head and gave her sister a scowl for interrupting her.
"Very good," he purred, stretching his forelimbs before settling down. "You'll grow up in no time."
A brown leaf fell on Mousekit's nose and she shook it off with a surprised hiss. Where did this come from? There's no trees in WindClan. She fumbled with it underpaw, ears pricked. A white flash caught her eye and she looked up to see Icekit pinning down Adderkit once again. In a flurry of brown and white fur they tussled with growls, and bits of soft, kit-like fur littered the ground.
Mousekit narrowed her eyes as she saw Icekit and Adderkit circle each other, ivory teeth bared. She decided she would pounce on the tabby tom and together she and her sister could take him down. She waited for the right moment, eyes wide as she focused on his cream-colored underbelly. With a growl and one long leap she took off and landed squarely on Adderkit's chest, knocking him to the ground and sending a blow with sheathed claws to his fluffy ear.
"Mousekit! We were practicing battle moves!" Icekit's mew was high-pitched and squeaky with annoyance.
Mousekit's pelt rippled with embarrassment as she crawled off her denmate, his face screwed up with anger.
"Sorry," she mumbled, shuffling her paws as she padded towards the nursery behind her. As she neared the entrance, she could just hear Icekit's squeal and Adderkit's mrrow of amusement behind her.
Fine. I don't need them anyway, Mousekit thought indignantly. She sat down with a huff and kicked up dust with her forepaw. Warm milky scents wafted out of the nursery, and she was reminded of her brother, and Adderkit's sister, still inside. They were sick with a minor case of whitecough, and occassional coughs met Mousekit's rounded ears.
The camp in front of her was buzzing with activity. Pouncefoot and Sandytail were sharing tongues near an old tree stump at the edge of camp, where the ground sloped downward and turned to short, sparse grass. Elkpaw, Hoppaw, and Sheeppaw were flinging moss balls in the air in a clearing between the warrior's and apprentice's den. Oakwhisker and Badgerstar were huddled close together, heads down, deep in conversation.
"Mousekit?"
Mousekit pricked her ears at the sound of a faint mew coming from the nursery. Curiously she turned around and padded into the den she called home, blinking and narrowing her eyes to get adjusted to the dim light. She fought the urge to curl up in her large nest which she knew was heavily padded with sheepswool, instead facing her sick brother who had called for attention.
Pinekit stretched out a tabby paw weakly. Pity struck Mousekit's heart and she rubbed her muzzle against her brother's, hoping to comfort him.
"No, don't." Pinekit's raspy mew ended in a cough and he jerked away.
Mousekit frowned, but understood. She didn't want whitecough any more than he did, and both of them sick wouldn't do any good.
"Where's mother?" he asked. Mousekit stared into his dull amber eyes, and pushed back tears. They were once bright and full of laughter, and she remembered clearly one day when they all played.
"Come on, slowpaw!"
Mousekit lunged forward and grasped the white tip of Pinekit's tail gently with her teeth. Still running, he looked back with mischievousness gleaming in his eyes and stopped abruptly, causing Mousekit to crash into his hindquarters. He turned swiftly around and tugged at one of her round ears, one small forepaw placed on her chest. Icekit leaped on top of them, making Pinekit fall on top of the brown kit.
Mousekit, feeling crushed, still let out a mroww of amusement. "Icekit, you klutz! Watch where you're placing your paws!" She threw up a paw, but it was too short to reach her white-furred sister.
Icekit threw her head back in triumph. "I did it on purpose."
Pinekit sighed even though Mousekit could tell he still had an air of playfulness about him. "Get offa us, Icekit!" He arched his back; Icekit tumbled to the ground and the tabby tom leapt off of his sister.
Mousekit gratefully dipped her head to him. "Thanks, bro. I thought I couldn't breathe for a second there."
Icekit found her footing and stuck her muzzle in Mousekit's face, mewing, "I beat you both and you know it!"
Pinekit smiled until his sharp teeth stuck out. "You'd never suffocate as long as I'm around."
Now Mousekit watched as his white underbelly rose and fell slowly. His fur was rumpled, as if he didn't even have the energy to clean his pelt. His whiskers drooped and one ear was folded back so the pink inside showed. She tried to brighten up. "On the sunhigh patrol. I'm sure she'll be back any heartbeat."
"Oh." He closed his eyes and laid his head back on the nest. Mousekit figured this must have calmed him down. Turning tail to leave, she halted when his voice piped up again. "StarClan's calling, sis."
Mousekit whipped around. She gaped in shock as she thought about living life without her brother. He was the only cat with a sense of humor, she thought, and underneath that he was terribly sweet and would do anything for anyone else.
She pricked her ears to hear Icekit and Adderkit still playfighting outside. They were obviously oblivious to the situation of Pinekit's health.
"Pinekit, what'll I do? What about us being apprentices together, and going to Gatherings? Fighting ShadowClan and hunting with our mentors..." her voice trailed off and she buried her nose in his kit-soft pelt, vowing to remember his distinct scent of pine trees after which he was named.
He half-opened one amber eye, and Mousekit saw in it the same playful nature she knew him best by. "You'll get along fine." His mouth widened into a warm but weak smile. "Don't ever forget me."
Mousekit forced herself not to cry. "O-okay," she promised, her voice cracking. She swallowed hard and raised her head. "I'll get Icekit and Ashfeather."
She reluctantly turned and ran out of the den, grateful for the wind blowing in her fur that whisked away some signs of her disappointment. She reached Ashfeather's den, a large and rough gray boulder that had been carved from endless seasons of wind and rain.
Mousekit burst through, seeing the gray she-cat placing strong-smelling green leaves in a cleft in the wall. Her back was turned, and she was too focused on her task to hear Mousekit come through.
"Come on, Ashfeather!" She pleaded, shaking the she-cat's shoulder with two forepaws. "Pinekit's sicker than you think."
With a swift nod the medicine cat reared up on her hindlegs and reached with a paw in another cleft, pulling out some herbs Mousekit was unfamiliar with. Confident Ashfeather got the message, Mousekit searched for Icekit. The white kit had found a moss ball that the three apprentices ditched and was tossing it back and forth with Adderkit.
She felt Ashfeather brush past as she padded forward to interrupt her sister's game. "Icekit, Pinekit's...sick."
Icekit dropped the ball of moss and stared at Mousekit as if she was talking nonsense. "Of course he's sick."
Mousekit growled in frustration. "He's sicker! Maybe even going to die!" She walked forward until they were muzzle-to-muzzle. "Don't you care?"
"I care!" she snapped, pulling back from her brown-colored sister. Blue eyes hardening with determination, she pushed past Mousekit with such force she was knocked to the ground.
Mousekit scrabbled to her paws and followed Icekit quickly, soon forgetting about her act of rudeness. Now was not the time for revenge.
Reaching the nursery, she anxiously watched Ashfeather's broad gray back, wanting to get closer to her brother. Icekit was standing at the entrance, fur bristling and tail lashing. She seems more angry at me than sad for Pinekit, Mousekit noticed, slanting her eyes in brief suspicion.
Pinekit let out a cry, and Mousekit turned to shove her nose in the dirt. She placed her paws over her ears and hoped he would be alright. StarClan, please don't take him yet.
For what felt like moons Mousekit sat there, waiting for some type of reassurance from Ashfeather. But nothing happened, and Mousekit heard no sounds. For a moment she thought she had gone deaf; a shuffling of paws calmed her and she released the breath she didn't know she was holding.
"Mousekit."
Ashfeather's soft, hushed mew jolted her up, and she stiffly padded to the side of the medicine cat. She was barely aware of Icekit as she stole a glance in her brother's direction. He looked the same, though strange herb scents wreathed around him. She focused her attention on his flank, waiting for it to come up.
Heh, a lil cliffhanger for you c:
So what will happen to Pinekit? Will Icekit keep holding a grudge against her sister? Find out soon! I'll post the second chapter shortly!
woof