Hawkkit - DuskClan

This chapter was written by Leopard Spirits,

Hope you like it.

Sunlight slipped through the den entrance, washing the sleeping cats with bright light. The wind blew against the trees, and sent them shaking in the breeze. The fall-weather sent crisp autumn leaves showering across the ground, cloaking the grass with the leaves that had deserted different branches of the tree. The smell of fresh maple wafted in the air, lingering through the nursery and all the other dens in the Clan. Warriors shifted across the Camp, following orders of the deputy; Whitefire. Apprentices followed their mentors eagerly out of Camp, ready to begin training.

The queens in the nursery were awake, speaking softly to each other through hushed voices, trying not to bother the sleeping kits. Who—in fact—were awake. They scuffled on the ground, yawning to themselves as they rose to their paws. All were up except Hawkkit and Brokenkit, and the couple other kits who were younger than them.

"Hawkkit wake up!"

"Hawkkit, come on!"

"Hawkkit! I swear, I'll pummel you, you little wimp!"

Kits screeched at the black tabby tom, and poked him ferociously. The sun seeped through his eyelids, and the wind ruffled his fur. The tom squinted, and wriggled on the ground, trying to stand. He was a quarter moon old, and was the only one of his siblings who hadn't opened his eyes. Other than Brokenkit, who was only then wriggling to his paws, but had already opened his eyes the days before; only he hadn't gotten up yet. Hawkkit was okay with the fact of being the last one, and had always heard his mom saying:

"He can take his time. Why should he rush?"

The other kits didn't care, though. They beckoned for Hawkkit to wake up, along with Brokenkit, too. Hawkkit writhed around, eyes twitching as he tried to open them. "Come on Hawkkit! We need another cat in our game to play!" Tigerkit was whining.

Hawkkit managed to blink open his eyes, and just as he did, blinding sunlight flashed into his sight. He winced, and mewled with dissatisfaction. His ice blue eyes were forced into the accumulation on his eye sight and slowly, he focused on the light, calculating the sun beams and the brightness as it settled to its regular state in his newly opened eyes.

"Hawkkit! You've opened your eyes," He recognized his mother, Amberleaf's, voice. He sniffed the air, retrieving her scent, and he glanced to his side, seeing her figure in the focusing sunlight. "Hi, mom." Hawkkit mewed.

Hawkkit's brother, Bloodkit, leaped onto him, thrusting him to the ground. The fire-red tom pummeled Hawkkit with his unsheathed claws and rubbed them against Hawkkit's fur. "Come on, fight back!" Bloodkit hissed, "Don't be a wimp!"

Hawkkit squirmed, a single paw flashing forward towards Bloodkit's face, smacking him to the ground with his claws.

"Kits! Stop your fighting, you know I don't want you fighting together." Amberleaf frowned, watching her two kits.

Tigerkit trotted over. "But mom! Deathstar likes it when we fight," He recognized the fact, eyes widening. His litter mates nodded in agreement, excluding Brokenkit, who was only now trying to open his eyes. Amberleaf had a scowl growing on her face, her golden-brown fur bristling. "She also said that Clan-mates can not fight with each other," she hissed, tail erect in the air as she sat back down next to Brokenkit. She had some weird expression appear on her face and she called for Dapplednose, the medicine cat.

Hawkkit refused to pay attention to them, and rose to his legs. He sniffed the air, smelling the fresh piney scent. With a squeal he burst out of the nursery, wading through the thick crowd of leaves on the ground. "Hawkkit, where are you going! We were supposed to play, you mouse-brain!" Bloodkit called after him. Hawkkit froze, but didn't reply. He crouched to the ground. What was this mouse-brain he was being called? He crept towards Bloodkit, tail trailing on the ground. "Hawkkit! Listen to Bloodkit and go play," Amberleaf snapped at him.

Hawkkit's ears flattened against his head, and he rose from his spot in the leaves, trudging towards Bloodkit. "Sorry," he mumbled, padding near Bloodkit. "Come on, we're playing bad cats and good cats." Bloodkit announced.

For some reason, and Hawkkit never knew why, everyone always wanted to be the bad cats. He never knew why that was so, and for some reason, being good made them weak or whatever. But Hawkkit wanted to be good. He didn't want to be evil, that wasn't something he liked, but he never bothered to admit it.

"I want to be the evil cat!" Bloodkit announced. "I want to be a bad cat!" Tigerkit agreed. "I want to be bad, too!" Ravenkit piped up. "I want to be good." Hawkkit mewed. His litter mates glanced towards him, and Hawkkit felt Bloodkit's burning glare bore into him like claws. "Good? You want to be good?" Bloodkit asked, voice low and gruff. "What a wimp," he hissed, teeth baring. Hawkkit flinched, ears flattening against his head. His paws began to slip on the muddy leaf-covered ground, but he unsheathed his claws and held his grip. "I don't care what you say," Hawkkit hissed defensively. It was his first day with open eyes and he was already being teased. "It's not that bad," Tigerkit shrugged, adding in. Hawkkit for once was glad Tigerkit was his brother. The what looked like a scary, fierce tom with rippling brown and black fur, he wasn't all that bad. Same as Ravenkit, who seemed quite on the fence about the situation, was slightly nodding his small black head.

"Guys?" A new voice asked, and the shuffling of paws on the ground made the litter mates look backwards towards the small kit that was scrabbling over through the heaps of leaves that blocked his path. Hawkkit recognized his brother, Brokenkit from when he had opened his eyes. Brokenkit was different, though. He was smaller than most of them. The second runt of the litter, other than Hawkkit who was tinier than the others. With faded sky blue eyes, unlike his litter mates. So much that they seemed unreal. "What's with your eyes?" Ravenkit asked, stepping near the irregular tom. "I don't know. What is wrong with my eyes?" Brokenkit asked them, head tipping.

"He's blind, kits." Amberleaf murmured, padding over to the four of them. "So he can't see? At all?!" Bloodkit asked. Amberleaf looked crestfallen, and her gaze switched to Hawkkit, some expression flashed in his mothers eyes, the same he had seen in Bloodkit's eyes, and Hawkkit tucked his tail in between his legs. Brokenkit had an expression of mixed emotions spreading across his face, like he was wondering: 'What was this blindness they were talking about? What was seeing?'

"No, Bloodkit." Amberleaf answered, and swept her tail around Brokenkit. The small kit shook her tail away, and crouched down, creeping over to Hawkkit. The mother glanced back to Hawkkit, orbs narrowing. Did she not like him? Why was she looking at him like that? He didn't know if he would find out.

Amberleaf backed away, heading towards the nursery.

"No weaklings in my game." Bloodkit growled at Brokenkit, a slightly devious look filling his eyes. The emphasis growing on the 'my'. "And by Deathstar's rules, we can torture weaklings, right?" He unsheathed his claws, glancing to his litter mates who wouldn't budge, staring with concern at Bloodkit. "Don't hurt him," Hawkkit piped up. "He did nothing wrong!" The tom tried to reason with his arrogant brother. "Shut up, Hawkkit," Bloodkit snarled, teeth glinting in the sunlight. He flashed forward, and tackled over Hawkkit, slashing at him with his claws. The tom's breath was hot on his fur, and the snap of his teeth hit Hawkkit's whiskers and sent an echoing crackle through his ears. The growing pain of Bloodkit's claws in Hawkkit's fur made the kit wince, and writhe under his grip, for the second time that day. "Get off!" He shouted, flailing his paws at his brother in hope to hurt him or at least get him off.

Hawkkit finally unsheathed his claws, daring to use them, and, with all his might, he shoved Bloodkit off of himself, throwing his brother into Tigerkit and Ravenkit on accident. "Hawkkit!" The small tom heard his mother shriek. Bloodkit was snickering from where he had been pushed, but nothing had happened to him. He actually hadn't gotten hurt. This was all a trick.

"How dare you attack Bloodkit!" Amberleaf hissed, obviously favoring the red muscular tom. "He is your brother! What did I tell you before?!"

Hawkkit tried to speak, but Amberleaf interrupted him. "I don't care what you've got to say. I saw what happened, so don't you try to lie to my face." His mother hissed at him. "Get into the nursery, and stay there without talking for the rest of the day." She ordered him, sounding as if she was spitting out the words like it was crow-food. Hawkkit trailed through the leaves, and into the den, pushing some moss into a secluded corner where he tried to stay away from everyone, and be alone. He curled up, feeling the cold winds whip at his fur, but he didn't bother to say a word, and remained in his spot, shuddering silently.