CHAPTER ONE

Twilightshadow purred warmly. All four of her jubilant kits were healthy and well on their way to becoming apprentices. She couldn't have been any happier. She loved her kits more than anything.

A gray tom-kit with a white splotch on his face sat sharing tongues with another tom-kit. The other was pure white with striking red eyes.

A black she-kit with yellow eyes pounced onto her tortoiseshell brother. He yowled playfully, swayed his long tail around for momentum, and rolled her over onto her back, pinning her down with one large kit-paw.

"That'll show you!" he hissed. The she-kit swung at his muzzle with claws unsheathed. She nearly clawed him.

"That's enough," Twilightshadow spoke sternly. The tom-kit stepped off of his sister, and she stood up, sheathing her claws.

"Look at me," their mother ordered. The two kits turned to her. "You know my rule. No playing dirty. Now you must be punished."

"No fair! I kept my claws sheathed!" whined the tom-kit.

"Enough. Scorchkit. I don't want to hear another word. Nightkit, you and your brother will go to the elder's den and you will deliver them fresh-kill if they so ask. If they don't need any, go to Fawnspots."

The two kits didn't really seem to take the punishment as something bad. They were excited to get out of the nursery. And they loved talking to the elders. They always had such funny stories. Nightkit and Scorchkit scurried out of the nursery before Twilightshadow had a chance to change her mind.

Twilightshadow sighed. And to think she thought that things were going well. She really needed to keep a handle on her kits before they ended up hurting one another. But she had two at the moment who were acting peaceful. She had to reward them.

"Adderkit, Purekit, come here," she spoke softly. The two toms paced over to their mother and laid down in her soft, warm belly fur.

Across the nursery was another she-cat. She was older and fairly pregnant, with a beautiful blue-gray coat. Her eyes stared scornfully at Purekit. Twilightshadow hissed at her, before she wrapped her tail around her obedient kits.

Nightkit and Scorchkit were already at the elder's den, causing trouble. Copperstrike had asked for a thrush, and they thought it'd be funny if they brought him back a sparrow. It was even funnier for the kits when he didn't even notice. Silverlight was fast asleep, and the kits didn't want to bother her. However, Copperstrike had some funny stories to share with them about their mother.

"She was a wild a thing, for sure," he started. Nightkit's eyes stared up at him in complete interest. "She was always causing trouble, just like you two. Never really could get her to settle down, and don't know if we ever will. Once when she was an apprentice, she climbed a huge oak and her mentor had to fetch me to get her down." He shuffled his fur comfortably. "She's calmed down now I guess, for you four. So don't take advantage of your mother. She really loves you."

Copperstrike had a way of always twisting his stories into some type of lesson for his kin. He purred and gave each kit an affectionate lick on the top of the head.

Scorchkit whined. "Don't mess up my fur!" Then both the kits scampered away. Copperstrike stared as they left, very much amused.

The two scampered across camp to the fresh-kill pile and Nightkit pulled out a plump juicy mouse. When she had trouble carrying it, Scorchkit grabbed the other half of it in his mouth and the two began to carry it into the medicine den. They got through the entrance and Fawnspots was in the den, mumbling to herself.

Nightkit dropped the mouse. "Fawnspots! We brought fresh-kill for our favorite medicine cat!"

Fawnspots turned around appreciatively, but lost it at the sight of the mouse.

"Get that away! Now! I'm not hungry. Bees in my brain! Bees in my brain!" She crouched low to the ground, her head buried in the dirt, screaming at the kits.

The kits, taken aback, began to pull the mouse back out of the den and to the fresh-kill pile. They dropped it as soon as they got there, panting.

"She really does have bees in her brain!" joked Scorchkit.

"That's not funny!" Nightkit hissed. "She's our medicine cat she still deserves our respect, mouse-brain!"

"Sorry," Scorchkit muttered. They sat in silence staring at the mouse. "Well, if she doesn't want it, I don't see why we can't have it?"

"I like that idea," mewed Nightkit and the two started to devour the mouse. Once they were full, they realized that there was still half a mouse left. Not wanting to get in trouble for wasting, they dragged it to Copperstrike, and he gladly took the extra addition to his meal.

They scampered back out to the fresh-kill pile.

"We still should bring something to Fawnspots. Maybe she just doesn't like the way mouse tastes?" Nightkit inquired.

"How can she not? It tastes so good," remarked Scorchkit.

"Do you think she'll like a rabbit?" Nightkit asked.

"I don't see why not," Scorchkit replied.

Then, the two began dragging the even heavier fresh-kill to the medicine den. They dragged it in and called to Fawnspots.

Fawnspots was in the corner of her den, silent. She turned around, her eyes watering and the den smelt heavily of lavender.

"Ah, thank you kitties." She paced over to the rabbit and took a bite. "Sorry about earlier. Mouse just isn't my preference. How did you know I prefer rabbit?" There was slow, dreary feeling to her voice that caught the kits off guard. What ever happened to the warm, kind medicine cat that they knew before? Drool dropped from Fawnspot's mouth.

"Well, I think I'm going to finish this off later. Thanks for stopping by!" Fawnspots turned around and went back to the corner, staring solemnly at the wall.

Scorchkit and Nightkit backed slowly out of the den before sprinting back to the nursery and crawling straight into their mother's warm belly fur. Twilightshadow didn't say a word. She was content. A large warm body was curled around her, concealing her just as she was concealing her kits. She purred.

"Thanks for visiting, Frostfang," she turned her head to speak to him.

"Why wouldn't I?" he purred into her ear.

"I love you," She spoke sweetly as she rested her head on her paws, her eyes closed sleepily.

"I love you too," he said as he rested his chin on her neck, closing his eyes as well. Oh, the spitting image of the loving family.

Blueblossom stared from the other side of the nursery and she could feel kits crawling in her belly. Jealousy steamed from her ears. Where was her mate? She detested being alone. She rested her head on the cold ground and closed her eyes, falling into an unhappy slumber.