A/N: Silverheart: I've decided that I'm only gonna do author's notes when I update chapters on different night.
Sharpfangs: Uh.... Silverheart? This IS an author's note....
All Kits: Wow, Mom, wow.....
Silverheart: Shut up, all of you! Review please XD
CHAPTER 1: "Am I tiny?"
Tigerkit opened his eyes. The nursery was huge! He stood up shakily, and turned around and around. He spotted his tail, and he chased it, squealing happily.
Suddenly, a small black paw blocked his line of sight. "Nightkit!" he squeaked, and he pounced on his sister. The pair rolled around happily, making squeals and squeaks of delight. Mistkit soon joined them, and all three of them were chasing each other around the den.
"Kits!" a low mew sounded, and Tigerkit whipped around, with his sisters right beside him. He looked at his mother for the first time. His eyes widened with awe. His mother was beautiful. Her shiny black pelt glowed faintly in the weak light.
"Leopardfoot!" Nightkit and Mistkit squealed, and they raced over to their mother. Tigerkit followed, refusing to be outdone. They pounced on Leopardfoot, pummeling her flank with sheathed paws.
"Stop, my darlings," Leopardfoot purred with amusement as she gently pushed her kits away. "Now, look at me." All three kits looked at their mother, their eyes wide. Leopardfoot purred again. "What beautiful eyes you all have. Nightkit, your blue eyes look like sapphires. Mistkit, your green eyes look like emeralds. And little Tigerkit, your amber eyes look like…well, amber." She smiled at her three kits lovingly.
Tigerkit squeak-growled, "I'm not little!"
Nightkit giggled, and Mistkit mewed, "Yes you are!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
Tigerkit pounced on his bigger sister, giggling. "Am not!" he squeaked as he pinned his sister to the ground.
"Okay, okay! You're not little!" Mistkit wailed playfully.
Tigerkit got off of his sister with his tail held high.
"You're tiny!" Nightkit squeaked, and ran away from her brother.
Tigerkit watched his sister, his tail down. He looked up at his mother. "Leopardfoot? Am I tiny?"
Leopardfoot scooped him up and started to groom him, meowing, "You're tiny now, my son, but when you get older, you'll be bigger than your sisters. Don't you worry."
Tigerkit closed his eyes with pleasure.
"Leopardfoot?" a deep male voice meowed. Tigerkit opened his eyes and saw a massive reddish-brown tom padding into the nursery. Tigerkit cowered into his mother's embrace, eyes wide. Nightkit and Mistkit crept over to Leopardfoot's side, and watched the tom with wide eyes.
"Don't be scared, young ones," Leopardfoot meowed soothingly. "This is your father, Pinestar. He's the leader of ThunderClan." Leopardfoot stretched her muzzle up to touch noses with her mate.
Tigerkit crawled out from his mother's embrace and stretched up onto his toes to appear taller. "Are you really leader, Pinestar?" Tigerkit squeaked, amazed.
Pinestar nodded, and he touched his nose to Tigerkit's head. "Yes, Tigerkit. I am. Would you like to meet the rest of the Clan?" He looked at his daughters as he said this. "All of you?"
"Yes please!" the three kits mewed in unison.
"Then let's go." Leopardfoot stood up and shook herself off. She led the way out of the nursery with Tigerkit on her heels, Nightkit and Mistkit following, with Pinestar bringing up the rear.
Leopardfoot led her kits over to the fresh-kill pile, where a blue she-cat was sharing tongues with her sister, a white she-cat.
"Hello Bluefur, Snowfur," Leopardfoot meowed, smiling at her friends.
The blue cat, obviously called Bluefur, looked up from where she was grooming her sister, the white cat called Snowfur. "Morning, Leopardfoot. Are you going to show the kits around?" She glanced at Tigerkit, and he spotted a friendly gleam in her blue eyes.
Tigerkit stood taller. "We don't need to be shown around; we can explore for ourselves!"
Bluefur and Snowfur exchanged a knowing look, and then Snowfur mewed, "A good warrior learns from his Clanmates."
"You do want to be a good warrior, don't you Tigerkit?" Pinestar asked, gazing down at his son with amusement.
"Of course!" Tigerkit squeaked indignantly. Then he deflated a bit. "But…do we have to be shown around by our parents?"
Leopardfoot and Pinestar exchanged an amused look. Leopardfoot shook her head. "No. I'm sure Lionpaw and Goldenpaw will show you around."
Two golden apprentices padded over to their leader and his family. "Dappletail was going to take us hunting," Goldenpaw mewed nervously.
Tigerkit watched Goldenpaw with awe. She was even more beautiful than his mother! Her pelt was a beautiful pale golden with very pale tabby stripes. Her eyes were an amazingly deep green.
Pinestar shrugged. "Okay, that's fine. Why don't you send Rosepaw and Sweetpaw over here? They might want something to take their minds off of the death of their brother."
Tigerkit noticed that when Pinestar said that, Snowfur's eyes clouded with grief.
"Who died?" Nightkit whispered to Mistkit and Tigerkit. They shrugged, confusion in their eyes.
Leopardfoot leaned over the kits and murmured, "About a quarter moon before you were born, Thistlepaw was hit by a monster. That's why you might hear Poppydawn, Windflight, Rosepaw, Sweetpaw, and Snowfur change the subject whenever anyone brings his name up."
"What was Thistlepaw to Snowfur?" Mistkit asked.
"Thistlepaw was Snowfur's mate," Bluefur answered the question. "I know it's unusual for a warrior and an apprentice to be mates, but they shared a strong bond."
"A bond that will be stronger once his kits are born," Snowfur mewed.
All the cats started, and stared at her.
"You…you're carrying Thistlepaw's kits?" Goldenpaw asked, shocked. Snowfur nodded.
"Well, kits are the future of the Clan," Pinestar meowed. He dipped his head to Snowfur. "Congratulations." Snowfur acknowledged the leader, and went back to grooming Bluefur's back.
"Well, I think these kits need to meet more of the Clan," Leopardfoot meowed after a more than slightly awkward pause. "Lionpaw? Do you want to introduce them to the other members of the Clan?"
Lionpaw nodded, and herded the kits away from the adults, Goldenpaw following.
"I have to go and meet Dappletail," Goldenpaw mewed regretfully. She licked each of the kits between the ears and touched her nose to Lionpaw's. "Good luck with the little rascals!" She bounded away.
Tigerkit watched her race away, feeling forlorn. "Come on, Tigerkit," Lionpaw mewed. "Who do you want to meet next? The Elders? Some more warriors? The Medicine cats?"
"Umm… some more warriors, please!" Tigerkit mewed.
"Can we meet our parents' littermates?" Nightkit asked.
Lionpaw shrugged. "Sure! Let's go find them."
Lionpaw led them over to where a black-and-white tom was chatting with a one-eyed, gray she-cat. "Hey Patchpelt, White-eye," Lionpaw greeted the warriors. They turned to look at the kits, White-eye's eye lighting up. "These are Tigerkit, Nightkit, and Mistkit, Leopardfoot and Pinestar's kits."
Patchpelt purred, and licked Nightkit's head. "You look just like my sister, your mother, Leopardfoot."
"You're our uncle?" Mistkit asked, eyes wide. Patchpelt nodded, his amber eyes warm.
White-eye licked Tigerkit's ear. "Hello, young one," she purred. "Your mother and I are close friends. I stayed with her in the nursery before you three were born."
Suddenly, a bright ginger tom called, "White-eye, Patchpelt! Could you take a hunting patrol over to Sunningrocks?"
"Sure Sunfall!" Patchpelt called. He turned to his nieces and nephew. "We have to go, but we'll see you when we get back." He nodded to Lionpaw and bounded off, with White-eye by his side. Tigerkit watched as they motioned for a big, dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes to join them, and a mottled brown tabby tom to join them as well.
"Who're they?" Mistkit asked, motioning to the two toms who left with White-eye and Patchpelt.
"The larger tom is Sparrowpelt. He's White-eye's mate. The other one is Adderfang. He's Patchpelt and Leopardfoot's father, making him your grandfather." Lionpaw twitched his tail. "Come," he ordered.
He led the way over to a dark red she-cat with a big, bushy tail. "This is Poppydawn, Pinestar's sister. Poppydawn, these are Tigerkit, Nightkit, and Mistkit." Lionpaw introduced them to their aunt.
Poppydawn looked up, and Tigerkit noticed that her eyes were bleak. He backed up a couple of steps.
"Hello, little ones," Poppydawn mewed softly. Her eyes changed to affection, and she licked each of them on the head. "Make sure they don't get into trouble, Lionpaw." She padded off to join four other cats: two she-cats and two older toms. Apprentices and their mentors. Poppydawn dipped her head to the cats, and led the way out of the camp.
"The two apprentices are Rosepaw and Sweetpaw, Poppydawn's daughters. Rosepaw's the one with the pinkish tail-tip. Rosepaw's mentor is the light gray tabby tom. His name is Tawnyspots. Sweetpaw's mentor is the gray tom with the very small ears. His name is Smallear." Lionpaw described the patrol.
"What patrol are they doing?" Tigerkit asked.
"A border patrol. They're going to check out the ShadowClan border."
"Oh."
Lionpaw brought the kits over to the elders' den. "Hello!" he called into the fallen log. He motioned for the kits to follow him in.
Tigerkit padded cautiously into the den, looking around. Four old cats were laying in the den, gossiping.
A tortoiseshell she-cat noticed Lionpaw and the kits. "Hello, young ones!" she purred happily. "I'm Larksong, this is Weedwhisker, Mumblefoot, and Stonepelt." She pointed to the toms in turn: a pale orange tom with yellow eyes, a clumsy brown tom with amber eyes, and a younger gray tom with green eyes.
Tigerkit looked at Stonepelt, puzzled. "You don't look any older than Adderfang or Sparrowpelt; why are you in here?" he asked.
Stonepelt purred with amusement. "Because, Tigerkit, a few seasons before you were born, there was a large battle between ThunderClan and WindClan. I received a very bad battle wound that never healed properly, so I couldn't hunt or fight well anymore. I then retired to the elders' den. It's not bad."
Tigerkit looked confused. "But, why didn't the injury heal? Isn't Goosefeather supposed to heal wounds?"
Mumblefoot grumbled, "Goosefeather's brain is messed up."
Larksong whacked him with her tail. "Don't start telling the kits all about your beef with Goosefeather, Mumblefoot. They don't need to know about that. Now, either you be civil, or leave the den."
Mumblefoot mumbled something and padded out of the den.
Tigerkit yawned. His sisters did the same. Lionpaw smiled at the kits. "I'll take you back to the nursery for your nap," he mewed.
Tigerkit nodded without saying anything; he was too tired.
When they reached the nursery, Leopardfoot was already in her nest. "Come here, little ones," she murmured as the kits stumbled into the nest. "Rest now…there will be plenty of time to meet the rest of your Clanmates tomorrow…"