Jaggedkit's blue eyes fixed on the sky. He loved the pale, soft colour of the early morning sky, with the burning golden sun and wisps of feathery clouds that crossed it. He smiled dreamily, imagining flying through that sky. The picture took over his mind; soaring through the wind, paws skimming over the trees. Wind rushed through his pelt, and he flattened his ears as joy exploded in his heart, sending him higher and higher -
Suddenly he was back on the ground, paws rooted to the earth. A heavy weight had barrelled into him. Red-brown and white fur flashed in his eyes, and he collapsed in the dirt. Skykit! He'd been taken by surprise, but he wasn't surprised. His brother was always doing this.
He let Skykit pummel him for a moment, counting the seconds until he stopped. He figured if he lay without fighting back, Skykit would soon give up, and he did. His brother stopped batting him with his paws, but didn't let go. "Hah!" Skykit crowed victoriously. "Do you surrender?"
Jaggedkit didn't really see any way he could win this. "Yes. Please got off of me." He needed to catch his breath; the heavier kit had knocked it out of him.
Skykit jumped off him, leaving Jaggedkit panting in the dust. "Come on, bird-brain. Stop staring at the sky. Aren't you going to join our game?" He started walking without waiting for a response, and Jaggedkit figured he'd better follow. He didn't want to risk another playful attack, which was sure to happen if he didn't follow along willingly.
When they reached Foxkit, their sister looked up, amusement sparking in her yellow eyes. "Hey, Jaggedkit, I didn't know you slept sitting up, with your eyes open." Jaggedkit paused at this. He was barely insulted, and wasn't very good at sharp retorts, so he sat down, saying nothing.
Apparently, this was the wrong thing to do. Frustration flared in Skykit's pale blue eyes, and he snagged the moss ball and flung it at Jaggedkit. "Catch this, empty-head!" It hit the side of his face before he could react, and he yelped in shock.
"Hey!"
Skykit narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth, but pawsteps interrupted him before he could say what he was going to. Rustpaw and Tornpaw padded up, Tornpaw clutching a pigeon in her awkwardly slanted jaw. Relieved, knowing that Skykit wouldn't bother him if something was there to distract him, he surrendered his mind to his daydream again. This time, he was no longer a cat. He closed his eyes, trying his hardest to picture a beak on his face, and when he opened his eyes again, he was swooping over the open spaces of ValleyClan territory. He flapped his wings and spiralled upwards.
Distantly, he heard Foxkit and Skykit bickering, as if they were down on the ground, far below him, as he flew. Again? He sighed, and opened his eyes to see his siblings struggling against each other in the dust. "Take it back!" Skykit squawked, while Foxkit just laughed, even as Skykit was beating her.
"Come on, guys, stop fighting," Jaggedkit mewed. "Mum, Skykit and Foxkit are fighting again."
Briarheart looked up from her pigeon. Skykit rolled off of Foxkit and shot Jaggedkit a glare, anger simmering in his eyes.
"No fighting," Briarheart meowed patiently, but sternly.
"Jaggedkit!" Foxkit snapped. "You ruin everything."
"You're like a whiny newborn kit," Skykit spat.
"Now, now," Briarheart said calmly, though she didn't sound all that stern anymore. "Foxkit, no fighting Skykit anymore, all right?"
"But he -" Foxkit protested, and was interrupted.
"Warriors never attack their own Clanmates."
Jaggedkit wrapped his tail around his paws. Now Skykit was mad at him. He hated to see his littermates fight each other - it often ended with Skykit getting out of hand, and using his claws and teeth. He felt guilty about spoiling their fight, but he'd had to do something.
"I'll get back at you for this," Skykit growled.
Jaggedkit felt his fur prickle. Am I afraid of Skykit? He had every reason to be. Skykit was bigger and stronger, even though he was younger, and he sounded sincere.
"Sorry," Jaggedkit squeaked. "I didn't want you guys to get hurt." He winced at how lame that sounded.
"Jaggedkit, that is so lame," Foxkit muttered.
"Come on, Foxkit," Skykit said, as though Jaggedkit wasn't there. "Let's go finish our game, and leave that whiny bird-brain to his daydreams."
Jaggedkit watched Skykit and Foxkit pad off, and hung his head. He stole a glance at Briarheart, but she had returned to her pigeon, though she occasionally looked up at Skykit, as though checking that he was all right. Or maybe that he wasn't climbing the nursery - last time he did that, he'd made a hole in the roof, and Briarheart had assigned him to fixing it. They'd been rained on for a few days before Briarheart got fed up and fixed it herself.
Jaggedkit stared at the ground, at a leaf sitting a tail-length from his paws. He studied its intricate design, feeling guilty and a little bit scared.