"Rain! Can we please, please, please go out to play?" wailed three 3 day old kits. "I'm sorry kits," their mother Rain told the kits, "You're just too young, plus your father is going to visit today." replied their mother. "Well I'm not going to sit around and do nothing!" thought Shadow. "Momma! I'm sleepy I'm going to take a nap." Shadow told her mother. "Okay Shadow." Rain said. Shadow smirked as she padded to the back of the den, "Ha! I tricked her!" Shadow purred. Shadow padded to her nest and quickly hauled a large rock away from the back of the den revealing a small tunnel just big enough for her to fit into. It was an escape tunnel. It wasn't quite finished yet though, so Shadow dove into the small tunnel and began to dig.
"Shadow! Shadow, your father's here!" Rain called crossly, "Come and say hello!" "Don't mind her Rain, I'm sure she just didn't get enough sleep last night, that thunderstorm sure kept me up!" Rain gave up with a huff and sighed, "You're always right, Skystar." turning away from the den she trotted back to the clearing and settled down to watch her kits play in the den and share tongues with her mate.
Meanwhile Shadow was busy tunneling through the earth, "Almost, there," she stabbed her paws ferociously into the dirt and suddenly she felt the breeze on her paw, "I did it!" she yowled happily in her mind. Shadow carefully widened the hole and a long gray thing fell into the hole. Shadow stared at it and wondered, "What is that? Oh well at least I can use it to get out of this tunnel." Shadow backed into the tunnel slightly and then took off at a run, when she reached the thing she leapt up and landed on it, she then sunk her claws into the thing and clung on. "YEOUCH!" a voice yelped. The gray thing began to lift up with Shadow still clinging onto it. Shadow watched wide-eyed as she was lifted out of the hole and into the air, a few heartbeats later a large gray face appeared and stared at her in shock. Shadow gave a squeak and shut her eyes tight and waited for the creature to kill her.
"What's wrong Skystar?" Rain asked worriedly. "something just bit my tail!" he replied with a wince, "I'm going to try to pull it out while it's still on my tail. Get ready to kill it when I get pull it out." Rain nodded grimly and watched the hole as Skystar slowly and painfully lifted his tail out of the hole. Rain watched as a small kitten was… wait! A kitten? Rain darted forward and snatched Shadow from her father's tail and shook her while hissing, "What were you trying to do? Escape the den? Were you trying to go into the forest without my permission!? You could have been-" "Rain, stop it, you're making the poor kit deaf." Skystar said, "Now tell me who this little kit is."
Shadow stared at this huge gray cat that stood in front of her and was talking to her mother, suddenly she heard him say "Now tell me who this little kit is." Shadow knew that he meant she and she shrank back fearing the worst. Her mother sighed and beckoned her to come closer, "Shadow, this is Skystar, your father, Skystar this is Shadow your adventurous daughter. Who is going back to the den right now." Shadow fled to avoid the rest of her mother's wrath.
When Shadow got back to the den her littermates immediately leapt to meet, showering her with their questions. Temporarily distracted from her troubles, Shadow eagerly told Birch and Storm about her tunneling adventure, "-and then she sent me back." Shadow finished. "Cool! Is the tunnel still there?!" squeaked Storm. "It's there but I'm sure that our mom is watching it." "Mousedung." grumped Birch, " I wanted to see the world." Just then the kits heard their mother calling for them, asking them to come out and say goodbye. They squeaked in excitement and quickly dashed out of the den and stared at the world with wide eyes. "Goodbye, Shadow, Birch and Storm, I'll come visit soon, Rain." meowed Skystar as he touched noses with his kits and mate. "Bye!" chorused the kits. Skystar purred and then slipped out of the clearing leaving Rain alone with her kits.