Chapter 1(:

Stormkit woke to the sound of Foxkit trying desperately to wake Hailkit so they could go outside, and with a small yawn, he stood, shaking tiny bits of moss from his kit-soft pelt. "Let him sleep." He mumbled, padding over to the impatient ginger kit. "I'll go outside with you."

"Me too…!"

Stormkit purred as Featherkit scrambled over from Silverstream's nest, and their mother flicked her tail. "Don't be loud—Cindercloud is out there, she'll let me know if you misbehave."

"Yes, Silverstream!" Foxkit nearly yowled, turning and rushing out of the nursery entrance. With an amused twitch of his whiskers, Stormkit followed, Featherkit on his heels. Sure enough, Cindercloud was stretched out on her stomach right outside the nursery, sharing a vole with Fireheart in a patch of sunlight. The ground was frigid beneath Stormkit's paws, and hard, like a rock.

"Good morning, Cindercloud," Featherkit chirped brightly, padding delicately over to the dark gray queen.

"Good morning, Featherkit," Cindercloud purred, leaning over to rasp her tongue over Featherkit's ear.

Stormkit followed his sister, mewing a similar greeting to Cindercloud and getting a similar response. Featherkit had her light gray fur puffed out against the cold, and Stormfur slid closer, pressing his flank against hers to help keep her warm.

"It's really cold." Foxkit observed, padding over to join them at Cindercloud's side. "That means we have to play a lot to stay warm!" Featherkit's whiskers twitched in amusement, and Stormkit gave the other tom a good-natured roll of his eyes. As he looked up, something caught his eye, something small and white.

"What…" He began quietly, tilting his head. Foxkit followed his gaze as the small white thing drifted dreamily closer. When it was close enough, Foxkit stuck out his tongue, suddenly squealing in surprise as his landed.

"It's cold!" He squeaked, shaking his head and shivering.

"It's snow." Fireheart purred, swiping his tongue around his jaws and standing up. "Which means we've got a lot of work to do."

Foxkit didn't miss a beat, whirling around and fixing his father with bright blue eyes. "Can I help?"

Fireheart shook his head. "Not yet. When you're made an apprentice you can."

Cindercloud purred. "For now, why don't you go wake Hailkit, I'm sure he doesn't want to miss the snow."

"Okay!" Featherkit chirped, rushing back into the nursery. There were more of them now, Stormkit realized, swirling around above their heads and landing gently on the ground.

"Gotchya!"

Stormkit yelped as he was bowled over, growling playfully as he battled his "attacker." An astonished squeak brought them out of their play-fight as they sprung apart, turning to see Hailkit standing outside beside Featherkit and Silverstream.

"It's snow!" Foxkit exclaimed, swiping at a collecting lump, sending the flakes flying to the side. Featherkit's whiskers twitched, and she did the same, hurling a paw-full right into Stormkit face.

"You asked for it…1" He teased, leaping the distance and bowling his sister over.

"Help!" Featherkit squeaked between gasps of laughter, trying her best to defend herself against her much bigger brother while he batter playfully as her stomach.

"I'll save you!" Foxkit cheered, leaping into the fray.

"Oh no you won't!" Hailkit, crouched low for a moment, before springing up and wrestling his brother away from Stormkit and Featherkit. It went on like this for a while, until Foxkit ended up fighting Stormkit, and Hailkit rolling across the ground with Featherkit. The three toms were always very gentle with Featherkit, even though they all knew she would one day be a warrior just like they would. Stormkit finally pinned Foxkit down, lifting his chin triumphantly.

"Do you surrender, Foxstar of SnowClan?" He crowed, his amber eyes bright.

"Never!" Foxkit growled back, squirming against the dark gray kit's hold.

"You should." Hailkit quipped, pinning Featherkit to ground. "Since you've already been defeated."

Stormkit let out a triumphant yowl, bounding over to Hailkit and head-butting him. "ThunderClan wins!" Featherkit purred, jumping to her feet again.

"Last time me and Hailkit won together." She pointed out.

"Yeah," Foxkit gave her a playful nudge. "And the time before that me and Stormkit totally destroyed yours and Hailkit's camp."

"How long are you kits going to be playing games like this?"

The dry comment came from the tortoiseshell strolling towards them, and Stormkit swiped his paw at her playfully.

"As long as we want, Tawnypaw." He countered, earned an amused scoff.

"Me and Bramblepaw quit playing like that moons before we were apprenticed."

"Don't let her try to trick you." Stormkit turned to see Bramblepaw padding over from the fresh-kill pile. "We played games right up until the day we earned our apprentice names."

Tawnykit rolled her eyes, and Foxkit bounded up to her. "Teach us battle moves!"

Stormkit turned to the oldest apprentices with hopeful eyes. "Can you?"

"Of course we can." Tawnypaw sounded bored, but there was a playful twinkle in her eyes.

"Will you?" Featherkit mewed, giving the pair her best pleading look. They exchanged a glance before Bramblepaw purred.

"I guess we could. We don't have anything else to do until sunhigh."

All four kits cheered, bounding over to the older apprentices with their tails held high. Stormkit felt his heartbeat quicken as he crouched down as he was instructed. He and Foxpaw were almost as big as Tawnypaw—surely they were nearing their sixth moon.

And when we do, we'll be the best apprentices ThunderClan has ever seen!

Featherkit yawned, trying to stay on her paws as she fallowed Stormkit to the fresh-kill pile. It was their turn to bring something for the four of them to eat. She stumbled once, in a particularly deep patch of snow, tumbling down and bumping into the something. Immediately, she opened her mouth to apologize, only to be cut off by a sharp snap of, "Watch it!"

She peaked up fearfully, catching sight of Dustpelt's dark brown tabby pelt. "Sorry, Dustpelt," she mewled, crouching low to the ground. The dark warrior looked like he was about to snap something else, but dropping his mouse, Stormkit shouldered his way in front of her.

"She said sorry." He spat. "Leave her alone." With that, he turned around and nudged her to her feet, shooting Dustpelt another glare as he picked up the mouse and ushered her back to the nursery.

After they finished eating, Featherkit sighed, padding slowly to their nest and curling up against Silverstream's pretty tabby flank.

"Why do they look at us like that…?" She mewed miserably, dropping her chin onto her paws. Stormkit moved closer, giving her ear a reassuring lick. Silverstream did the same.

"Because we're half RiverClan." The dark gray kit growled.

Silverstream sighed. "Don't worry too much about it, dearest…" She meowed softly, curling her tail around them. "Once you become apprentices and show them how loyal you can be, then they will accept you. You just have to prove it to them first, that's all.

"We will." Stormkit growled, determination burning in his amber eyes.

"I know." Silverstream purred, pulling them closer and settling down to fall asleep. Featherkit nodded quietly to herself, curling into a tight ball and letting her eyes slip shut. We definitely will!

There's the first chapter(: I'm not too terribly fond of kits going on long, dangerous adventures and pulling off remarkable (more than likely impossible feats) so they'll probably be apprenticed pretty soon^^ I like to get things in order early on, so I'll go ahead and ask now—what do you think for Foxkit and Hailkit's warrior names? Let me know what you think—of that, and of the story in general. And thanks to Creekfur and the others that reviewed! If you had accounts, I would reply to them, but… Yeah lol. Lots of love~