Chapter One:
Greykit yawned as she worked open her eyes. Her mother above her. Poppyclaw was yawning and stretching as best as she could without disturbing the two she-kit's sleeping against her.
Yawning her own, Greykit stretched, and stumbled away from her mother, catching the queen's attention.
"Oh, you're awake." Poppyclaw purred, reaching over to draw her tongue across her kit's forehead. "Are you hungry?"
"A little." Greykit admitted after a moment of getting her bearings.
Poppyclaw nodded, then nudged Greykit's sister, Berrykit, awake. She squeaked in annoyance, looking very grumpy as she was forced out of the warm and comforting nest.
"Why don't you too go get Snowkit and Whitekit to help you get something from the Fresh-Kill pile?" Poppyclaw offered. "They went out to play in the early dawn when Creamflower had to left."
"Okay." Greykit squeaked, nudging her sister to keep the she-kit from falling asleep again.
"Then bring me something!" Poppyclaw called quietly as they left, so she didn't wake Frogstep and Crowkit.
Greykit pushed her way out of the nursery and into the early morning light, Berrykit a few steps behind her.
The early morning dew hadn't even burned off yet, but Greykit could see the clan had already come to life. Blackstar sat up on his rock, running his tongue over his paw, while Willowdream talked quietly with Hawkflight below them. The Fresh-Kill pile had been freshly stocked, and with Green-leaf in mid swing it was overflowing with prey.
Whitekit and Snowkit, two identical white toms, who were about a moon older than them, where wrestling in the middle of the clearing, biting and scratching at each other. The ThunderClan medicine cat, Fallenfire, watched on with narrowed eyes. The Medicine cat wasn't the most social of the cats, but he was actually a bit of a softy once you got to know him. And he was the twin's uncle, so it wasn't that weird to see him watching them.
Greykit raced over to them, a little alarmed that she couldn't tell who was who in the white bundle of energy rolling around in the hollow.
"Hey! Whitekit! Snowkit!" She called, and the two perked up and rolled apart. One white kit shook himself out while the other licked his paw.
"Yes?" They echoed in unison.
"Poppyclaw said to get you to help us get prey from the pile." Berrykit said, standing beside her sister.
"Yeah, okay." The kit who'd been shaking himself said. "Come on Snowkit!" They raced away, and Greykit could only think about how she was glad someone had put a name on them. It was impossible to tell them apart.
She followed the brothers to the pile, aware of the cats still inside the hollow watching them closely.
Whitekit leapt up to the pile, snatching a mouse off the top. After being around the brothers for a while, it actually wasn't hard to tell them apart. Their personalities were so radically different.
Whitekit was loud and brash while Snowkit was reserved and soft-spoken.
They were both crazy, playful, and way too mischievous. Snowkit helped their cause a lot, Greykit had learned, as she watched the white toms. His quiet attitude led a lot of cats to think he was responsible, and therefore leave him alone and in charge of watching Whitekit. It never ended well.
"Oh, and can you get something for Poppyclaw?" Berrykit asked Snowkit quietly. Both sisters were much smaller in comparison to the toms, against their better wishes, but they were just naturally smaller.
Quite a bit so, Greykit remembered, laughing silently to herself about the time when they learned that Whitekit and Snowkit were both also small for their age.
Snowkit nodded, and padded over, pulling a sparrow off of the pile. "I'll take this to her." He promised them, padding past and towards the nursery. He was responsible. If someone was watching him.
Greykit snickered as she watched Whitekit watch him leave, large green eyes trailing after his brother. Whitekit may be the bossy one, be both brothers were pretty much lost without the other.
Greykit loved Berrykit, they were sisters, but she'd never quite understood the co-dependence the twin toms had.
Whitekit scowled when he saw her expression and tossed the mouse to her. "Eat up." He growled, though she could tell he wasn't really angry so much as slightly embarrassed.
Greykit nodded and did just that, sitting down with Berrykit to take bites of the mouse.
Whitekit wandered off, sitting awkwardly by himself until Snowkit appeared from the nursery again, and they jumped up to continue playing.
Greykit and Berrykit finished their meal, and Greykit took a moment to groom her fur. She hadn't washed this morning.
"Blackstar!" The loud meow rang through the hollow, making every cat turn their head.
Blackstar looked up, dark eyes curious as he watched the patrol file in. Bluesky was at it's head, with Owlscratch and Bugpelt close behind. They didn't look like they carried bad news, but why else would there be cause for such an announcement?
"May I speak with you in your den?" Bluesky asked, tilting her head. Blackstar hesitated, then nodded, beckoning Bluesky in.
The She-cat disappeared past them, and clan life slowly returned to normal.
"Owlscratch!" Berrykit mewed, bounding over to their father. "What happened? Is it Shadowclan? Are they attacking us?" She asked. Owlscratched laughed lightly at the small kit and shook his head.
"It's nothing, Berrykit. Just a weird scent on the lakeside. It'll be gone by tomorrow morning." He promised. Berrykit nodded, staring up at their father. Greykit came up beside her, looking up at the massive tom.
Owlscratch had been injured in a fox attack as an apprentice, leaving nasty scars ripping down his face. Despite this, Greykit had never thought of him as anything but perfect. He was the bravest, most strong, best cat in ThunderClan and nobody could tell the sisters otherwise.
"Has Poppyclaw gotten something to eat?" He asked, glancing towards the nursery. Both kits nodded. Add extremely loyal and loving to that list. "Snowkit brought her something."
"Good." He purred, the bent down and gave each of his kits and lick on the forehead. "Now if you don't mind, I've been up since dawn on patrol and haven't eaten yet."
"Of course." Greykit meowed, stepping out of his way and letting the tom move over to the fresh-kill pile.
"Ow! You-Come on, Crowkit! It's not that hard to do!" Both girls-and some of the clan-jerked their heads up to see the commotion.
Crowkit had woken up, and apparently tried to play with the twins. He was much younger than all of them, and two and a half moons, but he was big, just very clumsy. And a little reckless. Looking now, Greykit noticed blood welling on Whitekit's nose, the young cat looking near tears at the development and slight pain. Snowkit sat pressed against his brother, licking the blood off his nose whenever it became too much.
Crowkit cowered in front of them, the oldest kits both towering above him.
"Don't worry, Crowkit." Snowkit assured him. "He's just upset because you won." This made Crowkit smile, and he backed away a bit to keep out of it.
"Alright, alright, let me take a look at it." Fallenfire announced. He padded slowly up to Whitekit, clearly not at all concerned. It was just a scratch from play fighting after all.
Fallenfire put the tiniest amount of cobwebs on, and Greykit thought it was more for appearance than anything. She knew she'd want him to do something about it if it had been her.
"What if it gets infected?" Snowkit asked. "Who knows where Crowkit's claws have been." He offered, with a glance at the black kit. "No offence."
"Good point. Smart little medicine cat you'd make." Fallenfire purred. Snowkit smiled at him.
"Medicine Cat? Blah!" Whitekit snapped, wrinkling his nose to look at it. "We're gonna be Warrior's together!"
There was a paused, as Fallenfire raised his eyes at Snowkit before Snowkit laughed.
"Of course. We'll confuse everyone in battle by appearing to be in two places at once!" He exclaimed. Fallenfire laughed and shrugged.
"As you wish. But don't worry. His nose will be fine without anything else." Fallenfire assured them, before turning and trotting back to his den.
The kits eventually got into a tamer game of sorts, that Greykit sat and watched for a bit before turning to Berrykit.
"Should we join them?" She asked. Berrykit shrugged before replying.
"We're kits, Greykit. We've got nothing better to do."