High Waters (Formerly The Beginning)

Chapter 1 - Amberkit

Sunlight peered down upon Thunderclan camp as the morning sun slowly rose from below the trees. A ray of sun drifted into a dome den made of brambles and interweaved vines. Two kits stood over their siblings, Fawnkit and Reedkit, their heads lowered in whispers.

"Why don't you wake them up then?"

Fawnkit hissed, swiping her brothers ears with a sharp paw. Fawnkit was a deep tan she-cat with long spotted fur. Reedkit was identical to his sister, down to a single whisker, except for their eyes, Fawnkit's were green light emerald oceans and Reedkit's were as yellow as a young fox's. Their siblings, Amberkit and Sagekit, were in striking contrast to each other and their siblings. Sagekit was a skinny, scraggly, tan brown tom with dark brown points on his face, ears, tail and legs. His breath was raggedy and shallow in his slumber opposed to his bulkier and slightly smaller sleeping sibling, Amberkit. Amberkit was a dark brown she-cat with a white muzzle and belly, but her other features were dark brown.

"Last time I woke them up, Amberkit nearly took my whiskers off. You do it this time."

Reedkit whined, rubbing the ear his sister swatted. Fawnkit grumbled pushing on Amberkit's white tummy to wake her up. With a groggy, amber eyed stare, the small kit woke up.

"Why'd you wake me up?"

Amberkit groaned, sitting up and glaring at her siblings.

"It was Reedkit's idea."

"You're the one who woke her up!"

"Both of you are to blame."

The bickering three were interrupted by Sagekit, his hacking coughs splitting the air like claws. Amberkit looked worried at her brother. Sagekit opened his eyes and tried to speak, but he was cut off in another fit of coughs. Leaftail, followed by Whitemoon, pushed her way into the nursery and went to her kit. The queen and medicine cat talked in hushed voices, seemingly not noticing the three kits behind them.

"Leaftail?"

Reedkit's voice surprised Leaftail and she looked up at her other kits with her wide, watery green eyes. She smiled weakly and waved her tail towards the exit of the nursery.

"Oh, oh kits. Go play outside, Whitemoon and I need to talk."

Reedkit and Fawnkit stepped out of the nursery, Amberkit went to follow, but she turned around instead.

"Will Sagekit be okay?"

Leaftail's smile faded as she looked at Amberkit, the queen moved her mouth, trying to formulate a lie, but she couldn't.

"I don't think so, Amberkit. Go out and play now."

Amberkit nodded and stepped out of the nursery into the rays of the rising sun above the camp. She watched Lionclaw talking to Tatteredtail, Darkfeather, and Cedarpaw. A little ways away, Silverstar and Ivystep whispered to each other, Amberkit assumed it was about what happened at the latest gathering. Sitting to the right of the nursery was Reedkit and Fawnkit, they chatted with two other kits who Amberkit recognized as Stripedkit and Skykit. Stripedkit looked over at Amberkit, a smile lighting up his features.

"Amberkit!"

The tom mewed, bounding over to the smaller she-cat. The fluffy white and black tom stood a head taller than the she-cat, his vibrant light blue eyes were set squarely on his thick fur rimmed face. The handsome tom tackled Amberkit and they rolled over each other.

"Stripedkit!"

Amberkit squealed.

"Get off me!"

The tom, now pinning Amberkit to the dusty ground of the camp clearing, teased the tiny cat. A smug grin on his fluffy features.

"Aw, is she too tiny to fight?"

Stripedkit's pointed comment to Reedkit made the tabby kick the tom's stomach, making him cringe and allowing her to roll out from under him. While he was still stunned, Amberkit leaped onto Stripedkit's back, her hefty weight made him fall. To end the assault, Amberkit placed her teeth on Stripedkit's neck, biting down softly enough to not hurt the tom, but to show she won the little brawl.

"Amberkit! I'm sorry! Please get off!"

Stripedkit wailed.

"Take it back."

Amberkit pointedly shot back, removing her teeth from the tom's neck.

"You can fight just as well as anyone else, now please get off!"

Amberkit grinned victoriously and hopped off the tom's back, quickly being greeted by a smack on the back of her head. The kit turned around swiftly, Silverstar stood above her, a disapproving grimace on his features.

"Don't attack your clanmates, Amberkit. If I see you do it again, you're cleaning the elders den for a moon."

Amberkit frowned and looked at her paws, ready to apologize when Stripedkit swooped in. The heavy tom stood in front of Amberkit, blocking her from Silverstar.

"We were just playing, sir. She wouldn't hurt me."

Silverstar snarled at the tom kit but turned on his toes and stalked away. Stripedkit turned and smiled at Amberkit, but the two's moment was interrupted by Skykit, Reedkit, and Fawnkit scrambling over to the two.

"You guys are adorable!!"

Skykit squealed.

"Nice job beating Stripedkit up, Amberkit."

Fawnkit smirked, shooting a pointed glance quickly at the tom. The group chattered a little, talking about what games they could play when they were interrupted by a distressed yowl.

"Sagekit!"

Amberkit stood quickly, her heart beating in her ears, that was Leaftail. She ran to the nursery, hardly noticing her siblings were on her heels as she skidded into the den. There she saw Leaftail, hunched over the draped out body of Sagekit, his paws splayed outwards and he face was turned away from Amberkit. Leaftail was trembling, her nose pressed into her kit's fur, not giving Amberkit any reaction as she timidly moved forward, to look at Sagekit's face. Her brother's eyes were rolled into the back of his head, his mouth was wide open, drool forming a pool around his head, blood mixed in from his nose. Amberkit shakily put a paw on her brothers bloody cheek, he was freezing, she looked down to her trembling paw, blood staining her paw-pads, her mouth open in a silent yowl. It was a moment before she realized it wasn't silent as she thought, Leaftail had finally noticed her and had a shocked, sad look on her face. Amberkit staggered backwards, her head still spinning, her yowl extinguishing but her face still remained stuck in terror. Fawnkit and Reedkit stood together trembling at each other's sides, Fawnkit had pushed her face into her brothers fur to avoid looking at the scene in front of her. The dark tabby she-cat shakily looked at her surroundings, everything almost went in slow-motion as she watched Leaftail stand to walk over to her, her siblings shaking with agonizingly mournful expressions, the other nursery queens looking horrified, Goldenclaw covering her own kits eyes. Leaftail quickly ushered her remaining kits out of the den, Fernfrost following to keep an eye on them. Amberkit last saw Leaftail rush to the medicine cat den before her vision was blocked by Fernfrost wrapping her tail around the siblings.