I lie gently by Novakit's side, feeling his breath rise and fall as I curl around him, revelling in his warmth. It's a cold morning, and the sun shines bleakly above us but here, I am whole and perfect. The other kits tussle around us, although I watch none of them, I prick my ears specifically to hear my own brother, Sparrowkit, tussling with the others. My play has always been a bit too rough, but the other kits laugh when he tackles them.

Resentfully, I press into Novakit. I feel bored and my tail's twitching. "I have an idea." Novakit tells me, getting up.

"You do?" I say, stretching out quickly. My tail twitches in excitement. "Thank goodness! I was getting so tired of just sitting there all day."
He nudges me. "Sure. I know you like sitting next to me."
"Of course I do, but I also love running around and stuff. The other kits just don't want to play with me."

"I'm sure Hailkit does."

"Hailkit's never awake. Mami says there's something wrong with him."

Novakit's eyes look shocked. "My siblings never go to sleep. They're so annoying. Anyhow, we should probably start playing that game now, shouldn't we?" he teases.

"Yeah! What are we doing?"

"I was thinking we could make a kit clan." he says with a malicious smile.

"A kit clan?"
"Just like a regular clan, but just for us to do when we get bored. I'll be leader, the fierce Novastar, and you can be my deputy, the powerful Rushcall. No cat dares cross their combined wit and skill, and together they form..."

"AspenClan?" I suggest.

"NovaClan." He counters.

"FoxClan!"

"MoonClan."

"DarkClan!"
"I like it." He says. "I name you Rushcall, deputy of DarkClan!"

We're interrupted by a dark figure overhead. "What are you kits doing?" asks Shadowstar. "You're making quite the ruckus."

"We're making a-" I yell, but Novakit stops me.

"We're just messing around." His eyes are stern. I close my mouth. Surely, what we're doing can't be wrong, can it? It's just a game, after all.

"Alright. You two have fun. I'm going to get the patrols ready and maybe even go out for a while myself. Don't let me catch you attacking the other kits again, Rushkit."

"Me?" I feign innocence, and Novakit purrs deeply at my look of mock bewilderment at the accusation.
Shadowstar snort out of her nose. With one last tail flick and a leer from dark and fearsome eyes, she turns to go and joins the mob of warriors, moving among them towards the HIghfall. That leaves Novakit and I with the other kits nestled in the leader's den, along with Scarletsky, who at this point is in charge of all of the kits collectively.

Novakit gets up slowly, and I stumble up by his side. I'm just about to open my mouth when a loud screech fills the air and I am tackled sideways by a blur of soot and tiny claws. Nettlekit lands on my back and I fall with an "Oof."

"So you two are making a kit clan, huh?" He says, eyes shining. His tail swings back and forth and his teeth are bared.
I swing a bit to the left to unbalance him and then swing right, knocking him off my back. "So what if we are?"
"Thank StarClan Shadowstar didn't catch you. She hates kit clans. She has some weird prejudice against them. It's like she doesn't know it's just a game."

"I stopped her from saying anything." Novakit says. "Well, Nettlekit, would you like to join?"

"He can't join our kit clan!" I protest. "He's stupid!"
"Not as stupid as you, mousebrain!" He retorts.

"I name you Nettleheart of DarkClan. You two, if you fight so help me to StarClan, I'll... get back to you on that."

I nod in awe of this very real threat. "When he gets back to us, you're really going to be in for it."

Nettlekit looks unimpressed. "Well I just won't get into trouble, then. So, what do we do in DarkClan?"

"Well, first, we find a camp. Then we set up our nests and guard it with our lives! We'll do patrols and stuff. It'll be fun. Just the three of us!" He jumps down the rocks that lead to the rest of camp with a swish of his long tail. Nettlekit and I share a glance of mutual distrust as we follow him all the way to a bush.

I open my mouth to protest but Novakit jumps inside. Nettlekit follows, and I find a good opening and tumble through the first layer of leaves into a very small overhang that the branches seem to have arched over, giving us room to move around. Novakit begins collecting leaves and without hesitation, I do the same.

The leaves are tiny, and they stick to my tongue when I try to carry them in my mouth, but after a while I have a pile large enough to sit down on. Nettlekit watches from above. "I've been scouting the furthest reaches of the territory, and I can now confirm it's pretty boring all the way up." He jumps back down, hitting a branch and scattering stray leaves everywhere. A few fall into my pile and I scramble to get the rest.

"Well, you've also discovered something we can use for the benefit of the clan. All we have to do to get more leaves is jump on the branches!"
"I call jumping!" I say.

"No, I call it! I'm the one who discovered it." Nettlekit hisses.

"Well, I'd be a better adventurer than you anyways. I'll take your job." I say, climbing up onto a branch with some difficulty.

"Yeah, right! You can hardly get onto that branch!" He leaps past me onto the next one.

"Yeah I can!" I begin jumping frantically across the branches, half running and half leaping across the small gaps. Nettlekit runs after, and soon we're at the edge. He barrels into me and we both fall out of the bush onto the ground.

We find ourselves looking up at Shadowstar. My heart stops beating for a second in terror. Does she know we've made a kit clan? Is she going to stop us?
I scent something odd off of her, something I've never quite smelled before. It's the scent cats give off when they're talking about the flood. It's fear-scent, and it rises from her like smoke.

"Shadowstar, are you alright?" asks a warrior, striding towards us. The scent of herbs clings to her- it's not a warrior after all, it's Tinyblossom, who recently became the new medicine cat.

"Mami?" asks one of her kits anxiously, "Are you okay?"

The whole clan seems to turn to us. I feel Nettlekit tense and Novakit peeks his way through the bushes.

"I have seen... t-t-terrible things." Shadowstar mutters. Her eyes are skittish, never stopping in one place for more than a second. "I was down in the tunnels, pursuing prey, and I was given... I was given a prophecy. I fear what is to come for this clan..."

"It's okay. You're going to be alright." Tinyblossom says, supporting Shadowstar. The rest of the clan is dumbstruck upon seeing their leader so weak. "I'm taking her to the medicine den. Knottedspeech will have patrols. Everyone, please leave us alone."

I watch them go with curiosity and fear in my eyes.

The black kit walks up to us. "Do you think she's okay?"

Novakit looks down.

"No." I confess. "I don't think she's going to be okay at all."