"Come on, Breezekit! I wanna go outside!"

Bristlekit was becoming impatient, but she was being a lot louder about it than Blizzardkit. Bristlekit doesn't get it. Mother wants us to be quiet and good, and we haven't, and maybe that's why she hasn't been in the nursery all day.

Both of them had opened their eyes that morning, but Breezekit still had yet to see the world. Duskflower had told Grasswhisker, the other nursing queen, not let them out of the nursery until they had all opened their eyes.

Bristlekit's yellow eyes gleamed. "We don't have all day!" She snapped. Their sister had always been the most rambunctious of them, never afraid to show her claws.

Blizzardkit prodded his brother's side. "Breezekit, she's getting pretty impatient."

"I don't want to!" His silver-furred brother wailed. "Mother has to be here!"

"Mother's not coming, fish-brain." Bristlekit snapped. Blizzardkit flicked her with his tail. "Be nice! He's just not ready."

"I'm ready! I just don't want to do it." His silver-striped brother was the easiest to push around, especially by fierce Bristlekit. Blizzardkit hoped he'd grow out of that or she would boss him around for the rest of his life.

Bristlekit huffed. "If you're not going to open your eyes, we'll just go out ourselves." Blizzardkit whipped around to face her. "We are?"

"Of course we are!" She hissed.

"Grasswhisker wouldn't let us."

"She doesn't have to know!"

We'd sneak out? The idea sent a thrilling shiver down Blizzardkit's spine. What if we get caught? Wouldn't Mother be angry?

"How?" Was all he said.

Bristlekit narrowed her eyes. "Out the back. There's a hole in the den I've been digging all morning, it should be about big enough by now."

That explains the weird noises, Blizzardkit realized. He'd heard scuffling sounds before he opened his eyes and after his sister had. "Won't Grasswhisker notice we're gone?"

Bristlekit shook her head. "Too busy talking with her sisters." Indeed, Grasswhisker was deep in conversation with the warriors Birdbreeze and Silverlight. "Any more questions or are we doing this?" She added.

He did have one more. "What about Whitekit and Snowkit?" Grasswhisker's two kits were born only a few sunrises before them and were like extra siblings. They slept in the same nest on the nights Duskflower was missing. Blizzardkit realized he had actually never seen what they looked like, as they had been outside with their father that morning before he opened his eyes.

"We don't have to do everything with them!" Bristlekit said. "Let's just go before you can talk me out of it as well as yourself."

Blizzardkit followed his sister over to the corner of the den made of packed mud. All the dens were like that, but the nursery's was supported by an extra layer as well as a tree that grew behind it, its roots wrapping around the structure.

"Over here," Bristlekit whispered. He saw a place where the wall was covered in scuff marks, and a tiny spot where light filtered through. "This shouldn't take too much more work."

The kits began to dig, getting mud under their claws and on their pelts. "This is fish-brained," Blizzardkit muttered. "We could probably walk right out and Grasswhisker wouldn't notice us."

"Keep digging, furball." Bristlekit replied shortly. With a huff of annoyance, he obliged.

Soon the hole was large enough to fit a kit, if that kit happened to be a few days old and willing to squeeze a bit. Bristlekit went through first, struggling after she got her shoulders through but with a push from Blizzardkit, her tail disappeared through the exit.

Blizzardkit wiggled his way out, getting caught before Bristlekit grasped his paw in her teeth and yanked him, causing him to yelp softly and tumble into camp.

He squinted his eyes against the sudden light. Cats were walking around, out of camp and between dens. The camp was surrounded by a wall of shrubs and trees, with an entrance between the leader's den, a tall, rounded stone with a flat top and a mud-packed den at its base where Meadowstar slept, and the warrior's den, the biggest of all SpringClan's dens.

In the center was a circle of stones with prey piled in the middle. Mostly fish, but a few frogs and toads as well.

"Where's Waspthorn?" Blizzardkit whispered to Bristlekit. Even his brave sister looked intimidated by the huge camp, but she gave a hearty reply.

"Patrol or something. We should explore while he's gone. He would probably tell us to go back."

Blizzardkit nodded. It would make sense that he was gone, being the Clan's deputy, but he still wanted to see his father for the first time.

"I dare you to get a fish from the prey pile!" His sister hissed into his ear.

"What? Those are as big as I am!" He yelped. She expects me to get away with that?

"Not the big ones at the top, fish-brain." Bristlekit snapped. "One of the small ones." Seeing where she was gesturing with her tail, Blizzardkit noticed the small minnows dotted around the pile.

He still was unsure. "Won't I get in trouble?"

"Not if you aren't caught."

Blizzardkit sighed. He wasn't going to talk his sister out of this. Might as well. He approached the pile slowly, stepping onto one of the stones that bordered it. As he was reaching up to grasp the nearest minnow with his sharp claws, a voice startled him.

"What in the name of StarClan are you kits doing?"

Blizzardkit whipped around to see the snarling face of Duskflower. She's huge! Her thick gray pelt was sleek and her claws sharp. "Hey, Mother." He said sheepishly. She only hissed.

Behind her, Waspthorn rested his tail on her shoulder. "Take it easy on them. They're only kits." Duskflower still seemed angry, but she calmed down a bit at her mate's touch.

"Look, and they've opened their eyes already!" Blizzardkit's father mewed warmly, looking down at him. "Bristlekit's are like mine."

While his sister puffed out her chest, Blizzardkit looked between them. Her eyes were paler than his, but they were a similar shade of yellow. "I want to be just like you!" Bristlekit piped up. "Brave and strong and a deputy!"

He purred. "Maybe one day."

Blizzardkit looked at his paws. They were a light silver in color, slightly darker than Breezekit's fur but lighter than Bristlekit's shade of gray. He wondered what his eyes looked like. Blue, like Mother's?

"Let's get back to the den." Duskflower said shortly. "Where's your brother, anyway?"

Bristlekit looked at Blizzardkit. Fine. "Back in the den. He hasn't opened his eyes yet."

His mother sighed. "I thought I told you to only leave once you had all opened your eyes," she said.

Now she's mad at us! I shouldn't have listened to Bristlekit. "Sorry," both kits chorused, though Bristlekit didn't exactly look remorseful.

"Let's just go back to the den," Duskflower growled. Head hung, Blizzardkit followed her in.

I just have to be a good, quiet kit, he thought determinedly, and then she'll be proud of me!