Chapter 3
Today was the day Jadekit could leave the nursery, and now she followed Drizzlekit and Cloudkit, who was trotting around like he was the Clan leader. A jet black tom padded up to them, a smile on his face. Jadekit stopped sniffing the fresh-kill pile and looked at him. "Hello, I'm Ravenstar." He said, dipping his head. Drizzlekit tensed. "You must be Cloudkit." He said happily as he looked at Cloudkit's fluffy white pelt. "And you-" Jadekit didn't like being stared at, and she squirmed under his gaze. "Jadekit," his gaze traveled to Drizzlekit. "And I've already met Deathkit."

He seemed reluctant to call him Deathkit. But here he is, calling my brother Deathkit. Drizzlekit tensed, but he held his gaze with Ravenstar. "You'll get used to it." He called over his shoulder, and at that moment Jadekit decided that she wouldn't like him. Drizzlekit puffed out his fur the moment Ravenstar turned his back, glaring at the back of his head. "Ravenstar will like me once I chew WindClan's ears off, and pummel those shady ShadowClan cats until their heads fall off, and chase those RiverClan cats until their legs fall off!" Drizzlekit began laughing mechanically, and several cats turned to see if he was okay.

Jadekit couldn't help but laughing, too, imagining Drizzlekit trying to gnaw the WindClan leaders' ears off , the leader trying to shake him off as he hung on by their ear. Soon Cloudkit was rolling over laughing. Hawkkit scowled at them from the warriors den. "Hunting patrols will include Starlight, Yellowstone, Bristlefur, and myself." Flipnose announced, and Jadekit wished she could go with them, too. Sparkkit padded over to them as fast as she could, her tail sticking up. "What's so funny?" She asked. Cloudkit gasped for breath. "Deathkit.... wants.... to WindClans.....ears off!" He fell back over laughing. Jadekit sat up, she needed to stay cool.

"Deathkit?" Sparkkit asked, her eyebrows knit together. Drizzlekit sat up now, his expression serious. "Yeah, Ravenstar named me that, but you can call me Drizzlekit. That's what my mom wanted to name me." As Drizzlekit explained, Sparkkit's expression turned to concerned. "That's horrible! I will call you Drizzlekit. But," She hunched down. "Around Ravenstar, I'll have to call you Deathkit." Then Sparkkit left, returning to her littermates.

Frostfang stood outside the nursery. "Feeding time!" She yowled, and her kits came scrambling back. "That means us, too, I guess." Cloudkit mumbled, but Jadekit stayed where she was. "I know. But I think it's about time to try fresh kill." It was a bizarre sight to see Jadekit drag a squirrel from the fresh-kill pile almost as big as she was, and she hauled it into the nursery. "Let's share." Jadekit said, dropping the squirrel inside the den. Drizzlekit hesitantly bit into it and chewed, his eyes lighting up. "Mmmmm..." He closed his eyes, savoring his tiny mouthful.

Cloudkit and Jadekit had both had their own mouthful, too, before Frostfang lifted her head and realized what they were doing. "What are you doing? Eating prey?" Goldenkit, Clearkit, Hawkkit, and Sparkkit all scrambled away from their mother, eager to try the squirrel. Frostfang sat up, clearly puzzled of where Jadekit had gotten the idea of eating fresh-kill before she suggested it. Clearkit was snagging mouthful after mouthful from the squirrel, chewing slowly but steadily. "At this age, you don't need prey, you need milk. If you want to grow up to be strong." She was clearly tired and her face relaxed with relief as Hawkkit came scrambling back. "I only wanted a bite because Sparkkit tried it." He whined, and Sparkkit stopped chewing.

Eventually, they were forced into having milk instead of prey, and Frostfang went on about how great it was that they enjoyed prey, because they'll be hunting and living off of it for the rest of their lives, but right now, they needed milk for nutrition. Jadekit had tuned her out after a while, apparently it was one of her habits. Jadekit padded out of the den, looking to meet another warrior. One of them will be my mentor one day. She thought, and she wanted to know how to please them.

It was warm outside, and immediately, her pelt felt warm and cozy.  She looked around the camp and saw a gray tom sharing tongues with a black and yellow she-cat. Jadekit ran up to the tom, having a good feeling about him. As she approached, he looked down at her, his eyes friendly and welcoming. "Hi, I'm Jadekit. Who are you?" Jadekit thought she sounded friendly enough, but the tom narrowed her eyes at her. He shook his head. "Oh, sorry Jadekit. You just look so much like your mother." He said distantly. "I'm Bristlefur. And this is Yellowstone." Jadekit hoped Bristlefur could be her mentor. He seemed nice enough. Yellowstone smiled at her, her yellow and black tail curled.
                                                                                                     .  .  .
Drizzlekit hooked up a piece of moss with his claw, launching it at Jadekit's back. She turned to grab the moss ball, hooking it up with her own claw. Drizzlekit was out of his nest now, ready to catch it, whatever it takes. Jadekit hurled it towards him, and Drizzlekit dove to catch it, paws outstretched. He caught it and rolled head over heels. He fell into the wall of the den, causing it to shake a little. Drizzlekit sat up with a dazed look on his face, holding the moss in one paw. "Are you okay?" Frostfang hurried over to him from her nest, moss clinging to her pelt.

"Yeah," Drizzlekit stood up, shaking his head wildly. Frostfang seemed exhausted from watching over seven kits and feeding them all, and Jadekit felt a pang of guilt for being such a nuisance to her. "Let's play outside the den." Jadekit suggested, and Drizzlekit followed her out. Jadekit wished Cloudkit would go ahead and wake up from his nap already so they could all play together, but he seemed deep asleep last time she checked.

Drizzlekit picked up the moss ball, ready to launch it into midair when he froze and angled his ears towards the camp entrance. "The hunting patrol's back!" Jadekit said excitedly, and ran towards the entrance of camp. Drizzlekit hung back as Lightningstrike stuck her head through the entrance, but she didn't carry any prey. Neither did the other members of the patrol as they filed through the entrance. Jadekit wondered what type of hunting patrol doesn't bring prey back in the middle of Green-Leaf.

Mudfur approached Ravenstar, and Jadekit couldn't help but eavesdrop. "Twolegs have been on our territory again, and they've left more of their crow food. We buried it, and we thought you may like to notify the other Clan leaders. This is becoming a major problem." Hair raised down Jadekit's spine. She had heard stories about them burning down territory, and to imagine them doing it to their burial grounds and their home- she shuddered. Flipnose stepped forward from the patrol, his eyes troubled. "Ravenstar, we've waited too long. We need to take action, now."
. . .
The whole Clan was busy, and with the absence of Ravenstar and Flipnose, more work was added onto each cats' shoulders. Jadekit sat outside of the nursery watching cats hurry around camp. Moonrise and Fernsong were out picking herbs in case there was a battle, Frostfang was helping out any way she could, a small group of cats were on hunting patrols, some cats were at the training grounds practicing their battle moves, and Adderjaw was hurriedly preparing herbs and such. Jadekit itched to help them, so she padded up to Pondnose, who was lazily basking on a rock.

"Can't I help?" She asked Pondnose. She rolled over to face her. "Do you really want to help?" She asked. When Jadekit nodded eagerly, she climbed down the rock and padded into her den, beckoning for Jadekit to follow. Jadekit looked around the elders' den, admiring how neat the nests were kept. By punished apprentices, she thought darkly. "If you really want to be really helpful, you can help me get this tick off." Jadekit wrinkled her nose, but she wanted to show that she wasn't like the others, and that she could be helpful and she could be counted on.

She stared at the tick hard. "What- what do I do?" She asked. Pondnose angled her tail to a stare of mouse bile. Jadekit wrinkled her nose at the putrid stench. "Take some moss from my nest, dip it in the mouse bile, and dab it on the tick." As Pondnose explained, Jadekit flattened her ears slightly. "Okay," Jadekit said, taking a chunk of moss from her nest. She swabbed the moss in the bile, holding the moss on the tip of her claw. She dabbed the tick with the moss, and she was amazed when it released its' grip on Pondnose, falling to the ground.

Pondnose shook out her fur. "Thanks, Jadekit. That feels much better." Jadekit gave a tiny smile and left the den, not having much else to say. Drizzlekit met her outside of the den, his tail so bushed it looked like a tree branch. "I just heard Starlight talking about RiverClan coming to camp next sunrise!" Despite the seriousness this situation could hold, Jadekit could feel a laugh bubbling up inside of her. "So now you can chase them out of camp until their legs fall off!" She exclaimed. Drizzlekit looked at her seriously. "It's an invasion!" He said, whipping his head nervously from side to side.

"They could be coming any moment now!" Drizzlekit had his fur bushed out, ready for a fight if it came. "What kind of invasion would it be if we knew about it?" Jadekit wondered aloud, grooming her fur. Drizzlekit let out a long sigh and padded away. Probably going to try to find another cat to convince. The camp was half-empty, kits, elders, a medicine cat, and a queen the only cats there. The camp, in fact, was so quiet and empty that Jadekit could hear the wind whistling in her ears. She sniffed the air, maybe she could be helpful and catch a mouse in the nursery! The nursery was empty except for Cloudkit, who was messing with the weaving of the den. "Are you supposed to do that?" She asked, her head facing the ground. "Do what?" "You know, mess with the den." Cloudkit let out a puff of air.

"I know that I've only known you for a few moons, but, you need to stop worrying." Cloudkit messed with the brambles in the den, and watched them fall from the web of isolation. Jadekit sighed and went to the corner of the den, still seeking mice. She watched the den, seeing nothing but a few worms slithering up from the ground. She sighed. Being helpful took a lot of patience. Jadekit could hear cats entering camp, but she stayed, watching for any mice that tried to sneak past her. Her eyes drooped, and she yawned. Her eyes got bleary, and she let herself drift into sleep.
. . .
Her paws itched, and Jadekit looked down. A plump mouse skittered over her paws. It looked up at her, and her heart began beating faster with the chance of catching it. She nipped its' back, and the mouse froze. Jadekit guessed it was dead, she cracked it's spine. Jadekit slowly sat up out of her nest, shivering from the shock of killing something. She proudly carried it out of the den to show the others. "Wlook!" She shouted through the mouse, and Frostfang looked up from the herbs she had been sorting with Adderjaw. "Wow, Jadekit! Look at that!" She beamed as Adderjaw turned and his eyes widened. "Wow, Jadekit, where did you get that?" Jadekit puffed out her tiny chest. "In the nursery." She meowed proudly.

"You should put that in the fresh-kill pile. With a battle coming, they may need it." Jadekit proudly turned to the fresh-kill pile, then stopped in her tracks. Wait, a battle? They're going to fight the other Clans! "Dad!" She ran to Starlight, who was sharpening his claws on a rock. "You can't fight RiverClan!" She pressed against his fur, breathing slowly in and out, breathing in his scent. Starlight looked at her, his eyes worried. "No, no, Jadekit, we're not battling RiverClan, or any other Clans." He soothed. "Then, then, what's happening? Why is everybody preparing for battle?" Jadekit asked, her heart caught in her throat.

"Twolegs. Twolegs have been on our land. RiverClan is coming to our camp, and ShadowClan is going to WindClan's camp. We're going to share them away." As Starlight explained, Jadekit relaxed, but it also made her more worried, fighting twolegs was dangerous. Frostfang had told stories about them terrorizing cats. "Oh." Jadekit said, padding towards Clearkit to let him know.