Sunlight filtered through the den entrance, the sunlight warming the pelt of a small, brown kit, along with the sandy colored pelt of the kit's mother.

The morning sunlight caused the kit to stir, stretching open its green eyes, before the powerful sunlight caused him to quickly shut them, burying his face back into the comforting fur of its mother.

"Good morning, Frogkit." She whispered to him. At the sound of his name, Frogkit perked his ears, looking up at his mother and smiling "Good morning, Mama." She always taught him to be polite. He looked around the small nursery, realizing that he was the only kit there "Where are Reedkit and Rushkit?" He asked his mother

"They woke up before you did. They're outside right now. Maybe you could ask them to play with you?" She suggested, leaning down and licking the top of Frogkit's head. Frogkit smiled. Reedkit and Rushkit were only a little bit older, but they were a lot bigger than him. Most of the time, they only played with each other, while Frogkit, being the shy, small kit that he was, stayed inside with his mother. However, today, he had the encouragement of his mother, and was finally going to ask the bigger kits if he could play with them.

He looked back at his mother and nodded "Okay Mama." He meowed, nuzzling her briefly, before he stood up and trotted eagerly out of the nursery, with his mother's warm gaze following him.

Leaf-bare was just beginning, so cats were out taking advantage of the rare, sunny day. Warriors were lounging about, sharing prey, and discussing patrols. Apprentices were running back and forth between the medicine den and the elders den, seemingly in a better mood than usual despite the chores. Other apprentices were practicing battle moves on each other outside of the apprentices den. Everyone was out, enjoying the sunlight, including Reedkit and Rushkit, who were playing in the middle of camp.

Frogkit jogged over to the pair of dark gray kits. The two kits stopped their playing, turning to look at him with cold gazes, as if they didn't want to be interrupted. "What do you want?" Rushkit asked, staring icy blue daggers into him. Frogkit swallowed thickly, glancing away. Rushkit towered over him, and it was rather intimidating. He tried to speak, but nothing came out.

"Well?" Rushkit asked, taking a step closer to Frogkit, making their size difference even more evident. Frogkit shivered. Maybe he should just go back to the nursery with his mother.

Rushkit rolled his eyes, turning to look at his sister "Let's just go and play somewhere else." He meowed. Reedkit nodded, and the two kits turned their backs to Frogkit, beginning to walk away.

Frogkit shook his head, finally coming to his senses once the older kits' backs were turned "Wait!" He tried calling out to them, but it came out as a measly squeak. The two kits turned around, Reedkit sharing an amused glance with her brother. "So you can talk?" She sneered, causing her brother to stifle a laugh.

Frogkit frowned, feeling his pelt heat up with embarrassment, and glancing down at his paws. "I was just wondering if I could play with you?" He asked quietly, feeling the two older kits' gazes burn into his pelt

"Speak up." Rushkit meowed sharply, taking a step closer to Frogkit, tilting his ear towards the smaller kit. Frogkit flattened his ears, taking a deep breath "Can I play with you and Reedkit?" He asked

He didn't hear a response, so he nervously glanced back up at Rushkit, who was sharing a look with Reedkit, before they both turned their heads to look at Frogkit

"You can play with us," Rushkit meowed "but we've decided that we're playing a new game." Frogkit perked up at this. A new game? He wondered what it was. Reedkit stepped closer to him, with a smile "It's kind of like tag, you know what tag is, right?" She asked him. Frogkit nodded. "It's like tag, except the cat who's it has to close their eyes." Close their eyes? Frogkit hoped he wasn't it. That sounded difficult. "And since it's your first time playing with us, you'll be it first." Reedkit went on with a wide smile. "Doesn't that sound fun?"

Frogkit thought for a moment. It sounded kind of scary to be it without being able to see, but at least they were letting him play with them. Maybe it could be fun. A small smile formed and he nodded.

"Close your eyes, and we'll tell you when to go." Rushkit told him. Frogkit nodded, closing his eyes with a smile on his face. He waited for them to say go, but he didn't hear anything. Perhaps they were just getting ready. He could keep waiting.

A few more seconds went by, and Frogkit still heard nothing, not even the sound of pawsteps. He opened his mouth to ask when they were starting, when he felt something hit him from behind, knocking him over onto his stomach.

He landed hard on the ground, feeling a sharp pain in his stomach. That hurt! He kept his eyes shut, so he had no idea what had hit him, and he tried standing up, when he was shoved to the ground again, this time with his head hitting the ground, causing him to taste the dirt.

"What's wrong, Frogkit?" He thought he recognized Reedkit's voice, but didn't open his eyes because he didn't want to break the rules of the game "Aren't you gonna try tagging us?"

Frogkit let out a quiet whimper, and slowly pushed himself back up to his paws. He tried to remember which direction Reedkit's voice came from. An idea then popped into his head, and he lifted his nose, trying to scent her. He thought he might have picked up something, and began to walk towards it, the scent growing stronger as he got closer. Frogkit then picked up his pace, feeling the scent get closer and closer until he was running after her, and could hear the sound of her breathing. He reached out with his paw a thought he could tag her, if he could just reach a little bit further—

Frogkit was laid out flat on his back, hearing a loud ringing in his ears, before it grew quieter and he could make out the faint sound of voices. "Frogkit? Are you okay?" He slowly opened his eyes, glancing over and seeing Reedkit and Rushkit staring at him with wide eyes. "What's the meaning of this?" He heard a deeper voice. Reedkit turned her head, looking up at the larger cat "We're sorry Bearclaw. We were just playing a game of tag and Frogkit wasn't looking where he was going." Rushkit nodded in agreement with his sister "Yeah, he ran into cats three times."

Ran into cats? Frogkit could have sworn that he was the one being ran into, at least for the first two times. He sat up, his gaze drifting up towards the one cat he was positive he did run into. Bearclaw looked down at him, with a disappointed expression "He needs to be more aware of his surroundings."

"Yeah, it's his first time leaving Shortfern's side, so he doesn't really know how to behave in camp." Rushkit chuckled, giving Frogkit a hard nudge, almost causing him to fall over again.

Bearclaw nodded "I can see that." His words felt like thorns, stabbing at Frogkit's self-esteem. "Frogkit, you should apologize to Bearclaw for what you did." Reedkit told him. The brown warrior shot the kit a glare "You aren't the kit's mother, you have no right to command him!" Bearclaw snapped, causing Reedkit to flinch. Frogkit felt fear spark up inside him, thinking he might hit her. Bearclaw then relaxed, allowing his fur to lie flat "But yes, it would be the polite thing to apologize, wouldn't it? What do you say, Frogkit? Shortfern must have taught you some decent manners."

Frogkit glanced down at his paws. It was true, Shortfern had taught him good manners, but he couldn't help but feel like there was something wrong about this. He was sure someone had pushed him over two times before he'd accidentally run into Bearclaw. But maybe he had interpreted it wrong. After all, he had his eyes closed the entire time, so maybe he was just imagining that someone had pushed him. Rushkit and Reedkit wouldn't lie to him, would they? Besides, if he told Bearclaw that he was pushed over, he'd probably think he was just making up stories. But it really happened. He was sure of it.

"Aren't you going to apologize?" Rushkit asked him. Frogkit took a deep breath. Even if he didn't believe it was all true, he should still apologize. It was the right thing to do. He looked up at Bearclaw, meeting the warrior's green gaze, that was similar to his.

"I'm sorry for running into you, Bearclaw." Frogkit meowed quietly. "I'll try to pay more attention next time." Bearclaw nodded "I would hope so. I would expect much better behavior from my own son."

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Word count: 1531

Shoutout to milixioooo again, because they are awesome. Reedkit is their character in my warriors roleplay that this story is based off of :)