The sun shined down brightly on the world today. It went across the hills, mountains, trees, bushes, and the occasional twoleg place, in every direction.

At one point, the sunlight went through the leaves on a tree, casting a dim light into a twoleg barn. Inside, a family of cats had just woken up. There was one mother, who was a brown color, with a white underbelly, and gold eyes. The kitts and younger cats around her were similar colors and shades of greys, whites, and browns. Most of them had flaming (that's metaphorical) golden eyes, but two had eyes that were a striking icy blue.

They quickly all ran outside, either playing, or dozing, or exploring. By horseplace, one of the kits was walking carefully across the wooden fence, and staring at the horses to. His medium sized white fur with brown spots blew in the wind. He studied the area for a while longer, but finally went to his mother.

"Mom? Why did you name me after the horses in the horseplace?"

She chuckled. "Well Hoof, you try and name a dozen kits on your own." He didn't seem to take this seriously, as he climbed up onto the fence again, where he could see everyone. She jumped up beside him. "What are you doing?"

"Naming a dozen kits on my own."

This really made her chuckle. "I wasn't being serious Hoof. You need to work on listening for sarcasm." Hoof gave her a look that was the kit equivalent of a glare. "What? I'm just being truthful. Remember, never tell a lie, never talk to strangers, never go somewhere new without me, and never die." She paused looking at all the kits who had all decided to play a game of tag. Then, she looked down at Hoof. He never actually played. He was always investigating the barn, and everything around it. He wasn't nearly as energetic as the other kits, and he tended to be grouchy and didn't like to be bothered. "Remember to have fun," she said jumping down from the fence. "I love, you know that right?"

Hoof sighed, batting at some flies that he thought were getting to close to his head. "Yeah mom, you tell me everyday. Love you too."

For the rest of the day, the mother and kits played, and she showed them how to catch fish out of the small stream next to the barn. Hoof watched from afar the whole time.

That night, the kits and mother all curled up together in the middle of the barn. The sun was setting, which could be seen clearly between the distant mountains. "Kits, do you want to here a story?" There was immediately a chorus of yes's. "Long ago, there were three clans of giant cats. Those were Lionclan, Leopardclan, and Tigerclan. There were many others, but these three were the closest, and the very first. They were filled with cats that could kill a twoleg. You see, this was before the twolegs were so powerful. Slowly, those clans disappeared. There are still clans though. They live beyond the mountains. Some similar cats even live in the mountains. They don't have giant cats anymore though. Just cats like you and me. Each of the clans has leaders, medicine cats, elders, kits, queens, and warriors. You kits have some warrior blood running through your veins too."

By the far off look in her eyes, Hoof knew that his mother knew this from experience. He desperately wanted to know more, but slowly, he fell asleep.

Hoof jerked his head up. It was still night, and the crickets made chirping noises. There was another noise though. Kind of like a faint hissing. Hoof stretched, yawned, and started to search for the noises source.

Finally, he found it. It was a large white canister, which was having a foul smelling odder come out of it. Suddenly, Hoof got the impression he shouldn't be there. Something didn't feel right. He started walking back to his sleeping family, and was halfway there when the hissing got a wining noise in it. This got louder and louder, untill some of the kits and Hoof's mother started moving a little in their sleep.

Then, before Hoof knew what had happened, the canister blew up, scattering fire everywhere,.and pushing him out of the barn. As he sailed through the air wailing, he saw for a split second that the barn was completely on fire, and that the roof had caved in. Then, he fell right into the stream. He'd been told, along with the other kits, never to go in the stream. Now he was in it. He struggled to stay above the water, paddling as hard as he could. He got water in his ears, eyes nose and mouth, and he coughed and wailed. The river got wider, and the water and current more fierce. Then, Hoof couldn't hold himself above the water anymore, and fell below the surface, his mind going blank.