Brambleberry's Fury

Prologue:

Amber eyes glared across the camp at the ginger and white blotched warrior, who was bringing a trout from the fresh kill pile towards the nursery. As the tom neared the den, two kits burst out and charged at him, running around his paws and almost making the twitchy warrior trip. Brambleberry let out a growl as he watched Blazecloud glance down at the two kits before looking up at the entrance of the nursery with gleaming emerald eyes when Hawkwing emerged with two kits trailing behind her hesitantly.

"Mousekit, Rabbitkit, settle down." Hawkwing purred with amusement at the two tom kits that were bombarding the ginger and white warrior. "Give your father some space."

"That's a huge fish! Did you catch that?" Mousekit squeaked as he looked up at Blazecloud with wide eyes, his thin, mouse-like tail flicking behind him in excitement. "I wish I could go out and hunt, too!" Blazecloud set down the fresh kill and purred, nudging his son gently with his muzzle.

"You have to wait until you become an apprentice." He mewed. "Not for three more moons."

"Can we at least go out an explore?" Rabbitkit asked, his green eyes alight with excitement at the thought of adventure. His abnormally large ears were perked up as he stared at Blazecloud with hope.

"Uh-" Blazecloud looked up at Hawkwing and the she-cat shook her head at him. "I'm afraid you're going to have to wait until you're old enough for that, too." He mewed. Rabbitkit and Mousekit pouted in disappointment and Hawkwing purred at them.

"Why don't we see if we can find something for you to do, hm?" She suggested, chuckling when the two toms instantly brightened.

"Is Flameshade in camp? Can he play with us?" Rabbitkit chirped.

"I think he just left to go hunt with Amberheart." Brambleberry's gaze switched from Hawkwing to the grey and white warrior padding over to them. Crystalstream flicked her tail and purred at her half-brothers as the two kits charged at her.

"Will you play with us then?" Rabbitkit asked.

"I would, but I have to go on dawn patrol." Crystalstream mewed. "I'm sure you can find something to play without me." She purred. "Be creative."

"Crystalstream!" The white and grey warrior glanced at the front of the camp to see Starstripe standing beside Sunclaw and Pebblesplash, waiting patiently for the she-cat.

"I have to go. Don't be too much trouble for Hawkwing, alright?" Crystalstream gave Rabbitkit and Mousekit a stern look before turning and bounding off towards the waiting patrol. Once she reached them, they began to walk out of camp, Pebblesplash and Sunclaw padding beside each other and enjoying each other's presence silently, and Starstripe padding alongside Crystalstream, starting a conversation with the she-cat.

"I'm going to go back and hunt some more." Blazecloud mewed to Hawkwing as he turned towards her. He nuzzled her cheek affectionately with his nose before he craned his head to regard his four kits, who crowded around him. "I'll come back to play with you later." He promised, giving Fawnkit a gentle nudge with his nose when she neared before he stood up and began padding away. Hawkwing watched after him with gleaming emerald eyes and called a soft goodbye to her mate. When Blazecloud left her sight she turned and looked at her kits with bright eyes.

"Here, I know the perfect activity for you." She purred. "Back when I was a kit we always used to play this game. You take a moss ball and you bat it towards each other. The catch is, you have to make sure it doesn't touch the ground." Hawkwing mewed, going into the nursery before returning with a small ball of moss hanging in her jaws. Brambleberry's amber eyes lit up in recognition of the game and couldn't help the purr that escaped his throat. He remembered watching Hawkwing and Brightstar playing this game with each other, both she-cats flailing their paws in petty attempts of keeping the moss off the ground.