Sunbeam's kit Challenge

That night I had nightmares. I heard his family yowling in pain and fear, though he could see nothing. Everything was buried in a red haze and I could hear snapping teeth. I awoke and didn't feel like exploring. I lay into his nest until his mother began stirring. "Are you all right?" She asked, surprised at seeing me up so early.
"Yes." I replied, not wanting to seem cowardly because I was scared of a dream. My father woke and left to go hunting, meowing good morning to me before he left. When he returned, Cloud and River were already awake. I was excited to eat real prey, which had first been softened by my parents.
More coming soon!

When I awoke everyone was already up. "Where's Shadow?" I asked my mother.
"He's out hunting." came her reply. She was grooming Cloud's pelt, with was ruffled and messy after her sleeping on it. Cloud was wriggling impatiently, trying to get free.
"Can I go hunting?" I asked hopefully. I would finally get to see the real world. Every day I felt more confined to the nest and small den.
"Not until you're older." She answered me, which crushed my hopes. River was pawing a little ball of moss tron the nest. Cloud dashed towards Riber as soon as Sunflower let go of her. She bowled into River and stole the moss ball from him.
"Hey!" River meowed indignantly. "That's mine!"
"Not any more!" Cloud yowled triumphantly. "If you want it, come and get it!"
River charged at her, but Cloud just barely dodged, the moss ball clutched in her mouth. As River turned around for another try, I charged toward Cloud, lowering my shoulder, and slammed into her, sending her flying in one direction and the ball in the other. River and Ai hither made a beeline towards the ball, but because if my longer legs I reached there first. I scooped the moss ball into my ball and braced myself as River cannoned into me. We both went sprawling in a heap, and I dropped the ball. Cloud scooped it up and was off like a hare. River and I made a temporary alliance and charged. We cornered her in one corner of the den and pounced on her, all of us were jumbled up in a flurry of fur and tails. Sunflower gently pulled us apart and meowed, "Time to eat, kits."
"But I don't want to eat!" Cloud and I said in unison. "I want to eat real prey!" I complained.
Cloud and River echoed my statement.
"You can have real prey tomorrow. Deal?" My mother asked.
"Deal!" We all meowed, and settled down. My father returned with prey for himself and Sunflower.

The next night I awoke, and careful not to wake my sleeping family, snuck to the tunnel. I squeezed through the roots and then I was standing in front of the tunnel. It was just too small for me. Disappointed, I looked at the roots and decided to try to climb them. I climbed them slowly, and gradually made my way to the top. What I saw their amazed me. What seemed like a solid roof from the frond was actually a small basin formed by the roots, about the size of a grown cat. It was truly a great hiding spot. I thought to myself. I climbed back down into my nest and fell exhausted into sleep. The next morning I awoke and didn't say anything about the hidden basin. It was my own secret. Nothing eventful happened, but that night my parents went outside the den and talked again. I was too tired to eavesdrop and fell asleep.

When I awoke the next morning I had all but forgotten the conversation I had heard that night. I was eager to explore the den, and so were Cloud and Rain. We marched importantly around, taking in all our surroundings. The tangle of strong-smelling roots on one side, the entrance tunnel on the other, and bare dirt walls on all the other places. More strong smelling roots formed a sort of roof. I examined the roots on one side and noticed a little tunnel. I made up my mind to explore it the next chance I got. I also noticed that it was almost possible to climb up them. I never noticed that Cloud had also noticed the tunnel. Because of the thick roots in front of the entrance, it was all but invisible from almost all directions. However, kits like me and Cloud could squeeze through to it. After we had explored a while, we were exhausted and suckled some. Mother said that soon we would be able to have some real prey. I couldn't wait.

I woke and immediately closed my eyes. I had heard voices talking outside the den. It was Sunflower and Shadow. I could only catch snatches of the conversation. My father's voice: "Lots of them...too many to hold of...we should never have come here."
My mother: "Shadow...didn't have a choice...not your fault."
My father again: "We...leave soon...or else..."
Then my mother: "Kits...too small...never make it..."
I started to crawl out of the nest, but stopped. Too many of what? And what was scaring my parents so much? I thought as a vague sneer of dread settled in my belly. Something bad was out there. Something... dangerous.

I asked my mom, "Since my eyes are open, can I explore outside now?" I looked hopefully at his mother. "No-" she got no further as Shadow interrupted.
"I think he's old enough to explore the den." My heart leaped with joy and I immediately started to climb to the edge of the nest. This time it wasn't so bad as I was bigger. Cloud and Rain struggled up behind me, and I half rolled half fell down thee side of the nest. I dashed over to the edge of the den, my nose twitching. The soil had a dank, musty smell to it, that was very stale. It smelled familiar... With a start I realized that it was the same scent as the fox that had invaded a few sunrises ago. "Is this-" I began to ask, but my mother cut in.
"This is an old fox den." She meowed in answer to the question I was about to ask. "It had left its den and I was kitting, so your father drove it out. Several times it has tried to come back, like that other day."
"It better not come back today!" I meowed fiercely. "I'd rip its pelt off!" I demonstrated how I would do it I front of Cloud A
and River.
"No you wouldn't!" Cloud protested. "I would first!"
"Alright little warriors, get back into your nest! You can explore more tomorrow." My mother gently shooed us back to the nest.
I sat in the nest with a warm feeling of love and comfort threataning to overwhelm me.

The next day I was able to open my eyes! The brilliant spectre of colors crashed into me. I sucked it in, looking deeply at all my surroundings. I looked at the roof of our den and saw brown dirt with some lighter brown roots protruding. The green of the moss in the nest, the gray of the stones, and the gold of my mother's pelt and mine. I looked over my shoulder and saw two tiny bundles. Cloud was much smaller than me with a black pelt. Rain was bigger than Cloud, but still nowhere as big as me. He had a dull gray pelt, and I thought that their names should be switched around. My mother saw me open my eyes and meowed delightedly, "Your eyes are open, Fire! Shadow, come and see!"
My father, a large black tom with a name that suited, looked like a shadow with two piercing green eyes. "He looked at me proudly and said, "My oldest son! I knew you would be the first!"
All the voices woke Cloud who sat up and opened her eyes, which were wide with wonderment and clear blue. "Fire?" She asked me, and I answered joyfully, "You've opened your eyes!"

Later I wnted to explore outside our nest. I scrambled up the steep mountain of moss, paw by paw. Suddenly my front paws plunged into air and I tumbled forward, down the outside if the nest. I heard Cloud and River squeaking in admiration, so I continued. However, the squeaking woke Sunflower who scooped me back into the nest. "Don't be naughty!" She chastened.
"But it's so boring in the nest!" I complained. Sunflowwer didn't budge one bit, and told me to get some rest. I was so fed up. It was crowded and hot in the nest, and I could never get comfortable in the scratchy moss. Cloud whispered in my ear, "What's it like out there?"
I was too disgruntled to reply, so I just rolled over and went to sleep.

The next day I awoke to fear scent and the sound of my mom cat hissing. A rank scent so strong that I couldn't smell anything else. My mother was hissing at this strange thing that had entered our den. All of a sudden my father was there and the weird scent got fainter. It seemed the animal had run away with my father driving it away. I aided my mom, "Mom, what was that?"
She was breathing hard, and answered me, "That was an animal called a fox. They are very, very, dangerous."
I heard my father come back in, breathing heavily. "It's gone, Sunflower. I always knew this was a bad place to live. There are just too many foxes. "
"Shadow, you know we didn't have a choice. I was kitting! Where else could we have gone?"
I listened intently. It seemed to me that foxes were bad, but I had my mom and dad. "Next time I'll fight the stinky old fox!" I meowed determinedly. My siblings were scared, and so was I, but our dad reassured us that the fox would not be back.

The next morning I awoke and immediately tried shoved off my two siblings, who were crawling all over me. "Mmph! Gerrouf!" I yowled in a high, sharp voice. My siblings didn't get off until my mother gently picked them up by their scruff and moved them aside. I looked up at my mom and meowed "Where's Dadda? "
She mossed soothingly in reply, "Don't worry, Fire, he's out hunting. He'll be back soon." She rasped her tongue down my back and I wondered what hunting was when I gradually faded off into slumber...

My mother, Sunflower always said that I was the hardest kit to give birth to. Probably because I was so big. No one could believe how big I was as a kit. When my father, Shadow, saw me, he watched me roll over and crawl over to my mother without any help. "This one's a strong one." He said proudly, looking down at me. "We should name him Fire, because of his bright orange pelt." My mom didn't answer, she was too busy giving birth to my sister. I vaguely heard Shadow say, "This one lets call Cloud, because she looks just like a dark rain cloud. My sister was palced beside me, and tried to steal my place. With a meow of protest I shoved her aside. I then began suckling in ernest and barely felt my other sibling, River, layer beside Cloud and I. I gradually drifted off into slumber, warm from the milk.

Shadow|Tom|A large pure black tom with deep green eyes.
Sunflower|She-Cat|A medium sized tabby with yellow fur, blue eyes, and dainty paws.
Cloud|She-Cat|A small pure black kit with yellow eyes.
River|Tom|A medium sized light gray tabby tom with blue eyes.