Ripples and Splashes/The Fire Inside

Prologue
'''An orange tom with graying fur stood outside his den, watching the night sky. A gray she-cat padded up to him, her yellow gaze staring him down.'''

'''"Grayfoot, SunClan is in despair! We’ve lost one of our best warriors and prey is scarce." He said to her.'''

'''"I know, Blazestar. Do you think I haven’t noticed how scrawny our clanmates have been getting?" Grayfoot replied.'''

'''Blazestar continued, ignoring her. "I hope we can feed ourselves through leaf-bare."'''

'''"I agree. We still don’t-" She gasped suddenly, her amber eyes staring up at a star that was strangely getting higher in the sky. "It’s a message from the ancestors!" Blazestar was stunned. "That’s strange. StarClan hasn’t sent us a message in at least 2 years! I hope it means we’re getting more prey! Our clan is starving!" Grayfoot nodded. '''

'''"Agreed. Anyway, this is the message: Someone will go from small to strong, to save our clan and right the wrong." '''

Blazestar sighed.

'''"Well, that’s cryptic." Grayfoot ignored him, her attention turning instead to the two kits tumbling out of the nursery.'''

'''"And there is Splashkit and Goldenkit. We shouldn’t talk about the prophecy in front of them. They’ll tell everyone some weird version of it that creeps them out." She said.'''

Chapter 1
'''Splashkit looked around and smiled at Goldenkit warmly. "I want to be a warrior now! " Goldenkit smiled back, and said,'''

'''"Yeah! But how are we supposed to prove that we’re ready to be warriors?" Splashkit pondered this for a moment.'''

'''"Yeah, we are only kits." Goldenkit grinned.'''

'''"Exactly. Why do the warriors think they’re better than us?" Splashkit smirked.'''

"I don’t know. Maybe we could try and hunt enough prey for the clan and enough for leaf-bare storage!"

"Good idea!"

'''"Let’s start!" She said happily. Goldenkit grinned, then looked around the camp, scanning for an escape. the yellow tabby's eyes locked on a bush not far from the two kits. he nodded toward it, and they bolted. they looked around, and Splashkit was starting to have doubts about hunting this late. the sun was already setting. She mewed quickly, "I’m scared! It’s dark and we’re all alone!"'''

'''Goldenkit sighed dramaticly. "We can’t give up now!"'''

'''"Well, maybe I can!" Splashkit said, annoyed.'''

Goldenkit then hissed, "Do you want to be a warrior or no?"

'''This surprised Splashkit. Goldenkit already knew the answer. "Yes! More than anything!"'''

'''He looked at her. "Then you can’t be scared. We’re so close!"'''

'''She was annoyed, but agreed, "Okay." Goldenkit turned away from her, then shouted to some bushes,'''

"Hey mice! I’m hungry, okay? Now come out so I can eat you!"

'''Splashkit liked this idea. "Yeah! We want to eat! We want to-"'''

'''"What are you kits doing out here?! You’re disturbing my rest!" a familiar, scraggly voice said. Luckily, the elder was too old to remember that kits weren't supposed to be outside of camp.'''

"Sorry, Marie…" Splashkit said to the elder, thankful that it wasn't one of the warriors that had caught them.

'''Marie was surprised by the easy apology but composed herself. "Well, you should be sorry! You kits aren’t even allowed outside of camp yet!" Uh-oh. she did remember.'''

'''Goldenkit leaned over to her. "Let’s go! Marie is an old boring fluffy ball of grumpiness. She doesn’t even tell us stories!" he whispered.'''

Splashkit whispered back, "Yeah, she scares me!"

'''Goldenkit sighed again. "Does everything scare you? Let’s go back to camp before she gets mean again!"'''

'''Splashkit looked at Marie. "Fine." she said. "We'll go."'''

The kits scampered back through the forest, back to the bush.

Goldenkit said, "Do you think anyone noticed that we were gone?"

Splashkit started to say, "I hope not" ut was cut off

A voice mewed behind them, "Where were you kits? I hope you weren’t out of camp."

'''Splashkit turned around. "Hi mom!" she said, a little too happily.'''

'''Goldenkit just looked. "Uh…"'''

Heathertail looked accusingly at Splashkit.

'''"Um..." she just said.'''

'''"And why do you both have that insane amount of dirt and…" she gasped. "fresh moss! You could only have found that outside camp!"'''

'''Splashkit cursed under her breath. "Fox dung."'''

'''Heathertail heard her. "Watch your language young lady!"'''

'''Goldenkit looked around nervously. "Hehe! Well, anyways, my mom needs me for supper. If we have any, thanks to leafbare. See you tomorrow!" he said.'''

'''Splashkit sighed this time. "See ya!"'''

Chapter 2
'''Goldenkit ran to his den. "Hi mom!"'''

'''Whitespot smiled. "Hi Goldenkit! You almost missed supper. Today’s menu is… a mouse each."'''

His sister, Honeykit, of course, immediately replied, "Thanks for getting it, mom!"

'''Goldenkit sighed. "Oh, hi Honeykit."'''

'''Honeykit just glared at him. "Can I have first bite, mom? Please?" '''

Whitespot huffed, "No, Honeykit. Goldenkit gets first bite. Then Rosekit, then you. Remember, if you ask, you get it last."

Honeykit growled "Fine."

the four cats dug into their mice, purring.

Honeykit, when she was finished, said, "That was yummy!"

Goldenkit said quietly, "Yeah! Kind of."

Rosekit spoke for the first time today, "It was pretty good."

'''Whitespot just smiled at her kits. "I’m glad you like it."'''

* * *
'''Splashkit looked up from her nest. "Is supper ready?" she asked her mother.'''

'''Heathertail nodded. "Yep. I managed to get a tiny pigeon!"'''

'''Splashkit smiled. "Let’s dig in!"'''

The two devoured the scrawny pigeon.

'''Splashkit liked the prey, but wasn't fully satisfied. "Yum! But I’m still hungry!"'''

Heathertail looked at her, then said, "You should be happy that you got something better than last night! I'm sorry we're at the bottom of the clan ranks."

'''Splashkit remembered last night. all her mother had managed to get, because of her rank, was a small shrew. they had gone to bed very hungry.'''