ARCH HAD MANAGED TO fall asleep for a little while following her return to the den, though after some time she was nosed awake by her littermate, which she didn't appreciate.

     The fluffy brown kitten shoved Jag away. "Let me sleep."

     Her sister snorted, this time prodding her with a paw. "Get up, lazy-mouse. Mom and dad are gone. If we want to go hunt, we need to leave now before they come back."

     Arch groaned and rolled over onto her back, blinking open her eyes and staring up at her littermate. "Okay, okay, I'm up. Stop prodding me." She grumbled, sitting up and shaking wood chips from her thick coat. She sent a cold glare at Jag, before the two of them scrambled to the den entrance.

     Her sister looked around, nose twitching, before looking back at her. "The coast is clear, let's go!"

     The kittens padded out of the den and headed for the tall grass, keeping their ears pricked for any sign of their returning parents before they vanished into the brush. Arch felt the long stalks swallow up her bulky form, and only then did she relax, now out of sight from prying eyes. She felt safe in the confined space of the thick grass, and knew it was a good place for hunting. Mice tended to rummage through the stalks for fallen seeds, and birds often came down to pick at the worms which came up from the soil.

     Jag pranced forward, giggling and rustling against the grass with her long fur, before letting out a sneeze when a small yellow flower tickled her nose. Arch smiled, looking around with pricked ears for any sign of prey around them. She was aware of the sound of small pawsteps, which signaled something was shuffling around in the grass nearby.

     Leaving her sister to have her fun with other things, the younger of the kits began to head toward the sound, pricking her ears and twitching her nose to catch the scent. It seemed as though a mouse were the culprit of the noise, though she wasn't completely sure about that — it was hard for her to tell mice apart from shrews and voles, something her father always chastised her about.

     When she pushed through another wall of tall grass, she caught sight of her target — which wasn't a mouse. It was a vole, rummaging through some dead pine needles which littered the ground between the stalks.

     She dropped low to her belly, tucking her paws under her fluffy chest to watch the rodent continue on without a care, searching for seeds and other means of food.

     Arch took a deep breath, summoning what she had learned from her mother into her mind and calming herself. What pride would be in Shadow Fox's eyes when she returned to find prey! The idea made the young kitten even more determined to catch this vole. She was sick of eating the disgusting human food that her father brought back, and longed to make a habit of filling her belly with warm prey instead of the hard scraps King would bring them.

     She pounced, diving toward the vole with determination, only to end up flat on her stomach as the rodent skittered out from beneath her and into the long grass. The young molly sat up, using a paw to brush scraps of pine from her long fur as her face turned sour.

     Behind her, Jag was hysterically laughing at her failure, her face full of a mischievous tease that caused the younger kit to bristle.

     "Hey, it's not funny!" She growled, fur spiking up. "I'll bet you can't do any better!"

     "I'm sure I can actually catch something." Jag retorted, looking around alertly for any sight of prey. Arch watched her with a sour expression, lashing her fluffy tail before catching sight of some rustling grass.

      The pattering of pawsteps once again caught her ear, and she got up, creeping toward the sound while Jag was distracted trying to find something else.

      A creature she had never seen before scampered out of the tall grass, with a long slender brown body and a white chest. It was a little larger than a squirrel, and once it saw her, it stood on its hind legs, nose twitching curiously.

     Arch snarled and lunged forward, claws out to catch the strange animal and bring it down. She expected it to turn and flee, but to her shock, it immediately went on the defensive, hissing and twisting out of the way. The molly landed where it had just been, and didn't have much time to figure out what was happening before she felt sharp teeth sink into her shoulder.

     With a shriek of pain, Arch reared back, throwing her front paws off the ground and trying to shake the creature off of her.

     It clung tight to her flesh, its teeth sinking in deeper with every vain attempt to throw it off. "Jag, help!" She cried, terror spiking through her. Why wasn't it letting go? "Get it off me!"

     She could feel a warm liquid seeping through her fur between the teeth of the creature attacking her, causing more panic to flow through her body as she shook herself more violently.

     Jag had gotten more serious and rushed toward her sister, desperately swiping at the strange rodent to attempt to help her littermate. But it was driven into her flesh and keen on remaining there, which caused another stab of greater panic to course through Arch. It was going to kill her!

     Suddenly, a blood-curdling yowl sounded from the other side of the grassy clearing, and a large cat lunged from the long stalks toward the two screeching kits.

     It was Shadow Fox!

     Their mother snatched up Arch by the scruff of her neck and tossed her hard, so when the kitten hit the ground, she was immediately dazed, though the teeth of the creature had dislodged from her shoulder.

     Shadow Fox lunged forward and snapped her jaws around the rodent, flinging it up into the air before swatting it across the clearing aggressively. It twisted with a screech and landed roughly, though still on its feet. With one last hiss at the cats, it backed up and vanished into the long grass.

     "Arch, Jag, are you okay?" Their mother rushed over to the kittens, sniffing all over them worriedly.

     "I'm fine, but it bit Arch!" Jag wailed, crouching beside her sister as the younger of the two struggled to a standing position. "What was that thing?"

     Shadow Fox was bristling. "That was a weasel. They're extremely dangerous." She sniffed the wound on Arch's shoulder, ears pinned back. "What were you two doing out here alone?"

     Arch looked away. "We were hunting." She mumbled.

     "We wanted to impress you with our skills, and didn't want to eat the food King brings back." Jag told their mother, still very tense as she stood beside her littermate.

     Shadow Fox sighed deeply, closing her amber eyes for a long moment before she opened them and swished her fluffy brown tabby tail once. Leaning down, she picked up Arch by the nape of her neck, lifting her up off the ground and beginning to walk back toward their den, giving Jag a look that commanded her to follow.

     It didn't take them long to reach the small den they called home, and once they reached it, their mother set Arch down on the ground.

     King rushed from the opening in the bramble shelter, his ginger fur standing on end. "You found them!"

     "Of course I did." Shadow Fox huffed. "They were being attacked by a weasel."

     "A weasel?" The small tom widened his eyes. "This close to our home?" His gaze flickered down to the wounded kit that his mate was trying to help, lapping at the wound with a rough tongue. "Is Arch okay?"

     The big brown molly snorted. "The wound is deep, but the bleeding has already stopped. It'll be sore for a while, but she'll be fine." Her gaze narrowed. "What were the two of you thinking? Leaving the den alone? You're still kits!"

     Arch lowered her gaze to the ground, staring at her paws. "We just wanted to show you that we could hunt very well."

     King snorted in disbelief. "You should have waited for one of us to go with you. It would have been a lot safer."

     "We're just sick of those gross pellets you keep bringing us!" Jag burst out. "We're wild cats, not house pets! Wild cats hunt their prey."

     "You should be grateful to have any kind of food at all." King retorted. "I'm doing my best to feed this family, especially when prey isn't available."

     "By feeding us upright walker food?" Arch grunted, looking up at her father. "Isn't it our goal not to get captured by them?"

     Shadow Fox was sitting behind her kits. "They have a point, you know." She told her mate, taking a deep breath. "Feral cats tend to stay away from the uprights. We hunt for our food and provide for ourselves without softening up to those furless creatures."

     King bristled slightly. "They're helping us by giving us food. What happens when winter comes and the mice run back to their holes to sleep? How are we supposed to hunt for ourselves if there isn't anything to hunt?"

     "And what happens if those uprights think you've gotten too friendly and decide to take you away?" Shadow Fox shot back at him. "Then who will provide for us?"

     "That isn't going to happen. I know how they are — they don't want to do anything except give me food."

     Their mother narrowed her eyes into a glare. "Fine — what if you lead them back to this den and they go after the kits?"

     "They wouldn't do that." King protested.

     "Tell that to my sister who said the same thing, then ended up losing her entire — feral — litter to those horrible creatures." The big brown molly stepped closer to her mate. "I'm telling you right now, King, I don't care what you say about them now. If my kits are threatened by the uprights, I will kill you."

     King pinned his ears back, his blue eyes holding shock and hurt. "Shadow, you're not in the right state of mind." He told her, lowering his voice slowly. "Please, go into the den to get some sleep."

     "And leave you out here to supervise the kits?" Shadow Fox retorted. "Absolutely not." She flicked her tail toward Arch and Jag. "Come on — we're going on a walk. Together."

     The two sisters exchanged a long look of concern, but nonetheless they got to their paws and followed their mother down the faded sandy trail which spiraled down toward the lakeshore.

     Arch was limping slightly, as putting weight on the injured side of her shoulder sent a stab of pain through her with each step.

     "Shadow?" Jag suddenly asked, breaking the tense silence as they slowly climbed down the hill toward the lake.

     Their mother twitched an ear back. "Yes, dear? What is it?" She sounded completely exhausted, as though the fight had drained her completely of energy.

      The older kit looked at Arch, catching her gaze for a moment before looking away. "Do you love King?"

     Shadow Fox halted, so suddenly that Arch ran into her back leg with a yelp. "What? Why would you ask me such a silly question? Of course I love him."

     "But like, actually like him?" Jag pressed, helping her sister to her paws. "You're always fighting with him. I thought cats who love each other don't fight?"

    "Everyone fights," their mother twitched one of her ears. "Fighting is a sign of a healthy relationship. If King and I don't fight, wouldn't we be very boring?"

     The kit tilted her head. "But you threatened to kill him." She pointed out. "Did you mean it?"

      Shadow Fox sighed. "Sometimes cats say things they don't mean when they're angry. Of course I wouldn't lift a claw against your father. He isn't just my mate."

     Arch blinked, confused. "He isn't?"

     "King is also my best friend." The brown molly swished her tail. "You can't be mates with someone you don't love. It doesn't work like that — a relationship is nothing without love."

     Jag sniffed. "But what does love mean?" She asked. "If it means constantly fighting with your mate about what food to eat, then I don't think I want it. Ever."

     "Me neither." Arch shook her head. "It seems like a waste of time."

     Shadow Fox sighed, halting at the lakeshore to stare out across the water. As her kits sat beside her, she looked down at them in the reflection of the clear blue lake. "Cats will sacrifice everything for the sake of their love." She told them, shaking her head. "Hopefully the two of you never have to know what that kind of sacrifice will cost you."