In Happy Sunshine Land, there lived the happiest kittens and puppies in the whole wide world. The rolling green hills that stretched for miles in all directions were lined with rivers of milk for the kittens and dotted with steak bushes for the puppies. The air was always warm and the sky was always as blue as a sapphire globe. All day, the animals played and frolicked and respected the established boundaries. Not a single sad creature could be found.

One morning, before the sun rose to greet the land with his sparkling grin, a kitten named Milo awoke in the giant pile of kittens that all slept on top of each other for added warmth and cuteness. He squeezed out between Bijou and Jingles to find that his friend, Sasha, had already risen as well.

“Do you want to play?” Milo asked.

Sasha nodded and then narrowed her eyes playfully. “What do you think about traversing the squeaky-toy garden?”

He gasped. “We can’t! That garden belongs to the puppies! We’ll get in trouble.”

“They’re all asleep, no one will know” she replied, flicking her tail as she was apt to do when feeling mischievous. “Besides, Peanut told me that there’s a whole mountain of catnip at the other end!”

Milo’s eyes widened in awe. “Peanut said it was okay?”

Sasha nodded eagerly. “Come on, I’ll race you there!”

Milo watched as Sasha dashed towards the realm of the puppies, but after a moment, thought it better to stay back. He climbed back into the pile, right on top of Smokey, but couldn’t sleep. A fear stirred in his heart that wouldn’t be stilled.

It was late in the afternoon when the puppy Patches finally found the source of the scent he’d picked up earlier that morning. In fact, all of the puppies were overwhelmed by curiosity and had been searching since right after their morning play fighting and wrestling. While stepping on a teddy bear chew toy, the loud squeak brought his attention to the ground where a small brown kitten lay, stretched out and unmoving. Its tiny pink tongue fell from its gaping mouth and the tiny paws were dabbled with blood.

“Hey!” Patches yelled to his friend Spot, who was gnawing on a steak from a nearby bush. “Look at what I found!”

Spot trotted over and made a strange face of discomfort. “You win. You found the smell.”

Milo waited anxiously right at the edge of the kitten realm all day, wondering where Sasha had gone that was taking her so long. An older kitten, Peanut noticed that he was distraught and approached him slowly.

“Are you alright, Milo? You seem sad.”

“No!” Milo yelled. “I’m not sad, I’m fine. Really. I just haven’t seen my friend in a long time. I thought she might be here, so I’m waiting.”

Peanut was about to reply when, over the swell of the hill, came three puppies with downcast faces. The one in the middle held the limp body of the dead kitten in his mouth. All the kittens in the kitten realm crowded around them and stared, wide-eyed, as the puppy placed Sasha on the ground.

“We found this kitten in our garden,” Patches said dutifully. “This was the state she was in when she was found. None of the puppies are to blame for this. We are sorry for this mishap and believe this is no cause for a fight.”

Milo stared in utter disbelief and would have cried out, but Peanut spoke up first, saving Milo, for the moment, from persecution. “How dare you desecrate her body by carrying her in your mouth and dropping her before us like some piece of garbage!”

Patches made no reaction, as he’d been taught the wily tactics the kittens employed to try to start wars. They had started all the wars that had ever been.

“We had no other way to carry her. We apologize.” The three puppies bowed and turned, holding back their growls.

Once the puppies had disappeared, Peanut turned to the gathering crowd.

“Did anyone see this kitten go into the garden?” he asked. Milo’s heart jumped but he said nothing. He could have stopped her and would be punished for not reporting his friend. Cautiously, he retreated to the back of the crowd while Peanut continued. “She could not have gone without someone seeing her. Therefore, I believe she was kidnapped by the puppies!”

Tiny, adorable gasps and murmurs filled the crowd of kittens.

“They killed her and tried to convince us otherwise! They are playing us for the fools! We cannot take this lying down, comrades! Tonight, we must get revenge.”

“But what can we do?” one kitten cried. “We are only kittens!”

“We must never forget that as one we are weak, but as many we are stronger than any puppy. We will infiltrate their land and kill one of theirs in retribution!” There was agreement and rejoicing. The only crying in the crowd was silent.

That night, as the kittens prepared to invade, Peanut escaped to the land of the puppies and was greeted by Spot behind a steak bush.

“I’m sorry,” Spot said. “I didn’t realize it was Sasha I’d killed and not the other one.”

“Don’t worry, everything is going according to plan. The kittens are far more gullible than I thought they’d be. They didn’t even question me when I told them to attack.” He chuckled. “Are the puppies prepared?”

“Very. This shouldn’t take long. Too bad for both of them, I’m sure.”

“Kittens and puppies are natural enemies, my friend.” And they both laughed.