Posting two chapters today just to really kick off this fanfic!

Please rate and review!

I don't own any of the characters nor do I own CATS.

Told from Demeter's POV!

I lumbered into the den early in the morning. Bomba batted me away when I checked up on her, murmuring something about how she, more than anything, wished I'd just leave her alone so that she could sleep.

So I curled up on my blanket and yawned. I hadn't gotten much sleep. Munk and I had spent the night talking—remembering, hoping, and dreaming. I wanted to tell Bomba that I'd talked to him and that everything was going to change. But even as I curled up, I felt my eyelids become heavy and as I realized I was nodding off to sleep, I tried to force my eyes open.

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" Bomba called to me.

She's in a good mood. I thought to myself as I groggily sat up and arched my back, stretching.

I stumbled into the kitchen where my sister nudged a dead mouse in my direction. "Sleep well?" she asked.

"Not particularly."

"I thought that you were going to sleep outside." She replied, shaking her head. "I thought that you said that it was peaceful out there and that you-."

"I didn't end up sleeping out there."

Bomba's brow furrowed in confusion.

"I was talking to Munkustrap-."

"Munkustrap?!" Bomba exclaimed. "Demie, you didn't-!"

"What's wrong with it? There was a time in which you, me, Tug, Munk, and Mac-." I stopped myself as I saw my sister tense. "Sorry. You, me, Tug, and Munk all used to play together out there, remember? We were all friends and-."

She sighed. "I know. But sometimes we have to leave the past in the past."

"Why?" I asked. "You still talk to Tugger! I see you. You're always hanging around him!"

"Things change, Demie. We change."

"But Munk's lonely! Don't you know that?"

"Munkustrap." She corrected me. "His name is 'Munkustrap'. Not 'Munk'. He's going to be the next Jellicle leader. You can't call him by a childhood nickname. It's not proper, nor is it polite."

"I called him 'Munk' all last night and he never once scolded me." I whispered. "Does it matter?"

"Of course it matters, Demie!" Bomba sighed. "Do you hear Old Deuteronomy being called by nicknames? Even his own sons call him by name. Because that's what's right."

"Munk isn't the Jellicle leader—not yet. And you said it yourself: things change. Why can't rules change too? Besides, I don't think that there are rules about this sort of thing!"

"There are unspoken rules."

I stared down at the mouse lying lifeless at my paws, struggling not to cry. My sister looked over at me and sighed, walking over to me slowly. She nuzzled her face against mine comfortingly.

"I know it's tough, Dem. But it has to be this way." She whispered, smoothing out my fur gently. "Now, eat up and let's have no more talk of all of this. Tugger wants to take a group of us to the lake that's a few blocks away from the junkyard. You can come with us, if you want."

I shook my head. "I think I'll stay back." I replied quietly and she nodded.

"Okay, Demie. Okay. You should rest. You didn't sleep much."

I curled up on my blanket as soon as I finished my breakfast, pretending to be asleep until Bomba left the den to go and join Tugger and the others. When their laughter and chatter faded off in the distance, I quietly crawled out of my bed and out to the doorway. The sun was bright and nigh on blinding.

After a moment of allowing my eyes to adjust, I stepped out onto the pavement and hurried across the junkyard, searching for Munkustrap. When I didn't catch sight of him, I scolded myself for being so foolish and thinking that he'd be out there, waiting for me. After all, he hadn't gotten much sleep either and I was more than willing to bet that Tugger didn't wake him up, asking him if he'd like to go out and rest by the lake. It was more than likely that he was still asleep somewhere, savoring the hours of quiet before the young ones got up and created a ruckus.

I sat myself down on my usual spot on the hood of the red car in the corner of the junkyard and yawned. I was tired and yet, at the same time, I was too excited to sleep. And so I thought about everything that Bomba had said to me that morning.

"His name is 'Munkustrap'. Not 'Munk'."

"Things change, Demie. We change."

I sighed. I hated arguing with her. It never ended well and I couldn't stand her being angry at me. But nonetheless, there were some things that I had to stand my ground on. This was one of those things.

Closing my eyes, I could feel the hot sun on my eyelids. I gingerly turned away from the sun so that I could more comfortably rest. I felt sleep take me and I, at long last, felt the weight of my eyelids alleviated.

I woke to the sound of the kits of the tribe playing and knocking over pieces of scrap metal that had been left behind and forgotten by humans.

"Didn't want to wake you, but I guess that the kittens did that for me."

I turned to find Munkustrap sitting on the hood of the car beside me.

"Good morning." I said, blushing a little. "Er… I… well… I went looking for you, but I couldn't find you. I guess that I thought you might be asleep."

"I was. But then, when I came looking for you, you were asleep." He laughed. "It was a long night. I thought that I should let you sleep."

I smiled, stretching out on the hood of the car a little. "Tugger and the others went out to the lake."

"Mhmm. He was saying something about that earlier when I saw him. You should have gone."

I shrugged. "I don't really care for the lake much. Besides, I thought that you and I were going to do something today."

"We never really got around to planning what that 'something' would be though, did we?" he laughed and I nodded.

I thought about it a little. "Last year, Bomba made me go with her to the woods." I remembered. "I had more fun than I cared to admit."

"Lead the way." He said, gesturing for me to go ahead of him.

We climbed through piles of junk before we finally got out of the junkyard and out into the world beyond.

"Munk?"

"Yeah, what's wrong?" he asked, looking back at the junkyard for a moment before hurrying to catch up with me.

"I was talking to Bomba this morning. And well… she said that it wasn't right to call you 'Munk'. That as the future Jellicle leader, I ought to well… call you by your given name."

For a moment, Munk didn't say anything and I thought that might be angry at me.

"A lot of people think that." He said at long last. "Doesn't mean that you have to listen to them, Demie. You can call me whatever on earth you'd like."

I smiled at that and gestured for him to hurry up.