Chapter 4: Tsuki No Uta (Song of the Moon)

Mungojerrie awoke from a comfortable sleep, feeling refreshed for once. Usually waking up was a horrible experience, the light only bringing pain. He would have to report to Macavity to see if he was needed for any duties, which he would later accomplish to the best of his ability. The Ginger tom's number one rule struck him the hardest most of the time, 'if you can't complete your mission, don't bother coming back'. Jerrie may not like his boss, but he was treated well, having a large room to himself with three meals a day. Not to mention his personal slaves also received the star treatment, so Rumpleteazer, as she called herself, looked well fed. She appeared rebellious but smart enough to eat what food was given to her. Speaking of the calico queen, she was currently cuddled up to him for warmth, probably still somewhat inebriated by the catnip he had given her yesterday. She looked so much more beautiful now that her face wasn't contorted in pain, her features standing out. Those wide child-like eyes, though shut still drew him in. Her defined cheek bones called for his caress, and her lips; so soft. He had to pull himself away from her in order to stop what he would have done. He was tempted to kiss her right there, but this would ruin the trust that he worked hard to earn in the first place.

His movement stirred the queen awake. Opening her eyes, she had no idea that the first thing she would see were the love-filled eyes of a tom. She was afraid for a slight second, intense fear passing through her body. She was petrified for a moment, remembering the last two toms she had encountered in this hell hole. But, as she remembered the calico that treated her so kindly before, her eyes softened and her body relaxed. She let out a short chuckle, before reprimanding him.

"Didn't your mother tell you not to stare?" she scolded in mock disappointment.

"I never knew my mom, so I never learned manners," Jerrie replied with a smirk, his playful side taking over. When he looks back on it now though, he finds that this could have started a very different conversation.

"Well then, how do I know you don't have this room completely sealed with no possible escape so you can have your way with me?"

"You never know, I just might. It has been getting lonely around here." Jerrie moved to get up and stretch giving the bed a sudden chill for the queen.

"Aww, where you goin'" she asked, some accent leaking through, he wondered what it was.

"I have to report to Macavity," both their faces lost their playfulness, the tension coming back to the room as she remembered he was one of the horrible tom's henchcats. "He'll do even worse things to you and me if I don't go to him and get my mission for the day."

"Okay, I'll be waiting for you," she meant to say if somewhat more sarcastically, but it came out as an honest promise.

"I won't be gone long," Jerrie gave her his dashing smile and left the room, making sure he slid the barbell over it. The bar in the middle made it impossible for other cats to actually go through but they could easily get his attention or slip food in whenever it was necessary.

His meeting with Macavity was uneventful and he was again assigned guard duty over the prisoner Jemima. Mungojerrie found it strange that the Napoleon of Crime would want his top thief watching over a defenseless kitten. Jerrie couldn't complain though, as he felt he had some sort of connection with the young tortoiseshell. What he walked into, he would have never expected...

As Jerrie relieved a bored looking cat from his guard duty, he heard something beautiful envelope him. It was the most beautiful voice he had ever heard singing a graceful melody. It sounded so familiar, but he couldn't place his finger on it. C major to A minor to F major, then down do E minor then a D minor, then back up to A minor and finishing with a G major. He was able to recognize it once she repeated it, but she seemed to be having trouble with the bridge.

"Sunlight through, the trees in Summer. Endless Masquerading." he sung, trying his best to remember the song Grizabella had told him on the rooftop that one night. She seemed to remember the rest as her face lit up in recognition, and she closed her eyes again as she proceeded to finish the song.

"Like a flower, as the dawn is breaking. The memory is fading."

They both joined up together for the final chorus, Jemima's operatic soprano dwarfing Jerrie's slightly embarrassed and untrained voice.

"Touch me! It's so easy to leave me, all alone with the memory, of my days in the sun. If you touch me, you'll understand what happiness is. Look, a new day has begun."

This ended the song and Jemima gave Jerrie a sad look.

"The lady who serves us food walked in here during the day and sang that song, it was so beautiful. I asked her to teach it to me and she did. Do you know her?" Her innocent eyes begging for a reply, begging for friendship, begging for anything that could possibly make her situation more tolerable. It was at this moment that Jerrie knew he had to leave. These two queens were the last straw, it was enough to have him steal family heirlooms from houses that looked as if they were going to fall apart, but to try and destroy the sweet innocence of two queens who only had the world ahead of them threw him over the edge. He was going to leave, he just had no idea how.

"The lady who serves you food. Oh! do you mean Grizabella, she taught me the song when I was still a small kitten. We don't really talk but we'll see each other on the rooftop once in a while."

"Yes, I believe I remember Macavity calling her that once. She gave me some extra food and Macavity caught her, so he clawed her leg. She can barely walk now."

"Everlasting Cat, what won't he do. Just tell me if he ever does anything to you. There's no way I'm going to let what happened to Grizabella happen to you."

"Thank you, Mungojerrie. That's what that other guard called you right?"

"Yeah, just call me Jerrie for short, the boss might not like it, but we're friends."

"It's nice to know that I have a couple friends that make this place bearable."

The rest of Jerrie's shift went more or less like this. Jemima was only one or two months younger than him, she was going to make a beautiful queen, he already knew. He also learned that she came from a tribe known as the jellicles. She explained that the cats had human owners but would occasionally meet up in the junkyard near the port near a car labeled the TSE-01. Jerrie thought that it would make a great place for Teazer and him to escape to, as long as Macavity doesn't know where they meet.

"Hey Jemima, does Macavity know about the Jellicles?"

"He knows about them, but the reason he captured me was to find out where they're located. There's no way I'm going to tell him, I'd rather die before putting my friends in danger."

"Don't say that, I'm going to get you back to your tribe. I need to know something first though."

"What is it?"

"Would you allow me and another queen to join your tribe. I've been wanting to get away from this place for so long, and the queen I'm bringing has only been tortured by this place from the moment she arrived."

"You would have to ask our leader Old Deuteronomy, but I can put in a good word for the two of you."

"thank you so much. I'm just going to have to do something that I may regret."

"What?"

"Just don't hate me for this okay?"

"Umm what exactly are you going to do?" Mungojerrie started unlocking the cage that held Jemima in the room. They weren't so much cells as they were reinforced Cat kennels. He then gently led her upstairs to Macavity's personal floor. Once they reached the entrance Mungojerrie grabbed onto her arm tightly to make it appear as if she were following reluctantly. As he stood in front of the hidden paw, it took all of his self control not to run the complete opposite direction. The hidden paw wasn't accompanied by any of his queens, but he seemed to be preoccupied looking at the emerald Jerrie had obtained for him.

"Sir, May I make a request?" Jerrie barely breathed out, his nervousness taking over. Macavity refused to look away from the emerald but nodded his head signaling for Jerrie to continue.

"I would like for this queen to also be a slave of mine. Just look at this face, I wish nothing more than to see tears in her eyes when she's screaming out my name. I've also been interested in seeing what having two queens under my control feels like." Jerrie felt disgusted with himself for having said that, even more so when Jemima eyes expressed fear and betrayal, but it was necessary.

"Yes, yes, whatever you wish. Where did you find this?" The hidden paw asked, motioning to the forest green emerald in his hands.

"It was at the place you told me to find it sir, 1992 Victoria Grove."

"Do you know what this is?"

"I believe it's an emerald sir."

"Yes an emerald, but do you know what kind of emerald it is?"

"No sir."

"Well, my apprentice, I'm not surprised. Many people will never see one of these in their lives. This is a real emerald, with none of those other materials humans like to put in them to make them brighter and weatherproof. These are worth nearly ten times more than any ordinary emerald. You may have that queen, but only if you can find one more of these emeralds, I would look in the same place I sent you last time."

"Thank you sir, I'll get right on it," Jerrie then thought for a moment before remembering partners, "Would you mind if I brought a partner along sir?"

"A partner, you're usually a one man show. Who is this partner of yours?"

"The first queen you gave me sir. She's proven more useful than just a bedmate and I have her on a catnip addiction which ensures she's not gonna run away anytime soon."

"You're stretching my kindness towards you too far Mungojerrie, but I will allow it if she's as under control as you say. You also remember my rule, it still applies to you."

"Yes sir. 'if you don't succeed, then don't bother coming back' I never fail though, you should know that."

"I do know, but that doesn't mean I trust you not to run away. I saw what you did for that queen yesterday, very sweet of you to be so protective of her."

"I was only protecting my property sir. The only seed that'll be spilled in her will be mine."

"And I'll ensure that it stays that way, but remember Mungojerrie, everything in this hotel belongs to me, and I will play with it whenever I please. I will not tolerate your chivalrous acts if they are against me."

"Understood sir, I'll go now. Umm what do I do with the queen?"

"Place her back in her cell, she won't go anywhere until you come back, I'll make sure of it."

Jemima looked at him with fear, a look that hurt him much more than he thought it would. She felt betrayed, but having her in his quarters would lower her chances of being taken advantage of. Slaves were property, but prisoners were free game, that's the way it was up here. If she became his slave, Teazer would also have more company. He's taking her out this once, but he doesn't want her to live a life like his, stealing things for the hidden paw and for himself. It felt right to him, but his moral compass didn't always point north with Macavity being his step-father in a way. He could only hope that everything would turn out well in the end.

A/N: Another chapter done. Yeah it does get a little dirty, but from Macavity's song, it seems that this is the way he treats queens, so it would be the only way to convince Macavity to let Jerrie have Rumpleteazer and Jemima. I promise it won't get much dirtier than that though. Again, don't be afraid to read and review, I have no beta reader so there may be a couple grammatical errors. Thank you