I s'pose this chapter is mostly dialog, but I still think it's alright.

Fun Fact: Justin's original design was white with black paws, black tail tip, black muzzle, and black ears. Sound familiar? Aside from the speckles on her back, his design was the exact reverse of Mosskit's. After noticing this, I changed it to just the paws. And, I didn't notice this until the third chapter or so, he does have almost the same markings as Mudfoot, except hers are brown and his are black. I would just like to clarify that they are NOT RELATED. Just a coincidence. (And yeah, I bet if you go back far enough there's probably some common blood, but that's true for anybody, so don't bother pointing it out).

Another thing. I wanna apologize for a long wait for short chapters. :( I'm trying to make them longer, I really am, but I think I'm failing.

And, I would like to hear you're opinions on how many more Justin chapters until we get back to Mosskit and Duckkit (of course, we have to keep in mind that the next Mosskit and Duckkit chapter is going to be their apprentice ceremony. I'd also like to hear some suggestions for who Duckkit and Leopardkit's mentors should be! I already know who's going to train Mosskit. :3).

Thanks for the lovely reviews from Anidori-Isilee, katzsoa,

katzsoa: Well, I didn't think of Scar quite like that at the moment. ^-^' I think Scar isn't so much of a bad guy name, but more of a moody, not-quite-a-good-guy-but-not-completely-evil name. I'm not saying that that's what every character who's name is Scar is like, just that that's how I see the name.

A fallen tree: Last time I did a multi-chap people said I was moving too fast, so I was trying to slow it down a bit in this one. I'm trying to make it interesting but not shoving the plot forward like it's tied to a train. XD Sorry if it's too slow for ya, I'll try to add some excitement this chapter. ^-^'

Chapter 10

"Okay, we're gonna play hide-and-seek. Who wants to search first?" Shadow had placed herself on a somewhat fancy looking chair, declaring herself in charge.

"I'll look first." Justin liked just walking around and looking at things; he had an eye for detail, and he new the Bricks like he knew his own feet.

"Cool! Come on Bane, we gotta hide!" Justin hopped onto the chair and turned around, facing the back of it and hiding his face in his paws while he counted loudly.

"One . . . two . . . three . . ." Shadow could hear Justin's counting from across the house.

"Alright Bane, here's the plan. We're going to hide together." Bane cocked his head in confusion. "Okay, you're gonna hide up front, and I'm gonna hide behind you. Then, when Justin finds you, he won't think to look for me there!"

"Oh, okay. Where should we hide?"

"Basement!"

"But it's dark in there, we won't be able to see . . ."

"Neither will Justin!" And with that, the two cats descended the stairs and searched for their hiding place.

"Blast it, where are they?" Justin had searched the house high and low, not seeing a single sign of his companions.

"Lost something?" Scar mrowed from her post at the doorway.

"Some-ONE. I can't find Bane and Shadow."

"Hm. Well, maybe they left." Justin mulled that thought over in his head. He wouldn't be surprised if Shadow would do that ("Aw, doesn't matter much now, does it? Over and done with!") and she would definitely drag Bane along if she did.

"Good point. I'll see if they went home." He slipped out of the doorway and trotted away from the Bricks.

Leaving Bane and Shadow to celebrate their victory. In the dark. In a small cramped spaced.

"Heh heh heh, we sure fooled 'im didn' we?" Shadow cackled like a witch-cat from behind Bane.

"I alm-most w-wish he would j-j-just f-find us. It's c-cramped in here."

"Oh, deal with it, y'wimp. Not like anything's gonna get us." At which point the raccoon currently residing in the basement decided to make a sound not entirely unlike the painful, dying screams of a puppy.

So Shadow and Bane scrambled over each other in a rushed frenzy (D***IT BANE! MOVE FASTER OR GET OUT OF THE WAY!) and dashed up the stairs. If you ask them later, they'll say they fought tooth and claw against the giant, savage beast, and barely escaped unscathed.

They didn't spare a moment to speak to Scar on their way out, and rounded the corner towards home when they bumped into Justin.

Literally.

Well, a better word would be crashed.

"Ah! Gosh Shadow, slow down sometimes!"

"It's not MY fault you were standing where I was running! Next time get out of the way!"

"How am I supposed to know where you're running?"

At this point they had sorted themselves out and were sitting together. "I don't know, figure it out!" And then Bane stuttered something about Shadow planning her walking routes in advance, but they didn't quite hear him, because the absolute absurdity of what Shadow had said caught up with her, and she was laughing, and she was just the kind of person that when she starts laughing the rest of the world just has to join in.

Okay, I'm not completely happy with the ending, but I can't think of a way to make it any better. Aaaaaaaaaaaand that's all I have on this chapter (except the stuff I put up there, on second thought some of that should be down here. . . . I should change that . . . nah).