"What now?"

"Hmm?" His face buried in a pillow, Mungojerrie shifted slightly so he could see Rumpleteaser out of one eye. She was sitting on the edge of their shared mattress, looking around the cell that was their home.

"Listen, Jerrie." She whispered urgently, her hand spread on his back.

The tiger male shifted, cocking his head. He immediately heard what she was talking about, a deep, thunderous rumbling. Scrambling to his feet, he stood on the bed and motioned for her to climb onto his shoulders.

Standing upright on his fuzzy shoulders, her balance perfect, her trust in him unwavering, Rumpleteaser managed to peer out of the high, barred window, a wrinkle of confusion crossing her face.

A gasp escaped her and the young female dropped back down to the cold, stone floor of the cell, motioning for her companion to stay where he was as she scooted into one of the corners, away from him.

Seconds later, the door of the main room that contained their cage opened, allowing their owner to enter.

As usual, he was impeccably clad in a suit, his fur smooth over his bald face. Approaching the cage, he peered in at them. Ignoring the human, Mungojerrie slumped listlessly on the bed, looking thoroughly unhealthy, while Rumpleteaser cowered in the corner, wailing.

"How long do you think it should take?"

"The outer cage should take several days, two weeks at most, to construct." Another human had joined their owner by the cage. The two felines exchanged unnoticed looks, as Mungojerrie flopped over onto his belly, his hands trailing limply on the floor. "They don't look so good, sir."

Their owner gave the new human a dark look. "Which is why I'm having a cage built for them to exercise in, you imbecile." He replied disgruntledly. "How are we going to build the tunnel from here to the cage with them in there?"

"You could sedate them, Sir. Have them put in the outdoor cage, while we work in here."

"I suppose..." Their owner came close to the bars, as Mungojerrie rolled off the bed and drooped onto the stone, barely inches from the metal grid.

Brilliant green eyes stared dumbly up at the expensively suited human. Mungojerrie lazily cocked his striped leg up several inches and a jet of yellowish liquid sprayed through the bars of the cage.

The human uttered a loud curse, his suit drenched in urine. "You filthy little..."

Fortunately, the sounds of the machines outside drowned out his words, as the tiger tom rolled over and settled on his belly on the straw-covered floor, watching over his shoulder as the human stormed out of the room, followed by the less important one. The door crashed emphatically shut.

It was immediately echoed by hysterical giggles from the corner, where Rumpleteaser was hiding. Looking around at her with a small smile, Mungojerrie could see she had the knuckles of one paw shoved in her mouth and was shaking with laughter.

"Wot you laughin' at, Teasah?"

"You peed on him!" She squealed, clapping her hands together. "He was so mad!"

"Well, now, Oi only dun it cos Oi woz gettin' sick of 'im starin' at me." The tiger tom chuckled with a lop-sided grin. Rolling onto his knees, he got to his feet and stretched his body, his arms extended over his head. "Wot did ya see when you peeked outta the winder?"

"Winder?"

"Yeah – the fing ya were lookin' outta."

"The window?"

"Dats wot Oi said." Mungojerrie flashed a grin at her, returning to their low bed and motioning for her to join him. Sprawled on his side, he grinned as she sat next to his right hip and started untangling the knots in the fur of his belly. "You gonna tell me?"

"I'm not sure what it was, but there are lots of machines out there." She replied, frowning at a particularly tangled knot. "The boss...he was talking about a cage for us, so maybe that's what they're doing..."

"Must be a ruddy big cage, eh?" The tom sighed contentedly as the little female bent over him and started cleaning his fur with her rough tongue, her fingers disentangling the longer fur before she cleaned it.

"Looks like it." She replied, kneeling up to lean over his face. "It looked like they were putting up ledges and things as well." Mungojerrie nodded, trying not to grin at the sight she had presented to him.

With her hands braced on either side of his head, as she licked at his ears, her chest was bobbing closely into his line of sight and, while he had insisted there would be no mating, he had never said he wouldn't look when he got the chance.

"Do you think they're seriously going to let us outside?"

"Hmm?" The jiggling motion of the two small, pert mounds of Rumpleteaser's chest was proving a bit of a distraction for the young tom, who would – in human terms – be in his mid to late teens.

"Jerrie?" She sat back to look down at him. "Are you listening to me?"

"Course, luv!" He gave her a winning grin. "And Oi agree wit' ya."

She raised a brow. "About what?"

"Uh...everyfing!"

"Even when I suggested that you should dance the hula with the boss?"

"Uh..."

"See! You weren't listening to a word I was saying!" She swatted at his freshly washed ears with a grin. "I can tell, ya know." Mungojerrie pouted up at her and she relented, bending to nuzzle his nose with her own. "I was asking," She repeated. "Do you think they're really going to let us go outside?"

"If dey ain't, Oi fink dey're goin' to an 'eck of a lot of trouble to build a ruddy great cage." He replied, lifting her paw from his chest and starting to clean it as she continued to disentangle the knots in his fur. "Dey must really want us ta get it on."

Rumpleteaser's paw was pulled from his abruptly and he recognised the frightened look in her still-thin features. "Jerrie..."

"Dun worry, luv." He reclaimed her slender paw and smiled reassuringly up at her. "Oi ain't goin' ta jump on ye, just cos they gived us some fresh air." He cocked his head. "If Oi dun dat, 'oo would Oi 'ave to wash me, eh?"

But what if they get angry with us for not doing anything, Jerrie?" She whispered, letting him gather her against his chest. "What if they try and make us...you know..."

Mungojerrie sighed heavily. "Luv, if dey even troi dat, it ain't goin' to work. Oi told ya dat Oi won't touch ya loike dat, unless you wants me to." His hand brushed over her mane. "Oi moight be 'orny, but Oi ain't gonna 'urt me only friend and dey ain't gonna do it de scientifric way cos dey wants to see wot we does, all natural loike."

"What if they find another one like you, though?"

"Anuvver one loike me?" He looked appalled at the thought. "Teasah, dat ain't nevah gonna happen, luv! Oi'm unique, Oi am!" He reached up and brought her face down to his, his nose brushing against hers. "Do ya even fink der is annuver one of me?"

"It is kind of scary to think about, isn't it?" She gave him a watery grin, then added a long lick right up the broad bridge of his nose, leaving the short fur standing on end. He wiggled his nose at her and she giggled, moving onto his bushy eyebrows.

Chuckling as her rough pink tongue ruffled and smoothed the fur of his brows, he nuzzled the thick fur of her shoulder. "Dat tickles, luv." He remarked lazily, yawning widely revealing all his teeth. "Feels noice, d'ough."

"So that tickles?" She gave him a naughty look. "What about this?"

Mungojerrie released an ear-splitting yowl of astonishment and laughter as she sat herself squarely on his legs, pinning him down, and started tickling his ribs, his body thrashing as her fingers danced over him.

"Teasah! Teasah, dat ain't noice!" Squirming and tossing under her, he tried to buck her off onto the floor between hysterical giggles.

"Well, Oi ain't noice!" She laughed just as loudly, her eyes dancing with mischief.

Finally, the larger male managed to toss her off his body and she landed on her toes on the stone floor, just managing to leap aside as he lunged for her, aiming his fingers for her ribs, panting with laughter.

Shrieking, Rumpleteaser used his forward momentum to catch her hands on his shoulders and leapfrog straight over his head and high onto the grid of the cage wall, her paws gripping the bars.

Mungojerrie – caught off-balance by her weight on his shoulders – almost went to his knees, but his paws spread on the floor and he went into a handspring that left him standing on his feet at the other side of the cage.

"Bloimey!" Spinning around, the tiger tom looked up at her, where she was dangling from the cage wall. "Teasah, 'ow in the 'eck did we do dat?"

"No idea..." She was grinning as broadly as he was, her eyes shining with delight, and threw herself back from the rails, flipping in a perfect back flip onto her feet. "Cripes! I could be an acrobat!"

Experimentally, Mungojerrie tried to do another flip like the one he had just done. With a little adjusting of his balance, he landed deftly on his toes. "You know," He remarked with a lop-sided grin. "Oi think Oi could get to loikin' dis."

"It would be a lot better," She carefully pulled one striped leg up to the level of her head, completely straight. "If we had more space to see how much we could do." She watched Mungojerrie try a one-handed backflip and land on his tail. "Like that."

Mungojerrie got to his feet, rubbing his bruised derriere and grumbling as the little female giggled. "Its not funny, Teasah! I coulda 'urt meself or somefing!"

In response, Rumpleteaser cheerfully bounced over to him and threw her arms around him, planting wet, noisy kisses all over his face. "Then, I would have had to kiss you better, wouldn't I, Jerrie?"

"Geroff!" Swatting at her, he gave her a firm shove and yelped in surprise when her feet ran up his body and she did a swift backflip onto her feet, landing squarely in front of him, grinning at him impishly. "Bloimey...Teasah, dat woz amazin'!"

With a coquettish, bobbing curtsey, she grinned coyly at him. "Wait til you see what else I can do, Jerrie." He gawped at her. "Uh, Jerrie?"

Before she could dodge, he had dived forward and tackled her to the floor, grinning. "You got distracted, luv. Oi get to 'ave me revenge on ye now an' you'll know not to be ticklin' me h'anymore, won'tcha?"

"Jerrie!" She shrieked as he started tickling her.

"Wot?"

"Stoppit!"

His grin was infectious and her cheeks were aching with laughter. "Wot? Dis?" His fingers raked over her ribs. "Nah! Oi dun fink Oi will."

They froze, though, when there was a click from the outer side of the huge door. His ears pinning back, Mungojerrie's lips peeled back from his teeth, his blunted claws out, his small companion motionless beneath him.

Their owner stepped into the room and stopped short, staring in astonishment.

Only then did either of the felids realise the position they were in: it looked like Mungojerrie was in the process of savaging Rumpleteaser, a wild, dangerous gleam in his eyes, his hooked fingers digging into her chest.

With a hiss, Mungojerrie dived across into his dark corner, while Rumpleteaser let out a loud and pitiful whine, so exaggerated that the male wondered why the humans couldn't work it out, dragging herself across to her own area and dropping into the straw face-first.

"Lewis!"

"Sir?" Another figure appeared at the door.

"That cage better be finished soon. They need to use up excess energy, before they start killing each other." He glanced over his shoulder as another human entered the room, carrying the now-familiar pail of slops. "Barclay?"

"Sir?"

"Do you have any idea about the mating rituals of this species?" Their owner rounded on the scientist. "Is it natural for the male to savage the female before or after they have coupled with each other?"

The scientist glanced hopelessly at the two felids, then nodded. "If they're anything like normal cats, sir, the male has to dominate the female, so it is possible that there may be some fighting."

"Which means we may have interrupted their mating?" Snatching the bucket of slops, the owner pushed it through the cage and stormed towards the door. "Out! Now! Leave them to get on with it."

The door slammed behind the trio of men and the two felines looked at each other.

"You know wot dis means?"

Rumpleteaser nodded with a broad grin. "Any time they come into the cell, you sit on me and growl and I scream like a Princess." She bounced across the cell floor. "It'll get rid of them really quick!"

"Ow well you knows my 'ead, Teasah!" Joining her at the bucket, he reached in a fished out a slice of steak, offering it to her. "Will moi lady 'ave dinner?"

"Only if my gentleman has it as well." She smiled shyly, accepting the piece of meat from him. "Thank you, Jerrie."

"For wot?"

Leaning over the bucket, she gently touched a kiss to his cheek. "For looking after me."

Blushing furiously with his ears, the tom ducked his head, an idiotic grin plastered on his face. "Not a problem, Teasah."