Cat Tales

Chapter 2

Luna followed Puss quietly, not making any conversation. In all truth, Luna wasn't her original name. It was the name given to her by the owners who had found her when she'd been starving in the woods a few years ago. She'd pretended to just be a normal house cat, with no special powers to speak of, mostly because at the time all fairy-tale creatures were getting sold or evicted. So she'd hidden out, but then the older woman had died, and the older man had found that she reminded him too much of the dead wife, and had stopped feeding her, and so, she was left to fend for herself, which she had been doing for the last few days, until that hawk had seen her.

She had many secrets, not something she would freely discuss. She was a mysterious cat, and blended in when she wanted to. In fact, if she felt the inclination, she could've disappeared, and Puss would never have been able to figure out where she'd gone. She didn't, however, because Puss had invited her for breakfast, and, what could she say? That accent was…capturing.

Puss was stepping lively, hoping to sneak Luna in before the ogre awoke, as he knew Shrek hated visitors. Oh, well, he could always give him the 'cute kitty eyes'. That almost always got him what he wanted, and he usually didn't wise up until later. He glanced over his shoulder to make sure Luna was still following and nearly banged noses with her, since she had sped up her pace so that she was right next to him.

Had she been a human, she would have blushed, which was one of the advantages of being a cat. She could hide her emotions if she wanted to. "Whoops, sorry…I thought you realized I was next to you…" She said airily, smiling a sincere smile.

"'Tis nothing, señorita. We are nearly there, and I can already smell Princess Fiona's bacon cooking on the skillet." He inhaled deeply, sniffing in the delicious smell wafting from the house in the swamp. She took a deep breath as well, recognizing the smell of bacon and eggs, although it seemed as if their was just a small thing added, although she couldn't tell what it was. Interesting, very interesting.

"Did you say Princess?" She asked, and immediately began nervous, smoothing her fur, which was a bit wild, which, actually, was quite attractive. "Do I have to act a certain way? I've never met any royalty…"

Puss smirked, and ruffled up the fur she had just smoothed down. "Don't worry, she is not exactly the kind of princess you'd expect…" Just as he was saying this, Shrek appeared in the doorway, calling out to him, sounding a bit irritated.

"Puss, I wish you would stop just disappearing like that, especially when we could use your help!!" He said, walking towards him, his hands on his hips angrily. Puss just stood there nonchalantly, but Luna had totally frozen with fear, her eyes wide. She was crouched, watching the huge green creature walking towards them, like a giant to her. Shrek only just noticed the small black cat and raised an eyebrow, addressing Puss as if Luna couldn't understand them.

"How many times have I told you not to bring strays home?" He asked Puss, who shrugged. He actually hadn't taken any strays home, he was much more refined than that. Shrek just said that because he was always reminding Donkey, who often brought home his fairy-tale friends to Shrek's house, to Shrek's great irritation.

Seeing that Luna had obviously either lost her voice temporarily, or simply was choosing not to speak, Puss began to defend her cause valiantly. "She was lost in the woods, and a hawk seemed to believe she was supper. I offered her some breakfast and a place to stay." He stopped, seeing that Shrek was moving his eyes from him to Luna, then back again, obviously angry.

"Look, if Fiona's willing, she can have some breakfast, but she can't…" Shrek trailed off, his eyes locked on Luna, and he was wearing the same expression he wore whenever Puss gave him his 'cute kitty eyes'. Puss glanced at Luna himself and nearly fell over as his own mind melted. Luna, having recovered from the initial shock and fear, had pulled back so that she was sitting normally, and had cocked her head at Shrek, giving him kitty eyes that easily rivalled Puss'. Shrek, after a moment of apparently wrestling with his own mind, sighed and gave in.

"Alright…I guess she can stay…" Luna grinned and stood up on her hind legs, batting at the hem of Shrek's tunic, playing the part of innocent kitty perfectly. Shrek smiled despite himself and scooped up the cat in one hand, carrying her towards the kitchen. Puss grinned and shook his head, padding along behind. That is one clever kitty…and a very cute one at that… He thought to himself, smiling. We are going to get along great…

Inside the house, Fiona was singing softly to herself as she grilled up some bacon and eggs in the kitchen, and glanced up as Shrek walked in, grinning at the cat. "Aww, who's this? Oh, isn't she the cutest little thing you ever saw?" She said, cooing over Luna, who was obviously enjoying the attention, but still hadn't given away that she was anything more than a stray. A normal, non-fairy-tale type stray. Shrek placed Luna down on the ogres' table, where she sat innocently. Puss couldn't help feeling just a little jealous. They never let him sit on the table.

"Would you like some bacon, kitty? What's her name, Shrek?" Fiona asked while putting some cut-up bacon onto a plate and putting it front of her, which she immediately began to eat daintily, smirking at Puss from the edge of the table. She didn't eat it all, although she definitely wanted to. Instead, she left a couple pieces on the plate, and carefully nosed them over to the edge, glanced at Fiona and Shrek to make sure they were distracted, then grabbed it with her front paws and jumped down to the floor, setting it down. She pushed it over to Puss, then sat back, winking at him.

"For me, señorita?" He asked, surprised and flattered. "No, no, I have lots of food…eat it, you must be starved…" He said gently, pushing the plate back, and she cocked her head at him, then whispered a thank you and finished eating it quietly. Shrek was answering Fiona's question, shrugging, and glancing at the two cats.

"I don't know her name. Puss, what's her name?" Both Fiona and Shrek turned their attention on Puss, who opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by the sudden appearance of Donkey, who slammed through the door with one of his little mutant children in tow. Seeing the mutant, Luna gave a loud yowl and leaped up onto the table, hissing, back arched and fur sticking up. The mutant, whose name was Freddy, gave an delighted hee-haw noise and tried to jump up after her, flapping his wings to make up the distance he couldn't jump.

Donkey, who had yet to notice the new addition, scampered over to Fiona by the stove, which was the source of the wonderful bacon smell. "Hello Fiona, you look lovely today, did you do something to your hair?" He asked, as Luna made a flying leap from the table towards the counter, and only just made it, hooking her front paws into the wood, and pulled herself up the rest of the way, leaving deep claw marks.

Fiona rolled her eyes and dropped a piece of bacon for Donkey without another word, which effectively distracted the little mutant from his pursuit of his new toy. Luna, seeing that she was no long being chased, leaped to the floor and slunk into a shadowed corner, smoothing her fur nonchalantly. The little mutant and Donkey immediately started begging for more food, Donkey with his extremely high-pitched whining, and his little child with it's hee-hawing. Luna covered her ears with both hands, and scampered out of the door into the yard, followed by Puss, although he was more used to the annoying whining.

Once they were out of hearing range, they both stopped and grinned at each other. Suddenly, Luna tackled Puss playfully with a playful yowl, and soon they were wrestling, rolling all over the yard, narrowly avoiding tumbling into the swamp. They were both shouting playful insults, forgetting that Luna was not supposed to be able to talk. After about fifteen minutes, Puss had pinned Luna under the tree, and was grinning triumphantly. "The fight is mine, señorita."

They both then stood up, panting, and Luna collapsed onto the soft grass, grinning at him from her position on her stomach. "You may have won this one, but I'll win one of these days…" Puss leaned against the tree, and jumped as a voice came from behind him.

"So, the little cute kitty cat is maybe a bit more than that, eh?" Luna and Puss both turned, and Luna looked guilty as they saw Fiona standing just behind the tree, obviously having exited the kitchen to escape the high-pitched whining, just like they had. After a few seconds of awkward silence, they both started explaining at once, which resulted in nobody being clear and their explanations conflicting with each others, and not making a lot of sense. Fiona shushed them sternly, rolling her eyes and smiling.

"Don't worry…your secret is safe with me…besides, I could use another girl around here. Dragon's nice, but…" She shrugged absently, and reached down, scooping up Luna gently, who snuggled into her neck, purring.

"Thank you, Miss. Fiona…I greatly appreciate it…don't worry, I won't stay here long, I just need shelter for a night or so, until I make a decision about where to go…" Luna said sweetly, which, for some reason, provoked the immediate thought into Puss' head that he had to keep her there as long as possible. If only for some feline companionship, after all, it got lonely being the only cat around this place.

Luna rested on Fiona's shoulders, wondering…should she stay around here? After all, life was good as a cat, and she had made some friends…but then, what choice did she have? Would she ever tell Puss her secret? No, because he was one of those…he would want to get her justice, and it was impossible…

((And finished, finally…sorry guys, I've been on vacation. Also, a note to those who read my other fanfictions, they won't be updated for a while either, because all the new chapters are on my other computer…Anyway, hope you enjoy this!))