(A/N: WELL THEN! I'm gonna keep writing because I love it and I hope you crazy CATS fans will leave a few lovely reviews. Kay? KAY! NOW ON TO THE NEXT CHAPTER!

Once again:
"Blah" - Speech
'Blah' – Thought

(Blah) - Author)

Just as Sahara was drifting to sleep, her sharp ears picked up the lovely sound of a kitten's laughter. Her eyes opened and she looked about for a second. With a shrug of her shoulders, she dismissed it as a part of her dreams. She closed her eyes once again and started to doze off.

'Must have been the wind…,' she thought offhandedly. And no sooner had she thought this that another distant giggle reached her ears. She sat up this time as the laughter continued, with more sweet young voices joining the delightful chorus.

'Now what…?' Sahara looked to Salome and saw that the Harlequin Cat hadn't woken from her slumber. The small Queen looked out of the shoe box, then back at Salome.

'…I'll only be gone a few minutes…Salome won't mind,' she decided. She proceeded to climb out of the box and find her way towards the sound of joyous and girlish laughter. Sahara slunk through trash cans and old furniture, pausing a few times to lick her damaged paw. Soon enough, she came upon a small clearing in the junkyard where four small kittens where laughing and playing. Sahara hid in the shadows, unseen as her nose twitched a little. Suddenly, the kittens' attention was focused on something to their left, and almost immediately started to playfully fight each other for a seat closer to the object of their attention.

"Etcetera! Move over!" one kitten squealed as she batted her friend's ear. Sahara's head tilted to the side as a puzzled expression crossed her face. 'I wonder what all the fuss is about…,' she pondered.

"Hey, I picked this spot first!" the second kitten called Etcetera protested.

"Nuh-uh!" claimed the first.

"Yeah-HUH!" exclaimed Etcetera.

"Hey, I can't see either!" cried a third as she pounced both of the battling kittens, laughing.

"Oh, move over! Move over!" said the fourth and smallest of the quartet. Sahara nearly laughed aloud as they competed for the space on the ground and wondered what was so important that they were pouncing each other to be closer?

"Ack!"

"Hahah!"

"Hey, no fair!"

"Whoa-! Hey, no pushing!"

Sahara watched in mild amusement as the four kittens pounced and batted at each other. She sniffed a bit. But to her misfortune, a bit of dust tickled her nose and she nearly sneezed! "Ah…ah…!"

The kittens stopped and the smallest looked about. "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what, Jemima?" Etcetera asked. The first and third looked around.

"I didn't hear anything…"

"Me neither!"

Sahara silently let out a relieved breath. She didn't want to be seen quite yet. But her momentary peace was broken when the kitten dubbed 'Etcetera' squealed excitedly.

"Look! Here he comes!"

'…'He'…? Who's 'He'…?' Sahara wondered. She quickly became aware of the tall tom that had been making his way towards the kittens this whole time. When she caught sight of him, she immediately found him to be an impossibly attractive male. The majority of his pelt was black, with leopard patterns at the ends of his limbs. He had a large, almost lion-like mane, and a black and silver studded belt hung about his waist. As soon as he reached the gaggle of kittens, he flashed an incredibly charming grin. "Hello, ladies…"

The kittens sighed and giggled at his greeting.

Sahara blinked and stared for a few moments as the slender tom tickled little Jemima behind the ear (which provoked a giggle and sweet smile from her), then sniffed a little as her nose scrunched up. "Ah…ah-choo!" she sneezed one of those petit sneezes, and the kitten who had heard her before looked up again as Etcetera jumped in surprise.

"You see! I told you I heard something!" Jemima cried. The tom, who had already started towards the sound of the sneeze, was closing in on Sahara. She moved back slightly, hiding underneath an opened newspaper, wincing as she crawled on her injury.

But the tom had already found her. He knelt down and lifted the paper with a somewhat detached look…that is, until he saw that it was a pretty young queen who was hiding, and at that time his expression changed into another dashing grin. The kittens crawled over and looked at her in mild curiosity. The tom continued to smile as he removed the paper that concealed Sahara. "Well, hello there, little lady," he remarked. This caused Sahara to display a frown on her face. She sat up and lifted her paw off the ground (so it wouldn't bother her as much).

"I am NOT little…!"She protested as she stared at the tom. She was quite sensitive about her size (as previously mentioned). The lithe tom put up his hands in mock defense as he still grinned in a Cheshire-like manner. "Well, of course not. I don't think I've seen you around here…," his already wide smile turned into one of pure and simple suavity, "And I never forget a pretty face."

Sahara blinked, then shook her head and stood up, dusting off her forearm a bit. "My name is Sahara." she said with a slight bow of her head. "I just got here with my sister."

"Oh, you're the ones Vicky was talking about!" Etcetera said. Sahara cast a glance in her direction. "Vick-…oh, you mean Victoria!"

"Uh-huh! My name's Etcetera," she giggled.

"I'm Jemima!"

"And I'm Electra!"

"My name's Arachne!" cried the small black and grey kit. (A/N: A new Kitten I made up to take Victoria's place in the posse!)

The tom grinned once again and bowed in a suave, cool and rock-star type way, announcing, "And I'm The Rum Tum Tugger!"

Sahara tilted her head. "What's the 'The' in front for?"

"For dramatic effect," Arachne said sweetly, earning a pat on the head from The Rum Tum Tugger as well as a grin. "That's right," he confirmed.

"Oh…I see…," stated Sahara, still looking a bit confused. While she was trying to figure that whole deal out, Jemima caught sight of her paw and looked slightly concerned. "Hey, what happened?" she inquired.

"Hm? To what?" Sahara replied. Jemima gestured with a tilt of her head. "To your paw, of course!"

"Oh…OH, that! Oh, well, I-"

"Ooh, did you hurt yourself?" Etcetera asked worriedly.

"Well, no…" Sahara started, but she was cut off again, this time by Electra.

"Was it a Pollicle?"

"U-Um, no…" Sahara stammered, not quite used to all the attention. Arachne leaned her head down and looked at Sahara's paw carefully before asking, "Well, what DID happen? It's a weird-looking cut…"

Sahara pulled her paw back and shrugged, telling her story without much enthusiasm. "Well, me and Salome- that's my sister-…you see, we were trying to get some food, but this old human came out and threw a shoe at us and…well…," she looked down a little bit, "…I guess I got the worst of it." She was quiet for a split second before perking up a little bit. "It's not that bad, really!" she insisted.

"You should go see Jennyanydots! She can help make it better," squealed Arachne excitedly. Sahara glanced over at the black and grey kitten, quirking an eyebrow. "Jennyanydots…?"

"Yeah, my auntie Jenny!" Electra chimed in. Sahara thought for a few moments…'If this Jennyanydots can help me, then maybe…' "Where can I find her?" Sahara inquired to them all. It was The Rum Tum Tugger who answered this time. He had since relocated himself to a comfortable (and somewhat alluring) position on a pile of discarded newspapers and ancient textbooks.

"She's usually in the old Ford, next to the tire," he said coolly. Sahara glanced up at him, smiling just slightly. "Oh, thanks for the info…hm…but it's late. I don't want to wake anyone up…"

"That's okay, Sahara. We can take you there in the morning!" Jemima said cheerfully, making Sahara's smile grow a little more. "Thank you. I'd love that."

"Now, shouldn't you lovelies be getting some sleep?" The Rum Tum Tugger asked as he descended down from his temporary resting place, a smug grin still plastered on his handsome face. The kittens giggled again, settling down, in and around a washing machine (it was a clear, warm night, so they weren't too worried about rain and the like).

"You're right. I should really get back to Salome…" Sahara remarked as she glanced over her shoulder. "I'll see you all tomorrow! Goodnight!"

And with that, she turned and ran off into the calm darkness of the junkyard, ignoring the stinging in her paw for the moment. The kittens watched her go and The Rum Tum Tugger slipped off to his den. The young queens chatted among themselves.

"She's nice…" Arachne remarked.

"Yeah she is! What did Vicky say about her?" Jemima asked as she climbed into the washer. Little Electra was already falling asleep, but was still conscious enough to answer.

"She said that…,"she yawned, then resumed, "…that she and her sister are strays and…and that they wanted to stay for the Ball…"

"You think that they'll live here? You know, and not be strays anymore?" Etcetera inquired as she curled up against Arachne.

"Yeah…that would be nice…" Electra remarked as she gave one final yawn and drifted into her dreams. The other three soon followed suit and slept peacefully under the twinkling stars…

(A/N: Yay! Chapter Two! Hee, I like this one. A little boring, but, IT'S MY STORY! Next time, a bit of comedic delights for ye lubbers! Until then, lovelies! Ta!)