Chapter 3 Orphaned Kitten

Time passed, and the little kittens grew older. For Munkustrap, this wasn't exactly the best time in his life. He had already proven how responsible a little kitty he was by taking care of the younger kittens, and being far more responsible than the kittens older than him, like Macavity, Rum Tum Tugger, or Alonzo. He also did a lot to keep the other kittens out of trouble. You would think that all that stress on a young kitten would stunt his growth…

And what stress it was! Tugger got into a lot of mischief simply by being Tugger. He hardly had to TRY to get in trouble, as his popularity and personality did that for him. Alonzo was a pugnacious little kitten who liked to get into play fights, and sometimes got into REAL fights on the streets. He would come back wounded sometimes, and there had been times that he would bring the fight back to the junk yard, in which case Munkustrap would help him drive the intruder away. But that was hardly as bad as Macavity's mischief. He had taken to pulling massive pranks on kittens and cats alike. Already, his personality was growing too big for the junkyard.

But the little kitten's stress did not go unnoticed. His grandfather noticed he was growing up too fast, and had a discussion with his grand kitten. So, with great difficulty, he let the others be, and cared for himself for a while. Why shouldn't he have a chance to play with the kitty toys, even if there was a kitten crying on the sides? Why should he be the one keeping others out of mischief, when he had mischief HE would have liked to cause? And why should he get into other peoples fights, when he had his own fights to worry about?

So Munkustrap decided, after trying to keep Tugger and his entourage of queen kitties out of trouble on the Maine Coon's search for the "perfect den", that it was time for Munkustrap to have a little Munkustrap time. He pulled himself away from the others, and the tired little kitten jumped up on an old canvas chair, curled up, and began to drift to sleep.

His tired little green eyes were closing, and he began to drift to sleep…

"OW!" Munkustrap jumped up and wheeled around to find he hand somehow fished a little kitten on his swishing tail. The little gold and black kitten had pounced and bitten the end and now was pulling the tail, hoping to take it away with her. "Demeter! I'm trying to sleep!" He tugged his tail, but the young kitten refused to let go.

"Let. Go. NOW!" He tugged his own tail hard just as Demeter let go. Needless to say, he rolled off the chair and crashed to the floor.

"I thought cats were supposed land on their feet," Demeter wondered out loud.

'Why did she have to learn how to say speak?' Munkustrap thought to himself, rolling his eyes. She had become quite the happy little kitten, talking non-stop with Munkustrap and Bombalurina, and sometimes the other cats. She hadn't a care in the world. Her favorite past time? Pouncing an unsuspecting Munkustrap. Why? Because his reactions were the best of all the kittens she had pounced! Aside from Mistoffelees…that poor kitten was a nervous little thing because of her, but he had made quite an art of disappearing on her the second she looked away.

"How are you, Munku?" She jumped down and batted at his swishing tail, still throbbing from having been bitten.

"Tired," he said, starting to walk off. This was Munkustrap time. Not annoying little gold and black queen time. "Can I have a moment alone?" He said, remembering to at least have manners

"Why?" Demeter asked. "It's so much more fun to play! Play with me, pweaaaaassseee! Bomby won't play with me, Tugger always calls me a pipsqueak, Cassandra only likes to play her games, Alonzo is too rough, and I can't find Misto!"

"Then go play with a cat," Munkustrap said, waving a paw at her. He wasn't going to give in. He WASN'T.

"Auntie Jelly is too serious, Auntie Jenny always tries to make me sew, Uncle Skimbly is never here, and Uncle Bustober is so cranky when he doesn't eat." She stopped for a moment to think of who she forgot, then continued. "Gus only wants to tell me stories about the theatre, and Gran'pa Duet it too old. Auntie Grizabella said you would play with me!"

'Of course she said that,' he thought to himself. 'She always pawns me off on you. That's why she's your favorite…' Out loud he said in a calm voice, "But I'm tired Demeter."

"PLAY WITH ME!" she bawled.

"ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT!" Munkustrap looked around, annoyed and cranky. What could they play? "Hmm…how about the quiet game?" he mewed hopefully.

"The quiet game?" She looked intrigued. This was his chance.

"Yeah. The older kittens play it all the time. What you do is we both go quiet, and whoever can stay quiet the longest wins. Doesn't that sound fun?"

"Umm…" Demeter screwed up her nose in thought.

"Oh, no!" Munkustrap exclaimed in monk horror. "You can't talk, or you'll lose!" Demeter made an audible gasp and covered her mouth with her paws. Munkustrap smiled. Maybe this would work. He then found a nice spot, curled up, and laid down.

"Have we started yet?" whispered the little queen.

"Yes," he said without opening his eyes.

"Did I lose?" the kitten mewed sadly.

"No," Munkustrap said, opening his eyes and turning around to her.

"Then does that mean I won!" Her eyes glimmered with hope.

"Everlasting Cat, no!" Munkustrap huffed. Minor set-back. It' all right, lets just try this again. "That was just a practice, ok? Look, we'll start the real game starting….NOW!" The fidgety little Demeter dramatically put her paw over her mouth. Munkustrap smiled devilishly and resumed his spot.

Little Demeter stirred in her sitting position, staring at the tired kitten. She started to pace for a moment, but when Munkustrap opened his eyes to give her a look, she stopped and sat again. Then she stared…and stared some more. She did a bit of grooming, hoping to take up some time and energy, and then she resorted to scratching her ear. Then she poked at the silver waving tail, which quickly flickered up and out of the way, the green eyes not once opening. Demeter sighed.

Then she got into pouncing position. The tail was very tempting, waving around like a silver fish in a tiny pond… She wiggled her little rump as most kittens do, and this tell tale sign was followed by—

There was a loud yelp that escaped Munkustrap's mouth, as he was yanked out of his half-sleeping state. Simultaneously, he shot up, causing the kitten, who had landed on his back, to fly forward and smack into the drawer of an old discarded desk, the momentum of a flying kitten ramming into the end causing it to slam shut.

"Everlasting Cat, Demeter! …Are you okay?" He raced over to the desk drawer and yanked it open. The little kitten looked slightly fazed. Munkustrap shoved her slightly with his paw. The kitten looked into his eyes for a moment, before a huge grin split across her face.

"I WIN!" she screamed. She hopped out of the desk and danced around doing an "I won!" dance while a black cloud seemed to loom over the little tom kitten. "Now let's play tag! You're it!" She poked Munkustrap and ran off, looking back momentarily to see how far ahead she was before running out of sight.

"Ow," the kitten moaned, rubbing where the playful little queen had poked him. He had spent half the day chasing after Tugger, he wasn't about to chase after her. Curling up, he scoffed to himself and took in a deep breath. He then let his furrowed brow rest, telling himself that she would get the hint soon

The happy little kitten ran through the various piles of the junkyard laughing to herself and thinking she had outrun Munkustrap. She looked behind her to make sure that he wasn't being followed when—

"Mew!" she yelped as she crashed into a furry body. Looking up, the barely fazed Macavity was working madly on some little human gadgets, apparently trying to get them to work, without any idea how. When Demeter kept staring at him, slightly dazed but no less curious, he sighed, shoulders drooping, before putting down the strange objects and looking down at the little kitten.

"What are you doing here, kitten," he said harshly. Apparently being twice her age at the time, he felt like he needn't be bothered by kittens, even though he was still much the kitten himself. His ginger fur looked well taken care of, but certainly only because the cats made him care about his furs' appearance.

"I was playing with Munkustrap!" she said cheerfully. She so rarely sees this strange kitten; she all but forgot he existed! Though he was said to torment the kittens, she was always protected by Bombalurina or Munkustrap, (mainly because she was always following one or the other.) "Wanna play?"

He rolled his eyes quite dramatically. "Can't you see I'm working here? Now go off and do whatever it is that kittens do." He waved his paw at her and turned to go back to his things.

"But…you're a kitten," she stated dumbly. "So, can I do what you're doing?"

"I'm not a kitten…I'm just age challenged." He said, not taking his eyes off his project. "And I don't need the help of an orphaned little kitten."

"Orphaned?" Demeter asked. "What's that mean?"

"It means you have no parents…Oh, great! Now look what you made me do!" he growled slightly, as the item in his hand started sparking out of control. He was tempted to hit the kitten, were it not for his motivation to finish his projects. That meant no major distraction…What could he do to fix this? He needed human tools…and to figure out how to work them.

"I have a mommy!"

"What?" Macavity looked around as though he forgot the little queen was actually in his presence.

"Bomby said that our mommy left us with the Jellicles so that they could take care of us until she came back for us!" Demeter stated proudly. Macavity stared at the little girl before smirking. Then his smirking turned into an amused laugh.

"I forgot how dumb kittens were," he said to her, who looked up at him in confusion. Then, he bent so close to the little kitten, she could smell the tuna on his breath, and said in a malicious little voice, "Mothers abandon their kittens all the time. And they don't come back for them. They leave them for good! Like Alonzo. His mom dumped him in a trashcan and he wondered around like an idiot until he ran into Jenny. And Cassandra? Dumped at the entrance! And you and your sister? Left in the cold at a train station until Skimbleshanks found you. And you know why that happens to those kittens? Their mommies don't want them."

"I…don't get it," she said in a very feeble voice.

"Well no wonder your mommy left you. Can't even understand something as simple as that? Let me dumb it down for you. You're not worth another cat's attention. Your own mother didn't want you. And I'm sure none of the other cats want you either. And soon your sister is going to leave you. And it would serve you right for chasing your mommy away. You're like a pesky little mouse squeaking in their ear when they sleep. And you know what I do with mice?" He threw the broken object in his hands against a pile of junk, making it spark up dramatically before crashing to the floor in pieces.

Demeter screamed, and ran as Macavity laughed at the kitten. 'About time she got away from me,' he thought before turning back to his projects.

Demeter didn't quite understand everything that was said to her, but she got the basic idea. Orphaned meant that she was bad and her mother didn't want her. And she probably made mommy leave Bombalurina too. It was all her fault. As her little mind tried to grasp this concept, she absentmindedly found her way back to Munkustrap, who had been catnapping…not even looking for her…

"Munkustrap?" she asked in an unusual voice. The silver kitten couldn't hide the annoyed look on his face before replacing it with concern when he saw the expression on the tiny queen. But that look was enough. She burst into tears and ran off to find Bombalurina. Munkustrap ran to look for her, but when he finally found her, Bombalurina hissed at him and took her crying sister away. Whenever her sister was sad, Bombalurina detested anyone who would dare come near her.

Including those with good intentions…

Authors note: I hate physics. Isn't that all that matters in life? Just kidding. Anyways...to get on with things...

Mystitat: Thank you for your review! And yes, I believe Grizabella has been suffering from bad judgement calls her whole life. Oh, how I wish people like that didn't exist! The paragraph thing I should keep an eye out. My first time being the Omnipotent Author! And I DO read through it! Up to three times! Outloud! This one I only read once though...(so don't be surprised if you find typos in it). Oh, and I acutally did mean to use insanely. Maybe not the best choice of words, but I couldn't think of a good word and I was trying to get that paragraph out of the way. So it's not a typo, per say, just my lack of a thesaurus! Lol!

Krissy4: Heh, I'm glad my Macavity amuses you! prolly not so much in this chapter, but he grew meaner as he grew older. Damn little pipsqeuak!

Thank you for reading and reviewing! Please feel free to review...review...and review. oh, and actually read the chapter. Isn't that what i should be pushing for? >