((Yay Mungo and Rumpel! I still want to rewrite trash and treasure, but this is good stuff XD))

Chapter Six: In a Huff

"Cettie, we gotta talk to you." An orange striped queen with a rich cockney accent murmured, pulling the small cat into her den.

"Guess what our jobs are this week?" A similar black and orange tabby asked her as she entered the den, which was decorated with every little thing you may imagine.

"Uhm, Friday night entertainment?" Etcetera guessed blindly, surprise by the whole thing.

"Nope."

"Guess again."

A pause.

"Saturday night entertainment?" She guessed again after being forced to sit down and eat a bit of biscuit.

"Nope." Rumpelteazer said again in her sing-song voice.

"We're the punishment overseers." Mungojerrie revealed, a broad grin on his face.

"And you're telling me this because…?" She questioned, placing the old piece of bread down on the blanket next to her.

"We caught wind of word that you gave someone a mouse toy full of catnip the other day?" Rumpelteazer questioned, discarding her bread as well.

"Oh, yeah… about that…"

"Trash duty on Friday." Mungojerrie interrupted, throwing his piece of bread over with the others.

"Not very good, is it?" Rumpelteazer questioned.

"It's stale." He replied blandly, turning back to Cettie.

"Trash duty?" She questioned, her mouth slightly agape.

"Yup. You get to pick it up."

"We live in a junkyard!"

"Exactly our point, dearest." Rumpelteazer said, patting her shoulder.

"Tell your sister to come, too." Mungojerrie added before shooing her out the door. They exchanged a smile.

"I like our new job." Rumpelteazer grinned, throwing herself back on her pile of blankets.

"I do too…" Mungojerrie replied, sitting down next to her.

"You sound sad." She pointed out, rolling over to face him.

"Tired, I guess."

"You sleep all day. How can you be tired?"

"I don't know." He replied defensively.

"Do you want to tell me something?" She questioned, sitting up.

"There's nothing to tell you." He said, looking away from her bright yellow eyes.

"Are you sure?" She asked, her lips pursed.

"Yes." He said, glancing downwards again.

"You're lying to me again." She said, placing a paw on her friend's shoulder.

"No, Rumpelteazer, I'm not." He said, looking up at her finally. She didn't say another word, just stood up and left. Just left, as if he'd said something truly offensive. He stared after her for a while before burying his face in his paws.

"Queens."

ooo

Rumpelteazer didn't know where she was going. She didn't care. So long as it was far, far away from where she'd been. Sometimes she just got so mad at her life-long friend, and she never wanted to explode at him. She didn't want to hurt him, she cared too much. But when she got right down to it, she didn't know which would hurt him more- staying, yelling, crashing, apologizing, and crying all night at home, or leaving, screaming, crashing, and crying all night away from home. She'd certainly rather be back in their warm den right now, apologizing for the hurtful things she would have said if she had stayed. And she had this nagging feeling that he would understand and accept her… and hold her. No, that didn't matter. She wanted to be at home because it was warm, safe and dry, unlike the upturned garbage can she found herself in. It wasn't because he'd be there, telling her everything would come out right in the end. As she lay in the back of the garbage bin, she imagined he were there with her. Holding her, whispering to her. She heard what he said.

"Run home, Teazer."
She didn't.

ooo

The night disappeared and turned to day and Mungojerrie paced the length of his den over and over again. Rumpelteazer always came back after a few hours. Always. Now he began to worry about her, but he immediately stopped himself.

"Why should you care what she does?" He asked himself, flopping down on his bed. He kept repeated that to himself as he finally fell asleep, making up for hours he had missed.

Around nightfall Rumpelteazer crept back into the den and curled up in her bed. She was fairly sure she'd caught cold, but was too tired to go to Jenny. Her original intent had been to sleep somewhere else so she could continue her life back here, but she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep last night. As she kneaded the blankets up in content, she looked at her friend and sighed. She'd have to talk to him when he woke up. She should stay awake to wait for him. Her plan died hard as she flopped down and fell asleep, as if unconscious.

When Mungojerrie woke up, the first thing he noticed was that Rumpelteazer had returned and was now sleeping on the pile of blankets next to him, curled up in a tight ball. He rolled over and sat up, gazing at her for a second. Then he left, knowing that she wouldn't want to talk when she woke up.

Rumpelteazer woke up about three hours later, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she sat up. She was in a better mood now, and fully ready to confront Mungojerrie and apologize for walking out on him. She looked around the den and realized it was empty.

"He left…" She murmured, wrapping her blanket around her shoulders. Why had he left? Maybe he didn't want to talk to her, but why? Every time she left, he was always there when she got back, wanting to know what happened, if he'd said something.

"I guess it's true what they say," She said to nobody in particular as she stood up. "You don't know what you have til it's gone." But who says that, really? Besides herself, of course. She began pacing back and forth, imagining all the scenes that could have lead to him leaving.

The one that kept replaying in her head was him being happy she left and upon seeing that she'd come back and leaving in a huff.