And… here's a new chapter.

Reviewer Thanks

starspring: LOL, there is no way the Puss in my story is going to be like the Puss in Shrek! (though, I may have to watch for that, just in case…) Glad my story never loses your attention, thank you!

Mr. Geppetto wasn't so happy when Pin and I came home covered in muck and algae, and he was really pissed when he found out that we got that way because we were in the swamp. The only way he could have gotten any angrier is if he found out we almost got eaten by a troll. But, even if he did, he couldn't get any angrier than he was now. "What have I told you about going near the swamp?!" he yelled at Pin. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that place is?! And worse, you took Blu with you! What if you both got lost, or if one of you was eaten by a troll?! Or WORSE…"

He went on and on about all the bad things that could have (or almost did) happen to us, from sinking in quicksand to catching the West Nile disease from mosquitoes. Pin just stood there, staring at his feet sadly as his dad scolded him and Jiminy glared at him from down on the floor.

I felt sorry for him. He had talked a bit of confidence into me, and now he was getting chewed out for trying to help me. On most occasions, I never mind letting someone take the blame for any trouble I got in, but right now it wasn't one of those occasions. "And furthermore--" Geppetto continued.

…until I cut him off. "It wasn't his fault!" I said, firmly. "I dragged him into the swamp. He told me not to go in there, but I called him a chicken and began to walk off. He tried to stop me, but I didn't listen. Then I wandered off the path, and he tried to warn me, but instead I grabbed him and pulled him along, and we fell into the bog. …He finally nagged me to the point where I decided to come back. But nothing bad happened, we were barely a hundred feet into the swamp!"

Pin stared at me in disbelief. Apparently, no one has ever took the blame for his faults before. "You… took my son into the swamp?" Geppetto asked, in disbelief.

"Yeah, but just to explore. …What I'm saying is, Pin wasn't responsible for the mess we're in-- no pun intended. So, if you're going to yell at anyone, it might as well be me."

"See?! I told you she was a bad influence!" Jiminy yelled. "She's nothing but a criminalized, ill-mannered, hot-tempered little--- ACK!!"

That "Ack!" was Jiminy's reply after Pin kicked him across the room. "Not now, Jiminy," he hissed. Then he turned to me. "Blu, listen, you don't---"

"Nope. It's all my fault, Pin. I dragged you into all this." I said. It was the only truthful part of my testimony. If I hadn't run away, Pin wouldn't have gone through all that trouble to help me. I turned to Geppetto. "I'll save you both more trouble and just go home."

"I'll walk you home," Pin turned to his dad. "If that's alright."

Geppetto sighed, sternly. "Fine, but you'd better be back right away… and no detours!" he said, then turned to me. "And I'll have a talk with your aunt and uncle about this tomorrow."

It was weird howh a man who was so nice and understanding that morning had become so strict by the afternoon. I decided to save my protests against Pin's chivalry and keep us both from getting into deeper shit. Jiminy tried to follow us out the door, but Pin slammed it in his face while he was in mid-hop. The last thing I heard from him was "Oof!"

Once we were outside of his house Pin pulled me close and whispered, "Go around back and climb up our satellite antenna. I'll unlock the skylight so you can come in." He gave me a wink and smiled, then ran off.

That kid was so overly nice, that if I wasn't so appreciative, I'd barf.

3rd Person POV

If there were any other diabolical hitmen in Fairytale Land, they would be no competition for Puss in Boots. He was once a good guy-- helping a boy marry a princess and outsmarting an ogre to get them a castle… but he gave up his hero business when no one paid him any gratitude. After all it was his idea! So, he got his own Fairytale story, big whoop!

He didn't care about being in some dumb book, let alone allow his character to be devalued by the producers of Shrek. He just wanted to get credit for the things he did…

…And the only way he got his 'credit' was killing someone that someone else didn't want around. He started his little 'business' when a man had asked him to push Humpty Dumpty off the wall, and he offered to pay big. Which he did. Humpty Dumpty was a smart-ass, cynical egghead (no pun intended) anyway, and no one really liked him (a/n: sorry for those of you who actually liked his story). Soon, it became a habit. He'd either offer to take someone out when he heard another someone didn't want them around, or someone else would come to him themselves. And he had no regrets.

…Though, he felt a little remorse for one job. He was hired by a man named John to take out this 'merry man' in tights. He saw the man near a house out in the woods, yet it was broad daylight, and he knew merry men were hard to find at night in the woods, so he decided to make his work as discrete as possible by using his archery skills---

---but a dumb singing songbird flew up right in front of him whistling "Ok2bGay" by Tomboy and messed up his aim at the last minute, sending the arrow flying through the window right into an outlet. Next thing he knew, the merry man was running for help, and the house was up in flames. He watched as a young girl leaped out of her window, landing on the ground and possibly breaking her neck.

He decided to temporarily return to his hero business and drag her away from the fire, pushing aside his irritation as she cried for her parents. He dragged her into the bushes and disappeared…

…and now he was being paid to kill her. But for what? Puss couldn't help ask himself. Sure, the girl was a pick-pocket, shop-lifter, and had a wise-cracked attitude, but why would the Big Bad Wolf (aka Biggy) want her to be killed?

Whenever questions like that filled Puss' mind, he calmly took a deep breath… and ignored them, then returned to his job. He watched as the young girl climbed onto the roof of a building, and climbed through a skylight. The hit-cat leaped across to the roof and looked through the window, watching as the girl lied down to sleep.

"This shall be done quick." Puss said in a Romanian (not Spanish) accent, preparing to open the window, leap down, draw his sword, and do what he was paid to do. Suddenly, a blue light shone on him, and he jumped. Had a police helicopter spotted him?

Then he saw little sparkles float around him, swirling around his body and lifting him into the air. You shouldn't go around killing people, Puss in Boots. An angelic voice said in his head. Was it his conscience, or was he going insane? More sparkles appeared, forming a hand, which caressed the hit-cat's soft, furry, black and white face…

Then turned into a fist and punched the pussy off the roof. Especially my daughter, you murderous jackass! the angelic voice said, only it was cold and harsh this time.

Puss in Boots fell off the building, but luckily, he was a cat, and cats always land on their---

*SPLAT!*

…faces?

The Other Protagonist's (aka Pin) POV

I had to make my shower quick, washing off all the gunk as I possibly could in a short amount of time. I finished within five minutes, and dad wasn't expecting me to be done for another ten or fifteen. I kept the shower running, wrapping a towel around myself, and peeking out the door.

When the coast was clear, I waved a signal to Blu, and she ran down the hall as quietly as possible and slipped inside the bathroom. She was about to undress, but then gave me an annoyed look. "You can go, now." she said.

"I can't." I replied. "If my dad finds out I'm not in the shower, he'll get suspicious. I'll have to stay in here in case he comes up." She glared at me, obviously feeling as if I were invading her privacy… or being a pervert. "I'll close my eyes and turn away." I covered my eyes with both of my hands and turned towards the wall.

"If you peek, you'll die. …I mean it, Pin. I'm not afraid to go back to jail."

I kept my eyes covered, listening to the sound of her clothes being thrown to the floor. Whatever you do, to NOT picture her naked! my conscience (that is, my REAL conscience) told me. I didn't. "You in the shower yet?"

"Yeah, you can uncover your eyes, now."

I uncovered my eyes and grabbed my clothes off the bathroom counter, dressing myself as Blu washed the muck off her. I put on a deep-blu T-shirt with a picture of a surfboard on it, and a pair of Hawaiian shorts. I towel-dried my hair, rubbing some leftover green stuff out of my hair. Suddenly, I heard the most heart-stopping sound ever.

My dad's voice. "Pinocchio?" he said, knocking on the door. "Are you almost finished?"

"Uh, just about, dad!" I replied, trying hard not to sound nervous. "Just give me a couple more minutes!"

"For as long as you're taking, you'd better clean out all that mud and algae out of the shower!"

"I will!" …And I would regret it. I despised having to clean the shower… Actually, I despised cleaning any part of the bathroom, including the toilet. Actually, I just hated cleaning, period.

I listened as my dad's footsteps grew faint, and I looked through the keyhole to see if he was still out there. He walked into his room. Oh, thank God… I thought, thankfully.

"Hand me a towel, would you?" Blu said, quietly, sticking her hand out. I grabbed a fresh towel off the bathroom shelf and handed it to her. "Thank you."

"Here's some clothes, too." I said, holding up an extra set of clothes I grabbed for her. She took them and dressed in the shower, then stepped out wearing my red T-shirt with the word 'Unpredictable' written across it in white, along with a pair of brown, orange, and red plaid pants. They fit her perfectly… and I don't know whether that should be a good thing for her, or an embarrassing thing for me. I mean, Pinocchio's clothes in a girl's size?! Not exactly something you read in the story.

"Got a hair-dryer?" I handed her one, and she began to dry her hair, running my brush through it to work out the tangles.

"Don't take so long with it, dad will get suspicious."

"What's with you and getting your dad suspicious?"

"Just hurry up, please."

Within a couple minutes, she had finished. I looked out the door, and the hallway was clear. I motioned Blu to follow me… and that's when I realized we weren't alone. "What's SHE doing here?!" Jiminy demanded. I looked down and saw that he was glaring at us. "Oh, just wait until I tell your father about thi-- Augh!"

Blu picked up Jiminy by his jacket, carried him over to the toilet, dropped him in, and within a flush, he went on a little whirlpool ride. "That should keep him out of our hair for a while," she said, brushing her hands together in accomplishment. "Sorry I had to do that to your 'conscience', but his bitching was getting on my nerves."

I shrugged. "It's okay. I have a real conscience, so I don't really need him around. …Though, I hope he'll be okay…"

"Dude, I could run that bug over with a monster truck, and he still wouldn't die. …You think he's part cockroach?"

I shrugged again. "Could be." We snuck over to my room, and Blu lied down in bed. "I'll be right back. I gotta clean up the mess in the bathroom."

Blu rolled her eyes. "Must you be so goody-goody?"

"If it'll keep me out of trouble."

"You know, you're so polite… either that, or you're too stupid to offend."

I gave a mocking smile and nodded. "Thank you." I then headed to the bathroom, scrubbing mud out of the shower and unclogging algae from the drain. It took me a while, but I got it---

---wait, is that a cat screeching?

I shrugged, ignoring the sound. I hear all sorts of sounds from the alley, and cats wailing was the most common. Once I was done with the shower, I crept back over to my room. I set my alarm clock to 4 AM, just so I could help Blu escape before my dad woke up.

I then lied in bed next to her, and she was already fast asleep. I covered her with the blankets, lying on top of the sheets, then just looked at her. She was pretty beautiful while she was asleep. A strand of blonde hair fell in her face, so I brushed it aside… and (you won't believe this) a smile shown on her face, and she wrapped her arm around me, snuggling up close and lying her head on my shoulder, breathing softly.

She must be really out of it. I thought, realizing how strange it was for her to do such a thing… even in her sleep.

But, still, I savored the moment, and wrapped my arms around her. I looked up at the skylight, noticing an array of sparkles glittering down on us. "I'll take care of her," I whispered up to the stars. "Don't worry." And then I drifted to sleep.

Jiminy's POV

I climbed out of a gutter after my jet-stream ride through the sewers.

Now it's PERSONAL!

A/N: And another chapter is complete! …Anyone catch the lines from "Madagascar" and "The Hangover"? XD Review, please!