Chapter 5

The white tom-cat slept like a stone for the little time he had to do so. Just past dawn he was awakened by a sharp prodding to his side.

"Hey," a cat hissed. "You need to get up. Socks is wanting you."

Fluffy rolled over groggily, only to wince as another jabbing paw connected with his flank. "I'm going," he groaned, rising unsteadily to his paws. "Give me a heartbeat, will you?"

"Pets," the cat grumbled, and Fluffy noticed that many cats were already milling about the clearing, with some leaving to go and hunt. He didn't reply, and the cat led him to the entrance of the leader's den.

"Is she inside?" he asked, to which the messenger shook his head.

"She doesn't like it in there. She'll be with you in a moment." With that, the wiry cat left to join someone else, elsewhere in the camp.

Fluffy only waited for a heartbeat before Socks showed up.

He hadn't seen many she-cats, but the ones he had met did not look like the Diamonds' leader at all. While most of the she-cat pets he'd known were slender and graceful and beautiful - not unlike Lion, actually - Socks was stocky, with powerful looking muscles and large paws. Maybe it was just a pet thing.

"So, you're the pet everyone's telling me about," she said, a coolness in her voice that matched her steely gray eyes. "You look like you've seen better days."

Fluffy was taken aback. What had happened to the gentle, soft-spoken females that he'd seen back at his old home?

Then again, he reminded himself, this city has already broken every rule I can think of.

"I haven't had the easiest of journeys," he replied hotly, his disposition in stark contrast to the leader's.

She made an amused sound in the back of her throat, looking him up and down. "Clearly. Surely a cat like yourself would have heard of grooming," she teased, giving her own dark brown tabby pelt a lick. "So what do you go by?"

Fluffy paused. Could he give her his name? She seemed like the kind of cat who would mock him about it for the rest of his life.

"So it's stupid," she accused, white tail-tip twitching. "Too bad for you."

Fluffy didn't reply, his fuzzy brow furrowing in thought.

This is shaky ground I'm padding on. She seems like an intelligent cat, being able to lead a band of city-cats so well.

She poked him with a white paw. "You look like a Fluffy to me."

Fluffy couldn't hide the shock that registered on his smushed in face. "How..."

Socks was surprised as well. "That was really it?"

"What's going on here?"

Two heads, one tom-cat and one she-cat, turned at the same time. Before them stood and orange tabby tom-cat, looking more than slightly irritated.

"Hello, Tiger," Socks nearly snarled, her ears flattening. Tiger's eyes were equally cold as he replied.

"Just checking up on my leader and mate. Something wrong with that?" Poison dripped from the green-eyed tom-cat's words like venom from a snake's bite.

The apparently mated pair glared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, having some sort of silent conversation. Finally, Tiger stalked away to do stars knew what, and Socks turned back to Fluffy.

"What are you still doing here?" she seethed, previously icy demeanor turned livid. "Get out!"

Fluffy scrambled to his paws, narrowly dodging a swipe to the ear as he raced back to the prisoners' den, more confused than ever.

"That didn't go quite so well, now did it?" Lion's voice purred from behind the panting white tom-cat.

Fluffy whirled around, still breathless. His icy blue eyes burned as he shoved his nose closer to his golden denmate. "I will say this once, got it? Don't mess with me. Not now, not ever. I just want to leave and go back home," he snarled, but Lion looked unruffled.

"If you want to leave, ask Socks. She is the one with authority, not I," he replied patiently. "I'm sure that after your half-moon of service, she will let you depart."

Fluffy was still rankled by the yellow tom-cat, but backed away a bit and sat down. "Half-moon of service?" he questioned, before starting to lick the tangles out of his thick, white fur with his rasping tongue.

"Every cat who stays in our camp for a night or more or eats some of our prey must repay the band with a half-moon of helping around the camp, or hunting, which you cannot do," Lion answered, before making a soft sound of disgust. "It's impolite to groom yourself in the presence of another cat, you know."

"Get over it," Fluffy replied, his voice muffled by a mouthful of fur, "or get out."

Lion smiled. "I am not allowed to do the latter, just the same as you. While you are simply a guest, I am an actual prisoner here."

Fluffy didn't answer, partially because he couldn't think of anything good to say, and partially because of the growing number of hairs stuck in his mouth.

Lion shook his head in what looked like pity. "The city and its violent customs have claimed another pet," he said softly before lying down at the mouth of the den, eyes trained on the clearing. For a long moment, no one spoke. Once Fluffy had groomed himself to satisfaction and had pawed all the fur out of his mouth, he too laid down at the den's entrance, trying to find what the other prisoner was looking at. "For your information," he spoke up breezily, "I am watching."

"Watching?" Fluffy echoed, resting his rounded head on his now-clean paws.

"It is exactly as it is called," Lion explained. "I find simply sitting in this cramped den alone extremely tiresome, so I watch the going-ons of the rest of the cats. For example," he added, noticing Fluffy's dubious expression, "that orange tom-cat right beside the prey-pile is cheating on his mate. He is currently waiting for his newest interest so that they may go hunting together."

Fluffy blinked. "How can you tell?"

Lion smiled. "Watching. Look at that she-cat over by the kit-mothers' den. Her sister's only kit is sick, but neither of them know it yet."

"A sick kit? You'd keep that to yourself?" Fluffy asked, shocked. "That's horrible!"

"They would not heed my warnings. If anyone here trusted me, I would. They would think I'm lying, and Tiger would not be thrilled." The golden tom-cat's fur bristled. "Tiger is not a humane cat."

"What do you mean?" The long-haired tom-cat looked more than a little worried.

"Just stay on his good side," Lion replied cryptically. "You don't want to be in as much trouble as Socks."

"What?" Fluffy demanded. He didn't like the Diamonds' leader, but he was certain he disliked her mate even more. "She's the leader!"

"Keep your voice down!" Lion hissed quietly, retreating to the back of the den. "Do you want him to hear you?" He looked uncomfortable for the first time, disturbing Fluffy even more. The white cat obeyed, pressing himself against the den's back wall until metal scraps dug into his skin. "From what I've overheard," Lion continued, voice hushed, "he's planning on taking over as leader, and stars know what will happen to us then."

Fluffy shuddered. "How does Socks not know what's going on?"

The golden tabby looked sad. "She doesn't trust him, but she does believe he's above killing her."

The white cat's eyes immediately widened. "Killing her?!" he whispered. "Why would he do that?!"

"You are so young, little cat. There is much to the city you have yet to learn."

Fluffy, however, was distraught. "Who would kill another living cat?"he whimpered. "That's just...wrong."

"It is wrong. I agree. But that is the way it is." Lion replied, turning back to the den's mouth to resume his watching.

Tiger has to be stopped, he thought resolutely. He just can't be allowed to do something like that. Horrible images of dying cats filled Fluffy's mind, and he shook his head to try and clear it.

"Why don't you tell Socks? She has to do something," he persisted, voice shrill.

"Quiet, you insolent pet!" Lion hissed again, slapping his tail against Fluffy's mouth. He moved back to the darkness of the den, before explaining in a hushed voice. "Do you not see? The cats here do not trust me. I am a prisoner from outside of their home, a foreigner. They have known me for far too long for me to change in their eyes. Saving our band-that is up to you"

"Me?"

"You."

Fluffy looked doubtful, his ears flattened in discomfort. "Me," he repeated.

"You must befriend her if you ever want her to consider your information. Bring her rats, make her a nest, find her gifts. In short, you must be a real...suck-up, as city-cats say."

Fluffy thought about it for a moment before a purr rose in the back of his throat. "Sounds like you want her to fall in love with me," he accused teasingly.

"That," Lion replied with a mischievous grin, "would be perfect."