[A/N: So on top of this chapter being super tardy it's also super short. I only had the one idea for it which is why it's so short. In case you're wondering what happened to me the Hobbit happened. I saw

it and lost total interest in this story and started a Hobbit fic, but I'm back now so expect regular updates again. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

"Clementine, why am I still a cat? We left New York."

"Because we're in Jazzy Alleys and in case you haven't noticed we're cats too." Sure enough Clementine had changed both herself and Akio into cats.

In front of them was a large house and built into the front door was a cat flap.

Juliet pushed the flap forward with her paw and peeked inside. "Should we go in?" She was still looking into the cat flap when she saw a furry white face staring back at her. "There's somebody in there staring at me."

Akio peeked in to see the face too. "That's probably Duchess. Duchess, are you in there?"

The cat that came out of the flap was a sleek white female wearing a gold collar, but there were three vertical slash marks on her right cheek. "Oh, I remember you. You were with Noir."

Juliet frowned in confusion. "Who?"

Don't ask it's a long story.

"Do you mean Erik?"

"I think that was his name, but the Madam always called him Noir."

Clementine had been busy looking at the scratch marks on Duchess's face. "Duchess, what happened to your cheek?"

"Nothing, nothing happened to anyone's cheek."

"Looks like someone scratched you pretty good."

Duchess looked a bit fretful. "If I tell you will you promise not to tell my children? They love him so much."

"We'll be quiet."

"It was Mr. O'Malley. I don't understand why he did it either. He was so kind before then I just saw him on the street and he hit me." Tears were stinging her eyes.

Don't tell me this Mr. O'Malley was someone I messed up.

How perceptive of you.

Juliet was still looking at the scratch marks on Duchess's face. "Duchess, why don't I go talk to this Mr. O'Malley and we can get this straightened out."

"Oh, no don't do that. He may hit you too."

"Then I'll hit him back. I'll be back in a tick."

Duchess had her head down before turning to go back into the house. "Oh, how rude of me. Would the two of you like to come in?"

All three of Duchess's kittens were waiting for their Mother's return and were peering at Akio and Clementine in curiosity. The orange one went right up to Clementine. "Who are you? Are you the Madam's new pets?"

"No, we just thought we'd pay your Mom a visit."

The white kitten was looking up at Akio with a dreamy look on her face. "You're almost as handsome as Mr. O'Malley."

"Thank you….I think…."

By this point Juliet was in the back alleys of Paris and could hear loud jazz music as well as loud yowling coming from behind two garbage cans. She peeked around the cans to see an orange cat with a white belly engaged in a fight with a slightly portly black cat.

"Honestly I don't know what's gotten into you O'Malley. You don't recognize your friends and you're hitting Duchess."

So this is O'Malley? "Excuse me, mister I think I can help your friend."

"Leave the helping to me little lady all he needs is a good smack upside the head." He went to go do that when O'Malley knocked him backwards.

"No, really I can help." She bit O'Malley on the tail to get his attention. "Leave the butterball alone and fight someone who will give you a run for your money."

"Watch who you're calling butterball."

O'Malley lunged at Juliet knocking her down on her back.

"Oh, perfect."

O'Malley went to bite her when he felt a paw on his chest. Almost imminently the darkness started to clear from his eyes and he shook his head like he was trying to get water out of them. "Oh jeez my head hurts…what happened?"

"Oh, good your back O'Malley." The black cat pulled him into a hug. "If it weren't for this little lady you'd still be raising all kinds of hell."

Juliet started to back up when she saw O'Malley glare at her.

"If it weren't for her I wouldn't have been acting like this in the first place."

"Excuse me I just helped you. Besides instead of you yelling at me you should go and see Duchess."

"Don't tell me I did something to Duchess."

"You smacked her pretty hard."

O'Malley untangled himself from the black cat before darting out of the alley with Juliet close behind.

Duchess had been drinking milk that her mistress had left for her when she heard scratching at the front door. "Oh, I wonder who that could be?"

It was Juliet who was doing the scratching while O'Malley paced behind her.

"I can't believe I hit her. What if she doesn't want to see me?"

"O'Malley, it wasn't your fault. The darkness can make you do some stupid things believe me."

Duchess stuck her head out of the cat flap pausing when she saw O'Malley. "Mr. O'Malley?"

He winced at the scratch marks on her face. "Hey Duchess….look I just came to say I was sorry about hitting you and if you never want to see me again I understand."

She walked out of the cat flap and instead of hitting him or yelling she merely smiled. "I knew you'd never hurt me on purpose, Mr. O'Malley."

"Actually Duchess, I think I can clarify what brought on his strange behavior. Do you remember Noir?"

"Of course I remember Noir he was my friend."

"I was under his influence at the time and he cohered me into corrupting Mr. O'Malley's heart."

Duchess's smile melted away. "But he was my friend why would he do something so awful?"

"He used you. He used and abused a lot of my people."

Why are you bringing me into this?

Because someone needs to tell her the truth and I know you're too chicken to do it yourself. "So if everything is good here I'll just get Akio and Clementine and we can go."

"Thank you for helping Mr. O'Malley and for telling me the truth about….him."

"No worries…." She found Akio and Clementine listening to a black kitten playing the piano. "Well everything's good here we can go now."