A/N: MWAHAHA! YES, MINUIT THE CAT HAS RETURNED FROM A LOOOONG VACATION TO CONTINUE WITH THIS STORY! ... Yea. Sorry about the delay, my wonderful, lovely watchers. lol. You all earn a cyber-cookie for your fantastic patience!

I ONLY OWN THE PLOT AND THE FIGHTING FELINES DANGIT. HTF is NOT mine no matter how much wishing I do!

Note: I had to go back through this story to remember what happened. I'm incredibly sorry, my lovely readers...! *shot*

HTF HTF HTF HTF HTF

Splendid waited until Toothy had awoken from his sleep before letting go of him. He carefully pushed Toothy off of him, but kept tight enough hold that the still half-asleep beaver didn't fall out of the tree.

Toothy rubbed his eyes, then remembered where they were. He yawned tiredly, then looked curiously at Splendid.

"What are we gonna do now? How do we go forward if they're ahead of us?"

Splendid looked at him. "If they're ahead of us, that's good. It's less likely we'll be caught by them. The biggest problem would be entering the town."

"Oh," was Toothy's simple reply. Splendid found himself staring at the burn-mark on Toothy's cheek. "What? Is something wrong?" Toothy asked, confused. Splendid shook his head, glancing to the side.

What's happening to me? he thought silently to himself. He glanced back at the beaver, who was watching a caterpillar crawl by. Why do I find myself watching him every time my mind goes blank? Splendid suddenly had a thought, but he quickly pushed it away. No way, it's nothing like that.

"So... when are we going to continue on?"

Splendid was pulled out of his thoughts by Toothy's question. He looked back at Toothy, then said, "Now. But we'll have to be careful; there could be traps anywhere, and I don't feel like dying today."

Toothy nodded slightly in understanding. Splendid grabbed his wrist and started climbing down the tree. Toothy had immediately begun clinging to Splendid when he started climbing down. Toothy particularly didn't want to fall from so high in the tree.

When they reached the ground, Toothy quickly let go of Splendid, suddenly embarrassed. He also didn't want to annoy Splendid, especially since he seemed to be thinking about something.

Splendid had grabbed a stick to check for traps, but as he watched the stick he seemed to be deep in thought.

Toothy wanted to know what he was thinking, but didn't say anything as they walked through the forest.

-Happy Tree Town-

Giggles came into the living room, carrying a pitcher of tea. Mime had died in the earlier attack but he was back by then. The felines had literally dragged him to the house and tossed him in the door.

They all felt like prisoners.

"I can't wait for Splendid to get here, I'm sure he'll save us all," Giggles stated, sitting on the couch and hugging Cuddles.

"Just be careful not to drop anything for now," Petunia stated, glancing over at Flippy, who was sitting over with Flaky. "We don't want him flipping out..."

The others nodded in agreement.

"I hope Splendid and Toothy are alright," Cuddles said, glancing out the window. The felines had set guards up at the door and every window. "When do you think the misfortune of the town will affect them?"

"Soon, I hope," Sniffles said. "The first time I came to this town, I died after five minutes of being here. I don't see how they've been here for nearly a whole week and none have died yet..."

"That we know of, anyway," Giggles sighed. She looked over at Mole, who they had tied to a chair to keep him from breaking something. "What are we going to do if Splendid doesn't come?"

"Splendid WILL comes," Cuddles stated, trying to keep everyone's hopes up. He glanced over at Nutty, who they had knocked out to keep him quiet and from breaking something with his hyper-activeness. "He has to... he's our only chance."

-Splendid & Toothy-

Toothy began trailing behind the blue hero, but he didn't seem to notice. He was too deep in his own thoughts. Toothy glanced around, then heard a russling in the bushes. He glanced to the side and saw one of the fighting felines, a leopard. The leopard was watching him, grinning a devilish grin. Toothy noticed the gun in his hand and let out a small shriek, then ran to Splendid, who had been knocked out of his thoughts yet again, but this time by Toothy's shriek.

Splendid looked behind and saw the leopard dashing towards them. He quickly grabbed Toothy's wrist and began running, pulling the beaver along with him.

Toothy was terrified. He was even more so when he heard a gunshot. He wasn't very surprised when he felt a searing pain. What he was surprised about, however, was that the pain was in his leg and not his back or head.

Toothy let out a pained squeak and he stumbled, then fell, pulling Splendid down with him. Splendid looked at Toothy, about to tell him to watch where he stepped next time, but stopped himself before saying it upon seeing Toothy's shot leg. He growled something under his breath, then looked at the leopard, who stopped in front of them.

"Finally, I caught you two brats. You caused us a lot of problems, but now, finally, I caught you!" the feline started laughing cruelly. "And there's no getting away now that the purple one is hurt." He grinned sadistically. "Now the question is, who do I kill first? Hmm, I know! I'll start with my least favorite color, purple. Such a fag color, it disgusts me," he stated, glaring down at Toothy.

Splendid suddenly felt angrier than before. Something about him saying such a thing to Toothy didn't go well with Splendid... that and his sudden protectiveness of him.

Splendid let go of Toothy's wrist finally and jumped at the bigger feline, who was very surprised. Toothy watched as Splendid quite easily pulled the gun out of the leopard's hand.

"Such big words for someone so weak," Splendid hissed in the leopard's ear. "You made a big mistake when you shot my friend." Splendid knew he couldn't kill the leopard, not on purpose. He knew he wouldn't be able to bring himself to do it, no matter how bad the lopard was. He jumped down and went over to Toothy, all the while letting the bullets drop out of the gun before throwing it aside.

He quite suddenly picked the injured beaver up, then glared at the leopard, who was quite terrified now. He hadn't expected Splendid could disarm him so easily. Then Splendid was gone through the trees.

Not long afterward, Splendid had to put him down because he wanted to climb a tree to rest. He told Toothy to put his weight on his good leg, to lean against the tree if he had to, and that's what Toothy did. Splendid turned around told him to get on his back and to hold on like before. Toothy obeyed, knowing Splendid knew more about what was going on than he himself did.

When they reached a branch that was high enough and blocked on all sides by leaves-in fact, it had almost escaped his sights- he told Toothy to get on the branch. He got on after Toothy, who was clinging to the branch to keep his balance. Splendid suddenly pulled him closer to him.

"Stay still," he commanded, and Toothy obeyed. He watched as Splendid reached back and untied his mask. Toothy was confused, but he didn't ask. Then Splendid suddenly started wrapping Toothy's leg with his mask, and Toothy understood why. "When we get back to Happy Tree Town, we can actually do something about the bullet," Splendid told him.

Toothy nodded slightly in understanding. It felt odd to see Splendid without his mask, but Toothy didn't say anything about it.

I wonder why he cares so much... well... that's obvious, it's his job to care... Toothy suddenly thought to himself. Though isn't he afraid at all that I'll be able to recognize him later when he's in disguise?

Splendid was having similar thoughts as the younger tree friend was, only slightly different.

I don't understand why I feel so... protective over him. Before I knew it was just instinct- I'm a superhero after all... but it can't be simple instinct anymore. I wouldn't have gotten so angry at that leopard if it was simple instinct... Splendid suddenly blinked as a thought crosses his mind. Surely, I can't... I don't...

Surely I don't have a crush on him?

-Happy Tree Town-

"Commander, the leopard reports that he saw them. He was even kind enough to tell us that the squirrel is quite defensive of the beaver. What shall we do? Shall we send more troops out to find them?"

"No. In fact, call the troops back. They're just a beaver and a squirrel, they cannot do anything to us."

"If that is how you want it commander, I'll get on it right away."

"Oh, and Lynx... if they get to the town, tell me. I want to... observe them."

"As you wish."

-TO BE CONTINUED-

Well it seems Splendid's finally realized the obvious. Hehheh. So, any ideas as to what's gonna happen? Oh, by the way, the whole getting-shot thing came to me in a dream.

SO WHO'S GLAD I FINALLY FRIKKIN RETURNED?

Also, sorry it's not very long. XP I wanted to get it up so yeah.