PART TWO

Munkustrap had noticed Demeter's increasing absences from the Junkyard and he could never shake the horrible suspicion that it was somehow him that was driving her away. He knew that the extra duties he had to do as Old Deuteronomy's successor was going to be large, but it wasn't large enough that it would stop him from coming to see her alone so they could talk and catch-up. But strangely whenever he went to sought her out, he could never find her and he found himself becoming increasingly sadder ever time she wasn't around for him to talk to.

He missed her, terribly.

It felt like a part of himself was missing when she wasn't around and everytime he didn't see her this feeling kept on growing stronger and stronger.

It wasn't though until one particular day when he saw Demeter slowly walk through the Junkyard gate that he decided to act on his own accord for once and forget his responsibilities for a minute.

He had been sitting on the roof of the old car, discussing something important to Jennyanydots that he suddenly saw her and he paused completely mid speech.

His piercing eyes focussed entirely on Demeter's slowly moving form and Jennyanydots followed his gaze till it also landed on Demeter. She smiled secretly for a second before she suddenly patted Munkustrap gently on the paw.

"It's ok dear. Go and talk to her." She said gently with an encouraging smile.

Munkustrap beamed at the old Gumbie Cat and scampered off the car and down the pile of junk towards Demeter. Jennyanydots watched Munkustrap's enthused form as he followed Demeter with the most energy than she had seen in him for weeks.

She knew exactly why Demeter had been disappearing on and off since the last Jellicle Ball and she knew that Munkustrap would never be able to realise his love for Demeter because he was so blinded by his own responsibilities to guide, lead and protect that she knew he would not recognise his love for her for a little while yet.

What Jennyanydots didn't know was that her prediction had been going to occur sooner than she had thought.

When Munkustrap made his way to the bottom of the junk pile and reached Demeter, he was out of breath with excitement. It took a few seconds for him to get the courage to say her name, but the instant she turned and looked at him with surprise in her eyes he was no longer out of breath.

"Hey Demeter." He said with a smile.

"Hey." She replied with her usual quiet smile, oh how he had missed it.

"I haven't seen you around for a little while…" he started but his voice trailed off because it took a second longer while studying her that something was wrong.

She was limping.

He looked her over again properly and he saw a horrible sight.

Barely visible, underneath her bright gold and brown coloured fur, were many bruises. Great bruises of black and blue littered underneath her fur like another skin and they travelled all the way down her forearms, stomach and back.

The sight made him feel nauseously sick for a few seconds, but he controlled his stomach. The nausea quickly became replaced by numbing shock.

"What happened Demeter?" he whispered, raising his head to look clearly into her eyes.

The pleading innocence and worry in his eyes was too much for Demeter as she felt tears begin to rise in her own.

"It's ok. I got away." She replied and gave him a small smile to try and lighten the situation.

It didn't work.

His shock slowly began to evaporate into concern and make the seriousness inside his to take hold.

"Demeter what happened?" he asked, now sounding more serious and he gently lay his paws on top of her own in a sign of comfort. "Please tell me."

Demeter looked down at their conjoined paws and then back up at him, his eyes were silently pleading with her to tell him and she had never been able to resist it.

It was the same face that had gotten her to confess to him, when they were kittens, that she had accidentally sent one of the huge piles of junk to come sprawling to the ground because she had wanted to see how stable it was. Munkustrap had taken the blame for it because she had been so scared of getting in trouble from Old Deuteronomy.

But here he was again looking at her like this and she was even more scared than the last time she had seen it.

"I…was…" she began but her paws started to shake within his as the trauma of the memory of the attack came back to haunt her once again.

Munkustrap felt her paws begin to quiver and instantly he softly pulled her into his arms and gently hugged her.

The warm security of his forearms being around her and the soft black and white striped fur on his chest in which her face lay against caused Demeter to begin to cry.

She wasn't aware of Munkustrap picking her up in his forearms, or of being carried off to her den. The only thing she was aware of as she told the of the attack from Macavity out of her in-between her sobs and tears, was the feeling of his forearms around her and the slow motion of him rocking her before she fell into an exhausted sleep.

When she awoke she had found Bombalurina sleeping peacefully next to her and that Munkustrap had gone. Bombalurina had awoken a few seconds later and told Demeter that Munkustrap had told her everything and that she shouldn't be alone, that she wasn't alone in the world.

From that second Demeter and Bombalurina bonded and became close friends. No longer was Demeter alone and now she had someone to talk to about everything. Demeter poured out her heart to Bombalurina about her love for Munkustrap and Bombalurina had been very supportive and opened her own heart and told Demeter her own love about a certain Rum Tum Tugger. What Bombalurina didn't say to Demeter was her love for the black and white striped tom was obvious to everyone, except Munkustrap himself.

And so time passed and they grew even more, becoming adult Jellicle cats themselves and the next generation of Jellicles were born and the new adults found themselves watching out for and looking after the young kittens.

The Rum Tum Tugger still found himself to be the hunky idol for the kittens to drool after and he loved teasing them with a flick of his mane and a swing of his hips, but Bombalurina would always come and keep him in check. For she was the one queen he could never quite get enough of.

Demeter found herself becoming the cat aunt that every kitten loved, because she would never growl or hiss at him or her no matter what they had done. She would always welcome them with open arms and her warm smile on her face.

Munkustrap grew into a magnificently beautiful tom and his kindness, caring and protecting nature did not change. If there was ever a problem for anyone, they would always go to him first and he would always fix it.

But as they all grew up into adults, Munkustrap and Demeter friendship changed even further.

After Macavity's attack on her, Munkustrap always made sure what she was doing and if she had to go out somewhere outside the Junkyard, he would oversee himself to go with her just to make sure she would stay safe. He always made sure she had protection from Macavity if he came prowling around within the area of the Junkyard.

But as his protectiveness for her grew, they regained their lost gift for being able to have time to talk.

Whenever it got really late at night and every Jellicle was asleep in their dens, Munkustrap would always meet her on the roof of the old car and they would just talk the night away.

Making up for the time they had lost growing up.

And so they became best friends again.

Eventually another Ball came and went. Another cat was chosen to go to the Heaviside Layer. Macavity tried to crash the Ball and failed, again. Cats chose their mates and Old Deuteronomy disappeared at dawn.

Another year came by and time flew by.

Now all of the Jellicles were grown and the next year it would be them dancing for a mate under the Jellicle Moon.

This thought scared Demeter for she had only wanted to have one Jellicle be her mate since her first Ball.

Munkustrap.

But for some reason, since the announcement of him being Old Deuteronomy's chosen successor, he didn't dance as much as he used to. When the Jellicle moon fully rose and all of the Jellicles danced, she would always see him standing near the pile of tyres, watching everyone dance with a wistful expression on his face.

Sometimes she swore she could feel his eyes on her as she danced and sang, but everytime she briefly turned her head towards his stationary form, he was always looking somewhere else.

She didn't understand it, but she never wanted to ask him about it.

With every day that passed, they grew closer but no matter what happened he never made a move towards her that indicated if he had feelings for her or not.

Sometimes when they'd talk late at night on the hood of the car and watch the stars, and they stopped for a few seconds and just gaze at each other, the air around them seemed to spark with electricity and tension and something powerful…

But he would always break the magical spell an instant later by talking about something new and causing Demeter to just sigh quietly to herself.

If he did have any feelings for her, she knew that he wasn't going to risk their friendship by doing something more with her. And when she finally realised this she finally was able to graciously accept this and she stopped trying to win his affections and stopped worrying about it.

She devoted herself to try and be the best friend she could, using her love for him to be everything he needed her to be as a friend. Demeter always tried her best to live up to her self-promise, but ever now and then she would allow her love to shine out to him in a smile or in her eyes, although she never noticed it if she did because she did it whenever she looked or even spoke to him.

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