Then a crazed looking thing that was apparently supposed to be a cat walked in and began to dance and sing. Judging by the song, his name was Rum Tum Tugger. He flirted with all the kits, and they squealed with delight. Quaxo joined her on top of the old car trunk and whispered to her: "He's such a bore." Well, boring is one word. Psychotic is another. When his head began to turn toward her and some of the elder cats (who were looking at him distastefully), he noticed her unfamiliar and beautiful face. He began dancing toward her and flirt with her. Aileen slid away from him with wide eyes. At this all the elders and Quaxo began laughing. No kitten had ever actually run away from him. He looked unsatisfied and unhappy, so he rejoined his little fan club of kitties. What a weirdo! (Picture proves my point ¯ .)

Not long after, Aileen heard a high-pitched giggle and a loud hush. She saw two cheerful calicos dancing together with bags in their paws. Then they began to sing a funny, but happy little song. They, apparently, were called Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer. They were nice and funny, making Aileen laugh.

Then Quaxo's face suddenly changed, as did the sly twins' faces. Aileen suddenly sensed something, too. She felt the presence of a good, kind, and old cat. Quaxo saw that the look in her eyes and face was alike to his, and he breathed, "Old Deuteronomy?"

An old cat came walking towards them. All went to greet him. Aileen decided it would be better to wait until he reached her to greet him. When he came closer to her she spoke her name. "I am Aileen." Apparently he was told of her reason of presence before hand, for he did not seem too be surprised. She received a warm welcome from him and she sat next to him with Jemima and Victoria. "Now we can all rejoice!" Munkustrap announced.

Jemima then left his side and began to sing "Memory".Towards the end of the song, Aileen sat up and began to sing the duet of the song with Jemima. They had similar voices, and the sound was very pretty. Aileen had a light voice like Jemima's, but her voice was also somewhat lower than Jemima's. The duet was hauntingly beautiful.

When the song was done, Deuteronomy began to sing. They were very encouraging words. But suddenly, a booming laugh and sirens filled the area. A tall ginger cat stood triumphantly nearby, and then disappeared. Everyone but Deuteronomy and Munkustrap hid somewhere. Aileen began to shake uncontrollably and slunk very slowly into shadows. The awful memory of that night. The terrible laugh. The screams her mother let out. The horror of its memories sank into her skin.

When she looked up Jemima was at her side, rubbing her shoulder gently. Quaxo had told her. Aileen did not calm down for a while, and then she began to stop shaking, and she sat up.

Victoria and Jemima began to dance near each other. And then the song began. "Jellicle Cats" began, the song before the loss of innocence dance. Aileen crawled up next to Deuteronomy and watched the other cats dance and sing. Her ears perked up a bit as she heard, "We like to practice our airs and graces." And Aileen watched as Quaxo gracefully danced to his line. She just could not keep her eyes away from his graceful body and handsome face. Deuteronomy followed her gaze, and smiled. Young ones. He thought to himself.

"Jellicle cats have moonlit eyes." Aileen joined Cassandra on her line, and her eyes turned white and moonlike. She did not notice, but Quaxo glanced up at her at that moment. Her eyes are full of beauty and sorrow. Quaxo thought to himself. The first part of the dance was done, and now came the second part, the "loss of innocence".

They all began to dance very impressively, hoping to find a partner. Alonzo made his way to Cassandra. Tugger walked over to Bombarlarina. Like Jemima predicted, Pouncival and Etcetera began to dance towards each other. Jemima ended up next to Tumblebrutus once again. Electra went to Admetus. Victoria walked toward her partner last year, Plato. Demeter and Munkustrap walked contently towards each other then. While Aileen was watching the others, she did not see a young tom come up behind her, until he nudged her a little. Aileen looked up to face Quaxo's dark eyes. "Would you like to be my partner?" He asked her. Aileen turned a little pink, and finally nodded.

Aileen crawled unsurely up next to Quaxo. He let her come up next to him and he licked her ear. Aileen felt a little calmer. She gave him an affectionate nuzzle and they both smiled shyly as they came closer, and the world was focused on nothing but each other...

Some five hours later Aileen woke up with Quaxo by her side. At her sudden movement he knew she was awake too. Some others were just waking up from a deep sleep. Everyone else was still asleep. Tumblebrutus and Jemima were awake and talking to each other. "Hi!" Quaxo and Aileen called to Tumble and Jem. "Hey" they both answered a little shyly, pulling quickly away from each other. "Have a good time?" Quaxo playfully asked his friends. Batting his paw at him, Tumblebrutus answered, "Well, um... how about you?" Aileen giggled at the fact that he wouldn't answer. Quaxo turned a bit red, as did Aileen. "Yeah." He finally muttered as Jemima giggled. "We were just discussing something that we want your opinion on." Jemima stated proudly. "We're thinking of becoming mates." Quaxo looked in shock at the two. "You know what you must accept when you do that?" He gasped. "You must be devoted to your one mate, no other cat must be in your life. Are you two actually ready for that? I mean, wow." "I think that it is a great idea and that you should carry the idea out." Aileen advised. "You must be very careful about this decision, though." She added.

Others began to wake up, and soon every one was awake. They all greeted each other and then went on to the next part of the ball.

Quaxo and Aileen smiled brightly at each other as they thought about the hours before. They had talked to each other about themselves in more detail. Quaxo had told her that he was an only child, but Victoria (his cousin) had been like a sister to him. He said that he was a magic cat with abilities like evaporation, the ability to counjour, and the ability to create lightning from his paws. (Aileen shuddered a bit at the sound of 'lightning'.) He also mentioned that he brought back Deuteronomy last year when Macavity had catnapped him. Aileen hadn’t much to say, except that she was an only child, she had more amplified senses than most cats did, and that she had a phobia of lightning.

Quaxo's face turned a little paler than his already white face at the words of her last sentence. It was then that she had snuggled up closer to him and had fallen asleep in his arms, purring as he licked her head and fell asleep after her.

She had found her home at last.

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