A warm breeze drifted through the open window in the living room, filling the area with the strong scent of summer Barbeques and flower pollen, birds sung loudly in the trees and squabbled at the bird feeder outside the window. Nearby, a pair of tomcats caterwauled defiance at each other over territory among the streets while dogs barked and yapped from many different back yards.

A young cat, sleeping on the back of the brown couch shifted her weight and stretched, she opened her golden eyes and blinked away the harshness of the brightly lit room, then sat up and began to groom her dappled gray tortoiseshell coat, finishing off my licking both of her white fore-paws and drawing them each over the same-side ear in turn.

She stood and swiped her tongue over her nose, she rubbed the white bridge with a fore-paw and sneezed.

Marney jumped to the floor with a grunt, a shiver went down her spine as she remembered how vivid her dream had been, she could still taste the mouse on her lips, even though she had never actually hunted before, she would always watch the sparrows and starlings and wonder what it was like.

The young she-cat strolled into the kitchen, her humans were gone for the day, at a place they called "work", it was somewhere they had gone ever since she came to live with them when she was just over two moons old, she quickly realized that had been nearly six moons ago, her kitten-hood seemed so long ago now.

Her housefolk always left the window above the sink cracked open for her so that she could go in and out while they were gone.

She sniffed half-heartedly at the plate of soft, sloppy meat her humans left for her when they left, she had grown up eating it and the hard, dry pellets that tasted like dust but she never really cared for either of them, and the tastes and smells of her dream came flooding back, making her stomach turn at the smell of her food.

Quickly deciding that she wasn't hungry, Marney jumped onto the counter and pushed herself through the narrow opening in the window and left herself slither the few feet to the ground.

'I wonder what mouse really tastes like?'
she asked herself, perhaps she should try hunting for real this time? Her muscles flexed at the idea.

Marney made her way around her humans den to the front and stared across the dark gray path that the monsters the humans rode around in used.
Try as she might, she could never get used to the smell, just across the harsh smelling, hard path was another nest, much like her humans, here is where her best friend lived.

The young she-cat made her way quickly across the path, it was already hot and sticky beneath her paws and strode to the front of the nest.

She glanced towards the window on the left and there, as always, a black and white lump was dozing in the window-ledge.

"Sebastian!"
Marney called quietly

"Sebastian!"
she called again when he didn't stir.
"Seb!, Sebby!"

The black and white cat lifted his head, green eyes gleaming with anger as he looked for the sound that had woken him, then his gaze brightened as he spotted the cat in his yard.

"Marney! Hi!"
he called back
"hold on, I'll be right there"

Marney watched as Sebastian disappeared from the window, moments later, a clatter told her that he was squeezing his way through the cat-flap on the front door of the den, Marneys humans den didn't have one of these.

"I thought you were Arnold!"
Sebastian growled
"that Pesky tabby kept me up all night the other day"

"I wondered why you were still asleep, you lazy lump!"

Marney teased
"You better be glad I'm around to make sure you don't sleep your life away!"

Marney gave the tom a light shove, they were about the same age, about 8 moons each, Sebastian came to live with his housefolk, not long after Marney did, despite that fact, he was already slightly bigger than she was. They had been friends for a long time, in fact, it was Marney who first urged Sebastian to start coming outside and they had met up this way every day for many moons.

"Cut me a break, would ya?"
Sebastian growled irritably
"The housefolk took me to the vet this morning"

"Really? why?"

Marney shuttered, Her housefolk had only ever taken her to the place called the "vet" once since she'd came to live with them, she hated it, it was a scary, foul smelling place and there were always lots of other animals there, mostly loud, noisy dogs and funny smelling housefolk that poked and prodded with sharp, pointed stingers on their paws.

"Vaccinations"
Sebastion growled
"I gotta tell you something, those things hurt! and then the vet put
something up my rear! stuff is supposed to come out of there, not go in!"

Then he added mischievously
"But the ole' vet won't forget me in a hurry"

"You scratch him?"

Marney asked

"yeup! twice!"

Sebastian purred

"they didn't..uhm, they didn't get you cut, did they?"
Marney asked nerviously

"what? no, of course not!"
Sebastian growled proudly
"and they better not, either"

Despite Sebastians optimism, Marney knew that almost all house cats were taken to the vet to be altered at some point and that one day, it would happen to her, it was a day she always dreaded, she had always wanted kittens of her own one day.

The pair got up and padded across the yard, shoulder to shoulder, pelts barely touching.

"I had that dream again, Seb"
Marney purred as they laid down together in the shade of the oak tree in Sebastians yard.

"What dream?"
Sebastian asked, seeming only mildly interested as he licked the bottom of his foreleg and drew the fore-paw over his ear to clean it.

"The one where I'm in the forest"

Sebastian sniffed
"That one again?"

"What?"

"Nothing"
Sebastian mewed as he looked up at her
"it just seems like you have that dream a lot, Marn' "

"So?"

Marney growled
"what's so wrong with that?"

"Well..."

Sebastian began hesitantly
"It's just a little weird, that's all"
He flinched as Marney glared at him, her amber eyes blazing.

"What do you mean '

weird' ?"
she asked

"I'm just saying that you don't hear the other house cats going around and talking about dreams of roaming forests and eating mice"

Sebastian mewed curtly

Marney sighed
"I'm not like the other house cats"

"I know, No one is expecting you to be"

Sebastian replied.

"I mean, is it so wrong to think that I might want more in my life than sitting on a Housefolks lap all day and being petted, or doing my business in the same place every day? do you know how gross that gets? I want a life, Seb! I want to be able to do as I please, do what I want without being expected to come home at a certain time"

Marney paused

"I want kittens of my own one day, I want to be able to raise those kittens, teach them everything I know, not just raise them until the housefolk decide it's time for them to leave"
She continued

"I still don't understand what's so wrong with having a simple life?"
Sebstian growled

"A simple life? You mean seeing the same sights every day? The same smells? Eating the same thing, day after day? I know you don't like to think so, but whether you want to believe it or not, one day they will take us to the vet to be altered. It happened to old Tucker down the street and do you remember when Misty had her kittens? how devastated she was when her Housefolk took them away too young and then got her altered so she could never have anymore? She was never the same, she layed around the time,stopped eating, she died, Sebastian! Died of a broken heart. I don't want that to happen to either of us"

Sebastian didn't answer, so Marney continued

"Remember what happened to Crowly?"

she asked, Crowly was a ginger tabby kitten who had lived beside Sebastian.

"Remember when his Housefolks kitten got tired of him? he disappeared! Who knows what happened to him, I don't know what happens when Housefolk get tired of you, what would you do if yours got tired of you?"

"They'd never do that!"

Sebastian gasped

"Suppose they did"

Marney pressed
"Your female Housefolk just had a kitten of her own, didn't she?"

"Yeah, it lives where my toys and bed used to be and takes up space in the Housefolks bed"
Sebastian growled
"and it yowls a lot"

"Suppose they didn't want you around, then?"
Marney continued

"Then I'd come live with you"
He answered cheerfully.

Marney sighed and drug her gaze over to the vast stretch of forest behind her House.

"Ok,fine"
Sebastian muttered
"

I'll bite. Suppose we went into the forest for a bit, just to see what it's like, would that shut you up for a while?"

Marney looked at him in surprise
"Can we? and you'll go with me?"

"Yeah"
Sebastian answered half-heartedly
"Someones gotta look after you in case you do something crazy"

Marney jumped to her paws with a happy purr and covered Sebastians face with licks

"Thanks Seb!, you're the best!"

"Yeah"
he sighed
"I know"

Together, the two young cats padded across Sebastians yard and across the Monster path and into Marneys yard.

"You sure you wanna do this?"
Marney asked

"I made you a promise"
Sebastian replied
"Or are you too scared?"
He gave her a wry look

"No way!"
Marney growled playfully, she took off, leaving Sebastian to chase after her.
He stopped beside her as she stood at the treeline, staring off into the oak forests dark depths.

"What do you think is in there?"
Sebastian asked

"Only one way to find out!"
Marney purred and she boldly strode past the first trees.

She looked back at the black and white tom, who was still standing at the treeline, wide eyed and nervous.

"Come on, slow slug! you made a promise remember?"

Sebastian hissed and trotted forward
"Well, wait up then and if we get eaten by a monster, it's your fault!"
he growled.

The two friends padded side by side deeper into the forest.

"It's amazing, isn't it?"
Marney gasped as she looked up through the tops of the trees
"the sights, the sounds, smells"

"Well, I wouldn't go that far"
Sebastian grumbled as he curled his lip after sniffing at some foul smelling tree mold.

"Well, I've got something else for you to smell"
Marney called
"come smell this!"

She sniffed at an exposed tree room, a small wet spot was in the center
"What does this smell like?"
she asked, opening her mouth to allow the scent to pass over the roof of her mouth.
Her stomach growled, instantly recognizing the scent.

Sebastian padded over and sniffed at the spot for a few heartbeats
"I dunno"
he shrugged

"It's a mouse, you furball!"
Marney growled

Sebastian snorted
"Like you know what a mouse smells like"

"I do so!"
Marney defended
It was partly true, she realized as she thought back to her dreams, but was that what real mice smelled like? she was sure of it.

"Look! over there!"
Sebastian whispered, breaking her thoughts.

Marney drew her gaze over to where Sebastian was staring, and spotted a small brown shape moving swiftly along the exposed roots of an oak tree.

"Let's try and catch it"
Marney growled softly as she slid into a crouch

"Seriously?"

"Hush"
she growled stalking forward.

Sebastian copied her and began slinking forward, Marney could see that the little creature was dangerously close to a small hole in the ground, most likely it's den.

She slowly crept forward, Sebastian a little farther back, something told her to make sure to keep her belly and tail off the ground and put her paws carefully in front of one another as she stalked

Marney stopped just a leap away from the mouse, signaling lightly with her tail for Sebastian to stop as well.

She took another step forward and suddenly Sebastian shot forward

"No! What are you doing?!"
she snarled

But the black and white cat didn't listen, he dove clumsily for the mouse as it shot into it's borrow.

Marney was prepared to give the dumb furball a severe telling off.

"I got it!"
Sebastian yowled

Surprised, Marney padded up to see that Sebastian had thrust his fore-leg into the hole, his claws must have hooked the mouses flesh. His tail was lashing back and forth excitedly.

"Well, pull it out, before it gets away!"
Marney hissed

Sebastian pulled back hard and with a flick of his paw, yanked the mouse out of it's hole and sent it flying through the air, the tiny creature landed with a muffled thud.

Marney shot forward and flicked the mouse into the air again before it could dart for cover, the mouse bounced off a nearby sapling with a squeak and lay dazed on the ground.

"Good job Seb!"
Marney praised proudly

The black and white tom beamed

"See?"
Marney purred
"You're just like a wild cat"

Sebastian didn't answer but padded over to the mouse and looked down at it's twitching body
"I feel so bad..."
he murmured
"I feel like we should...psych!"
Quick as a flash, The young tom bent down and plucked the mouse up in his jaws before bounding away

"Hey!"
The quick action surprised Marney and she darted playfully after him.

Sebastian hooked the mouse with his claws and flung it into the air again, it barely had time to hit the ground before he flicked it away again.

"Keep away!"
he howled, quickly plucking the mouse up and bounding away from Marney again.

"Come back here, you furball!"
Marney growled playfully.

She pounced on Sebastian and rolled him over, the mouse flew from his jaws and Marney quickly
leaped away and pinned the mouse beneath her paws before it could scrabble away, she growled playfully, blocking Sebastian with her body, she bent down and grabbed the mouse in her teeth, just behind it's head, she felt the tiny creature moving feebly between her jaws and bit down harder, a feeling of excitement flooded her body as she could taste the mouses blood in her mouth and bit down even hard until she felt a tiny pop between her teeth and the mouses tiny brown body went limp at last.

She sat up with the mouse still in her jaws, heart beating quickly with excitement at the smell and taste of the mouses blood, she let the tiny creature drop from her mouth and plop to the ground.

Sebastian prodded it with a paw.
"Awww, ya' killed it!"

he mewed disapointedly
"Now how are we supposed to play with it?"

"We can still play with it"
Marney pointed out, flicking it a few pawsteps away with her paw

"Yeah, but it won't run anymore"
Sebastian whined

"Well"
Marney answered wryly
"If you don't want it anymore, I'll just-"

She repeated Sebastians earlier trick and quickly snatched the mouse up and bounded off.

"Hey!"
Sebastian called and bounded after her
"No fair!"

Marney batted the mouses body around, her heart still beating quickly as she took in the multiple smells.

She finally batted it a bit too far and Sebastian leaped past her and flicked it even farther, the mouse sailed through the air and landed near a thin branched holly bush.

Marney padded after Sebastian when he didn't return

"Hey! did you lose it?"
She called, she spotted her black and white friend standing a distance from the holly bush, fear-scent coming off him in waves as he stood with his back arched and tail fluffed up

"Hey...what are you...doing?-"
she trailed off as she spotted what Sebastian was staring at.
A pair of eyes gleamed back at them from within the hollybush, Marney could feel herself instinctively arching her own back at the unknown threat. A warning growl escaped Sebastians throat.

What was it? a dog? a raccoon? A possum? All creatures she was familiar with.

She tested the air for any identifying scent, but could smell nothing but Sebastians fear scent mingling with her own growing nervousness.

Suddenly, the bush trembled and a large, black head poked it's way out, followed by a fore-leg, then the other and finally the body of a large, muscular tomcat. He stood, staring at the two young cats, his yellow eyes shined brightly in front of his battle scarred face.

The tomcat stared at the two cats for a moment longer before delicately reaching out a forepaw and groping around for the mouse in front of him, never once taking his yellow eyes off of Marney and Sebastian.

Finally, his claws hooked the mouses body and he pulled it toward him.

"Hey!"
Sebastian spat
"that's ours!"

The tomcat paused

"You snooze, you lose"
He replied cheekily

His deep voice seemed to soothe Marney as she admired his muscular body

"You two should learn not to play with your food"
he continued with the same smug tone of voice

'He knows neither of us will challenge him'
Marney thought.

"Thanks for the meal, Kittypets"
the black tom purred, he dipped his head and picked the mouse up in his jaws, before turning away and striding back from where he'd come.

"Dirty street cat!"
Sebastian spat as soon as the tom had gone
"that was our mouse!"

"I don't think he was"
Marney answered absently, still staring at the spot where the black tom had been.
She had seen plenty of Street cats, but this tom was different, most street cats were thin and often nervous or overly aggressive. This tom was well fed, and confident enough to steal a mouse from two young cats in plain sight and take his time in doing it, most street cats were sneaky cowards. Marney knew one thing, this tom wasn't a street cat and he wasn't a House cat either, his fighting-scars gave that away, no House cat would fight like that.

"What?"
Sebastian broke into her thoughts

"I don't think he was a street cat"
Marney repeated
"Something about him was...different...and he called us 'kittypets', I've never heard a street cat say that before..."

Sebastian snorted
"Well, whatever he was, that was still our mouse"

"You wanna look for another?"
Marney asked

"No"
Sebastian murmured, sounding defeated and looked up through the trees
"My housefolk will be home soon, so I should probably get back"

Marney looked up at the sky for the first time, she hadn't even realized that the sun was beginning to set, leaving the sky with brilliant streaks of pink and orange.

"Ok, I probably should too. Walk me home?"

"Sure"
Sebastian answered

Marney and Sebastian made their way out of the forest, padding side by side with their tails draped over each others backs. Until they got to the front of Marneys Housefolks house.

"That was a lot of fun! Thanks for talking me into going, Marn' "
Sebastian purred

"Thanks for going with me"
Marney replied
"We should do that more often"

"We should! See you tomorrow?"

"Yup. Same time. Don't oversleep this time!"
Marney teased.

She touched noses with Sebastian and said goodbye, watching him as he trotted across the yard, tail straight up and made his way across the monster path to his own yard, she turned away only when he disappeared back through the cat flap and settled down on the porch to wait for her Housefolk to return.

She could hear the deep rumbling of her twolegs monster and see it's blazing eyes as it made it's way down the path just after sunset.
She waited until the monster pulled in front of the house and grew quiet and her Housefolk exited it's sides before rushing over and rubbing against their legs. They each greeted her in turn by bending down and petting her along her back before making their way to the house with Marney hard on their heels.

Marney leaped onto the back of the couch as her Housefolk passed her and walked into the kitchen.
She knew that they would prepare the prey they kept in the giant white box and settle down to eat together like they did every night, but not before one of them would rinse out her water bowl and replace it with new, cold, bitter tasting water, top up her bowl of dry nuggets and replace her plate of soft, sloppy meat with fresh stuff.

Marney waited until she heard the familiar crunch of the can in which the meat was kept, probably as a measure from Housefolk to guard it from other Housefolk.

She dashed into the kitchen and rubbed against the male Housefolks legs as he dumped the cans contents onto the clean plate with a few forceful clanks.
Marney studied the meat for a few moments, suddenly realizing how hungry she was, she lowered herself down and began gulping it down by the mouthful as her Housefolk buzzed around the kitchen, preparing their own meal, Marney always wondered why they didn't just share with her.

After she had eaten her fill, she made her way back to the living room and settle on the couch to lick the remains of her meal from her whiskers and give herself a thorough wash.

It wasn't long until her housefolk plopped down on the couch and turned on the noisy box and stared at it as it shouted and yowled, occasionally one of the two legs would purr in amusement while they cuddled together. Marney climbed onto the back of the couch and laid behind their heads and soon enough, Marney found herself being taken by sleep. Her mind buzzed with images of the days adventures.

'I have everything I ever need'
she thought to herself
'A nice, warm home, food whenever I want it, Housefolk who love me and a best friend. So why am I not happy?'

Soon, the thoughts left her mind as she felt herself being pulled into sleep.

She found herself in the forest of her dreams again, the rich, tree and wild scents all around her, she padded silently through the forest, until a familiar scent greeted her nose, mouse. Her belly rumbled with hunger. She lowered her body and slunk forward, the mouse was right there, but it spotted her and darted up a nearby three, Marney crashed after the creature, hauling herself up into the branches. There the mouse was, huddled on a thin branch with no escape, Marney studied the branch quickly, it seemed thick enough to hold her weight, she made her way onto the branch, preparing to pounce, suddenly, she felt herself slip, she panicked as her hind legs slid off the branch and dangled helplessly, she stifled a yowl as she felt herself fall.

Marneys eyes flew open just as she hit the ground in her dream world, she found that she had slipped from the back of the couch and her bottom half was now wedged between the couch and wall, she pulled herself free and gave her chest a few soothing licks, the room was dark, she hadn't been asleep long.

she jumped down from the couch after letting her heart settle back into it's normal rythm and padded over to the window sill and hopped up onto it, the window was open, but the strange mesh was down, keeping bugs and birds from flying into the nest.

Marney lay there, taking in the sounds and scents of the warm summer night before eventually finding herself falling back into sleep.