Sorry for not updating for a while, I had a hard time writing the latest chapter and even now that it is finished I'm still not sure if it is up to snuff. By the way that isn't this chapter, I'm not sure if I mentioned this before but I don't add a new chapter until I finish the next one. This is so that if for some reason I decide to end the story before it's finished that I can at least leave anyone who actually enjoys this with one last chapter instead of a message saying that I'm giving up.

Between Jade and Green Chapter 7

"Just remember what I said, its valuable knowledge for the future. When you are getting down to funny business give Kanaya a little bit near her special places, it will make her go wild trust me," Feferi said as Nepeta left the table they were sharing quickly before her face never went back to grey. No matter what Nepeta told her the highblood just didn't seem to believe that Kanaya and her were just friends and nothing else.

'Damn Vriska,' Nepeta said as she finally got away. It wasn't like she didn't enjoy talking to Feferi, but she wished that the sea-dweller would believe her over Vriska. 'I mean it's Vriska of all people,' Nepeta shouted in her mind. Granted there could be worse things to mistaken for than Kanaya's matesprit; she was very mature, smart, kind, and beautiful. 'Whoa there Cautious Huntress,' Nepeta once again said referring to herself in the third person adorably, 'just because Kanaya is all those things, doesn't mean we can buy into the rumors that we are clinking pails. She's helping you out in an important matter neither of you are looking to fill a quadrant; you don't want to make this uncomfortable for her.'

She eventually made it to a seat at the bar and tried to order the hardest liquor that she thought she could stand, anything to get the image of Sollux and Feferi playing Psiioniic and Condesce while filling pails. Unfortunately for her a single sip made her cough for a good minute and she switched to lusi milk, at least until Eridan came to talk to her. Talk might be a bit of a stretch as he spent a good five minutes asking Nepeta why she would choose Kanaya over him. Their conversation was very one-sided as Nepeta put aside her milk and quickly downed her previous drink just so she didn't end up screaming at him. She eventually had him go away by telling him that, while Kanaya and herself were not in fact in a relationship, she wasn't interested him in that way and he left sulking.

Some of the others came and offered their congratulations to her and Kanaya like Aradia and Tavros. Others like Karkat told her in his owe gruff way to, 'not fuck it up,' until Terezi wacked him over the head and made him be more polite. That hurt more than she wished it would have, when the two of them left her arm in arm she watched them go and wished that maybe just he could have pretended to be jealous just a little, or at least not be so okay with their supposed relationship.

Nepeta eyed her now empty glass suspiciously; she wasn't much of a heavy drinker so she wondered if instead of being an angry or a sloppy drunk she was a polite drunk. Equius and Kanaya would be happy with her if that was true, but she wasn't so sure if being a polite drunk was actually a thing. "You know, a pretty catgirl such as yourself shouldn't be drinking alone, if your lesbian vampire partner isn't going to be join you allow me to be your white knight," a voice from beside her said. If she didn't recognize the voice she may have snapped at him, but luckily she saw it was Dirk Strider in all his ironic super cool kid glory and instead of getting angry at him she pounced on him in a hug.

Nepeta was pretty close to most of the humans, but she was the closest by far to Dirk out of all of them and so was Equius. At first her moiral didn't approve of their friendship but after the two bonded over their mutual love for hoofbeasts, or what humans called horses, and Dirk showed Equius an old human show called, "My Little Pony," they became good friends; which meant that Nepeta and Dirk could continue their friendship.

Dirk let himself be pounced on and awesomely fell to the floor with Nepeta on top of him, as only a cool kid could. After a minute they two of them of them returned to their stools as if nothing had happened. "Nepeta, are you prepared," he asked her in a dead serious voice and held out his hand while holding something. Nepeta just as serious took it solemnly from him and held the object with great reverence. A moment later Nepeta put on the sunglasses and they exchanged a series of cool fistbumps and handshakes until they were eventually back to back and looking swag as hell, "heroes of heart for life," they said as they fist bumped once again completing their ritual. They broke down laughing after they finished, or at least Nepeta did, Dirk just let out a small coolkid grin. "Solid as always my dearest catgirl, I have taught you well," he put his hands together and gave her a small bow.

"It was your purrfect teachings my master that lead me down the true path to happiness," Nepeta said returning a bow of her own.

Dirk let out a laugh and gave Nepeta a pat on the head, "Come on kid, I've got a table where we can talk in private," he said as he led her to a table in the balconies overlooking the main floor of the tavern, away from the crowd. "So what is up with you Nep, there are a lot of rumors going around, but I would like to hear it from you. What is the story between you and Kanaya?" He asked her causally, but sincere. "As one of your older brother figures I have the right to know everyone and anyone who was, is, and could be a part of your love life. It's a rule," he declared with absolute finality.

Nepeta could have argued against his so called rules that she assumed were made by him as he went along, he had brought them up before, but she decided against it. If she argued it could draw a crowd to watch, besides even if she did get him to relent for now, he would just be back later with probably Equius along to interrogate her. "The thing is, Kanaya isn't part of my love life at all, at least not right now. I need her help for something secret which is why I met her during the day, no one would be around and she's kind of shy when everyone is around so I didn't want to overwhelm her when I asked. That's all," she declared, she was sick of everyone thinking that they had a right to butt into her life.

Dirk observed her for a moment through his shaded eyes as if deciding to believe her. "You're telling the truth, I can tell that much you and Kanaya aren't girlfriends or whatever you aliens call it. But I can also tell that you aren't telling me the whole truth. Do you want your relationship with her to be something more?"

That wasn't what Nepeta expected to hear from him and not something she had thought of that much intently. She had come to Kanaya this morning with the intent to get the rainbowdrinker's help with Gamzee; she hadn't expected all of this to come out of it. Would it really be that bad to have the beautiful jadeblood as a matesprit? "No, it wouldn't," Nepeta said as she imagined what it would be like to have Kanaya's arms wrapped around her like something from a redrom.

"Sorry I didn't catch that," Dirk said waking her from her fantasy and making her blush, "you didn't answer my question."

"I don't know," Nepeta whined. She never whined when talking to Dirk, it was a tone usually saved for when she had Equius teetering on the edge of a big decision that went against his beliefs, but this situation seemed appropriate. "I need her help with something which is why I got up during the day to talk to her. It's something that's a secret so we went to her hive to discuss in private and Vriska was there. She left when she saw that I was with Kanaya, but she was obviously jealous so she spread this rumor about us and now everyone thinks we're together," she laid out her day before him and collapsed her head in her hands. "I wouldn't be opposed to a relationship with Kanaya maybe, but it wasn't what I wanted and I don't think it's what she wants either. Maybe one day," Nepeta started to play with her tail, as she usually did when she was nervous, "but not like this, not because everyone's mistaken that we're together," she said finally.

Dirk listened to what she said and took a sip of what he was drinking. "I think that, that is a very mature and logical way to look at this whole situation," he told her. "But on the other hand I think that it is also a load of bullshit." When he saw her about to protest he raised a palm to silence her, "I'm not telling you that you're wrong or anything like that and I'm not telling you to jump Kanaya's lesbian vampire troll bones, but I'm just saying that looking at your situation isn't the way you normally look at things and you are out of your depth. Just because your mind is telling that this is the best way to do things doesn't mean that it's going to work out that way. I know you don't want to rush into a relationship because you've been forced into it, but just don't forget about the heart either okay, promise me that," he told her. But what he said made her all the more confused, "hey, my glass is empty and so is yours, so why don't I run to the bar and right that wrong while you get your head together," he told her as he collected both their glasses and made his way to the bar.

'Gog damn my stupid feelings, stupid other hero of heart saying that I should follow mine, urgh,' Nepeta said, but fortunately, or unfortunately as it were, she was not alone with her thoughts for long.

"Hey there kitty sis," Gamzee said slamming a fayo down in front of her as he took Dirk's empty seat. "I heard that you and rainbowdrinker sis started hooking up, I just wanted to raise a toast to congratulate the two of you motherfucking crazy kids."

"Um, thanks Gamzee," Nepeta said gingerly picking up the bottle of soda. She didn't know what to do, since they settled on New Earthernia she had kept her distance around the juggulo even if he seemed to be back to his old ways before the game and Gamzee seemed to respect that. They had minimal contact until recently; whenever Gamzee saw her passing by in the street he would give her a wave, but normally not anything more. But now even thought that hadn't changed whenever she passed him she would hear a whisper in her ear whispering all sorts of perverse mix red sex talk and other threatening black dialogue. She really wanted to just pour the fayo on the floor and find Kanaya right away if only to get away from the clown, but Kanaya was nowhere to be seen and no one who could help her was close enough to see she could be in trouble. She apathetically clinked her bottle with Gamzee's own and took a swig if only to keep him from getting mad at her.

"That Rainbowdrinker bitch isn't going to stop me you know," Gamzee's loud insane voice rang out, seemingly coming from nowhere and Nepeta immediately stopped drinking and looked at Gamzee with wide eyes. But he was still drinking his fayo with his mouth over the brim; he couldn't have been the one to say anything and no one else seemed to notice.

'Could it all be in my head,' Nepeta asked herself with her hands shaking. She didn't want to believe it but now it seemed possible.

"Oh the things I'm going to do to you kitty, oh and now since you've brought another player into our tempest romance, I'm going to make her watch," this time it was his quieter voice that spoke. It was softer and smoother than his loud one, but that made it worse knowing that it was still just as sadistic, but better at hiding it.

"Well it was fun slamming down some motherfucking fayo with you kitty sis, but now I got to find Tav and mingle a bit. See ya," Gamzee said retreating down the stairs.

When she knew she was alone Nepeta started to hyperventilate wondering if Gamzee's crazy voice was in her head or not. Unfortunately once again she didn't have the time to contemplate since she was once again interrupted by an annoying person. "Heeeeeeeey there Nepeta," a familiar voice that Nepeta knew and was very annoyed at at the moment.

"No!" Nepeta shouted at Vriska before she could say anything, "I need about five minutes to myself to sort out my freaking problems today and I don't need you to get on my case now too," she roared.

"I'm sorry my dear Nepeta, but I thought that we would have something's to discuss," Vriska said smiling. Most likely she just wanted an excuse to show Nepeta her fangs up close.

Such tactics wouldn't work, Nepeta had sharper fangs and had killed things with fangs the size of her with just her claws before and during the game, a blueblood's attempt to show offer her purely aesthetic fangs didn't faze her. "What do you want Whiska," Nepeta asked coldly.

"That's cute, even when you're angry with me and want to get straight to the point you keep up the kitty puns, I can respect that," Vriska said stirring her drink a bit. "Well if you must know, I just wanted to be clear about what your intentions are with Kanaya. The two of you are the talk of the town and I wanted to hear about it with my own two ears," Vriska said her smile never left her face, but it didn't reach her eyes either.

"There's nothing going on between us romantically, Kanaya is just helping me with a problem I have that's all," Nepeta said. "You know that already though, since you're the one who started the rumor."

"All I know is that I was feeling a bit frisky this morning and I went over to Kanaya who's always up for a good quick lay even though she's my ex. I went to her hive to get ready and she isn't there so I wait. A few hours later she comes back after keeping me waiting for so long with you in tow. What is a girl to think?" Vriska asked. "Well if I was mistaken I apologize, tomorrow if the whole thing hasn't blown over I'll set things right. It should stop being funny by then. Where is Kanaya anyway, if the two of you aren't knocking boots than you shouldn't mind if we go home together right," Vriska said as she looked out over the floor to try and find Kanaya.

"You shouldn't do this you know," Nepeta said in a quiet voice.

"Do what," Vriska asked annoyed turning back to Nepeta.

"You know exactly what, leading Kanaya on like this," Nepeta said angrily. "She is so incredibly flushed for you, but you don't even care how much you're hurting her every time you reduce her importance to you to just a booty call."

"She broke up with me kitty cat, not the other way around. We would still be together if it was up to me, so why don't you keep your nose out of our business since you've admitted there's nothing going on between the two of you quadrant wise," Vriska said with her anger bleeding through into her voice.

"And that makes it okay to hurt her every time you use her for sex," Nepeta asked hissing.

"Kanaya's a big girl, a very big girl," Vriska said miming larger breasts on her chest. "She can take care of herself and make her own decisions. If she didn't want my sexy body she could have just said no, but she wanted it just as much as I did, trust me she enjoyed it as much as much as I did too."

"That's not the point Vriska, Kanaya doesn't need to get laid; she needs a matesprit to care for her, not just use her."

Vriska just stared at Nepeta with hate in her eyes for a moment, who did this little cat bitch think she was talking to? Vriska was a god, a champion flarp player, a higher blood, and one of the most powerful psychics they had, who was Nepeta to say that she was in the wrong? "You know it's almost a shame that the two of you aren't together Nepeta. I want to show you just how wrong you are. All it would take is a crooked finger asking Kanaya to come hither and she would be mine no matter how you treat her. You know Terezi stole someone you were flushed for right, you didn't have much of a chance with him either, but I wondered how easy it was for her to do so. Maybe I should see what all the fuss is about, I bet I could steal one from you in half the time," Vriska said and Nepeta lost it. She punched the blueblood in the face and sent her staggering. "Oh, so that's how you want to play it huh, kitty bitch?" Vriska said wiping the blood pooling around the corner of her mouth. "Well I can play that game too," she swung her own fists at the green blood's face but Nepeta was able to dodge it while flipping and was far away from Vriska now in a fighting crouch.

The two looked at each other with murder in their eyes and simultaneously yell, "Strife!" Neither of them pulled out a weapon, they wanted to hurt each other, but bringing out their strongest weapons the whole bar would be destroyed. It wasn't much of a fight at first though, Nepeta was used to fighting with her hands and was much quicker than Vriska who was taller and probably stronger but couldn't seem to get a hit in. Frustrated Vriska threw a strong punch at Nepeta who dodged it and used the psychic's force against her and tossed her. It was only meant to toss her to the floor, but unfortunately she wasn't tossed to the ground, but rather off the balcony through the window of the bar.

"Shit," was all Nepeta said as all eyes turned to look up her, that wouldn't be good for the rumors she though as she jumped down to the main floor easily. She didn't actually want to hurt Vriska, no matter how angry she was at her.

But the godtiered troll shouldn't be hurt by something like that, "I'm going to skin you for that you cat bitch," came from outside and Nepeta knew that their fight wasn't over.