"Pst! Hey! Nepeta!" John couldn't sleep, he wanted to talk to Nepeta some more. "Hm? What is it?" John rolled over on his bed. "To be honest, I'm not sure why I made a move on the roof Nepeta. Don't get me wrong, I do like you, but I didn't know about those feelings deep down." "I guess I didn't either, John. But the more I think about it the more it makes sense to me. We've been good friends for some time, and honestly you are the person who is the nicest to me." John smiled.

"I'm so sorry that people don't like you so much, Nepeta. I puuromise to be extra nice to you to make up for it!" Nepeta giggled as her heart became warmer at John's words. "Thank you John. And I will always be nice to you!" Nepeta turned over in her Recuperacoon. "Nepeta, ever since my memory left me I've been feeling lost. It's hard to make sense of the world around me sometimes. But when I close my eyes at night and lay in this room next to you I know exactly where I am," Nepeta closed her eyes at his last sentence.

"I sometimes feel alone here, and when the only person I can turn to doesn't allow my greatest need to stay with me it seems like not much matters to me anymore. But when I hear you laugh or when I see your smile I know what matters to me, John. My life is much better now you're in my world" John suddenly felt more devotion for his matesprite. "I can't wait to see your charming face in the morning Nepeta." "Your smile is only a restful sleep away." John closed his eyes and with thoughts of Nepeta floating in his mind began to sleep.

Nepeta awoke sleepily in the recuperacoon after dreaming about her and John playing in the forest all night. "Erm… Mew Mew Mew?" Nepeta, a bit confused by the mewing outside her recuperacoon, sat up. "Meow Rawr Mew Meow?" "Uh… Rawr Mew Mew!" Nepeta felt confused. She suddenly realized that it wasn't Pounce who was speaking to her. Nepeta smiled and grabbed her change of clothes that dropped down. "Meow Mew Mew Hiss Mew Purr Mew Rawr!" Nepeta finished changing and climbed out of the recuperacoon to see John sitting next to Pounce. It almost looked like Pounce was meowing in John's ear. Then Pounce looked at Nepeta and purred on John's shoulder. "Hey wait what comes next, Pounce?" John suddenly looked up and saw Nepeta standing in front of him.

"Silly John!" John, a wee bit embarrassed, stood up straight and looked at Nepeta. "Oh, um hi! Good morning Nepeta!" "I see my lusus did not wake me up, did he teach that to you?" John blushed a little. "Well, I just tried to repeat what he was telling me. It was his idea." John ruffled the top of the silly lusus' head. "Well I think you're still a bit rusty, John." "Why is that?" Nepeta walked over to the corridor. "Well you told me, 'Wake you Nepeta!' and 'Let's go, I have somewhere I want take you!' You're so silly!" John stared back at Nepeta as she left toward the kitchen. "Pounce what where you telling me? Where am I taking Nepeta?" Pounce suddenly grew the two biggest grins on any cat's face and trotted off toward the kitchen.

Nepeta put on her gloves as she saw John coming down the hall. "Just in time! We need some more food for breakfast so I figured you could go gathering and I could get some meat." Nepeta gave Pounce a hug and stood by the door. "Sound good?" "Sure, let's go!" Nepeta looked at John's hands. "Where are your gloves?" "I'm collecting fruits and veggies, I won't need them." Nepeta shook her head. "No no John, ALWAYS have means of protecting yourself. You never know when you might encounter some unsuspecting prey. Or when some prey might encounter an unsuspecting you!" John laughed and went off to gather his gloves.

John pulled his gloves on as Nepeta opened the door and unsheathed her claws. "Be back here once you have enough, okay?" "Ok Nepeta." John closed the door behind him and turned around just in time to see Nepeta's tail disappear in the trees. John walked down the path and looked around the forest. What do we want to have today? John heard the familiar babble of the stream to his right. He decided to gather by the lovely sound and set off to his right.

Nepeta had stayed in her tree and watched John make his choice as to what he would gather. She then saw him smile and go to his left toward the stream. Nepeta leaped from tree to tree until she came to the gleaming stream. It sure is loud! Nepeta peeked out of the branches and saw John quicken his pace as he neared the stream. "He would never hear a sneaky cat climbing above him…" Nepeta whispered as she grinned.

John could now see the stream babbling away at the stones underneath. How pretty! John finished his sprint still looking straight at the stream. "Hm… what's around here to gather?" John took in the full view from where he was standing. He suddenly spotted a few promising looking plants a little ways in front of him. "Perfect!" He started walking over to them when he spotted a very quick shadow creep over him accompanied by a small gust of wind. "Wha-" John fell face first onto the soft soil. John only took three seconds to guess the culprit.

Nepeta was sitting on John's back. How silly he was! "Hey, John!" "Hello Nepeta…" Nepeta rolled off John and lay next to him. John rolled over onto his back next to her. "If I was a big beast you would be nothing but a shrimp right now!" Nepeta laughed a little. "Well you aren't, you're a beautiful troll who is too sweet to make me a shrimp!" Nepeta's chest warmed at John's kind words. "And I would never make a strong cute boy into a shrimp!" John grabbed Nepeta's hand and enclosed his fingers around hers. "You sure are good at sneaking, Nepeta. I could barely hear you until you pounced. I still have some practice to do before I become as great as you." "It's not fair to compare us! I've been doing this for sweeps and you only started recently! And you've been doing very well for a beginner." "Only because I had a good teacher." John put his arms around Nepeta.

"You've been so nice to me, Nepeta." Nepeta looked at him and smiled. "You have been nicer to me than anyone I know, John." Nepeta moved closer to John and planted a soft kiss on his lips. John returned the gesture then returned to holding Nepeta's hand and staring at the sky. "I love you Nepeta." "I love you more John!" John laughed and allowed Nepeta to win the fight. Afterall, he knew he would never win that argument.

Nepeta and John talked a while on the grass and staring up at the sky before realizing that they were still hungry. Nepeta stood up and gently brushed off her jacket and faced John as he finished doing the same. John took her hands in his and stepped toward her. "I'm not very hungry Nepeta. Maybe we could stay together a little longer?" Nepeta shook her head. "Pounce needs food! Anyway we need stock up so we can have more time together anyway!" Suddenly John stared past her. "What is it John?" "Let's go somewhere; I think Pounce can take care of himself!"

John watched as Pounce gestured his tail to the east and smirked with his top mouth as he disappeared in the trees. "Are you sure, John?" "Absolutely! Come with me!" John followed Pounce, hoping his destination would be somewhere of interest and not just some lonely catnip plant. "Where are we going, John?" "You'll see soon enough!" John hoped this was true as he struggled to keep the sneaky lusus in his view as he broke into a sprint. "Is it my turn to be out of breath, John?" Nepeta laughed as they continued through the tangle of trees leading to an unknown destination. Soon John noticed Pounce was not in front of him. "That trickster cat!" John muttered softly under his breath. But soon John could see there was some different terrain up ahead. John heard Nepeta sniffing."I smell something good!" John then smelled the air as he continued toward the opening. It almost smelled like…