Author's Note: Thank you to everyone for keeping up with the story and sending in reviews. In response to the last question that I received, I wasn't sure how to answer it without spoiling anything. I guess all I can say is that something will turn up but probably not soon. With this story, I wanted readers to have fun and enjoy reading the humor in it and all the crazy turns that it takes, but yes things will get solved.

I hope that you will enjoy reading this chapter of the story!

Chapter 5: The Mystery Of The Missing Felines:

"It's been a long time since I've last seen my sister. I'm afraid that she has gone missing." With a detective's hat and a magnifying glass, Serah headed over to Lightning's apartment. When she stepped inside, she saw a mess throughout the living room and food all over the kitchen including the floor and what eventually led into the hall. "All right. Here we go." She searched around. "It seemed as if there was a struggle here, but no sign of her. Worst case scenario: she's still here." She went into her bedroom. There too was a mess. "No sign of her here either. This is getting me nowhere." She stepped over toward the bed and picked up what seemed like a mix of white and grey fur. "These colors seem familiar. Maybe this is Lightning's fur. She must be getting old. I guess the next thing I should do is look for some likely suspects and I'll do it right now!"

A few days later…

"Okay. It's been long enough. Time to look for Lightning again. Now where was I? Oh right! Finding likely suspects. Now who would I ask first that's close enough to my sister other than me? Now who could that be…?" Serah placed her finger to her lip as she started thinking.

"Now tell me! Where's my sister?!"

"I really don't know what you're talking about!" She grabbed onto a random scientist's jacket. The man held up his hands.

"You know her! You know who she is!"

"I don't even know who you are!" The man stared at her afraid.

"Serah?" Serah turned her attention away from the man to see Vanille standing behind her curious as to what she was doing. "Why are you shaking that random guy?"

"I'm looking for my sister."

"I really don't think that guy knows. Hey! Why don't you ask someone who would know? How about Hope?"

Serah's eyes traveled toward the ground. "I guess he might know where Lightning is..." Before she left, she pointed toward the guy and glared at him which he looked afraid. "Don't leave town. I might have more questions."

A smirk appeared on the lips of the silver haired man as he was sitting in his chair behind his desk. "You want to know where she is. Well I have news for you. I don't know where she is."

Serah stood up from the chair she was sitting in and planted her hands firmly against his desk. "You do know something don't you?!"

A chuckle left from him. "And what makes you think that?"

Serah gave him a suspicious stare. "It's written all over you. You have that smile that all the bad guys do when they're up to something and they really know what's going on."

Hope closed his eyes as he smirked. "All right Serah. You got me. This will be hard to hear, but now Lightning is mine."

Serah pressed her hand to her lips as she gasped. "No!"

"Yes! It's true."

Serah shook her head as she closed her eyes. "It can't be. It can't be true. Then where have you taken her?"

"Oh! She's around here somewhere."

Serah gave him an upset look. "If you hurt her, I'll-."

"Serah?" Serah's eyes traveled over to see a curious Lightning standing near the doorway. A relieved smile instantly came on her face. She went over to hug her. "Lightning! You're all right!"

The confusion never left from Lightning. "Yeah…Why would you think otherwise?"

"Wait a minute…" Serah turned her attention back to Hope. "How come you didn't just tell me where Lightning was?"

Hope gave an oblivious look. "Because I really didn't know. She stepped out and been gone for a few minutes."

Serah placed her hand against the side of her head. "How could I think that you would take Lightning? If anything, she probably would have taken you. Anyway Lightning where have you been all this time? I've been looking everywhere for you. It's been a long time."

Lightning walked over and sat on the desk nearby Hope. "What are you talking about? It's only been a few days."

"Oh! When I checked your apartment, it was a mess. I didn't know what happened to you."

Confusion became written on Lightning's face. "How did you get into my apartment?"

"I broke in, but that's not the point. Where have you been all this time?"

A smirk appeared on Lightning's face as her eyes turned to the man beside her. In return, he did the same. "Oh. Nowhere special."

Serah tilted her head. "I think that your tail just went into happy mode."

As Lightning frowned, her tail continued to move. "No it's not."

"Yes it is."

"It is not." Lightning argued back.

"How did your apartment end up in a mess?" Serah placed her detective hat on and leaned forward on the desk. "This mystery has to be solved."

Lightning looked at Hope. "Well…"

Hope looked to Serah. "The truth is we've been trapped the past few days."

Serah was surprised to hear his answer. "Trapped? How?"

Lightning's eyes drifted to the side. She seemed annoyed when she thought back. "This all started because of that silly mating thing."

"At first, Lightning had me captured in her apartment." Hope explained.

Serah reacted with surprise. "What? I thought that you told me that you wouldn't be with Hope in 500 years."

"It's past 500 years now. That's old news."

"Go on." Serah told them.

"Anyway you're probably wondering why the apartment is in a mess. Well…you would be right. There was a bit of a struggle." Hope replied. Both Lightning and he could remember back to that night.

Lightning's fist had hit against Hope's back as she frowned. "I'm serious. Put me down now!" Hope listened and put her down. She crossed her arms. "There's no way that this is happening."

A smirk appeared on his face. "Oh really? I just think that you're resisting the inevitable."

She frowned. "Oh yeah and just what makes you think that?"

Hope pointed to the floor. "There's a trail of food leading from here to your room."

Lightning shrugged as if it was nothing. "That was just in case I get hungry later."

"If I guessed right, I think that it was meant for the scent to lead me there." He grabbed her arm and turned her around to where her back was against the wall. "Well I got news for you. I can smell your scent a lot more." He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. When Hope separated from her, Lightning stared at him with surprise. With a raise of her hand, she smacked him across the face as her frown returned. Hope placed his hand on his cheek still keeping his smirk on.

Afterwards he walked away from her. He walked over to a plate she had in the kitchen and tossed it on the floor breaking it. She couldn't believe that he had done so. "What are you doing?"

Hope smiled. "Nothing much."

Lightning sent a glare toward him. "Don't do anything else." It was too late. He dropped another glass on the floor, letting it break. She stepped over into the living room and knocked over a vase. "You don't think that I can't do that too?"

Hope started knocking stuff over along with her as both of them smiled at each other. Soon he stepped over to where her television was and knocked that over. Instead of getting mad, she just smirked and knocked over her couch. Soon, the two approached each other. He leaned in, but she just pushed him away. He smiled and just pushed her back on the ground. A laugh left from his lips.

Lightning got up and laughed a little as well. Her lips had met with his in a kiss. His back had bumped into the wall, but then he turned over and made her back press against the wall. Her body became lifted off of the ground as her legs wrapped around him.

Serah's eyes traveled to the side a little nervous. "I probably… shouldn't hear the rest of this."

Hope smiled at her. "No! No! It's okay." As he continued talking, Serah pressed her hands to her ears. While he was talking, he kept his eyes on Lightning. When she thought he was done, she uncovered her ears. "Yeah. You should see those scratches. She got her nails in pretty deep. The way you used those cat toys... Wow…" Hope returned his attention back to Serah. "After a while, I ended up losing the feeling in all of my fingers."

"And I ended up losing the feeling in my legs." Lightning added in.

Serah looked surprised. Hope continued telling the story. "Afterwards we figured that at least a day had passed. After everything that happened, we weren't sure where we were."

Serah gave a confused look. "I'm assuming that you were still in the apartment…"

Hope's eyes shifted between Lightning and Serah. "Where ever we were and how long we were there, we soon realized that we would need food."

"If you guys were still in the apartment, then couldn't you just go to the kitchen?" Serah asked.

"We needed food, but thanks to Lightning we were able to find food. She found this food on the ground through this narrow cave. "

Serah gave a confused look as she thought back to what he could be talking about. "Do you mean the hallway?"

"It was a dark place, but then we managed to see a light. When we went in further, we found this place and it was filled with food that only looked like it would last a week before having to go to the store." Hope continued.

Serah's eyelids lowered dully. "I'm pretty sure you guys were in the kitchen…"

Lightning looked over to Serah. "We stayed there for a little until we could find our way out of that place."

Hope smiled. "And here we are today."

Serah kept her same dull stare. "You guys do realize that you were still in Lightning's apartment the whole time right?" The two continued to stare at her unsure of what she was saying. Finally, Serah let out a sigh, letting it go. "Well that solves that mystery. I'm just glad that you two finally made it back here all right."

Lightning crossed her arms as she closed her eyes. "At least this whole crazy mating thing is over."

Hope nodded. "I agree." He smiled once he glanced toward Lightning. "It actually wasn't so bad."

"If you don't count the people that tried to break into your office." Lightning pointed out.

Serah grinned. "Aw! I'm glad to see that you two worked things out!" She winked at her older sister. "I guess that means that Hope will be staying around more often."

"You see him enough every day. He's practically around me all the time." Lightning said.

Hope reacted with surprised. "Wait a minute. You're the one who comes to my office all the time-."

Lightning waved her hand. "Same thing." She started heading toward the door. "This whole cat mating thing is stupid. Once Hope finds a cure to get us out these ears, tails, and weird obsessions for strings and catnip, the sooner that all of this can get back to normal."

Serah pouted with her arms crossed. "So you mean to tell me that this whole crazy incident was for nothing? That you didn't get anything out of it?"

"Yes." Lightning answered.

Serah became curious and suspicious. "And you're just going to let Hope go to someone else if someone else wanted him?"

"I'm still here guys…" Hope said, hoping that they didn't forget about him.

Lightning looked back at Serah. "If it works out with someone else, then she can take him. I won't think anything else about it."

Serah arched her eyebrow. "So anyone can take him?"

Lightning shrugged. "Yeah."

Suddenly, the door to Hope's office opened. Excited, Alyssa leaned in. "Oh Director! I'll be your mate!"

Lightning pushed her outside. "What did I tell you before? I told you that he's mine so get lost!" She slammed the door close. Suddenly, the door opened again. When she looked over, she saw Vanille poke her head through the door with a grin. Before she could say anything, Lightning got her out of the doorway and closed the door. She sighed out loud and shook her head. "What do people not understand? Not anyone can just walk in and take him. Not while I'm around."

A smirk appeared on Serah. "Oh really?! I thought that you were letting him go."

Lightning gave a confused look. "What did I say to make you think that?"

Serah held up her thumb toward Hope. "See! My sister really does like you."

A relieved smile came on Hope's lips. "Just so you two know I can choose whoever I wish, but it's nice to know that Lightning shares a mutual feeling as I do."

Lightning arched her eyebrow to his comment. "Oh really?" She stepped in beside Hope which he looked up curious. "Yes? What's that look for?"

Serah closed her eyes as she smiled. In the background, she could hear several sounds of pain from a male voice. "Ow! Ow!"

"It's nice to know that everything worked out in the end." Then Serah noticed that the sounds had stopped. Curiously, she looked back. "Hope? Are you okay? I noticed that you're not responding to my sister's sweet affections of torture." When she looked over, she saw Hope with his eyes closed peacefully with his head resting on Lightning's lap. Her fingers were gently stroking through his silver hair and on his ears. Serah relaxed. "I guess that worked out well too. What happened to you choosing anyone you wanted?"

Hope's lips curved into a grin. "I have Lightning right here. Why would I need anyone else?"

Lightning continued stroking his hair as a slight smile came to her lips. "That's right Hope. You have me now. You don't need anyone else."

Serah began to worry about how much control that Lightning had over Hope.

That's it for this chapter! As always let me know what you think and I'll be back to update!

Also I finally got the cover image for this story done! To check out the full picture, check out my blog!