It's a fairy tale come true -- a runaway moggie has returned home after being missing for nearly a decade.
Four years ago, 11-year-old Fletcher Oxford captivated the nation with his performances on New Zealand's Got Talent. All were dedicated to his missing cat, Sushi.
She disappeared shortly before he started learning to play the guitar, and became his inspiration.
"Since then I've been writing songs for her, and singing and playing the guitar just for her," Fletcher told viewers.
"And my family, but mostly for her. I think the more performances I do, the higher the chances of Sushi returning home would be."
Fletcher made it to the semi-finals, where he performed original song 'Everything To Me', dedicated to his pet.
Now eight years after Sushi first went missing, long after the Tauranga schoolboy gave up hope of seeing her again, he was able to perform it for her for the first time.
Then and now -- Sushi before her disappearance (L) and upon her return (R) (Fletcher Oxford / supplied)
Now 15, Fletcher says the cat's reappearance was an "impossible happening" that proves miracles can happen.
"On Monday, Dad walked into the shed that we live in on the farm and bam, there she was!" he says.
"To be told that she had found her way home, completely out of the blue, was something that took me a while to believe, even after I saw her in person."
Fletcher was sitting in class when he got a text from his father saying Sushi had come home.
"I was in total shock after receiving the text, and kept telling myself it wasn't real, that I would wake up at any second."
Incredibly, despite her eight-year long adventure, Sushi was in remarkably good nick -- a bit on the skinny side and with a sore paw, but otherwise unharmed.
It was an unbelievable reunion for Fletcher, who was worried she wouldn't recognise him. But his concerns were unfounded.
"There was an instant connection," he says. "She knew exactly who I was. For a moment all I did was hold her close and listen to her purring, trying to convince myself that it was all real life."
Fletcher Oxford performing 'Everything To Me' to Sushi for the first time (Fletcher Oxford / supplied)
Sushi's miraculous return has already sparked the writing bug, Fletcher says.
"She was the very reason I started writing songs, and since then I have grown up and experienced and learnt so much more and it has broadened, developed and matured my compositions.
"I look forward to pouring my heart out on the page to share this emotion with the world."
But for now, Fletcher's simply grateful that the impossible has occurred, and he's been reunited with his beloved pet.
"Every once in a while, miracles happen."
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