A King's Madness
The Cat King rolled around his huge bed, purring absent-mindedly. It was a beautiful day, just like every other. He sat up and cracked his neck, thinking about what had to be done today. In truth, his duties were lessening every day as his son continued to grow into a handsome young cat and taking over his father's job. In fact, he was old enough to take a bride, but there weren't any promising girls. All the half-decent ones were either married or too low-born. A prince deserved something special, something that could stand out in a crowd…
He entered his private study later, Natoru and Natori flanking each side of his chair expectantly.
"Where's my son?"
Natori answered him as the feline monarch settled himself into the lounge chair.
"Prince Lune said he had to leave a day early, but he was a bit vague on the why."
The Cat King blinked his mismatched eyes.
"He's too calculating to do something random." He grabbed for a small remote next to his chair and pointed it at the crystal ball surrounded by record able tapes. He pressed the button marked with his son's name, and the crystal ball lit up with static. When the static cleared away, it showed his son in the human world exiting a shop with a yellow box between his teeth, held by a red bow. He was wearing the gold collar that told all felines of his identity. The Cat King blinked in astonishment as his son passed two teenage girls and looked down both ends of a road.
"What could he have possibly wanted that the Kingdom couldn't give him?" He watched his son enter the road. He was about to shut off the crystal ball when his son lost his hold on the box, and the truck was still coming in fast.
"Lune!" The king shrieked, grabbing the crystal ball and willing a miracle to happen.
Surprisingly, one did.
Just as the heir to the Cat Kingdom got a good hold on the yellow box, a lacrosse stick swooped in from nowhere and caught his body in the net. The Cat King could see long legs covered by a navy skirt running behind the stick, barely missing the truck as the lacrosse stick broke on a parking meter, making the girl in the blue skirt cry out. Both the prince and rescuer fell to the other side of some bushes, panting heavily. The Cat King adjusted the angle so he could see the girl's face, but she was still looking down.
"Well, cat, that was close." She looked up and gasped, as did the Cat King.
Her face! It was beautiful, reminiscent of medieval sculptors' work. Her gorgeous brown eyes widened in astonishment as she watched Prince Lune get to his hind feet and brush himself off. However, it was the human girl that the king couldn't keep his eyes off of. The prince noticed her staring, and addressed her.
"That was quite a brave act you performed on my account. I am extremely grateful. I hope you have not injured yourself."
The girl was speechless, barely able to make more than meaningless sounds. Lune bowed once more.
"Well then, I don't mean to be rude, but I am in quite a hurry. I will return later to thank you properly."
The girl suddenly remembered her manners and bowed respectfully.
"That's okay." She watched him leave, a disbelieving expression on her face. The Cat King forced the crystal ball to stay on the human girl as his son rounded a corner.
"Haru!" The other teenage girl from before ran up to her and inspected the broken piece of equipment. "Well, so much for the stick, but at least you rescued that stupid cat."
"Stupid!" The king's claws extended from his small paws. The rescuer turned to her friend, a slightly haunted look on her face.
"It talked. That cat spoke to me."
Her friend looked at her.
"Hey, did you hit your head?"
The girl looked at the empty corner 'Haru' was still pointing at.
"Maybe…"
The feline monarch turned towards his brown advisor quickly.
"Natoru, I want all the information you can find on this girl. She must be shown the proper gratitude so that she knows what she's done."
The brown cat bowed low and scampered off on his errand.
The ruler looked at the human girl in the crystal ball again as she got up and dusted herself off before taking her bag from the other girl. The Cat King rewound the tape and adjusted the angle so he could see Haru's face as she swept his son out of harm's way.
The fiery determination! She couldn't have known that he was a prince, so the fact that she was willing to put herself at risk for one of his common subjects was commendable.
"Something special…" he whispered.
Natori adjusted his glasses.
"Beg pardon, sire?"
The monarch turned to his advisor, a huge grin on his face.
"That young woman saved my son and heir, and must be properly thanked. One gift alone isn't going to be good enough."
Natori nodded and grabbed paper and ink to write down what the king had in mind.
The feline monarch put one paw to his chin.
"Let's see; that lacrosse stick will need to be replaced, so give her friend a hundred of them."
Natori scribbled it down.
"Excellent idea, sire."
The king thought of something else while he was at it.
"Cat tails are always soothing, so let's get her lawn covered with some fast-growing seeds when we go see her."
Natori stopped writing.
"You mean, go to the human world?"
"We'll bring enough guards to ward off the riff-raff. Hmm, get some servants to sneak some catnip into her wardrobe, stuff her school locker with packaged mice for her lunch tomorrow…"
The gray cat finished writing down all the orders.
"Your tone suggests you've thought of something else, sire."
The king nodded.
"You know we've been looking for a new Cat Princess."
Natori looked surprised, but wrote it down anyway.
"It's not like she would be the first human bride to the royal line. I'll get the servants started on the gifts."
The Cat King nodded in gratitude, and then turned back to the girl inside the crystal ball.
'What a babe. It's a shame she isn't a bit older. After Lune takes the throne, I won't have much to occupy me…'