Chapter 3: The News Travel Fast

Authors Note: Hi folks! Sorry about the constant changes I've made in each chapter. I promise It's not to confuse you; I'm trying to improve the mistakes I made as I go along. Well, enough of my blabbering. Let the curtain rise!

My Lord Baron,

I have just recently heard tales of your heroic deeds concerning the happenings of the great cat kingdom and I must say, I'm quite impressed with your achievements against all odds. But fate does work in unusual ways and I can see that you are favored in her blessing. In regards to your success, I request to make your acquaintance and to hopefully interest you with some distinctive propositions that may work in your favor. I would be honored if you and your two associates would accept my invitation of hospitality.

Once you have made your decision, you will need to duplicate the seal tied in string onto the upper right corner of the page in ink. The magic in the seal will act as a means for transportation. I happily await for your arrival my Lord, I trust that you won't disappoint me.

The Protector of Cats

The mistress read aloud after reversing the invitation five times and rereading it seven times until it met to her approval. Not wanting anything to go amiss, she placed a small enchantment on the letter to where the words would translate to the intended readers language. Not being sure of herself if her own native tongue was long gone; it wouldn't surprise her though.

With absolute care, the mistress rolled up her carefully written letter once the ink had set. She tied a golden string around it to keep it in place before setting the hot wax at the center of her tied bow.

From the many jewels that decorated her form, she chose the simplest of them all; in plain sight of anyone's eye, it was considered the smallest piece the mistress had in her possession. But that opinion of anyone was no concern of her's; to her, the small greenish, blue turquoise object was of great importance that represented of what she stood for.

With a mixture of pride and excitement, she pressed the small symbol into the wax. Once she was satisfied with her handiwork, she reached to the left side of her writing table where a long rope like chord was hanging. She gave it two tugs in order to summon her maid for assistance. In less than one minute, Adia came strolling into her mistress's chambers and gave a respectable bow on her arms and legs with her forehead touching the cold limestone.

"How may I serve you today, my mistress?" Adia asked in a calmly gentle voice.

"Rise Adia, I have an important message that needs to be delivered today."

Adia rose from her position while asking, "To whom will I send the message, mistress?"

"To the residence of my three guests at the..."

"Cat. Bureau. I believe it's called." The mistress concluded after a moment of thought.

"Right away mistress." with that final say, Adia turned around on her heel with the scroll in her hand and retreated from sight in order to fulfill her mistress's request.

Once Adia was out of her line of sight, the mistress couldn't help but smile like a crocodile that ate a full meal as she began to set her plans into motion.

'Phase one is complete, now I hope that fate will be on my side and he will accept. Of course, fate had to be on side when I stumbled across him in the looking glass. Its no mere coincidence that he has the same physical qualities that I posses. Is it too good to be true? That fate finally heard my weeping heart and had finally bestowed a partner onto me? Is it his destiny to rule by my side and share my eternal life with?...Yes! It must be true, it shall be true.'

At the mistress's surprise, her heart began to flutter and pound at the thought of having the prospect of a chosen mate. She giggled at these new feelings of anxiety and joy that now replaced her sadness and emptiness.

"Let the fun begin." she purred.

The room was basked in candlelight, giving it a warm glow against the night sky that cloaked itself with the moon and stars. The tables were laid with delicious foods of turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, potato salad, mixed fruits and vegetables, apple cider, pumpkin pie, and etc.

No skewed mice, raw fish, or catnip flavored wine; just real food at a wonderful party.

The guests that were dancing was a mixture of humans and felines. The felines were dressed in fancy gowns and snazzy suits like the humans. At this party there were no strange entertainers performing and no malicious ex-cat king to toss them out the window. Only guests who were dancing or interacting.

Among the group of humans, Haru stood at the threshold of the doorway, wearing the same yellow dress as the one from the cat kingdom, only without the choking white collar and the oversized green fan.

She looked to her left and saw Hiromi wearing a powder blue dress with glitter that twinkled like stars. From a distance, Haru could tell she was talking while giggling with a man dressed in a white tux who was no other than Japan's pin-pon champion; Tsuge. To her right, she saw her mother wear a ruby red dress that shimmered like silk as she made conversation with the feline royalty of Lune and Yuki. From behind them, Muta not being dressed for the party was by the food table as he scarfed down a whole turkey without the assistance of a plate or fork. On the other side of the room, Toto was swinging his head and wings from side to side like he was swaying in time with the music that was playing.

Without budging an inch from her spot, Haru scanned her surroundings once, twice, three times to find her loved ones as well as unknown faces having a good time.

'But where is Baron?' Haru asked herself silently as she slowly made her way around the room looking for the gentleman who held her heart.

She wondered around the room until something warm touched her shoulder, when she looked it was a hand, but it didn't belong to just anyone's, it was Baron's. Her heart gave a happy leap at the sight of him in his blue cape and feathered hat without the mask. He gave her a gentle smile before taking her hand in his in order to place a chaste kiss on it, causing Haru to blush a bright red by his forwardness.

His mouth was moving as though he was saying something.

'What did he say?' Haru being too distracted by the sound of her pounding heart as well as him being so close.

'Did...he ask me to dance?... Yes, that must be it.' Haru concluded her question and gave a slow nod.

His grin only increased as he lead her to the center of dancers without letting go of the hand he had kissed. He placed one hand around her waist and the other grasped hers as she placed her paw on his broad shoulder.

'Wait a minute... a paw?'

Haru began to inspect her face as she gained a fur coat and triangular ears on top. As the realization came, her fear of it never did. In fact she didn't care in the least. All she cared about right now was the handsome catman that was holding her so gently, waiting for her consent to be his partner and she had no intention of disappointing him; with changed appearances or not. They danced for what could have been hours or minutes, it was untelling as they focused their eyes on the other in their slow circular movements. They slowly began to draw their faces closer without breaking eye contact. Haru could feel his warm breath has he continued to draw closer. Another second and-

'Bing di-ding, bing di-ding, bing di-ding, bing di-ding.'

'What?'

Haru slowly opened her eyes to find her cow shaped alarm clock going off as rays sunlight came through her window to announce that the next day had begun.

'It..was all..a dream?' Haru thought in dismay as she turned off the culprit to her shattered dream and began to change from her coach uniform to a pair of faded jeans and a lime green t-shirt.

"What should I do today?" Haru mumbled to herself as she began to search her kitchen for ingredients to make pancakes for breakfast.

"Mmm...I need to finish grading my students essays on professional athletes for Monday, but that will only take me about few hours to finish. What else... mom's not here and Hiromi's with Tsuge in America for his pin-pon match."

Haru stacked her plate with steaming cakes and stuck her fork into the heep before stuffing it into her mouth as she began to ponder on her options.

'If nothing else, I could go to the Bureau for a visit,... ya, that's what I'll do after my grading's are done.' With that satisfied thought, Haru continued to eat before setting her plans into action.

'How did I talk myself into doing this?' Haru fretted as she carried another recipe of mulberry angel food cake with vanilla flavored icing while walking down the crossroads towards the café tables.

'Enough already Haru, it was just a dream, it didn't mean anything!' Haru chided herself of such foolishness as she looked over into Muta's chair, except.. the chair was empty.

"Huh...Muta's not in his usual spot today. Must be at the Bureau already then." Haru not being worried since it wasn't the first time Muta decided to stay in the refuge to read his paper or to pick more fights with Toto.

She shrugged it off as she took off towards the obstacle course like neighborhood, after all she needed to stay fit for her energetic students and her fast moving friend in order to keep up.

Once she reached the archway that was the borderline between her world and the refuge, she began to feel the familiar process of shrinking before she stole herself a few minutes to catch her breath. As Haru began to walk past the podium, she looked up to find it empty with no trace of the crow gargoyle.

"Mmmm...maybe he's inside with Muta and Baron." For some odd reason, Haru had a feeling that her words would not be the case as she reach the wooden doors. She stood there for two minutes waiting to hear a sound from inside the Bureau; there wasn't and the silence only increased her fear that something was wrong.

She opened the door with force, nearly tearing it from its hinges as she scrambled her way in. Haru frantically scanned around the room with her eyes and found no Muta, no Toto, and no Baron; they were gone.

As difficult as it was, Haru forced her brain to think of a reasonable explanation in order to keep herself calm.

"They could've gone off to help someone...ya, that's it, there just answering a cry for help and they probably won't be back until tomorrow...Right."

Wrong, it still didn't feel right; she had a gut feeling that something was still amiss, but what.

Haru inspected the room again looking in every nook and cranny in order to find some sort of clue, anything that would give her a hint to her friends' whereabouts. She looked on the mantle, the chairs and couch, the coffee table, the book shelves; nothing so far.

'Next is Baron's desk.'

Haru shuffled through the folders and books that laid neatly on Baron's desk until she found something peculiar on the floor. In plain view, it was a corner piece of a dirt-yellow colored paper sticking out from underneath the desk. Haru took it out of it's hiding place to get a better look at the crinkled paper. Unfortunately for Haru, she couldn't make out heads or tales of what was on the paper. They were all scribbled pictures similar to the scroll she received four years ago as a payment list for saving a cat prince's life.

'Did Lune send the message? Is the kingdom in trouble?' Haru didn't remember Lune being distressed last night.

' Not unless something happened after I left.'

Whatever the case may be, Haru had to do something if her friends were in trouble, she didn't know what she would do if anything happened to them. She needed to contact Lune and Yuki and demand to know what was going on. From the feeling she was receiving right now from her heart and gut, all she knew was that something was wrong.