Chapter Four: The Kiss
"Are you sure I can't go back to sleep? It's not like we're doing anything important," Haru said, still feeling a bit lightheaded.
"Very sure; you could have a concussion or something. I hope there's a doctor up there, at least." Her father glared up to the ceiling, probably at the visitors' center, while rubbing her back comfortingly.
All of the other students had broken into groups, to just talk and tell scary stories with their flashlights. Hiromi stayed next to Haru, gripped her flashlight like a weapon.
"If I ever get my hands on that fatso cat, I'll turn him into a pie."
"Are you going to eat him?" Haru asked as she giggled, her chest feeling much better now. Even her headache was almost gone, but her father still wouldn't let her off his lap.
The high school teacher was probably going to get yelled at for what he was doing with his daughter, but right now, he was a father first and a professor second. It had been the reverse order for far too long.
He opened his mouth to beg Haru's forgiveness, but a yawn came out instead. He blinked, not noticing that he was tired. His daughter giggled.
"You should know better than to do that. They've proven that yawning is contagious."
Almost before the words were out of her mouth, the other students also began to yawn. One by one, they started falling on their sides or backs; lit cell phones and flashlights lying beside them; a few students even snoring as sleep claimed them. Hiromi gave a big yawn as she huddled into a ball about a foot away from Mr. Niyashi, who gave another yawn. Haru followed suit, resting her head on his chest as he leaned against the cavern wall.
"Told you so."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Haru was in the water, enjoying herself for once. She had never been one for swimming, but for some reason now loved the way the water brushed over her legs.
Wait a minute. She wasn't in the water. She was wearing a dress made of a strange, superior cousin to silk. It only felt like water, and was much preferable to the real thing.
Warm arms suddenly wrapped around her, pulling her close to a solid chest; her head falling onto the stranger's broad chest. The young woman was held there for a few minutes, as the warm arms tightened slightly.
"Excuse me; would you care to dance?" The rather sexy voice seemed like it was about to cry with happiness.
Haru could feel herself nodding, with the strange man's hand behind her head, and began to follow the warm arms wherever they directed her. Her partner held her close to him the entire time, his warm breath caressing her ear as her feet were nearly dragged across the ground; the girl taking light steps in order to coordinate with her partner's.
They could have danced for an eternity, or a lone minute for all they could tell. He gave a sigh of contentment, lovingly rubbing his cheek against her hair.
"I've missed you, love."
Then soft lips covered hers in a tender kiss.
The schoolgirl's world seemed to explode, her eyes filled with nothing but light, and her ears filled with cheering, wild cheering from a large populace from nowhere. Her whole body, her whole soul, seemed to come alive, in a way it had only dreamed of doing before!
'The kiss… oh, the kiss!'
It was real. Someone was actually kissing her hard. This was no dream; her body's shivers being too violent from the affects to just be her imagination, and her soft content purring was definitely real. His body gave a shudder of pleasure while pressing her against it and a loud warm purring met her ears, and echoed into her throat; a solid tenor to her soft soprano. One hand was on the back of her head, so he could deepen the kiss even further, as his fingers played with her soft hair.
Just before she tried to start kissing him back, the young girl opened her eyes, and got the shock of her life. Her purr stopped cold.
Without stopping to consider her actions, she used all the strength in her arms to sharply push the guy away; their lips making a loud suction sound as they parted. He stumbled, caught off guard as she regained her own balance, not believing her own eyes. She was too stunned to even scream, her face on fire as she took several steps back from the man. The slim brunette raised one hand to cover her mouth in shock.
All of the flashlights and cell phones were off now, but the young woman could clearly see who had kissed her. His wide green eyes stared at her, his feet on a solid plain once more. But that wasn't what was disturbing the girl.
What was upsetting her was the fact that he had a cat's head. And being pressed against that mouth, she knew it wasn't a disguise.
'My first kiss got stolen by a cat?! And I liked it?!'
"What is wrong with you?! Why the heck did you kiss me?!" Was she certain this wasn't a dream? The cat-man looked at her for a moment, and then sighed sadly; his whole heart in it.
"I take it from your… less than enthusiastic reaction, that you don't remember me?"
She backed up against the wall, nudging her father with her foot, trying to wake him up. If there were any time for him to interfere with her personal life, it was now. Her whole body was shaking from fear, and something else she couldn't name. Her heart was speeding out of control.
"I'm pretty sure I'd remember a half cat in a suit, if I had ever met one before."
His eyes saddened further, as he adjusted the silk hat on his head.
'Who wears top hats anymore, except for costume parties?!'
"Then please permit me to apologize for my unorthodox behavior. I don't regret doing it, but I do regret the conditions I had to do it under."
"Had to?! Was someone standing behind you with a club, to make sure you did it?!" She nudged her father a little harder. His eyes flicked to her foot, and he laughed sadly.
"That won't do any good. He won't wake up until I tell him to, and neither will anyone else. To answer your question, no one forced me to kiss you, but it was needed." And he had enjoyed every glorious second of doing it. To be honest, if he hadn't smelled the blood bond between father and child when he pried the sleeping brunette away from the man, the half-cat would have done something awful to the father, for being so familiar with the girl. His girl.
But, even if he didn't love the young woman now before him, his duty to her was clear. He gave her a proper bow, and held the tall silk hat to his heart.
"Please permit me to reintroduce myself; I am Baron Humbert von Gikkingen. Pray, what name do you go by now?" he asked.
The brown-eyed girl blinked, wondering why he had worded it like that.
"Haru Yoshioka. What do you mean, 'reintroduce' and asking for my 'current' name? I've always been known as Haru."
He straightened once more, his slanted green eyes sad while returning the hat to its perch.
"In your current life, that's true. But when I knew you in your past one, you were Princess Louise DeLerouc. Perhaps it would be best if I refer to you by your new name for a while."
She stared at him, wondering if this was a diseased dream after all. Her, a royal? The girl started waving one hand in a negative gesture, which slowly became more insistent.
"That's insane; I'm no princess; I'm a high school girl! I'm not going to be down here for much longer, so you don't have to worry about how you address me. The people up at the center-"
Baron cut her off.
"-won't be able to use the elevators until I give the word to Muta to fix what he did to them. You've met him, if you don't remember him either."
Haru thought hard.
"The cat that knocked me unconscious?"
"Yes, and he's most anxious to apologize to you for doing that. I'm afraid it would be a bad idea for you to return to the world you knew."
She pressed herself harder against the wall, although he hadn't moved any closer to her. Her cheeks were still burning, feeling the passion he had put into the kiss. Why wouldn't her heart stop beating so fast?!
"Why would you say that?"
He looked at her, his eyes now wary.
"Please note your hair."
She blinked, and reached back to pull a lock forward. She smiled triumphantly; the milk chocolate color being what it always was. Then her heart stopped.
There were a few white strands in her fist. And more were changing into white before her eyes.
