Chapter 9

Haru walked down the back hallway towards the throne room as she let out a sigh. Hearing this caused her maid Hiromi to walk a little closer to her as she asked, "Is everything alright, Your Highness?"

The princess looked back towards her friend as she replied, "Yes, everything is fine, Hiromi. I just wish that my mother and the prince's father had let us meet each other before they had decided to unit our kingdoms by myself and prince getting married."

The light haired brunette just let out a light giggle as she answered back with, "Aww, it just seems like your nervous is all."

As the two came closer to the throne room the hazel eyed young woman responded with, "Well, of course I'm nervous considering I've never met the cat prince before."

Once the princess and maid entered the throne room Haru closed her eyes and lowered her head slightly and walked a ways until she was at the edge of the small stairway. And while she stood there she heard her mother's voice as she said, "Raise your head Haru, and greet our guests."

The brunette did what was asked of her as she opened her eyes and greeted the Cat King and Prince with, "It's very nice to meet Your Majesty and Your Highness..."

Haru then stopped herself when she saw that the cat prince had the same fur and eye color as the anthro cat who had bought the necklace for her a month ago. and within a few seconds the half cat gasped as he let out, "What you're the..."

"Yes, you're the prince? But you're also the one who..." The Princess replied with, before she trailed off.

The two young nobles then proceeded to just stare at one another as both Haru's mother and Lune's father let out light chuckles quite glad that the two were getting along with one another.

ooooooo

Orihime continued to bush her hair later on that afternoon in her room. She soon stopped however, when she heard Lune's voice as he shouted, "Princess, Princess!" The young woman set the brush down as the lavender furred anthro cat came into her room as he continued with, "Princess, you won't believe this but do you remember that other young lady who I had bought that necklace for about a month or so ago?" And while the orange haired young woman nodded she held a small mirror in her arms. She had hoped to give it to the prince as a present, but before she could he continued with, "Well, it just so happens that she is the princess of this kingdom and that her name is Haru." She saw a smile was now on his face as he ended with, "And we to go through with the marriage. However, we had our parents agree to letting us get to know each other for the next three days before the wedding."

The purple eyed young woman mentally gasped from hearing this news and was quite surprised by how the prince did not seem bothered by it at all. She even unknowingly had let go of the mirror and once it hit the ground it shattered into many tiny pieces just like the mermaid's heart.

ooooooo

Baron, Muta, and Yuki stood at the bottom of the stairway towards the entrance to the castle waiting to greet the prince and the mermaid princess when they returned. the blue eyed half cat then noticed a carriage approaching in the distance as she exclaimed, "It's the prince!" But when the female cat noticed that the mermaid princess wasn't sitting next to the mismatched eyed noble she added, "But where is the mermaid princess?"

Before either the advisor or chief could answer the carriage came to a stop as they saw the cat prince was helping a brunette out of the wagon. And once the two turned to face the three they also noticed that the two were linked arm and arm with one another as the prince said, "Ah Baron, Muta, Yuki, I'm glad that the three of you are out here." They watched as the blue and red eyed half cat then looked down at the hazel eyed young woman as he went on with, "I would like you to meet, Haru. And she is the princess of the neighboring kingdom that I will be marrying in three days time."

The brunette gave them a warm smile as she greeted them with, "It's very nice to finally meet all of you. And I hope that we can get along with one another."

The orange and cream furred anthro cat just gave the two a smile and short bow in return as he said, "It's very nice to meet you as well, Princess Haru."

He then moved to the side allowing the two to walk up the stairs. While they did this though he heard Muta's voice as he shouted, "Hey birdbrain, why aren't you helping the princess out of the carriage?"

Baron just let out a sigh as he proceeded to walk towards the carriage. While he did he passed by the black furred advisor who was sporting a smug look on his face as he quietly asked, "So, I take it that you must be quite proud of yourself, am I correct?"

To the green eyed half cat's surprise his friend said nothing other then a scuff as he continued on his way. The prince's head advisor just shook his head in disappointment as he walked up to the carriage and saw that the orange haired young woman had quite the sad expression on her face as he offer her his hand. He was relieved when he saw the young woman give a soft smile as she took his hand while he helped down onto the ground. Baron then linked his arm with the purple eyed young woman's as he asked, "So were you able to give the prince the gift that you had bought for him?"

After saying this though the half cat soon wished he hadn't asked her that question as he saw the young woman's eyes seemed to be quite puffy as he asked her, "Princess, your eyes don't seem to be as bright as what they usually are. Did something happen that has caused your to loose their sparkle?" Baron's green eyes continued to focus on the orange haired young woman's face as she nodded her head and pointed up towards the castle. The half cat followed her hand and saw that she was staring up at the prince and princess who were already at the entrance to the castle as he went on with, "Ah, yes now I could see why you would be so upset." He then tried to ease her pain with a soft smile as he ended with, "But please don't worry princess, because I doubt the prince could forget about someone as special as you so quickly."