Chapter 10

Orihime continued to walk down the hallway the next day as she thought, "What am I going to do about this? If Lune ends going through with the marriage with Haru, then I'm going to..."

She soon stopped herself however, when she walked past the opened doorway to the ballroom. And when she looked inside it she saw the half cat prince and hazel eyed princess were dancing with one another. The orange haired young woman watched as the two seemed to be lost in each other's eyes as she looked away and then ran down the hallway covering her face with her hands as she thought, "I knew it. I don't stand a chance after all."

After running down quite a few hallways however, the purple eyed young woman stopped running when she accidently bumped into someone. She then felt a pair of hands place themselves on her shoulders as someone asked, "What in the world is your problem?" Hearing this caused Orihime to look up only to see Toto giving her a somewhat sour look as he added, "Oh, it's you..."

The orange haired young woman wiped away her tears as she nodded and started to walk away. Before she could even get by him however, the black furred half cat quickly grabbed a hold of her shoulder and brought her back to where she had been standing as he said, "You know I don't really understand why you're so upset about the prince being with the princess." She then looked up and saw that the anthro cat had a very cold stare on his face as he continued with, "Because quite honestly I think you've been acting like this just so you can get everyone here to feel sorry for you."

The young woman quickly shook her head denying this. But the only thing it led to was a scoff from the green eyed advisor as he shot back with, "Oh please don't me that. I know that there's no way that the prince could fall for someone like you aftering just meeting you." Orihime's eyes widen in both fear and shock when she saw that the half cat was now showing his claws as he harshly added, "And I don't buy the fact that you can't talk either. And I'll prove that right now."

Orihime quickly closed her eyes expecting the claws to make contact with her skin. But to her surprise she did not feel a thing, instead she felt someone gently push her back. And when she opened her eyes she saw that Muta was now standing in front of her with Toto's arm in his large furry hand as he asked, "What the heck do you think you're doing, Toto?"

She watched as the large anthro cat let go of the advisors hand as he responded back with, "That's really none of your business, fatso!"

After hearing this though the young woman shook her head as she mentally shouted, "I-I can't take this anymore!"

She then ran down the hallway towards the entrance to the castle completely ignoring Muta's pleas to not leave.

ooooooo

Baron continued to stare at the sunset along the shore of the beach. At least until his right ear twitched from hearing someone running from behind him. When the orange and cream furred half cat turned around he saw that it was the mermaid princess who was running towards the water. He watched her as she slowly came to stop and just stared at him in surprise as he topped his hat to her and said, "Good evening." The half cat then noticed that the young woman seemed quite shaken up by something as he went on with, "Is everything alright, princess?"

The advisor stared at the orange haired young woman as she shook her head giving him a no for an answer. He then watched as she came up to him and then gently grabbed one of his hands as she then did a few motions with her own hands before she then pointed at the ends of the half cat's fingers. Baron nodded as the purple eyed young woman went on by raising the hand into the air before she grabbed with the other. Again the anthro cat nodded, but before he could say a word he heard Yuki's voice as she stated, "If you're wondering Baron, the princess is telling you that Toto tried to use his claws to hurt her. Thankfully though Muta showed up in time to stop him...at least that's what he had told me."

Hearing this from the half cat maid displeased the advisor greatly as he replied, "I am truly sorry that something like that happened to you princess mermaid."

The orange and cream furred anthro cat proceeded to pull the young woman into a hug when he saw she was about cry again. And as he held her he whispered, "Princess, I promise you that no one will ever try and harm you like that ever again." However, the three were completely unaware that Toto had seen everything and now was more annoyed then ever.

ooooooo

Toto walked down the hallway later on that night in not the greatest of modes as he let out, "I can't believe that, that girl now has Baron under her spell. I wish there was way that I could get rid of her without harming her."

"Actually I think you've done quite enough damage to her already." Someone calmly shot back, causing the black furred advisor to snap out of his outward thoughts.

Seeing the orange and cream furred half cat at the other end of the hallway did not surprise the advisor as he answered back with, "Really now? And why would you care if that girls feelings are hurt or not?" When he saw that his friend was not answering him he added, "So I guess I was right. You have fallen for her haven't you, Baron?"

But to the half cat's surprise the prince's head advisor simply glared at him as he replied, "So, what if I'm attracted to the mermaid princess. I know that she has strong feelings for the prince..." The green eyed anthro cat noticed a smile had crossed the grey suit wearing cat's face as he ended with, "But that doesn't mean that I shouldn't at least try and show her that she can still be happy with someone else...if she's willing of course."

Toto just rolled his eyes as he responded with, 'Okay well good luck with that." He then looked out the window and saw that his carriage had arrived as he ended with, "Now if you'll excuse me I have to return to the main palace."

He saw that the other green eyed half cat was giving him a questionable look as he asked, "Really now? And why on earth would you be going back there for?"

Hearing this caused the black furred anthro cat to let out a chuckle as answered, "Well, if you must know Baron, and I know that you must. His Majesty was so pleased with me telling him about that girl's plans that I am now his third advisor."

But before Toto could become too smug he was no sooner punched in the face by Baron as he responded with, "Then consider that a going away present."

The prince's former advisor just rubbed his face as he walked past his former friend and exited out of the castle. Once he entered the carriage though he never looked back.