Haru was just saying farewell to Yuki when a cry rang out from within the house that stopped her cold.
"He's not breathing!"
Yuki gasped, hands covering her mouth as her blue eyes filled with worry.
Haru swung off her mare and dashed back into the house, Yuki following close behind.
"Highness, what good can you do? Once a person stops breathing, that's it, isn't it?" she asked, her voice hoarse as she spoke between panting breaths.
"No," Haru growled out. "It's not. It's a matter of getting the heart started again, and air into his lungs."
"Sounds like magic," Yuki said.
"It isn't," Haru answered, opening the door and letting herself in without being asked or announced. "Let me through, please," it was so close to being an order, but the please on the end just made it curtly polite.
She didn't even look at his face beyond nose and mouth. The former she covered with a hand, the other she covered with her own lips. She breathed into him, then shifted to pump his chest, counting five pumps before going back to his lips.
Haru slowly became aware as she was doing this the third time, that Baron was, quite simply, not human. At least, not human in the physical sense. No human had that much hair, and at such a length. No, what he had, was fur.
Looking up at him as she pumped his chest for the fourth time, Haru realised that he was a cat, and was surprised at herself that she didn't care. Cat featured though he might be, he was still a handsome cat.
She was just about to breathe for him a fifth time when he took a shuddering gasp of his own.
Everybody else in the room breathed a sigh of relief, and Haru sat back on the bed, just looking at him, taking in every detail.
He coughed for a while, blinked his eyes – beautiful green eyes, the princess noted – then looked about the room, wondering what had happened.
"Welcome back," she said, breaking the silence and drawing his immediate attention with just those two soft words. "We were all worried you had left us."
"Highness," Baron said, shocked almost beyond words at her presence before him, able to see every inhuman feature of his face, and still smiling at him as though relieved.
"If you ever stop breathing again Baron, I will be most displeased with you and stop visiting," she said, her voice stern though she was still smiling.
"What?" he asked, dumbfounded.
"You weren't breathing sir," one of the servants said. "I don't know what you did, highness, but thank you so much for doing it."
"Hey, you think maybe those legends about waking somebody up with a kiss is true?" asked another servant. "I mean, since we just saw the princess do it and it worked and all."
"Looked a bit violent to be a regular kiss to me," said the first.
Haru blushed as she realised, that yes – she had had her mouth to his, which generally constituted a kiss.
"I just breathed for him and tried to start his heart pumping again, that was all. Our physician at the palace is very well studied, and doesn't mind me reading his journals," the princess explained.
"Alright, everybody out," Yuki ordered. "I'll keep an eye on him, and you all have things to do."
Haru almost laughed to see the smallest of them dishing out the orders, but the white-haired girl had struck her, on their first meeting, as someone who was more than they appeared.
"Highness-" Baron started.
"Haru," she said, cutting him off. "Just Haru."
"Haru," the feline gentleman corrected himself. "Thank you, but forgive my rudeness: I don't understand how you can be looking at me and smiling like that. I am –"
"The most handsome cat I have ever seen, a gentleman at all times, and a friend I wouldn't trade for anything. Also, for the record," she said, leaning in to make absolutely certain that his beautiful green eyes were fixed on her own chocolate brown ones. "You had better not be engaged to anybody else."
Baron blinked as he let the beautiful brunette's words sink in. Did she mean to say that -?
"I'm not."
"Good, because I'd hate to break you apart from someone you love, just because I fell in love with you."
She did. She did mean that. If he had it in him, he would have jumped for joy. He couldn't though, so he just smiled and wrapped one hand around hers.
"You had better come to the ball, and teach me to dance in the meantime," she said, touching her nose to his.
"I promise."
