Kokoro thoughtfully sucked on her fork as she sat inside Baron's warm house and listened to Muta gobble up the rest of the angel food cake.
She wondered if her father noticed she was gone. Maybe, if he was home from work and had noticed there was no dinner on the table. At least the next day was Saturday, so she could lie and say she spent the night at Ami's house and forgot to call. Ami would vouch for her, if she asked her to.
Muta told her she couldn't sleep in the house because she was way too big. But he went and rounded up enough mattresses and blankets from all the other houses to make a bed large enough for her to lay on comfortably.
"Thanks Muta," she said as she laid down on the makeshift bed.
Muta grunted. "Don't complain about it," he said gruffly. "And as soon as Baron comes back, I'm outta here."
He turned around and shuffled back into the house. Kokoro thought he had left, but he came back out with a basket of apples and a newspaper. The large cat sat down in the wicker chair beside the door, the basket next to him, and opened the paper.
Satisfied that she wasn't alone, Kokoro turned away from him and sighed happily. "I think I can get used to this," she whispered sleepily, pulling one of her blankets up to her chin and closing her eyes.
~*~
Kokoro sat up with a jolt. She glanced around and remembered that she was sleeping on the cobblestone street in front of Baron's cheery green-and-white house, and that earlier that day angry fairies had chased her around town. Muta was asleep in the chair, the newspaper across his chest and a basket of apple cores next to him. He was snoring loudly, and Kokoro couldn't help but compare it to the time she had accidentally sucked up her dad's slipper with the vacuum cleaner.
Slowly she stretched her arms, and pushed the blankets off her legs. Standing up, she tiptoed over to Baron's house and peeked through the window. It was still dark inside. Noticing the top of the pole was still vacant, she sighed and sat back on her haunches. "So Baron and Toto are still gone," she whispered.
Glancing down, she saw that Muta was still sound asleep, snoring away. She then looked back longingly at the house. Having only eaten doll-sized food in the past few hours, it her stomach was angrily protesting. "I wonder if Baron has any food left," she thought out loud. "Maybe Muta missed something."
As quietly as she could, she pulled open Baron's doors and crept inside. She found a light switch on the side of the wall and flipped it up. The room was suddenly bathed in a sunny glow, making her feel infinitely better, and she crawled over to the cabinets.
Unfortunately Muta had cleaned out every single one, and there was nothing left but empty jars and dirty dishes.
Defeated, she turned off the light and crawled back outside. "Oh, I'm so hungry," she whimpered, her stomach groaning again.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of light. Kokoro looked up, expecting to see Baron and Toto appearing out of another hole, but all she saw were more and more flashes.
"Baron? Toto?" she called, shielding her eyes. "Muta, wake up! Muta!"
She began to panic when she realized her feet weren't touching the ground anymore, and that she was slowly being lifted higher and higher up into the air. "Muta, what's happening? Muta, wake up!" But Muta just twitched his ear and turned over in his sleep.
Kokoro started to get angry. Something was taking her away, and the cat that was supposed to be protecting her was still sound asleep! "Wake up, you big fatso!"
Muta jumped off the chair and started blindly swinging his paws. "Who're you callin' fatso?!" he shouted, spinning around.
"Muta, help me!" she screamed. She was almost as high as the pole.
"Oh no!" he shouted. He jumped and extended his paw, and she reached down to grab it, but she was already too high up. "Hold on!" The cat then tried to climb the pole, but he was too heavy to reach the top. "What's happenin'?"
"How should I know? Help me Muta!" she shrieked.
Kokoro finally got a good look at whatever was lifting her up. It looked like… the little people again?!
One of them began talking to her. "Our queen won't be very happy when she sees you," said a fairy woman with daffodil-yellow hair. "But, we had to take drastic action."
"Let me down!" Kokoro cried. "Please!"
The fairy ignored her. "It took us a long time to find you," she continued. "And with that dumb cat here, we couldn't come in. Now that he's gone, all the magic keeping us out went with him. We may not be able to approach you when he's around, but as soon as he leaves, you're vulnerable."
Something clicked in Kokoro's head. "You mean… Baron was protecting me? Just by being here?"
"Is that his name? Yeah, I guess so. But he's gone now, and your fat friend certainly isn't going to catch us!"
Kokoro looked down. She could see Muta was running after her, but the fairies were carrying her away much faster.
"Muta!" she screamed. "Find Baron! It's his magic that protects me!"
"Huh? But Baron's not magical! He's just a nosy cat doll!" Muta shouted back.
Her face paled. "He's not… Then, how…?" Suddenly, Muta disappeared from view as the fairies carried her out of the refuge.
Toto and Baron were in another reality. Muta couldn't keep up. Now, Kokoro was all alone. As the fact dawned on her, she began to cry. "Who's going to save me now?"
~*~