At her table, Kokoro swirled the ice cubes in her glass before sipping the beverage through a straw. Several male fairies had asked her to dance already, but she really wasn't in the mood. Besides, she was starving, and if she danced she feared she would faint. Not eating all day can do that to a person.

Kokoro was suddenly jolted out of her thoughts when somebody in front of her said, "Excuse me?" She turned to face the person, and she almost got a mouthful of rose petals.

In front of her was a very tall man. He was wearing a slate-gray cape, but Kokoro could see a lot of green underneath. On his hands were white gloves, and on his head was a green hat with a white feather sticking out of the brim. A white mask covered the upper part of his face, but she could see jade-green eyes staring down at her. Furry orange ears stuck up on either side of the brim of the hat, and he had whiskers coming out of his cheeks. In one gloved hand, he was holding a white rose.

The cat-man grinned at her and wrapped the hand holding the rose behind his back. "I apologize for my enthusiasm," he said, bowing his head. "Are you, by any chance, Miss Kokoro?"

She nodded vigorously as her heart began to race.

The cat-man's grin widened. "Would you care to dance?" He extended his free hand.

Kokoro shook her head. "Oh no, I'm really not in the mood…"

"Please," he said, "just trust me."

Kokoro chewed her lip a moment before carefully sliding her palm into his and letting him guide her out of her seat and around the table. At the end of the table, he brought forward the rose and gently tucked it behind her ear.

The cat-man led her out onto the dance floor, where the musicians were playing a romantic tune. He gently set her hand on his shoulder before placing his on her waist, gripping her hand firmly in his other. Sending her a reassuring smile, he guided her into a smooth waltz.

"I'm sorry I'm not very good," she murmured, glancing down as she removed her slipper from his foot for the third time.

She heard him chuckle. "No one ever said you weren't good," he replied. She glanced up and saw he was grinning at her.

Her face was matching her hair again and her heart was pounding so loud in her ears she could hardly hear the music. She heard him say something, but it didn't register. "What?" she asked.

He grinned at her, like one would when speaking to a child. "I said, 'Kokoro' is a very lovely name and I think it suits you to a T."

Kokoro's heart practically stopped and her face blanched. Only one person had ever told her that, a person with furry orange ears and whiskers on his face. She couldn't believe she hadn't realized it sooner. Leaning closer, she whispered, "Baron?"

The cat looked down at her, still grinning.

The song ended, and everyone applauded the orchestra. The cat, whom she had decided was Baron, clapped along as well. She was too busy gawking at him to be paying attention. Eventually she had to be escorted back to her seat by one of the servers.

Of course, being the future princess, she was seated next to Queen Esmeralda. On her other side Baron sat down. Queen Esmeralda waved it off as, since the Cat King and Queen couldn't come, the Cat Kingdom's ambassador would be sitting in the king's place.

Ambassador? Kokoro thought, gazing at him as she wrinkled her brow. I didn't know he was an ambassador.

"Once again, I'm terribly sorry that the King and Queen couldn't make it," Baron said, leaning forward as he spoke to Queen Esmeralda. "King Lune just couldn't bear to leave Queen Yuki's side, what with her having such a terrible case of the flu."

Queen Esmeralda smiled. "Oh, no no no no no no, don't give it another thought Mr. Ambassador," she replied. "There'll be other parties."

As servers brought them their dinner, Kokoro kept gaping at Baron as he easily bantered with everyone around him. She was so distracted that she didn't notice she was dripping the syrupy liquid from her food onto her hand until a wet cloth was dabbing at it.

She lifted her eyes and watched as Baron carefully wiped the syrup off her hand. He raised his head and murmured, "You should be more careful, Miss Kokoro. I wouldn't want you to ruin that very pretty dress of yours."

She had to look at away, her red hair hiding her scarlet cheeks. I really should stop embarrassing myself in front of him, she thought, sighing as he pulled away from her.

Kokoro had become lost in her thoughts again when she heard a crash, and all eyes turned to look at Baron. He was staring at the floor in front of him, and everyone followed his eyes.

Tea oozed onto the wooden floor and soaked the edge of the tablecloth, surrounding the broken crystal. Two waiters hurried over, mopped up the tea and picked up the glass, but it was obvious that the tension in the room had skyrocketed.

Baron coughed while the waiters cleaned up his mess, and Kokoro saw him wink at her out of the corner of his eye. Confused, she turned back to her food.

Noticing her fork was missing, Kokoro ducked under the tablecloth to search for it and almost collided with Baron's furry head.

He held a finger to her lips and whispered, "Five minutes from now, something not on the menu will appear on your plate. When it does, I want you to scream as loud as you can." He handed her the fork. "Trust me."

Baron helped her to her feet and she gracelessly plopped back into her chair, blushing for at least the thirtieth time that night. Why did Baron always have to be so... gentlemanly?

The minutes ticked by. Kokoro barely tasted her leafy salad as she wondered what on earth Baron could have been talking about.

The waiters took away her plate and replaced it with a bowl of green soup. Why is all the food here green? she thought, frowning as she absently stirred the steaming broth.

There was a splash, and she looked down into her soup and spied a hair floating in it. "Gross," she mumbled, delicately pinching it between her thumb and forefinger. She pulled it out and her eyes bugged out of her head. Wriggling in between her fingers, stained a sickly green, was a little gray mouse.

Of course, a normal person's first reaction would be to scream their head off and hurl the mouse across the room, but Kokoro just stared at it, her jaw gaping open.

It then hit her that this must've been what Baron was talking about, so she took a deep breath and screamed before gently tossing the mouse to the floor. Kokoro was certainly not a fan of any rodents, but that didn't mean she wanted to kill it.

Once again, everyone turned and stared in the direction of the sound. In mere seconds, the entire room had erupted into chaos, the women jumping on the tables and shrieking and the men either protecting the women or trying to catch the mouse.

Kokoro was jerked out of her seat onto the floor, where she was once again face-to-face with the cat figurine. He grinned, pressed a finger to his lips, and motioned for her to follow him.

It was easy to crawl underneath the covered tables with everyone in a panic; no one noticed the two esteemed guests were nowhere to be seen.

Baron slid out from underneath the table and held out his hand for her to take. He helped her up, and then gestured for her to jump out the window. She looked outside and gulped, realizing how high they were from the ground, and her legs started shaking beneath her.

When she was seven years old, Kokoro had climbed a very, very tall tree to retrieve her red paper kite. However, the moment she looked down, her body froze and she started crying. Her dad had had to call the fire department, and they sent a firefighter up to get her down. She had been terrified of heights since then.

She felt her body lifted in the air, and she looked up to see Baron holding her to his chest as he climbed out the window, another blush creeping onto her cheeks. He carefully set her down on the branch and strolled into the darkness. Kokoro was afraid he was going to walk off the branch when he stopped in front of a black blob.

"Kokoro!" he called softly, waving her over. The girl nervously crept over and took the cat's outstretched hand so he could lead her the rest of the way.

"You couldn't have forgotten me already," she heard a hurt voice say, and she gasped.

"Toto!" she exclaimed, embarrassed and apologetic that she had not recognized the blob sooner.

Toto handed Baron a white package, and Kokoro craned her neck to see what it was. Her question was soon answered when Baron turned to her and said, "I have to go change. I'll only be a minute." He patted her arm and swung down to a lower branch, Kokoro biting her lip and trying to stop the heat that was flooding to her cheeks.

Oh, why'd he have to tell me that he was going to go change? she thought, thankful for the darkness that concealed her blush.

"Kokoro!" Both Kokoro and Toto turned toward the call and saw Belinda leaning out the window, clutching something to her chest.

Kokoro trotted over to the window and leaned in. "Queen Esmeralda knows you're gone, and she's already sent out guards to search for you," the fairy hissed, glancing over her shoulder. Kokoro's eyes widened, but Belinda continued. "Here are your clothes," she added, handing over the bundle.

Kokoro held up the apple. "What's this for?" she asked.

Belinda grinned. "I could your hear stomach growling across the room," she replied. Her smile faded as cries rang out from the room.

Before Kokoro could retort, or turn any redder, Baron climbed back onto the branch and dusted off his jacket. "Well, shall we get going?" he asked, looking at Kokoro.

Kokoro reached out and grabbed Belinda's hand. "What'll happen to you?" she asked anxiously.

Belinda smiled again. "Don't worry about me," she said, patting her hand reassuringly. "I've been fine for fifty years, I'll be fine for fifty more. You, on the other hand, won't be so you better get going before the angry queen has your head."

Kokoro nodded, then she let Baron lead her over to the awaiting crow. He placed his gloved hands on her waist and lifted her onto Toto's back before mounting the bird himself. He took Kokoro's bundle from her, but she insisted on keeping the apple. "For when I scream," she said, sticking the red fruit into her mouth.

Baron reached forward and he patted Toto on his neck. "Okay Toto, let's go!" he said.

"With pleasure!" The bird stretched out his wings and flapped them a little before he took off down the branch.

As he did so, Kokoro felt warm hands wrap around her wrists and gently pull them forward so they were clasped tightly around Baron's waist. Biting into the apple as hard as she could, she tightened her hands around Baron's waist as Toto's feet left the branch and they were gliding through the night air her knuckles turning white.

Finally, she worked up the courage to open her eyes. Leaning over a little, she caught a glimpse of the forest floor between Toto's feathers. It actually wasn't as scary as she'd thought it would be, but it certainly helped that she had her arms wrapped very tightly around Baron's waist.

"Uh-oh," she heard Baron say. "We've got company."

Peeling her face away, Kokoro turned her head and understood what he meant. They were being followed by at least twenty fairies. And they were all carrying swords.

Spitting the apple out of her mouth she faced forward again, pressing her cheek into Baron's back. "Baron?" she yelled.

"Yes?"

Kokoro squeezed her eyes shut and increased her grip on Baron's waist. "Um... I think... we're in trouble."

~*~