The quiet clinking of dishes and the sizzle of breakfast cooking caused Baron's eyelids to flutter open sleepily and he yawned, arching his back and stretching his arms before flopping back down onto the cushions. Rubbing his eyes with one hand, he glanced down at his chest and saw that Haru was currently using it as a pillow, and she was stirring.

"Good morning," he murmured, smiling gently down at her.

She dragged her head across his chest so she could look him in the eye, returning his lazy smile. "Good morning," she mumbled as he ran his hand lightly over her scalp, brushing the loose, tangled hair from her eyes. Yawning, she slowly lifted herself off him, using his ribs for support, and stretched her arms back. "Did you finish watching the movie?"

"I did. It was very good."

She pushed herself off the couch and stood on wobbly legs, running her fingers through her knotty hair. "What happened to my mom? Did she get bored?"

"Tired, actually. She went to bed somewhere in the middle." She offered him her hand, which he gratefully accepted and she pulled him up. "I think I hear movement in the kitchen."

"Good, I'm starving." He followed her to the kitchen, where Mrs. Yoshioka was busy sipping coffee from a ceramic mug as she looked at the newspaper. Two more places were set on either side of her, complete with cups and crisp toast with lettuce and a still steaming egg on top.

"Morning, sleepyheads," she said, glancing up from her paper to smile at them both as they fell into the chairs beside her. "Enjoy the movie Baron?"

"Very much so, Mrs. Yoshioka," he replied, pouring himself a full cup of the fresh coffee before offering it to Haru. "With a satisfactory, albeit rather sad, ending."

She nodded. "It's a good movie, isn't it?"

"Indeed."

Haru anxiously took turns staring at her mother and Baron. "Did something happen after I fell asleep?" she asked slowly, biting her lip.

Mrs. Yoshioka laughed. "Baron and I just talked, that's all sweetie."

Haru raised her eyebrows, then returned to her rapidly cooling breakfast.

"Any plans for today?" Mrs. Yoshioka asked, turning another page of her paper.

Baron shrugged, but Haru—once she'd swallowed her mouthful of egg and toast—nodded. "My art teacher says I need reference pictures for our next project. I wanted to go to the park down the road and photograph some stuff. You want to come too Baron?"

"The park sounds like fun, and I would enjoy helping you with your assignment."

The older woman nodded. "I was probably going to kick you two out anyway. More room to lay out my quilts, you know," she added when Baron looked at her quizzically.

"Great!" Haru said, clapping her hands together. "We can leave right after breakfast."

He nodded. "Fine with me."

Haru met him in the living room in a blue blouse with a white skirt, the hem edged in lace, and a chain around her neck with a gold butterfly pendant. She carried a silver camera in one hand, using the other to reach up and hug her mother around the neck. Mrs. Yoshioka kissed her on the cheek and smiled at Baron, all the while ushering them out the front door.

The walk to the park took twenty minutes—Haru had understated the distance—and it was much larger than he had expected, complete with a playground, a soccer field, and a cement square with a wishing fountain in the center. Haru explained it was named Paruko no Ume because there was a legend that a princess once stood beneath one of the many plum trees in the park when her lover proposed to her. The location of said tree has been lost through time, but if a couple proclaimed their love for each other beneath the correct one, their love would be eternal. She admitted that the legend made this her favorite park, and he smiled knowingly.

So she was a hopeless romantic too.

Immediately Haru began snapping pictures of everything—trees, flowers, playground equipment, grass, random passersby. When she wanted to take pictures of him he protested, saying he wasn't photogenic.

"You could be a model with that face Baron," she countered, angling her camera again.

"My face won't show up."

"You're not a vampire Baron. Now hold still!"

"Haru!"

"Baron, I just want one!" She chased after him as he circled the playground equipment until she finally got a shot of him, laughing, when she tackled him and took a picture while sitting on his legs.

Climbing off of him, she plopped into the grass and began clicking buttons. He rolled to his elbow and tried to regain his breath as she frowned at the camera, then turned to him. "I didn't know you had dimples," she said, a little breathless herself.

"What?"

"Dimples, you have dimples!"

"I do?"

"Didn't you know?"

"Not really. Until now they were covered in fur for, oh I don't know, longer than you've been alive." She giggled and he grinned. "Why do you say that?"

Before he could stop her, she had two fingers pressed to his cheeks. "Because they showed up in the picture I took," she explained. "But only when you smile." To underscore her words, he smiled beneath her touch and her fingertips dipped inward. "Like that."

Happy, light music drifted to their ears and before he could even attempt to kiss her again, she had leapt up and was dragging along by the hand again in the direction the sound was coming from.

She led him to the cement square where a quartet comprised of three men and one woman were playing a merry tune for a growing crowd. One man had a violin, another a cello, the third a mandolin, and the woman trilled out many excited, high-pitched notes on her flute. Haru watched the musicians in awe before Baron turned to her and bowed low before her, offering her his hand.

"Would you care to dance, Miss Haru?" he asked politely, peeking up at her through his waves of blonde hair.

Haru turned red. "I don't know… in front of all these people?"

"Just trust me," he murmured.

Pausing to hand her camera over to a woman with a baby stroller standing nearby, instructing her to basically hold the button and take as many pictures as she could, she slid her slender fingers into his hand and let him lead her out in front of the crowd. Placing one hand on her waist, hers gracefully landing on his shoulder, he held her other hand up high as he proceeded to whirl her across the pavement, his eyes never breaking her gaze.

He twirled her around beneath his hand. "Nervous?" he asked gently.

She shook her head as he led her into a dip. "Not even a little."

The cadence sped up and she started laughing as he spun her so fast her clothes began to blur into a blue rivaling the color of the sky, catching her by the waist and lifting her in the air before she could fall down.

Then the music drifted off in a gentle decrescendo and Baron led their feet in a similar pattern until they eventually stopped and were met with a flurry of wild clapping. They bowed dramatically to their crowd, and laughter joined the applause when Haru almost tipped over from being so dizzy.

Glancing at her cell phone after retrieving her camera, Haru informed him it was almost three o'clock. A little while later, they were both holding ice cream cones—his was vanilla, while Haru insisted on chocolate—as he pointed out a bench where they could properly enjoy their treats.

"I'll pay you back as soon as I can," he said in between licks, but Haru just waved her hand dismissively.

"Baron, you saved me from a, and I don't think this is exaggerating, clinically insane Cat King and from being turned into a cat forever. The least I can do is buy you an ice cream cone. If you even try to pay me back, I may have to hurt you." He chuckled as she dug out her camera and flipped through the pictures again. "That lady took, like, sixty pictures of us!" she exclaimed. Baron leaned over her shoulder as she pointed out most of them were blurry and featured one of their backs.

"They aren't very many of you," he said, gesturing at the little camera's screen.

She shrugged. "Oh well. I hate painting me anyway."

"Now, hold on." He raised his eyebrows and frowned. "You insisted you needed photographs of me. I think it's only fair there's at least one good one of you too."

She groaned. "Baron…"

"You forced me. And didn't you just say that you owe me?"

Haru sighed in defeat. "Fine, fine, you can take a picture."

He grinned as she tossed him the camera. "Stand by the tree," he directed, standing up and gesturing at the slender tree behind them. "And if you don't smile prettily, I'll have to take more until you do."

"I'm not photogenic."

"We are not reliving this argument. Now think of my dimples and smile." When he said that, Haru burst into a fit of helpless giggles, but he managed to snap a shot of her when she wasn't moving.

Recalling how Haru had looked through the photographs, he pushed a button and the screen displayed the picture he'd just taken. The image threatened to take his breath away as he admired the beautiful, picturesque girl in her most natural state: happy.

"How'd it turn out?" she asked, stepping up behind him.

He gulped audibly. "You look beautiful," he mumbled. She blushed and looked down, murmuring a quiet 'thanks.'

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Haru paused at the bottom of the stairs and placed her hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. Muta and I stopped fifteen stairs up to look back down at her.

"Don't worry I'll catch up to you!" she called up to us.

That plan certainly wouldn't work, considering it was she who needed to get out of here. Muta and I were already cats; Haru was born human.

I ran back down the stairs and scooped Haru up into my arms then turned and ran back up, vaguely hearing Muta call me a show-off.

Haru, looking rather bewildered as I carried her up the seemingly endless flights of stairs, protested. "I-I can walk!"

"Don't worry," I replied simply, saving my energy for running.

I was taking the steps two at a time; behind me, Muta was lumbering up on all four paws. And down below, I caught a glimpse of the Cat King and all his servants and soldiers running along the wall, obviously after us. Well, after Haru—it was fairly clear the king would've liked to throw Muta and I out his dining room windows.

Was someone looking at me? I glanced down at the girl in my arms. She started and turned her head away from me, her cheeks bright red.

Adorable, I thought absently as we continued up the stairs. That was all I had time for at the moment. We still had to reach the top.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

A rush of emotions blazed through him as he turned to Haru suddenly and grasped her shoulders. He had to tell her. He was going to succeed this time.

"I always thought you were beautiful Haru," he began quickly. "From the moment you first looked through the window of my house to the last moment on top of your school. You looked especially beautiful in the ball gown you wore in the Cat Kingdom, but it doesn't really matter what you wear because you could pull off any outfit."

She stared at him in amazement, but he didn't pause.

"I love every minute we spend together. You are sweet and kind and funny and you make even the simplest and silliest things like running through a park and eating ice cream and cleaning a house fun and I wouldn't trade a single moment we've shared for anything.

"I admire your spirit because you're brave and confident and when you stood up for yourself to the Cat King I was amazed and proud because I knew you could do it and I knew I played a small part in finding yourself. I admire your heart because you confessed you had a crush on me on top of your school even though I wasn't any taller than your knee and I was leaving but you were honest and truthful and I was delighted to see that you were."

He hadn't even paused to take a breath and he was practically shaking her as he leaned closer. "Haru, the truth is that I—"

Ring! Ring! Riiiiiiinggg!

"I… I should… I should probably get that," Haru mumbled, ducking her head. He threw his hands up and stomped away from her as she answered the phone. He really, really hated that cell phone.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Sorry for another cliffhanger involving the evil cell phone! Ahhh, don't hurt me!

Oh, and I made up that story about the park. It means, literally, Park of Plum Blossoms.