I was looking forward to the end of school a little more than usual, of course.

I wanted to see Kazune, and I was excited about the concert tonight. I'd be so happy if I could go..

The bell finally rang and I jumped to my feet to run. Miyon and Himeka grabbed both my hands before I could, however. "Hey, aren't you gonna say goodbye first? And what are we wearing to the concert tonight? You haven't said anything."
"Oh.." I turned around, "I don't think it's necessary to match... I guess you can just wear whatever.."

"OK, then, I guess I'll see you later." Himeka smiled softly, waving.

"Yeah, later, Karin-chan." Miyon waved.

I waved before walking off, "Bye, then!" I left out of the door and worked hard to avoid all of the hallway traffic.

What if Kazu-chan's waiting for me outside? Hee, hee, I bet he still has those bunny ears atop his head. I wonder where we should go together? Oh! We always went to that bakery next to my house! It'd be like old times if we went!

The feeling made me smile and flush with pride. Grabbing all of my things out of my locker, I jogged down the hallways, eager to see Kazune.

I went down the flight of stairs to go to the second, and I noticed that the hallways were slowly getting less crowded, easier for me to walk through. I practically skipped the rest of the way and out of the doors, giggling and ignoring the weird looks from numerous teenagers.

Once outside, I left the campus and ran up the hill that led to the city, glancing around for any signs of Kazune. I frowned when I couldn't find him.

He hadn't exactly told me where he'd meet me. Should I go back home? It's likely he'd meet me there, too.

My heart suddenly pounded hard against my chest and a cold, electric feeling ran through my body. I'd never felt like this before. My entire body felt frozen and butterflies- no, bees, were racing around inside me. I glanced around frantically, feeling eyes on me, and wondered why in the world I was feeling this way.

The wind blew my loose hair from my braids out of my face and I gulped. It was only a field full of kids – nothing to worry about.

The feeling didn't disappear, however, and I continued my walk toward the city without looking back.

Later...

I bit my lip and clutched my briefcase. It'd already been 15 minutes, and I still hadn't seen Kazune anywhere.

Oh, please don't tell me he left again...

There was a worried look on my face and my heart began to ache at the thought of him suddenly leaving again. That would totally ruin my entire birthday.

I finally left the city and walked down a long pathway crossing a field and surrounded by cherry blossom trees in full bloom.

I smiled for a moment, reaching up as a gust of wind blew thousands of the beautiful pink flowers off of the tree to fly through the air.

"So pretty... I... I wish Kazu-chan could see them, too."

It was silent for a moment as I gave a sad sigh and continued my walk down the path, my shoes making a soft clicking sound against the pavement.

"Isn't that sad? The princess's prince abandoned her once again."
And unfamiliar voice made the odd, frightened feeling in my body increased and I wrapped my arms around myself, glancing around for anyone.

As soon as I turned, something disappeared behind one of the huge cherry blossom trees.

I gasped, "Wh- who's there?!"
There was another brief moment of silence, but the voice spoke again – loud and clear this time. It was a deep, sadistic voice, velvety smooth and definitely belonging to a man.

Oh, no! What if he's a pervert that's been following me this whole time?!

I refused to let my guard down as I stepped closer to the center of the path, avoiding getting to close to any tree he could be hiding behind. As I turned, something darted behind the bushes, a little more clearer so I could see the person had violet hair half up in a pony tail and half down. It was about shoulder length, too.

I couldn't make the clothing out in time, so I kept watch to hurry and identify this person.

Minutes passed before the figure darted behind me at a frightening, inhuman, speed.

I froze in both shock and fear and my heart missed a beat.

There was breathing on my neck and someone whispered in my ear :

"Boo."
I yelped and ran forward before twisting around to see the "stalker."

I was correct, it was a man. About my age, standing at about 6 feet, definitely bigger than me. I felt puny compared to him.

His straight, violet hair fell into one of his glowing emerald eyes – eyes similar to that of a cat. I gulped when I realized he had BLACK cat ears and a black tail curling behind him. He was clothed in a striped purple and black hoodie with the same patterned jeans and black sneakers. All over his body, he had perfectly toned muscles.

He looked like a normal guy, but I new just by the unnatural eye color and the ears and tail that he was definitely NOT normal.

I took a step backwards, and a sadistic grin crossed his face.

"You're not running from me already, are you? You've barely met me yet."
"I... I don't think I want to.." My heart pounded and I refused to take my eyes away from his – afraid that if I looked away for a second, he wouldn't be in the same place.

The man/cat watched me closely with his piercing emerald eyes.

"What.. what are you going to do..?" my voice was small, shaky, and I sounded more scared than I thought. The worried feeling in my body was starting to make me feel sick. What was it that I was so frightened about?

His smile grew wider, " Already scared, huh? Well, my mission wasn't to come to Earth to feed off of a human's delicious fear... But... you're already giving of waves of it... I can't resist."
"W-who are you..?" I backed away, and he followed.

"Hmmm... my real name is unfortunately a little too long.. I guess I can curse my parents for that.. but my friends call me Cheshire. It's a nickname, you see."
The man called Cheshire stared at me for another moment before sighing impatiently. Everything happened quickly after that.

I screamed when he suddenly darted toward me, grabbing both my wrists in one hand, easily pinning them above my head and pushing my small form against the tree. My briefcase fell noisily to the ground.

My scream was short – I stopped when his hands slowly made their way up to my neck and wrapped around it. It wasn't tightly, but I knew at any moment, he could kill me. Just one quick motion.
Cheshire's face was just inches from mine. His eyes were boring into my own.

"Stop, stop it..."

His free hand caressed my body roughly, where no one had ever touched me, and I didn't like it at all.

"It's better when you try and resist, you know."
He leaned in to kiss me and I turned my head the other way, shutting my eyes tightly.

Cheshire's knee moved in between my legs to keep me from possibly slipping away from him. I gasped and shook my head from side to side, struggling.

Where was Kazune? Wasn't he supposed to be protecting me?!

Rough hands grabbed the side of my face that was turned from him and pulled me to face him again.

My eyes widened and he leaned in again before licking his lips.

"I suggest you not be disobedient."
Just when I thought he was really going to kiss me...

"TAKE YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!"

Cheshire and I turned at the same time to see who the voice belonged to and my heart leaped in my chest. There was Kazune, running toward us at full speed, a sword in his hand.

"Great to see you, Prince Apollo."
Kazune got his sword ready, pulling it back on his side and glaring daggers at Cheshire – who only smirked again.

Cheshire quickly moved me so he had one hand grasped tightly around my neck and the other curving around my face and gripping my jaw.

Kazune stopped short, his eyes widening.

"Ah, ah, ah, you're highness, you know perfectly well that I wouldn't just let you ATTACK me. You must be careful protecting such a fragile princess. You know I could kill her easily."
I reached out for Kazune, and he stepped toward us.

"Let her go, Cheshire!" he said seriously. I saw sweat trickle down his forehead, and his snow white ears were standing tall at attention. If you looked close enough, you could see he was trembling slightly. His baby blue eyes were like narrow slits as he watched him in horror.

I'd never seen him so afraid. He always smiled.

"Prince Apollo, you know I can't do that. I have to take her back to the Kitty King. But you know, if I have to, I could kill her. He didn't say much about wanting her alive."

"Cheshire, don't -"
Cheshire cut him off, "How about we play a game? Since her powers aren't fully developed until the actual hour she turns 16, we'll be frolicking around until the time comes. If you find us, perhaps I'll give her back to you, but you'll have to fight me if you want to keep her. And you already know what I'll get out of keeping her when her powers are complete."

Kazune reached out toward me as Cheshire slung me over his shoulder.

"Kazu-chan!" I yelled.

"Karin – I'll find you, I swear! I'll find you!" I heard him say before every thing – I mean, before Cheshire and I- disappeared to another place in Tokyo.