Chapter 4: Change in Plans

Charisse came home from school one day, looking very excited and flushed. Baron stared at her and wondered why she was so happy. She told him that a boy at her school asked her to the Cherry Blossoms Dance but she needed to learn some dance moves. Baron smiled at her joy, but he felt jealousy well up in his chest because he wanted to dance with Charisse. Despite feeling that, he agreed to teach how to dance.

They cleared some room in the living room and turned some slow music on in the stereo. Baron smiled at Charisse as she swayed to the music a bit. He suddenly approached her, collected her in a ballroom position, and began dancing with her. He twirled her and then caught her by the hands with her back pressed against his chest. She felt her heart pounding in her chest as she locked eyes with Baron. Suddenly, the planets aligned and the cosmos exploded and rebirthed.

Why? She asked herself as she stared at him. Why am I feeling this…at a time like this? Baron..? What about his betrothed?

The feline gentleman pulled Charisse into a tight embrace and swayed with her gently. The girl rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes, allowing herself to drift off. In a perfect world, she would have kissed him and never let him go…but it wasn't a perfect world. She couldn't let this happen…

"Stop," she said loudly, pulling back from him, breaking the spell. "Baron, this can't go on…"

"What is it?" he asked in concern, turning the stereo off. "Did I do something wrong?"

Charisse shook her head and stepped away. "I can't allow us to get this close, Baron," she whispered, feeling tears well up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry…"

Her heart broke even more when she saw the hurt look on Baron's face but she couldn't let it get to her. She wanted to wrap him in her arms and hold him and never let him go. But then, she did the hardest thing she ever had to do; she walked away.

…

That night, Charisse got dressed in a pink and white kimono and styled her hair in two buns. After applying light make-up, she went to her parents to see if they approved of her. Her mom took one look at her and wrapped her in a tight hug. She told Charisse how beautiful she looked like an angel but she felt a little out of place. It took her twenty whole minutes to figure out how to get the kimono on but it was so hard. The obi was hard to tie properly but she managed to get it tied.

"You look so beautiful, honey," said her mother after hugging her, "yet I imagined your first fancy event here the prom. Here, take this."

Her mom handed her a beautiful necklace with a sapphire diamond shaped as a paw. "It's a good luck charm," explained Mom.

"Thanks, Mom," said Charisse, putting the necklace on.

Charisse smiled and slid the zori on. She walked to the door, waved goodbye, and walked out into the night to get to the school.

…

There were many strange things that Charisse had seen but this one baked the cake. A pair of cats standing on their hind legs approached her and stared at her but not in the way a normal cat would. These cats were different; they stared at her like they were expecting her. Most cats would have been surprised by the presence of a human, but not these cats.

"'Scuse me, little fellas," she said, walking past them gingerly so she wouldn't step on their tails.

"Should we grab her?" asked a low voice from behind her, and she turned to face the owner of the voice.

Instead, she came face to face with a dark purple cat with odd eyes and was extremely fluffy. He stared at her lazily and nodded at her. She was about to respond but then she felt tight ropes bind her ankles and she fell to the ground, stomach first. Since she had the wind knocked out of her that gave them the opportunity to pick her up and carry her away. She tried to fight with her fists but then they bound her wrists together too so she was basically trussed up like a turkey.

"Let me go!" she screamed, trying to wriggle loose. "I don't like this! Put me down!"

"Now, now, Miss," said a calm, low voice that belonged to a bespectacled cat, "we're just trying to make this easy. Don't make this difficult, Miss Haru."

Haru? Who was Haru? "I'm not Haru!" yelled Charisse, wriggling once more. "I don't even know who that is!"

"You live in her house," replied the cat. "You must be Haru."

"No, I'm not!" she shouted, wriggling. "Let me go, or I'll kill you!"

Before the girl could carry out her threat, though, she was tossed into a blue portal and disappeared with the cats that kidnapped her. She tried to remain conscious but then her world went black and she blacked out.

…

A few hours later, Baron came to life in Charisse's empty bedroom and began pacing. He pondered over his feelings for her but then he came to the conclusion that he couldn't grow too fond of the girl or else it would end in pain. He then realized that it was really late and Charisse still wasn't home. Anxiety grew in his stomach and his heart began pounding quickly.

Suddenly, the window flew open and Toto swept in with an anxious look on his face.

"Baron," he said fearfully, "a couple of cats kidnapped Charisse! I was out making my nightly rounds and I noticed her being taken by cats! We need to help her!"

Baron didn't need to be told twice. He grabbed his cane and hat and leapt onto the bird, ready to fly. "Let's go, Toto!" he shouted. "We need to find her and save her before it's too late! They're going to turn her into a cat, just like they did to Haru!"

"Oh, boy!" cried Toto, taking off into the sky. "Hold on, Baron, we're going for a wild ride!"

Baron held onto the crow as they took off into the night to save poor Charisse. Hang on, Charisse, he was thinking. Just hang on!

…

Charisse woke up in a nice bedroom but something felt off. When she sat up, she saw cats walking on their hind legs with beatific smiles on their furry faces and some of them were wearing clothing. Cats walking? She stood up and tried to walk out of the room but the door was locked. She looked around but looked down when she realized she was no longer wearing her pink kimono. So the kidnappers knocked her out and undressed her. That was a new low!

But she wasn't naked. She was wearing a blue ball gown that kind of resembled Cinderella's but it wasn't as fancy as the latter and there were no glass slippers involved. Instead, she wore blue high heels that probably would give her a bunion in one day. She just realized that was probably the reason that she was wearing the big heels. It was a shame that they didn't lace the shoes tightly because she immediately removed them and began looking for a way out.

Just as she tugged on the doorknob, she heard the door unlock. She stepped back and saw that it was the bespectacled cat and the fluffy fat cat from before, except now they were taller than her. Either she got shorter, or they got taller.

"Excuse me," she said politely, trying to sound strong. "I wish to go home now. I've seen the place. It's very pretty, really. Now let me go home please." She added the "please" for a good measure.

The fluffy purple cat smirked deviously. "Welcome to the royal family, babe," he said lecherously, approaching her slowly.

"Uh, okay, thanks," she replied blandly, "now can I go home?"

The bespectacled cat spoke up. "I'm afraid that's not an option," he said cordially. "You are here because the Cat King wants to marry you."

"I'm only eighteen," she protested, stepping back. "I can't get married! I haven't even graduated from high school yet! And besides, he's a cat, and I'm not!"

Suddenly, a grin of satisfaction passed between Glasses Cat and Fluffy McFluffington.

"That's already been taken care of," said Glasses, standing straight.

"You're half cat already," added Fluffy, pointing at her.

Charisse ran up to the closest mirror and saw that white fluffy ears have sprouted in her hair and that her human ears were gone. Her face and paws were pure white and fluffy and she had a cute pink button nose. She did look like a cat! And to make it worse, she had whiskers! A loud scream that sounded like a cat's meow escaped her lips and she realized her teeth were sharp fangs.

"No!" she screamed fearfully. "This is impossible!" She whipped towards the two cats before and began screaming at them, "Change me back! Change me back now! If you don't, I swear to God I will field-dress you!" Suddenly, claws sprouted from her paws as she went to slap them.

Before she could slap the Cat King, though, she got restrained by Glasses, whom she found out was named Natori, and was overwhelmed by some cats that looked like they belonged in the army. Tears of anger and fear filled her eyes as she realized that she would be coerced into marriage. Baron, where are you!?

A/N: And we leave it there! More will come soon! Leave nice comments!