I guess it's gonna have to hurt,

I guess I'm gonna have to cry,

And let go of some things I've loved,

To get to the other side,

It's sad, but sometimes moving on with the rest of your life,

Starts with goodbye,

x

Chapter 30: Starts with Goodbye

One Month Later

"Well, that looks like everything." Haru stepped back to admire her work; the past-its-prime car slouched beside the kerb with cardboard boxes piled high inside it. The only room that remained was the driver's seat and the passenger's.

"Hang on, there's one more box to go." Baron appeared with said box cradled in his arms – the now-human Baron. Haru felt her heart skip every time she remembered.

"Couldn't you have mentioned that before now?" she said, in a mock-huff.

"I'm sure there's room. Somewhere," he added, a little doubtfully as he peered into the interior of the vehicle. "See, if we just move that round…"

At the other side of the car, a box fell out the opposite open door.

"Ah. There wasn't anything breakable in that, was there?"

Haru grinned and picked up the fallen box. "No, just some clothes by the feel of it. But I'm afraid brute force ignorance won't help here."

"Brute force ignorance? Me?" He grinned back. "I'm insulted."

"Uh-hm." The brunette went round to the open boot and tried – fruitlessly – to make some space. "Um, Baron? You might have to sit with a box on your lap."

"I can live with that."

Haru grinned wickedly despite herself. "I don't believe you've ever had the misfortune of pins-and-needles yet. Alright then." She dumped the box in Baron's arms. "You can look after that."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Haru, are you nearly ready?"

"Yes, mum."

Haru found herself caught in one of Naoko's sudden tight hugs, but didn't try to escape the embrace.

"Just look at my big girl; all grown up and going to uni."

Haru just laughed. "I'll be back before you know it."

"You'd better be. Now, behave; don't go binge drinking or spending all your time on screens; work hard…"

Haru laughed again. "You can trust me, mum. When have I ever let you down?"

"I know, I know. And as you for, laddie…"

Baron would have raised his hands in defence if he had had his hands free of the box. As things stood though, he just raised his shoulders and conveyed the mock-hurt in his eyes. "I haven't said anything yet."

"You look after my baby girl and if anything happens to her on your watch…"

"Mum!"

"I won't let anything happen to Haru, Ms Yoshioka. I swear on my honour."

"Good."

Haru huffed. "What, am I five or something? I don't need Baron to babysit me."

"Uh-hm." Naoko kissed Haru's head. "Just take care."

"Compared to defeating the Monster Raven, uni should be easy."

"Everything new is a little scary."

"Yeah, but it's not as if I'm going to be alone." Haru sent a significant look Baron's way. She didn't care that a foolish grin had taken precedence over her face; she was happy with what life had thrown her way and that was that.

"You'll ring home, won't you?"

"Of course I will. You know I will." The butterflies had suddenly settled in as the time to leave drew ever closer. She placed one hand on the car. "I suppose we should start going now."

"I suppose you should."

Haru smiled, but it was beginning to waver now, and she moved to shut the back doors and boot of the car. The boot served a little trouble, but with Baron's help, she managed to close it. Suddenly she found herself sitting in the driver's seat, with Baron beside her in the passenger's. A last hug from Naoko and then she was driving away from the street she'd grown up in. Baron didn't speak until they had made it to the motorway.

"I've contacted Lune about the changes for arrangements needed for the visit to the Kingdom next month," he eventually commented.

"Oh? How did he take the news over your new species?"

"Not how I expected. His exact response was something along the lines of, 'at least now you haven't got any excuses left.'"

Haru snuck a glance to her side, not attempting to cover her confusion. "No excuses for what?"

She could have sworn he reddened just a shade. "Well... to be precise... no excuses not to tell you how I feel."

Haru shook her head disbelievingly as she returned her gaze to the road. "Even Lune knew about you?"

"And Yuki."

"How come I was the last one to know?"

Even with her eyes on the road, she saw Baron shrug his shoulders with a slight air of embarrassment. "It was... complicated." Sending a look her way, he moved the conversation round. "Lune and Yuki know the gender of their kittens now. One boy and two girls. They've chosen some names too."

Haru allowed herself to be distracted by his sudden change in topic. "Really? What are the names?"

"Well, assuming the names fit, the boy will be named Jasper, and the two girls will be Esmé and Kiara."

"Aw, that's nice." She paused and then added, "It would have been fun if one of them were named Haru though."

"I'm just glad they didn't pick the Humbert option."

Haru laughed quietly and they dissolved into silence. As the little car sped along the motorway, Haru found a tear tugging at the edge of her eye. She dismissed it with a blink, but that couldn't hide the tight biting of her lip that betrayed her feelings. A hollow feeling spread from her stomach and rose to her throat; making her bite her lip a little harder and struggle to keep the tear at bay.

"Are you okay?" Baron asked gently.

"Okay? I'm fine." Her voice was uncharacteristically lower than usual, but she couldn't change that. She wiped her sleeves across her face to dry the tears that had snuck past her guard. "It's just…" She shook her head, feeling embarrassed by her emotions.

"It's okay to cry."

Haru passed him a grateful look. "I'm going to miss her. Mother or not, she's been around for as long as I can remember. I can't believe that... that I'm finally going to uni."

"I'm sorry my theory didn't help her memory."

"It isn't so bad just yet; that's a relief. And Charon talked about moving down to this area to help keep an eye on her." She smiled, but mostly to herself. "And here I was, thinking that I'd just be discovering who my father was, and what I got was my entire family tree being rearranged."

"Well you know what they say; expect the unexpected."

"Who says that?"

Baron paused. "You know, I haven't got a clue."

Haru laughed and returned her attention to the task of driving, the tears finally under control. After several minutes of companionable silence, she said, "I still can't believe they accepted you in. I mean, I had to send my form to the universities last September, and here you are; a last minute entry." She chuckled to herself. "You don't even have any qualifications."

"I have a few friends who owe me a favour. I just called them in."

"What's the official story anyway?"

"According to the records, I come from an old Germanic family, but was raised in England. Hence the accent. I was adopted by a German gentleman who has an ancestor who used to create figurines."

"You found the artisan who created you?"

"I found his descendant. Do you think I've been wasting this last month? He's getting past sixty and he's childless, and I eventually managed to convince him of my identity."

"And how did he react to that?"

"Surprisingly, he took it rather well. He sees me as family. I'm still going by Humbert von Gikkingen – I can claim I changed my name of my own accord."

"No 'Baron' anymore?"

"Well, I'm expecting you to call me Baron still. Unless you'd prefer to refer to me as Humbert?" Those familiar, now-human, emerald eyes sparkled with humour.

"No fear, you'll always be Baron to me. I don't know how other people are going to react to it though…"

"Do you care what other people think?"

"I once used to think it was important. But a year ago I was told by someone very dear to me to 'believe in who I am' and that piece of advice has not failed me yet."

Baron smiled. "I suppose it would appear somewhat presumptuous to introduce myself as Baron to strangers, wouldn't it?"

"Hm, pretty much."

"I guess I'll have to become accustomed to being referred to as Humbert then."

"Couldn't you have said you were the son of a baron or something?"

"How many barons are you aware of? Are there even barons around anymore?"

"Good point."

"Anyway my friends were the ones to organise the papers… birth certificate, passport, driving licence…"

"Wait, driving licence?" Haru had to resist turning to look at him, aware that she was meant to be keeping her eyes on the road. "Can you even drive?"

"Well, there was that one time…"

The image of Baron as a Creation taking the wheel, with Muta working on the pedals and Toto acting as an extra pair of eyes came immediately to Haru's mind. She struggled to keep the car driving straight.

"Right, one of the first things we're doing is getting you driving lessons. You're not going to total my car…"

"Thanks for your vote of confidence," Baron replied dryly.

"Anytime. Do you even have any money?"

"I guess I can get a part-time job." He frowned. "I'm going to have to get a job," he repeated; the thought a little daunting. "I'm going to have manage rent and a job and taxes…"

Haru laughed at his horrified expression. "You can face down crazy kings, but at the notion of a normal life you want to turn tail and run?"

"Who said anything about turning tail and running? I can manage this. If an eighteen-year-old can, so can I."

"You sound confident."

"That's half the trick most of the time. Sound confident and people assume you know what you're doing."

"Uh-hm." The highway clear before her, Haru spared a glance to her companion, a smile slipping secretly onto her face. Baron felt her gaze and turned to her.

"Everything okay?"

"Oh… yeah, of course." Haru flicked her eyes back to the road, blushing a little. "Just… nothing."

"No, what were you going to say?"

"Just… I'm glad I've got you. You know that, right? 'Cause I know you gave up a lot and you probably miss the Bureau and everything…" She trailed off and stared stodgily ahead, refusing to pay any attention to the furious reddening of her cheeks. That had been clumsy phrasing.

"You're wondering whether I miss my old life?"

Dumbly, not trusting to let herself speak, she nodded.

"I… guess I do miss it all – the Bureau, the assignments, the adventure. But, just so you know," he put in, for he saw that her face was falling already, "I wouldn't swap what I have now for the world. If I had to do it all over again, I would."

"I… Thank you."

"Anyway, I'm embarking on a whole new adventure here." He looked over to her and smiled at the brunette. "And whatever life throws at us, I'm sure we can face it. After all, we'll be facing it together. And that's what matters."

x

"Learn from yesterday. Live for today. Hope for tomorrow."

~ Albert Einstein

ooOoo

A/N: So that's it. That's my crossover. The song at the beginning is Start with Goodbye by Carrie Underwood. I hope that chapter answered a few questions about their future, but personally to me it isn't that important what Haru and Baron choose to do with their life. Like Baron said, it's the fact that they're together that counts. It always is.

As mentioned, the initial desire to write a crossover was sparked by a review, but the plot idea itself came from thinking that Fakir and Naoko share the same eye colour. After that, I began theorising, and the rather complex family tree, the elastic band analogy (which I'm glad people liked) and the wildcard theory was the result. Sorry for not including Rue or Siegfried, but I didn't want to drag them in just for the sake of it and I was trying to stick to the plotline rather than lengthening this story too far. In my head, the pair of them are in Siegfried's kingdom, so they're not in Kinkan anyway. I based the setting of Kinkan on the credits at the end of Princess Tutu - which implied that the large animals had either turned into normal animals or humans, based on what they were before the story took over, and assumed - from the Lillie/Pike credit scene - that most people couldn't remember Ahiru.

Anyway, thanks to my wonderful reviewers: vikkie, Eirdaru, Nanenna, Emiri-Chu, Angel of Love and Fluffy Stuff, princesstaranee, Aperio, Astraica, dribnevar, Kaa, RAS'96, Anonymous Angel OP, isara-love, neko girl, inujisan, Suki-Alanna, Raye of the Sunshine and Elz Durden. You guys were amazing, as always, and you never cease to amaze me. (In a good way, of course.)

God bless,

Catsafari. =^^=