This is my first swipe at a Cat Returns fanfiction. The ending just didn't . . . didn't seem to fit really, in my humble opinion.

If you haven't seen Whisper of the Heart, the main character Shizuku makes a cameo appearance, and I hope I explained her well enough. She's an awfully bright character, and I adore her very much.

Please enjoy: D

Engel's Zimmer
Chapter 1 ---Unbelievers

"Haru! That dress is beautiful!" Hiromi marveled, clasping her hands together giddily. Indeed, the Senior looked stunning in that evening gown; cropped at the shoulders to slide down a bare back, a diamond studded where the straps met above the knot in her backbone.

The young woman smiled and twirled once in front of the dressing mirrors. Haru Yoshioka, over the brief years in High School, had blossomed into a stunning young lady with unruly short hair and an open, confident face. Though, she had to thank a special cat for that --- a figurine, technically.

The Baron, a beautifulstatuette derived from the magical imagination of his creator who's name she could never find, but did indeed find a woman who also knew Baron. The woman knew him differently though, from a little antique shop her fiancé's grandfather owned. That said woman stood next to Hiromi just then, also admiring Haru's dress.

"It really is pretty," Shizuku, the woman, commented. "The silver brings out your eyes."

Haru blushed. "But it's so expensive! Look at the price!"

"How much," asked the go-lucky writer, "would you pay to be the prettiest girl at the dance?"

Both Hiromi and Haru glared to her, who laughed and shrugged, tapping her pencil to her lips, a pad in her hands to jot down random thoughts. Just then she scribbled one down.

Hiromi grinned and turned back to Haru. "But she's right, you know."

"But it's so expensive! My whole house couldn't have cost this much!"

Shizuku sighed and thought in her creative sense. "Alright," both girls turned to her, "pretend the one you're meeting at the dance is Baron Humbert Von Jiki---" her notepad raised just in time to deflect a flying shoe, a sock, and whatever else Haru had close to her.

"That's horrible! You know that he can't l ---" Haru stopped herself in mid-sentence, suddenly aware that after all these years, Hiromi still didn't know about the Baron or her strange adventures in the Cat Kingdom. Only Shizuku knew, and that was by accident, but even the acclaimed novelist didn't know the details that it wasn't a dream, and that the character she birthed in her first novel became more than wood, morning coat, and a top hat.

He indeed had a voice

A wonderful set of eyes

And a living heartbeat.

"Anyway," Haru continued quickly, twisting her fingers. "It's too expensive. I liked the green one with the strapless shoulders." With that, she turned back into the dressing room to change.

Hiromi blinked and gave Shizuku a confused glance. "Who's this Baron?"

"A cat figurine she and I have been acquainted with."

"Oh."

---

That night, Haru set her cow alarm, laid back in bed, and rolled up in her covers, facing the open window. It was an awfully beautiful sky tonight, with the stars all twinkling and moon shining like the sun against inky darkness.

Before this afternoon, she hadn't even mentioned Baron's name, or longed to see his face --- the cat face that it was. Now . . . she couldn't get her mind off it. Laying in bed, only thinking about him made her somewhat disgusted. All these years thoughts of him had eluded her gracefully. Tonight they came like a sudden summer shower, drenching her in memories of long-forgotten adventure.

Life would be better as a cat.

What a foolish thought, she now knew.

Life would be better if I was popular, she'd later said in life.

Maybe, but that wouldn't solver her Single Awareness problem. Even after she'd gotten over Machida, no guy took a second look at her and kept staring. Sure, a second glance, but never for long. It was almost repetitive to have a one-night stand on each date. They weren't that fun anymore.

Hiromi and Tsuge were still a couple. That was almost a miracle in itself after all these years. Shizuku, after all her waiting, finally received her love after ten years of waiting. Ten years. Seiji better treat her right, Haru couldn't help but think.

Would she have to wait ten years too? If so, who would be her knight? Who'd save her from the dragon, or an evil king, or presents from the Cat Kingdom? No one . . .

. . . well . . .

Maybe one person.

But she'd lost her way to get there, in fact, Muta hasn't been at the Crossroads for a year now. Had they moved? Was Toto still standing with wings wide open in the center of the court to welcome every troubled visitor?

One way to find out.

Haru sat up in bed, not believing for a moment she was doing this. Was it from relapse? Maybe the urge to see Baron would suddenly vanish when she got there.

Cramming into her blue jeans, she hopped over to her windbreaker and slipped it on. It was a chilly night, would her feet get cold if she didn't wear socks? "Oh, forget it!" she whispered fretfully, pulling on her slip-ons without socks as she rushed down the stairs and out the front door. Her mother was a heavy sleeper, she wouldn't even know her daughter was missing.

WhenHaru reached the barren Crossroads,she looked around. Which way to go? Four roads, one right way. "The table was here," she remembered, "and Muta sat right here when I sat on him, so . . .when I turned, he yawned and took off in . . ." studying the signs, she recognized one almost instantly. Her face brightened. "That way!"

Maybe things weren't at all hopeless. Now she remembered coming this way, through that alleyway, over the tin roof, across the wooden stones . . . the walls were getting shorter now, the pathways narrower. Another turn, two more hops . . . a right ---

Haru halted at the sight of the white marble archway, the statue in the center with wings wide open, and the small, quaint house in the corner, outlandish compared to the other impassive structures. A smile crept upon her face as she ducked under the archway and rubbed the stone feathers of Toto.

"Hi, long time," she greeted to the immovable object, sure he could hear. "You look as well as ever."

It was amazing how she didn't mind talking to a statue, for she knew he was real. Or so she thought.

"Toto? You can talk to me now. I'm not a stranger, you know. It's Haru, remember?"

Again, as quiet as stone. Her face fell.

"Toto?"

"He's not there anymore," came a bored, familiar voice.

Haru twirled around. "Muta?" The cat snorted, walking out of the dark Cat Bureau. Strange, were the lights ever off at night? . . . "What happened to this place? It's so dead."

"Death happened," he replied nonchalantly, but the flick of his ears told of his sadness. When Haru didn't comment, he went on, "Death came a year ago, and it took the souls of the birdbrain and Baron." The young woman turned pale. "They didn't know their soul only lasted as long as someone believed it did."

"B-But I ---"

"You weren't here," he cut in sharply, "and you had forgotten. Do you think Baron just up and leaves after his job is done? No, he watched you for a while on while you forgot about us."

Haru was taken back by the sudden outburst.

"You'd forgotten, and don't start crying now. I'm too old for this." Then he slammed the Bureau doors shut for the final time. "I'm leaving."

Aghast, the young woman stopped the cat from going anywhere by stepping in front. "Where? --- What about Baron and Toto ---"

"Forget 'em kid," the cat said. "Like before. Forget 'em."

"I can't!" In her disbelief, she grabbed Muta by the clump of skin at the back of his neck and held him up. "I can't Muta!" This had to be a dream --- please say it was a dream! She wanted to think it a dream so badly. "I . . . I never could."

The fat cat only hung there, looking lazily to the human as if someone confessed their love for someone in front of him every day. Then he squirmed a bit and fell from her grasp. "Alright, kid. But I don't know how we'll get them back."

"Neither do I, but Baron didn't give up on me and I'm not about to do the same!"

Muta only sighed and trudged into the forgotten house again, then came out with a beautifully crafted statuette with glimmering eyes . . .

"Engel's Zimmer."

The cat huffed the statuette down and patted his paws against his sides. "What? Whatis that?"

"It's the mistake of a craftsman when they lay down a fabric," she pointed out, fingering the wooden eyes. "See? The light touches them differently at different angles." It was almost mesmerizing to look at. Picking up the statuette, she held it close, then turned to Toto. "But we can't take him though."

"That birdbrain? Who'd wanna? Now I'm off ---"

"Wait," Haru turned back to the fat cat. "Where you going?"

He shrugged.

"Would you like to come back with me?"

Muta looked skeptical at her.

"Mom makes really good Angel Fruitcake!"

"Is it far?"

---

Haru crept up the stairs to her room, one arm around a squiggling Muta, the other clasped tightly around the figurine. Inside, she closed the door and set the cat down, putting Baron gently on her dresser. The young woman collapsed exhaustedly onto her bed, biting her bottom lip. She'd promised herself not to cry, but the more she thought, the worse Baron's predicament seemed.

"Muta, what are we going to do?"

"Find a nice antique cabinet to keep him in," Muta replied, then on second thought, answered, "We'll find some way."

"Yes," by now her voice crackled with unshed tears.

Fatso leaped onto her bed and sat down beside her. That was when she burst out crying, not able to hold any of it in any longer. "Let it out kid," he kept muttering as he patted her shoulder, "let it all out."

So she did, she cried herself to sleep thinking it was all her fault. Maybe if she wouldn't have forgotten, they'd still be alive. Or if she'd taken regular trips to the Bureau during those long-forgottenyears . . . or even if she'd told Hiromi! It would have been one more person to believe, one more person to keep them alive. Alive and well.

And just for the record, I admire a young woman who speaks from the heart.

Oh, she spoke from the heart, spilled ever thought out until sleep caught her tightly and took her away, her arms wrapped around the fat cat and the statuette, and dreamed about running down the murder of crows, gliding, hopping, skipping with a smile . . .

"Haru . . ."