Chapter 4

"Do I look like a cat?" Haru asked.

Baron sighed, stood, and helped Haru up off the ground, hands around her arms gently, holding her close.

"If you did, I would simply have to kiss you," he said. "As it is, I only want to, very much."

Haru's eyes grew wide, and for a moment could neither speak, nor move. He's having me on, she thought, but his wonderful green eyes made a liar out of her. His mouth wasn't too far, she'd just have to stand on her toes, and tilt up her chin… she did.

Coming apart again, she saw wonder and surprise in his green orbs, and then he kissed her, forcefully. Her arms wrapped around his neck, she felt his curl about her waist, and her tail curled in delight.

Wait a minute… tail?! Haru broke desperately away and turned to see that, yes, she had a tail. She probably had fur and cat ears and whiskers too. Haru groaned – now she simply had to reach the exit by dawn.

Haru grabbed her bag and ran. She had to run, she had to make it back to her own world, her own shape, her own size, her own home. She loved the Baron desperately, but she couldn't stay, she couldn't.

Strong arms swept her off her feet and carried her up the stairs even faster. It was Baron.

They emerged from the tower into a shady glen just as the sun shot its first decent ray of light across the world. Haru knew what came next, she could feel the changes happening just like last time, but she was still comfortable in the Baron's arms, so she must not have grown to human size yet.

He put her down gently.

She couldn't face him. She had run away from him like he was a creature of nightmares, just because she had turned into a cat again.

"I'm sorry Baron, I shouldn't have done that, I don't know what I was thinking…" she said, hands clasped over her heart, and shoulders curled up protectively, her back still to him. Salt water stung her eyes, but didn't overflow.

"Will you marry me Haru?"

She almost jumped in surprise, but her knees gave way instead, and she crumbled, to sit on the ground. The tears came freely now, though she did her best to hide them.

"How can I?" she said, fighting tears and shortness of breath to get out her answer. If only she could have said yes, that would have been the most wonderful thing. "How could it ever work out?"

"Haru, you know that I never suggest anything that I don't think is possible," Baron said.

She felt him sit down beside her and wrap an arm around her shoulders. It was no effort at all to lean into his chest and continue crying, no effort at all, and she was so tired. It was always noon in the Cat Kingdom, but she should have been asleep rather than swimming.

When she stilled, Baron gently pulled her back from his shoulder: she was sleeping. With a smile on his face and a shake of his head, he bundled her up in his arms again, putting her bag on her stomach so that he only had to worry about Haru and his cane.

"Oh my dear, let's get you home," he said, kissing her forehead gently before he set off.

0

A brisk tapping on the front door brought Naoko out of the kitchen, leaving her breakfast on the table. It could be Haru, if she had forgotten to take her key to the front door with her – though it was earlier than she would have guessed her daughter to return.

"Good morning, Mrs Yoshioka," said the young man standing on her doorstep. "I'm afraid Haru didn't get much sleep last night, so I thought it would be a good idea to bring her home."

Naoko stared at the young man who was holding her daughter in his arms so easily. He had orange hair and green eyes, and probably wasn't much older than Haru, despite the cane he also held – he didn't seem to need it after all.

"And just why didn't my daughter get much sleep?" she demanded quietly, letting him in and closing the door behind him.

"After the christening there was dancing, and then she decided that she wanted to go for a swim. Is her bedroom upstairs?" he asked.

Naoko got the distinct impression that he meant to tuck her in.

"Put her on the couch, her alarm clock will probably go off in five minutes, and it isn't like she has to be anywhere," she answered, pointing him to the lounge room and kitchen.

He followed her finger and laid the girl out gently, putting a couple of cushions behind her head and finding a folded up blanket to cover her with.

"Sweet dreams," he whispered to the sleeping girl before straightening. Turning around, he faced her mother and nearly stepped back away from the woman. Only that Haru was on the couch immediately behind him prevented him from moving.

"She went for a swim in the middle of the night?" the red-headed woman demanded, her voice a harsh whisper.

"This is going to take a bit of explaining," he said, running a hand through his hair. He wasn't quite used to not finding his ears there yet, but he supposed that he would eventually. "Haru took her camera, if you want to see what she got up to…" he began, indicating the bag on the floor by the couch.

Naoko picked it up and went to the kitchen table, examining its contents.

"Well, at least she didn't go swimming with no clothes on," she said, finding Haru's swimsuit and towel. When her hand met camera, Naoko's focus centred on the small display screen as she went through all the pictures. "What's with all these cats?" she asked.

Baron sat down opposite Haru's mother and explained, pointing to various figures in the pictures. It took a while, and Haru was waking up by the time Naoko had reached the pictures taken by the lake.

"If it's alright with you, Mrs Yoshioka, I would like to marry Haru."

Haru was suddenly very wide-awake, hearing Baron's voice talking to her mother.

"I'm still finding all of this hard to swallow," Naoko replied.

Haru rolled over on the couch to see her mother talking to a young man with hair the colour of Baron's fur, and the same green eyes. Something had definitely happened.

"But if you really love her that much, it's fine with me, but you'll need to get a yes out of her."

"I promise I'll take good care of her," he said, rising from the kitchen table so that he could bow to his future mother-in-law before moving to check on Haru. "Hello," he said to her, wrapping one of his hands around hers, a question silently repeated in his green eyes.

"Baron?" she asked, shocked by the change. When had that happened? He rubbed the back of her hand with a thumb and mouthed "tit-willow" to her. Haru felt tears stinging her eyes again. "Yes, oh, yes Baron, I'll marry you," she said as tears of joy flowed down her cheeks.