I forgot to mention something last chapter; Natoru's Chinese dance is a direct reference to Disney's "Fantasia" (which I don't own, btw) on the part where the mushrooms dance. I just thought it would be cute!
So y'all are probably pretty mad at me for doing this to poor Haru, but it's sort of in keeping with the original story, so…sorry!
Mom gets heavily involved in this one; this is the final chapter, so everything comes together here, too. Don't worry, it'll have a happy ending; they always do.
Oh, and Papa Moon and Toto know everything that happened because they're cool like that, but they don't remember how to bring the Baron back out like they did last time…not yet, anyway.
By the way, I think you Hiromi fans are gonna like this one!
"Mr. Drosselmeier, you are a kind and good gentleman, and you reign over a land of charming and wonderful people. I would be thrilled to be your queen."—Marie, The Nutcracker, chapter 13
Chapter 8: Ice Cream Overdose
It was with great reluctance that Haru woke the next morning in her four-poster guest bed; she was groggy and wondered where she was and what had happened.
"Yuki," she called drowsily and looked around for her beloved pet. Then she saw the Baron's handkerchief tied around her left wrist and it all came crashing back like a splash of ice water in her face. She held her wrist and leaned over in a huddle, suddenly feeling so lost and helpless. There was only one person who understood her when she felt this way.
Haru pelted downstairs without her bed slippers; she heard voices in the parlor. She burst in, ran right to the adults, and threw her arms around her mother.
"Haru!" Mom gasped as she held her, "Sweetie, what's wrong?"
"I fear your daughter has had her heart broken, Mrs. Yoshioka," said Papa Moon gravely. Mom looked confused.
"You'd better sit down," he motioned to the sofa. As they sat, he sent all the cats from the parlor with a snap of his fingers and took a seat in one of his small armchairs across the coffee table. Mr. Stahlbaum took the other one and listened as his boss told Mrs. Yoshioka the whole story. The woman herself listened in dumbfounded shock as she held her daughter closely.
A heavy silence followed his story; Mom looked down at the table like she was trying to digest what was so unbelievable to other people. Papa Moon and Mr. Stahlbaum were silent and Haru remained in her shell.
"So," Mom finally said, "that nutcracker doll…is actually your nephew. And he and my daughter…are in love. But he's back in the Cat Kingdom with Yuki and Lune, who are now engaged…and you don't know a way for him to return." She looked up at Mr. Stahlbaum. "Is that about it?" He nodded.
"This is real, then," she said, looking at Papa, "This is all true, isn't it?"
"I'm afraid so," said the old man.
"Then," she said, "my daughter has had her heart broken!" Her daughter burst into tears and her mother embraced her.
"I'm sorry, Haru," she apologized, "I didn't mean to make it worse!"
"You're not, Mom," sobbed Haru, leaning on her.
"My poor Haru," she murmured, stroking her hair gently, "I'm here, honey."
"I'm so sorry, Haru," said Papa Moon wretchedly, "This is all my fault. I brought this upon you and Westley both. Now you have lost him and Yuki, and you have gained nothing."
"No, Papa," she said a bit more calmly, "I'm not worried about Yuki. I'm sad to let her go, but I know she'll be happy with Lune in the Cat Kingdom. And I know I'll see her again; with the bond we have, my Yuki will always find her way back to me." Papa Moon leaned forward and met her eyes.
"And so will Westley," he said firmly and clearly, "You've got to believe that, my dear. Have faith in the power of his love for you and believe he will return to you. Remember what I told you: Be faithful and true."
Haru nodded and half an hour later, she and her mother left the Drosselmeier house with thanks and apologies and reassurances. On the way home, Mom made a few feeble attempts at conversation but all Haru could think of was how cold her lap felt without Yuki to keep it warm, how uncomfortably light her arms were without her weight.
When they finally got home, Haru trudged past the stairs, dropping her bag at the foot as she headed straight to the living room; she just didn't have the strength to climb those stairs—physical, mental, or emotional. She kicked her shoes off by the couch and flopped onto it, virtually exhausted. Mom saw her and chuckled.
"Good idea," she said as she kicked her own shoes off. She grabbed two quilts, covered Haru with one, and settled herself into their recliner. She leaned it back and, like her daughter, was out like a light in no time.
Three days later a cloud of gloom could be found hanging over the Yoshioka house, its mailbox stuffed with unchecked mail and its residents buried under quilts in the same furniture they'd flopped onto. A mess of tea cans, soda cans, take-out containers, and empty ice cream boxes lay scattered around them and their TV played on, blissfully unaware of the inattention of its owners. A news lady appeared on the screen.
"Local quilt maker Naoko Yoshioka and her daughter Haru were found dead in their home this afternoon by a friend who came to visit. An autopsy revealed an overdose of a preservative commonly found in ice cream, but it is speculated that Haru, a promising young ballet dancer, may have died of a broken heart as a result of recent circumstances."
The phone rang and Mom jumped awake with her glasses drooping to the side. The TV was showing "It's A Wonderful Life."
'That was a dream,' she thought and sighed as the phone kept ringing. The mess was still real, though, as well as the air of depression. Mom laid back in the chair and let it go to the machine.
"Haru!" Hiromi's voice fussed, "Pick up! I know you and your mom are home! You can't keep ignoring my calls; it's been three days! Tsuge and I are coming over there in five minutes, and this time, we're coming in! And if I find another empty ice cream box like that time after the school fall festival, so help me--!"
BEEP! The machine cut her off; Haur slipped her face out of the quilt and looked at the boxes—all five of them, cleaned out. Hiromi was in for a nasty surprise.
"What time is it?" she moaned. Mom's eyebrows pulled her eyes open just enough for her to check her watch.
"Four," she answered.
"A.M. or P.M.?" Haru asked. Mom sat the chair back up.
"I don't know," she yawned, "Check the window."
It was dark gray inside the living room, with the shades and curtains drawn. The couch was right under the window, so Haru reached up and moved the drapes aside; the sun gave a glare off the snow.
"P.M.," she groaned as she settled back in.
"We should definitely try to make it to our beds tonight," said Mom, rubbing her eyes. Haru groaned and burrowed into the covers.
"Let's not and say we did," she replied, muffled by her quilt. "Hey, Mom?" She poked her head back out. "I think we stink." Mom smelled inside her own blanket; three days of not showering finally caught up with her.
"I guess I'll take the first bath," she said, pulling the lever to fold the recliner. She didn't move any more than that, though; she simply didn't have the energy or the mental capacity to get up!
The front door was knocked on and opened.
"We're coming in, Mrs. Yoshioka!" they heard Hiromi say, "Tsuge, I feel I should prepare you for this. You're about to see what women look like when they're depressed. Think you can handle it?"
"I'm sure I'll be fine," his voice chuckled as their footsteps approached and stopped in the curved doorway of the living room. Mom looked up and Haru barely peeked out to see their shocked faces.
"Sweet fancy Moses," said Tsuge. Hiromi was also wide-eyed.
"Oh, hello, Hiromi," Mom smiled a bit, "Tsuge. How was your Christmas?"
"Better than yours, apparently," the teen answered as she stepped over stuff, "What happened here? The place is a pigsty! What have you been doing, hibernating? And what is this?" She snatched up an ice cream box and read, "Sold My Soul to the Devil's Food Chocolate? Haru…"
"Go away, Hiromi," she mumbled, burrowing back undercover. Hiromi gave an indignant "hmph!" and whipped the quilt off of her; Haru was still in her clothes.
"All right, that does it," Hiromi sighed as she pulled open the curtains, "I don't know what happened this time, but this ends today." She yanked the blinds open and the two women flinched in the sun's reflection on the snow.
"Oh, just let me die," Haru moaned, stuffing her head under her pillow.
"Hiromi, dear," said Mom as she rubbed her eyes again, "please try to be a little more sympathetic. Haru's earned the right to be depressed; I'm simply suffering with her." She popped open another can of tea and took a swig.
"What?" Hiromi looked concerned at her friend, "Haru?" The depressed girl slowly sat up with a pale face and empty eyes. Hiromi knelt in front of her and touched her knees.
"Haru," she asked gently, "what happened?" Haru blinked and drooped her head.
"Come on," Hiromi took her hands, "Let's get you cleaned up and talk. Tsuge, will you get started?"
"Sure," he said, whipping out a trash bag. Hiromi led her numb friend out of the room and up the stairs.
"Sorry to barge in like this, Mrs. Y," said Tsuge as he worked, "but Hiromi was worried about you two, and I see why. You look like rejects from Night of the Living Dead!" Mom chuckled and got up to help him.
"You know, you're lucky we've been friends as long as we have," said Hiromi as she rinsed Haru's hair with the showerhead hose, "If I left you alone for privacy, you'd probably drown right now." She turned it off and sat against the wall with a hand towel to dry her hands; in the tub, Haru was facing the same way (so it's like they're sitting next to each other).
"You can wash your own body," she continued, "and maybe tell me what made you so catatonic."
"You wouldn't believe me," Haru mumbled, sinking half her face into the water.
"Haru," she said seriously, "you haven't left your living room for three days. You haven't answered your phone, you turned off your cell, you've had nothing but take-out from the looks of it, you've eaten yourself into an ice cream coma, and you're as pale as a ghost! I'm pretty sure I'll believe you."
"Not this," said Haru quietly as she lathered up.
"Was it a guy?" Hiromi asked. Haru dropped the soap.
"Yes," she sighed.
"Did he do something to you?" her friend asked defensively.
"No!" she said quickly, "Nothing like that! He's the most wonderful guy in the whole world!" She slid into the water to rinse off.
"Well then, what happened?" Hiromi asked as she stood with a towel robe ready.
"Like I said," Haru answered dully as she wrapped herself up, "You wouldn't believe me."
Hiromi took that to mean she didn't want to talk about it, and she was partly right: In her emaciated state, Haru couldn't even attempt to explain the strange Christmas she'd spent with Papa Moon and company, so Hiromi decided to let it go…for now.
She convinced Haru to put on her nice yellow long skirt and her green sleeveless turtleneck shirt, and to put her hair in a ponytail; when they came back downstairs, a white blur came running at them.
"Haru!" Yuki mewed happily as she jumped into her arms.
"Yuki!" the girl wept and knelt down, "You came back!"
"Of course I did," the cat purred, "I couldn't get married without you!" Lune trotted over to them.
"Lune," she smiled and pet him, "You're here, too!"
"Of course," he also said, "We were all worried sick when you disappeared, especially Westley, but he regained his human form and when Toto finally got him out of the kingdom, he suddenly grew back to his human size, too! So he and Toto fell in the lake and we had to walk back to Renaldo's house, and that took us three days."
"Wait," she interrupted, "Did you say Westley?" The cats shared a happy, sparkly-eyed look.
"Come with us, Haru," said Yuki with excitement as they trotted ahead of her into the living room. She quickly followed with a very confused Hiromi and froze.
Standing between her blushing mother and wide-eyed Tsuge was a tall yung man of eighteen with straw colored hair that was well-cut in the back and his bangs brushed his beautiful emerald eyes, the only feature that hadn't changed. He was clothed in a light blue suit very much like the one he'd worn as a nutcracker doll, only with no hat this time. For a moment, Hiromi and Haru just stared.
"Wow, you're cool," Hiromi finally said. Haru stepped toward him, hardly believing her own eyes.
"Westley," she breathed, "is that really you?" She touched his face and he covered her hand with his eyes closed.
"The night of the battle," he said, looking deeply in her eyes, "before you defeated the Cat King, you claimed me as your own: 'Don't touch my nutcracker.' The moment you said those words, I could feel the spell beginning to break around me. When you called me by my true name, you gave me back my identity—you, the woman I love, had renamed me, and that also helped the spell to break." He caressed her face lovingly.
"When you disappeared after telling me you loved me," he said quietly, "and I didn't know what had happened to you…that was the final straw. My heart broke free and I became human again. I had to find you as fast as possible; for so long I had no reason to live, and now that I've found it in you, I'm not going to lose you again."
With both of her hands in is, he knelt down on one knee to the shock of all.
"My beloved Haru," he asked fervently, "from the utmost depths of my once-broken heart, I humbly ask you to become my wife and to allow me the privilege of claiming you as my own, just as you claimed me." Again Haru was speechless and red-faced; so was her mother.
"Whoa!" exclaimed Hiromi, "Hang on just a second here, mister! Do you know Haru here's only seventeen?"
"As a matter of fact, I am," he said, smiling at Haru, "I am also aware that she turns eighteen in only a month, and if there's one thing I've learned in ten years as a nutcracker, it's patience. I'm perfectly willing to wait."
"A nutcracker?" said Hiromi incredulously, "What did I miss, Haru?"
"Hiromi," Mom smiled, "Relax. I'll explain it to you later."
"But…" she objected.
"Come on!" Mom chirped, "Why don't you and Tsuge help me take out the trash?" She had the two teens out the door before either of them could object, leaving Westley and Haru alone with their cat friends.
"Well, Haru?" he asked as he stood, "Will you marry me?" Haru's eyes welled up; she couldn't help it. She held his face and looked in his eyes.
"Yes," she smiled and wept, "A thousand times, yes!" She threw her arms around him again; he held her around her waist and spun around with her while the cats rejoiced. Still holding each other, they kissed, and Mom came running back into the living room in a fit of maternal ecstasy.
"My baby, Haru!" she cried as she hugged her, "I can't believe it!" She turned to Westley while Hiromi hugged Haru.
"Westley," said Mom, "welcome to the family. Please take good care of my Haru; she's my only child."
"It will be my honor, Mrs. Yoshioka," he bowed, "But in return…may I call you Mother? My parents both passed away when I was very young, so my uncle is the only immediate family I have left." Mom was touched; she took his hands kindly.
"Of course you can, Westley," she smiled mistily, "It'll be so nice to have a son!" He nodded and smiled.
"Thank you, Mother," he said warmly and patted her hands, "And speaking of my uncle…"
"That's right!" Mom clicked, "We have to go see him immediately and tell him the wonderful news! Hiromi and Tsuge, you can ride with me! Westley and Haru can take the cats…" She stopped. "You did drive here, didn't you, Westley?" He nodded again. "Well, great! Let's go, then!"
So they all bundled up in their winter clothes and drove together back to the Drosselmeier house—Mrs. Yoshioka driving her green VW Beetle and Westley driving his white Toyota Solara convertible with the top up, since it was cold.
When they got to the mansion, Westley and Haru ran hand-in-hand to the front door, which Westley opened for the ladies. Some of the housecats ran off to find Papa Moon and the others greeted Lune and Yuki.
Papa Moon came hurrying to the foyer with Mr. Stahlbaum; Westley took Haru's hand, drew her to his side, and announced their engagement to the whole house. Everyone cheered (even the cats) except Papa Moon, whose face was soft with joy as he looked at his nephew, who reminded the old man so much of his own sister in every way.
"What a happy man am I," he said as tears gently fell down his face. Westley embraced his uncle as he never had before. The girls all teared up, deeply moved by the bond of affection they were seeing. Mr. Stahlbaum approached them and Haru distinctly saw her mom blush with a surprised look!
"I'm happy to see you again, Mrs. and Miss Yoshioka!" he smiled, "Congratulations!"
"Thanks, Toto," Haru beamed, "I'll be counting on you to keep Mom company when I'm away!"
"It'll be my pleasure, Miss Haru!" he beamed back, "As long as your mother has no objections to my company!"
"Of course not," said Mom, "but you needn't worry about me, Haru." She was giving her a "stop embarrassing me" look. "Just don't be in a hurry to make me a grandmother."
"But when you are," said Toto, "what a lovely grandmother you'll make!" Mom blushed again and Haru felt better about leaving her mother. Papa Moon and Westley came back over to them; after Westley kissed Haru on the cheek, Papa Moon held her hands and gave her a warm smile that said "I told you so." Haru returned it with a "you were right" smile and they laughed and hugged.
Haru and Westley returned to the Cat Kingdom with Toto and Muta to see Lune and Yuki's wedding; their first dance was an old song from the sixties called "Bend Me, Shape Me." Their philosophy was that anything could be ballet if you wanted it to be, so they danced ballet to it.
The young couple spent the next four weeks planning their wedding; Westley worked hard for his Uncle Renaldo to provide for his future wife and Haru worked hard to graduate high school while Mom and Renaldo handled the more annoying wedding details.
Haru turned eighteen a week before graduation and another month after that, she and Westley were married in the same shrine her parents were, with Hiromi as the Maid of Honor and Tsuge as Best Man (he had become good friends with Westley). Mr. Stahlbaum gave away the bride and Mom caught the bouquet; since she happened to be standing next to the aforementioned gentleman, she blushed furiously again. Haru laughed happily, kissed them all goodbye, and drove away with her true love for their honeymoon, on which they were accompanied by the also-newlywed Lune and Yuki.
After their honeymoon in England, Lune and Yuki bade their friends a loving farewell with promises to visit and returned to their home in the royal castle of the Kingdom of Cats, where they ruled for a long, long time and had a litter of six kittens, the eldest of which was a boy that they named Westley. Their eldest daughter, Hana, began to long for the human world, so they let her live with Haru and her family—herself, Westley, and their three children, Luna, Renaldo, and Elias, which was Mr. Stahlbaum's true first name (but they didn't figure that out until after they were married).
Mr. Stahlbuam proposed to Haru's mother after a few years of dating and moved her into the Drosselmeier mansion after their wedding; not too long after that, Hiromi and Tsuge got married and bought the Yoshioka home. They live there with their two children, Maiko and Tsuge, Jr.
Haru did become a professional ballerina, retiring only after having her third child; after that, she danced only for fun, always with Westley.
And they most certainly lived happily ever after.
THE END
Author's Review:
Yep! That's it, folks! I hope you enjoyed my first chapter fic for Cat Returns, which is also my first Christmas fic for Cat Returns! Boo-yah!
Okay, so Mom and Haru's three-day Christmas coma was taken directly from the Pink Bible version of "Pride and Prejudice." There was a scene where Jane and Elizabeth got so depressed they slept on the couch for a week and made a huge mess and Elizabeth did dream about a news lady announcing that they'd been found dead due to an ice cream overdose. I thought it would be perfect for the Yoshioka ladies, since it's just the two of them!
Speaking of "Pride and Prejudice," Haru's acceptance of Westley's proposal is the same line Jane said in the Keira Knightley version to Mr. Bingley! I couldn't come up with anything better for her to say, sorry.
The reason I gave Lune and Yuki a 60's song as their wedding dance is because for some reason, that just seemed like something they'd dance to; I was going to put it in my "Royal Wedding" one-shot, but then I didn't. It's by The American Breed; go listen to it. It's a fun song!
I know I kind of sped up the ending, but again, I had a creativity fart. I hope you liked it anyway, and I hope you had a Merry Christmas, and I really hope you have a fantastic New Year! Thanks for sticking with me again! See you in the funny papers!