A/N: Last chapter. Hope you enjoyed the ride. And hope your Children in Need Day was a success - I know mine was! (I was rather proud of my outfit =^^=)
Anyway... on with the story.

Chapter 17: Return

"Haru!" Naoko threw herself into her daughter's arms, sobbing. "You're alive! You're okay!"

Haru staggered back from the force of the embrace as she entered the village. "I know, mum. Could you loosen your hold; I'm beginning to suffocate?"

"Oh, yes of course." Naoko only slightly eased her grip. "I thought I'd lost you."

Haru hugged her mother back. "Yes, I think I'm going to hear that phrase a lot over the next few days," she said quietly.

"And you, Baron, you saved her!" The over-enthusiastic mother suddenly hugged the stunned man, who looked down at the woman with surprise at the impulsive movement.

Haru giggled behind her hand. "Mum, I think you should've warned Baron before you did that."

"He rescued you, and for that he deserves a hug." However the redhead did release Baron and moved back over to her daughter. "But... you were..."

Haru sighed. "Just say it."

"You were... dead. How...?"

"I don't understand the details of it greatly, in fact I think Baron would be better suited to explaining it. He's the one who worked out what had happened."

"With a little help from the Cat Kingdom," added Baron. "I cannot take all the credit."

"No, but you were the one who danced with me all night," Haru reminded sweetly. "That surely merits you some recognition for your efforts." She smiled, but her eyes fluttered shut and she yawned.

"You're shattered, come on, I'll take you home. I'll ask you later what happened," said Naoko. "Actually, both of you look shattered."

"Well, I have been dead for five days," said Haru dryly.

Her mother slapped her gently. "Don't joke about such things. It's not funny."

"Sorry. I can't help it if my sense of humour now has a morbid side to it. Being dead does amazing things to one's personality," she said. "And it puts your life into perspective astoundingly well."

"I can see this has made an impact," her mother replied. "Come on, let's go back. Baron, the spare room is still available for you and your friends; you look like you could do with a rest as well. Just wait until the rest of the village hears that you're back, Haru! They're never going to believe this!"

Haru found herself being hugged tightly again and sighed, patting her mother's back consolingly. "I missed you too, mum."

"Haru!" Hiromi wrapped her arms around her friend, forcing Naoko to let go of her daughter. "You're back! You're back! You're really, really back!"

Haru laughed. "I can see I'm going to have to get used to hugs like this for a while. Yes, I'm back."

"I can hardly believe it! And you, Baron..." she said, turning to him.

Baron grimaced. "Not another hug."

"No." Hiromi slapped him.

Haru stared. "Hiromi!"

"Don't worry, this isn't the first time," Baron told her, rubbing his cheek. "Did anyone ever tell you that you have a really, really painful slap?" he asked Hiromi, wincing. "And remind me what precisely I did this time."

"I would think that'd be obvious. For lying to my best friend and breaking her heart."

"Haven't I been slapped for that already?"

"Yes, but that was before she died."

"Are either of you going to tell me what's going on or should I start guessing?" Haru said. "What do you mean this isn't the first time?"

Baron was still rubbing his cheek. "After the ice skating incident I told her about Louise."

"You didn't tell me she was a cat!" screeched Hiromi.

"This was pretty much her reaction her reaction when I first told her," Baron continued calmly. "And, Hiromi, if I'd told you that she was a cat you would've thought I was round the bend. If I'd told you I was a cat, you would've definitely thought I was mad."

Hiromi had her arms crossed. "Yes, but still..."

"I've forgiven him, I think you can do the same," said Haru.

"I'm your best friend; I'm meant to make sure your boyfriend treats you right and punish him if he doesn't."

"I thought you said that as my best friend, you're meant to worry about me."

"Yes, but that was ages ago. And that was before you met Baron. Anyway, I'm allowed to multitask, aren't I?"

Haru laughed. "Okay, you have a point. But I doubt Baron's going to break my heart any time soon."

Baron smiled and hugged Haru from behind. "I don't think I could bring myself to do such a thing."

"Again," added Hiromi.

"Let him off; the first time he believed he was doing the right thing."

"Yes, but it still doesn't excuse his behaviour."

Haru rolled her eyes. "Right... so as your best friend, I'm meant to make sure your boyfriend treats you right as well and punish him if he doesn't?"

"Toto has been the perfect boyfriend so far."

Baron raised an eyebrow, thinking about how Toto had given Machida information, but kept quiet. She didn't need to know about that.

"Well you can keep Toto," replied Haru, "because I'm quite happy with Baron."

"Do you think Machida's going to bother you after all this?"

Haru smiled. "I'm not worried about him anymore."

ooOoo

Haru woke up early the next day and wandered into the kitchen, the house strangely quiet. It was light outside, so it wasn't as early as she'd first expected, but no one appeared to be up. She poured herself a drink, rubbing the sleep dust from her eyes.

"Did you have problems sleeping as well?"

Haru looked up, to see Baron standing in the doorway of the lounge. She yawned and nodded. "You know, you'd think I'd sleep better being this tired. How about you?"

"Same. Maybe we had the same nightmare."

"I didn't say anything about nightmares."

"No, but you certainly look like you did."

Haru's expression dropped. "Okay, maybe I did have nightmares."

"What about?"

"You can guess."

Baron paused. "Your time with the Willows?"

She nodded again. "I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything less," she mumbled. "I suppose I should count myself lucky that nightmares are my biggest problem right now."

"Maybe you're right. But nightmares can still be upsetting."

"What about your nightmare?"

"It was along the same lines."

"Do you think someday the dream will end?"

"You've only had it once. What makes you think you will have it again?"

"Something tells me it'll be a while until I ever get over what happened."

Baron sighed and walked over to her, pouring some tea and offering it to her. "I know you already have something to drink, but I think you'll find this'll calm your nerves better."

Haru accepted the cup. "Thank you. So what were you planning on doing today?"

"I was thinking maybe going out for an early morning ride; that always helps to clear my head. And I was hoping if... perhaps... you'd like to come with me."

Haru laughed tiredly. "I've already told you, I'm not a big fan of horses. Like them enough, but I'm not confident about riding them."

"Would you be more confident if I promised I wouldn't let you fall?"

"Well, I had already taken that fact as a given, actually," she replied and finished the tea.

"I've got the horse out, so I'm ready to go now." Baron took her hand and led her outside. "Come on, you'll love it once we start."

"Baron, I've said no," said Haru, but she was grinning as she was guided to the horse.

Baron mounted his steed and presented a hand down to her. "Please?"

Haru examined the hand and paused before smiling. "Well... since you asked so nicely..." She took his hand and was helped up to sit behind him. She looked over the side and quickly wrapped her arms around his waist. "I hadn't realised horses were this high up," she muttered as she buried her head into his back, trying not to think about it.

Baron laughed. "It's not that high," he said gently. "Anyway, I'm not going to let you fall."

Haru muttered something else.

"Sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

Haru repeated herself. "I said: it's higher than I'm used to. And I'm not used to the ground being any further away than my toes."

Baron held the rein in one hand and placed his other hand on Haru's arm that was around him. "You're afraid of heights?"

"Heights I can deal with. It's not that which scares me. Rather it's the thought of falling."

"Well, don't worry. You're not about to become reacquainted with the ground at any sudden moment."

"Good. Just... whatever you do... don't start the horse into a gallop."

Baron gave a rather wicked laugh. "What? Like this?" He gave a flick on the rein and a sudden command, and the horse quickened to a run.

Haru squealed and hugged Baron in front of her harder. "You're evil! You know that?" she shouted. "I... will never forgive you for this!" she promised breathlessly. "Never!"

"You can't say you're not enjoying this!" he called back.

"We're going too fast!"

"Calm down, the horse knows what he's doing."

"Yeah? But I don't!"

"That's what you've got me for," chuckled Baron. "Relax your hold and you'll find you slip into the horse's natural rhythm."

"If I relax my hold, I'll fall off!"

"Just trust me."

Haru sighed and followed his instructions. "If I fall off, I'm blaming you."

"You won't fall. I've already promised I won't let you."

Haru moved her head away from Baron's back and watched as the ground sped underneath them. "Oh, I think I'm getting motion sick," she groaned.

"Don't look down; look up!"

Shaking, Haru looked up, over his shoulder. At first her grip on him tightened, but then she slowly relaxed, as she'd been told. A grin slipped over her face. "I think... I could learn to like this," she said slowly.

Baron laughed and looked over his shoulder at her, grinning too.

"What's so funny?" Haru demanded.

"I said I'll persuade you to join me one of these days," he said with a smile, "and now I have."

ooOoo

A/N: Thanks to everyone who commented. An even bigger thanks to everyone who took it upon themselves to post a review with almost every chapter. I don't demand a certain number of reviews before I post another chapter, because I hoped that there were people who were waiting for the next installment, and it wouldn't be fair upon them, but I just hope you people who did comment know how much it means, especially since this is my first fanfiction. Thanks to sailor star rainbow who was the very first to leave a review, and to VAMPIRELG who was the first to add LT to favourites. You two made my day.

Thanks to those who reviewed (taking a leaf out of YarningChick's book; hope she doesn't mind). Sailor star rainbow, Anzchocoholic, Nanenna, LuffyMarra, VAMPIRELG, TheGamerSwordsman, Princesstaranee and NINJAkitten214. What more can I say that I haven't said already? You are amazing and I really hope you know that. Life is busy but you still managed to review! Almost every time as well. For that I can't thank you enough.

To everyone who has been reading from the very start, and to those who came in later - I hope you enjoyed this, and that the wait was worth it. I tried to update on a regular basis (my target was every friday evening) but even "the best laid plans of mice and men [and women] go oft awry." I hope that you feel satisfied by the ending.

A big virtual cookie goes to Nanenna, who guessed that, yes, this was originally based on the ballet, Giselle. The plot did wander away, and - surprising - wander back. There were a few changes - in the original story, the Willows are called the Wilis, but I changed it one because willows are often accossiated with grief, but secondly because when I explained the basic plot of Giselle to my brother, he fell over laughing at their name. And because spellchecker was having a heart attack over the word. In the real plot, Giselle does actually die, and it is because of Lord Albrecht's lies (Baron's role) but Albrecht was playing with Giselle, and I couldn't imagine Baron doing the same, so I had to twist it. Also, Giselle doesn't come back. But that would've been too sad, and I'm not a fan of depressing stories, much less writing them.

I am writing another Cat Returns fanfic, based on another fairytale. This should be the summery:

"Who is happier? She who continues to dream, or she who is awakened from a dream? Maybe what the princess wishes for is not a kiss to awaken her, but to stay asleep for all eternity..."

To those who recognise the quote, it has nothing to do with Princess Tutu. It just fitted.