Sparkle
By Laura Schiller
Series: The Cat Returns
I don't know how to make a proper disclaimer, but I certainly don't own the movie.
Haru was perched awkwardly on the delicate green coffee table of the Cat Bureau, sipping tea out of a minuscule pink cup and staring into space. The Baron watched her from his armchair, his face clouded over with private thoughts. He glanced over at the calendar on the wall; it was April fifth.
"Baron?" asked Haru, catching sight of the grim expression on his face. "Is something wrong?"
She felt strange asking him that; he was always the one giving advice, comforting and helping people. She couldn't remember anyone ever asking him if he needed help. Come to think of it, why not? She knew so little about his past as she had always been too shy to ask. There had to be a reason behind that look of his just now.
"It is April fifth, isn't it? Well, I suppose you could consider today...my birthday, in a way."
She blinked. "Um...okay. Well, happy birthday. But how - ?"
"It was the day I was created," he explained. "Along with...one other. Her name was Louise...Baroness Louise von Gikkingen, my lady wife."
The teacup rattled in Haru's hands; with her jump of surprise, she nearly dropped it, as well as setting the table wobbling. "Your – your wife! But you never said – you – " A scarlet blush flooded her face and she quickly took a sip of tea, wishing the teacup were bigger so she could hide her face in it. In addition to her surprise, she was embarrassed to hear herself reacting so strongly, as well as feeling very stupid – all along she had been dreaming of a man who was not only inhuman, but married to boot! You idiot, Haru. I should've known.
"She was beautiful," said the Baron, staring at the fire. "She had white fur, blue eyes... they sparkled in the sunlight so there was no mistaking the soul burning inside her. Our master was slightly disappointed at how she turned out, and after she discovered this she was always insecure. However, to me she was the most beautiful being in the entire world...if only she had known that."
"Soon a man came along to buy us from our creator, an entertainer who earned his living with puppet shows. He knew what we were and he thought it would make a charming effect, to see a pair of puppets moving without strings." His feline face twisted into a glare of disdain. "He never saw us as living beings, with our own souls and free will. He was a greedy fool who only cared about the money we would bring in."
Haru snorted. He'd have to be blind.
"I refused to come with him. Master Eichborn had told us that we were nobody's property, that we should always be true to ourselves. Louise, however...had...a different view." He stood up and began pacing around the room, hands behind his back, looking anywhere rather than at Haru.
"She thought we should be sold to bring in money for Master – he was always poor in spite of his talent – and she was giddy with the promises of fame and adoration he had made to us. We argued...she accused me of being ungrateful to Master...there were many cruel things said which should never have left our lips. The outcome was that she went with the puppeteer – and as to me, well, I stayed behind."
Haru listened with wide eyes, a hard knot of pain and sympathy building up in her chest. All this time I had no idea...
He stopped by the mantelpiece and picked up one of the ornaments on it, a ceramic vase painted with flowers which h turned over and over, speaking in a hesitant, toneless voice which seemed to come from far away.
"If I had tried harder...I might have persuaded her to stay. But she left, and every now and again the puppeteer would go back to our town to perform there. Master and I happened to be passing by the town square while he was in the middle of one of his shows. The crowd was restless that day...they demanded to know how Louise could move on her own, why she was so graceful instead of clunking like the other puppets...they thought it was a trick of some kind and they were angry."
Haru could imagine it...she had been to several pop concerts and had some experience of what a restless mob could be like. The tea was cold in her hand, but she never noticed, she was so intent on the Baron's story.
"A boy picked up a loose cobblestone from the ground...and threw it at the stage. She held up her hands...I could see the look of terror on her face...I jumped out of Master's pocket and landed on the pavement, but... it was already too late. The stage was covered in – painted wood – just fragments – nothing else left."
A tear rolled down Haru's cheek and splashed onto the carpet, followed by another. The hollow, painful sound in the Baron's voice choked her; she could see the light in his eyes glazed over, his hands shaking as he held the vase. He was made of wood and could not cry, she remembered as she whisked out a handkerchief to blow her nose and to hide behind. She remembered a warm, comforting voice telling her, "Always believe in yourself. Do this and no matter where you are, you shall have nothing to fear."
So that's why, she thought.
At the sound of her repressed sniff, the Baron turned around, took one look at her, and moved over to the table to put a hand on her knee. "I'm sorry, Haru," he muttered in quite a different voice from the one before. "Here I meant to be a good host, and now I've depressed you with that old story." He swallowed hard, glanced up at her face and looked away. "I just...you are incredibly easy to talk to, did you know? I never thought I would ever say her name out loud again. I...it feels better, talking to you."
The feeling that had been budding and growing in Haru's heart all through the recounting of his memories suddenly bloomed: an overwhelming love, sorrow and sympathy, and a wish to hold him close until the shadows of his past were banished. Before she knew what she was doing, her hands had reached down all by themselves.
"May I – um – " She blushed hard, realizing how strange her request would sound, but he knew what she meant and sat down gratefully on her hand. She picked him up and held him gently against her face, and they stayed like that for what seemed a very long time.
Once she had put him down again, he briskly turned to the mirror and straightened his clothes. "Thank you, Haru," he said quickly. "That was...very much appreciated." His usual polished manner seemed to have gone missing; he was behaving like an awkward schoolboy. Haru felt decidedly odd herself; her face felt hot and there was one especially burning place where his cold nose had been. She stood up so abruptly that she banged her head on the ceiling beams – When will I ever learn to avoid them? – and picked up her schoolbag.
"So anyway, Baron...um...I guess I'd better be getting home."
"Right, yes."
"It's getting dark out."
"Of course."
"I'll come by on the weekend, okay?" she said crawling gingerly through the doors. "See you then!"
"Take care," said the Baron, and she waved to him through the window one more time before turning tail and hurrying down the street.
The last thing she saw in her mind's eye that night before going to sleep was the Baron's eyes, sparkling like jewels once more.
P.S.: Eichborn means 'Oakborn' in German; I assumed that the Baron's creator was German because of the name, and I thought it made a good name for a woodcarver.