Hey! Idea just popped into my head and I wanted to get it down before I forgot it! Can't exactly guarantee I'll get this updated as quickly as most of my other Fics, but I'll try as best as I can. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I only own the made-up characters in this FanFic and nothing else. Unfortunately, I do not own The Cat Returns.
Summary: There's a new girl in school and she seems a bit...Different. When she seems to know a bit more than Haru had anticipated about a certain Cat Figurine, she gets a little suspicious. On top of that, this new girl seems to switch personalities quite frequently. Haru decides to dig a little deeper. But, will that cost her more than she can handle?
"Haru? Haru! Wake up!" My mother's voice resonated up the staircase. I reached over and slammed my fist down on my cow-shaped alarm clock, making the annoying shrieking stop. Between that and my mother's shouting, my headache was slowly getting worse. I groggily sat up in bed and rubbed my eyes at the blinding sunlight coming from my window. I got out of bed slowly, grabbing a few tissues in the process. I had acquired a cold the day before and was not looking forward to the day. Despite my complaints, however, I forced myself to get dressed and trudge down the stairs. My mother looked at me with concern.
"Haru, do you really want to go to school today? You know, you can stay home if you're still not feeling well." She offered. I smiled at her.
"No, mom. I'm fine. It's just a small cold."
"Which can easily escalate into something worse if you're not careful." She countered. I shook my head reassuringly.
"I have to go, mom. I was almost late again yesterday and I don't need another repeat." I said with a small chuckle. I dressed warmly, grabbed my bag, and ran out the door. I stumbled a bit on the accumulating ice out on the sidewalk outside the house. I slipped backwards, awaiting the impact of my body and the ice, when I felt someone catch me from behind.
"Careful!" I heard the person say as they helped me to my feet. I turned around to find a girl beaming at me. She had green, short, spiky hair that went down to the bottom of her ears, and was wearing what looked like a shirt and vest with a matching tie, and a jacket to accompany them. She was wearing simple skinny jeans and a pair of converse shoes. I smiled at her as I regained my composure.
"Thanks a lot." I said. She nodded. "You're not from around here, are you?"
"Just moved here a few days ago! Name's Ren!" She said as she held out her hand. I gladly shook it.
"Haru! Haru Yoshioka!"
"Well, Haru, why were you in such a rush to get out of your house this morning?" She asked.
"Well, I was late for school, you see and…" My voice trailed off as I immediately realized how late I actually was now. I noticed Ren smirking at me. She chuckled before saying,
"You should probably get going then. I'll catch up with you later. Any place special you wanna meet?" She suggested. I thought about it for a minute before saying,
"The Crossroads, in the center of town." I smiled before running madly down the road to the school. I glanced back to wave to my new acquaintance and continued down the road. I couldn't believe that I was going to be late…again…
I ran through the doors to the school and made it to class a good 20 minutes late. I tried my best to sneak my way in, but unfortunately, as fate would have it, my teacher irritably blurted out,
"Haru, please just take your seat. We all can see you sneaking in."
"Yes sir!" I stiffened as I replied, and hurried over to my seat behind Hiromi as laughter from my classmates filled the room. My face reddened as I tried hard to focus on what my teacher was explaining of the lesson.
"Late again?" I heard Hiromi say. It was more of a statement than a question. I sunk deeper in my chair and continued focusing on the lesson at hand.
After school left out, Hiromi and I started up a conversation on our way home. I immediately thought about Ren this morning. I decided to mention her to Hiromi to see if she had heard anything about her.
"So, have you seen this new girl on my block, yet? Her name's Ren." I asked. Hiromi just looked at me with a puzzled look on her face.
"No, I haven't. Is she nice?" She asked. I proceeded in telling her my situation this morning, earning a few stifled laughs at my predicament. She listened otherwise and decided to keep an eye out for her.
"I'm meeting her at the crossroads today. How about you come with?" I suggested. She nodded her head furiously, obviously interested in getting to know someone decided to head straight to the Crossroads on our way home. When we got there, we saw said acquaintance sitting at a nearby dining table outside the one café. However, she didn't look very happy just sitting there. When she saw us, however, she perked up immediately. We ran over to where she was sitting and took a seat across from her.
"Hey! Make it to school in time?" She said with a smirk.
"Unfortunately, no… Had to sneak into class…" I replied in annoyance.
"Yeah, and we all saw how that turned out." Hiromi mused. I playfully punched her in the arm in response, which received us a chuckle from Ren.
"Oh, sorry! This is Hiromi." I introduced her when I had realized they haven't officially met yet. She nodded in response.
"Nice to meet you." She replied. It got awkwardly quiet suddenly, for we didn't actually plan on going anywhere after we met at the Crossroads. I decided to break the silence.
"So, Ren, what grade are you in?" I asked.
"I'm a junior this year, but need to take an extra year of intermediate classes." Was her reply. I was a little confused at this, so she explained further. "Since I moved in the middle of the year, I haven't gotten the full education on my current classes at my old school. And, since this class doesn't cover those particular subjects this year yet, I have to take extra classes. It's a bit of a drag…" She said, obviously annoyed with the fact.
"Man, that must be hard…" Was all I managed to say. I wasn't sure how to reply to something like that.
"So, enough about me. What about you guys? I'm assuming you're both in the same class." She said, the mischievous smirk coming back.
"Yeah! We're both juniors too!" Hiromi chimed in. She seemed a little too enthused to answer. I chuckled to myself at her sudden need to be cheerful. Ren seemed to think so too because Hiromi received a skeptical look from Ren.
"I see. Well, then I guess I'll see you guys sometime in school. Keep an eye out for me!" She said as she stood up. "I should get going. I know we haven't talked for more than like 10 minutes, but I promised my dad I'd be home today at a normal time." She said. "I should be in school within the course of the week. Hope to see you guys again soon." She winked, picked up her bag, and left down the street. We waved at her as she left and turned around ourselves to head home. On our way, we went over the small conversation.
"I wonder what her parents consider normal when it comes to being home by a certain time…" Hiromi mused. I was thinking the same thing, but decided not to stress it. When we reached Hiromi's house, I suddenly realized something.
"My bag!" I exclaimed. "I must've left it back at the table! I'll call you later, Hiromi!" I ran off before she could answer. I was out of breath by the time I got to the Crossroads, and decided to take a break. I sat down at the same table and let my heart beat steady to normal. When sitting there, I happened to look over and noticed a big, fluffy ball of fur on the one chair. I smiled and walked up to it.
"Hey, Fatso." I said. His ear pricked as he turned his head around slowly to glare at me in annoyance. I chuckled. "Nice to see you, too." He nodded in response. "I was thinking of visiting you guys along the course of these next few days. Care to lead the way?" I said with a smirk.
"Think you can keep up this time?" He retorted as he immediately jumped down from his chair and started running off in the direction of the sanctuary. I ran to catch up with him, making sure to keep close enough. We went through the familiar twists and turns of the alleyways and up the rooftops. When we finally came out to the alley that led to the white archway, we slowed down. I followed Muta through the archway and felt the familiar sensation of shrinking down to size.
"I'll never get tired of that." I said with a grin. I ran up to the Bureau doors and knocked lightly on the green double doors. It wasn't even more than a few seconds when the doors opened to reveal the one person who I wanted to see more than anything. He smiled when he saw me.
"Haru. So glad to see you again. Please, come in." Baron invited me in and I gladly accepted. I sat down on the couch as he went to prepare me a cup of tea. When he brought me my tea and we were situated, we started talking. I told him how school was going and asked how business was for the Bureau, and other various practical things. I then brought up Ren.
"So, there's this new girl in school. Her name's Ren." I said. He seemed to get quiet at this, but I hadn't even noticed the tinge of concern on his face. "She just transferred here and is in the same class as us. I only know that much about her. She's pretty sheltered. But, at the same time, very outgoing. She reminds me of a tomboy in a way." I chuckled at that last statement which earned me a smirk from Baron. I sat sipping at my tea when there was a knock at the door. I jumped up and offered to get it.
"Coming!" I exclaimed as I happily skipped over to the door. I opened it, expecting to see Toto or Muta. Quite the opposite actually. I opened the door to find Ren staring blankly back at me.
"W-What are you d-doing here?" she stuttered nervously. I could ask her the same thing, but kept my mouth shut. I decided not to ask her and just give my reasoning.
"I'm here just visiting an old friend." I replied blankly. She stumbled over her words a bit before finding the words to reply back.
"Well, I should just go then. I was just here to ask Baron a few questions." She said. I was a bit taken back that she knew Baron well enough to speak like that of him in context.
"No, it's alright." I said as I glanced back at Baron, giving him a skeptical look. "I was just about to leave anyway." I turned to Baron. "Thank you for the tea, Baron. I'll see you again soon." I replied flatly before collecting my things and heading out the door, almost forcing Ren out of my way. I only glanced back once to see both of them looking at me with apologetic expressions. I just whipped around and rushed out of the Sanctuary, returning to my normal size in the process. On my way home, I couldn't help but think,
"If he knew who she was already, why didn't he speak up when I brought up her name?" I decided not to think too much of it and went directly home. Sleep came pretty quick. Before I went to sleep, I pondered how I'm going to approach Ren tomorrow and ask her a few questions myself.
"There's more to this than I thought…" I thought out loud, before falling right to sleep.
Well, hope you enjoyed. Not much to the plot so far, but it's a start. Like I said, I won't be able to update as fast as I normally would, but I'll post as much as possible. R&R, Comment and Criticize! Ciao! ^_^