Disclaimer: I do not own The Cat Returns.
Hi my name is Haru Yoshioka. I'm eighteen and very plain, unlike my sister who is beautiful beyond words. Our parents died five years ago. Everything they owned went to Louise, my older sister. But in order for her to have all the wealth she needed to keep me in the house.
So she did. The catch was that I am not going to live in the room I had as a child. Louise is going to put me in one the servant rooms. I'm now a servant in my own home. Funny isn't it? But whenever a special guest comes I have to dress up nice and go to dinner, just like I am tonight. I can't tell anyone about this, no one ever believes me. They always believe Louise
"Miss Haru" said the annoying voice of the light brown cat. He's my sisters lap dog… er cat. "Miss Haru, are you done yet?"
"Yes I will be there in a second" I replied. I slipped on the dress I was to wear tonight. It was a midnight blue with silver swirls on it. It must be a person of high society. I can tell because the quality of my dress.
I then put on the jewels my mother gave me for my sixteenth birthday. I'm now ready so I head out.
I walk to the door. It's sad that my father wants me to marry one of the Yoshioka girls but, as a good son I must do what my father wants me to. *sigh*. I knock on the door thrice and a pretty girl with white hair answers it.
"Good evening ma'am." I say in my gentleman tone. "I'm Baron Humbert Von Gikkingen at your service." she swooned at me like all the girls do. It gets really annoying fast. She replies shyly that she is Louise owner of the estate.
She bids me to come in and I do. We go the dining room to wait for her younger sibling. I wonder what kind of girl could be late to this sort of thing. All of a sudden an orange and white cat comes in and goes to Miss Louise and tells her something.
It must have been something awful cause the miss looked like she was having a seizure. It was all entertaining to say at least.
"Excuse me Humbert" she said. "But it looks like my sister is in hiding again. I'm going to have to go look for her."
"Allow me to help." I hear myself say. I wanted to meet this girl who has captured my interest already. "It will be faster to find her with more people."
"Well ok" she replied skeptical. It was like no one had asked to help her before. She handed me a picture and then went to go look. I looked down at the picture to see a girl with brown shoulder length hair, beautiful brown eyes, and… cat ears and whiskers?
Only servants were cats. Hmmm this was fishy. I intend to find out why she has those. I guess the only way to ask is to find her. With those thoughts on my mind I left.
I came across a beautiful garden. I went through a maze and sad to say got lost. That's when I heard a beautiful voice singing. I went towards the voice to see the girl in the picture. She looked like a sad fallen angel.
'Excuse me?' I said to get her attention.
My sister always makes me do this. It's to ruin my reputation, like I had one to begin with. Louise does this every time. She tells me to go and hide and she come find me, take me back and scolds me in front of everyone.
So after a while I got bored. I mean who wouldn't? 'I guess I found a good place this time' I thought with a smirk. After awhile I decided to sing. It's one of my favorite pass times so why not? I was singing for a while then suddenly I hear someone say 'excuse me?'
That got me to stop. So I turn around to see who it was. It was a man. He looked like he was twenty and had orange hair.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I am Baron Humbert Von Gikkingen," he replied with a smile. Hmmm I heard that name somewhere before. Oh yah I remember he was the guy who save that children's hospital.
"Nice to meet you Baron," I said.
I stuck out my hand so he could shake.
"I'm Haru Yoshioka." he looked confused but shook my hand anyways.
I was very confused why this girl didn't swoon over me. I mean every girl does why doesn't she? We were just standing there in an uncomfortable silence.
"Haru, why do you have cat ears and whiskers?" I asked.
"Can you keep a secret Baron?" she countered.
"Yes" I replied.
"You see," she began. "After my parents died Louise gained the whole fortune. But the only way she could keep it was to let me live in the house still. Louise hates my guts so we don't get along very well. She let me live here but as a servant. And you know servants are cats. So when she proclaimed me as such I grew ears and whiskers but, when someone of high status comes to visit. She needs to present me to them to show that's she's taking care of me. But to make it even worse she tells me to hide so she can find me and take me back to scold me in front of everybody."
The poor girl, she seems to have a tragic past. Maybe I'll take her as my wife. Oh the possibilities. The older sister that seems bent on ruining her sisters life, or the younger girl that does not speak up for herself.
I don't know why I told him about my past. No matter what I tell people they always think I'm lying. That was another reason why nobody likes me. No one is smart enough to tell that my ears are real and not me making fun of the servants.
I was pulled out of my musings when I was suddenly pulled in for a hug. It felt nice. No one has hugged me since my parents died. I returned the heartfelt hug softly with one of my own. That's how my sister found us.
"Haru what the heck are you doing?" asked Louise.
"Nothing Louise," I replied.
"Humbert let us return to the dining room," started Louise. "Haru you can go back up to your room for being an insolent child."
Tears started to fill my eyes. It was not fair. How come she always has to ruin everything good that happens to me? I ran to my room without looking at Baron. I knew that he would believe her. They always did. I came to my room and locked the door, tears streaming down my face. I curled on my bed and fell asleep.
I watched as the fetching young girl ran away with tears in her eyes. I was about to go after her when Louise grabbed my arm and dragged me off to the dining room.
"Don't worry about her Humbert," she stated. "Haru is always like. She was always one for dramatics."
"Miss Louise," I started as we came into the dining room. "I think it is high time I tell you what I was sent here for."
"Of course Humbert, let's just sit down here" She gestured to some chairs.
"Before any of us were born, our fathers set up an agreement that if they had any sons or daughters than they would be married to each other to join the two families. Since my father has only me I was sent to choose one of you two sisters to be my bride."
I paused to see how she taking it so far. During my speech I noticed she was confused then turned thoughtful. She looked at me and silently asked for me to continue.
"I'm not sure if your father ever told of this pack," She shook her head no. "But my father is going to hold it. The reason I was here tonight was to meet you and your sister, and bring one of you home tonight."
"Have you made your decision Humbert?" Louise asked, fluttering her eyes.
"As a matter of fact I have, but before we get any farther we need to include your sister."
Louise looked as if she was going to kill something. Her hands were being rung together and her smile tightened. "Of course" she replied.
I woke up from my nap from a banging on the door. With little to no noise I walked to it and swung it open. There was Louise looking like she was about to go ballistic.
"Sister dear," she said in sugary sweetness. "You need to come down so we can talk about my future marriage.
I looked at her like she was insane. Why did they need me for that? She gestured impatient for me to go ahead of her. I complied and walked back to the dining room. Baron was sitting at the head of the table looking very regal. He perked up when we came in and sat down.
"Now to get back on to business'" he started. "I will now tell you who I choose to be my future bride."
We both looked at him, Louise with anticipation and me with confusion.
"I have deiced on Haru."