I don't own the Cat Returns. But a super big warm thank you to YarningChick! This is my first publish Cat Returns fanfiction, and with YarningChick's encouragement I'm posting it. I've always loved the Cat Returns and I hope this bring a smile to everyone's face who reads it.

If you want to read some awesome stuff go over and read YarningChick's! They are the best!

Since it was a little hard to follow I'm redoing this chapter but stay tuned more to come!

When Haru had woken up this morning, it had started like a regular day. At 25 years of age she'd had a steady job, that she hadn't been late for work, or anything else since Hiromi, her best friend in high school, had set all of the clocks in Haru's home for 5 minutes ahead.

Haru had again looked up at the sky and wondered why they were drifting apart. The lack of school, and opposing schedules, and work had combined resulting that Haru' and Hiromi's once close friendship had, well. If Haru was honest with herself, at this point they were friends, but, Haru's heaved a sigh. She missed the closeness. Hiromi was starting to have interests that were a great deal more varied then Haru's. Haru supported anything that Hiromi did, but there was only so much mind numbing computer programming she could take.

That and the florescent lighting. Where Hirimi liked to spend her time was in a white cell devoid of color. Oh Hiromi might come back fighting that beige was a color as was ivory, but for Haru, they were all classified under white. Needed some blue, brown, color's on the color wheel.

Haru continued her normal path, feeling a little a little lost as she faced the dilemma before her. As unwilling as she was to 'lose' a friend, Haru shook her head wondering. It's not like she had very many. Hiromi had seemed to be acclimating to her new work with the other people there.

Then Haru felt that familiar guilt, had she been jealous that Hirmi was so easily able to make friends? Had she unwittingly sabotaged Hiromi's chances with the new boss? Or was she overthinking it again?

Haru' walked faster trying to outdistance that problem.

While Haru would freely admit, pliantly of witnesses, had been clumsy, but she was far more active and had to move around instead of sitting at a computer and typing numbers and letters that didn't make complete sentences and code that it seemed like a foreign language

Needless to say, with her head fully engaged with the internal battle, Haru hadn't seen the huge puddle, or the very flat concrete.

Her nemesis klutz had sized the moment and Haru had fallen straight into the only puddle on both sides of the street.

Bracing herself for the old feel of hitting concrete or some other hard material, Haru had waited eyes shut for about ten seconds for impact. Then very wary opened her eyes. Her mouth dropped open, at the sight of a huge procession of cat's, all human sized and wearing clothes. Haru concluded that she had hit her head. Thus it was completely plausible that this was all in her imagination.

So she felt no guilt whatso ever about taking advantage of her temporaty jump into her imaginaction to study the cats.

Espacally the very handsome tom that was staring back at her in absolute shock.

Haru sensed his gaze so she took advantage of his frozen state to study him in turn. His eyes were a light green and other then having a cat head it looked like he had walked of Downton Abbey. The crisp Edwardian suit, with it's slightly tan color matched his orange fur.

Haru wondered if it would be wildly inappropriate to reach out and pet him.

Always had a thing for orange tabbies. But black cat's always seemed to find her first.

Then her second thought as sound from the cat's behind him, and Haru realized they were on a pier over water, Haru wondered that if he were a cat would he have a tail?

Haru's gaze shifted to the big white cat behind the orange one, his mouth was moving as if he was saying something to the orange cat-man, but Haru's felt her face scrunch as she couldn't hear anything.

Then a 'pop' like an air plane coming down for a landing, and Haru covered her ears as the sheer noise assaulted her.

The white cat was very very loud, and it sounded as if he was screaming after the quiet. Haru winced as she realized the 'screams' were just the cat laughing.

"Baron, of all cat's you-"

He quieted instantly as a old black cat strolled up, his eyes were gleaming like mad and his fur, Haru could tell since she had been around so many black cats that his once black fur was grey tinged. His rubbed his paws together, smile greasy, "Your vow was accepted. It seems that Freya-Aphrodite herself has answered your challenge Gikkingin." The old cat looked over at Haru, while another cat, much slimmer, and looking like a slightly older and darker version of the tabby.

The newest cat put himself between the younger tabby, the white cat and Haru and the old grey streaked cat.

Haru heard the underlying anger, "Just because my son vowed that he would only marry a girl that had the opposite appearance-"

The old cat guffawed into full bodied laughter, he pointed a paw at the tabby, "The exact vow was, 'from the sky or under the sea'" He pointed above and Haru stared in disbelief as water trickled from the sky, the clouds were wrong too. Instead of white they were blue, while the blue that should have been the sky was the white of fluffy clouds.

"This female has accomplished that." He leered towards Haru again, "She's quite the babe."

Haru felt the hair on the back of her neck rise.

The tabby jerked then moved to shield her from the older cat's gaze.

The older fat cat just shifted, eyes starting to turn a little wild, he gave the older suited cat a creepy smile, "I think I'll marry the doll instead." He lunged suddenly and Haru instantly jumped back, only to feel water, and cold.

Her vision blurred again, and Haru was staring soaking went, at the puddle. Haru quickly looked around, no cat's only humans some ignored her, one or two shot her a strange look but kept on walking to where their destination was.

Back in her hometown. Haru mentally sent a thank you up to heaven.

There was no way that she had actually seen a procession on cats. With several cats who had vowed to marry a girl who fell from the sky, or up from the water.

Haru nodded to herself, yep, no way. Something whizzed by her peripheral vision, and already jumpy reflexes kicked had taken over. Haru only knew that she had to dodged. Unfortunately, and slightly more painfully, she felt something solid and metal collide with her head. She felt her hand begin to rub it, still feeling a ringing from colliding with metal at such a high speed. looking around slightly bewildered.

Haru pulled her head back a little, had she really run into a telephone pole?

Haru craned her head again, but the city, satisfied with her renewed clumyness had evidently decided to obey natural law. It sat solidly as a deliberate testimony, to the fact that it wasn't a mythical kingdom or a pond, with a bunch of cats. That, Haru breathed out, weren't wearing human old fashioned clothes. Haru racked her mind, Edwardian clothes? Haru shook her wet hair. Glancing around her training kicking in.

First off, since the tiny puddle could in no way leave her entirely soaking wet. It was time to do something about that particle portal. Even if it was only to her imagination. Didn't want any nightmares or someone else falling into it.

Haru looked around, a little more carefully, since her head was spinning a little, found a rock, then decided on the mulch by the plant that was growing near. Picked up a handful, and spread it in the puddle to disrupt any other surface magic.

Some one else could deal with it. Haru had reached her quota for crazy, long before had started home.

Then feeling eyes on her, she was soaking wet, Haru tugging her earring, a gift from Yuki, and the water around her clothes seeming to evaporate.

She stood, acting like nothing was amiss. Casually brushed at her skirt, still feeling the water droplets. Then pretending that she wasn't wet, headed down the street.

Her mantra of just act casual. Act natural, act natural. Started to repeated it's familiar refrain.

"Just get home, Haru." Haru told herself, "Just head around the corner, get to the bus, get on the bus. Wait five stops, get off the bus go up the stairs. Open the gate and pretend like nothing happened."

Haru focused her mind on breathing, and let her habits take over. Going around the corner, she tried self-bribery since that always seemed to work, "you can pretended this day never happened." She joined a light crowd as they waited for the light to change, then when it did the group headed across the street. Haru peeled away from them to stand in a line, oh so causally, with three or so people at the regular bus stop. Haru felt the lack of anonymity as the crowd drifted away.

After a few minutes, of over-exposure, exactly at 310, the bus pulled up stopping at the sign. The familiar hiss, then squeak of the doors opening. Haru almost stepped on another passenger's foot in her haste to find a bit of cover.

Ironically the bus itself was called the cat bus.

Once inside, Haru hurried to claim a spot by the door.

Haru felt the warning twinge in her legs, and obediently spotted then sat in an open chair by the front of the bus. The driver, a familiar fixture of her route home, gave Haru a double take, looking concerned. Haru racked her brain for his name, but her nerves was so jumbled and spacey that she simply couldn't remember. She gave him a smile that she hoped wasn't too wobbly, or out of place, then turned to look out the window at the familiar secrecy. It looked like he was gathering up his courage to say something, but the familiar blond that seemed to stalk his route decided to board. Taking one of the two seats directly behind him.

Knowing the blond would be the last to board. He reticently closed the door as she distracted him with conversation. Thank heaven Haru wouldn't have to engage in small talk.

Haru kept her gaze out the window. It soon shifted from a passive activity, to actively hunting for anything that might seem like a cat. The bus stared to move, and Haru after looking out the window, realized that it was a very good thing she was sitting.

Suddenly sure that her legs were going to give out on her. Haru focused on breathing steady breaths and trying to act outwardly normal.

Her leg muscles however spasumed, unnoticed by anyone else but Haru could feel the steadily slowly growing burn that promised she was going to feel much worse in the morning.

Haru mentally pulled away from the task of looking for cats, certain that in current condition she wouldn't be able to do much about them, instead to focus on preparing herself to not hobble or limp off the bus.

Skip that Haru thought sourly, she was going to have to climb up the long walkway into the temple area. Haru tried not to think about the stairs, while usually didn't have a problem her legs felt like they were going to buckle at the mere thought of stairs, much less the really long one that was almost straight up.

Haru startled at little as the bus pulled to another stop. Four stops left she encouraged herself. Then blinked, looking at the sign again, three stops. She could handle three stops.

She heard the bus doors close, then could feel as the bus started making it's ascent up into the mountain. Haru spied two passengers noses wrinkling, but it wasn't enough to alert them to any particular smell, or where it was coming from.

Haru glanced at the windows, then turned and hunkered further down, plastering a daydreaming expression on her face. It had gotten indulgent looks from nearly everyone around her that wasn't family, and the the people on the bus were no exception.

It had the added benefit of putting her out of the air currents, that ran through the bus thanks to open windows, so no one person got a whiff of very obvious mineral water. Hopefully they would think the smell from outside of the bus.

The bus stopped again. Haru stopped herself from flying out, and racing up the steps. This was her usual stop, but her world at that point had narrowed to only two more stops, and the big open area that signaled the place where she sometimes worked. At least the entrance of it.

The bus started again, Haru's nears started screaming at her, stop sitting like a, well a sitting duck. Haru forcibly shoved them aside. The passengers on the bus, none of them hitting the stop button, had the bus go smoothly past.

The last stop peered out, half hidden by elegant trees, and Haru jammed her thumb into the stop button. The bus crawled to a stop, Haru stood, the bus stopped, and Haru made her way to the other exit of the bus. Stepping down the steps rather lightly. Haru mentally congratulated herself as her shoe stepped on sidewalk. She took a shaky breath, and took a few more tentative steps away from the bus and towards the temple.

The bus Haru registered had driven off. Haru feeling her legs temple made her way slowly over to one of the shaded half walls.

She breathed in and out deeply. Flexing her feet, then wincing tested stretching moving her knees. Finding her lower legs achy but not burning Haru let out a sigh of relief.

Haru then hauled herself to her feet. "I can do this." She much slower then she would have liked, never the less made her way up the gentle path into the restricted access of the side part of the temple. The living quarters where volunteers and the current batch of caretakers spent their time.

Haru felt an internal barrier drop, and the temple's welcome sign. As soon as she crossed the barrier it tugged at her rather flimsy at this point disguise. Haru let the illusion waver then vanish. It was only good for one spell, since an apprentice had made it.

Revealing a soaked school girl. In wet clothes, and wet hair.

Haru shivered. Hurrying her steps into the shrine. The door was opened. Haru rather used to the eccentricities of the residents at this point just headed inside. She absently closed the screen door shut behind her. Then pulled off her shoes wincing as she started to discover new pains. Haru peeled off her socks. Wrinkling her nose.

Hated wet socks. It was the crowning badness of the day. Bad days ended with wet socks. These had been lucky ones too. This was just not her day.

She set her shoes by others in the shoe area, as she felt a warm steamy breeze. Then smelled hot water, that meant a bath.

It also meant, Haru's face took on a dreamy quality, she didn't have to wait in line for one.

Gratefully Haru headed where the bath was. Pulling out her clothes from a cubby and setting them on the counter. Haru gratefully turned on the hot water. Then stripped as it was warming up, the steam felt wonderful. She's would have gone in with her clothes on but they were wet, and they were cold.

Haru just soaked in the heat from the hot water. Letting it seep into and sooth her aches and pulled muscles. Hungary, a good half hour later, made her reluctantly get out of the shower, dried herself off, and put new clothes on. Wrapping the towel around her wet clothes.

First was find food, second drop her laundry into the washing machine.

There was a soft tapping on her window.

Haru twisted on her bed turning so she could look at her window. A big black familiar bird hovered, he tapped the window again. lurching to her feet Haru shuffled over to the window and pulled it open. Then turned and headed back to her soft warm bed. Curling up on it, Haru noticed that it wasn't as warm as when she had left it. Instead she pulled the comforter around herself.

The hot shower had warmed her up, but after sitting still had caused a loose of body heat that Haru was starting to feel rather keenly.

A soft warning caw, and the bird flew in, did a little sharp turn and landed perching neatly on the bed post.

He took in girl covered in a quilt that was bright with happy colors, a serviceable dresser, large mirror, and closet.

"If your going to turn in early you might want to get into your pajamas." The crow suggested. He turned his head, "Did you want me to get them for you?" He offered.

Haru unwilling to depart from her warming quilt dragged it and herself over to the dresser, the bird turned to the wall to give her privacy, while she changed, and then flopped back onto the bed.

Toto could only do so much in his bird form. The lack of hands severely restricted folding any type of clothing. The most he could do was drag it.

"Alright I'm decent." Haru called. The crow turned back, and hopped closer to where Haru had bundled herself up. "Thank you Toto."

Toto smilied. Then turned curious, he spread a wing to gestured to her current state, "Do you want to tell me why you came home soaking wet?"

"I don't exactly know where to start." Haru rubbed her head, "This has been a bad day."

Toto tilited his head, "As bad as your socks getting wet? Kind of bad, or just tripped infrount of someone you liked bad? What scale of bad are we talking about?"

Haru met his black eye, "The wet socks kind of bad."

Toto winced in sympathy. "Did you need me to drop white glue on someone freshly washed car?" Toto asked a little too eagerly.

Haru giggled shaking her head, Toto looked a little disappointed. Then offered, "Want to talk about it?"

"I don't want to bore you." Haru answered.

Toto shook his head, a wry expression on his face, "You've listened to my rants about the big white cat, and helped me come up with cat insults. I don't mind." He stretched his wings then tucked them with a neat flip of off his wings. He sat down covering his feet with his feathers giving Haru his full attention. His black eyes were curious.

"How'd you get wet?" He asked curious, starting off the topic. "Did you get caught in a rainstorm or something?"

Haru shook her head. Still not quite believing it herself. "I-" She used her palm to rub her forehead, murmuring, "This is going to sound so weird."

Toto just walked over to her sitting on her leg. She could feel his warmth already, "You can tell me anything Haru." His black eyes were sincere as he watched her face, his concern palpable. "You realize your talking to a talking crow." He joked lightly, trying to shake off her unhappy mood. "Things don't get much stranger." Haru chuckled, "It took me a bit of getting used to." Haru admitted.

"And you've done wonderfully." Toto assured.

Haru stroked his wings, always finding it meditative as she searched for a way to start, then just dove in. "After school, I tripped and fell into a puddle." Toto didn't even blink. "But when I opened my eyes, it looked like," Haru broke off. Toto waited patiently.

"I guess you would call it a pier, like a board walk extended into water. There were-" Haru trailed off.

Toto nodded to show her he was listening.

Haru blurted, "There were a whole bunch of cats on it."

Toto nodded again, showing that he was listening. He was clearly confused as to where the cat's had come from.

"They were all human sized." Haru rushed on, why did talking about it seem like it was more real? "And some were wearing clothes." Haru continued grateful not to be interrupted, even if she was starting to talk fast so she wouldn't be interrupted. "Some were regular cats, I think, but they were my size, and a few were wearing clothes, costumes the kind you see in those old Edwardian movies from the time of queen Victoria." Haru blinked, hadn't she already said that.

Toto gently poked her with his beak to keep her talking.

"Well. I have no idea how I got there since it was clearly all in my head, all I can think of is that I hit my head before I ran into the telephone pole. But I think a whole bunch of green cats showed up," How did she remember all this? Haru blinked oh, right it was her imagination followed no rules but it's own.

"I don't know what happened." Haru continued "If it were normally what I'd think about a whole bunch of green cat's would have shown up, and the cat closet to me, would have gotten shoved off the pier."

"And then you would have rescued the poor wet kitty?" Toto teased.

Haru wondered if she should have taken Toto's advice and gone into theater, this seems dramatic even for her.

Toto suddenly seemed very interested in her right hand.

Haru chuckled then continted with her fabricated story, ""It was pretty obvious that he couldn't swim because he started sinking, so," Haru paused for dramtic effect, "I pushed off the pier, grabbed his wrist and lugged him back to the surface. He grabbed the pier and then I realized he was a cat."

Toto nearly feel over, "A cat?" He repeated, bemused, "The little fact the whole time you've been describing him the whole story as a cat and then you just suddenly realized he was a cat?" Toto gave her a look of exasperation, "Really? Haru. That stretches the bound of reality."

"Artisilc embellishment!" Haru protested.

The to add insult to injury, Haru mimicked large cat ears on her head.

"I suppose he had a cat head and a human body, so he could wear a suit too?" Toto replied caustically. Not entirely rising to the bait.

"Yep" Hari agreed. "Very dashing." She giggled, "An orange tabby with cream markings." Haru's eyes went distant as she spoke softly, "He had the most vivid green eyes," She wrinkled her nose, taking a moment to puncture the idellic image, "and he smelt like wet cat."

Toto chuckled, "Well he is half cat, or full cat." Toto waved a wing, "That's off topic." Toto pointed a wing, since he didn't have fingers that could flex and point, at Haru's hand, "What's that?"

"What's what?" Haru looked behind her to where Toto was pointing.

"Not behind you Haru." Toto spoke a little annoyed, "Your hand, what's on your finger?" Toto asked.

Haru looked at her hand noticing a ring for the first time. "huh. Never seen that before." She put her palm down, looking at the ring. It was a simple golden band, with a line of green running around the middle. The classical lines made the ring have the look of an timeless antique, with the center line being a a brilliant green emerald.

"It looks pretty." Haru admitted, "But I'm not one for jewelry." She used her other hand and pulled the ring, it stuck fast. She tugged harder, almost dislocating her finger. "It doesn't hurt does it?" Toto asked, a little alarmed at the amount of force Haru was staring to exert to get the thing off. Haru shook her head, twisting the ring and tried to tug it off again, then added more force. Haru grimaced, "It's stuck."

"That's a ring finger too." Toto murmured softly as he tilted his head.

Haru blinked at him, confused, "It's on my middle finger." She showed him her hand. The ring sat mockingly on her middle finger. The skin around it was a little pink from the tugging.

"Not a cat's." Seeing Haru's complete look of incomprehension, Toto lifted his talons. Three toed birds feet. "Cat's are like birds. They only count-" He paused, looked at his talons, then amended, "Ok, Cat's have four, well toes." Toto explained, "When a cat get's engaged or married the ring can go on either of the middle two toes on the fount feet. " Toto explained. He smirked, chuckling, "They aren't like you humans where if engaged on side of hand and only on one finger."

"So ring equals marriage?" Haru translated. Toto nodded, thoughtfully, "You might be engaged. I haven't heard of a cat taking a human, not for at least 8 or 9 cat generations."

Haru snorted, answering hotly, "To a cat?I don't inter species."

Toto considered that, "The royal cat family used to take human brides, but they stopped after one or two almost wiped out their kingdom in retaliation. I think, the mothers made their sons promise not to take unwilling human brides."

"So then what happened?" Haru asked curious.

"Well." Toto leaned forward eyes gleaming, happily to oblige with his bit of historic gossip, "The king's didn't keep his word, so his wife refused to stay with him. Making his life miserable. So the crown went to his distant cousin. It's a side effect of that line, the king could only father one child. He was quite luckily that he had a distant cousin. But the catch was that every child of that family was female. So his family name died with him." Toto mused.

Haru nodded, "So I assume the females were quite capable rules?"

"Oh indeed. But one of the princess fell in love ect, and they had many kittens, boys and girls, happily ever after that sort of thing."

"But why?" Haru asked, "Couldn't have just," She snapped her fingers, "Up and had so many children.

"Oh, sorry. I forgot you didn't know that part. The family stopped visiting the human world and taking human brides. It lessoned the curse enough that could have more then one kitten."

"Oh."

"And by the time it happened the cat's were so used to the idea of a cat marring a cat was the norm."

Haru nodded, "Now that makes more sense." Haru looked at the ring again, "So how does one get this off?"

"There are several rules that have to be followed when a male cat called a tom proposes. One." He held up a wing, feather curled so it looked like a feathered finger, "That the lady has to willingly and knowingly accept it, with full comprehension of what she is doing."

"So informed concent." Haru summarized.

"Yes, you could put it that way." Toto conceded.

"And the second?"

Toto shrugged, "They don't apply in this case. But who ever put it on, has to take it off. If the caster, or putter-on-er isn't available then a blood relative or close family member can."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Haru questioned.

"Not really, cat's adopt all the time."

"So your telling me." Haru asked a little testily, "That the only way I'm getting this ring off, is by getting the guy who put it on me to take it off?"

"Yep." Toto answered, "The ring is partially invoked by magic. Hence why tugging at it won't free your finger."

Haru leaned back against her bed, "I'm going to bed." She announced.

"Your already in bed." Toto pointed out dryly.

"I'm going to sleep then birdy."

"Sweet dreams." Toto bid Haru a good night, "Did you want me to get the light?"

"Please, and thank you." Haru snuggled futher into her quilt. Laying on her side and rearranging her blankets, the rustle if wings and the click of the light switch went off and the lights turned off.

Toto flew back to the semi open window, smiling at Haru who met his gentle black eyes. "May the wind rose to meet you."

Haru smiled at the saying, "May the wind always be at your back. Goodnight Toto, and good hunting for your mulberry bush."

Toto smile grew he ducked his head in acknoldgement, then with the wound of flapping wings left the room.

Haru shifted her pillow, closing her eyes. She'd decide what to do in the morning.

There is the first chapter! Whew, thank you to all who read it. Hopefully I'll be able to publish a chapter each week

Again that you YarningChick!

Hey guys go read her stuff it's really good!

Let me know about any improvements or helpful tips!

Does anyone know how to find the Cat Returns Community? I'm having a bit of trouble trying to locate it.

Yay I'm writing Cat Returns! Wha hoo!