A/N: This little idea popped into my head whilst I was re-watching Whisper Of The Heart and Cat Returns. An actual necklace that I own, and was wearing while I had that mini movie marathon, also inspired this.
An older girl of about eighteen paced down the shopping district known as the Crossroads, her short brown hair blowing idly around her face. Japan was busy today, everyone preparing for the holiday weekend. There were shoppers moving like stirred cattle from boutique to boutique, mothers calling to their distracted children and giggling friends chatting to one another.
Haru smiled, the life around her greatly more appreciated since the strange events from a couple years ago. Events involving a vast number of cats, misunderstandings, kidnapping (or should she say, 'catnapping'?), and accidentally crushing on someone who wasn't human. There also was tea involved, but that's such a minor detail.
A very delicious-sounding detail.
Agreeing with herself that tea was a good idea at the moment, Haru walked into a café and ordered some. Although no tea was a perfect as the homemade tea Baron made, she still enjoyed drinking it a lot more than she used to. Haru even went as far as creating her own blends of teas, but still none matched his. She could still taste it on her tongue…
"Thank you," she muttered to the man at the register. She handed him her money and got her change. She went over to a booth and took out a book she bought not twenty minutes ago at a bookstore. It was a fantasy novel, something about a young woman who didn't know she was a faerie, and when she found out she was dragged away from her family and taken to the Faerie Kingdom. It was interesting, and Haru could relate vaguely to the heroine because of her own adventures.
The tea she sipped tasted like white tea with orange peel and cherry blossoms, and it soothed her aching muscles. While she read, Haru's mind drifted off into space, which looked oddly similar to the Cat Kingdom. It was sunny and full of high grasses and cattails, with not a human in sight.
Her fantasy was broken, however, when the book she read got a shadow cast over it. She peered up to find Hiromi grinning at her. "Haru-chan!" she giggled. "Fancy meeting you here!"
"Hullo," the brunette greeted distantly as she placed a napkin as a bookmark in her novel. "What's up?"
"Tsuge-kun and I were shopping when I spotted you in the window," she said, gesturing to the large glass window behind her friend. "I popped in to see how you were doing. You don't say much these days," Hiromi pouted with blatant honesty in her words.
"I guess I just don't have much to say," Haru shrugged. "What does it matter?"
"I think something's on your mind," Hiromi sighed as she sat opposite Haru in the booth. "You sigh like that a lot, you know."
Haru didn't know what to respond to that. She couldn't tell her best friend what happened those few years ago… Hiromi would never believe her.
Suddenly, Hiromi smirked. "You're in love, aren't you? Ohh! Who is it? Tell me, Haru-chan~!"
Haru flushed. "What? No! I'm not –" But she was cut off by a look from the strawberry blonde. Haru rolled her eyes and set down her teacup. "Okay, so there is someone, but it's not like I'm ever going to see him again." Not unless she was in trouble. 'If you should ever need us, you know where to look…' But she hasn't needed him, or Toto, or Muta, although she has seen him around the Crossroads on one of his usual chairs.
"Aw, that's so sad," Hiromi sympathized. "It's like a tragic romance, ne?"
Haru smiled a little. "Yeah, kind of like that."
"Well," Hiromi amended, "You're welcome to join Tsuge-kun and me on a shopping trip. There's this new boutique I found called the Kat's Kradle, and it's has tons of pretty little trinkets that are sure to cheer you up." She winked. "What d'ya say? Come with us?"
The name of the shop was enough to convince Haru. She nodded and stashed her book in her bag and hurried off with her friend. Tsuge was outside the café, his hands in his pockets and his eyes wandering the skyline. When he saw Hiromi, he smiled and offered his hand to her.
"We're taking Haru-chan to the Kat's Kradle, okay?" she told him.
He nodded and smiled. "Sure thing."
They went extremely far down the line of shops, nearly coming to the edge of the Crossroads. Along the way, Haru caught sight of Muta, and he seemed to have glanced in her direction. When they arrived, Hiromi looked more chipper than usual. "Here we are!" she sing-songed.
"I'll wait out here while you two spend some time together," Tsuge said. He respected their space, which was one of the things Hiromi liked about him.
"I'll be sure to get you something," Hiromi giggled to her boyfriend. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and then took Haru by the elbow into the boutique.
It was small and simple, but elegant; it reminded Haru of Baron's home. A little old woman sat behind the register counter, her arthritic hands holding a pencil as it scrolled across a notebook. She glanced up when she heard the two teenagers approach. "Welcome, dears," she smiled, her wrinkled face crinkling happily at the corners of her eyes and mouth. "Please, have a look around and see if anything catches your eye." She noticed Hiromi. "Oh! I remember you. Seems you brought a friend this time around, eh?"
Hiromi smiled. "That's right! This is my best friend, Haru-chan. Haru-chan, meet Shizuku-obaachan!"
Granny Shizuku nodded Haru's way. "Pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise," Haru grinned as she gave a teeny bow. She felt good vibes from this old lady, and loved the appearance of this quaint little shop. She knew she'd be visiting here many times in the future. She turned from the owner of the shop to look over something she saw flash in the corner of her sight. She gasped.
There, hanging by a long silver cord beside much more complex necklaces, was a pendant of a cat's face. It was made of solid silver like it's chain, and the details etched into the pointed-eared, whiskered surface was perfect. Haru lifted it off the stand on which it hung and inspected it further. On the left side there was a hinge. It's a locket. She opened it and found in the inside an inverted version of the face on the front, and then on the opposite panel a few characters scratched into the silver.
"Baron Humbert Von Gikkingen," she read. Her heart clenched, skipping a beat in the process. She turned around briskly to look at the old woman with wonder. "Do you know this name?"
Granny Shizuku nodded. She stood from her stool behind the register and sit down her notebook and pencil. She waddled over to Haru, a cane in her hand. "I do. I made that necklace myself, in fact. Baron is the name of a cat figurine I've seen as a child. A kind old man, the grandfather of my husband, owned him. He used to have a shop like mine, only much grander. But he never sold the Baron, even though that little cat was in his shop. In memory of the little cat, I made that pendant ten years ago. I used to wear it, but now I think it deserves a new owner. Don't you?"
Breathlessly, Haru nodded. Beside her, Hiromi wordlessly watched this exchange. Even she could tell that something was important about it, even if she couldn't place why.
"I'll buy it. How much do you want for it?" Haru said sternly, her heart fluttering in her chest. This old lady knew Baron… and she made this necklace herself. That meant more to Haru than words could explain.
Shizuku smiled warmly, admiring the eager gleam in the younger girl's eyes. "From you, not much." She holds up her fingers to indicate one hundred yen.
"What? Why so little?"
The old woman didn't explain. She winked. "Wear it always," she said as she took Haru's money.
Speechless for a moment, Haru nodded and slipped the long cord over her head. The pendant zipped down to nestle between the hollow of her breasts, directly above her heart. Already the silver warmed itself with her body heat, and felt like it belonged there. The brunette smiled. "Thank you. I will."
She left the shop, tears in her eyes and a confused friend right behind her. Idly, Haru touched the necklace. She didn't know what picture to put inside it, but… She opened, hoping inspiration would strike. But inside she found a note and a beautiful blue pebble the same shade as the depths of the ocean. 'Lapis Lazuli' went through Haru's mind unexplainably. Give the Baron my regards, won't you? the note read.
Haru laughed to herself as she wiped away her tears. "How did that granny know?"
"Know what, Haru-chan?" Hiromi asked suspiciously.
The brunette shook her head as she returned the pendant to it's place above her heart. "Nothing. You wouldn't understand."
Hiromi was about to protest, but Tsuge stepped in. he and Hiromi left, waving Haru goodbye as she told them that she needed to go home.
The whole way, the smile lingering from her chuckles didn't fade.