Chapter 3; Doubts?

"Hey Haru, are you okay? You look kind of pale," Hiromi said. They were a block away from the church.

"I'm fine, I just woke up feeling like the hairballs your grandma's cat leaves around her granny-flat," Haru answered, snapping out of her contemplations. "Can't cancel the wedding cause I felt woozy, anyway, I'm fine now."

Hiromi got out of the car first, then Haru. There was still some time before the ceremony began, they had time to fuss some more with the other girls and family and so on. Haru found a nice quiet corner to herself, with a slightly opened window, which was nice. The wind had died down and was now just a gentle breeze.

She didn't realise she had company until a gruff voice said, from the gap between windowsill and window-frame: "Hey Kiddo."

The young woman looked down sharply, surprised. It had been a long time, a very long time. She opened the window some more and let the feline fatso in. It was good to see him, and she said so.

"Hey Muta," she scratched gently behind his coloured ear, her hand covered in a lacy white glove – Hiromi had declared that everyone would wear them, producing a box full just fifteen minutes before. "It's good to see you, how've you been?"

"Bored, a little peckish," he answered. The scratching felt good. Haru did it just right, but then, she'd been part-cat herself once, for a while, she knew where it felt good.

"Cake isn't until after," Haru said, though she kept scratching. "I've really missed you Muta, but I wonder what brings you this particular church on my wedding day?"

"How's the program look? I mean, what? Priest talks about marriage a bit, asks the general populace if there's a problem with the coupling, and you say 'I do', that right?" he asked, not quite changing the subject, just avoiding the question.

Haru let it be. If Muta didn't want to answer her, he probably had a good reason.

"Hiromi's first, then we get the sanctity of marriage speech, then mine after that, but you know what? I think you were right, all those years ago," she said, changing from scratching to stroking. She'd be covered in cat-hair by the time the bridal march began, but she didn't care. Everyone would be looking at Hiromi, and Muta's fur was about the same colour as her dress, so no one was going to really notice until after, when Muta would be hanging around scabbing cake left, right and centre.

"What was I right about?" he asked. He knew he was always right, but when someone said "you were right" in regards to a conversation years old, it was good to know what it was they had suddenly realised that he had always know.

"Being a cat's not so bad," Haru answered. "In fact, if I could just keep eating the same things as a cat as I do now, I'd happily make the switch, right now."

"What about your friends, and your hubby?" Muta enquired, pointing out what she would be missing if she did change right then.

Haru thought about that.