A/N: Sorry for the day-late chapter. I would have updated earlier today, but I wasn't aware that my flight back to England would be delayed. By 15 hours. *mucho pouting* So, after staying at a very nice hotel, courtesy of the nice plane company, and then catching another flight, and eventually returning home, I finally present to you, Chapter Nine of Haunted:

Chapter 9: Snowstorm

"Haru? Haru, pick up the phone. Haru!"

Haru flew down the stairs, somehow making it down without breaking her neck.

"Be careful, Miss Haru!" Baron called down after her, although he didn't think it would make much difference.

"Haru! HARU!"

Haru reached the phone in the hall just as Hiromi's yells were reaching fever-pitch.

"YES?" she shouted down the line, for shouting was the only way she was going to be heard over Hiromi.

"Oh, there you are. Where have you been? The answer phone clicked in about a minute ago – we were starting to worry."

"I'm fine. I was in one of the towers, so I didn't hear the phone go."

"Well listen closer in future, doughnut-head."

Despite herself, Haru found she was smiling. "Did you call for any particular reason, or was it just to insult me?"

"Oh, yeah. Um, the snow hasn't stopped since we left, and now the roads are really blocked. Uncle Toto and Uncle Muta packed stuff in the car, so we're fine and we've booked in at the village bed-and-breakfast, but we can't get back. They say it would be stupid to try to get back to the castle in this weather, so we're going to stay here until it clears up."

"Oh." Haru looked up and saw Baron in front of her, his head tilted curiously to one side as he listened to the one-sided conversation. She cradled the phone between her shoulder and cheek so she could still listen to Hiromi while motioning to Baron snow falling with her hands. After a moment he seemed to understand, for he nodded.

"Yes, 'Oh' indeed. And the forecast shows it isn't due to let up any time soon."

"Is everyone all right there?"

Baron frowned at the question.

"Oh, yes, don't worry. We're all together, and staying with the other B&B guests, so we're fine."

Haru did thumbs up to him to convey the answer.

"But are you going to be okay on your own in the castle?"

"Yes, and it's not like I'm alone."

"What?"

Haru reddened at her mistake. "I mean... there's Yuki."

"Haru, you cannot count the cat as company. What happens if something goes wrong?"

"What can we do? You can't get here, and I can't get to you, so really we're stuck. Unless you plan to fly here, there's nothing that can be done."

"Would panicking count as something?"

"Not really, Hiromi," she sighed. She thought of something. "Hey, can you tell your Uncle Muta that he was right?"

"Um, okay." There was a muffled sound as Hiromi turned away from the phone and repeated her message to her uncle. There was some laughing, then Hiromi returned to the phone. "He says you've met Baron then? Haru, honestly you shouldn't encourage him on the whole ghost business."

"Well neither should you."

"Yeah, but I'm his niece."

"I'm his niece's best friend."

"Neh, not quite the same. But on a serious note, what are you going to do?"

"The castle has a cellar and two extra fridges – I'm not going to starve exactly."

"Can you cook?" Hiromi asked incredulously.

"Yes, Hiromi, I can cook. Just because I let you take control over the kitchen, doesn't mean–"

"Sorry, I've picked that up from Uncle Muta." Haru could hear her grinning at the other end of the line. "So you're okay for food, what about heating?"

"What about the heating? The boiler's still working."

"What about if you have an accident – fall down the stairs, slip on the ice...?"

"Hiromi..."

"You could have one of your klutz attacks!"

Haru could feel herself reddening. "Hiromi, perhaps you should pass the phone onto someone else. You're getting hysterical."

There was a sudden scuffle and the gruff voice of the larger uncle spoke down the phone. "Hey, Chicky, is everything okay over there?"

"Yeah, I told Hiromi everything was okay–"

"Yeah, well she gets her hysterical side from her mother's side of the family. Were you serious about Baron?"

There was muttering from the other end of the line, something about him talking about petty issues, but it sounded like the other uncle shushed them.

"Yes – I've just met him."

There was an astonished pause. "Already?" Then he seemed to collect himself together. "Well, you'll be okay then. He keeps to himself mostly, but he's a good character."

"You trust him then?"

"He's never given us reason to doubt that trust." The line was beginning to come and go as the snowstorm outside worsened. "Don't worry, you should be fine."

"I'm not worrying. Hiromi's doing quite enough of that for both of us. Oh, and one last thing," Haru suddenly added. "Mr Moon, do you know Baron's surname?"

She saw Baron to her side tense, but ignored it.

"His surname?" The line was definitely beginning to go now.

"Yes."

"Hasn't he told you? Why are you asking me if he's there?"

"Sir, he can't remember it."

There was a terrible pause.

"He can't?"

Haru shook her head before remembering that he couldn't see her. "No, sir."

There was a muttered short response, that might have been a curse, but Haru didn't hear it properly. "Seriously? We just thought... we just thought that he preferred to go by his title..."

"So you don't know?"

"No."

"Oh... well it was worth a shot, I suppose."

"Wait, there is a library around here. There may be some records there..."

"So you'll look?"

"We'll certainly try if we get a chance to."

"Thanks."

"Okay, so–"

The line went dead.

"Sir? Mr Moon? Hiromi?" Haru checked the wires; no, the phone was still plugged in. "Damn," she muttered. "I think the snow has probably brought down one of the telegraph poles or something. The landline has completely gone."

"They can't contact you then?"

Haru shook her head. "No, my mobile is broken. And now I'm stuck here."

"What did Renaldo say to you?"

Haru sighed. "He doesn't know your full name. I'm sorry."

His disappointment was visible.

"But he says that the library might have old records, so he might check there."

"Thank you."

"For what? He's the one who's agreed to look your name up."

He smiled. "For caring."

ooOoo

"Would you like a cup of tea?"

Haru looked up from where she was collapsed on the sofa, taking her head out of her textbook at hearing his voice. "What?"

"A cup of tea," he repeated slowly. "Would you like one?"

She grinned sheepishly. "Do I really look that bad?"

"Not really. Just fed up."

"Sorry."

"What are you doing exactly?"

"Revision. I've got exams after Christmas."

"They give you exams after Christmas?"

"Everyone does."

He grinned sympathetically. "Merry Christmas, have fun revising, is it?"

"It's not far off that."

"Okay, I'll start making that tea then."

Haru thanked him, then returned to sinking her head into the textbook. She mumbled to herself something about taking a small break, then closed her eyes and what seemed like thirty seconds later there was the clink of a cup being set down on the table beside her. "That was quick."

"It wasn't. You fell asleep."

She grumbled into the pages. "Did not."

Something nudged into her shoulder; she picked up her head again to see the cup and saucer was gently prodding her side, hovering in mid-air.

"Okay, okay, I can take a hint." She pulled herself up into a sitting position, stretching out her aches and took the levitating teacup. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The textbook lifted off the end of the sofa and drifted to stop before Baron. The pages flicked as he looked over the general topics.

"Hey, you'll lose my page."

"I'll find it again after this." Baron was tilting his head as he read over a few of the headings. "What subject is this?"

"Psychology."

"Oh. What's WMM stand for?"

"Working Memory Model."

"Uh-hm. And I suppose that is..."

"A model for how memory works, yes."

"That's helpful."

"You're telling me."

"Things have changed since I was around."

"Yes, well time tends to do that."

He allowed the book to float back over to the table. "I wish you luck then."

Haru grinned. "Thanks." She sipped at the tea then paused. "Is this your own blend?"

"Yes... is it okay? It's a little different each time so I can't guarantee the taste. If it's bad I can–" he started anxiously.

"No, it's okay. In fact it's delicious." She smiled over at him and continued drinking. Her mind wandered onto other subjects. "You know the two wooden cat dolls in Louise's room?"

"Hm?"

"One of them looks a lot like you."

He suddenly laughed.

Haru blushed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... it was just, you know, the eyes..."

"No, no, it's not that. I carved those half-cats – well, with Louise's help. I taught her how to carve figurines out of wood and she came up with the idea. One was meant to look like me and the white one was meant to look like Louise. I'm sure she'd be pleased to know we succeeded. It was just meant to be some idle project, but Louise grew terribly fond of both the figurines, as did I. She painted them entirely on her own though – she did something clever with the paint for the eyes and now they seem to move in the light." He chuckled. "Strange. There was me with all my magic and she could make those eyes more alive than I could ever hope to."

Haru smiled tiredly. "I suppose there's more than one type of magic then."

"Yes, I suppose so."

They both paused in thought and Haru finished the last of her tea. She seemed to change tracks very quickly as she placed the tea on one side. "Right, I suppose that's quite enough of a break. I probably should be getting back to revision."

"If you've got exams, why did you all come out here for a holiday?"

"Hiromi's uncles offered her a free fortnight here."

"And you just came along for the ride, did you?"

"Hiromi could bring along three friends."

"So she brought you, her boyfriend and that other boy?"

Tsuge's her boyfriend; Machida's his friend."

"Oh, okay."

Haru blushed again slightly, remembering all the teasing she suffered from Hiromi about Machida and realising that Baron had probably heard it. "I didn't really have much choice on who else came," she added. "And it was too good an opportunity to miss." She grinned nervously and leaned over to take possession of her textbook once again, if only to make her seem like she was doing something. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll return to revising. I won't learn anything by chatting."

"You won't learn anything if you sleep against the book either," Baron noted, remembering how she'd been "revising" when he'd returned with the tea. "How do you intent to remember anything if you sleep with your head in the book?"

Haru paused. "Osmosis?" she offered. "No, hang on, that's water molecules..."

"Do you do biology?" he asked.

"Hiromi does. No, I think it'd be diffusion... or is that only for gases?"

He laughed. "Well, it sounds like it's a good thing you haven't got a biology exam in January too."

"Thanks, because that makes me feel better."

"I'm trying my best." The empty cup floated up from the table and started to drift in the general direction of the kitchen, along with several other pieces of used cutlery and bowls and whatnot. "I'll take these back," he offered. "Is there anything else?"

"Um, no. Thanks, Baron. You're being a really great help."

"You're revising; I should let you focus."

All the same, when he returned Haru had already slipped into the lull of sleep; her face buried into the textbook. He smiled fondly at the young brunette and automatically reached down to sweep a stray strand of hair away from her serene face. He remembered his current situation when his fingers passed through her hair and the tips of his fingers brushed through her cheek. He flinched and dropped his hand to his side.

However the brunette's head moved, as if feeling the contact, and her own hand reached up as if to sweep away a breath of air or a prickling on the skin or something. A small, barely formed frown passed over her features at the absence and then went just as quickly.

Something she'd said earlier that day passed his mind.

"I can feel the warmth from your hand."