Chapter Ten: Past Meets Present
The dragon stared at the knight, not quite sure if he had heard him correctly.
"What did you say?"
The knight straightened, prepared to say it a hundred times, if necessary.
"I love you, my lady. I know I shouldn't, but I do. With all my heart."
The dragon kept staring, hardly daring to believe that such a thing is possible, when everything should point to the contrary.
"I have no beauty for you to admire. I am ill-tempered, selfish, and a little too fond of burning villages. Why should you feel love for me?"
The young lad walked up to her, and touched her gleaming scales again, not caring that doing so would slice his hands again.
"You have all the beauty you need in your heart. You have more goodness in you than you would ever admit, at least out loud to me. I think I could hear your heart calling out for help long ago, which is why I offered to serve you. You had no one, and neither did I. I know you care for me as well, even if you won't say it aloud." With a stroke of revelation, the knight suddenly realized the truth.
"It was you. You have been the one crying out, each and every night."
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Haru wasn't all that surprised that her scar was alternately throbbing and buzzing, now that she knew it was Baron's emotions controlling it, and he was probably still adjusting to everything she had told him.
But if waiting for a dead man to keep a promise to her for eleven years hasn't proven her stubborn/patient streak, nothing would. She smiled happily again as she assembled the sub sandwiches, reserving a whole one for Muta. The three others in the household could share the other one, with enough to leave Muta a bit more, if he was still hungry.
She hadn't learned how to cook until Humbert managed to convince Mistress Hashiki that the brunette could handle the temptation all those cooking accessories provided. After a week, the orphanage director stopped coming to supervise, with just the H+H team happily cooking together, and having fun. Humbert had even given her the desire and courage to apologize to all the people she had hurt over the years, and to offer retribution. Some accepted, and some didn't. But she now knew that was the way of the world and was at peace with it.
Suddenly, she heard noises outside, and a heavy fist pounding on the door.
"Open up, in the name of the king!"
How had they found this place? The brunette grinned as she covered up the sandwiches with a cloth.
It didn't matter how they found her. It had been eleven years since she threw a really good tantrum, and she could feel her old enthusiasm returning, now that Humbert was back in her life.
Feeling mischievous, she grabbed a few well-chosen blades from the drawer, and easily slid through an open window. Calmly, she walked around the corner of the house, and looked with amusement at the many soldiers who were unsuccessfully trying to break into her home.
'I should have expected that the king would trace us here, with Baron's recent call on the prince.' "Can I help you, gentleman?"
The soldiers looked over at her.
"It's Lady Haru!" a familiar wizard shouted with glee, certain that he would be well-rewarded for bringing her back to the palace. "Take her, boys!"
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Suddenly, Baron's scar began to pulsate, in a way he had never known before. He looked down at the exposed scar a split second before running back to the kitchen. His ears could hear the two other shape shifters following him, but he didn't care.
He entered the kitchen just in time to hear a loud scream from outside, but Baron knew it wasn't Haru's.
He opened the back door just in time to see a soldier sail through the air like a comet, landing hard on the ground near his feet. The gray cat and his two friends looked up to see several soldiers screaming and running from Haru, as she gleefully ran after them with a stolen spear, occasionally forking one up to send him soaring. The soldiers' armor protected them from the spear's tip, but few things could soften their fall.
The trio looked slightly to the left to see a few more soldiers pinned to the walls of the house with various kitchen knives; terror clear on their faces. One of the people pinned to the wall was wearing the overly fancy robes of a royal wizard, obviously the reason the soldiers had found Baron's house. Toto whistled appreciatively.
"So she wasn't exaggerating!"
Baron looked at Haru again, impressed. Her slim build said that she shouldn't have been able to do all of this, but all the hours of hauling laundry or other items had to have built up her arms.
Baron watched Haru 'play' with the soldiers as his mind struggled to break through the veil, wondering why this sight was so familiar.
His mind opened suddenly like a window, a great wind from outside blowing through to get rid of the dust.
'I remember!'
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It was a disgustingly cheerful day, not suiting Humbert's mood in the least. But he knew Mother Nature didn't care much about his preferences, and so kept his mouth shut. The slim boy was dressed in black, and was being firmly escorted by a soldier to the dismal building near the cliffs, where he was to wait until coming of age or until someone deemed him good enough to adopt.
Although he hadn't seen much of his father over the years, the blonde lad loved him dearly, and was reluctant to replace him. But if it meant getting out of this depressing place, he knew he could charm a couple into taking him in, since love came so easily to him-
A young boy appeared from the other side of the tall stone wall, and landed right in front of Humbert. The boy, a little older than him, cried out in pain as the tawny-haired youth and soldier knelt down to check for anything damaged. There was no way the boy could have jumped over the wall, with the way his body had flailed helplessly in the air.
A presence appeared on the wall, making both boys and the soldier to look up. A young girl was standing on the wall, glaring at the boy who had tried to fly without proper guidance. She was in a worn gray dress, obviously a hand-me-down, and her long dark brown hair was tied away from her face in a ponytail. Her large eyes, a brown matching her hair, continued to give the glare of death to the fallen boy. A long bruise was on her cheek, obviously fresh, as were the ones along her scrawny arms.
"You should know better than to say that kind of thing to me, Tsuge! I may be many bad things, but I am not a thief or a liar! Everyone knows I'm terrible at both activities!"
The soldier sighed tiredly, obviously acquainted with the girl.
"Haru, one of these days, someone's going to hit you right back, and you won't be able to get up again."
Her eyes strayed to the soldier, and to the blonde boy. She scoffed.
"I suppose it's the scarecrow right here? He doesn't look like he's fought a day in his life. A new recruit for us?"
"Yes. He just lost his father, so try to be nice."
She rolled her eyes and gave an exaggerated curtsy to the lad with mint green eyes.
"Welcome to Seaside, home to the unwanted. I'm Haru Yoshioka, the obligatory bully who will not be giving you a tour of the place, and you are?"
Baron continued staring at her, wondering how such a delicate little girl managed to toss a boy bigger than himself over the tall wall. He suddenly remembered his manners, and gave a gentlemanly bow to her.
"I am Humbert John Garrington, obligatory scholar and linguist. And you're wrong; I was learning how to fence before coming here."
Haru's eyebrows shot up with interest.
"You mean with swords? That's cool; no one around here lets me handle anything sharp, except to sew victims back together. Too much temptation." She giggled evilly. "Rules are simple here, Humbert; don't cross no one, and no one crosses you." She turned to jump into the grounds.
"It's either 'cross no one' or 'don't cross anyone'," the blonde informed her. "Making it a double negative the way you did gives me permission to annoy anyone I want without consequence."
Her eyes glowed angrily, making her jump down on his side in order to walk up to him. He judged her to be a year or two younger than him. She was only three inches shorter than him, but her anger seemed to make people forget her diminutive size, if the terror on the other boy's face was of any indication.
"Great. Another smart alec. Just watch it, Smarty Pants; anyone here can tell you that I'm not one you want to cross." She raised a fist at him and shook it a little.
He smiled at her, intrigued at her strange behavior. The few girls he had come into contact with before reminded him of china dolls, with about as much personality. If Haru smiled, she'd be as pretty as one too, but…
That adorable temper!
He grabbed the fist and kissed it before she knew what he was doing.
"Then I will try not to cross you."
She gaped at him for a moment; shocked beyond words. The tiny brunette ripped her hand away from him, taking a few steps back. She rubbed her hand fiercely on the side of her dress, like doing so could get rid of what he had done.
"Freak," she hissed. She jumped back onto the stone wall and to the other side with ease and eagerness. Humbert chuckled to himself as he turned to help the boy up, surprised to find both the boy and the soldier gaping at him.
"How could you do that? She's a monster!" the boy whispered, his eyes filled with admiration and respect. The tawny lad shrugged, thinking that life at Seaside Orphanage might be worth sticking around for, after all.
"Really? She looks like a cute kitten to me." He looked at the wall again and grinned.
On second thought; perhaps he should annoy the 'obligatory bully', just enough to deflate that ego of hers.