Chapter 10; Reunited

"Oh Baron, your suit is soaked," Haru said, standing up on the shore, putting her weight on her cane and handing over the other to the cat doll. "It's not ruined is it?"

"No, it will dry, but your dress, Miss Haru, is most certainly ruined," Baron answered, his green eyes light with gentle humour as he looked out over the lake's surface. The glow of the sun was just beginning to touch it, and it glittered like a child's picture – the kind where the child has decided that there is no such thing as too many sparkles.

"I suppose it is," Haru said, sadly, though she knew the joke. "It's a shame, I really liked that dress."

"It did look wonderful on you," the orange cat agreed, turning back. "Of course, you're still fetching, even without it."

"You perv!"

Haru and Baron turned at the sound of her son's outraged cry.

"Muta, I'm still dressed, I had my own clothes on underneath, you can come out of the bushes, you won't be scarred I promise," Haru called out, laughing, a hand lightly covering her face, a false attempt to stifle her laughter.

"Mum," Muta breathed out, seeing her, soaked from head to toe, leaning happily on her walking stick and smiling up at him. There was the problem – she was still small. She was still slightly cat-shaped, just like the Baron, except that he had always been that way. "What did they do to you?"

"Not a thing," she answered brusquely, starting to wring some of the water out of her shirt. "I actually stopped to give Princess Kana a little lecture, then her father had a couple of things to say to her. No, son, I'm just fine." It was like Haru had either not noticed, or didn't care that she wasn't human again.

"But Mum, you're still –" he couldn't say it, he didn't know how to. The poor boy, he felt like his heart would break.

"I know," she said, looking up at him. She didn't care, that was all. "You're a big boy now Muta, a man. You don't need an old lady like me taking care of you, and you certainly don't need me to be taken care of."

Haru set her furry, wet jaw and stared up at her son.

"I'm not ready, I don't know how to cope without you Mum," he said, falling to his knees unable to take it any longer.

"No one ever is sweetheart," Haru said, resting a hand on his knee as she looked up at her brave boy. "We all get thrown in the deep end eventually, but you've had good practice, taking care of your old lady all those years. Now you just have to take care of yourself."

Muta picked up his mother, soaking wet though she still was, and hugged her tight.

"I love you too," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Now put me down, go home, get some rest, get that suit dry-cleaned, it looks good on you, you'll get use out of it. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

"Will I ever see you again Mum?" he asked, teary as he gently returned her to the ground.

"Oh probably," she said, smiling in a tired, lazy way. "Now go home, go to bed. You have a date, remember?"

Baron stepped up and linked his wet arm with hers, a quietly content smile upon his dripping features.

"I'll take good care of her," he promised, kissing Haru's temple as Toto landed.

"You'd better," the boy said, watching as the figurine helped his mother climb onto the over-sized crow. The older Muta butted his leg as the bird flew off.

"I'll take you home kid," he said.