Chapter Ten: A Wedding at Last
The Cat King blew on his gem once more rubbing it along his arm, to be sure that it was shining in the sunlight. He smiled smugly while placing the crown on his head, feeling the magic link him to it.
Today was the day his dear troublesome daughter would finally be married. Well, it had certainly taken her long enough to find someone; he himself had been married for two years to his first wife, when he was Haru's age. He shuddered, thinking about Nuki's piercing shriek. That woman had quite a pair of lungs, before he slipped something special into her drink one day. After that, she was as silent as the grave, although her constantly flapping jaw said that she wasn't finished yelling at him yet.
The king sighed as he walked down the hall to the throne room, where the wedding would take place. Along the walls were portraits of each of his wives. Coming to the last painting, he stopped for a second, his gaze distant.
Naoko was the only royal mate, in all of Cat Kingdom's history, to resist the transformation indefinitely. He had often wondered what she would have looked like as a cat, but eventually had to come to terms with the woman's will of iron. Naoko had been different from his other wives from the moment he had first seen her. The redhead's beautiful hair had entranced him, as had her playful smile as she joked with her best friend.
Well, she hadn't been one to keep shrieking about not wanting to marry him, like the others had done; Naoko had been a woman of action. It had taken four cats to subdue her, when all the others had only required one or two.
And when he found out she was pregnant…
He sighed, remembering the desperate struggle he had undergone to ensure that his wife wouldn't follow the example of her predecessors and kill herself before the child could be born.
And his precious Haru, who would forever bear the mark of her mother's refusal to give up the life she had loved so dearly.
The Cat King growled, and turned away from Naoko's portrait to keep walking. What was with these human girls anyway? Didn't he give them all countless treasures, costly clothes, and everything else a queen could possibly dream of? What was so bad about being a royal?!
He tossed aside the last curtain, to see that his beloved daughter, currently in her half-cat form, had beaten him to the curtain that would open up to the throne room. She looked up at him; a flicker of annoyance present in her gaze.
"What took you so long?" she asked pointedly as he approached her; a bit of pride welling up over what a beautiful bride she was. Just like her mother.
"Just thinking, babe." Roughly, he hugged her, messing up the veil a bit. The princess blew off the servants' protests, fixing the veil herself.
"What about?"
Her father chuckled a bit.
"That there really was a human that would willingly marry a Cat Princess, and renounce his former life for it."
Haru smiled grimly, and faced the curtain as a familiar song began to play.
"You remember the bet we made on that, right?"
He sighed.
"Yes, Haru. We had a contract on it. I'll make the announcement saying that the royal family can marry cats if they wish to after the wedding."
His heir beamed, and made to accept her father's offered arm. Suddenly, for no reason, she hesitated. The Cat King cocked his head at her.
"Is something wrong?"
Haru shook her head slowly, and bit her lip nervously.
"Father? I want you to remember something, no matter what."
The longhair nodded, giving her permission to speak. His daughter took a deep breath for courage.
"I love you, Father. There are a lot of things that we'll always disagree on, and we'll probably never stop fighting over them, but I want you to know that I love you, even if you're impossible to get along with."
Something strange happened to the king then. The words he had craved for so long were finally granted, even if it wasn't by one of his wives. Wordlessly, the Cat King hugged his daughter one more time, delaying the wedding as the music faltered, since the two had missed their cue.
The feline monarch came to himself, and offered his arm again. This time, Haru took it. Swelling up with pride, the king beamed smugly as he and his heir took slow measured steps down the aisle, and towards the slightly worried young man awaiting them with a priest.
Baron's eyes were locked on his bride, a soft smile on his lips. Haru's in turn were locked on her groom, who looked quite dashing in a white suit. As the king reached forward to close their hands together, he suddenly felt a strong surge of reluctance.
This beautiful young woman had always been his little kitten. After today, she would no longer be his alone.
The brunette looked up at her father; her gaze very much like a controlled warning. The king sighed, wondering how she had gotten so good at threatening people without words, and clasped the hands together before he got any second thoughts. Quickly, he set himself in one of the pews, and watched the wedding commence in an orderly fashion.
It was unlike any he had seen before, at least in the Cat Kingdom. For one, the royal mate wasn't being held in place by any guards, and he was holding the princess's hand like he had no intention of ever letting go. The traditional wedding toast the couple took was quite willing on both sides, with the princess taking the first sip, and then offering the next to her betrothed, as the priest rambled on about the sanctity of the marriage vows. The speech was pretty short, since there was usually one of the party trying to escape before the priest concluded the ceremony.
Baron set aside the golden goblet, and looked deep into Haru's eyes as the elderly priest gave them leave to solidify the marriage contract with a kiss. The princess enthusiastically threw her arms around her love's neck, and firmly pressed her lips against his as he wrapped his strong arms around her slender body, obviously returning the kiss in full.
The throne room erupted into a thunderous applause as the Cat King began bawling like a baby.
'My baby's gotten married! I thought I was ready for this!'
Judging from the way Haru was kissing her new husband, she had been more than ready for a long time. It was so strange, that she wouldn't mind having a prince consort a few years younger than her, but at least this meant that grandkittens were in the nearby future.
Suddenly, the feline monarch noticed a piercing glare directed somewhere to the left of him. Looking over, he bit back a groan.
It was Naoko's parents; he didn't need an introduction to know that. They were clapping for their granddaughter's happiness, but the looks they were giving him were saying loud and clear that they really wanted to attend his funeral in the near future. He gulped nervously, and looked away, strangely feeling comforted by the fact that his guards would be able to defend him against the old couple.
But wait a minute. That pew had been covered with humans. He snuck another peak. Machida was there, with his arm around an extremely attractive blonde; an older man seated on the other side of the golden beauty.
He was quite obviously Baron's father, since he just looked like an older version of his new son-in-law. His gaze wasn't the fierce hatred of the royal's in laws, and it wasn't the naked fear of the dark youth, either. More, it was a careful calculation, like the human was measuring the king up for something unknown.