Chapter Eleven: Future

The future depends on what we do in the present.

-Anonymous

xxXxx

As soon as Baron heard the clasp fasten around Chicky's neck, he wrapped one arm around his pants and shoes, and braced himself for a quick run.

"Hey, what's going on?" she asked in a panic as the Fish of Nilpan began to glow with a golden aura.

He could see the girl struggle to stand as the aura flooded over her body, but then heard the girl hit her head on the overhanging stone. Chicky gave a half-hearted yelp of pain… but soon gave a scream that froze Baron's veins.

It spoke of pain, terrible pain as her voice echoed throughout the large forest and sent smaller birds panicking into the sky.

Baron tried covering his ears with both paws, but her agonized screams still penetrated through to his very core. 'I don't remember reading about a pain factor for the Fish of Nilpan! This shouldn't be happening!'

Suddenly, the golden light turned a periwinkle hue, and her screams began to fade away and echo as her body dissolved into the portal.

"Now, Toto!" Baron called, dragging himself and his things out from behind the thick bush.

The crow swept him and his things onto his back with ease, and shot toward the portal, which was overflowing with sparkling blue lights.

It sucked them in as usual, but unlike all the other times they had used a portal, this one was brightly lit up so that they could see every turn and curve. Through it all, Chicky's screams continued to echo and reverberate from far ahead of them. Sometimes, when the portal was straight for a little while, they could catch glimpses of the human, but only as a silhouette.

Baron had a sudden irrational thought. But nonetheless, he quickly turned it into a fervent wish. 'Please let her clothes shrink with her!' he inwardly begged. It would be too embarrassing to present her to the king in possibly just an oversized shirt.

After what felt like eternity, they finally reached the other side of the portal, and were flung perhaps twenty feet into the air. Toto managed to grab the girl with his talons while Baron somehow managed to catch his beloved top hat with one hand.

Hand! He never thought he'd be so happy to see his normal appendage.

Toto immediately landed, although he was careful about how he set Chicky on the soft grass. She rolled a bit, landing so that her back was visible under her long brown hair.

Wait, hair?

Baron hopped off of Toto as soon as he landed, throwing his things to the side so that he could check on Chicky. He brushed away her loose hair, realizing that the turbulent trip through the portal must have worked her hair restraint loose. But why did she still have human hair?

Now that he was closer, he could see her new cat ears, and a tail was now visible from under her askew long coat. He breathed a light sigh of relief; the transformation worked. But her human hair worried him terribly. He began pushing on one of her shoulders, getting the girl to roll onto her back. He stared in horror at what he saw in the dimming light, since it was sunset here as well.

"Oh, shoot! Where did we go wrong?" Toto cawed in a panic, fluttering his wings about. "It was supposed to turn her into a cat, wasn't it?"

"It was," Baron answered numbly, staring in disbelief. "And it did… in a way."

But not all the way.

Her hide was now covered with light tan fur, and her face now mimicked that of a cat. However, the placement of her eyes hadn't changed, and she still had really long head fur around the ears, which flowed over her face and shoulders freely.

But at least her clothes had shrunk with her; he was grateful for that. Feeling a bit nervous, Baron reached for around her neck to undo the clasp. "Either one of two things just happened; that this is the natural effect for a human that changes species."

"What's the other thing?" Toto asked sickly.

Baron gulped as he tucked the Fish of Nilpan into the inside pocket of his jacket. "That, just perhaps, it wasn't enough for her to put it on of her own free will. Perhaps, for the transformation to be complete, she would have needed to know the consequences beforehand. There's a fair chance that she'll wake up a crazed monster," he concluded glumly as he slipped on his pants.

Toto groaned in anticipation. "That's all we need; a crazy Sea Maiden. So, should we take her to the palace now?"

"Absolutely not," Baron asserted as he pulled on his socks, tied his simple black shoes, and pulled on his white gloves. "There's a fair chance that she will not adjust to her new body well, and it would be better if she… ah, blew off steam away from the palace. It will be less embarrassing for everyone, including her."

"Good point." Toto carefully took a step closer to the girl, and used his beak to nudge her by the shoulders.

Baron wanted to tell him to stop, but then thought about the king. His majesty had never been very patient, and he must be nearly rabid by now from waiting.

After a while, Chicky began to groan in pain, still lost in slumber.

"Are you all right, Miss?" Baron asked, kneeling beside her to touch her other shoulder.

For some reason, as soon as his hand came into contact with the sleeve of her long navy jacket, her eyes began to open.

He quickly removed his hand, and fought back his instinct to run from the human as her eyes flickered open and shut again; refusing to stay open for too long.

"Muta-san; let me define 'babysitting'," she groaned as she sat up, and started rubbing her temples. "You don't actually sit on the kid!"

Toto started laughing uproariously as Baron fought back a few chuckles of his own.

'This is good. If she can joke like that, then her mind is still intact.' "I'm terribly sorry that you ache so, Miss Chicky. But I'm afraid that Muta-san has nothing to do with how you're feeling."

Chicky's still-human eyes immediately snapped open, and she looked over at him. Her jaw fell in shock as those chocolate orbs grew bigger and bigger.

It got to the point where he could see not only his face within her eyes, but his beloved top hat as well.

She screamed as loud as she could, and scrambled away from him on her arms and legs. "Giant cat!" she yelled at the top of her lungs, clearly terrified of him.

Baron jumped back in surprise, but a wide smile still lit up his face. "Really?" he asked happily.

"Now, Baron; you know why she said that," Toto reminded him, making the girl look over at the crow in terror.

"Of course I know; just let me savor it," he begged, knowing it was likely the last time anyone would ever call him a giant.

The Sea Maiden was still staring at the both of them, her human eyes bigger than ever, and her mouth slightly agape. She also started trembling a bit; fear paralyzing the poor girl.

Baron sighed, and tipped his hat to her while bowing. "I'm terribly sorry about our earlier deception, Miss Chicky. As much as I hate to correct your misconception, I'm afraid I must inform you that I have not grown a single inch in quite some time. You, however… have changed significantly," he tried to say in a gentle manner.

She kept staring at him, rendered speechless for now. But one hand slowly reached up to her face, brushing against her newly-acquired whiskers. She felt her reformed face with horror, before moving her attentions to her velvety cat ears; feeling them with both hands.

"This can't be real," she whispered in a hoarse voice.

"I'm afraid it can. You see, the cat you saved last week is none other than the heir to the throne, Prince Lune. His father the king wishes to express his gratitude in person, so he asked me to escort you to the Cat Kingdom," Baron explained in a soft tone, in case she was close to her breaking point. He walked forward a bit, and offered her a hand to help her to her feet.

Even though he didn't really want to. "If you're quite composed now-"

"Would you wait just a sec?" she asked in a harsh whisper.

He blinked once in confusion. "If you mean a second, certainly."

"Thank you," she replied weakly, rolling up one shirt and jacket sleeve so that she could get to her furry hide. "Come on, come on," she hissed as she began pinching one arm savagely.

Baron looked at her, feeling guiltier than ever. "I'm afraid that this isn't a dream, Miss Chicky. You are in the Cat Kingdom, and you are invited to see the king."

"Okay, just for the record, my name is not Chicky!" she snapped, now pinching her face with a grimace. "It's Haru."

He froze in confusion. "Haru? But I could have sworn it was Chicky."

She had answered to it as a human, hadn't she?

"That's just what my stepfather likes calling me. He's weird that way, but my real name's Haru Yoshioka. Or Yoshioka Haru," she sighed in resignation.

"Well, which is it?" he asked tightly. 'At least either way sounds more poetic than Chicky. I was dreading having to introduce her like that.'

"It depends on your point of view, but just call me Haru." She stood up with some effort, and rubbed her sore arm while looking at him in apprehension.

Baron couldn't help but notice that he only came up to her waist in height. He had to fight back his familiar pain of regret, over the inescapable truth.

"Who are you, again?" Haru asked, looking at him warily.

The little kitten flinched guiltily, and tipped his hat once more. "I am Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, and this is Toto Biggens."

"Thank you for the cookie, by the way; it was delicious," Toto said with a warm bow.

She nodded at him numbly. "You're welcome," she mumbled self-consciously.

Baron bit back another sigh, as he thought about the next part of his assignment. "Do you think you're quite composed now? The king's expecting us, and he's not a very patient cat."

She tiredly shook her head and started backing away from the two of them. "If this isn't a dream, I've gone mad. And if I haven't gone mad, then my stepfather's probably worrying about me right now. It was nice meeting you two and everything, but I better head home."

"Oh? Which way is home, then?" Toto asked gently.

Haru flinched, and looked in every direction anxiously. She even looked at the portal, but her troubled gaze clearly didn't recognize it as such. "I… I don't know," she whispered. "Would you mind telling me?"

Baron marveled at how defenseless she sounded. A human being, of all things, scared! If he weren't under a death threat from the king…

He wouldn't have so much as brought her here. One thing was for certain; he was not looking forward to her finding out the truth about her new predicament.

"I'll gladly tell you the way home after an audience with the king," he said with a note of finality. "I'm afraid he's most insistent upon meeting you."

Haru sighed in exasperation. "All right, all right; take me to your leader," she surrendered. "But don't forget your promise."

"I never forget a promise. Are you coming, Toto?"

"No, the castle makes me nervous. I'll be right here when you're done," the bird replied, nestling comfortably in a soft patch of grass.

"Very well, then. If you would kindly follow me, Miss Haru."

Miss Haru. That sounded infinitely better than 'Miss Chicky' in his opinion. Why on earth did her stepfather choose such a demeaning pet name for her?

In any case, once he started down the stone path leading to the palace, Haru was soon walking beside him, still looking at her new hands with wonder. Her pace was slightly stiff, probably from the pain of her transformation.

"So, let me get this straight," she said slowly. "The cat I rescued last week is a prince?"

"Prince Lune," he informed her.

"So the king asked you to bring me to the Cat Kingdom, so he could say thanks in person?"

"He is most anxious to do so, I assure you."

Haru gave him a strange look, and put her arms down. "But if this is the Cat Kingdom, why do we both have hands and feet?"

"It was part of the conditions we had to meet, when the kingdom was founded almost a thousand years ago with the help of human magicians," Baron informed her, glad that he had brushed up on that portion of history.

Haru's brow furrowed a bit, shortly before smacking herself on the head. "Oh, right. That was a terrible time for cats."

"Completely torturous," he agreed, thrilled that she had such empathy for cat-kind. "But it doesn't appear that things have gotten any better."

"Hey, things are much better for cats nowadays," Haru defended hotly. "Not all humans are like the jerks that tossed your prince off the cliff. But it feels like a majority of them are, some days," she concluded softly; pain present in her large brown eyes.

'Perhaps this won't be as painful for her as I originally thought.'

But then she shook her head a bit to clear it, and gave him a strange smile. "You know; you could have just come out and told me what you wanted instead of drawing me into the woods. A little warning about the pain would have been nice."

Baron laughed a little nervously. "My apologies; you're the first human I've come in contact with, and I wasn't aware that the Fish of Nilpan would pain you so. I… was hesitant to approach you directly."

She gave him a heavily amused look. "What did you think I was going to do to you? Stuff you in a bag and toss you into a river after rescuing your prince from the sea?"

He shuddered from the old horror story.

"Well, I'm not like that, Baron. Even my stepfather would rather shoot a cat than toss one into a river."

"I feel so reassured," he replied sickly, holding onto his queasy stomach. 'Even she addresses me as Baron, and she hardly knows me.'

"Hey, are you feeling okay?" she asked while touching one of his shoulders.

"I'm fine, Miss Haru. But we truly need to hurry; I believe we're quite late." He picked up the pace slightly, encouraging her to hurry up as well as getting her hand away from him.

It wasn't that her touch was unpleasant, but… she was still a human, in part.

Haru laughed a little harshly as she stayed by his side. "No shock there. I'm late for everything."

"I prefer to be punctual," he replied, more for conversation's sake than anything else.

"Well, so do I, but it just doesn't work out that way." She shrugged her shoulders a bit, distracted by the palace that had previously been obscured by trees. "So, that's the place?"

Now that it was after dark, nearly every window of the royal abode was lit up, giving the place a breathtaking look.

"Yes it is. Tell me, Miss Haru; do you know anything about addressing royalty?" Baron had to ask.

She nibbled on her lower lip thoughtfully. "Be incredibly polite, curtsy a lot, and don't do anything without royal permission, even sitting down or relaxing?"

"Very good," Baron said with relief. "Have you come in contact with royalty before?" he asked as he quickly looked at her attire through the corner of his eye.

She was in an identical outfit from when she rescued Lune, except she had traded out her white sweater for a professional button-up. Her pants were a faded blue, and she even had the long blue coat from that fateful day.

'She could have been worse attired. At least this is sort of all right to present her to the king in.'

Haru shook her head with another shrug. "I read a lot, and certain people back in my town think they wear crowns. Does that count?"

"It will do for now. However, please allow me to do any talking that may need to happen before meeting the king. Only address him if he addresses you first."

"It's all you. Um, Baron?" she asked timidly as she looked at her furry hand. "The king can reverse what happened to me, right? Having a tail and whiskers is a little weird for me."

His organs began tying themselves into disgusting knots. If a human that wore the Fish of Nilpan tried to return to their native world, they would be killed immediately unless the human ate anything of the Cat Kingdom. If they had eaten anything, they would merely be thrown back up the portal.

"He has quite an army of magicians; don't fret," Baron said honestly, hating himself as he comforted her.

"Oh, good. I hope changing back won't hurt as bad as turning into a cat," she said somewhat cheerfully. "Is there anything else I should know about before we go in?"

'Yes, you're about to become the future princess of the realm, whether you like it or not.' "I believe that is all," he said instead, hating himself the more with every step they took.

The tall guards said nothing as they approached the East Gate to the palace, but they couldn't stop themselves from staring at the Sea Maiden as they opened the tall iron gates.

Haru waved at them a little nervously, sticking a little too close to Baron's side for his comfort. However, she was frightened by her new surroundings, so he didn't put more distance between them.

"Why is everyone staring?" she whispered as courtiers on an evening stroll stopped dead in their tracks to look at her with open mouths.

"It's the first time since the kingdom's founding that a human has been invited here; try not to pay attention," Baron urged her, grabbing her hand to encourage her to walk faster through the courtyard to get to the palace doors.

Another guard opened the door to the palace itself, allowing Baron to guide Haru within.

Thankfully, she kept silent as she stared at everything with huge, amazed eyes. The little kitten had to pull on her arm to keep her walking, and in the right direction. But since she didn't seem to notice his pace, he allowed himself to slow down a bit so that he could catch his breath. Thankfully, none of the courtiers dared to approach and blow his cover; they were content to stare at the legendary Sea Maiden with open mouths.

Natoru was waiting at the top of the stairs, with his hands on his hips. "It's about time you got back; the king's been waiting," he informed in his nasal voice.

"I should think the king cares more about results than speed," Baron replied stiffly as he started taking on the stairs. "Do tell the king we've arrived, will you?"

Natoru gave him a look of disgust, but turned on his heel to walk away.

For some reason, Baron turned a bit to see Haru's face once Natoru was gone. She was looking up the stairs as she followed after him, wearing a look he didn't recognize.

"You don't get along with that one, do you?" she whispered.

"Not in the least, but don't let Natoru or his father bother you," he whispered back as they kept climbing the stairs. "Now, we're nearly there, so… remember what your books told you," he said after some hesitation, praying that humans didn't have a strange royal ritual that cats didn't have.

She nodded with a nervous smile, and gripped his hand a little tighter for comfort.

It was only then that he realized they were still holding hands. But not wanting to put the girl on her guard, he clenched his teeth and kept walking like nothing was wrong.

Her touch wasn't all that unpleasant, and he was still wearing his gloves.

As they approached the king's study, it suddenly occurred to Baron that the king hadn't told him where he should take the Sea Maiden, once she was in custody.

But as the servant outside the study pulled the curtain aside, he was certain he had chosen the right place.

"They have arrived, your majesty."

"Then send them in! Right now!"

The servant bowed and held the curtain wider for the two to step through. Baron nodded at him, and forced himself to calm down as he stepped into the study; still holding the Sea Maiden's hand.

Thankfully, only the king and Lune were present in the room. A table had been set up for a rather elegant tea party, but neither the king nor the prince, were seated at it. Instead, they had been standing closer together, as if they had been in deep conversation before the runt and human entered.

For once, even Vulcan was not around.

Baron drew himself up to his full height, which wasn't much, and tugged a little more on the Sea Maiden's hand as she silently followed his unspoken promptings. "Your majesty, your highness; it is my privilege to present Miss Haru Yoshioka," he announced in a soft voice, releasing her hand as he did so.

Using that way to say her name felt less confusing than the opposite.

Haru nervously did a small curtsy, although there wasn't a lot of grace in the gesture. Lune twitched at the name, and gave Baron a confused look. But the kitten remained expressionless; he would explain about her true name later.

"Ah, welcome to the royal palace, my dear," the king gushed, calming down in an instant as he walked over and kissed her hand.

Haru jaw dropped in shock, but then she managed a weak smile. "I-It's an honor to be invited here, your majesty."

He beamed at her words, and gave his son a stern look as he dropped her hand. "Don't you have something to say to our guest, son?"

Lune looked like he might faint from nausea. But nonetheless, he walked forward, and bowed deeply to her. "Thank you for saving my life last week and I'm sorry that I didn't say so that night," he said in a nervous rush.

Haru gave him a soft smile, easier than the one she gave his father. "You were under a lot of stress that day; I don't blame you for taking off when you had the chance."

He gave her a grateful look, but there was an undercurrent of fear to it. Haru must have noticed that one, because Baron saw her expression turn less shocked, and more confused.

"We've had a bit of tea set up for you, but it went cold from waiting," the king said, giving Baron a lightly reproachful look. "Would you care to sit while the maid fetches fresh tea and biscuits?"

"I don't want to be any trouble, your majesty," Haru tried to beg off, but he started pushing her gently toward the table.

"Stuff and nonsense! I owe you my son's life, after all!"

Baron sighed heavily, and turned to leave. It appeared he was no longer needed.

But then Lune grabbed his small hand, and leaned down to whisper fearfully in his ear. "Don't leave me alone with her!" he begged.

"Your father's here, isn't he?" Baron asked just as softly.

"Please, just stay, Baron. I need support right now."

"Lune, Baron? What's wrong?" the king asked suspiciously as he helped Haru into one of the four seats.

She was looking at them as well, taking off her long blue coat and letting it fall over the chair's back. Her expression was only puzzlement, but it was enough to make the kitten hate himself all over again.

"Nothing, Father," the prince said quickly, nearly dragging Baron away from the curtain. "I was merely inviting Baron to stay."

The king gave a humph of indifference, but gestured to the two remaining seats as he sat to the left of Haru. "Then sit. The maid should be back soon. So, Haru; tell me about yourself."

She turned to look at him with surprise. "Um, what do you want to know about, your majesty?" she asked as Lune and Baron took their seats.

At first, Lune dove for the seat farthest from Haru, on the other side of his father.

The king gave his son a stern look, making Lune gulp and quickly change spots with a willing Baron. It wasn't that the little kitten was scared of her, but…

Oh, who was he kidding? He was terrified of her, and what she might do when she figured out the truth. In any case, he took the seat next to the king, directly across from Haru.

"Anything, everything. Why don't we start with why you were willing to save my son's life, at the peril of your own?" the king asked shrewdly.

Haru flinched, and looked down at her lap. "Well, I like cats. I've been able to talk to them ever since I can remember, but I don't know why. I wasn't good at keeping my mouth shut when I was younger, so the jerks I was with knew I'd jump for a cat."

"You're a cat whisperer?" the king asked incredulously. "I thought your kind was a myth!"

Haru looked up with surprise. "You mean there's more like me?" she asked eagerly.

"No. You're absolutely one of a kind. It's been centuries since there's been so much as a rumor of a cat whisperer."

'That's what you think,' Baron longed to say, but he didn't.

The king didn't need to know that he and Lune had known about her for years, even if it was by another name.

"Now, why were you with those imbeciles in the first place?" the king asked while patting her hand. "Surely there's better company for you than them."

Some of the light went out of her large eyes, making them seem more liquid than ever. She politely withdrew her hand to place both on her lap consciously. "There isn't, at least around my age. They told me they were done being jerks, and they spent months trying to convince me they were telling the truth. I should have listened to Renny and just ignored them as usual."

"Who's Renny?" the king asked curiously.

"My stepfather. Speaking of which, your majesty, I shouldn't stay for tea. He's probably figured out by now that I snuck out, and he worries about me easily. It's nothing against your hospitality, but-"

"Just a few more questions," the king begged, putting one hand against her chair so that she couldn't scoot out on her own. "Is there a male human waiting for you as well?"

Haru gave him an incredulous look. "You mean a boyfriend?" she asked while nervously looking at his hand on her chair.

"If that's your equivalent of a suitor, then yes."

She laughed harshly and shook her head. "I'm the outcast in my town, your majesty. Even if someone got interested, he'd stay away to keep his own reputation sound."

The king scratched his chin in fake thought. "That sounds awfully lonely, with no friends or suitors."

"Sometimes, but as long as I have Renny and the sea, I'll be all right." She made to scoot out, but the king hadn't moved his hand.

"So, you like the sea?" he asked knowingly.

Baron didn't know about Lune, but he was personally starting to feel like he and the prince didn't need to be here.

But at the same time, they did.

"I love it; can't stay out of saltwater to save my life," she admitted sheepishly, although there was starting to be worry in her large eyes.

The king's smile almost became grotesque. "You know, Haru; today is your lucky day."

She gave him a surprised look. "Why would you say that, your majesty?"

"Because you're not going to be alone anymore, if I have anything to say about it. In fact, I can guarantee that you'll never feel lonely or unwanted again."

'Here it comes,' Baron inwardly groaned, grabbing the sides of his seat for courage as Lune frantically did the same.

"How can you possibly promise that, your majesty?" Haru asked incredulously, using a finger to brush a lock of hair away from her face. She kept trying to curl her hair around the side of her head before remembering where her ears were now located. "Are you going to put a spell on my town to make the people start being who they pretend to be?" she inquired while giving up on the lock of hair.

"Even better than that," he promised with a grin, gesturing to a terrified Lune. "How would you like to forget about your old world, marry my son, and become a princess instead?"

For the rest of his life, Baron would never forget that moment. He had expected her to be surprised, certainly. Excited? But of course. Who wouldn't be thrilled for a chance to enter the royal family, and enjoy the best life had to offer?

But she started laughing instead.