Chapter Twelve: A New Discovery
"All right, Haru; are you ready?"
She grinned at him, trying not to think about how cold the special paint was, that Baron had written across her forehead and arms.
"Sure, why not?"
The tawny-haired man smiled back at her, and started chanting. At first nothing was noticeable, but then the writing started to glow. Haru winced as the ink rapidly rose in temperature, and then began to burn her. Just before she was going to scream, the ink sank its way through her skin, and began to flow through her body. Then it all rushed to her brain.
Haru's entire life flashed before her eyes. Kindergarten, her father's funeral, and her mom's honor ceremony for her quilting guild, Lune's rescue, and the night her life went down the drain.
Before she knew it, she was lying on her back, slowly regaining consciousness. For some reason, she was now on the couch, and Baron was leaning over her; his eyes full of concern as he took a damp cloth to her forehead. The brunette just prayed that he couldn't hear how loud her heart was beating.
"If you did anything to Chicky-" Muta started threatening.
"No, Muta. I'm good." Despite Haru's promise, she winced as she rose to a sitting position, Baron wrapping one arm around her to steady her quaking frame. She started breathing heavily.
"I need to talk to Lune."
Her friend smiled comfortingly and brushed a dark lock from her face.
"That's wonderful. Louise returned half an hour ago, with a letter from them."
She winced and held her head between her hands. Where did this monster headache come from?
"How long was I out?"
"Only three hours this time. Why do you need to talk to Lune?"
She took a moment to steady her breath, and accept the tall glass of water the ex-cat offered her. She drank the entire thing in one gulp.
"You didn't break the curse, but… I know how to, now."
Baron's eyes glowed with pleasure.
"What is it?"
The slim brunette hesitated.
"It's… drastic. I want Lune's opinion, before we try it."
He saddened a bit, but straightened. He looked over at his maid, who Haru suddenly noticed was sitting almost at her feet. Louise's face… it was so sad, and defeated. She sighed and straightened.
"I'll find a way to tell the prince and bring him here without drawing attention." Making the usual portal, she jumped through it eagerly, like she couldn't wait to get away. With a shudder, Haru suddenly remembered the looks she used to send Baron, when he was still a cat. Her heart cried out, still remembering what it felt like, to be invisible.
'Poor Louise.'
Baron pulled a letter out of his breast pocket, and unfolded it.
"Under ordinary circumstances, I would just give this to you, but I know for a fact that you can't read cat. Dear Baron, my wife and I just adore the gift that you sent. My little Yuki isn't letting the thing out of her sight. We are particularly fond of the scent that clings to the gift, as it has very precious memories for us.
"We know for a fact that you are personally able to contact the one the scent belongs to, since no one else could hope to duplicate it. Father still refuses to talk about her, but… Yuki really wants to see her again, as do I. We miss her terribly, and we're worried by the ominous remarks that Father's been saying, whenever someone hints of her. If you could arrange a meeting between us and her, by any means possible, we would really appreciate it. Father doesn't need to know about it and she should be here for this, as it is due to her that it happened. Kindest regards, Prince Lune."
Haru grinned as her fat cat hopped onto the seat next to her, and she started petting him warmly.
"I figured they'd recognize my scent."
Baron sighed again.
"I still feel nervous. If the king should smell the mobile, it wouldn't take much for him to connect the dots."
"Don't worry, Baron; Lune even said that Yuki won't let the thing out of her sight." She stretched again, and tried to rise from the couch. Baron stopped her, his firm hand gently easing her back into the couch. He smiled warmly at her again.
"I'll make dinner tonight. It's my turn anyway."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
When Baron took the freshly baked lasagna out of the oven, the familiar blue light lit up the lighthouse (pardon the pun). The tall human carefully placed the hot pan on top of the oven so that he could sneak a peek at what was happening on the other side of the wall.
Muta had been knocked off of his seat next to Haru, who was being attacked by two cats, as different as day and night. All three were laughing happily. The human girl rubbed Yuki's swollen belly softly.
"I was so thrilled, when Baron said that you were expecting kittens. Motherhood suits you."
Yuki nodded happily through her tears as she licked her rescuer's cheek one more time.
"The way the king was talking, I was starting to think that you were dead."
Haru smiled mischievously while hugging the crown prince.
"That's because he thinks I am. He's too arrogant to check if his spell ever finished me off."
Lune blinked, and cocked his head at her.
"What do you mean? What was the spell?"
"Deepest Desire," Baron said, stepping into the room. The two new cats looked over at him, and their jaws dropped. Figuring that they knew who he was, Baron nodded at them warmly, although his eyes were still grim.
"The king cast Deepest Desire on Haru, to punish her for turning him down. She was holding up fine before I took this shape, but I think I can safely say that being a living loophole has helped her significantly."
Haru nodded; affection for him clear in her gaze. Very gently, she turned Lune's face toward her so that they could lock eyes.
"Baron's been trying to break the spell on me for the past six months. He's helped wonderfully, but the spell's still in me. Today, he managed to get me to realize how to break the spell."
Yuki put her paws over Haru's slim hand.
"What is it, Haru? Is it anything we can help with?"
The slim brunette nodded, still looking at Lune. She had known better than to tell Baron or Muta what could break the spell, because they would have doubtlessly have been halfway to the Cat King with a blunt or sharp object before she finished her sentence.
"The spell always ends, from what Baron's told me of past cases. But it always ends with death. In order to break the curse, either the one who used the spell or the one that got it must die. You're the next ruler, so I think you should have a say. Which would you rather have die; me or your father?"
ooOoo
Do you love stories and expressing your opinion? Can you pick out grammar errors and plot holes like no one's business? Do you go crazy with highlights? Are you a wild Cat Returns fan?
Three is the magic number, so I'm currently looking for a third beta that can look over my stories and have them back in a week, two weeks tops. If you're interested, please let me know.
(I don't know if doing this on a story is allowed, but unless someone tells me that it isn't, this is how I'm going to do things.)
Hoping to hear from you,
YarningChick
