Chapter Twelve: No One Else

I can't believe

You found me

When no one else was looking.

How did you know

Just where I would be?

-Kelly Clarkson, 'You Found Me'

xxXxx

Baron couldn't stop hugging Haru, leaving dignity behind as his purr returned with a vengeance.

'She trusts me! She is not turning me away! This is the best day of my life!' "Thank you so much, Haru. I could not tell you what this means to me, even if you could hear or understand me."

The woman of his dreams sighed happily, holding onto him just as much as he was holding onto her.

'She finds contentment in my arms. Haru will one day return my love.' "But I will be satisfied with your friendship until then," he assured her, allowing himself the luxury of running his bare fingers through her soft head fur.

Shuffling uncomfortably where he stood, Tsuge said something that made Haru look over at him with a soft glare.

"You could not have waited a little longer to be rational?"

Her almost brother shook his head, giving a head gesture to the communication device while saying something dead serious.

"I guess you have a point. There is a pond in the backyard, so we do not have to worry about water if they shut down the water lines. But we might be in trouble if authorities cut off the power. Most of the food I have are frozen meals thanks to my no-longer-broken-arm." She gave the feline another fond squeeze with a happy smile.

"I was prepared for such a scenario," Baron assured her, feeling a little giddy as he reluctantly let go of her in order to search his satchel again.

But before he found the small cloth package, a loud sound from outside echoed the scream suddenly coming from his veins. "Oh no, not again!" he snapped, running out of the kitchen and toward the large windows of the parlor, waving the green vines aside the same as a curtain.

Just as he thought. At the very edge of his thorny barrier, there were several uniformed males handling large devices that Haru's father had tried to use to control his vines. His very veins screamed every time one was taken down, making him seethe furiously.

He placed both of his hands on the cold, lifeless glass, for once focusing beyond them as he sent out the unspoken command.

Fight back!

The greenery began twitching, stretching out before wrapping themselves around arms to keep them from using the overly noisy devices.

The males started screaming as the surrounding soldiers pulled out their small... Baron was never quite sure what to call them, but knew that it was inadvisable to be on the wrong side of them.

They began shooting his vines, making him encourage more to trip them, but it wasn't as impressive as he would have liked. This soil was not the same as on his own world, and his magic was never quite as impressive on this world. At this rate, they will figure out that an army of device wielders will be able to reach them-

"Oh great, they have chain saws," Haru fretted, placing her hands on the glass next to him. "I guess you can do more now that you are physically here, but I do not think that will keep them away for very long."

"Unless you lend me your magic," he finished his thought, taking his hands off the glass in order to grab her by the shoulders.

Tsuge started yelling, but Baron paid him no mind as he gently guided Haru to her large tool and encouraged her to sit at its bench.

"Wait, he could? Baron, why don't you do now what you did to the school? My house's radius is a lot smaller than that building's."

"That was when I had your assistance, albeit from memory," he informed her, tapping one of the white teeth before tapping her lips. "I assure you it will be more impressive if you specifically use both your hand and your voice magic for me." He then picked up the Orb, making a new strand appear and carefully wrapping it around her neck so that he could magnify her voice as much as possible. She seemed nervous, but managed to keep her hands from touching the strand.

Tsuge let him finish speaking before doing the same to Haru.

"... Really? My music?" she asked in complete surprise, jumping a bit when her voice reverberated through the glass at a louder volume.

The ones outside paused in their struggles to look at the house in worry.

"Indeed. I would appreciate your immediate cooperation," Baron insisted, tapping a white tooth and her lips before positioning himself at the window again.

The love of his life seemed unsure of herself, biting her lip before placing her hands over the teeth.

"Haru. Forget what everyone outside these walls tells you. I want you to tell them precisely what is on your mind." 'I wish she could hear me say that. I wish she could hear me in general!' "Any time would be wonderful, my heart."

Haru stared at the teeth of her tool, her fingers tracing the black ones before the white ones that were slightly lower.

The males outside had shaken off their surprise in order to unwrap themselves from his work.

"Haru, please," Baron begged as Tsuge also pleaded with her, keeping his worried eyes on the edge of the barrier.

"... Baron wants me to use my voice as well as my piano. I don't know that many spells with words, and I'm having trouble thinking of something that will work."

Her voice echoed outward, but unlike last time, it made the males outside struggle harder. Perhaps they had been warned of last time he used her magic?

Baron wrapped his arms around her from behind, giving her a gentle squeeze. "My dearest," he whispered, hearing his own voice echo outward from being so close to her Orb strand. "You are one of the cleverest individuals I have ever had the honor to know of. I want you to see for yourself what your magic is capable of. Please try for me." He began tapping the piano's odd teeth in a random pattern to help prod her mind.

Haru stared at the teeth as they seemingly played themselves, but after a dreadfully long minute, her eyes widened with insight. Her hands hurriedly picked out a spell he was not certain that he recognized, and it seemed a bit too peaceful for what he needed.

"It is still better than nothing," he sighed, turning his attention back to the windows. Just as he reached out with his power, the spell's hold increased tenfold as it became angrier, nearly explosive.

'That is more like it!'

His vines did likewise, throwing the cutters and soldiers far from the border. Even as new thorns began growing to replace what had been cut down, Haru took in a breath for courage.

"I am tired of being what you want me to be

"Feeling so faithless, lost under the surface

"Do not know what you are expecting of me

"Put under the pressure of walking in your shoes..." Haru held onto the last word a bit longer than the others as Baron's mind flickered with memories that he knew were not his own.

Her mother turning away after showing her a newly completed Muta. Holding out a book to her father in a somewhat desperate plea for attention, only for him to wave her away, his gaze solely on fixing the telescope on his lap.

Baron could feel his blood boiling at such memories. His lady did nothing to deserve such treatment!

"Every step that I take is another mistake to you..." Her voice came close to breaking before increasing the volume. She was now screaming out what she had kept inside for far too long.

"I have become so numb, I cannot feel you there!

"Become so tired, so much more aware,

"By becoming less, all I want to do

"Is be more like me, and be less like you!"

Baron made sure to pour her rage and frustration into his own magic, making the vines all come alive that he hadn't been able to do with just a memory of her voice. Once he had wrested all of the... chain saws from the cutters, he began expanding the borders in order to chase everyone away.

They had no business here.

Without warning, the mental images of Haru's parents were replaced by the pushy Elder that had been too blatantly exploiting her.

"Cannot you see that you are smothering me?" the sweet young lady demanded, her eyes now streaming tears of fury.

"Holding too tightly, afraid to lose control

"Because everything that you thought I would be

"Has fallen apart, right in front of you!"

Baron could hear the Elder's voice yelling at her again, but thanks to the language barrier, he could not know what the male was specifically yelling about.

"Every step that I take is another mistake to you!

"And every second I waste is more than I can take!"

No more. His lady would not let him bully her anymore! Baron began throwing the transporters onto their backs with his vines, intentionally breaking the glass and wrapping the metal into grasps tight enough to permanently ruin their shapes.

After the wielders of the transporters were safely down the road, of course.

"I have become so numb, I cannot feel you there!

"Become so tired, so much more aware,

"By becoming less, all I want to do

"Is be more like me, and be less like you!"

As she should! Haru deserved so much better than to become like her parents or the keeper of her school!

"And, I know, I may end up failing too," she fought to keep from crying as she spoke her mind to all that were present.

"But I know you were just like me

"With someone disappointed in you!"

"There is more truth in that than I want to think about!" Baron yelled as he finally allowed her rage sink into his own blood. But using it to his advantage, he made the vines a good ten paces from the house begin climbing, higher and higher as Haru's magic gave them new found strength.

"I have become so numb, I cannot feel you there!

"Become so tired, so much more aware.

"By becoming less, all I want to do

"Is be more like me, and be less like you!"

When Baron was satisfied with the height, he began encouraging the tips of the vines to reach inward, wrapping together over the top of the house until it faintly resembled one of the cages his father had used in the war.

But unlike those cages, this one was to keep others out.

"I have become so numb, I cannot feel you there!

"Tired of being what you want me to be...

"I've become so numb, I cannot feel you there!

"Tired of being what you want me to be..." Haru returned to the somewhat softer tone that had made the beginning of her spell, perfectly rounding it out as her fingers tiredly picked out the last syllables needed. The glorious sounds faded, leaving nothing outside but a sweet, peaceful silence.

"... That was... invigorating!" Baron panted, allowing the remains of her anger to leave his body. "But... I fear that will not be the last time we will need to inform outsiders that we will not be entertaining any more guests for the foreseeable future."

Haru was panting as well, staring at her shaking hands in complete shock before they came up to massage her throat. As they did so, she unwound the Orb's strand from around her lovely neck.

'Come now, do not be so easily distracted!' "Your throat would be sore after this much use. Perhaps you would like me to make you some tea?" Baron asked hopefully, forgetting that she could not hear him. "I am told that my tea can cure almost any ailment."

"Haru?" Tsuge asked almost timidly, finally moving from his place behind the couch to touch her shoulder and ask something.

"...Baron?"

"Yes, my dearest?" he answered eagerly, laying his hand on top of her left one.

"... Have I always been able to do this? I mean-"

"The answer is yes," he confirmed, placing the Orb on her instrument to nod her head. "You would have known the power you wield for years if those around you had offered encouragement instead of belittlement."

"... Is this why you like me?"

His jaw dropped in shock. "D-Don't be ridiculous! I loved you before you allowed me to hear you," the tabby insisted while shaking her head. "If you could only see the way I look at you, you would understand! It has not even been fifteen of your minutes since I told you why I loved you, let alone my minutes!"

Tsuge added a bit more when he was done, nervously glancing at the tall feline as he tried to comfort his friend.

Haru exclaimed something that felt relieved as she stood up from her bench and turned around in order to hug him. "I would feel terrible if I was forcing you to love me."

That pricked his conscience as he wrapped his arms around her once more. It was surprisingly close to the true curse, or at least the first part of it.

Tsuge noticed his expression, his own turning worried as he opened his mouth.

"Do not dare," Baron growled at him, shaking his head while glaring at the young male. "Haru deserves to have no doubts over my feelings for her."

Just as the last time, Tsuge was immediately cowed by his gaze.

Haru looked over at him, not removing her arms from the feline. "Is something wrong?"

Giving the cat another fearful glance, he said something in a rather sheepish manner.

"Oh, I am sorry, Tsuge," she apologized in a heartbeat, releasing Baron in order to grab her friend's shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, it scared me out too. Who would have thought that my music could help cause such chaos?"

"Baron," he stated flatly, making the Keeper of Spring lose his glare.

"It can do more than that actually. If Haru had not rediscovered her voice, it would have taken me much longer to store enough power to come to your world."

Tsuge noted his reaction, reporting the little he could tell to Haru, who only looked confused.

"But now that the unwanted guests have departed, perhaps now would be the best time to show you my solution for the problem of continued sustenance."

That is, as long as their bodies could stomach his world's food better than his could stomach theirs. Not wasting any time, he headed for the coat closet and opened it in order to dig behind the hanging clothes.

Tsuge asked a confused question as he and Haru came over to investigate.

"Considering the fact that I have only one thing in there that does not belong in a closet-" Haru tried to answer.

"I found it!" Baron announced, handling the large unusually shaped case with care.

"Need I say more? Why were you looking for my tool?"

The feline took a moment to laugh at the expression on Tsuge's face. After everything else the lad had seen this day, and an unexpected magic tool was enough to strike him speechless!

Haru snapped at him, forgetting to sing as she crossed her arms and glaring at him. Her friend held up his hands in defense, saying something that seemed panicked.

"Well, I watched a play where the lead male was overstepping his boundaries with one, and it looked like fun! I got that for when my arm healed... I hope you are not getting sick of hearing me say thank you, Baron."

"Considering the fact that you usually accompany your gratitude with a warm embrace, I am more than certain I can cope with the repetition," Baron assured her, placing the case next to the closet in order to accept another hug.

"She is but a child, Baron! Of another species, no less, farther away than you will ever be able to reach! You have always known that your Host will never know of you! Please, for the sake of our people, do not watch her again. Choose a bride of our own kind, and forget about her. You do not know so much as her name! How can you love someone without knowing their name?"

"Because I know her heart," Baron answered his father's memory, loving the feel of her in his arms. Her scent was unlike anything he was familiar with, but it was nonetheless pleasant as he nuzzled her soft head fur again. "And she is of age now."

A year past it, by his people's time. Not that he could marry her, but he was willing to make the best of his time with her.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Tsuge squirming uncomfortably again, looking like he really did not want to be watching them embrace like this.

"You will cope. You are the one who insisted on being a chaperone."

ooOoo

"On the off-chance that someone is trying to reach me, you can say it to my face, because I won't call back."

Naoko's blood ran cold as she listened to the recording for the fourth time that day, but didn't let it stop her from making another message.

"Haru, honey? I understand that you're upset with your father and myself, but we get what you're trying to say. I really am sorry about never calling or answering, sweetheart, don't push us away like this. Please just call back-"

The phone beeped to signal the end of the message, but that didn't mean Naoko was done apologizing.

She bit back a growl of frustration, but there was nothing else to be done. Not until she could get off the cruise ship and take the fastest taxi back home.

Home. It had been three months since she's been there. Three years since she had been brave enough to face Haru's 'whipped puppy' expression when Naoko tried to explain why she had to cancel on her.

Again.

Even though it was just going to hurt her, Naoko opened the file in her laptop that she sent Haru's voice messages to whenever her message box was filled. Curling up in a tiny ball on the bed of her personal room, she pressed play, starting at the file from New Years.

"Hi, Mom! Happy New Year! Just calling to report that all went well for the party I played for last night. Yami-sensei made sure I was home at 12:30 on the dot, but I don't think he's too happy right now. The dean he wants me to impress is-"

"Hi Mom! … I don't really have a good reason for calling. I was just hoping that you'd pick up this time."

Naoko felt a horrible wrench of guilt.

"But could you call me when you have a minute? I..."

The message ended before she could think of a way to end the sentence.

"Happy birthday, Mom! I hope you like this!" Instead of singing 'Happy Birthday', she played a rather beautiful version on her piano, making sure to keep it soft so that it wouldn't hurt her ears. The same as she did every year. Anyone could have a kid sing the song, but her daughter played it!

Naoko finally started crying. No matter how long she had gone without talking to her, Haru was always the considerate one of the family. She should have known that her precious child was starting to break when she didn't bother decorating the Christmas tree or leave any presents underneath it.

The red-haired woman knew Christmases weren't meant for hiding in her studio or bedroom. She knew that, while it was traditional to sneak down with gifts in the middle of the night, there should have been something more imaginative than a check with an apologetic Christmas card, even if her husband had already done so, careful to make his time such that he couldn't accidentally bump into his wife.

Wishing I could be there with you.

How had she had the gall to give that card?! All she had to do to be with her little angel was walk out of her studio, head to her daughter's room or the piano, and...

Hold her? Talk to her? Apologize for never being around?

'That's what has held me back for all this time. Knowing that she deserves an explanation and all I have to offer is... quilts. Fights and quilts and... being too stubborn to be a real mom.'

But her husband still loved her. She glanced at her modest wedding ring through her tears, rubbing her thumb against the minuscule diamond.

No more. She'd just have to go back to writing columns and designing quilts from home. Perhaps, just to show Haru that she meant business, she could ask Hasho to take her studio door off its hinges so that their daughter wouldn't feel locked out anymore. She would like that.

'Love,' her mind corrected, but Naoko didn't have it in her to argue.

Someone began pounding violently on her door. "Naoko! You've got to come out, there's an emergency!"

The woman growled, not forgetting how many times she had turned her daughter away for an emergency that her colleague couldn't handle. "Why don't you take care of it this time?!" she snapped, finally giving the proper response to her fellow teacher. "The next three hours are mine, if it's not inconveniencing you!"

"It's not about any of the lectures! An alien landed in Tokyo last night and took a high school hostage!"

Not feeling up to it, Naoko forced herself to stop her daughter's messages in order to answer the door. "That one's a bit more creative than you usually go for, but don't you think it's a little over the top?"

"No, it's true, I swear!" Makoto panicked, grabbing her by the arm to drag her to the common area, which happened to have a large flat-screen.

The room was packed, but for some reason, people stepped aside so that she could grow close enough to see and hear the news report.

"... and here we have footage taken from a student's cell phone of the alien in question," the news reporter informed as the screen flashed with a low-quality video.

Naoko squinted, a bit surprised that the alien was barely more than a man-shaped cat standing in front of a concrete building. Were they sure it wasn't just a guy in a costume?

But as a loud voice boomed out a song she had never heard before, vines erupted all around him, making people scream as he focused on nothing but the-

"Wait a minute!" Naoko yelped, coming forward to grip the flat-screen with terror in her eyes. "I know those thorns!"

"Wait, you do?" a random woman asked, but the quilter couldn't bother answering her. Against her will, her large brown eyes were locked on the scene unfolding before her.

After a bit of destruction, the half-cat stepped onto a particularly thick vine and use it to raise himself to a window three over from the one recording him.

"According to the brave student that took this footage, the target of his visit was one Yoshioka Haru-"

"WHAT!?" Naoko screamed in horror.

"-settled for one Nashito Tsuge when he could not locate Yoshioka-san in the building. Would you please explain what you saw?" the reporter asked a clearly shaken teenager covered in scratches and holding a blanket over her shoulders like she had been caught in a blizzard.

But judging from the ambulances in the background, the girl wasn't the worst off of the students.

"Okay, so it was like this," the girl said a little shrilly. "We all thought that Haru was Little Miss Perfect. You know, the quiet lady-like piano player that most parents would kill to call their own?"

"But I didn't have to," Naoko muttered under her breath.

"But the first thing this cat did is make sure we know she's anything but! He somehow turned all the windows into TVs so he could literally show us what was really going on when no one is paying attention to Haru. Apparently she's been pretending to be both of her parents for years because they love their careers more than her."

"NOT TRUE!" the quilter screamed, shaking the flat-screen like she wanted to rip it off the wall. "I love Haru more than anything!"

"So what are you doing here?" another woman asked.

Naoko couldn't control herself. For the first time since high school, she made a fist and punched the speaker as hard as she could.

But she wasn't the athlete she once was. All she managed was to give the other person a broken nose.

As two other passengers took her away, possibly to the hospital wing, Naoko turned her attention back to the screen.

"A ton of stuff came out about her that we had no idea of. Like how Hiromi and Yura were the ones responsible for her broken arm, the fact that she and Tsuge were sort of secret friends- that was why the cat took Tsuge," the girl told the camera earnestly. "He probably needed directions to Haru's place since she wasn't at school, but I don't want to think about what he's going to do to her when he gets there, if he isn't there already. The cat can't speak our language, but it was pretty obvious that he has the major hots for Haru."

"So he's with her right now?" Naoko asked desperately, not wanting to think about her poor little girl, already injured and not much of a fighter. All alone with a giant alien cat that wanted... she didn't want to think about what he wanted to do to her precious child! 'Why didn't I skip this cruise and stay with her?! Just this once?!'

"According to reports, the cat alien has indeed reached the Yoshioka residence, where our very own Tashimi Yuka is waiting to give her report. Yuka?" the reporter asked as the scene changed to outside Naoko's home.

"Thank you Mia. As you can see, the vegetation that overtook the school has completely enveloped the Yoshioka house until the residence itself is barely visible through the nest of thorns," the new reporter informed while using one hand to show off the strangely cage-like thorn ball in the middle of a much bigger barrier than Naoko had braved before going on her cruise. "Estimates have shown that the rose bush is a good hundred yards in any direction. The police have confirmed that Yoshioka Haru is inside as well as the alien and Nashito Tsuge. The officers on duty have not said whether or not they have heard anything from the house since arriving, but all is still and quiet for now. Unless someone finds a way to break through, I'm afraid all we can do is pray for Haru."

"That does it!" Naoko hissed, turning and running out of the common room and back to her own. She dialed her husband, praying that he was in a place to answer.

Or maybe it would be better if he wasn't. Airplanes did not appreciate phone calls between passengers, and it was more important that he was on his way than able to talk to her.

But her husband still picked up. "Did you see the news?" he asked, although there was heavy interference from what sounded like the inside of a helicopter.

"I did. I don't care if I have to take one of the lifeboats, I'm heading home now." 'This alien is going to get introduced to a baseball bat!'

"Don't bother, honey. Just get your things together, we're heading to the ship to pick you up."

That made her stop just outside her door. "Who's 'we'?"

Meanwhile, the reporter on the television turned to the thorn covered house with surprise. "We are now picking up some sound from just outside the house, although we don't have a visual. The sound appears to be a... guitar?"

A cop in the background flinched in dread. "I'm going to have to ask you to step back."

xxXxx

The song Haru played was 'Numb' by Linkin Park. There were some extra lyrics of 'caught in the undertow' and such that I took out because they're going on while the main singer is still singing, and I'm not making Haru able to sing two different things at the same time. Having her be able to do two voices at the same time is enough of a stretch, thank you!

And to anyone that wants to complain that I didn't get the lyrics right, Baron's language doesn't have abbreviations, and singing can only do so much to break down the language barrier. So deal with it.