A/N: Today I discovered that I passed my exams and am going to the university that I have had my fingers (and toes) crossed for for the past six weeks so I thought I'd celebrate by posting a chapter today. (Evidently, I know how to party.) I'm so nice - and stupidly, wonderfully ecstatic - that you'll even get a chapter tomorrow, as per usual. So leave a review and make this happy writer even happier by surpassing the hundred-review milestone!
Thank you and God bless,
Catsafari. =^^=
ooOoo
Chapter 14: Bittersweet Tears
Beyond the well-kept gardens and neat hedges that surrounded the castle; a forest thrived. Wild and loving it, the trees were stripped bare by the thrall of winter, left only as black silhouettes, framing the snow-swept sky. Even in this season though, when the forest was at its most open, its most vulnerable, it kept its secrets. Deadened and decaying bracken blocked long-forgotten pathways; degrading leaves kept the ground covered in a frosty layer, hidden from sight.
Haru trod carefully and as quietly as she could manage, while before her, Baron made not the slightest noise. She was a little jealous of his grace if she was to be truthful; he managed to walk so smoothly while she clumped around in her thick wellington boots, often having to side-step branches and struggle to find good footing, lest she slip.
"Are you okay?" he asked, resisting the temptation to offer a helping hand, for that was one thing he couldn't do.
She grinned at him, banishing any thoughts about their comparisons in grace. "This place is beautiful," she sighed. "It's like it's been taken straight out of a fairytale."
"If you think this is beautiful, you should see it in the summer. Flowers, blooms, blossoms; everywhere! The place becomes alive again."
"I'd like to see that," she replied, slightly quieter. "I'd like to come back then."
Suddenly they both drew quiet, neither relishing the thought of their parting.
He started to move a hand to take hers in reassurance, but stopped when he remembered he couldn't. But Haru smiled gently and moved her hand to rest against his, savouring the slight glow of warmth she could feel through her thickly padded gloves. "We will see each other again," she said, more confidently than she felt. "We're friends, and friends don't forget each other. You've spent too much time on your own." Her eyes flickered down to look at their connecting hands. "Right, where was this place you were going to show me?"
The spell didn't break, but it ebbed a little. Taking his hand away, Baron coughed slightly. "This way; not far now."
Treading along a neglected path, shrouded in frosted foliage, Haru followed Baron, never letting her eyes lose sight of the half-present ghost before her. When they had first met, she hadn't even thought about the fact that she would have to leave. That sooner or later this peaceful existence, tucked away in the middle of the countryside with Baron would have to come to an end. But now, with the holiday halfway through, that fact hung in the air like a bad smell.
She closed her eyes. No, she would enjoy the time she had. Anyway, when she left, it wouldn't be a proper goodbye. It wouldn't be forever. They would see each other again. She would make sure of that.
"Haru?"
She snapped out of her contemplations. "Sorry." She forced a smile. "You said we're nearly there?"
"I did indeed. Come."
Haru smiled genuinely this time and stepped towards Baron. The smile sweetened when the branches blocking her way swayed back like Baron really had swept them aside with his arm; the magic of the place intensifying with that simple gesture. She stepped along the pathway, past Baron and her breath caught in her throat.
"Oh..."
Before her was a small woodland waterfall, but the winter had turned the water to ice, so the waterfall was frozen in a moment. The fresh ice glistened in the weak winter sun; nature's more common, but equally beautiful, diamond, Haru reflected as the ice-covered water drops shone like the real gems. Frozen in a moment, she thought again, like Baron. She glanced away from the waterfall to the ghost standing behind her, waiting for her reaction. Yes, just like Baron, except that the waterfall would eventually move again. Baron was eternally trapped the way he was now.
"What do you think of it?" he asked hesitantly, unsure how to take her silence.
She grinned and moved into a careful hug. "I think it's the prettiest thing I've ever seen," she said truthfully. She brought her head away so he could see the sparkling joy in her maple eyes. "Thanks for bringing me to see this."
Uncertainly, Baron brought up a gloved hand to stroke her cheek; Haru smiled and moved her head as if she could really feel him caressing her cheek, her eyes half-closing in contentment. "You're welcome, Haru. I wasn't sure whether it would be frozen, but I took the risk."
"I'm glad you did. It's so magical."
She sighed and turned back to look at the enchanted scene before her. The seconds ticked by in comfortable silence; each just relishing the other's company.
"Baron, I haven't told you the entire truth," Haru said quietly. "Or, at least, I have failed to mention some things to you. Some important things."
Baron remained quiet, waiting for her to continue. He couldn't force her to speak.
The dark brunette lowered her head, as if examining the intricate patterns that woodland creatures and herself had made in the once pure snow beneath her feet. "Do you remember... that I said once my mother had gone away on a quilting convention and that the floods stopped her coming back for half a week?" She sighed and before he could have a chance to answer, she continued. "Well... that was true. I just... I just failed to mention that my father joined her." A sob threatened to rise in her throat. "I failed to mention that the floods didn't just delay my mother. They took my father from me too."
Baron stepped forward so they were standing side by side. His hand slipped next to her hand and despite the lack of contact, Haru rested her hand in his. She raised her fearful chocolate eyes to meet his emerald ones. "You asked where my father was – he was with my mother. But I couldn't contact them due to the problems that kept cropping up; a bit like the ones we've had here. Then my mother returned home... just my mother. I wasn't even aware of my father's death until then." She dropped her eyes again, struggling to contain her emotions. "I'm scared... I'm so scared that something will happen to Hiromi or Tsuge or someone while I'm not there. That they will return one less in number than when they left and that I wouldn't even know until then."
Baron's heart melted for the young woman standing beside him; his heart longed for him to be able to embrace her, to be able to pull her close and reassure her that everything was going to be okay. But he could only stand beside her, afraid that any words he said would sound hollow. He couldn't even offer a shoulder to cry on.
The tears would fall right through him.
"Baron..."
His hand flew up and raised a single finger against her lips. "Haru, your fears are perfectly acceptable," he said hoarsely. "You simply care for those close to you. That isn't a fault or a weakness; that is a strength. That is something you should be proud of."
She seemed surprised by the force in his voice.
"I know that your current situation here reminds you of your father's death, but they are going to return back safely. I've know Renaldo and Toto for a good number of years; they'll look after everyone. Anyway, in their eyes, you're the one who's at risk."
"Yes, but they haven't got a residential ghost keeping an eye on them," Haru reminded him weakly.
He smiled back. 'So she trusts me?' "They're safe – you rang them only the other day. If you want, when you can return to the house you can phone them again."
"Thank you, Baron." She moved closer to him to inspect their hands which had become entwined at some point; she wasn't sure when. It was strange, how natural their hands seemed to fit together even without any actual contact made. It was strange, how comforting the simple warmth was to her. Just how comforting his presence overall was really.
"At least this explains your reluctance to believe in ghosts," Baron said gently.
Haru flicked her eyes up to meet his. "No one comes back from the grave," she repeated softly from a time that seemed so long ago from now. A time when she was so sure of such a fact and her beliefs were simple. Now she was having to make allowances for Baron's existence. "I knew my father was dead; I didn't want to nurture any belief that maybe he was still out there. That maybe I had made a mistake."
"Haru, it's understandable."
"Of course, now I see that assumption was wrong." 'And who would ever think I'd end up falling in love with a ghost...'
Haru picked her head up very quickly. 'Oh, no, no, no, no... I did not just think that! He's dead, for crying out loud...'
"Haru?"
She hoped she was only imagining the blush that was fast rising. "I'm fine. Thank you... for listening. For understanding."
For the first time she could remember, Baron hugged her instead of it being the other way around. The warmth now surrounding her was so comforting... so much more comforting than any she could remember since her father died...
A tear squeezed past her defences before she could battle it back and fell silently to the white snow beneath. If Baron felt the tear pass through him, he didn't mention it.
"I will always be here to listen to you," Baron promised.
ooOoo
"You don't have to do the washing up," Baron protested as Haru picked up a cloth and started scrubbing at a stain on a dish.
"I'm the one who's eating from these plates," Haru reminded stubbornly. "It's only fair that I do some of it at least, if not all." She nodded to a tea towel hung on a peg beside him. "If you're that bothered, can you dry some of the stuff?"
Seeing he wasn't about to win any time soon, the tea towel lifted itself off the peg and made its way to the various cutlery resting in the draining board.
"The one thing I don't like about winter," Haru started, staring thoughtfully out into the garden outside, "is that it always gets dark too quickly."
Baron glanced to the window, where indeed the landscape beyond was almost completely swallowed up by the fast approaching night. "Well, we've passed the winter solstice, so it's only going to be getting lighter from now on."
"Yeah, but it'll be a while before it's still light at five in the evening."
"Not much you can do about that. Sorry."
Haru grinned. "I know. I was just thinking out loud." She passed a plate across and it rose out of her hands to quickly join the tea towel. She shook her head, smiling. "I still wish you'd warn me before doing that," she told him. "I still think I'm dropping something when it comes out of my hands."
"Sorry. Habit." He grinned with his words.
Haru giggled and flicked some soapy water his way, ignoring the fact that it would pass straight through him. "Well you'll just have to learn, won't you?"
"Oh, I don't know. Old dog, new tricks and all that."
"You're not that old!"
He fixed her with his mint-green eyes. "Haru, I am over a century old. If you can't count that as old, I don't know what you can."
"You don't act old..."
"Maybe I should try harder in future."
"What, to act your age?"
"Why is that so funny?"
Haru was stifling more giggles. "Well, I'll get the wheelchair out now, shall I, grandpa?"
He grinned and returned to keeping an eye on the hovering tea towel. "Okay, so maybe you have a point."
"Anyway," Haru added, passing a handful of knives and forks towards him, "technically you're stuck as you were when you died. So you aren't that old."
'The age gap between us isn't even that bad,' her mind murmured rebelliously. 'If he was... alive... a relationship between us could even happen...'
She reddened at that thought. What was going on with her? She turned her attention back to the task at hand. Suddenly though the lights flickered off, then gave out entirely. Haru gave a small screech, to her embarrassment, and grabbed the edge of the sink for support.
"Baron?"
"Relax; I think it's just a power cut." His voice floated out of the darkness, carrying with it a strangely soothing presence. "We get quite a few being this far out. Give me moment."
The darkness began to recede as a glimmer of light grew in Baron's palm, growing in size and brightness. The orb of light, once it was large enough to fill the kitchen with light, levitated out of his hands and hovered below the ceiling. "There, at least we have light now."
Haru lifted a hand and hesitantly let a finger brush the surface. It was surprisingly cool.
"Wow."
Baron seemed pleased by Haru's response. "I'll set some up in each room," he offered. "I don't think I'll be able to do anything about the TV or anything else though."
"No, it's fine. Perhaps I'll actually get some revision done now."
Bathed in the warm light the orb was radiating, Haru's eyes seemed to glow; glistening crystals now present in their maple depths. Seeing his stare, Haru's cheeks flushed a delicate pink. "Hey, Baron, are we going to finish the washing up or what?"
His thoughts were broken by her voice. "Yes, of course." He turned back to the tea towel, but couldn't help wondering what had just happened.
'I know I like her, but do I like her in that way?' he asked himself. Glancing down at the slender frame of the brunette, he knew the answer to that question. And that confused him more than anything.
'How did that happen?'