Chapter Twenty One: Relief

Haru sighed and wiggled around underneath the covers. Frowning, she reached out, and started patting the bed down, searching for her beloved. Her beautiful golden eyes opened reluctantly, only to find her husband absent.

She sighed, and threw the covers off of her. "I wish he'd wake me up when he gets up," she murmured, reaching for a soft cotton robe that was on her side of the huge bed they shared. A giggle escaped her throat, remembering how sad her husband had been over them moving to his bed, which was easily five times as big as her old one.

"Yours has spoiled me, love. How am I supposed to get a decent night's sleep if you're all the way over there?"

"I don't have to be, you know. See? We can still cuddle on this one."

"Oh, good. Speaking of cuddling…"

Haru blushed and giggled happily while slipping into the robe, tying it in the front before opening the same navy curtains to look outside.

The sun had risen about an inch over the distant mountain, drenching this perfect dimension with golden light.

She sat down at the same high back chair she had before, and looked dreamily out the window. "Three months," she whispered happily. "Three glorious months."

That was how long she had been Baron's wife.

The rest of school had been disappointingly uneventful, now that Tsuge and his mother had been taken to some remote hospital in an attempt to restore their memories, but she had to admit; she felt kind of cheated that he hadn't put up more of a fight. She thought she deserved a little more of a battle, after everything he had put her through for all those lonely years.

The other students had returned to avoiding her like the plague, once word of her intimidation abilities had gotten out, and the graduation ceremony had been pulled off without a hitch. Baron's entire family had attended, but she was certain that Muta and his mother had really come for Hiromi, since they had disappeared together afterwards. Her closest human friend didn't know everything about her new boyfriend yet, but thanks to another dream that had quite a number of adorable half-kittens, Haru was certain that things would work out between her friend and cousin-in-law, after he eventually decided to tell her the truth.

Hiromi had been shocked at how quickly Haru and Baron had gotten married, since they had faked a small civil ceremony after graduation to be sure there were no moral doubts about why Haru and her mother were moving in with Baron's family. But the slim brunette could tell that her dear friend was just a little jealous that her relationship with Muta wasn't moving along as quickly as hers.

Haru was just happy that her mother had given her blessing to her and Baron, now that she understood what a sweetheart the tall feline was, and that she didn't have to worry about being threatened by the Nashito family anymore.

The redhead had adjusted to the strange rules of Baron's hereditary dimension surprisingly well, and had managed to bond almost instantly with both Louise and Rebecca despite their feline traits. Haru wondered just how lonely her mother had really been, all the years she had buried herself in fabric at the orders of Ryuko, so that she wouldn't have a life of her own. Her mother seemed to enjoy having all the pressures of being a quilting celebrity taken off of her shoulders after announcing her retirement to the quilting world, because she didn't even utter a peep when Haru came clean about her true desires for her future.

Strangely enough, she hadn't mentioned the word 'doctor' or 'healer', even once. Instead, the slim brunette had talked excitedly about using her powers as a seer to stop disasters before they could happen, with Baron at her side. He had been quite formidable at sticking his nose in other people's business before he had gotten cursed, but with a powerful seer for a wife, his usual capacity would be enhanced several times over.

That is, after he was finished running off to whatever assignment needed to be done alone.

Haru knew she was being selfish for thinking this, but she was glad that she would be spending centuries by his side instead of a mere number of decades.

Muta came into sight, down on the ground level in the grassy field behind the manor. He was shouting something at a flying shadow again, but the glass was too thick for her to understand him. Her feathered friend dove for the giant's cream-colored fur again, shouting another cunningly crafted insult that was more than likely focused on the huge cat's weight.

She snuggled deeper into the comfy chair, and sighed. "I guess I should get dressed. It's my turn to make breakfast." She stood up reluctantly, and made her way to the huge wardrobe Baron had made for her. Opening the doors, she was greeted by dozens of classy dresses, ones that she had never seen before.

"Baron," she sighed in slight irritation as she started sifting through the dressy outfits. "Come on, these are a little too nice to make breakfast in. Where are my usual clothes?"

Her shadow solidified into a physical form, and her husband was at her side, grinning like a Cheshire cat all alone with a big bowl of cream.

"Aren't you going to pick something, dear?" he asked with a mischievous twinkle in his beautiful green eyes.

"Maybe if you would stop messing with my wardrobe, I would," she retorted, leaning into the soft folds of cloth until the top half of her body was no longer seeable. "You don't want me to get flour or milk over any of these nice dresses, do you?"

"Of course not," he scoffed, sliding his hands around her slender waist before quickly pulling her out of the wardrobe for a warm hug.

"Baron!" she protested again, but her anger began to dissolve as his nimble fingers began to tickle her sensitive skin. She giggled helplessly as she tried to escape his embrace, but it was no use. He was much stronger than she was, and had more body mass to his advantage.

"Do you surrender?" he asked teasingly, picking her up before she could collapse onto the carpet, his gloved hands still skimming over as many of her ticklish spots as they could find.

"Y-yes!" she managed to gasp, vainly trying to bat his busy hands away. "Just stop, already! Do what you will with me!"

"Now, dear!" he said in mock amazement, his grin becoming even bigger. "If you had wanted to come with me, you should have said so from the beginning." But instead of picking out a dress for her, since he was clearly about to burst from excitement, he whispered a spell to change her nightgown and dressing robe into a periwinkle dress, one that clearly had drawn inspiration from a traditional kimono.

Haru wiped a few tears of mirth from her eyes as her husband set her down. But then she became startled as he pulled out one of his larger white handkerchiefs from his pant pocket, and made to wrap it around her eyes. "What are you doing?" she asked suddenly, backing away from him enough so that he couldn't blindfold her. "Where did you say we were going?"

Baron smiled widely at her, and kissed her brow before slowly tying the handkerchief over her eyes. "It's a surprise, love. Call it a belated wedding gift, from me to you."

"Honey, you spoil me too much!" she tried to protest, but then her husband pressed his lips against hers to silence her before picking her up bridal style again, squeezing her like a beloved childhood toy.

"Please humor me, love. I've been working very hard on this for the past two and a half months."

Haru blushed, and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Oh. I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"That was the idea, darling. Now, I need you to be completely silent until I take off the blindfold. No questions, no comments, understand?"

She nodded, and kissed his cheek before resting her head on his comfortable shoulder.

"That's right," he said soothingly before opening a portal to a silent place she couldn't put a name to.

"Before we leave, you didn't have a dream last night, did you?" her husband asked worriedly.

"Baron, I swear on my mother's head that I have absolutely no idea what you're planning or where you're taking me," she sighed.

"Good," he said happily, kissing her lips once before going through the portal. "And remember; not a word."

Haru leaned her head against her husband's shoulder again, and listened to his strong heartbeat. It had such a firm rhythm to it, one that could easily lull her into sleep, as she knew from experience.

The slim brunette could hear her beloved's shoes click softly on a tiled hallway that echoed much the way she expected a cathedral to. She bit her lip worriedly, wondering just what her husband had in store for her.

Baron stopped for a second, and then walked to the side, leaning his body like he was trying to avoid hitting her or himself against something she couldn't see. He walked a few more strides forward, long and graceful, before setting her into a well-stuffed chair of some sort.

She could hear him step to the side of the chair, and reach for the knot holding the blindfold against her face.

"Shall we then?" Baron asked, his voice nearly bursting with excitement.

"Yes, by all means," an unfamiliar masculine voice answered, obviously as enthusiastic as her husband.

"All right then," the tawny feline said quickly. "Three, two, one!"

As he said 'one', Baron pulled hard on one of the parts of the knot he had tied around Haru's head, making the handkerchief fall from her face and into his hand.

It was bright, wherever her husband had taken her. Haru slowly blinked her eyes open… and stared in shock.

This… this wasn't possible!

Across from her, also in a large chair, was a giant feline that looked much like Baron's mother, except for the fact that she was completely feline, but still about the same height as herself.

Her eyes trailed to the pink ribbon around the white cat's neck as a handkerchief fell from her eyes as well, thanks to a dark feline standing beside her.

The cat's sapphire eyes opened slowly, and then widened in shock. Her muzzled mouth dropped open, like she wanted to say something, but her mind was clearly as blank as Haru's.

Realizing that her own mouth was hanging open, the slim brunette closed it, and managed to say one word, although it was barely audible.

"Yuki?"

Tears began to flow down the white cat's face. Slowly, tentatively, she reached out with one paw, and touched the human's soft dark hair. "Haru?" she whispered disbelievingly. "Is that really you?"

Haru couldn't take it anymore. With a cry of pure joy, she hopped out of her chair and tackled the feline, squeezing her harder than she had ever dared to before, now that they were about the same height. "Yuki! Thank heaven, you're alive! I thought Tsuge killed you!"

The white feline managed an angry scoff through her tears of happiness, hugging her former owner just as fiercely. "The lake he threw me into is a portal to the Cat Kingdom by the full moonlight. I was lucky that there was a full moon out when he tried to kill me, but I couldn't come back, because the way out of the kingdom is a lot tougher than getting in and you need permission from the king…"

Haru listened to her old pet babble tearfully for several minutes, soaking in every word that she hadn't been able to understand before. Rocking her old pet like a beloved child, she looked up, noticing that both Baron and the dark feline were watching them, tears in their eyes as well. Bemusedly, she noticed that the dark grey feline's eyes were mismatched, one as blue as Yuki's, while the other was as red as blood.

The human girl looked from the white cat sobbing happily on her shoulder to the dark grey feline a few times before pointing a finger at the tomcat. "Are you her boyfriend?" she asked flatly.

"Her fiancé," he corrected her with a foolish smile.

Haru beamed at him, and held up one fist to show it to him. "You break her heart; I'll break your neck, deal?"

"Haru!" Yuki nearly screamed in shock, sitting up from her old mistress's embrace as the dark feline jumped back, clearly not expecting her to say that. "You can't threaten the crown prince like that!"

"I don't care how high up the guy is, Yuki; I'll behead anyone that tries to hurt you again," Haru replied fiercely.

The grey feline looked at Baron nervously. "A real spit-fire, isn't she?" he asked while laughing nervously.

"That's partially why I'm crazy about her," the tawny feline replied, winking roguishly at his wife. "I'll vouch for him, love. His father's a little strange, but Prince Lune is a good fellow. I doubt that you could pick a better mate for Yuki if you wanted to."

The slim brunette quirked an eyebrow at the white cat next to her, who nodded enthusiastically.

"He's been so good to me, and I really do love him, Haru. Give him a chance?" her furred friend begged.

The human burst out laughing. "You sound just like me when I first told Mom about Baron!"

The white feline stole a confused glance at the tawny one. "Is he your boyfriend?" she asked in confusion, although the confusion may have been aimed at his half-human appearance.

"Her husband," Baron corrected with a grin. "Feel free to threaten me, but I'll never break her heart."

Yuki's jaw dropped. "So you weren't kidding about marrying a cat," she said to Haru in amazement.

"Apparently not," the slim brunette giggled, gazing at her husband lovingly. "I'd say this puts them on our permanent good lists, wouldn't you say?"

"Oh, yes," her feline friend agreed fervently, stealing another hug from her.

The next several hours were devoted to catching up on each other's lives.

Yuki had been well, though not always content. She hadn't been able to talk with the king about returning to her native world, so she received employment at the castle instead, working as a maid until forming a timid friendship with the prince sitting at her side. The friendship had slowly turned into love, despite his father's attempts to set him up with a high-ranking lady of court, and he had just recently been allowed to propose to her.

Prince Lune had apparently had the same idea Baron had about reuniting the two, because he and the half-feline had crossed each other in their attempts to find the other girl just yesterday, which was why they had arranged for them to meet again today.

Yuki listened breathlessly as Haru described everything that had happened over the years, her expression often turning fierce every time Tsuge's name was mentioned. Yet, she also appeared smug as the slim brunette talked about how everything the Nashito family had struggled to achieve with her had been destroyed by one unthinking gesture with a ring, and how happy Haru was that her life didn't always go according to even her own plans.

But eventually, Baron placed his hand on his wife's shoulder. "We had better return, dear," he informed her sadly. "Remember, humans change in this world."

Haru looked down at her hand, which had been changing unnoticed into a paw, covered with a light toffee-colored fur. Amazed, she began exploring her facial features with both paws, even as her husband picked her up again to take her back to the Human World.

"We'll be back for visits, and we'll bring Toto," Baron promised while bowing to the royal couple.

"You'll come to our wedding, won't you?" Yuki begged with tears of happiness still in her sky blue eyes. "It's this time next week."

"We wouldn't miss it for the world," Haru assured her dear friend, waving goodbye over Baron's shoulder as he turned, and opened up another portal.

But Haru didn't feel the warm air from inside the manor, or the warmer tone that would have meant outside the family home. Instead, the air had a crisp coolness to it, a slight chill that she remembered all too well.

Looking around, she could see that her husband had brought her to the spot by the river, where they had first met.

Baron sat down on the soft sand, making her sit on his warm lap while hugging her tightly. "My grandfather made the mistake of returning to our dimension after he was finished with dealing with the Cat Kingdom," he explained while looking at her lovingly. "Since one does not change there, he was frozen in that halfway point for weeks, so that became his true form, and I know better than anyone else that no one will intrude on us here."

Haru looked down to see her paws change back into hands, and felt her face reassume the shape of a human skull. She felt it with her naked fingers while cuddling deep into her husband's embrace. "I wouldn't mind changing, if you wanted me to," she informed him with a flirtatious smile.

"Darling, I couldn't care less if you resembled a cat or a human," he replied honestly, brushing his gentle lips over hers. "I just want you to be happy."

"Well I'm that, all right," she giggled while shaking her head. "I just can't believe that you tracked down Yuki for me!"

He shrugged nonchalantly, and whispered a few words to make a picnic basket appear next to them, since it was late in the day, and neither of them had eaten anything yet. "You were worth it. I'd have searched for years to make you smile like that."

She smiled happily, and kissed him before wrapping her arms around his neck. "Ego diligo vos," she informed him, since he had been giving her lessons in Latin.

He beamed at his wife, and kissed her back. "I love you, too."

ooOoo

Lots of love for; Anonomous-Allstar-Fan (along with Santa and Bob), Bambi4ever, Ethereal Sympathy, slashfictionslut, Dreaming Lunatic, Nonimouse, Chantal, Dragowolf, fringeperson, CaptainBillyTheWerewolf, The Spiked Dragon, Savannah Cullen, laurashrub, samuraistar, Greenhemoglobin, Drifting One, kittydemon18, arami, Lady Moon Dragon, cwizumi, Raye of the Sunshine, Tadashii Satsu, Elvin Magi, Ducklin, yorushihe, Lunarobi Pride, mini-ares, mizgardenia21, asian9090, Bei, Butterfree, bluecrystal angel, spoiledpuppy, QuickStar, Kakashi's-lil'-sis, Strawberry White Tiger, archangelBBQ, celeste83, Rini's Ghost, RainbowHeart, Brietta-Cerdwin, Kiss of the Breeze, Apple Juice Revolution, Xiang Yun, kingdomfantasyanime453, Narcisse Noir, Moonlight X Luna, fluffy2044, Kokomojeezus, Sun-mei-lee, fromtheheart13, ArtsyChick, MichantheNinja, Draceline, Twilight Journey, ShadowVixen, AlphaSigma, Vicki'sLetter, Bibliophile Nincompoop, Ceysna, GreenHarmony, AliceInBloom, slavetothekeyboard, Vege-Chan, anon, Macjill, 10tailwolfdemon, NinjaFoodLover, goblin-queen-of-the-opera, Bibishi Kuronecko787, lunerlet, Cici-chi, EagleBlaze, Darkness' Forbidden Scribe, paco, Lanari, Annemarie, James Birdsong, EarthGurdian, and LeafeKnight7 for the lovely and honest reviews. You guys are awesome, and I love hearing from you!

Whew, that list is getting harder to write. But it's a fun type of hard.

All right, I've been asked to start explaining where I've been getting my inspiration. I've had this plot bunny in my head since I was writing A Misunderstanding, about 'okay, what if Haru actually DID marry Baron that night?' So, this is heavily from Corpse Bride. But while I was writing this, I got a request from EarthGurdian to do a Hades and Persephone story, which is pretty much a reversed role of Corpse Bride (though I'm glad I didn't stick with the original storyline for that). The Seers' Line was inspired by Cassandra of Troy, who was a princess during the Trojan War.

Hmm. Yep, I think that's all the inspiration for this story.

Oh, and due to circumstances beyond my control (work, church, chores, hand-quilting a king-sized overdue quilt for my oldest brother, etc.), I can no longer write as quickly as I used to. I'll do my best to have the next story done before Of Fur and Feathers is finished, but I can't make promises at this point.

I'm hoping that it'll be done in time. It's something a lot of reviewers have been requesting (some were even doing it on bended knees).

Lots of love,

YC