A/N: Heya, sorry for running late today, folks; I've had bday shenanigans the last couple of days, and then suddenly ffnet refused to connect. Better late than never though! :D

ooOoo

Chapter 8: Twisted Tales

"So, you're being strangely cryptic as you wrap your magic hair around my injured arm."

Haru merely grinned a little ruefully and continued on with her task. "Just… promise you won't freak out, okay?"

Baron eyed the hair with renewed unease. "Funnily enough, that doesn't set my heart at ease." He leant forward, bringing his face dangerously close to Haru's. "Why, exactly, would I need to promise that – ah!"

Haru pulled her hair tight around the wound with a decisive tug. "Just sit still unless you want me to make a mess of this."

"That hurt," Baron accused.

"You'll be fine." Haru glanced down to the arm in her hands, and her bluster seemed to fade away. Her shoulders dropped. She exhaled slowly.

As the silence settled about them, Baron's arm began to prickle at the inactivity. "Is… something meant to be happening?"

"I'm sorry. It's just… I've never…" and here Haru struggled for words. "You're the first person I've ever shown this to."

At Haru's feet, Muta grunted. "What? Don't me and yer mam count?"

"Apart from you two, of course," Haru amended. She returned her gaze to Baron, and now he could see her nerves playing clearly in her eyes. "Please don't freak out."

"I won't. I promise."

After several laden moments, Haru seemed to find the sincerity in Baron's words and her grip on his arm loosened. She spared him a soft smile. "Okay. Don't worry; I know what I'm doing."

"That makes one of us," Baron murmured.

He didn't miss the momentary smirk flitting over Haru's face at that. She closed her eyes, and a gentle calmness seeped through her. She began to recite the song that Baron had only caught a snippet of back in the flooded tunnel.

"Flower, gleam and glow,

"Let your power shine.

"Make the clock reverse,

"Bring back what once was mine."

At the first quiet note, the roots of her hair started to glow. It spiralled down through her hair, slowly at first but gaining speed with every moment until it was a rushing river of gold.

"Heal what has been hurt,

"Change the Fates' design.

"Save what has been lost,

"Bring back what once was mine."

The whole clearing was now alight with the glow of the hair. Baron had to resist the urge to squirm as it reached the hair covering his arm; only Haru's reassuring hold prevented him from bolting entirely.

"What once was mine…"

As the last notes of the song faded, so did the light. The forest was dropped back into evening twilight and Haru's eyes seemed to glimmer as she raised her gaze to Baron.

Tentatively, Baron untangled his arm, and let the hair drop away. The skin where the rocks had nicked it was now smooth with no sign of the injury that should have at least left scarring. He flexed his hand, as if expecting phantom pain to rise up, and then – when that didn't happen – prodded it.

"The wound…" he said, eventually. He inhaled carefully, and pointedly didn't meet Haru's gaze. "It's gone…"

"Baron–"

"Look at that; it's really gone…."

"You said you wouldn't freak out."

"Freak out?" His voice hiked a little, and he started to rub at the arm, as if he could brush away the remaining magic. He didn't even seem to be aware of the action. "What could possibly make you think I'm freaking out?"

"Perhaps the fact that you're having trouble stringing more than two words together without hyperventilating?" Haru offered. "Look, it's okay – it's just magic–"

"Magic hair, yes, I can see that. Haru, I know you may not be well-acquainted with the outside world but, for the rest of us? Magic hair is not that common. Or even heard of. Magic hair," he murmured, and Haru suspected the echo had slipped past subconsciously. "Why do you have magic hair?"

Haru grabbed the arm he was rubbing at, bringing the action to a halt. "Baron," she ordered. "It's okay. And yes, I know magic hair is kind of a big deal." She sighed, her shoulders sagging. "Why do you think my mother and I hid away in that tower all these years?"

"Your mother–"

"Doesn't have magic hair," Haru said. "It's just me."

"Why–"

"We don't know. Mother says that I was born with it. We don't know why. Maybe it was a curse or a blessing or just some… funny twist of fate. All we do know is that once people discovered what it could do, they wanted it for themselves. Could you imagine what people would pay to stay young and healthy forever? I'd be a freak show, a medical curiosity, a panacea for the rich and spoiled," she said, echoing the warnings her mother had spoken so often. "We had to run away."

"Maybe you could keep it secret," Baron offered. "If you cut it short, no one would spare your hair a second glance, no one would have to know…" He trailed off, his gaze running over the sea of golden hair that snaked around them. "Unless… you can't cut it off?"

"They tried when I was a baby," Haru said. "Well… my father tried." She ran a hand behind her ear and looped out a short lock of dark hair. "When it's cut, it turns brown and loses its power, but all that magic has to go somewhere. It backfired onto him and killed him."

"I'm sorry–"

She gave a small smile. "It's… okay. I never knew him, but it made it clear I was stuck with this power." She tucked the loose strand back behind her ear, but her fingers and mind lingered on the subject. "As for keeping it secret…" and her gaze flickered to his healed arm, "well, I'm doing a really good job of that, aren't I?"

She chuckled weakly, but Baron didn't have the heart to join her. Guilt flooded him.

Her eyes softened and she looked away. "Anyway, that's why she never let me–" She hesitated, and then amended that statement with, "That's why I never left…"

"You never left that tower," Baron gently finished. "Are you going to go back?"

"No. How could I after all this? It's only been a single day, and already it's clear that the world is so much… larger, and so much more… beautiful than I ever imagined. There's so many places and so many people and I've only just started scratching the surface. How could I go back to that tower now? But," she murmured, and the fight went out of her form as she dropped her head into her arms, "it's complicated…"

"For what it's worth," Baron said quietly, "it wasn't your fault."

"What?"

"The guards, the cave, the near-drowning," he said. "It wasn't your fault. If anything, it's mine. It's me they were after, after all."

Haru offered him a rueful smile. "Well, in that case I'll have to leave you behind for the guards next time." She shook her head and leant back, pointedly taking the moment to study her travelling companion. "So…" she hummed eventually, "Humbert von Gikkingen, huh? No 'Baron' in there?"

"There used to be."

After a long moment of silence, Haru sidled up to him. "Seriously, you can't just say something like that and leave me in the dark. Come on; I told you about my hair – it's your turn now."

"Then let me put your mind at ease and tell you that my hair is entirely normal."

Haru nudged him. "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Well, it was worth a try."

Haru gave him a pointed look, and he sighed in defeat.

"There was a… princess – this was before my time," he added quickly, even as Haru began to raise an eyebrow. "The princess of this kingdom, actually, and the daughter of my mother's childhood friend. In fact, my mother helped with the birth…"

"Your mother knew the queen?"

"The queen wasn't born into royalty," Baron said. "She was a commoner, but she and the prince fell in love." He gave a bittersweet smile. "Apparently, the queen was the one to introduce my parents; my mother, a miller's daughter, with my father, a young baron."

"It sounds like it wasn't always such a bad life," Haru said softly.

"It wasn't," he admitted. A wistful note had crept into his voice at the fond memories. "At least, for the short time it lasted. We were happy, or so I thought. And then the princess was born."

"What was wrong with the princess?"

"Nothing. It was in my mother that the problem lay. Somehow, for some reason, she grew jealous of the child and stole her. She stole her best friend's baby, and for what? What could possess a person to throw everything away like that? Her life, her husband, her sons…"

Haru gently reached out to him, covering his hand with her own. "Whatever her reasons, I'm sure it wasn't because of you."

"I didn't say it was."

"No, but I can hear the blame in your voice. Her actions were not your fault."

He glanced to her, and then away. "To a three-year-old, it was impossible to understand without thinking that some part of the blame must have been on me. Of course, after that, there was an uproar; the king and queen sent out as many soldiers and guards to find my mother and the princess, but they were already gone. My family – what was left of my family – was dropped into disgrace, and our lands and title removed. Everything changed after that."

"I'm… I'm so sorry…"

"Things weren't so bad," Baron said. He attempted a half-hearted smile. "My father was still around, even if he wasn't always the most practical of people. He was kind though – never speaking a harsh word against my mother, even after everything – and the local people came to tolerate us, even with our history. As far as childhoods go, it was far from the worst."

"If that's the case, then why're you here?" Muta demanded. He glared at the two humans when they turned to him, surprised after having forgotten he was there. "What? Aren't I allowed to ask questions too? If it wasn't all that bad, then why're you a thief? What, did ya get bored of your 'far from the worst' life?"

"My father died when I was fifteen," Baron said. "A stray cat ran out in front of his horse and spooked it. After that, my brother and I were left to fend for ourselves."

"You have a brother?" Haru asked.

"A twin, only a few minutes older than me. Non-identical," he added, "but still alike. My brother… well, he was angry at my mother and life for everything that had been taken from him. While my father was around, he was kept in check, but after that, he decided he'd had enough. He turned to crime."

"And… you?"

"He was my brother," Baron said. "He was all the family I had left, and he was so angry and bitter with the world… I couldn't leave him. At first, it was simply little things – we stole bits here and there to keep ourselves afloat while we travelled – oh, and the things we saw. There are kingdoms where it snows all year round, with waterfalls frozen in mid-fall; jungles with the strangest creatures you'll ever lay eyes on; islands that move in the night… For a while, that was enough for my brother, but eventually he was drawn back to this kingdom, to Corona, and the thefts became bigger. They became more dangerous.

"It was a slow change, at first," he said. "So slow, I didn't notice it. But he began to steal more than we needed to survive – weapons, magic, things that could really hurt people. Even when I did notice the change, I didn't want to. I didn't want to see how we had gone from petty thieves to feared criminals. But then a theft went wrong. A building went up in flames, full of innocent people, and when I learnt that my brother had set it as a distraction during our burglary…"

"You left," Haru finished.

"I had never meant things to get so out of hand. I thought that, if I could just stay with him, keep him under control, then I could stop him from hurting anyone. I was wrong." His gaze turned to the forest about them, but Haru could sense he wasn't seeing the trees. "After that, it was impossible to return to an honest life with the reputation my brother and I had garnered, so I went back to petty thievery. I guess some habits die hard."

"Ya stole a crown. How is that petty thievery?"

Baron chuckled ruefully. "That wasn't my idea; it was Hiromi and Tsuge's. I never imagined it'd get so out of hand though, or I might have thought twice before agreeing to it."

"Right. But if you'd never agreed to it, you'd never have met me," Haru said with a teasing grin. "And wouldn't that have been just a crying shame?"

"It would," Baron replied softly. "I am glad I have met you, Haru."

Haru blinked. The sincerity in his voice threw her. "Really? Even after I hit you with a cane? Twice?"

"Yes."

"Even though I hid the crown from you and that's why Tsuge nearly started a bar fight with you?"

"Yes."

"Even though–"

"Haru." He covered Haru's mouth with his fingers, stilling her questions. "I'm glad to have met you."

She grinned around his hand. "I'm just a little surprised, is all. But, for what it's worth, I'm very glad you're the one who found my tower. I couldn't think of a better guide."

"A better guide would have got you to the capital already without being nearly drowned in the process," Baron pointed out.

"Fine. Then I wouldn't want any other guide. Better?"

"I'll take it."

Muta broke into a coughing fit, and suddenly both Haru and Baron realised they'd steadily been leaning closer to one another during their conversation, their faces dangerously nearing. At the reminder of Muta's presence, they abruptly straightened up, breaking whatever that moment had been.

"Well, I should… I should get some more firewood," Baron said. He stumbled to his feet, nearly stepping on Muta's tail in the process. "Sorry – sorry."

"Hey."

At Haru's soft voice, Baron paused, half in the motion of carefully stepping past her hair. "Yes?"

"Humbert really isn't that bad a name, you know."

"No, it isn't," Baron agreed. "It was my mother's choice; it means 'bright warrior'. But… it's not a name I can live up to right now. With 'Baron', I've always felt closer to my family – to what my family should have been."

"For what it's worth, I think both names suit you perfectly."

"Well, you'd be the first to think so. But, thank you." He offered a gentle smile, and turned back to the moonlit forest.

When he had gone, Haru glared down at the cat at her feet. "What was that coughing fit about?"

Muta grinned. "Must've got a furball stuck in my throat."

"You know, talking of backstories," Haru said, "you still haven't told me yours."

"Geez, kid, you're never gonna give up, are you?"

"I'm curious."

"Look, I got on the wrong side of a couple of cats, that's all. Decided it'd be better if I stayed out of the way for a while."

"What kind of cats did you upset to make you stay in a tower for nearly twenty years? Is there a cat mafia we don't know about?"

Muta sniggered. "There is, but they're not the ones I annoyed. Anyway, that Cat King always was an idiot."

Haru stared. "There's a Cat King?"

"Oh, yeah."

"And you…"

"Might have broken a few laws along the way. In my defence, the Cat King was a moron. Probably still is, if he's even still on the throne."

Haru leant down to examine Muta. "You're a criminal?"

"And?"

"And you gave Baron so much grief for being a thief?"

"And?"

"You're unbelievable."

"Haru?"

Haru froze at the familiar voice, and then quickly rose to her feet, shoving Muta back and dropping her hair over the log to hide him. "Mother? How did you find me?"