The Willful: Chapter 2
"Trust Me"
Note: Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments. I decided I would spend a little extra time on this to get it to the site sooner! hope you enjoy chapt.2
Haru had never snuck out of the house before, frankly she didn't even know how to go about doing it. She finally decided she was either going to tiptoe quietly to the front door, or find a way to get out through her window without falling ten feet. The safest way was through the door, but the quickest was out her window. She figured she had no time to lose and decided to carefully climb out using the vine fence under her window as a makeshift ladder. She lowered her head while putting one leg out the window, she then put her other leg out until she was sitting in the open window. Slowly and cautiously she turned around and began climbing down. Two feet from the end of her descent her foot slipped and she fell backwards, landing in the bushes. She quickly crawled out, stood up and ran after Toto who had already started flying the second she left the bushes. It was to late at night for the streetlights to be on. Haru followed Toto the best she could even though the lack of light made it extremly hard for her to see, much less pursue the dark raven. When Haru eventually arrived and walked through the brick archway and onto the cobblestone landscape, she found that the light to the cat bureau (which she knew was usually maintained by Baron) was not on. At that moment she really began to get worried. In a panic, she ran up to the small doorway and crawled through it so fast she was surprised she didn't break it. When she got back to her feet she realized that the room wasn't too small for her this time. "One of the many gifts Prince Lune gave Baron to thank him. A spell so that as soon as you enter the house, you shrink to fit it." Haru turned in the direction of the voice to find Mouta, slouching lazily on the sofa reading the paper. Haru ran around to the front of the sofa and gave him a big hug, half choking him despite his size. Though seeing him sleeping in the white chair at the corner cafe was a regular occurance, she was still happy to have a chance to talk to him without worrying about people noticing. "So what's going on? Is everything okay? Is Baron alright?" Haru's voice was quiet and slow. Mouta folded the paper and tossed it on the long table in front of him and sighed."Should I tell her Fatso or are you going to try too hard and bust a lobe?" Haru looked up to find Toto sitting on the chandelier screwing in lightbulbs."Shut up Bird Brain I can tell her!" He turned to Haru. "Baron's sick kid, he's been lying in there for about a week," He motioned his head towards a door on the right wall that Haru hadn't even realized was there during her first visit. "I'd think he was dead if he didn't say something in his sleep every now and then." She looked over at the door again. It was a lovely shade of burgundy and had only one rectangluar cut in the center. The doorknob was what appeared to be crystal and had a little key hole in the center. "Is it okay if I-" "Go ahead" Mouta interrupted "We've tried everything. I thought you might be able to cure him."
"I hope so." Haru said, looking again at the door. As she began walking, an image appeared in her head. She and Baron were challenged to a fight by two of the king's guards. He told her to stand behind him as he fought off the guards. Another image materialized. Haru became too tired to continue up the tower stairs and told everyone else to go on ahead of her. Baron stopped, ran back and quickly, but carefully picked her up. The last image took place at the banquet. She was crying, thinking Mouta was dead and that she was going to be a cat forever. She looked up and saw Baron's gloved hand outstretched towards her, "Trust me" he said. "Trust Me." 'He asked me to trust him, and this time he's in trouble and i'll make sure he can rely on me.' She turned the door knob, opened the door just enough to allow her entry, and quietly closed the door behind her. Taking a moment to survey the room she found that it was a bit different than the other room in the house. It was victorian styled like the other room, but most of the armchairs,tables, and shelves were covered by old, dusty sheets. The room was a bedroom, but it obviously wasn't used hardly at all. Haru had never thought of or was able to picture Baron sleeping. Since he was a figure she didn't really think he could sleep. She guessed that when he was tired, he would turn back into a figure like Toto. But now it seemed they were able to choose wheter they wanted to or not, and judging by the state of his bedroom Baron didn't choose to too often. She made her way to his bed. It was the kind of bed with a bar circling the top of it like a canopy. On the bar were rings connected to a large piece of cloth that surrounded the bed like a shower curtain. She slowly pushed the curtain to the left to reveal a sleeping Baron. Haru blushed, he looked almost as charming asleep as he did when he was awake. "You can trust me. You helped me, and I promise you I will do the same." Tears filled her eyes. She lovingly lifted up her hand, and began stroking the fur on his head. As she did this, his forehead started to glow a dark shade of purple. She gasped in fear and yelled for Mouta and Toto, within seconds they both had made it into the room, even though they tried to go through the door at the same time. "What's wrong kid" Mouta panted. Haru pointed to the purple on Barons head which had, within seconds changed it's appearance from a large glow, to the glowing outline of an eye.