Author's note: This story is NOT a Haru/Baron centric fic. I am going to try and use a lot of different characters at the same time, and the action will be very slow in the first few chapters.

Anyway, first fic, and since there wasn't much happening in the prologue I'm sending over the first chapter so you have a clearer idea of what I'm doing. It's my first fic, so I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best. Oh, and there's a bit of Lune/Yuki fluffyness in this chappie, for all Yuki/Lune fans out there!  Please read and review, even flames are welcome!

Muta: Are you that desperate for reviews?

Me: Yes.

Muta: shakes head you're desperate.

Me: I sure am. And crazy too, 'cause I'm talking with a cat.

Haru: Are you saying that I'm crazy?

Baron: she has better not be…draws out his cane-sword

Me: Huh, my characters are threatening me. Scary. Anyway, on with the story!

Muta: muttering finally…

Whispers of a distant land: Chapter one

The exact same day, and as fate would have it, another cat was having problems understanding what was going on, although not quite in the same way as Advisor Natori. As he was slowly sipping at his afternoon tea, Baron let his mind wander back to that adventure four years back, when the Cat Bureau had come to the help of a young woman who had accidentally become embroidered in the Cat Kingdom's intrigues. Baron smiled slightly as he thought of Haru. According to what Muta had told him, the young girl had grown into a fine young woman, even growing a little bit more, which was quite unusual for humans her age, but Baron suspected that it was an after effect of the spell that transformed her into a cat, and back into a human again. At the time, she had been about a head smaller than him, but he suspected that, with these unexpected after-effects, she would more than likely be - in cat-form - only half a head smaller now. The perfect height, he thought, before asking himself, quite puzzled: The prefect height for what? Try as he might, he could not answer that question. He sighed as he went to stand near the window. As time passed, he had found himself thinking more and more of Haru, and her confession right before they parted did not help matters.

"Baron? Just for the record, I think I may have a little crush on you."

He remembered her words clearly, who wouldn't? It wasn't every day that a cat had someone tell him what they felt for him so clearly, much less when that person was a human girl. Baron sipped a bit more at his now cold tea, but he barely noticed. He wondered if she thought of him as often as he did of her. But no, she wouldn't, would she? It had only been an adolescent crush, nothing really serious. She had probably decided to dismiss the whole adventure as a bad memory, even though she kept talking to cats afterwards. Muta was a proof of that, and she even talked to Toto sometimes. She never talked to him though, or barely. It wasn't really her fault. She had come many times to visit her friends at the Cat Bureau, as often as her university schedule allowed her anyway, but each time he had found an excuse to not be there when she came. It was silly of him, really, but he just couldn't help it. He felt quite uncomfortable at the idea of facing her, and he had no idea why, which was even more frustrating. Once more, he let his mind wander as he watched the sun set upon the Refuge.

Baron wasn't the only one thinking that afternoon. On the other side of the street, another creation with a soul was pacing his room on the first floor of a two story house. The house looked quite cheerful on the outside, with its bright pink and yellow pastels, which greatly annoyed its owner, but if one was to look at any of the windows, they would have the impression of a big dead pit starring right back, for the interior of the house was quite dark and looked quite disordered. In short, the house looked rotten on the inside, as if it's sunny outwards disposition was but a glamour to hide the truth, and, if one knew the owner well, they would have thought that the description fitted him too, for Mr. Fento was always well-dressed in an immaculate black clergyman suit, but on the inside…

Again, it really wasn't Fento's fault. He had been created by a Swiss scientist going by the name of Dr. Finkel, who, of course, created Fento with all his heart (although even I don't know how he managed that, one could barely say that the old man had a heart), hence giving him a soul. Now, every soul that comes into the world - be it human or for any creature, is completely unknowing, and quite naïve. Thus, they depend upon their creator or parents to learn about what is right and what is wrong. Now, most creations that are given a soul can reveal their nature to their owner/creator if they wish to do so, but most of the time they wait some time, in order to learn about themselves and their creator. It is something that most souls, even though naïve at birth, know that they must do. However, Fento was given a particularly naïve soul. So naïve in fact that as soon as he became alive, he revealed himself to his creator, naturally cheerful and happy about having a "daddy", and thinking that the emotion that he felt towards his creator (it was called love, but of course he didn't know that at the time) would be returned.

The problem was that Dr. Finkel was quite an evil and manipulative man, and he soon saw how he could use the poor innocent creature to perform various, less than honorable deeds for him. He used and abused Fento, and soon the creature was not naïve or innocent anymore, but twisted and evil as its creator, although he probably kept loving him somewhere inside, for no matter how hard the Doctor treated him, he would stay by his side. When, eventually, the Doctor died, Fento found his way to the Refuge, after much travels and encounters with a lot of other creatures and Kingdoms of animals. It had been nearly a hundred years now, and Fento wasn't any better now, only more conniving and manipulating, and also, he had recently discovered that he had quite a lust for power. And he had a plan now, a plan that he intended to set in motion quite soon, by using the Kingdom of Cats. Ah yes, the Kingdom of Cats. He had discovered it long ago, during one of his brief passages through Egypt. He had met the ruling Cat Pharaohs, and had been quite interested in them, seeing as he had some cat features himself. He had learned a lot about and through them, and even then he only though of the profit he could gain from such information. Now, the knowledge he had accumulated was coming in handy indeed.

Fento was suddenly distracted from his thoughts by a figure moving on the other side of the street. He peered through the curtains, but quickly retreated back into the shadows when he realized who it was. Baron. That cat and him had never been on good terms, from the very second they saw each other, although they both hid it well. He was about one of the only ones that could see straight through his manners and honey-combed voice, and since Baron was a creation himself, Fento couldn't use his hypnotic watch on him. Fento frowned. Here was an obstacle in his plan he would have to take care of. Not only was the cat immune to his powers, he was also dangerously intelligent and powerful, as well as a friend of the Cat's Kingdom's current ruler, King Lune. If Baron became involved, as he surely would when Fento set his plan in motion, he was sure to thwart all his plans, making all he had worked so hard for fall apart. But how could he get rid of Baron? He wasn't one of those stupid ordinary cats of the Kingdom - although Fento could almost not apply that to the royal family - and he couldn't control him. He was the Joker of the Kingdom, the card no one could control, and the card whose loyalties no one could decide of but himself. In many ways, Baron and him were very much alike, two wild cards, two jokers, one black and one white, in the midst of the ordered set of Cards that were the kingdoms and empires throughout the world of animals, and if they were to be in conflict, it would be an eternal one, for, being creations, they were both immune to the passing of time. Fento was not looking forward to that. He had to find a way to get rid of the annoying cat.

He looked back at the figure on the other side of the street. The cat seemed to be lost in his thoughts, his gaze settled to the west, in the direction of the setting sun. He seemed to be doing that a lot these last four years. But what could be that way that had captured his attention so? Maybe it was something he could use against the cat. Fento thought hard: what was in that direction? And then it clicked. It was where that girl - what's her name? - lived, the one whose story was quite known in the Cat kingdom. But why would Baron think about her? He could barely stand her, although she seemed to like him, as Fento saw things. After all, each time she came, Baron managed to excuse his self, so he couldn't possibly care about the girl, could he? But maybe, just maybe…Fento smirked. He may have found the one card that would remove the white joker from the game. His smile widened as a plan slowly formed itself in his head, and retreated further into the shadows, his white teeth the only visible part in the darkness.

In yet another part of the world, someone else was thinking. King Lune sat at his desk, his expression set in a worried frown. In front of him laid a letter from the Emperor of Birds, Hanakash, the Great Gold Eagle. The letter was about some kind of encounter between the Emperor's son and one of Lune's subjects, a minor fight, as occurred everyday between cats and birds, but this time it concerned the heir, and the Emperor was not happy about it. He demanded justice, although from what Lune's Secret Service had told him the Prince had come out unscathed from the whole thing.

The Empire of Birds and the Kingdom of Cats had never been on really good terms before, and fights often occurred between the two realms, and sometimes resulted into deaths - more often than not on the birds' part, for which Lune was quite sorry, since birds were truly intelligent creatures, on the contrary of mice – but they had always managed to avoid an all out war. Now, from Hanakash's letter, war was quite a possibility, a possibility that Lune would very much like to avoid happening. The perpetrator would have to be punished, and a warning sent to other cats concerning the matter of the heir to the Empire of Birds, but although that would settle the matter, it wouldn't calm down Emperor Hanakash. Lune sighed. He would have to send their new ambassador to talk to the Emperor, in order to avoid war. He sighed again. A quiet rustle made him look up, only to be met by the two blue eyes of his Queen, Yuki. Lune smiled as she came to settle near him.

"Why the worried face?" she asked tenderly as she kissed him.

"Nothing you have to worry about, my love, just a political matter I wouldn't want to burden you with."

Yuki waved a paw in front of his face, a mock-frown on her face: "Ta ta ta Mr. King! You're not playing that game with me! I'm the queen of this kingdom, and as your wife and friend, it is my duty to help you with anything that troubles you!" Lune smiled. "So, what is the problem?"

Lune kissed her. "You're impossible Yuki," he said.

But the queen wasn't easily distracted, especially when she was set upon getting an answer. "What is it?"

The king smiled, shaking his head in mock annoyance while throwing his arms up in surrender. "Alright, alright! I'll tell you!" Yuki smiled in triumph. Lune told her about the whole matter, and Yuki frowned slightly.

"Yes, it is quite worrisome" she finally said. "What do you intend to do about the Emperor?"

"I was thinking about sending our new ambassador, Mr. Fento, to appease him," Lune answered.

Yuki's frown deepened. "I don't trust him" she said. "He gives me the creeps."

Lune chuckled slightly at his wife's choice of words; it was a part of her time as a stray that she didn't seem to be able to get rid of, although he would not have changed it for anything.

"Me too, Yuki, but we don't have much of a choice. Besides, Natori says that he is quite capable, and I trust Natori's judgment. My father chose his advisors well."

"Yes, indeed," and Yuki smiled at the memory of how it was Natori who chose her to serve at the royal table. "If it weren't for him, I would never have met you."

"Indeed," Lune smiled again. He did that a lot whenever Yuki was with him, no matter how burdened he was by the crown's duties. "Now, what did you come here for in the first place? Was there something you needed?"

"Yes," she replied, "you."

"Me?" He feigned surprise.

"Hm hm! You have quite well taken care of your kingly duties, but there are some duties in the husband department that really need your attention."

"In that case, I guess I shall have to look into the matter immediately" he said chuckling, and with that swept her off her feet and walked out of the room and towards the royal chambers, all thoughts of the Emperor's letter gone from his mind. There would still be time for that tomorrow.