Author's Note: Sexy stuff again, and a bit of suggestive humor, which is entirely the author's fault. But why should any of you be surprised, since it's been present in the fic from the beginning?

Ellenlome, hope you weren't wondering why this took so long. Like I said, I rewrite a lot. And it's supposed to be 'thoroughly kissed'. Haven't you ever been? ;)

Thundercat, you ought to go write that idea of yours down. I'll hold the buckets for those who'll be sure to weep. Also, it seems both our birthdays have been sullied by people of evil intent. Advance greetings on growing older.

Naphtali Phoenix, thank you for the kind words.

The chapter title was supposed to be "Haru to Shizuku no Kamikakushi," a reference to Spirited Away, but it didn't exactly fit the contents, so I changed it. Unfortunately, I'm not sure my Japanese is right. If it isn't, please tell me so I can correct it.

Yield to temptation. It may not pass your way again.
-Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

HARU TO SHIZUKU NO TAMERARETA YUUKAI
(HARU AND SHIZUKU'S ATTEMPTED KIDNAPPING)

Early the next day, Lune was in conference with his various commanders, who brought him discouraging news. One of the two troopships to be used in the assault, the Conquistador, developed electrical system trouble the previous evening and was out of commission until repairs could be completed. They had lost all communication with the garrison on the Lonely Isles, the deliveries of food and ammunition for the strike force were also not finished, and to cap it all off, the Longshallows, with Captain Loriel at the helm, sheared her turbine shaft while going out on patrol and had to be towed back to harbor.

Lune listened to the reports with a stoic face, then said, "Alright. We have no choice but to wait until both ships are repaired." Everyone at the table knew he had pared the fighting force down to what some considered to be below minimum for taking on the Phaecis Gang on their own turf, so there was no question of going without the entire flotilla. "But rush it, will you? I'm sure Phaecis and the Black Cat are aware of our presence here now. And send for Mister Toto. I'm afraid we're going to need his services again."

------oOo------

It was lunchtime, and three humans were finishing up eating in a certain restaurant in New Lorum, town proper.

"Now, Haru, slow down! You're going to get a tummy ache!"

The dark-haired girl looked up from her food. "Sorry," she said, "This just tastes so good! I'm glad we found this place. Thanks for inviting me along, Shizuku-sensei."

"No problem." The writer, having remembered Baron's words to her the previous morning, made the extra effort to be conciliatory towards Haru. She still considered her an interloper in Baron's relationship with Louise and a cheat towards her own boyfriend, but as she promised, she wasn't going to say anything about it any more and withhold her judgment. "I like having you around."

As Haru, flustered at Shizuku's straightforwardness, turned her attention back to her food, Seiji said, "Yeah, so do I. We humans do have to stick together in a place like this." He pointed to the piscine remains on his plate. "And now we know at least one restaurant in this town that serves human-eatable meals."

Shizuku chuckled. She had ordered a salmon-and-onion tart and a mushroom risotto. It wasn't every day they could indulge and be so blatantly, embarrassingly sybaritic like this. "I like fish, but not every single meal. And this ice cream is to die for!"

Seiji looked down at her waist. "Hmm. Is it me, or have you added inches here?"

She stuck her tongue out at him. Then a scoop of her icy confection detached itself from the serving boat in the middle of the table and floated itself in front of her husband.

"Want some?"

"You mean as food or on my face?" asked he, eyeing the rounded yellow lump warily. Behind him a waiter cat passing by with a tray in its paws, curiosity already aroused by the fact that they were humans, looked wide-eyed at the floating ice cream and nearly killed himself by putting his foot down in a bucket filled with soapy water and sliding down the aisle into the rest room at the further end of the restaurant.

The trio looked up at the startling crash, and then resumed talking as another waiter ran to the john to see what had happened. "Food, silly. I'm being generous with you today." The ice cream moved closer to his mouth. "Come on, take a bite. You'll love it."

Seiji took a nibble and his eyes lit up. "Hey, banana!" He finished off the rest of the scoop with alacrity and reached for a long-handled spoon. "Gimmie! You two can't finish this off by yourselves!"

Haru put her spoon down on her saucer. Her eyes were smiling as she asked, "Whatever happened to 'I've got to keep myself in shape,' sensei?"

"Hmm? Oh, that went out the door the moment I got a taste of—mmm..." Shizuku removed the spoon from Seiji's mouth and wiped the bit of cream from his lips.

Chuckling, Haru laced her fingers together and, resting her chin on them, said, "You two are so sweet together, I envy you." She watched the waiter assisting a sodden fellow worker out of the rest room.

"Why? Aren't you like this with your boyfriend?" asked Shizuku.

"Not really. Kei-chan's, well, not into public displays of affection."

"Yeah. I know we're strange that way," Seiji commented. "At least we don't go kissing on the train."

"Hey, there was that time at Seitama Station..." Shizuku reminded him.

"That was because I was leaving again, and wanted to shock my parents!" he returned. Just before leaving his then-fiancée alone with his parents to return to Italy, Seiji decided to reaffirm his ownership of her by kissing her full on the mouth prior to boarding the train. Judging by the speechless looks on his mom and dad's faces, it was worth the public censure.

"I know, I know," Shizuku said soothingly. "I never said I didn't like it, although your father looked funny at me at the time."

"I know what that looks like." Seiji owled her, and she let out a guffaw.

"Right! Just right!"

"He does that when he doesn't know what to say," Seiji explained.

Haru looked at the restaurant's wall clock. "Look at the time! We've got to go to the shops and get our things!" Yesterday, while she was with the couple and before searching for a shirt for Baron, she had dropped her smallsword and medallion off at a custom fitter's, telling them that she wanted the small golden piece secured to the middle of the blade's unusual ricasso. She had decided that the smallsword would be its permanent home, unlike on her epée, where it was fastened by two small screws on the bellguard. Now all she had to do when they returned to the real world was find some way of walking the streets with it until she could hide it in her house. Shizuku, in her turn, had consigned the strange blue stone Cameron gave her to the jeweler next door, to be placed in the cheapest pendant they had—she told Haru she felt she was already abusing Lune's generosity.

"Yeah. Come on, let's finish all of this as fast as we can," she urged. There was a greedy look on her face as she attacked the helpless comestibles once more.

------oOo------

After waiting some minutes, the trio walked to the metalworker's shop. Seiji kept on gawking at the store displays they passed, and soon found himself walking behind his wife and Haru. Their somewhat epicurean repast had caused his body to slow down, but not his mind, which kept on noticing things and filing them away.

His gaze strayed to the slender waist peeking occasionally from under Shizuku's sleeveless green blouse. He teased her a lot about being unsexy, but in truth found her quite alluring ever since their senior high school days. She had blossomed then, and jokingly he had claimed responsibility for it. She wasn't as pretty at first glance as Haru, wasn't as model-tall and slender as her, nor was she as curvy (though Haru's body was nowhere near as eye-poppingly curvaceous as, say, Pamela Anderson's, or any of those pin-up girls running around in bikinis on late-night TV back home); but she more than made up for her physical shortcomings with the force and whimsy of her personality, boldly direct one moment and delightfully shy the next. It played a major part in her appeal to him. Ever since that first night in the Ginza hotel suite she had metamorphosed into something of a chameleon in the bedroom, who could act in so many ways Seiji sometimes wondered who he was holding in his arms. She could be heartbreakingly modest and quiet as he gently caressed her to a whimpering ecstasy, or brazenly, erotically experimental, a wanton harlot who teased and tortured him until his body couldn't take it any more and gave up the issue. On the rare occasion she could even combine humor with their lovemaking, making him laugh even as she helped him strive towards his release.

"Seiji! What do you think you're looking at?"

The outraged question pulled him out of his reverie, and he found that his gaze had somehow wandered down to his wife's cloth-encased derrière. He imagined the treasures of that portion of her anatomy, then swallowed and turned his attention to the less-welcome, more-threatening sight of her indignant face.

She grabbed him by the shirtfront and pushed him out in front of them. He heard Haru giggling and turned back to them, an apologetic expression on his countenance.

"I'm sorry, Shizuku," he said contritely. "I didn't mean to leer at you like that."

There was a forgiving twinkle in Shizuku's dark eyes, but out of her mouth came, "Men! They're sexual beasts, aren't they, Haru-chan?"

Haru watched the silent exchanges passing between the couple's eyes and was reminded of her and Machida's own behavior. "Y-yes, sensei, they're definitely sexual beasts."

"Well, excuse me for being born a guy and having male hormones."

"Lighten up. I was just kidding."

"Hmph. You're so good at it, I'm never sure if you are."

Shizuku smiled wickedly and suddenly launched into Italian.

Sol noi povere femmine
che tanto amiam questi uomini,
trattate siam dai perfidi
ognor con crudeltà!

Haru looked at her. "What does that mean?"

"When we were traveling in Italy," answered the older woman, "we had a chance to see an adaptation of 'The Marriage of Figaro' in Milan, thanks to a friend of Seiji's. He also kindly gave me a libretto of it. It means

Only we poor women
That love so much these men,
Must always deal with cruelty from the
treacherous ones!

The speaker—Marcellina, if I remember her name correctly—was talking about how men are always unfaithful to their women."

"That's just so wrong," barked Seiji. "Why're you always pinning the blame on us? If women weren't so fickle and manipulative, men would have no need to be unfaithful! Anyway," he continued, turning to Haru, "Marcelina was a spinster. It's my theory that she was just ticked off since she hadn't gotten any in a while."

Haru laughed at Seiji's suggestion. "I guess I understand that. Does that mean you and Shizuku-sensei–"

"Haru-chan!" Shizuku's cheeks turned a faint pink. "Of course not. I'm always like this!"

"Yeah, unfortunately," agreed her husband. "And I have to put up with it."

"Seiji?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

Seiji was taken aback for a moment. "Shizuku, when are you going to stop saying things like that? Love you too," he mumbled shamefacedly.

Haru laughed.

The conversation died down and stayed sane all the way to the shop. Shizuku, after observing her own husband walking out in front of them for some minutes, came to a shocking realization. Oh, good grief, now he's got me doing it too, she mused, watching his beautifully firm tush move under his jeans and blushing inwardly at the memories the sight produced, of hard grunts and soft sighs, of rough words and gentle hands, and the sweet, mingled smell of masculinity and femininity. A part of her wanted her to scold herself for doing so, since she had done it to him beforehand. The other part replied with a succinct "To hell with you," and Shizuku continued to look at her husband with a secret satisfaction.

------oOo------

"Wow, it's beautiful!" the younger Tsukishima daughter exclaimed.

Smiling, Haru looked at the white cat standing behind the counter. Behind him, a bright silver nameplate reading Atelier Topcraft by Shunji Kyuusaki gleamed from the up on the wall, surrounded by various examples of the artisan's craft. "It is," she concurred, watching the polished glint of the golden metal amid gray and silver. "Thank you, Kyuusaki-bucho!" She bowed, with hands properly at the sides of her old blue skirt.

"No problem," the cat replied. "Hardly anyone brings in such beautiful works of art anymore. It was a pleasure to work on it."

"I know, I'm sorry about using King Lune's pass," Haru said sheepishly as she handed the red-orange rectangle of plastic over to the shop manager. "I'll find some way to pay him back. I promise this'll be the last time." Kyuusaki-bucho disappeared into his private office temporarily, then reemerged carrying a receipt, which he gave to her along with the card. Haru bowed and, with profuse thanks, left with the couple.

As they walked to the jewelry shop next door, they spied a Caucasian man emerging from it. He had with him a woman so fair it hurt everyone's eyes to look at her under the bright noonday sun. She had whitish skin and long, snowy tresses that framed a pale face. She was all light and shadow and no color, an ethereal angel that had somehow been given human form and substance to show the world what pure, unspoiled loveliness was like.

As they waited for the pair to move away from the shop's door, they heard her speak. "Lir," she said in a melodious voice, "I'm very grateful for your help. Now we must return to my forest, or I will not be able to remember who I am for much longer."

"Yes, Amalthea," spoke the man, square-jawed, tall and lanky. He had blond hair and was dressed in leather clothing, like a person out of a medieval age.

The woman took his hand. A spot on her forehead glowed, and they disappeared into thin air, leaving the three friends gawking at the place where they had stood.

"You know," Seiji finally broke the silence, "I think Shizuku's right sometimes, that we're stuck in a fairy tale of some sort. Maybe all of this is a product of her demented mind."

Shizuku tilted the straw boater she wore on top of her head to a jauntier angle. "If I'm demented, you're worse off than I am, because you went and married me."

"Haha. No, that was the best deal I ever made. If you want, I can prove it to you."

Haru grinned as Shizuku blushed. There was something she found so kawaii about the spitfire losing her composure. They went inside the shop and Shizuku asked for the stone.

The shop owner presented it to them. It had been set in a semicircle of dull gray metal, with three little claws holding the round blue stone in place. The chain was made up of tiny oval links, with a screw fastener to close it.

Seiji held it open as Shizuku pushed the hair on the back of her head up so he could place the pendant around her neck. Then she tucked the stone under her blouse, paid for it and took their leave.

As they were stepping out onto the sidewalk, Seiji noticed an unusual pair of cats standing at the end of the street furthest from them, in the middle of the road itself. They were large, and unlike most of the inhabitants of New Lorum or of the Cat Castle itself, held themselves in such a fashion and wore such barbaric getups that no one who looked at them could possibly fail to notice the hostile and predatory air they exuded. Both had black markings; one was much larger, with fur of a light gray color, while the other, smaller one had tan hairs.

He pointed them out to the girls. Haru fairly hissed, while Shizuku frowned.

"I don't like the looks of those two," said the latter.

"Look at them, standing in the middle of the street like they own the place," Haru growled.

Just then the pair of cats spotted them. The gray one bared his sharp teeth in a vicious-looking smile that was visible from where the trio of humans stood, then let out a roar. The smaller one waved a paw, as if beckoning to someone.

From around the corner came a flood of cats, most of them of a large size and all wearing clothes similar to what the pair standing in the middle of the street wore. They looked the trio's way. Then they charged.

"What? What? What?" was all Shizuku could say, as the felines came bounding towards them. "What's happening?"

Haru looked around. There was no one else on the street any more. The various cats and few dogs and birds that had been out walking were now diving into the nearest shops, and the owners were locking the doors.

"Hey, you three!" they heard someone call. It was the jeweler, standing in his own doorway. "Get in!"

"What's going—" Shizuku started to say, then was cut off as Haru roughly pulled her and Seiji into the offered sanctuary.

The shopkeeper quickly shut his doors, threw the locks, and began chaining them up. Haru assisted him.

"What's going on?" Shizuku blurted as she straightened herself out.

"They're after you!" said the jeweler, a cat with a goatee, a permanent squint and whitening red fur, wearing a gray, rough-textured apron of sharkskin. "This way!" He led them through a small door into the back of his shop. It was no use staying out in front, since the entire front of his enterprise was made of glass, including the doors.

"Who's 'they'?" asked Seiji as they all piled into the cramped back room, which was dimly lit, had various machines lining it, and smelled of age and something burned.

"Those of the Phaecis Gang," the shopkeeper answered him as he shut the door behind them. "Rumors have been flying about these past couple of days that they were creeping about the neighborhoods and asking questions."

Haru remembered what Sergeant Jarashi had told her, and passed it on to her companions.

"They're out to get us?" said Seiji in disbelief. "No way. I'm not going to let them harm either of you. Mr. Shopkeeper, is there a back way out of here?"

"Yes. Come on, follow me!"

They all heard a colossal crash coming from the front. They could hear the racket of glass and metal breaking and tinkling and clanking, along with unfriendly shouts.

The jeweler looked back, past the humans he was trying to help, and wrung his paws. His fur puffed out from his body. "Oh, my poor store!"

"There's nothing we can do about that now! Come on!" Haru urged, pushing aside the frightened cat and plunging ahead into the darkness.

There was a door at the other end of the room. Haru opened it. Beyond was a silent, empty alley, dingy but otherwise well-maintained, with boxes stacked neatly against the two-story walls and a pair of potted plants gracing the T-junction which led off into another alley.

"Oh-kay," Haru said. "It looks like we can give them the slip here."

They all rushed as quietly as they could through the passageway. As they neared the junction, however, Haru held up a hand. Her blood was surging in her ears, and the adrenaline rush made her feel as if time was slowed down, and she could sense everything around her, from the crinkle-scritch of the dirt as they stepped on it, to the various smells permeating the place, to the infinitesimal scrabble of padded feet in the alley beyond.

Seiji opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but Haru stopped him with a warning glance and beckoned to Shizuku. The older woman tiptoed up to her, and Haru whispered something in her ear. Seiji watched them nod to each other and creep into the middle of the way. He wondered what the heck they were doing, and glanced back at the way they had come. The door stood open, the blackness inside silent and menacing.

He saw them arrange themselves to stand side-by-side. Then, for one sick, twisted moment he thought they had gone crazy.

"Heeere, kitty, kitty, kitty!" they bellowed.

A group of cats with bristling back fur—and a smattering of dogs—surged out of the sides of the junction and ran snarling toward them, murder in their eyes and sharp objects in their hands.

Haru whipped out her sword. "Now, sensei!"

Shizuku shouted something Seiji couldn't understand, and the onrushing felines flew backwards, as if pushed by a giant hand. They collectively slammed against the wall at the end of the alley, and some groaned and mewed and whined and never got back up. But the rest did, and resumed their headlong run. There were also shouts coming from beyond the T-junction, which boded ill for the humans.

"They're calling their buddies!" Haru shouted. Leaving Shizuku to deal with their attackers, she turned around and headed back towards the door.

She stopped in her tracks as their previous group of pursuers emerged from the darkness, yelling and waving their weapons. Seiji watched their predicament develop and joined the jeweler in cringing against the side of the alleyway.

Haru instantly leapt and tagged the cat in the lead on the chin with a flying kick. The violin-maker couldn't believe how long her jump was, or the way her kick sent the cat flying backward into his comrades, unconscious. As she landed, however, her skirt flared, showing him her long, shapely legs, the delicate fullness of her buttocks, and revealing that she was wearing a pair of high-cut, light pink panties. His eyes bulged from their sockets, and he was sure his hair was standing on end as he quickly turned to face the other way. The scene there wasn't any more encouraging: Shizuku was busy pushing the cats back with her powers, and a steady stream of reinforcements continued to come in from the alley junction. Seiji found himself immensely glad that she hadn't seen him ogling Haru's charms, or with everyone as agitated as they were now, she would have surely lashed out at him. If without magic she was already dangerous that way, how much more so now, when she had the ability to break him in half, like a matchstick...

Hey, I'm the guy here, I'm supposed to protect them, he thought. His pride deeply stung, he searched for a weapon and picked up a long piece of tubing from the ground. It was heavy, and its heft reassured him as he tested it in his hands and looked to see whom he could help.

Shizuku seemed to be having more trouble fending off her foes, so he stepped up to her side and began wailing away at the oncoming cats. He caught two with his improvised club just before one of the onrushers—a dog, a wolf-like thing with burning eyes and bared teeth—jumped at Shizuku, clearly intending to bring her down to the ground.

Seiji had just enough time to plant one end of the pipe on the ground and aim the other in the general direction of the dog's head as it came down. Its throat landed with a stomach-turning crunch on the metal tube, and the dog crumpled to the ground, making horrible wheezing noises and twitching.

"Sarpov!" cried one of the pirate cats, seeing his comrade go down. His ire raised, he and his fellows began imitating what the dog had done and leaping at Shizuku, who had trouble aiming at them because of their number and speed.

Seiji saw the cats flying through the air and knew that Shizuku wasn't going to be able to deal with all of them. He lifted the pipe and held it horizontally in front and above him. Several of the cats crashed into it and were stunned or had their breath knocked out of them, but their collective bulk smashed into him and Shizuku. They fell.

Behind them Haru wasn't having much better luck at staving off her opponents. She had already dispatched two cats with whirling, slashing cuts to their chests, but more poured out of the jewelry shop's back room and rushed at her with knives, clubs and saps.

The one that was giving her the most trouble was one she recognized from pictures in encyclopedias. It was a margay, a small type of wildcat, who wore a trenchcoat and wielded a main gauche and a rapier. The confined space of the alleyway meant that only two or three felines could simultaneously attack her, but it also meant that she had limited space to dance around in to avoid the margay's cuts and thrusts.

The fishing cat got lucky and wounded her, nicking her right forearm with the main gauche. She grimaced and almost dropped her smallsword. In her need she trapped the rapier with the quillons of her blade, tore it from her assailant's grasp, then threw both away. She clamped her hands down on the paw wielding the main gauche. The cat looked at her as they struggled, and on impulse Haru headbutted him.

The margay staggered back, as did she, her head filled with pain and blinking lights. In the precious seconds in which she fought to regain her vision and composure, she waited for the end, for the cat or his fellows to stab her or cut her open, or bash her skull in. She waited for the searing pain of a blade or the sudden darkness of a club.

As her vision cleared, she realized they were running.

Haru blinked and made sure. Yes, there they went, rushing back into the shop, abandoning her as swiftly as they had assailed her. She froze in incomprehension, then looked behind her.

There was a pile of cats and dogs in the middle of the alleyway, covering something. Those cats on top of the heap had tails that were twitching, as if they had caught their mouse and were about to play with it. The canids had evil grins on their faces. Shizuku and Seiji were nowhere in sight.

Her heart pounding again in renewed fear, Haru swiftly retrieved her sword and charged them, raising her poniard high above her and yelling bloody murder. Before she could reach the mound, however, she heard a muffled shriek emanating from within the pile.

There was a rumble that began shaking the alley, and the pirates exploded into space in a flurry of flying fur and flecks of dust and pieces of clothing. They sailed into the walls, or crashed into crates, or flew far off into the blue sky above. Within seconds nothing of the pile remained, except for a harassed-looking Shizuku lying on the ground, with her hair mussed and her hat crushed on the dirt near her head. Seiji was sprawled on top of her.

"Iyaaa!" she shouted up after the pirates, covering herself with her hands. "You brutes! How dare you touch me there!" She looked down at Seiji. "Oh, was that you?" Her blush deepened as she pushed him off her. "Don't do that!" she scolded, instantly back in form.

Haru stood over them and watched the dazed members of the Phaecis Gang pick themselves up, groaning. They quickly retrieved their unconscious comrades and left the alleyway. As Haru reached down to help her elder friends up, she heard a commotion coming from beyond the junction, whistles being blown and shouts being raised. It seemed that the pirates were now encountering representatives of the law. She hoped they would get their asses beaten silly.

"Seiji-chan!" The cry made her look back down. Shizuku had rolled her husband off her and was shaking him. "Seiji-chan, answer me! Are you okay?"

To Haru the lolling head and pasty white face of Seiji did not promise well. Shizuku spent an entire minute shaking and pinching him before he coughed and his eyes fluttered open. His doubtful gaze wandered first to her, then Haru.

They could see him trying to focus his thoughts. The blank expression disappeared from his face, and he spoke.

"Haru-chan, you've got very nice legs."

The college student paled. Thinking the worst of him, she hurriedly shut her legs tight and flattened the blue cloth of her skirt against them. Shizuku's hands closed around Seiji's neck.

------oOo------

"I'm really sorry, Haru-chan, but it just came out of my mouth," the artisan apologized as the nurse cat continued wrapping his shoulder in bandages. "I honestly wasn't peeking up your skirt at that time. If mahou shoujo-chan here hadn't shaken and prodded me so much, I would've been more lucid and not embarrassed both of us."

"Um, that's alright, Seiji-sensei. I forgive you." She shifted on the stool. Her right arm was bandaged and hung from a temporary sling. "That was really brave of you, shielding Shizuku-sensei so she could breathe." And in the process losing consciousness because he couldn't get enough oxygen for himself.

"Yeah, well, any guy would do something like that," he said deprecatingly.

Shizuku, standing at the foot of his bed, sniffed. "'Any guy' can also be a lecher, as you so convincingly demonstrated."

"Hey, I already said I was sorry. What do you want me to do? I'll say it again: I'm sorry I was born a man and have male hormones. I'm sorry I saw Haru's undies during the fight. But if I wasn't sincerely sorry about it I wouldn't have told you both! And I did look away, you know!"

"I don't care," Shizuku countered. "I caught you looking at another woman again."

Seiji sighed. "Cut me a little slack, will you? After all, I did try my best to protect you."

Shizuku's expression turned from irritated to remorseful in a second. She couldn't go and hug him, because the nurse was still working on his wounds (which Seiji had declared to be too piddling for her to waste her magic on them, hence the ministrations of the nurse cat), so she settled for squeezing his left foot.

"Forgive me! You know I can be a jealous shrew at times. Especially when the woman concerned is as pretty as Haru is. Yes, I'm grateful you helped me, but you also made me worry!"

Seiji smiled. "Love you too, Shizuku."

The overwrought wife looked as if she were about to break down in tears. Quietening down, she returned to the visitor's couch on the far side of the room.

------oOo------

Several minutes later the Cat came in, and Haru waved to him as he searched the emergency room for her. His eyes lit up and he went to stand by her, putting a hand on her hair when he reached her.

"Where were you, Baron?" Haru asked as she endured the stitching of her arm. She was adamant in having it treated in the normal way, without sensei Shizuku's intervention. "I'd like a scar as a trophy, if you know what I mean," she had said. Shizuku didn't understand her, but consented anyway.

Haru was still beside Seiji's bed, and her bloody injury was stretched out on a sterile cloth on a table taken from his bedside

"I'm sorry, word came to me only now," the Cat apologized. "I had left strict instructions with Muta that I was not to be disturbed. I was resting."

"You're lucky the police came quickly, so the pirates had to flee," Muta said, towering behind Baron. "Why couldn't you just have fled with Shizuku?"

"Because it never occurred to me at the time," the named person retorted from the visitor's couch. "And I didn't want to leave the jeweler, after the way he helped us. How is he, by the way?"

"He's perfectly alright. He's just been released," Baron informed her. "Seiji-kun, how are you?"

"My scratches itch, but I'll be fine."

"Time for me to dig into my carpetbag, I think," Baron commented. "When you get out of here I'll go see you in your rooms. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to meet with the constabulary chief."

------oOo------

Several hours later, as the sun was beginning to go down in a fiery blaze over the sea, Haru heard a knock on her door.

"Enter," she called.

The door opened noiselessly to admit Baron. He stepped inside and closed it after him.

"How are you?"

Haru smiled up at him from the comforting plushness of the full-back chair. "Fine. I was just watching the sun set." The topical anesthetic they had given her was still in effect, blocking out much of the pain.

Baron walked up to her and sat on the armrest. His hand dared to reach out and toy with Haru's hair.

"I've talked to the police chief and several witnesses," he told her. "The gang... they all got away again."

"What? That's impossible!"

"No, unfortunately, it wasn't. They had cut several grates open in the main sewer lines beneath New Lorum, and were watching you humans for several days already. Haru, I'm so sorry I left you in danger."

"It's not your fault, Baron. Who could've thought they'd break their word and wreak havoc here?" She told him about Sergeant Jarashi and his lucky guess. "I'm more worried about the poor jeweler. His place was completely trashed."

"Well, since he helped you Lune's given him a reward. Not much, just enough to repair his shop and replace the things that were broken. Haru, how do you feel, now that you've been blooded?"

She thought a bit. "Bad."

"Oh?"

"I was scared out of my wits, but I forced myself to act. I was thinking more of Seiji and Shizuku-sensei and the jeweler than myself. Odd, that. There were several times during the fight when I really wanted to kill my opponent. But I just couldn't, so I settled for cutting them up so they wouldn't be a threat any more." She frowned. "I don't think I'll ever get used to hurting someone, though."

"That's alright. The moment you get too used to it is the moment you have to take a good, long look at yourself in the mirror, and throw your weapon in the trash."

"I guess." Haru took his hand from her head and kissed it. "Baron, I found out what a demimonde is."

"Oh?"

"Yes." She looked up at him, a ghost of a smile on her lips. "I'm glad you don't think of me as a kept woman."

"Never in a thousand years would I do that," he declared. "Even though the illicit nature of our relationship–"

"Do you have to put it that way?" Haru quickly cut in, a frown replacing her smile.

"I'm sorry, but I have to speak baldly of the truth when it comes to us," said Baron apologetically. "As I was saying, even if the nature of our relationship can make someone ill-informed think that that's what's happening between you and I."

"What could I do... to make this legitimate, Baron?"

"Break off with Machida, and I should end my relationship with Louise. But we both know that will never happen."

Haru gripped his hand tighter as she asked, "Why?"

"It's difficult to explain."

"I'm listening. Go on, I have all the time in the world."

"Haru, I don't know if you'll like hearing this, but I was made. I wasn't born like you were. I never experienced growing up, or going to high school, or the thousands of things that helped shape you into what you are now. I was created with Louise, and we were meant to be together. That is irrevocable." Baron looked at Haru's distressed face with sympathy. "As for you, you should be with someone who can relate to you, who knows what it's like to be human, who knows what it is to be born, live, and eventually, die. You owe Machida an explanation, at the very least, and an apology."

Haru looked away from him. "I can't believe you're saying this. You mean no one can sway you from Louise?"

"I thought I had made that clear." In Baron's voice echoed the same pain he had seen in her eyes. "That's why I said in all my relationships there was always that pain, that I could never return anyone else's affections fully. Including yours."

Haru remained silent for long minutes. "Oh, Baron. But didn't the one who make you ever consider you might want to separate from her? Because, listening to you, I have the feeling you aren't happy with her, and it's something that goes beyond her trying to kill you."

"Did I give you that impression? No, I'm perfectly happy with her. I'm just not thrilled with her actions lately. In fact, they've been bothering me. Louise and I, we were instilled with a love for humanity by the apprentice who made us. She shouldn't be able to do what she's doing now, hurting and killing people for fun and profit and stealing from them. That's anathema to us."

A surprising grin broke out on Haru's face. "Just not thrilled with her actions lately, eh? Baron, you're a master of understatement. I bow to you. At least it means you'll never walk down the path she took," she added in a more sober tone.

"Yes, well, I have often wondered what it would be like to be evil," the Cat told her. "Perhaps the passage of time and the growth of our own memories are weakening the compulsion laid on us by our creator." He shrugged. "I don't know. There is much I don't know."

"An evil Baron Humbert von Jikkingen," Haru mused. "If that part about your... compulsion being weakened were true, you could fall in love with someone else other than the Baroness. Maybe that's why you wanted female companionship at times."

"Yes. I think that could explain it. And it would also be the reason why we're in this forbidden love right now."

"I feel like a branded woman every time you say something like that," Haru remarked.

Baron looked at her. "As in Nathaniel Hawthorne's 'The Scarlet Letter'?" He considered for a split second. Haru raised her eyebrows in confusion, but the Cat pressed on. ''We don't need Hester's A on our chests," he dismissed. "We both have one on our hearts now, and that is enough. And speaking of being a branded woman, Haru, I have yet to apply such a mark on you today." He shifted on the armrest. "Lean a little closer."

------oOo------

Half an hour later, over cups of weak barley tea, the couple was silently looking out the French windows at the sun dipping itself into its watery grave. The sky had turned a flaming red-orange, the sea appeared to be on fire, and the land looked like it was bathed in blood. They stayed silent until the churning of young woman's mind made her speak up. The Cat had taken a chair from the small dining table and was sitting beside her.

"Baron, a question, please."

"Yes?"

"When you first met me, what was your initial impression?"

"Hmm. Let's see, you seemed like a nice girl who was down on her luck at the time—the perfect client for the Cat Business Office. You had a demure air about you that I liked, and the way you stood up to Lune's father in the tower only increased my admiration for you."

Haru colored slightly. "Really?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Because I was thinking all the time how much a burden I was to you. You remember what Muta was saying then."
"Come on, Haru, you know he always talks like that. But he has a good heart and he did help you, didn't he? We don't think of our clientele as burdens, they're the reason the Cat Business Office exists. Anyway, it was our duty to help you, so no matter what, we wouldn't have left you to your fate."

"I'm glad to hear that." Haru took a sip of her tea. "Do you remember what Muta said when you asked him about the Cat Kingdom?"

"No, what?"

"He said the Cat Kingdom was a place for people with no brains. But I'm finding out that it's not true. The Sergeant was thinking, and so were the pirates, unfortunately. Cameron also isn't dumb, not by a long shot."

Baron finished his cup and set it down on the small serving cart that Windamary had wheeled in minutes earlier. "Yes, but I wonder what Lune's scheming in that turret apartment of his. Sometimes I think he takes after his father a little too much. He should have brought Natoru along to provide him a different viewpoint. Ah, yes, before your loveliness makes me forget. Here." He produced a small container from his waistcoat pocket and gave her a small round green pill from it. "Swallow this."

"Flatterer," Haru said jokingly, taking it from him. "What is it?"

"It's for your wound. That's the last one I have. I gave the other to Seiji. Go on, swallow it, that's a good girl."

Haru took it into her mouth and gulped it down without any water. "Blech!" she protested, making a face. "That was awful!"

"You're like a little kid who doesn't want to take her medicine." Baron returned the empty container to his pocket. "Little girl, that will heal your wound, far better than any simple surgery can."

"Heal my wound? Why didn't you use this when Louise stabbed you?"

"It only works for full humans," he answered. "And only for small wounds, and those not poisoned."

"I see. Thank you."

"Haru?"

"Mmm?"

"I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me. I would've given anything to be there to protect you."

"Baron, like I said, it's not your fault. At least I have more confidence in myself now, since I'm still coming with you to the Lonely Isles."

Frowning, Baron reached over and tweaked her nose. "I was afraid you'd say that. But since you made it through this incident, I'll feel a lot easier now. You've experienced firsthand how vicious the pirates can be. It's good that you're reluctant to kill them, but I hope you recall what Gabriel told you."

Well did Haru remember that, all the way back at the Cat King's Castle, during one of the early training sessions. Gabriel said they beat and tortured most of their prisoners, sometimes killed them even. To judge by Shoukichi's bludgeoned appearance when he returned, the Swordmaster was telling the truth.

Haru spent a few minutes relating her thoughts on the encounter to Baron. Among the things she said was, "I'm surprised I acted the way I did. Back in high school I was usually content to hide behind Hiromi and Kei whenever problems arose, or compromise like I usually do now. But I guess that just wasn't possible, so–"

"You did what you had to do, which was something really against your wishes. That takes a lot of courage, Haru."

Haru pursed her lips. "I wasn't feeling very courageous. Like I said, I was scared."

"And still you acted accordingly. That fits the definition." Baron leaned and kissed her forehead. "Don't belittle yourself."

She smiled and tilted her head up, and Baron planted a soft kiss on her offered lips. "Mhmmhmm," she noised happily. "If this were a reward I'd get every time I got in a fight..." She straightened a little so she could smooch him again. Their mouths made a luscious little smacking noise as they kissed. A thrill ran down Haru's back, and a smoldering heat began to warm her belly. She wished she could go farther...

"Don't even think about it," Baron scolded her as they finally broke apart. "You shouldn't press your luck."

Haru blinked, reshifting her train of thought from her embarrassingly private one to the previous topic. "I know, I know. I must be turning into an adrenalin junkie, or a kiss junkie. Are you busy just now?"

"Not really. Why?"

She smiled sheepishly. "Well, this branded woman wants you to stay with her for as long as you can."

Baron smiled at her and gave in to her request. They chatted amiably for some twenty minutes, after which Haru, sounding surprised, said she felt sleepy. He told her that was due to the medicine, and made her get ready for bed.

"Bed?" she protested. "But it's too early!"

"Trust me, dear girl. You'll be soon be sleeping like Winken, Blynken, and Nod. Now go get ready." Baron smiled. "Aka-chan."

Haru rummaged in a dresser and disappeared into the bathroom to do her ablutions. In the meantime, the cat gentleman busied himself fluffing up her pillows and fixing her bed.

Several minutes later the bathroom door opened, and Baron found himself staring at a nightgown-clad Haru. The silken white material covered her all the way from her neck to her ankles. While the whole garment was safely opaque, it was made in such a way that it clung discreetly to all the right places. The feline felt his cheeks warm a bit and the hairs at the back of his neck stand up.

"I hope I don't look too stupid," she said, stifling a yawn with her hand. "It's so early and yet I'm already going to sleep."

"You don't look stupid. In fact you look quite elegant, my dear," commented the Cat as he rounded the bed and took her hand.

"I never saw a... sleepy person look elegant." Another suppressed yawn.

"Hush." The Cat helped her get in bed, then tucked her in. Haru was surprised when he laid a small folded towel across her forehead, partially covering her eyes.

"What's this for? I'm not sick."

"You might like it. It's said to help you sleep."

"Oh."

"In any case, I'll stay here for a while and make sure."

Haru smiled sleepily. "Thanks," she murmured. "That means a lot to me. Baron, as much as I'd like you to, please don't do anything ecchi to me while I'm asleep."

The Cat rolled his eyes and an annoyed expression passed over his features. "As if I would. I'd be insulted by what you just said, if I didn't know by that goofy smile on your face that you were joking."

"Nyahaha. Sorry, I've never had a guy around while wearing stuff like this, not even Kei. He always warned me when he was coming over, just so I wouldn't mistake him for a robber and hit him over the head with something..." Haru stretched and yawned hugely.

Already halfway to the land of the Brother of Death, she closed her eyes and began to complete the journey. She felt the bed give as Baron sat beside her, and although she could never be sure afterwards, as she fell asleep it felt like a hand began running itself over her hair, and a strong male voice began crooning her a lullaby in a foreign language. Her sleep was sweet and full of strange, delightful dreams; perhaps the momentary soft pressure on her cheek she felt at one point was part of them.

Author's Postscript: Prince Lir and Lady Amalthea are from the movie The Last Unicorn, which was animated for Rankin & Bass by Studio Topcraft, which later on did work on Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind and became the nucleus of Studio Ghibli.