Chapter Seven: The King of Fools
'Father Hashio's going to kill me for this. I'm going to die a slow and painful death at the hands of a priest. That is, if I can get out of here fast enough.'
The fellow next to the scared gypsy girl scoffed.
"Nice try, Louise. If this was a real cat man, then I wouldn't be able to do this." He reached up to grab Baron's velvety ear, and yanked on it.
"Ouch!" Baron managed to make a girl let go of his arm so that he could firmly grip the offending hand. His glowing green eyes slit in anger, as the male gypsy realized his mistake.
"I would greatly appreciate it, if you would refrain from doing that," Baron hissed as the girls stepped away from him, also scared of him. The boy in front of him was now pale with fear.
"N-no! I'll never do it again!"
Baron smiled grimly, certain that the boy had gotten his message, and released him. The orange cat was no stranger to feats of strength, but he really hadn't wanted to harm the girls that had been holding him hostage. The boy fell to his back, one hand feeling the one that the half-cat had been gripping as his eyes refused to leave his strange head.
Baron looked at Louise, a heavy regret in his heart. She took five steps away from him, nearly falling off the stage in order to get away from him. The cat man sighed sadly, remembering the passion she had kissed the captain with.
"You have nothing to fear from me, Miss Louise. I won't insist on the kiss you promised."
She went even paler at the thought of giving it to him, and her lower lip began to tremble. Turning towards the crowd, he smiled ironically and bowed low as the audience began to realize just what was in their midst. Next to a stall, he could see a familiar brunette staring at him, her mouth open slightly in shock. But Haru wasn't his problem right now, getting out of here was.
"As fun as the festivities have been, I fear I must take my leave now." With that, he ran past the dethroned king, towards the back of the stage, and flipped high over the heads of the heads of the soldiers that were being drawn to the stage like flies to honey.
After he landed on the firm street, feet first, he began running. Keeping an eye on the church, Baron was able to make his way through the streets as soldiers began to chase him, shouting things that he had never heard before, but was strangely grateful that he didn't know the meaning of.
After about ten minutes, he heard a loud commotion from the soldiers as their voices drifted farther from him. Baron dared to take a short glance back, to see that countless alley cats had intercepted the soldiers, and were clawing and biting them terribly where their armor didn't cover the human's soft skin.
He grinned, and sent a prayer of thanks to heaven for the unexpected help before slipping through one last street to see the church. Keeping his head low and covered with his cloak, he waited for the chance to sneak back into the church.
"There he is!" a voice shouted from behind him, after about half an hour of hiding. The orange and cream cat growled with frustration before bolting for the front door, and swinging it to the side with difficulty.
He managed to close it behind him, but he knew the soldiers would come through, and that he would attract a lot of attention if he didn't find a place to hide soon. He bolted away from the entrance, and down a side corridor, praying to find something as the door burst behind him.
Sharply turning a corner, he found a confession box. Praying that he wasn't interrupting anyone, he hurriedly opened the priest's side, thankfully finding it to be empty. The half-cat slipped inside quickly, and locked the small door, although he knew that it wouldn't serve him well if the soldiers found him in here.
Baron's heart pounded in fear, hearing the feet storm past him down the corridor. Slowly, he allowed himself to sigh in relief.
'Well, Father Hashio did warn me that this would happen, if I didn't listen to him. I might not live past today, when he finds out about this.'
"Father Hashio?"
Baron's large velvety ears snapped upwards, recognizing the voice on the other side of the confessing stand as the visitor slipped in, and latched the door shut. But, why would a gypsy come here? He gulped nervously.
"Yes, my child?" he asked, mimicking the priest's voice exactly. After a lifetime of hearing it, he had perfected his surrogate father's voice, more out of boredom than anything else.
Haru sighed heavily.
"It's me again. Do you have a moment?"
Well, it would help pass the time until he could step out again, and make a run for his tower.
"Of course. Tell me what troubles you." He could hear the brunette shuffling around nervously.
"I've been having those thoughts again."
Baron cocked his head.
"Please refresh my memory."
She was quiet for a moment, possibly thinking about how to put into words what was in her heart.
"You know. The ones about my cousin Louise."
The half-cat struggled not to make a sound, nearly ready to fall of the little bench.
'Cousin?! Why didn't she mention that before?' "Tell me what's happened, please."
The brunette appeared to have mastered the art of sighing, for it seemed she was doing it in between each sentence, each one saying more than her words ever could.
"Another drunkard approached me, and made some inappropriate suggestions. A… a man came to my rescue, and was kind to me. But… then I found out…"
He leaned a bit closer, certain that she was about to describe a terrible cat monster.
"Found out what?"
Haru sighed again.
"He's another fan of her. My cousin, I mean." Was the girl crying? She certainly sounded like it. Baron blinked. Wasn't she going to talk about his cat head? She was in the crowd when he was revealed, wasn't she? Yes, he had seen her himself-
"It's just not fair, Father. He didn't even know we were related, and she still weaseled her way into the conversation." A firm sound followed her words, like she was slamming a fist against the wall.
"Please, Father Hashio, tell me what's wrong with me. I'm trying my hardest to make a name for myself without her, but it's never enough. I'm not enough."
That did it. Baron could now fully hear her crying. A large lump had appeared in his throat, making swallowing a difficult task.
'I had no idea that asking after Louise would hurt her so much. Toto and Muta were right. I definitely need more practice talking to girls.' He bit his lower lip, wondering how Father Hashio would speak to her about this.
"Do you hate your cousin, Haru?"
She blew into a handkerchief.
"Of course not. It's not her fault that she's gorgeous, talented, and has the entire city of Omal in the palm of her hand, while I'm just an invisible seamstress that only drunkards and some animals get interested in. I… just hate our circumstances." She sniffed once.
"I love Louise dearly, she's a great cousin and everything, but… I just get sick of only getting whatever's left over when she gets tired of being glamorous. I'm angry that she gets first dibs on everything, including possible suitors. I have zero hope of getting married before Louise, if it even happens at all. I'm not one to covet the spotlight, I'd just be happy if one decent human guy besides you would just…" her voice trailed off, close to a sob.
Baron leaned closer to the wall separating them, his large ear pressed against the flimsy barrier. Without quite knowing why, he was dying to know what the brunette had to say.
"Yes?" he implored gently.
She growled tiredly, and he could hear her getting up from the seat.
"I'm just sick of being invisible, but I don't know how to fix it without changing who I am."
'Growing fur and whiskers would get you noticed.' But Baron knew better than to say that aloud. He sighed softly.
"Just keep trying, Haru. Patience and good works are always rewarded, and I believe you'll find your own happiness, if you just hang in there long enough for it to happen."
She was silent for a moment, maybe thinking about his words. He bit his lip nervously, wondering if he had said the right thing to Miss Haru for once.
"Thank you, Father Hashio. I'll keep trying."
He could hear her shift the latch around on her side of the confession stand.
"Oh, one more thing?"
"Yes?" he asked. A light laugh met his well-formed ears, quite a pleasant change from the girl's tears.
"If you happen to see the real Father Hashio any time soon, please tell him that I'll drop by on Sunday." She giggled. "You do a mean impression of his voice, but you're not him. Have a nice day, sir, and thank you for listening to me."
OOOOOOOOOOOOO
As the gypsy girl walked out of her door, she could clearly hear the fellow she had been confessing to fall to the ground in his side of the confession stand, obviously shocked that the girl had known the truth.
She giggled again, slipping through the priests and assorted people in order to get out of the church, and start walking to her aunt's place, hoping to make it before dark to avoid the usual trashy night people.
As her feet pounded the cobblestones away from the church, she suddenly realized.
The fellow that had been pretending to be her favorite priest had known her name without being told. Just who had she confessed to, anyway?