Chapter 12

"You –" the orange cat could hardly believe his ears.

Haru nodded, a slightly silly smile on her face.

"That's how the king was able to grab me, I was a bit distracted by your general silence to notice his arrival," she admitted, sitting up properly to look down at her diminutive hero. "What did Mister Muta mean by your cold graces? You were warm when you were holding me back there."

"Dancing isn't… it's different. I'm not normally so forward, invading a lady's personal space like that, but when you're dancing, you have to. Muta might say I'm too polite and proper. Admirers generally have to be expressive of their admiration, and that's just not something I'm practiced in," he said, sitting down on the grass in front of her, not looking up.

Nothing but the sound of birds waking up could be heard for a long time, then, when the sun was well above the horizon, Haru broke the silence of the woodlands – which wasn't really silence anyway, but she added her voice to the others.

"Can we go home now, Baron?"

"Yes, Miss Haru, you don't have to worry about the king any more, so I expect that you can return to your own life again," answered the statuette, mishearing the "we" for "I".

"I meant to the Bureau. If you don't want me there, I understand of course," she added quickly, not wanting to invade the privacy of the statuette that had hosted her.

"I thought you enjoyed the solitary life," Baron commented, stunned and while not unwilling to absorb this information, a little unable to believe it.

"Not particularly, I just wanted peace to paint in, without people forever demanding my time and distracting me from my work. I suppose I'm not allowed to go back though, since I no longer have a problem with his majesty," Haru said, almost wishing that she did, just so that she would have an excuse to go home with the figurine sitting in front of her.

Baron thought about this, knowing that he had good grounds to answer both yes and no to her wanting to come back to the Bureau with him, but he wanted to see her smile every day for as long as he could. He had grown accustomed to her face.

"Now that his majesty is a cat, he will be able to get away with a lot more by human standards: sitting on the window and watching you dress, for example," the doll shuddered at the thought – a peeping tom, grinning as he watched his Haru – wait, his Haru?

"Miss Haru, I insist upon you coming back to the Bureau. We'll go via your old home to collect your belongings, and install you properly and permanently in one of my spare rooms," said the Baron decisively, his decision made and his resolve firm.

Haru smiled.

It took an hour to collect and re-settle all of Haru's belongings into the Cat Bureau. This was mainly due to Haru having to do all the lifting and dragging of boxes through the streets of the city. There was also the matter of selling the furniture that she would no longer need and putting her house up for sale. Eventually though, it was all sorted out, and Haru woke the next morning to the smell of bacon frying just down the hall.

The young lady followed her nose, and her stomach followed eagerly.

"Good morning," Baron said cheerfully as he lay two plates laden with food on the set table. "I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of making us some breakfast. I thought it might allow you more time to paint if I dealt with the human necessities of dietary requirements."

"No, I don't mind, but if you keep feeding me potions this size, I'll end up as rotund as Mister Muta," answered Haru, delicately slicing up the fried bacon, egg, sausage and toast.

The orange cat smiled and set to his own breakfast, watching his dining companion eating more often than actually slipping his own fork between his furred lips. The food made her cheeks bulge oddly, but there was a happy, comforted look in her soft brown eyes.

"Baron," Haru said, clinking her cutlery gently onto her now empty plate.

"Yes Miss Haru?"

"Would you sit for me? I want to do something to thank you, for saving me from the king and letting me live with you."

"It would be my pleasure Miss Haru. How long will you need to prepare the canvas?"

"Give me two hours," she answered, rising hastily from the table and walking quickly down the hall – she knew better than to run on a full stomach.