Chapter Twelve: The Offer
The tall cat-man looked at her reproachfully, or so she supposed, since it was a little hard to tell through the mask. But, he bowed to her fluidly, in a style she was unfamiliar with. "I have been asked by my master, the Sky King, to offer you an invitation to join his court."
"Oh no, not again!" Haru groaned in dismay, shaking her head angrily. "Listen, pal; I'm not interested in joining any royal court! There are a few too many strings attached to consider! I'm quite happy as a peasant girl, thank you very much!"
"My king is already happily married with several children, if that's what you're worrying about," the black-clad messenger said blandly. "This has absolutely nothing to do with an offer of marriage into the royal family, I assure you."
She looked at him, her face flushing hot with embarrassment. "Oh. Well, why does he want me, then?"
The cat-man in black shrugged. "Your world may have forgotten about mine, but we haven't forgotten about yours. The Sky King likes to check what's going on in this world from time to time, and he's mightily impressed with your abilities, Haru-sama, and more than a little less impressed with your king's conduct. He's noted that your world tends to cheapen women, simply because they are women, and refuse to take full advantage of their abilities, if they are out of the norm. The Sky Kingdom is a very different place, Haru-sama, and our king is a much better ruler than yours, simply for the fact that he is completely sane and honestly cares for his subjects. You would be welcome among our kind, Haru-sama."
'Just what does this guy have with saying my name repeatedly?' "How do I know this isn't some kind of trick?" she asked suspiciously.
"It's a trick," he said honestly. "But it's more on your king than you."
"Just why should I trust you?" she asked him flatly, crossing her arms as Natoru continued to struggle behind her. "It's all well and good to offer me this, but that mask of yours doesn't exactly inspire trust on my part."
He coughed nervously, adjusting it slightly over his head. "Please forgive me. I was specifically ordered not to take it off until I returned to the Sky Kingdom and my king gives me leave to remove it."
"Well, what's your name?" she pressed, making him twitch uncomfortably.
"I'm under orders not to tell you," he apologized, rubbing the back of his head like a scared little boy.
"So, I'm not allowed to see your face or learn your name, but you expect me to go with you to a kingdom I've never seen, and I would probably stay in for the rest of my days, plus the fact that I'd be the only human around the kingdom?" she asked him incredulously.
"Not quite," he corrected softly, a twitch of the mouth saying louder than words that he was on the edge of his nerves. "If you entered the Sky King's service, you would become one of us."
"A shape-shifter, you mean?" she asked curiously, making the man nod hesitantly. She put one hand to her chin thoughtfully, one finger brushing against her soft cheek. "I wouldn't look like the dead queen anymore, if I grew scales or feathers," she mused out loud.
"Or fur," the stranger quickly added.
"Or fur," she agreed, laughing a little as she mulled over her options. Finally, she sighed. "Thank your king for the generous offer, sir, but I'm afraid that I can't take it. You see, I have a fiancé from this world that I love with all my heart, and it's been six long years since I've seen or heard from him. I'm certain that your king is nice, and that your kingdom is a better place than mine, but that's not going to mean much to me without Humbert." She bowed politely from the waist, and began walking away, further up the hill.
"What if he's changed?!" the cat man suddenly called out to her desperately. "I mean," he added, quickly modifying his tone as she looked over her shoulder at him curiously, "it's not very likely that your Humbert is still the same person that he was six years ago."
"So?" Haru asked calmly. "I'm not the same person he used to know, either. But if he could see the number I just barely pulled on Natoru," she giggled helplessly, "he'd probably say that I haven't changed a bit, and then burst into hopeless laughter." She sighed sadly. "I miss making him laugh. I miss waking up every morning, knowing that I'd be spending the whole day with him. I miss hearing him play that little reed flute he carved one summer afternoon, I miss…" she choked out in a sudden sob, sharply turning away from the cat man to bury her face in her hands as the dagger finally fell to the ground next to her feet. "I… I just miss him. I don't care how long it takes or what I have to do, but I am going to find him again. Even if he's moved on with his life and forgotten about me, I need to know if he's all right, and see his face at least one more time before I eventually die."
Natoru stopped struggling, shocked beyond his wildest dreams that the terrifying brunette knew how to cry, let alone could actually do it.
"How could he have moved on with his life if he had a girl like you waiting for him?!" the cat man demanded, storming up behind her and gently taking her by the shoulders to turn her around to make her face him. "What could possibly make him forget about someone like you?"
"I don't know," she said helplessly as more tears streamed from her large dark eyes. "That's… been the worst part, these past-hic!- six years. If he had died at sea and word of it reached me… even that would be better than imagining the worst for years on end while my friends in the village try to tell me to forget about him when they know I can't… and then nearly getting forced to marry a king nearly three times older than me just because I look like his dead queen! I was going to-hic- kill him, if he had actually managed to get me close to the altar," she babbled as the cat man fished a large cream-colored handkerchief out of an unseen pocket in his pants and offer it to her. "Thanks," she mumbled numbly, mopping her face with his offering and blowing her nose, completely forgetting the fact that she had a handkerchief of her own, even if it was stained with Muta's sweat.
"This Humbert means everything to you, doesn't he?" the cat man asked softly, his velvet-like voice strangely reverent.
"Of course he does… and he always will. I'd sell my soul to get him back in my life," she said wistfully, her heart aching for the green-eyed boy.
The cat man hesitated, like he had something else to say. "I don't know about your soul," he said slowly, "but if you're not too attached to your humanity, my king could probably find him for you."
Haru looked up at the black-clad shape shifter, her big dark eyes filled with hope. "Really? You're not just leading me on?" she whispered.
"How do you think I managed to find out where to find you so quickly?" the cat man asked with a tender smile. "The kidnapping Muta and Toto managed to do left everything in confusion at the castle, but my king still managed to find you so that I could track you down. He might ask you to do something for him before he'd track down Humbert, but he should be able to find your fiancé for you."
"Then what are we waiting for?!" Haru asked enthusiastically, grabbing one of his arms. "Take me to your leader!"
"As you wish," the cat man answered automatically, but then threw his other hand to his furry mouth in horror.
Haru's head snapped upwards in shock, and her mouth fell open. "What did you say?!" she demanded, more suspicious of his chagrin than of the familiar words that were quite nearly etched onto her heart.
The cat man stiffened to the point of terror, but then sighed, and looked down at her again. "As. You. Wish," he said, emphasizing each word more than a stranger would have.
Haru didn't even think. She reached up with one hand, and tore off the black scarf that had been tied around his head.
The bottom part of his face was covered with fur the same pale color as his skin used to be, but the fur covering the top part of his head and underlining each glowing green eye was a soft golden color that she remembered very well.
Humbert looked at her a little worriedly as she stared at him for several minutes wordlessly. "Please, say something, Haru."
"What part of 'watch out for sky pirates' did you not understand, Humbert?" she said almost cordially, and then suddenly burst into a tirade. "What were you thinking?!" she screamed at him, grabbing her fiancé by the shoulders and shaking him around like a rag doll. "Why didn't you just say that it was you from the beginning?! It's not like you could have hidden it from me forever, you jerk! I've been worried sick, and then you pull a trick like this?!"
Haru entertained herself for the next thirty minutes, yelling at her fiancé at the top of her lungs as tears streamed freely down her face, her topics ranging between never sending her a letter and wondering what he had been up to, all these years.
Humbert endured his scolding patiently, a gentle smile on his face as the love of his life slowly ran out of breath and blistering things to say to him.
Just as she was finishing up, gasping with exhaustion from yelling so long, the orange and cream feline wrapped his arms firmly around his fiancée, and kissed her forehead tenderly while holding her close for the first time in six long years.
"I've missed you too, Haru," he whispered lovingly.
The brunette in his arms broke down, weeping softly into the front of his baggy black shirt as she clung to him desperately, like she was scared that this was just another dream, and that she would wake up soon.
Humbert crooned softly, rocking her gently in his arms, both of them blissfully oblivious to a staring Natoru, who had fainted from shock and then came to again.
"It's all right, Haru," he whispered into her hair. "I came back, just like I promised, and I'm never going to leave you behind again."
She looked up at him happily, her eyes still streaming tears as she rose to her tiptoes in order to press her lips against his in a fervent kiss, which was quickly and enthusiastically returned, along with an accompanying purr.
That continued for only five minutes, since Haru was now spiritually drained from anger and happiness.
Humbert continued to hold her close, his eyes half-closed in contentment as a relieved laugh escaped his lips. "I've been so terrified that you wouldn't be able to love me like this, Haru."
"Silly," she scolded breathlessly, soaking in the warmth of his arms greedily. "It will take a lot more than whiskers and a fur coat to get me to stop loving you. I'm hurt that you doubted me."
"I'd never doubt you," he quickly asserted. "I was just…"
"Scared?" she asked him, although she already knew the answer. "I know. I've been scared, too. Why didn't you just tell me who you were instead of beating around the bush like that?"
"That, my love, is a very long story," he informed her, sweeping the girl into his arms with ease as he looked to the valley below them. "And it would be better to tell you about it on the way back to the Sky Kingdom, so that the old fool can't interrupt us with his ridiculous notions."
"Old fool?" Haru asked, her heart turning cold as she looked into the valley as well, only to see a cavalry riding towards them at a fast pace, a gold crown gleaming in the sunlight in front of the column as a familiar voice began to be heard over the rolling hills.
"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF MY BRIDE!!" the king bellowed at the cat man, frothing at the mouth as he brandished a sword dangerously.
Humbert took off running again, straight into a forest mountain range with the brunette's arms wrapped firmly around his neck. He skillfully dodged past giant boulders, occasionally snapping an unfamiliar word behind him to make the boulders break loose from their resting places, and come crashing through the trees to meet the army trying to follow them up the mountain.
"You've been busy," Haru said softly, rubbing her cheek against her beloved's shoulder affectionately.
"You have absolutely no idea," he said tiredly, hopping over a large cave and tapping it three times with one foot, muttering even more strange words under his breath insistently.
A large bear lumbered out of his cave, and began running down to the few soldiers that had managed to catch up to them, roaring with madness. The men immediately ran back down the mountain, screaming for their very lives.
"How are we going to escape them by going up the mountain?" Haru asked curiously.
Humbert smiled wickedly at her, and kept running. "Just trust me, love."
Haru giggled, and kissed his furry neck lovingly. "As you wish."
"Thank you," he said gratefully, always weaving them higher and higher up the mountain as the soldiers fell farther and farther behind.