Chapter Six: A Past Unknown

"What took you?" Fredrick pointedly asked as a slightly shell-shocked Haru collapsed in the chair across from him, her hair now left in a long braid.

"Best friend, and then a cat that almost became road kill, nothing much." The young woman shook the impossibility of what had just happened out of her mind, and then carefully extracted Baron from her purse. Setting him gently on the table facing Fredrick, he leaned in closer for a better inspection, his excitement growing.

"And you say that you found him inside an antique shop with a tag reading Humbert von Gikkingen?"

"Baron Humbert von Gikkingen. I usually call him Baron though." Fredrick looked up from his inspection, his eyebrows raised.

"How did you know about his nickname?" Haru was puzzled by this question.

"I started calling him that because it suited him better than 'Humbert'. What do you mean, 'how do I know?'" The man gave a heavy sigh, sipped his tea, and gazed into the sky.

"I mean, Miss Yoshioka-"

"Haru."

"-Haru, that Baron Humbert von Gikkingen was-is-my older brother." Her jaw dropped.

"And you are correct. 'Baron' definitely suits him better."

"So, what was this doing in that shop?"

"Not quite sure. It could have been the basis for a joke that Muta and Toto cooked up to get underneath Baron's skin before..." the man voice had trailed off, lost in memories. Haru leaned across the table.

"Before..." she prompted. Fredrick's gaze shifted back to her, a slight smile on his face.

"I suppose you would like to hear the story?"

"Very much, actually."

"All right." Fredrick folded his arms across his chest and took a deep breath. "To start out with, Baron had never been fond of his given name, and no one else was either. If he had been a little less sure of himself, I'm sure that he would have gotten into plenty more fights over his given name, which was our grandfather's. Our father was a German nobleman that that met and fell in love with the daughter of a Baroness. He later married her and became the Baron of a small but profitable piece of land. Unlike so many others, our father concentrated on helping others, and often went out of his way to help others, a trait that was passed down to my brother a bit stronger than myself." He took another sip of tea and looked Haru straight in the eye.

"There wouldn't be any point to hiding this, so I'll make it plain; when we were children, I idolized my brother, who had become the baron after our father died in a horse accident. Humbert was only thirteen at the time, but he took his duties very seriously. Our mother had been a firm believer of the importance of a well-rounded education. I didn't appreciate this much, but Baron thrived on learning. He had a passing familiarity with most subjects, had studied several styles of swordplay, an accomplished dancer and violinist, plus a perfect gentleman. Of course, he took on the name of Baron as soon as he could get the name to stick, which really did suit him better than 'Humbert' ever did." Fredrick put down his teacup and sighed. Haru gave a small grin.

"He sounds like a great guy." Fredrick eyed her.

"He often had to fend off accusations of perfection, and if it weren't for the fact that he was engaged, women wouldn't have been able to stay away from him, and they had difficulty with doing that anyway." She raised an eyebrow.

"Who was the lucky girl?"

"Louise Wellington. She was a daughter of a minor noble who had run low on money, so her parents and mine had arranged a marriage between Baron and Louise when they were young so that her parents could keep their high standard of living. I never really knew her; she wasn't one to, what's the modern term? Hang out with her boyfriend's kid brother?"

"Close enough." Haru motioned for him to continue.

"Anyway, Baron had two best friends growing up; one was our cousin, Renaldo Moon, who later took a liking to being called Muta since he was obsessed with Japanese culture, and Toto Banks, who was the son of our father's main advisor. Toto had been obsessed with airplanes and had dreams of flying one someday." Fredrick gave a warmer laugh. "You could hear those two fighting all over England, flinging insults at each other and getting into minor fights. It's amazing that Baron didn't go insane from listening to those two bicker or try to gag both of them even once. I had always admired his patience with those two." Fredrick's grin faded.

"To get on with the story, Muta managed to convince Baron into a trip to visit a pen pal in Tokyo, and took Louise and Toto along for the ride. They managed to send one garbled message about some trouble with cats after they arrived, but then they vanished." Haru sat up in confusion.

"Vanished?"

"That's the only word for it. All I have been able to glean was that one maid had seen them enter their respective suites in the hotel they had been staying in, saw the men quickly rush over to Louise's room, and then nothing. None of them came out, and when the maid came to clean the rooms the next day, all of their luggage was still where they had left them, but no sign of where they were. The only thing wrong with the rooms was that the one Louise was staying in had flower baskets and petals all over her carpet, but the bouquet on the table had been untouched."

"I assume from your investigations that you've heard our myths about the midnight flower sprites?" Humbert nodded.

"Though why they would want Louise to join their number is beyond me. Anyway, the police searched for weeks, declared them dead, and I inherited the title of Baron." His tea was cold by then, but Fredrick didn't notice. "Everyone kept telling me that I should move on, but I've never been able to shake the feeling that Baron's still alive somewhere. When I saw your painting, I tasted hope again. You had captured Baron's eyes so perfectly that I was certain that you knew something that might lead me to my brother. He even used to wear the same outfit that this doll is wearing. If my brother had been part cat, this is exactly what he would have looked like." Haru was stunned. She certainly wasn't expecting anything like what Fredrick had just told her. Looking at the Baron on the table, she asked the other,

"Do you think that this doll might have something to do with your brother's disappearance?"

"It's the best lead I've received in the sixty years I've been looking for him." Haru scrambled to her feet with slightly wild eyes.

"Sixty years?" Fredrick nodded sadly.

"I would have given up by now, but the feeling would increase whenever I thought about it. I could sometimes almost hear Baron's encouragement not to give up."

"Believe in yourself and your abilities," Haru whispered. He looked sharply at her, recognizing the all-too familiar words, than reached across the table for her hand.

"Miss Haru, is there something else that you know that might help me? Even the slightest detail could be useful."

Haru had glanced up when his hand touched hers, and she was truly touched by what she saw in Fredrick's eyes. A vast amount of pain and loneliness seemed to echo through dark caverns inside those blue eyes. Taking a deep breath, Haru told him about how she had found Baron, and he winced when she mentioned how much dust was covering the precious doll.

"He priced a cat replica of my brother at a dollar?" This had earned him several confused glances, some even rude, from the people at the other tables.

"I know it isn't much, but I gave him a fifty instead." The look of outrage passed from Fredrick's face, only to be replaced by wonder, and a trace of confusion.

"Why..." was all he could manage to say. Haru again looked at her Baron, a warm smile enveloping her face.

"When I first brushed off the dust and got a good look at him, I couldn't help but notice the fine detail that had been put into him. Whoever had made that doll had put a lot of effort into it, and I couldn't help but think that if that artisan had heard what his work was worth to that shopkeeper, his heart would have surely been broken." Haru lovingly ran her finger along one of Baron's ears. "That's how I would feel, if I caught someone trying to resell something I had put my heart and soul into for so little." Fredrick looked at her for a moment, his mind slowly comprehending what she was trying to say. She loved that doll for what he represented, which could have been just fine artwork, but he felt that it was something more.

"Miss Haru, I was originally planning to buy this baron from you as well." She looked up in alarm, and for a second, Fredrick could have sworn that he saw a spark of panic in the doll's eyes too.

"But I can see now that even I can't afford the price that would make you agree to sell him. I'll have to settle for investigating the antique shop." Haru heaved a sigh of relief, barely noticing that she had grabbed the doll and had held it close in that moment of panic. Just then, her cell phone started playing a beeping version of Tchaikovsky. Haru, groaned, knowing that she was about to get yelled at for being late again.

"Haru, where are you?!" The sound of Hiromi's voice could be clearly heard by Fredrick and a few people at a nearby table, who all turned their heads to see what the noise was about. Haru's face turned beet red.

"I managed to convince the people renting the dresses to do everyone else first, but you need to get here ASAP!"

"Sorry, Hiromi, I'll be there as soon as I can. Bye." Haru slapped her cell phone and swiftly placed Baron back in her bag. "Sorry I have to run out like this."

"That's all right." He handed her a small card as she fled the table. "Call this number if you need or want to talk to me again." Haru slipped the card inside her purse.

"Thanks, I will."