Chapter Eight: A Joyous Reunion
The white cat smiled grimly and laughed.
"Kind of sad that yelling at you is how you'd know it's me. I'll probably have to call Muta a fatso before he believes it's really me."
"Are you saying that I'm a fat cow?!"
Her ears pricked upwards, and she turned to the window behind her, a few stories up. Her heart eased; they were all there! All the people she loved the most and she could see them! Tears of happiness started to cloud her vision, and she blinked them away to beam at the largest cat in the window.
"No, you're just fat; there's a difference, Moo-ta!"
The large crow laughed and sailed down to envelop her in a warm hug.
"Only the real Haru would insult him like that!"
She giggled and hugged him back, closing her eyes in pleasure.
"So? Did you guys have enough time to miss-"
Baron tackled her before she could finish her question, squeezing her hard and weeping into her fur. Toto wisely stepped back a little, Baron's crush being a little obvious to him from the start. Everyone else decided not to follow the Creations out the window in favor of the stairs, moving like a stampede.
The new Creation managed to wiggle one arm loose enough to slip the crown shard into Baron's pocket.
"I had to go through your desk to find Lune's shard; I promise I'll clean up the mess, but I just wanted to see you so bad-" she babbled.
The orange cat reluctantly released Haru enough to look her in the eyes, holding one cheek with a shaky hand. When he had last seen this doll, the eyes were the same minty green as his, but now they were Haru's gloriously rich milk chocolate. And her face! When the doll didn't have a soul, it was completely blank and merely pretty. But watching Haru's expressions cross it, seeing her wonderful eyes sparkle with life… it was more than he thought he could ever hope for again. His Haru made the body beautiful. He laughed, tears of relief flowing down his cheeks as he kissed her fur.
"Haru, don't you ever scare us like that again!"
She giggled, and wrapped her arms around his neck to squeeze him back, kissing his cheek.
"Don't worry, I'll think up new ways to scare you. I don't want to try dying again; it's not fun."
He nodded his head, and kissed her full on the mouth.
Her eyes widened in shock, since she had never seen this side of him before. But she was not about to start complaining about it. She may have been thinking Baron would be toast, but from the way he was kissing her, it looked like she would be the one covered with butter and jam. She closed her eyes, allowing her body to melt against his, not wasting any time to kiss him back.
'Oh… my! Dang, can that cat kiss!' It felt like her body was designed just to fit against Baron's, like she was meant to be at his side. Her heart wept with joy, finally knowing that her feelings were returned in full. The white cat felt a hand tap her shoulder.
"There will be plenty of time for that later, young lady. We want to hug you too."
She giggled, and reluctantly broke off the kiss, Baron smiling at her as he let her go. Her mother clung to her, not caring about the unfamiliarity of this new body.
"How did this happen, Sweetheart?"
The white cat smiled lovingly and hugged her human mother.
"Do you remember what Dad used to say about wishes having power? And all those times you told me it was silly to wish for a stronger body?"
Her mother laughed and continued to squeeze her as the royal couple also hugged the new Creation, Muta just wrapping his arms around the group of cats and picking them up to squeeze them.
"I know I was wishing you'd stick around longer."
"Same here."
"And me."
Haru giggled, realizing the power of all the combined wishes on her behalf.
"Plus all the ones I wished growing up… I guess there was finally enough power to make it happen. I just don't understand why I had to be at the Bureau though."
Muta looked sharply at Baron, who nodded slightly and pointed to himself. Grinning, the white cat released his captives so that the orange cat doll could get at Haru again. He wrapped his arms around her, nuzzling her cheek.
"That was my fault, I believe. Your new body was created by my artisan to be my mate, but it didn't have a soul."
Her eyes widened as he squeezed her again.
"Do you have any idea how it feels, being bound to a soulless doll while the girl I loved was torn away? I made a wish to spend eternity with you instead of an empty shell. Granted, I wasn't expecting your soul to merge with the doll, but I'm not about to complain."
She grinned and hugged him back. He kissed her ear, thinking about all the times he had dusted off this body, how often he had wondered what the point was of keeping her around. To think; he had the key to keeping Haru with him forever since before she was born!
The Cat King had long retreated, with his tail between his legs.
"Neither am I. It's way more comfortable than my human body, no offense Mom."
"None taken." The red haired woman smiled, fingering the obsidian amulet thoughtfully. "You know? Those doctors have probably told the police that I stole you and let you die."
Haru looked at her.
"Shoot, should have thought of that. Now what? If you try to return with or without my body, you'll be sent to prison."
Naoko grinned widely and pulled off the amulet.
"You have a nice kingdom here, Lune. Mind if I stick around?"
He grinned at her and shook his head while taking back the charm.
"For Haru's mother, the Cat Kingdom will always be open. What do you want done with your first body, Haru?"
The white cat shuddered.
"Do you have any idea how morbid that sounds?"
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
The coroner pulled back the sheet, making Haru wince.
"So I did look as bad as I felt. Thank heaven that's over with."
Her mother squeezed her again, a fine coat of fur growing on her arms as her hands slowly changed into paws. Baron smiled warmly on the other side of her, his conscience clean as he looked at her old face and kissed the new one.
"Oh, I don't know. You look good to me."
She grinned back at him.
"You flirt." She sighed. "I think we should return my body to the human world, to the hospital. The only thing worse than knowing someone's dead is not knowing. It will provide closure for everyone."
Naoko nodded, glad that she was able to keep her girl after all. If anything, she felt sorry for the ones that couldn't keep Haru.