Chapter Nine: Open for Punishment
Haru sighed as she speedily walked down the hallways of the palace. She had tried to run, the first few months that she started caring if she was late for something here, but there was enough chaos around without adding a speed demon-queen that everyone was too afraid to scold. It didn't matter if the king wanted her to be more careful. The servants had enough on their separate duties without adding her accidents to the impressive lists.
Her buttercup-yellow dress flowed gracefully behind her. A simple one, since the king only allowed her to dress in black while visiting her mother's grave. And it had taken a carefully-worded contract to trick him into letting her dress in a simpler style when she didn't have to attend a royal function. The crown, unfortunately, never left her brow, despite her attempts to remove the blasted thing.
She came up to her destination, and took a second to catch her breath. Calmly, she pulled the curtain aside and walked within.
Yosho looked at her from the wall, and then at his watch.
"I see you're seven minutes late as usual, your Majesty. Well, let's line up the latest on death row, shall we?"
'Oh, ha ha. Stop, my sides are splitting,' she thought ironically as he gestured to the latest teachers to try her. One or two of them looked fairly confident, but the rest seemed a little nervous. The queen sighed tiredly.
'Will you clowns knock it off? I'm not the one forcing you to do this.' She nodded at Yosho, who got behind his piano and sat down. He looked at the list grimly.
"First one for today is Count Hashil."
She looked at the familiar tan cat, as he nervously approached her. His mouth flapped a bit, and he turned a little red.
"M-may I, your Majesty?" he asked, holding out a paw to her. Feeling the familiar sense of dread, she smiled her usual guarded smile, and placed her hand in his paw. He led her to the middle of the ballroom, and nervously looked over at the pianist, swallowing a bit.
"A… a waltz, if you could?"
Yosho smiled, nodded, and started something suitably soft. The count looked at the queen again, now visibly shaking.
"T-the box step is fairly easy, your Majesty." He took a few steps away and restrained himself from taking more. Very deliberately, he moved his feet in time to the music. Front, right, back, left, and again. But where he put his steps, made it look more like two triangles meshed together.
"Like that, your Majesty."
She nodded tiredly, having seen the box step many, many times. The count smiled nervously, and stepped closer to the queen again. Hesitantly, like he was trying to catch a cobra, he took her by the hand and put his other paw on her waist.
"I'm not being disrespectful, your Majesty," he stammered, turning a little red. She nodded again, feeling a bit irritated.
'Let's just get this over with.'
ooOoo
Approximately three minutes later, Haru jumped away from her partner, as he lay on the ballroom floor, bawling his head off while clutching his right leg. Her shoulders sagged as she made the usual whistle.
Two male nurses came in with a stretcher from one of the curtain entrances, and very carefully loaded the latest victim onto the transportation. One of the nurses laughed a little while he and his friend picked the stretcher back up.
"Can you wait five minutes before calling us again, Majesty? It takes a while to travel from here to the medical wing."
'Yes, yes, I know that. I'll try,' she promised mentally, although she was well aware that they couldn't hear her thoughts. It'd make things a lot easier if they could, but they couldn't.
The next teacher looked even less confident. Despite her promise, it was only two minutes before he bit the dust as well. Three fled, while the last one gave it a shot anyway. He managed to make it to four and a half minutes, an impressive new record in both the Cat and Human Kingdoms.
As her latest partner gave another howl, someone billowed through the curtain. Haru looked up, and flushed.
It was the Cat Bureau. Yosho looked up, and the music faltered to a clanging halt.
"Ah! My lord," he stammered fearfully. Haru looked at him in surprise.
'I thought nothing could shake you, Yosho. Why do you fear the Bureau?'
The Cat Creation looked from the queen to the pianist, an amused smile on his lips.
"Just out of curiosity, Majesty, is this your way of interrogating murder suspects?"
She flushed darkly, and started shaking her head and hand fast.
'No, but the king's used my 'meowsy' dancing for punishment more than once!'
Yosho coughed nervously.
"The king promised a duchy on anyone that can teach the queen how to dance with grace, my lord. The miserable pile on the floor makes for Victim # 495."
Haru glowered miserably at him.
'Did he have to say that out loud? Besides, the only guy that could ever make me dance with grace has been dead since I was eight.'
Baron suddenly looked sharply at her, a little horrified. She blinked and looked around, trying to figure out what was attracting his strange attention. Or was he just incredulous that she really could hurt cats like that?
Muta came forward a little, and nervously bowed low.
"Hey, Chicky."
Haru looked up at him as Yosho started convulsing.
"You can't talk to the queen like that!"
The brunette whistled sharply once, and waved a finger in a 'no no' gesture at the pianist.
'After all the times I called him Fatso, I think I can let him get away with Chicky.' She turned to her large friend and smiled warmly while bowing politely. 'It's good seeing you again, and to find out what your name really is.'
He seemed relieved, enough to relax some.
"I just wanted to say… if we had known about your problem, back then, we'd have helped you. We would have tried, if we could've… I'm sorry for not talking to you when I had the chance."
She looked up at him, not quite expecting the apology.
'Oh, you big marshmallow. Don't tell me that you're beating yourself up about my predicament, too.' Shaking her head warmly, she stepped forward enough to softly hug him around his middle, since there was no way in heck that she was going to be able to wrap her arms all the way around him. She could feel his arms hesitantly close around her, and hold her oh so gently.
She wished that she could get hugged like that more often.
'The only one at fault is the king. There's nothing to forgive, Muta.'
As Yosho made more strangled sounds, Haru opened one eye enough to notice that the Baron was looking at her as well. But, he looked confused for some reason. He cleared his throat as the queen and his friend regretfully pulled apart, politely commanding her attention.
"We were hoping to ask you a few questions, your Majesty. Do you mind terribly?"
Haru stole one look at the incredulous crushed noblemen and hyperventilating pianist, and shook her head a bit, looking straight at the Cat Creation she had heard so much about.
'Fire away, I think I've caused enough damage in here for today.'
The orange and cream cat smiled softly, almost amusedly.
"Would you be kind enough to tell us why you don't speak? Muta was quite clear in saying that you could talk as a human."