Chapter Fourteen: The Criminal

Baron tossed a few choice vegetables to Haru who caught them easily and passed them down the line of children until Elly threw them into the family basket. After paying the vendor, the tawny lord grabbed one end of the heavy basket, with Haru on the other end of it. Together, they picked it up and carried it back to the borderlands, the children clustered around them almost like a clutch of baby chicks.

The faint brush of fur that had began to grow on Haru withdrew into her skin as Hashi's ears lost their pointed edge and began to slowly move down the sides of his head, making him sigh in relief while feeling his face.

"Ah, that's better."

Thomas looked over at his best friend a little defensively. "Is there something wrong with being a cat?" he asked stiffly, making the dark human's steps falter a bit.

"No," Hashi added hastily. "I'm… just used to being a human, is all. I didn't mean any offense!"

"None taken," Baron said firmly, giving his son a stern look. "I'm certain that you feel the same way about turning into a full human, don't you Thomas?"

"Yes, Father," the tiger-like kitten said in an apologetic gesture, and let the matter drop.

Haru smiled softly, gripping her side of the basket carefully. This was the second time this month that she and her brother had made a trip to the Human Side of the borderlands, in order to lose the slowly approaching feline features. Hers were a bit harder to see than her brother's, thanks to the thick glasses that stopped just short of being a mask, but they were nonetheless present. With each interruption in the shape-shifting cycle, the land's strange spell seemed more and more determined to take her and her brother under its hold. She couldn't help but glumly wonder how soon it would be before she and her brother would have to start taking daily trips out of the borderlands in order to keep their true forms.

"Baron!" Toto shrieked about five minutes before the little group made it in sight of the house, flying at a frantic pace.

The feline lord stopped dead in his tracks, having only seen his feathered friend lose his composure on a small handful of times. "What's wrong?" he called up, setting the basket down on the soft grass.

The dark crow didn't even bother to land, hovering a few feet above the air. "It's Renaldo Moon! He's approaching your house, and I think he has a hostage!"

Baron's heart froze as Elly gasped in fear, but the feline lord didn't hesitate to jump onto Toto's back while he was still in the air. "Stay with the children!" he ordered Haru before the crow carried him away.

The human girl stared at him as the two slowly became smaller in the distance. "Who's Renaldo Moon?" she asked Elly.

ooOoo

Even when he was still a good distance from his house, Baron could see the enormous figure that made up the worst criminal in Cat History, a gigantic spot of cream gluttony with a speck of brown on one ear. And yes, he was carrying something in his paws that suspiciously looked like another cat.

"Let me handle this," he growled under his breath, expertly rolling off Toto's back, and flipping through the air effortlessly before perfectly landing squarely between the criminal and his family home on all fours.

"That's far enough, I think," Baron said coldly, taking a good look at the cat between the white one's paws.

She was a lovely peach-colored feline, but she was panting heavily, and her slightly frail arms were wrapped around a huge belly, which was moving around noticeably.

Renaldo Moon tensed up, his eyes full of fear, but his huge jaw was set with a self-sacrificing determination. "I'll surrender without a fight if you can get me a midwife," he said in a rush, his voice cracking with worry. "My wife's going into labor, and I don't know what to do to help her."

Baron's heart froze over, as he remembered the fateful day that he himself had more or less uttered those words. "How do I know it's not a trick?" he asked sternly.

The peachy cat screamed once and convulsed over her belly in the ridiculously fat white cat's arms. "These aren't false contractions!" she cried out, panting and crying in terrible pain.

Baron knew he shouldn't even consider giving in so easily, but the dormant memories of his own wife's cries wouldn't allow him to consider the matter further. He almost turned on his heel to call up to Toto. "Go to town! Find a midwife!"

"Don't bother!"

Both the lord and criminal turned, seeing the kittens and humans coming up at a dead run, the basket forgotten.

Baron growled irritably. "I thought I told you to watch the kittens, Haru."

The slim brunette marched right past him to inspect the weeping feline carefully. Baron's mind missed a click, shocked that his usually mild-mannered nanny was ignoring him.

That was completely uncalled for.

"Her time's close. Bring her inside immediately," the slim brunette ordered like a drill sergeant.

"What about a midwife?!" Renaldo yelled as the human started pulling on his chubby arm.

"I am a midwife, you dunce! Now are you going to let me help her or not?!" Haru yelled at him before looking over her shoulder. "Hashi, go get my bag."

"On it," he cried while throwing himself through the door, leaving it open behind him so that Haru could drag the father-to-be into the house.

Baron's children rushed past him as he stood as still as a statue. "She's a midwife?" he asked himself before following his children into their home.

Haru had led the criminal to a small bedroom on the ground floor, and had him gently ease his wife onto the clean sheets of the bed. The kittens had gathered outside at the door, but then broke fearfully away as Haru firmly pushed the expectant father out the door.

"I'll let you know when it's over. Hashi, have you found the bag yet?!"

"Here it is!" the dark brother answered, jumping off the staircase and coming down at a dead run. With a practiced flair, he swung the brown bag his sister had been carrying for years at her, and she snatched it out of the air with ease.

"Keep him busy," she ordered before nearly slamming the door shut.

Purposefully, Hashi marched up to the door, and stood guard in front of it, his arms outstretched like a barricade. "So, what would you like to do?" the boy asked pleasantly. "Pace the floor, chop firewood, wax the ballroom floor…"

The last suggestion to fall from the human's lips had sounded pretty hopeful. The fat white and brown cat grunted once, and started nervously stalking the hallway on all fours, sharply turning around when the hallway came to a turn. Baron's children had gathered around his legs fearfully, trembling slightly with fear.

As the feline lord wrapped his arms around his beloved children, his eyes followed the swiftly moving villain, who strangely resembled a bulldozing train in his nervous condition.

His own heartbeat began to increase; remembering the day his kittens had been born like it was yesterday.

"Daddy, how long is this going to take?" Elly whispered, clinging to her father's leg.

Baron sighed, and patted her head. "No telling. Perhaps ten minutes, perhaps until tomorrow morning."

"I hope not," Renaldo prayed worriedly, his face taking on a slightly greenish cast.

"I doubt it's going to take that long," Hashi disagreed. "Three hours, tops, with how her belly was moving."

Baron turned to the human boy, a slight suspicion in his heart. "Since when has your sister been a midwife?"

Hashi shrugged. "I can't remember that far back. Mother was one, and sometimes needed help, so Haru was her helper for a few years before she started delivering babies by herself."

"She'll be able to help my wife, right?" Renaldo begged, his eyes filled with a vast pleading.

Hashi nodded confidently. "Trust me. My sister is a great midwife. Your wife will be just fine."

The large brown cat sighed with relief, actual tears squeezing past his guard. "We've been so scared, ever since we found out kittens were coming, that we'd be on our own for this, too." He looked over at the orange and cream cat, making his children flinch back a bit. "You'll let me hold my kittens just one time, right? Before you take me to the castle for judgment?"

"Of course," Baron said, his own feelings uneasy. Despite this cat's fearsome reputation, he didn't truly seem like a villain.

Perhaps it was just the approach of fatherhood. Still, Baron couldn't quite shake the feeling that something was off about the white and brown cat, as he resumed his thoughtful pacing.

ooOoo

An hour after the screams had subsided, the legendary criminal groaned angrily. "I can't take it anymore!" He ran for the door, which was still being protected by the small human boy.

Baron stood up sharply from his cluster of dozing children, but he needn't have bothered.

Just as Renaldo was about to brush Hashi aside, the lad stepped to the side while grabbing the paw that had been thrown at him. Using the momentum that the fat cat had used to try bulldozing the door down, the boy threw him to the opposite side of the hallway that he had been running down.

Renaldo stumbled over his paws, turning around in astonishment.

Hashi had resumed his former position over the door, his smile slightly naughty. "Are you sure you don't want to chop firewood for a while? It'll help take your mind off things."

The cream-colored cat darkened angrily, and stomped up to the human boy again. "You can't keep me-" he started saying, but then was cut off as the door opened behind the boy.

Haru appeared, her smile a little tired. The front of her blue-grey dress was splattered with blood. "Hashi, go make Mother's special tea. Sasami will need at least one cup of it before I let her go to sleep."

The boy nodded once and ran off on his errand.

The human girl looked up at the new father, and smiled warmly. "Why don't you come in and meet the little ones?"

Renaldo bit back a cry of relief, running into the room as Haru stepped out of it, so that he wouldn't bulldoze her. Baron walked up behind her, and put one hand on her slim shoulder.

"They're fine?" he asked worriedly.

The bespectacled brunette turned to her employer… and nodded. "Two healthy beautiful daughters, and the mother's just fine. We better give them a moment. New parents always want a few moments alone after a birthing."

"I know," Baron said, pondering something. "Haru, you didn't happen to hear the deal I made with Renaldo Moon, did you?"

"No. I just heard you call out for a midwife, so I stepped up. To be honest with you, Baron, I didn't really care what kind of deal you might have made. I was going to help Sasami, even if you ended up firing me for it."

The very thought made Baron's heart stop cold, possibly colder than when he had realized that she was purposefully ignoring him.

"I'm not going to fire you, Haru. Ever."

It wasn't until the brunette's mouth slowly drew open in shock that Baron realized that he had unintentionally said the thought out loud.