Love Me Knot
It was a good day, Haru decided as she fixed another screw into place and double checked that the current beam was level against the thick fence it was built onto. She smiled with satisfaction as she again tested the weight and latch to make sure they would do what she designed.
So far, so good. The brunette gave a long stretch that made parts of her back pop into place before removing the spare beam she was using as a third hand. It would have been nice to have someone around to help, but alas, the fact that she didn't was why she went through the trouble of designing her medieval-inspired marvel.
"This should keep all of you safe, at least," she confided to the growing plants she had been carefully stepping around for the last three days. "But even if they raise a fuss about my invention, they'll be forced to account for why it offends them." A wicked giggle escaped her control, and she couldn't help wishing that she would be outside when the entitled neighbors sprung the trap.
She could hear a car approaching from the other side of the fence, but since there was little she could do about it, Haru settled for carefully taking the beam and tools out of her garden so that she could put the net up in peace.
The car did not throw anything over her fence, thank heaven, but she was still confused at the sounds that meant it was parking beside her house. "Here we go again," she muttered under her breath before opening the box with her special net in it.
"I see she got that fence up. Good riddance, those lousy neighbors didn't deserve to know she has a garden, much less look at it."
Haru immediately lit up as she recognized the gruff voice. "Officer Tsuki! I'm surprised you dropped by!" She left the box open before running for the gate, which was heavily reinforced thanks to her specifications. She checked through the peephole to make sure it was him before unlatching the gate.
The large cop grinned down at her. "It looks like you're doing well. Are those clotheslines?" he asked when his eye became distracted by the skeleton of her creation.
"No, but I'll let you watch what it does when I'm finished putting it up. Please come in," she invited, even as she noticed that there was another man present.
He was tall with a beaklike nose, and she couldn't help thinking of a scarecrow as he stared at her with a strange combination of curiosity and terror.
"Great! Haru, this is Detective Biggens," Officer Tsuki introduced after he stepped through the gateway. "I told him you'd be willing to help him out with a case he's working on."
Haru couldn't help feeling baffled. "I can't imagine what he'd need my help for, but I can take a shot at it. Please come in," she invited him as well.
He seemed to shake from a dream before marching in as well, though staying silent until she had latched the gate shut again. "What I have to ask you is deeply personal, Miss Yoshioka. But I promise that I'm looking out for your best interest, as well as the public's."
Haru raised an eyebrow at him but leaned against the fence. "Well, you have my attention, at least. What's up?"
The detective took in a deep breath before asking something she wasn't expecting. "Have you, at any time of your life, met the Baron?"
Haru blinked. "The Baron? As in, tall tabby in a suit that happens to be a jewel thief, Baron?"
"That's correct. Have you met him?" he asked with a bit more force.
Haru couldn't resist a laugh at the idea while shaking her head. "I don't think there's really a polite way to say this, but he's the sort of person you wouldn't forget meeting. This is especially true since I love cats; I'd for sure remember even seeing him at a distance. But I rarely go into big cities anymore, I find crowds claustrophobic."
For some reason, that made him even more nervous. Detective Biggens exhaled like he did not want to continue this interview, and his hand seemed to tremble a little as he reached into his coat pocket. "Does this mean anything to you?" he asked while handing her a folded photo.
Haru curiously opened it, but then jumped away as she threw the offering to the ground. "Where did you get that?!" she demanded angrily.
The detective seemed even less happy than before. "From the Baron's coat pocket. He's had a copy somewhere on him every time we manage to arrest him since he started his 'career'. Whenever I try to question him about it, he only calls it his 'good luck charm' with a goofy smile."
Haru would have fainted if she'd had a weaker disposition. "This is bad," she choked in horror as she began pacing. "It's been ten years, and he still has it? Why did Mom have to be right?" Then her eyes widened with horror. "What am I going to do if he tracks me down?!"
"Hey, easy there," Officer Tsuki tried to say soothingly, reaching out one hand to block her pacing. "Deep breaths, in, and out."
Although it felt childish, Haru forced herself to obey his breathing directions until her head was clearer.
Not that it stopped her from wanting to run around in circles in a blind panic.
"Well. You definitely seem to know what's important about this photo," the detective couldn't resist saying a bit wryly while holding it between two fingers. "But since you seem to understand the danger, would you mind filling me in?"
Haru couldn't resist a nervous glance at the tall fence surrounding her property. It was a good idea to keep neighbors from helping themselves to her flowers and produce, but now it would be all too easy for someone to be hiding out and hoping to hear some juicy gossip. "Let's go inside; I don't want the neighbors to find out," she urged, grabbing both men by the wrist and nearly dragging them into her beautiful little cottage.
Once she locked the back door behind them, the nervous woman gestured at the couch as she started pacing. "I want to start this off by saying that photo's the reason I became a hermit."
"We're all ears," the large police officer assured her as he and the detective sat down, even as the slimmer man quickly took out a recording device and turned it on.
"Okay, so it all started with my grandma," Haru rambled as she walked back and forth in front of them. "She got the idea stuck in her head that she wanted to be a supermodel. Good for her; her life, her body, her choice. The problem wasn't that she wasn't good, at least that's how it was explained to me, but that other people were just better. It's the nature of life, no matter how good you are, there's always someone better, and sometimes the only reason you didn't get top billing is that you were modeling at the same time as someone you can't compare to."
"Sounds about right," the detective noted to encourage her to keep talking.
"However, after only a few years, a guy from a wealthy enough family proposed to her, and she said yes mostly for the easy life," Haru continued while nearly racing across her carpet. "She didn't want to have kids for at least a few more years so she could keep modeling, but first the family pressured her into having my mom, and then into giving up her career so that my mom wouldn't be alone growing up. Grandma never got over the disappointment."
"I'm getting the feeling she forced your mom to model, too," Officer Tsuki noted sadly, making Haru laugh with little mirth.
"Oh, yes. You don't want to know about all the eating and mental disorders she forced on Mom so that she could live vicariously through her daughter. But let's be honest, there's a lot of bad choices to be made when you're growing up in front of a spotlight."
Haru stopped pacing and held her hands out to the sides as if to showcase herself. "Mom's promised that she never regretted having me, but finding herself pregnant to another teen model at sixteen was a brutal wake-up call that something had to change. Even though society thought she should still do as Grandma wanted out of respect, Mom was able to sue for emancipation and emotional damages before I was born, barely. She kept Grandma away from me for ten years while she went back to school to make a career that she wouldn't age out of, and my sperm donor signed away his rights to me five months before his overdose."
Finally feeling exhausted, Haru dragged her kitchen chair to her living rom before collapsing on it, since the couch was the only furniture in there. "Grandma seemed really remorseful, too. She said all the right things, made all the right actions for Mom to believe she was a changed woman and just wanted her family back. For two years, she was the perfect grandma. Gifts on birthdays and Christmas, meals at home and restaurants, even watching little kid movies she couldn't have been interested in, because she wanted time with me. I still can't believe she had that kind of patience," she snarled under breath.
"What happened?" the detective asked, nearly leaning out of his seat.
"She finally saw her chance and took it. Mom's a quilt designer that was due to go on a tour, but she didn't want to take me out of school, so Grandma offered to stay with me." Haru shook her head angrily. "She made it feel like it was only playing. I can't be judged for being fine with playing make believe with her out in a meadow."
Officer Tsuki caught on. "And wearing white dresses while making daisy flower crowns was probably fun."
"It was. I never saw a photographer, and she made me promise that it was our special time, and not to tell Mommy since this was just for us." Since the back of the chair was in front of her, Haru tiredly banged her forehead on it once.
"I don't know what happened with when she insisted we do it with other colored dresses every day Mom was gone, but Mom definitely noticed when my picture was being sold in common brand picture frames and she needed a new one."
The detective blinked before taking another look at the photo. "So that's why there's a funny shape on this. The Baron must have trimmed off the bit at the bottom that only had the dimensions and daisies on it."
"Yep," Haru agreed darkly. "I don't think I need to go into details about the fight after Mom found out, or that I had to run away every time Grandma tried to approach me after that. Mom didn't want me doing what she did when she was in the business, so she made sure to tell me all the worst parts of having complete strangers know what you look like and the kind of pressure you face even off camera. The one that scared me the most was the idea of some weirdo deciding that he was in love with me without knowing anything about me personally, tracking me down, and breaking into my place for bad reasons I doubt I need to explain to you two." She banged her head on the chair back again.
"Why did she have to be right? And a supervillain! How the heck would I make a relationship work with a supervillain, even if there were sparks?!"
"Highly unrecommended," her officer friend stated firmly. "You're a good girl, Haru, and I've gotten to see for myself that you do no harm but take no trash. But the Baron is a little different than entitled neighbors."
Haru managed a grunt of agreement. "I never heard of him having a body count. Does he have one?"
"No," the detective admitted with relief. "But he's done some pretty interesting things to guards that try to stop him, which is why I'm still worried about you when he won't take no for an answer."
Haru tapped her fingertips against the chair's back in morbid thought. "He'd laugh his way past my defenses. Heck, he waltzes through top security ones! Literally!"
"Actually, I think some of it is ballet," the detective corrected thoughtfully before shaking his head and fishing around his pocket. "But since you fully understand the danger you're in, I'm sure you can be trusted with this."
A little surprised, Haru accepted what looked like a lighter. "My guess is that this isn't for candles?" she tried to joke since she needed something to help her feel better about the situation.
"No. It's actually a beeper for a swat team. Please be careful with it; they don't have patience for 'slipped fingers'," he warned her seriously.
Haru placed it in her shirt pocket to keep from anything touching it. "I understand. My chances of actually using it increase if he thinks I'm trying to 'set the mood'."
Officer Tsuki grunted while stretching from his side of the couch. "Most people use smoking as an excuse, but hey, whatever works. Hey, did you ever get paid for the model work, or did Granny fleece you?" he asked with a protective glare.
Haru rolled her eyes. "She put my earnings into a trust fund and added to it occasionally for when I was old enough to not need Mom's permission. It was supposed to be the bait to make me model for five years to get at the rest of her money, but I flat out told her lawyer to skip to plan B for the rest of it. It's how I was able to afford this place." She gestured around the house that felt more like a cottage. "So how soon should I be expecting Baron to find me?"
"Luckily, you've been very discreet," Detective Biggens informed her with a relieved smile. "We'd have found you a lot faster if you had a driving license or let a friend take a picture, but you've been ideal about keeping your face and name separate."
"He wouldn't have found you at all if he didn't show me the picture while complaining," Officer Tsuki added with a naughty smile, gaining a glare from the detective. "Just keep up the good work and he'll never find you."
Haru breathed a sigh of relief at his confidence. "Thank heaven. I finally got my life the way I like it, I don't need to deal with Grandma's aftermath when she shouldn't be a problem anymore."
"Definitely not." Detective Biggens also handed her a card with his name and number. "Just in case you catch any hints that he found you," he said with a sympathetic smile.
Haru immediately walked into her tiny kitchen to use a magnet to hold the card to the fridge. "Thanks. Both of you had probably better leave before the neighbors start any nonsense about how long you've been here."
"Hmm, I wouldn't mind arresting that crone that wanted your carrots again," Officer Tsuki purred as she escorted them out of her house and to the tall gate since that's where they parked. "But don't forget to be careful, okay, Chicky?"
"I haven't so far," Haru promised with a weak smile as she let them out of her property and locked the gate behind them.
She rested her forehead on the wood for a moment, trying to think of what more she could do to remain undetectable.
But no. Anything that could be done, she had already taken care of. Her home was registered through a third party so it couldn't be traced, she'd specifically chosen a career that required anonymity and working from home so that she didn't have to worry about coworkers, and she'd even lost the friends that just couldn't understand why her privacy was so important.
She tried to shake off her bad mood and go back to putting the net up in her 'karmapult'. But as soon as her fingers touched the box, she remembered her little fan project. "I should hide that," she choked in horror before running into her house like it was on fire.
She burst into her bedroom, but it was already too late.
The Baron, international jewel thief, master cat burglar and dancing enthusiast, was sitting at her desk with a wide, smug grin. He was in a more casual grey suit than the ones he used for heists. One gloved hand slightly rotated a flat disc of wood across the desk. The disc in question had a burned etching of himself in a dramatic pose while tipping his hat at whoever may look upon him.
Haru blushed redder than a radish that he'd already found her little project.
"I can't tell you how relieved I am that it's my occupation that's distressing you so," he purred while still beaming at her. "I was already planning to retire after 'convincing' the police to help me find you."