Midnight Jamboree Part 4
"Move faster," Gozaburo snapped at his two charges as they tiredly turned the earth in preparation for the spring planting. "The sun is beginning to set, and I for one don't plan on being out at night."
Seto didn't bother to argue as he chopped at the half-frozen earth. For one, he wasn't interested in finishing up the exhausting task in the dark when soup was simmering inside the cabin. For another, he knew better than to argue with the man that could take his and Mokuba's meager food and sleeping mat at the drop of a stick.
As for the safety reasons, Seto felt completely calm. He even smiled while thinking of his schoolteacher's attitude on the Horseman. She'd been completely honest with the children before her first lesson that she was not permitted to express her views, though they were well-known enough that no breath needed to be wasted.
If Miss Haru said there was no Horseman, there was no Horseman. Seto personally could understand how Mr. Rodgers could have been scared off by literally anything last year, and he'd much rather believe in the only adult in town that looked at him and saw potential. She even apologized to him when his math skills surpassed her own until she had little choice but to hand him off to Baron, who had taken to sitting in on the lessons with his own insights.
Seto's good mood faded when thinking of the nobleman, making him attack the earth with renewed fervor.
It just didn't seem all that fair. Yes, the baron was a good man, but anyone with eyes could see that the nobleman had certain plans for Miss Haru. As soon as the Bureau confirmed that she was right and there was no Headless Horseman, the handsome lord would make an offer for her hand. Her father had been strutting like a rooster all winter from the writing on the walls whenever the baron couldn't see him.
It wasn't fair. Well, of course it was, Miss Haru didn't belong in a little town that only paid attention when a foreign nobleman did. She belonged somewhere she could read as many books as she liked, and move about without getting scolded for having opinions of her own. Baron could give her a better life than anything this village could offer her, and even the ones that disliked her knew it.
But once she left, Sleepy Hollow would be cold and dark no matter the season. There would be literally nothing for him and his brother until he grew enough to take care of them both without Gozaburo and his double standards and high expectations. He wouldn't have even let the boys go to school instead of working if the village elders hadn't reminded him of certain-
A high-pitched scream suddenly shattered the darkening landscape, making Seto drop his little spade and stand up in horror. "That was Miss Haru!" he told Mokuba in a panic before quickly grabbing the spade and running in the direction of the scream, which was already getting louder and with more screams.
He didn't hear Gozaburo yell at him. He didn't know his brother was hot on his trail. All he knew was that Haru was in trouble, and he wasn't going to let her down!
By the time he reached the town square, everything was already in chaos. Many hadn't even grabbed outdoor wear against the chill in the air before coming out here, and too many people were talking at once!
"What happened?!" Seto demanded at the top of his lungs, but since he was a child, it didn't do him any good.
"That was the Horseman!" the people cried to each other, but the boy didn't really consider that an answer.
Seto knew there wasn't really a Headless Horseman, so what was going on?! Where was Miss Haru?! Mokuba clung to his arm to keep from being separated, but all it made Seto feel was like a high standing rock amidst a storm.
"What is going on!" Baron's voice rang out loud and clear, although between the thick crowd of people and the rapidly approaching darkness, neither of the boys could see him.
"It was the Horseman! He rode right through Akima's vegetable patch, grabbed Haru, and ran back into the woods!" Yugi's grandfather could be heard explaining in a panic.
Seto's blood ran cold. That couldn't be right!
"And none of you thought to come get me immediately?!" Baron demanded with clear horror before running closer to where horses could be heard neighing in distress from the crowd. "Find my friends and order them to help me search the forest!"
"I'll help!" Seto cried out as he tried to step forward.
"Me too!" Mokuba called, but then Gozaburo's familiar grip clamped down on the brothers' arms.
"You'll do no such thing!" the keeper snarled as he dragged the boys back to his cabin.
Seto and Mokuba barely noticed that they were going without supper that night for daring to leave the garden before the work was done. All they could comprehend as the night dragged on and on were the distant cries of this or that Bureau member as they searched the woods for Miss Haru. The cries were far off, but there was something about the stillness of night that made sound travel for miles.
Seto and Mokuba clung to each other, unable to tell if they were looking at each other in the complete darkness of Gozaburo's cabin corner.
They had to find her. Ghost or not, imposter or not, Miss Haru wasn't one to take being taken without a fight. In the morning, she'd have a fun story just outside the schoolhouse in accordance with her rule of not talking about the Horseman while teaching to tell them how she outsmarted her would-be kidnapper.
But the Bureau was calling out even when the first light of dawn eventually started tinging the sky.
"Do you think she's okay?" Mokuba asked worriedly.
"Of course she's not okay!" Gozaburo bellowed as he sat up in bed. "She's gone, you little idiots! The Headless Horseman carried her off, and I only wish he'd done it sooner!"
Seto saw red at such a declaration. "She was nice!" he snapped back, standing to his full height and wishing that he could hurry up and grow up so that people would take him seriously. "She was nicer than anyone-"
"Don't you take that tone with me, boy!" the guardian snarled as he slowly got up from his bed and reached for his belt.
Not today.
Seto grabbed Mokuba's hand before he had finished rising and ran for the door. By some miracle the boys actually made it this time, probably because Gozaburo was still getting up when the boys were already on their feet.
They may have been young, but they were at least faster. Seto grit his teeth as they took one of the paths through the trees that Gozaburo always had trouble following them through, though it was going to be less trouble without foliage to hide them or slow the man down.
"It's going to be worse when he catches us," Mokuba reminded him as he struggled to keep up with his brother.
Seto grit his teeth, trying to think of what to do. No one in town interfered when Gozaburo hit them, even if he toned it down in front of witnesses.
With a start, he adjusted course and ran back in the direction of the main square.
"That won't help!" Mokuba yelped when a branch slapped him across the face.
"It will if Baron's around," Seto whispered hoarsely in hopes that Gozaburo wouldn't overhear and double his efforts as he ran behind them.
It was gratifying to hear the man yelp since he hadn't had time to put on his shoes, same as the boys who were used to the little pains thanks to him.
'Please, please let Baron have not gone back to one of the Yoshioka estates. He and his friends like to use the town hall for less travel to talk, please let him be there!' Seto couldn't help praying over and over, feeling his heart lift when he saw their familiar horses tied up outside the expected building. It seemed confirmed that there were a handful of the nosier busybodies standing at certain spots around the place, like they had learned those were the best spots to overhear without standing at the windows like amateurs.
A few tried to wave the boys away from the door as they ran up the stairs, but they didn't have time to grab either before Seto threw himself at the wood while turning the handle. "Baron!" he called out, knowing that even if he was overtaken now, it wouldn't matter as long as one of the Bureau could hear him.
Everyone within turned to look at the boys, the town elders and the foreigners that he couldn't help feeling like cared more about him and his brother than anyone that wasn't Miss Haru. Even Jonouchi and Mai were in attendance, though he wasn't about to ask why.
Although the lord looked exhausted, he still turned on his heel and ran to the two, just beating Gozaburo before the keeper could grab them again. He wrapped one arm around each boy, even though they were too out of breath to explain the situation.
"Very sorry, my lord," the man gasped, gesturing at the boys tiredly with one hand. "Just a problem keeping them in line."
Baron glared angrily while tugging the boys closer to his sides. "You're still holding the belt," he snarled as Toto and Muta took up darkly defensive positions in front of the children.
"So? They're mine to punish as I see fit," Gozaburo answered while trying to set fire to his charges with his eyes alone.
"That is no longer the case. How strong is his claim on them?" the lord snapped at the village leaders, who seemed surprised at his interest.
"He's not related, if that's the question. The boys needed a home and he needed workers," Kage Yoshioka explained, looking exasperated that the conversation had been derailed to something he clearly saw as nothing important.
"Then no claim at all," Baron decided firmly before looking at Seto with a stern but worried expression. "Was there anything left in his home that you and Mokuba would like to keep?"
Mokuba clung to the leg he was closest to. "Our shoes and winter things. He destroyed or sold the little from our parents in the first year with him."
"Muta?" the lord growled, making the large man nod once as he stalked closely enough to fiercely grab Gozaburo's shoulder.
He cried out in pain, but that didn't stop Muta from whispering into his ear loudly enough to be heard all the same while ripping the belt from his grasp.
"We're going to your house now. You're going to show me where their things are. You are never getting this close to them again."
Pelia jokingly fanned herself with one hand, even if her smile was still sad as her husband dragged the farmer back out of the town hall.
"Just stay close for now," Baron bade the two boys, gripping them tight around the shoulders before glaring back at the village elders. "You truly see nothing wrong with orphans being abused right in front of you?"
"That's not what we're-" Yugi's grandfather tried to remind, but the lord cut him off all the same.
"This is exactly what I mean!" Baron roared at the elders until they took a nervous step back from him.
Even Jonouchi was standing in front of Mai, as if he'd forgotten that she was the least likely to need protection at this meeting.
"You pathetic excuses for village leaders care more about being right and that you're personally comfortable than actually looking after the people! I and my friends stumble in here after a long night of looking for your daughter-" he snarled directly at Kage Yoshioka, "-and not only were you not with the search party, your first words were 'I bet she believes in the Headless Horseman now' when we tell you she's gone without a trace! Didn't you have any affection for your own child?!"
Kage looked indignant at the accusation before angrily snapping back. "She was a disappointment from the day she was born."
Baron's hands left the boys, but since one of them made an immediate connection with Kage's jaw hard enough to break it, they could only smile in satisfaction as Toto, Tara, and Pelia clapped their approval with dark smiles of their own.
Kage Yoshioka howled in pain as he then tripped over a chair, but that was the only sound anyone could make before Baron started yelling again.
"I was willing to pay you five hundred gold for the chance to have a daughter like Haru! More than one, and I would have been delighted for the rest of my life! You never deserved her, and if what I gather about her mother is correct, you never deserved Naoko either!" He wheeled around on the other elders, who were more afraid of him than before.
"Yeah, poor Naoko," Toto added while glaring at the widower who was holding his face but unable to do more than whimper in pain. "She didn't deserve to be stuck with you."
"Even when all of you first asked me to look into the Headless Horseman, I told you I couldn't do much with an actual ghost! Before meeting Haru, it felt like what you really wanted was for her to be proven wrong so that you could feel superior at being right! Well, do you feel superior?! The ghost is clearly real, but Haru is gone, so why are my crew and the boys the only ones that seem to care?!"
Mai drew herself up angrily behind her husband. "Just because she was fun to tease doesn't mean I didn't care about her."
"Isn't that a shame?" Pelia snarled at the girl. "Haru died thinking you were indifferent or disliked her. She said so many times."
To her credit, Mai was shocked into silence as Jonouchi flinched in guilt that didn't make sense to Seto.
"We are leaving. Today," Baron announced in a tone of iron. "I will pay your people for the extra horses and supplies we'll need, but at least you'll have your precious ghost to keep everyone company when we're gone. I wonder who he will take next."
It was hard for Seto to keep track after that. He hadn't slept a wink all night, and he hadn't eaten the night before to help with the energy he and his brother spent avoiding the last thrashing Gozaburo would have given them.
He remembered being on Baron's horse, one strong braced against his front to keep him from tiredly falling off. He remembered an unfamiliar building, but since Miss Haru's undeserving brother and sister-in-law were cowering from the lord's rage, it wasn't hard to guess that they were at her home.
Muta stood defiantly as Pelia removed everything from Haru's room that held significance to her, though it wasn't long until Miss Haru's white cat was also being carried out, though she was looking around as if she expected her owner to come through the door any minute.
Seto half-expected that he and his brother would be set on the brown horse Baron bought from Kage Yoshioka's stable, but was secretly glad when Baron pulled him in front again as Tara did the same with his brother.
Seto wasn't used to being on a horse. He'd had more than one fantasy about being on one, and getting to pretend for a little while that he was a grown adult that no one would be able to boss around.
Of course, he'd be in a position to lose himself in a daydream if he wasn't still in shock over Miss Haru's disappearance.
It didn't feel real. Someone as vibrant and clever as her would never go down without a fight, no matter how outmatched.
He wasn't paying attention when the party paused.
"This is the last point you'll be able to see Sleepy Hollow," Baron announced gently to his new wards. "Do you wish to take a look?"
"Let's just go," Seto pleaded as his head began to pound from lack of sleep. "Miss Haru's not there, so I don't care."
"Do you promise to never send us back?" Mokuba asked worriedly, making the lord smile sadly at him.
"We're going to Alon, clear on the other side of the world. If you so wish it, you won't have to so much as leave your new kingdom if you'd rather not."
'Your new kingdom' rang sweetly in Seto's ears, almost like a promise of a throne. He understood full well that he wouldn't so much as be able to inherit Baron's title thanks to bloodline, but still, the promise of a new kingdom was at least something to look forward to.
It was after another five minutes that he suddenly noticed that the company was leaving the dirt road to slip between different trees, all in the same general direction. He looked up at Baron for an explanation, but the man made a very soft shushing sound since both of his hands were occupied with the horse and steadying the boy.
It was another minute or so before they stopped and dismounted.
Baron knelt between the two wards, placing one hand on each shoulder as his friends stood around with varying expressions of happiness, smugness, and even sorrow.
"I need your word that the pair of you will be silent on what you're about to see," he told them seriously as Pelia offered both of them a thick handkerchief. "Tie these around your mouths if you don't think you can keep a promise if surprised. It's imperative for the moment that no one from Sleepy Hollow suspects or hears anything out of the ordinary."
Seto and Mokuba looked at each other with confusion, but there was no mistaking the genuine earnestness in his tone. They wordlessly took a handkerchief each from Pelia and tied it tight against their lips, effectively silencing them.
"That's my boys," Baron encouraged warmly, placing his warm hands on their cheeks for one second in an unspoken moment of affection before standing to his feet and offering his hands.
They took one each again and allowed him to lead the small company to a heavily wooded area that Seto didn't recognize since it was so far from the village. He could hear Toto and Muta leading the horses the best they could manage, though Tara had to help thanks to the extra horse from the Yoshioka stable.
Without warning, the white cat that had been lounging in Pelia's satchel suddenly sat up from her perch and hopped right to the ground before taking off in a beeline through the brush.
Seto instinctively tried to race after it since it was Miss Haru's cat, but Baron's grip held him fast.
"Don't worry," he murmured with a grin. "I know where Yuki's going."
Seto gaped around his gag. He knew that grin. Baron always had that grin when he was talking to or about-
He yanked his hand free and tore into the thick bush after the cat as his heart pounded in his ears.
On the other side was a small clearing, perfect for setting up camp away from prying eyes as long as one kept quiet.
It didn't take long to find the white cat among the black, grey, brown and little green that the spring was painting the landscape with.
Under a large overhanging rock, taking shelter from the world itself, was his beloved teacher. She was bundled up in blankets as well as her thick red winter cloak, and smiling brightly as her cat meowed insistently while rubbing her body across the woman's face and shoulders, never satisfied no matter how much affection she got.
Seto was immediately glad that he was gagged, because the strangled cry that was pressed back into his lips still felt too loud as he ran for her as well.
He knew it, he just knew Haru was fine! Even better; unlike before when she had to maintain decorum as the schoolteacher, she was now squeezing him and his brother tight while raining kisses on their hair.
"If it makes you feel better," she breathed softly through a wide grin, "they didn't tell me they were going to forcefully assist in my running from that awful place." She looked up at Baron, a warmer smile than usual on her lips as she kept holding tight to the brothers. "How did it go?"
"It was a mess, unfortunately," he sighed tiredly while leaning against a nearby tree. "If I had agreed to your bet, you would have won with the first words out of your father's mouth when I told him you couldn't be found."
"Mai had some regrets, but I told her for you that they were too little, too late," Pelia reported sadly.
Haru took a long regretful breath before nodding once as the brown horse from the Yoshioka stable insistently inched under the rock and laid down next to her. "That sounds about right. So, do we leave now, or let everyone catch up on their sleep?" she asked, letting go of Seto so that she could rub the horse's long head with true warmth.
"Sleep, unfortunately. I don't fancy the mistakes we'll make later if we don't have our wits about us when we need them," Baron stated firmly as Toto and Muta started unloading more blankets from the horses and distributing them.
Since he wasn't wrapped as tightly in an embrace as before, Seto untied the handkerchief from his mouth now that he could trust himself to speak softly. "Miss Haru, what's going on? If you weren't carried off by the Headless Horseman, why did everyone in town think you were?"
Haru smirked up at Toto, who could only smirk in return. "In case you've forgotten, I was taken at dusk, when all the color starts being drained off. Toto only had to wear my cloak and pillows for everyone to think he was headless."
"Pillows?" Mokuba asked as he finished pulling off his own gag.
"Yes. These two pillows, actually," Haru mentioned while reaching behind her for two small pillows that were squared and small. To illustrate, she set one on each of her shoulders to create the illusion of a block shape.
… or a body shape?!
Seto's mouth fell open in shock. He wanted to say something, but his brain had turned silent enough that all he could do was point at her while remembering all the times Gozaburo said that she was as wild as her mother.
Miss Haru smiled and nodded. "That's right. The reason I knew there was no Headless Horseman is because I've been the one roaming the woods with Kuro to keep me from doing something much worse than accidentally scaring the neighbors." She patted the brown horse's snout, who could only sigh in contentment. "He's mute, you know. Very easy to mistake for a ghost horse under moonlight."
Mokuba beamed happily as he wrapped an arm around his own mouth to stifle his guffaws.
"Yeah, we felt the same way after Baron figured out it was her," Muta agreed while throwing a blanket over each boy. "How long did it take again, Baron?"
"Three questions to the butcher, then I was careful to ask one question each of different villagers," the lord answered with a disgusted sniff. "If I'd asked all the questions of the same person, they'd have figured out the truth as well. I think it's karmic justice to let them scare themselves from here on."
Miss Haru beamed at him, her eyes glowing more warmly than ever before. "So what's the plan to keep them from realizing what you've done? Word will get back here if you suddenly are seen with a girl named Haru, you know."
"It's simple enough. You are now our beloved cousin, Setsuna," Tara informed her with a grin. "We ran across you when you were in trouble, and Baron agreed to take you on for our sakes. That will get us onto a ship bound for Alon with no one the wiser."
"Since captains have the ability and the right to perform marriages, we'll be able to get married out at sea under your real name, and simply tell the truth after that," Baron finished, sitting down as close to her as he could manage around the children, cat, and horse. "I don't care what happens or if anyone from Sleepy Hollow will believe that you weren't killed by the Headless Horseman at that point, because they'll have months to be terrified at the bare minimum, which has been more than deserved at this point."
Miss Haru couldn't help grinning evilly at their inevitable fate. "After all the times they made sure I knew they cared more for the Horseman than about me? I find that fitting." Then she leaned back and nestled one shoulder pillow for each boy so they could sleep on her. "Let's get some rest. We've got a long way to go."
Mokuba gave a loud yawn as he snuggled up to her side. "Weren't you scared last night, being all alone?"
"I wasn't alone until the sun came up," she promised, smiling warmly at each member of the Bureau as they all nestled with their loved ones, and Baron wrapped an arm around her. "They took shifts staying with me all night so no one would be the wiser. Baron used his first turn to propose," she added with a silly grin.
He kissed her hair in response before adjusting for his comfort as well as hers. "I did mention how happy I am that you ran off Mr. Rogers before he spoke to your father?"
She smiled back sleepily, and kissed somewhere between the cheek and chin before resting her head as well. "Repeatedly."