Birthday Bash Prompt 5: Happy Birthday/Wildcard
Or, Part 2 of Soulmates
Baron couldn't resist pacing up and down the long breakfast table, still trying to make sense of the strange phenomenon that had started his day. "This is your doing," he accused yet again of a seraphic old woman with bright cheerful eyes.
"Oh, I hope so," she crooned happily from her cozy chair that was heavily padded with pillows and blankets so that she could stand watching the proceedings. She was finishing her bowl of porridge and following it with a bit of toast; the most anyone had seen her eat in one go in months.
"Okay, I found a bit more," Renaldo announced as he furiously pounded on his little laptop. "The name is definitely Japanese, and the time difference is just right for her to be getting out of detention, so the girl's clear on that score."
"Does her name have any meaning?" Baron asked, pausing long enough to glance at his advisor, who grunted in response.
"It means 'Springtime'. It's as common as 'Ann' or 'Jane' here, so we're going to need more information if we're going to find out who or what Haru is."
"This is your doing, Grandmother," Baron burst out for perhaps the twentieth time since the marks on his arm had appeared.
"You can thank me later, dear," she smirked without the slightest trace of remorse as she sipped her morning tea.
"Baron, I think you're being a little quick with the blame," his best friend tried to soothe him. "I mean, if all it took for someone to find their soulmate was for a relative to make the appropriate wish on a birthday cake, there would be precedents to some stranger writing on your arm from another continent."
"There are precedents, Toto," the elegant woman nearly purred, leaning back into her cushions with a contented smile. "Isn't it a strange coincidence that she wrote with a red pen, and there are certain stories involving a red thread?"
Try as he might, Baron couldn't fight the blush that crept over his neck and face. "She used red on the bracelet! It was likely still in her hand when she chose to respond!" he protested, rolling his sleeve up again for her inspection. But then he froze at what was now on his arm.
The red words were melting together, swirling and blending until he only knew what was written because Haru's words were nearly engraved into his mind.
"No!" he nearly screamed, gripping his arm as it seemed to drip with blood, yet it didn't drip off him.
Toto rushed over to inspect the arm, his anxious eyes screening for details. "There, did you see right there? It looked like a large raindrop slapped that letter right off. She must be walking through a bad rainstorm to have her arm looking like this in mere seconds."
"Researching that," Renaldo informed them, madly tapping again as the elegant dame sat up in her chair with a terrified expression.
"What about your number? That didn't wash off, did it?"
Baron forced himself to calm down as he kept staring at his arm. "My ink is staying the same. More than likely it's because it was written on my arm instead of hers. She'll still have it if whatever link happened between us is broken now."
"Hey, there is a big rainstorm over Tokyo!" Renaldo exclaimed in surprise, now wincing at what his screen was showing him. "She must be one tough little lady to be walking through that."
The sweet grandmother had relaxed now that the mysterious girl wasn't lost, a smirk creeping across her lips as she adjusted a blanket over her lap. "Of course she's strong. My little Humbert has never been taken with helpless damsels."
Baron couldn't resist a guilty blush as he leaned over Renaldo's shoulder to take a look at the storm threatening Haru. "It's no crime to favor a girl with personality. I'm blaming you as well as Mother for that preference, Grandmother."
She beamed lovingly at the compliment, but couldn't resist a yawn. "Toto? Would you be a dear and help me to that couch? I don't think I would care to miss on the proceedings."
"My pleasure, my lady," The dark-haired youth agreed in a heartbeat, nearly jumping to his feet for the treasured monarch.
"You do realize I'm not going to be broadcasting our conversation, yes?" Baron asked rather pointedly. 'As if it weren't embarrassing enough for Toto to be reading everything we were writing to each other out loud.' "I didn't wish to wait alone, that's all. Has it been twenty minutes yet?" he asked while checking his grandfather's pocket watch.
The Lady von Gikkingen was half leaning and half being carried by Toto to the couch Renaldo was sitting at. "I don't know if I'll live long enough to meet her, my treasure. I simply want assurance that… well, I know better than to actually say what I wished for yesterday."
"Despite your glee that makes it clear as crystal," Baron couldn't resist adding.
Once she was settled into the couch, Toto went back to the table for the discarded blankets.
The matriarch gave him a smile full of love. "I still refuse to jeopardize your happiness, Humbert. Just remember to tell your children how much their great-grandmother loves them."
"It's not exactly confirmed that-" Baron was cut off as his phone finally gave out the tune that spoke of a text. His hand was nearly a blur as it rose up to eye level and automatically tapped to see the message.
The first thing he saw was a photo of a young woman's arm, almost deathly pale under the bathroom light. There were faint traces of her red ink, but his blue words were still clear as day. He could even see part of her dripping school uniform in the mirror.
I apologize if this is the wrong number. It's been a very surreal day. If it's the right number, would you mind waiting an extra ten minutes? I almost had to swim home through some bad weather, and Mom's making me take a hot shower so I don't get sick.
"She's real!" Baron exclaimed in relief, rolling up his sleeve so that he could attach an arm photo for his own authenticity.
It's the right number, Haru. Would you mind calling as soon as your business is done? I'm having trouble reining in my curiosity.
Same here. Don't worry, I take quick showers.
"What did she say?!" the other three nearly demanded of him, making the young lord look up with annoyance as he cemented the new number as a contact.
"She's taking a hot shower to make sure she doesn't catch cold from the storm. She'll call when she's done."
"Can I see your phone?" Renaldo asked, holding his fat hand out for the device. "I could get a lot of information if I had her number."
Baron looked at his phone, trying to still his own emotions. "That feels the same as opening a present before Christmas."
"You do have holdings, dear," his grandmother reminded him with a hopeful smile. "We'll need to give her a background check sooner or later."
Well, that much was true. Part of the reason he hadn't been all that interested in dating until now was because the girls that threw themselves at him had a good idea of his lifestyle. Even if they hadn't, his rank was worth trouble by itself if his impressive looks weren't.
He reluctantly handed the phone over. "As soon as she calls, I'm taking it back."
"I only need it for a few seconds," Renaldo assured him, his dark little eyes dancing between the cell phone and his fat fingers as they danced across the keyboard. "There, you can have the phone back. A-and… We got her! Haru Yoshioka: age seventeen, a junior at Jinashi High school. Oh, here's a photo!"
Baron was usually very conscious of what was his property and what wasn't, but this was too important for such trivialities. He yanked the laptop from his advisor in order to see the one who may indeed become his future wife.
She had large brown eyes, big enough that he could almost drown in them, even in a photo. She was pretty, but it was a simple kind that took no special pains to impress anyone. She had medium brown hair only a shade or two darker than her eyes, up in a simple pony tail that was being teased slightly by an unseen wind as her uniform was similarly pulled against her. Her shy, uncomfortable smile made it plain that Haru was not one that enjoyed being in front of a camera.
She was, as far as Baron was concerned, perfect.