Chapter 7; Here Comes the Bride

She could feel her eyes stinging, but she wouldn't cry, she couldn't cry now, not when everything felt properly right. As she stepped through the archway into the refuge, Haru felt the world stretch, but the sensation only lasted a second, and then she was in the courtyard. Something had definitely changed, and Haru was certain that it was her.

It was rather obvious; she no longer towered over the cats – and crow – in the courtyard. Instead, she was the same approximate height. She could feel a tail, hers, brushing against the back of her dress, and she was almost certain that her ears were on top of her head again.

Baron came to meet her just before she reached their congregated friends.

"Haru, will you marry me?" he asked, taking her hands – yes, they were still hands – in his.

"Can I?" she asked, like a child who has been asked if they would like to push the starter button on a chocolate machine. She was now quite unable to stop the tears of happiness that wetted the fur on her face.

Baron smiled, his emerald eyes soft and full of that same emotion that spilled out of Haru's amber ones. The gentleman cat slipped his partner's hand into the crook of his arm, just as Lune had done earlier, saving her from yet another imprudent marriage. The Cat King performed the ceremony.

"Baron Humbert von Gikkingken, I would like you to meet your wife, Baroness Haru von Gikkingken," Lune finished, a smile on his face as Yuki came to stand beside him. The royal couple, happy that they had brought their friends together at last.

"You may now kiss," Yuki said, teasingly, after the newly weds just stared at each other for a while, smiling but unmoving.

Haru threw her arms around Baron's neck and planted her mouth firmly upon his.

He staggered a moment, a bit surprised by the immediacy and force of Haru's actions, but the kiss was warm and pleasant, and he wrapped his arms around his wife, indulging in feelings he had never felt before – the feeling of her.

She didn't want to break the kiss, but she had to throw the bouquet, and she had to take a breath, a proper one – letting out the air in her lungs and replacing it with new. Haru loosened the desperate loving hold that she had on her husband, and he let go slightly, the subconscious filling in the movement without anyone needing to think about it.

Haru noticed that Muta and Toto were fighting again, so she threw the bunch of roses in their direction. She stifled laughter when they bounced off both Toto's and Muta's heads and Natoru rushed in to catch them. Baron didn't, and Haru looked up at him in surprise. She hadn't heard him laugh before, he had made fun a little, and his smile was always nice, but his laugh… It was deep and hearty, a good laugh. Haru slipped her arms around his chest and felt his laughter stop, it wasn't abrupt – he'd just run out of breath.

"I love you, my Haru," he said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

She smiled and snuggled closer to him.