Princess Ouran-Chp4

“Haruhi-sama, time for your bath.”

Haruhi came at the call of Mori. So far, only the Counts Hikaru and Kaoru and Mori had the privilege to call her by name. The rest of the household servants, despite her insistence, continued to call her ‘Fujioka-sama’. She knew sooner or later, she was going to be called ‘Young Mistress’ and that she had to get used to being called by title, but she didn’t want instill fear on anybody. She just wanted to be their friend.

“Take a look and see what Master has bought you, Haruhi-sama.”

Haruhi looked at the suit that Mori helped take out from a silver box. It was slightly darker silver than the box itself and was finely sewn with the best silk thread the world has to offer. The white shirt inside was whiter than white and the dark silver coat felt velvety to the touch. It looked almost like those expensive suits rich people wear during galas, balls and dinner parties, and a complementary black tie came with the suit, with black shoes to match.

“There will be a pre-engagement party tonight thrown by Master Hikaru where everyone in his community would be able to witness his baby son’s bride-to-be. Of course, Renge-sama insisted that you wear boys’ attire for the party. Master Kaoru requested that Master Hikaru buy this suit to be worn for tonight. He thought it fit you, because you’re from the moon, but of course he personally would rather you wear a dress instead of this. Isn’t it beautiful?”

“Yes,” Haruhi replied half-heartedly. “Yes, it is.”

“You don’t seem happy, Haruhi-sama,” Mori noted, a concerned tone in his voice. “Don’t you like it?”

“Of course I like it,” Haruhi replied hurriedly, not wanting to upset her friend. “It’s really beautiful. Really.”

“Hm, I suppose you’re just nervous then. I understand. Off to bath now, Haruhi-sama, before the water gets cold.”

With that, Haruhi-sama was ushered to the bathroom and the door was closed behind her. When she made sure no one was outside the door, she quietly walked over to the bathroom cabinet where she kept the book hidden behind the gap. She opened the book to a particular page and waited. A few moments later, the page began to fill up by itself, like there was an invisible pen drawing and writing the contents out. First it was a picture of a tree, then words that spelled ‘tree’, ‘toad’, ‘stones’ and ‘fig’. One by one they appeared to make up a story.

“Haruhi? Haruhi-sama.”

Before she could read the words, there were knockings on the door. It was Mori, calling for her to hurry up.

“Do hasten, Haruhi-sama. Master Kaoru wants to see you in your new suit. He bets you’re going to look like a princess in it. Well, in this case, a prince.”

Princess… Haruhi was reminded of Nekozawa’s words of her being the Princess her father had been telling her in her tales. She went over to the mirror to look at her reflection. Nekozawa was right; there was a birthmark just right on top of the back of her left shoulder that was the shape of a crescent moon. There were small tiny full stop-sized moles that surrounded the birthmark, like stars surrounding the moon. She had sometimes dreamed of being a Princess like the fairy tales in her story books, but now that she was one, she didn’t know what else to think of.

“Princess, huh…?”

“Oh, Haruhi-chan, look at you. You are so beautiful.”

Haruhi, after her bath, put on the dress and came into Count Kaoru’s room as requested, and as expected, he was thrilled to see Haruhi looking the way he imagined she would look. Mori and a couple of maids were tending to him and they looked impressed as well at Haruhi’s get-up.

“Haruhi-sama, you look rather dashing in that suit,” Mori complimented with a small smile on his face.

“You agree too? Isn’t she a beauty?”

“She looks positively like an angel, Master, only she’d probably look better in a dress, if I may say so myself” one of the maids complimented, staring at the suit in eagerness.

“A future Countess is more like it,” Count Kaoru smiled and gestured Haruhi towards him. “Come here, child. Let me see you up close.”

“Yes, sir.”

Haruhi came closer to him. Count Kaoru fingered the tie and collar on her suit and stroke her hair, smiling weakly at her while rubbing his protruding belly with his other hand.

“Look, my son, your beautiful fiancé is all dressed up for you. You are going to have the most beautiful wife you’ve ever seen. Ne, Haruhi-chan?”

“Yes, sir?”

“You know sooner or later I’m going to be your ‘mother-in-law’ now, right? Almost like a new ‘mother’?”

“Yes, sir,” Haruhi nodded. As much as she liked Count Kaoru better than his twin, she didn’t really relinquish the idea of having him as a new ‘mother’ since she already had a real one. Well, if you could consider Ranka as one.

“How about getting a head-start by calling me ‘Oka-san’ then? Hmm? Is it alright with you?”

Oka-san? That’s how I call my mother, Haruhi thought, but she didn’t want to offend Count Kaoru, so she said timidly, “Can I call you…Oka-sama instead?”

Count Kaoru considered for a while, then replied, “I understand, dear. Sure, you can call me that. Mori, would you get some strawberries for Haruhi? Just a little starter before tonight’s dinner party. Make sure you don’t get your clothes dirty, Haruhi-chan.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

Mori excused himself and took Haruhi by the shoulder, leading her down to the kitchen—earning a lot of praises by the servants in the process—and to the strawberry patch at the backyard, carrying an empty bowl in the process. Using the bowl, he walked about the patch surveying around, finding the best and ripe strawberries and putting them inside it. He knew Haruhi liked her strawberries fresh since she tasted it on her first day in the manor, and he wanted to give her the best of what he can offer as an errand boy. To him, Haruhi was more than just a future Young Mistress, she was like the sister he never had.

“Here you go, Haruhi-sama,” Mori said as he handed the bowl of freshly plucked strawberries to Haruhi.

“Arigato,” Haruhi said, then asked, “Mori, do you believe in neko demons?”

“Neko demons?” Mori echoed, paused for a while to think, then replied, “Not anymore. I’ve sort of stopped believing things that I used to believe when I was a child, unfortunately.”

“I saw a winged kitten last night, and I met a neko demon too.”

“Honto ka, Haruhi-sama? What does he look like?”

Haruhi described as best as possible what she saw on her encounter with Nekozawa.

“You know, my grandfather used to warn me about neko demons being tricksters and stuff…”

“Mori-san! Mori-san! We need you at the warehouse!” another errand boy suddenly called out from afar.

“Hai! Gomen, Haruhi-sama. Don’t ruin your suit.”

Mori made a dash off before Haruhi could promise to him not to ruin the suit. She took a look at the sky and decided that there was still more time before the pre-engagement dinner party.

It’s time to complete her first task.