Studio Ghibli Oneshots

The Cat Kingdom (Baron x Reader) [The Cat Returns]

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Here's another oneshot!

Hope you'll enjoy reading (*＾ワ＾*)

Baron x Reader - The Cat Kingdom

You glanced up at the night sky, seeing the multiple of stars far above you. The surroundings were as quiet and calm as possible, almost as if you could hear the whole world being asleep. However here you were, alone at the top of a hill in the middle of the night. Though you had a reason for it.

You frowned and sighed. "Nothing is happening... I've probably been tricked into this..." you mumbled to yourself, feeling slightly annoyed. It's gone by a few hours now, and absolutely nothing have happened. By now you'd have suspected something to happen, but as figured they must have played a prank on you. As if it would be true, would a portal to the Cat Kingdom just reveal itself if you stayed up long enough upon this mountain? It seemed unlikely, so the rumors must have been false. At first you didn't believe it, and claimed it to be unthinkable. But deep within you, you wanted to see for yourself whether it actually was some truth behind it or not. Which is why you did as the rumor said, staying up during all the night upon the hill to find a portal leading to the Cat Kingdom.

"I wonder who came up with this... I've never heard about the Cat Kingdom before." You hummed to yourself as you scratched the back of your head. Only after a mere second afterwards, your eyelids felt extremely heavy, and before you knew it, you fell into a deep slumber. You didn't realize that you had fallen into a deep sleep until next morning, when you suddenly woke up with an uncomfortable headache.

You looked around, and rubbed your eyes sleepily. "I fell asleep?"

"Indeed you did!" a voice coming from above you rang harshly into your ears. You jumped in surprise and quickly glanced around to get a hold of who the voice came from.

"Are you searching for me?" the voice said again after a while, which happened to startle you once again as well.

Suddenly a small little figure came into your sight, having an appearance like a cat with a really fancy dressing sense. You rubbed your eyes again, and observed the cats as it came towards you. It firmly stopped in front of you with a serious but polite facial expression. "Excuse me for my sudden introduction, but I'm the one that they call Barron! You must be (Y/N)? Pleasure to meet you."

Your eyes widened and your mouth were agape. "A talking cat?"

Baron tilted his head. "Are you surprised? Then you might as well take a quick glance at yourself before that becomes another shock."

Slowly, you glanced down at yourself. At first, you didn't get what he meant, but as you saw yourself, you noticed a few differences than from before. Did you have paws and a tail before? Where did your ears disappear and why were they replaced by cat ears? Nah, those things didn't seem quite the same as before...

"So... I'm a cat?" you asked, not entirely sure whether you believed your own words or not. Baron shook his head and chuckled lightly. "I wouldn't say cat, but most likely somewhere in between. After all, you are human aren't you, (Y/N)?"

"Then how come I suddenly became a cat like this? And where exactly did you come from?" Strangely enough, it became quite comforting and less peculiar talking to him. It was like talking to any other man you've met before, since he acted like one, though many times more polite.

He took of his little hat and suddenly, due to all of the surprises, he grew and grew until he became about your height. He gave you a small smile. "Well, by now, I think the safest way to answer that question would be that we've arrived at the entrance of the Cat Kingdom. And I happened to meet you by coincidence here on my way to the central, but it seems like it isn't a coincidence. Why, may I ask, are you here?"

"I would like to know as well... I tried to see if a rumor was true and it turned out that it was... That I'd find a portal upon the hill to come here.... This sure feels a bit random, doesn't it?" you said and scratched the back of your head. Baron nodded and returned his hat to the same place upon his head again. "Well, then I think it was the best that we found each other! Because I can send you back home again, otherwise you'll permanently become a cat. Would you like to be that?"

Being a cat forever? Well it sure was fluffy and all, but there'd be a lot of things you'd be unable to do as a cat...

You tilted your head slightly. "How will I get out of here?"

Barron gripped your wrist and began to rush you two away, passing fields after fields until you caught sight of a huge castle in the distance. The closer you came to the castle, the more cats came into your view, some even happened to be taller than you.

Baron and you passed everything and everyone, until you reached the castle. Then he slowed down his pace and quietly began to lead you towards a big tower at the back side of the castle. Due to the lack of guards around the castle, it seemed rather easy to sneak in back there. Though, since fate seemed to love giving you surprises, you just happened to collide with one of the castle's guards. The both of you froze, but luckily Baron was fast to get you out of the situation, as he led you towards the large stairs along the tower.

"That was close!" you exhaled deeply and glanced behind you.

"Though it'll be closer if we won't hurry!" Barron exclaimed and began to climb the stairs. You followed his steps, as the stairway became higher and higher above the ground until it felt like you reached the sky.

"Unfortunately, it seems like I can't follow you any longer. As you reach the end of the staircase, it'll lead you to your home again, and you'll return to your human self. Good luck! I know you can do it!" Baron said, and smiled reassuringly at you. You took a deep breath and nodded, while smiling sincerely at him. "Thank you for all your help Baron!" you said, and made a move to give him a little hug, but he was already rushing down the stairs of the tower, waving his hands at you. You shrugged and chuckled. Seems like this was it for your visit in the Cat Kingdom!

At the last step of the staircase, you suddenly felt dizzy. Before you found the exit, your vision clouded and you fell into a deep sleep again.

The next time you woke up, you were back upon the hill. Like nothing happened, and the evening still remained. You scratched your head. "Was that all a dream?"

A tiny, white hat fell down on your shoulder, as if giving you a sign. You smiled questionably at it, before shrugging and standing up. Perhaps, the rumor must have been true then?