The Kitten Has Claws

The Kitten Has Claws [Chapter 36]

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Chapter Thirty-Six

This was one of those moments where no matter what is said, it's wrong. Noelle wanted to say something, but she knew as soon as she opened her mouth, Raine would snap. He was balanced on a fine line between complete insanity and partial understanding. Noelle knew what she had done wrong, she had lied to him and put herself in danger.

The silence was getting to be extremely uncomfortable, and along with Raine's fierce glare, Noelle was starting to feel suffocated and on edge. She had to break the silence, needed to, before she went mad. So she settled on the one word she figured wouldn't get her into that much trouble. "Raine," she whispered mournfully.

His eyes narrowed slowly before he broke eye contact and looked away sharply. "How could you?" he rasped sharply. There was pain and disappointment laced in his dark voice. "You did the one thing I asked you not to, immediately after!" A growl broke from his throat as he quickly stood to his feet. His eyes were wild and his hair was a mess. "Do you have any idea what I was going through, Noelle? I went to sleep with you warm in my arms, but not ten minutes later I was woken up because you were so cold it hurt!" He broke off with a curse, looking for something to take his anger out on other than Noelle.

Something seemed to break within him though, because he suddenly sat down, as if he could no longer hold himself up. He placed his face in his hands and said in a low voice, "I've been sitting here for two hours, hoping you would wake up, hoping Ayumu would let you come back to me again."

Noelle gave him a sorrowful look and slowly made her way over to him. "What if Ayumu had been the one to initiate the meeting? Would you be as angry?" she whispered cautiously.

His eyes narrowed as he looked at her through his hands, "Did he?" When Noelle made no response, he made an annoyed noise and looked away again.

"I thought so." Those three words tore Noelle apart inside. She had gone against Raine's wishes and betrayed his trust in her. It would be hard for him to trust her again so easily.

"Raine," she started to say, trying to work up the courage to say something so that he would understand. "I'm sorry I broke your trust in me, but I'm not sorry I talked to Ayumu." Raine's head snapped up as he stared at her in disbelief. She looked straight at him and continued in a strong voice. "After talking with him, I know a lot more now than we could have ever hoped to. I know it's going to take you a while to forgive me, but I want you to listen to what I heard from Ayumu." She paused, before whispering 'please' so quietly a normal person wouldn't have heard it.

He seemed to be debating something as he sighed heavily, "Fine. I'll hear what you have to say, although anything out of Ayumu's mouth is hard to believe."

She took a seat on the bed, motioning for him to sit next to her. He ignored her and waited for her to start talking. Right now he was still too angry to do anything else.

Taking a deep breath, Noelle started explaining about the Demon King Roan and what orders he had issued for his demons, and specifically for Hadrian and Ayumu. When she mentioned how long Ayumu had possessed Theo, Raine flinched in anger.

"That bastard," he growled. "I'll kill him."

"I think," Noelle offered softly, "that he's trying to help. I don't know why, but there's something about him that is good."

Raine snorted. "Right Noelle. Because all demons are actually nice people on the inside," he said condescendingly.

"I know it's hard to believe, but I have hope for him. It doesn't mean I completely trust him, but...I'm not sure," she muttered with a shake of her head. Raine opened his mouth to argue again, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.