Ch 40: A Little Black Kitty (2)

"I really admire that Faunus chieftain. His willingness to put himself on the line for the sake of protecting the peace between Humans and Faunus. How he risked his life to prove by his actions that the Faunus wanted peace, even in the face of such one-sided violence. He is an inspiration to everyone. I'm not sure I could have done the same in his place." Ray turned just his eyes to look at Blake, who was still fingering the box tab.

"I also remember an adorable Faunus girl with cat ears and the brightest eyes I had ever seen whom I had really wanted to spend some time with during the festival. I wonder whatever happened to her?"

"She betrayed her family and lost herself in the darkness." Blake whispered in a broken voice. She remembered that Human boy who had helped her family. He had been her first crush. And to now find him sitting next to her, remembering the first time they had met, all these years later. After all she had gone through. After all she had done. After Adam. It made her want to cry.

Ray reached out and rested his hand on top of hers. Blake flinched and started to get up to leave when his voice stopped her. "Really? I don't think so. I think she has suffered more than anyone can perhaps understand. She put everything she was into doing what she thought was right, her strength, her mind, her effort, and even her heart. When she realized that what she wanted and what those around her wanted wasn't the same, her heart was broken, and she started to hate herself for all the things she had done. But she didn't let her guilt consume her. Instead, she sought out a new path to right the wrongs done against her, and by her."

Ray turned and reached over to gently cup Blake's cheek and lift her face till she was looking into his eyes, "I see a girl whom's eyes are shadowed by the guilt of what she has done and what she has seen, but there is still a spark of hope and compassion deep within them. She isn't lost in the darkness. She just needs some support to help her shine her light throughout it."

Ray smiled at Blake as he said those words, softly stroking her cheek with his thumb. It was a smile more gentle than any Blake had ever seen from a man before. The closest she had ever seen might have been from her father when she was still a little girl.

Blake sat there staring into those kind, strong silver eyes. Unable to move. Unable to think. Just staring. Until she couldn't take it anymore. Blake suddenly stood up and quickly walked to the door. If she stayed here much longer, she was afraid she would burst into tears.

"Hey Blake," his voice calling out to her stopped her with her hand on the doorknob. "I meant what I said before. You are always welcome here. If you still can't sleep, you are more than welcome to stay here instead of some tree. As you can see,'' Ray gestured around him, "I've got plenty of room."

Blake nodded without turning around and left.

*Phoooo* Ray breathed out as he let himself fall back onto the bed. [I wonder if I handled that well.] Ray pondered the matter for a minute before flipping himself back to his feet. [Alright, back to work.]

By the time he was finished, Ray had two of the remaining desks removed since he didn't need them. The remaining desk positioned on the front wall to the left of the door. He also put together a sizeable backless bookcase he had brought from home along the right wall that was now filled with books ranging from the latest technical manuals from Atlas to some of his favorite fiction. Ray had pushed all four of his beds together in a row, tying the bedposts together to make one big bed in the center of his room under the window.

Ray smiled to himself lustfully as he looked at the bed. [I should invite Miltia and Melanie over to break this bed in. It has been a while since the three of us got to enjoy ourselves together on such a big bed. They seemed to enjoy the thrill of almost being caught by their mother three years ago, so I bet they'll like having to keep their voices down when my sisters are sleeping right next door too. Actually, knowing their rivalry with Yang, I'm sure they will love it.]

Whistling softly to himself as he imagined the fun he could have on his big new bed, Ray gathered his toiletries and went to take a shower before going to bed. Little did he know, he would have a guest in his bed a lot sooner than expected.

Late that night, two hours after he had finally lain down to sleep, Ray was awakened by a knocking on his door. Groggily, he opened the door to find Blake, in her sleeping yukata, hugging her pillow to her chest, standing in front of his door looking nervous and annoyed, but more annoyed. The bow she used to hide her cat ears was lying flat back on her head and still did an excellent job conveying how she felt.

Ray winced, "Sorry about Yang." he said around a yawn as he welcomed her in. Both he and Blake paused when they saw how Ray had arranged his bed.

Ray scratched the back of his head, "Let me separate one of the beds for me to use."

"No, it's fine." Blake reassured, "There is more than enough room for two people to sleep without disturbing each other." To prove her point, Blake went over and laid down with her pillow on the right side of the bed.

Ray blinked at her, surprised, but didn't say anything. He wasn't going to complain about sharing a bed with a cute girl, even if sharing was all they would be doing.

As Ray laid down on the left side of the bed, he noticed that Blake still had her bow on. "You know you can take that bow off since it's just the two of us. It must be uncomfortable to wear all the time." He mumbled, starting to drift back to sleep.

Blake paused for a moment and then turned over to face him, needing to see his reaction. She reached up and pulled the ribbon of her bow, letting it fall away to reveal two cute pure black triangular cat ears.

"Beautiful" Ray smiled sleepily at the sight and, half asleep already, scooted closer to the middle of the bed. With one hand, he reached out and ran a fingernail along the edge of her right cat ear. It flickered slightly under his touch. Blake blushed but did nothing to stop him as after that brief touch Ray had retracted his hand.

"Very beautiful," Ray whispered again as he closed his eyes. *Yawn* "Good night, Blake." he said with a yawn and returned to sleep.

Blake just watched him for a bit, her mind and heart a mess after everything that had happened this evening. Eventually, she also closed her eyes and whispered, "Good night, Ray." In the darkness of the night, both slept soundly with smiles on their faces.

The following day when Ray awoke for his morning workout, he found himself sleeping in the middle of his bed, where he remembered going to sleep. What he didn't remember, however, was instead of sleeping on the far right side of the bed, Blake was curled up like a tiny kitten snuggled up against him with her head buried against his chest.

It was so adorable that Ray couldn't help but smile at her as he gently stroked her hair while he held her in his arms, sending gentle streams of electricity into her brain to rouse her towards waking.

"Blake," he whispered, "Blake, it's time to get up. You don't want the others to catch you in here, do you?"

At his words and caresses, Blake slowly began to stir. She raised her head to look up into his face and blinked, her eyes out of focus as she tried to remember where she was. She was so cute. Ray's smile grew.

"I would say good morning, but the sun isn't up yet, and that just sounds cruel with how adorably sleepy you look right now."

At his words, Blake's eyes snapped into focus as she remembered everything and registered the position she was in. She jumped up and away from him like a startled cat that had had her tail stepped on to land on her feet on the far side of the bed.

"I… Um… This is… I mean… We… Uh…" Blake's flustered words spilled out of her as she fidgeted with her yukata and hair. It didn't help that she couldn't tear her eyes away from Ray's chiseled chest as he slowly sat up, the blanket sliding seductively down, revealing more and more of his enticing physique.

She had been too tired and annoyed at Yang last night to fully appreciate it before. But she was making up for it now. Her eyes feasted on the sight of him even as her mouth floundered, her face flushed beet red, her ears flicked about atop her head, her heart pounded a mile a minute, and her mind told her to run. An order that her treacherous feet ignored.

Ray held up both hands and motioned for her to calm down. "Relax. It's ok, Blake. Deep breaths. Everything is fine. I'm about to go down to have my morning workout with Ruby, Yang, and Pyrrha. We can tell them that I met you in the hallway on the way down and invited you to join us. This can be our little secret." He said, adding a wink to the end.

Blake began to calm down under the influence of Ray's reassuring words and the knowledge that they had a plan to explain away the situation to the others. As her brain started working again, she narrowed her eyes at Ray, "You seem awfully familiar with concealing having slept with a girl." She asked suspiciously, tying her bow back up to conceal her ears.

Ray shrugged as he got out of the bed, "Ruby and Yang have a bad habit of slipping into bed with me when they are feeling insecure. I got a lot of practice hiding that fact from Dad after Yang turned ten, and he no longer considered it appropriate for guys and girls, even siblings, to share the same bed."

Blake wasn't sure how to respond to that news but nodded at his explanation and left him to return to her room. Ruby and Yang were already up and changing when she came in, but when they heard the excuse Ray had come up with, they accepted it without a second thought and welcomed her to join them since she was already up. As they chatted while walking down to join Ray and Pyrrha, who were already stretching in the courtyard, they decided to invite Weiss to join them all tomorrow.

Blake's little escapade into Ray's bed became a secret between just the two of them. The next night, Blake was able to tune out Yang's snoring and get a good night's sleep in her own bed as thoughts about the warmth of the young man she had spent the previous night next to warmed her heart and soothed her mind.