Kitsune in the Shadows

Chapter 36 – How Is She Going To Open The Door?

Raynelle and I sat there in silence, with the only occasional movement coming from Raynelle having to brush Ava’s hair out of her face to stop her from chewing on it while she slept.

I was tempted to continue drawing but just couldn’t get myself to with Raynelle’s eyes watching me. I just couldn’t get into the right mindset to pick up where I left off.

…

Am I supposed to… leave them alone?

…

Where would I even go?

…

Should I go sit in their room until Ava wakes up?…

Am I even allowed in there?… They’ve never let me in…

…

“Um…” Raynelle started to speak, quickly bringing me out of my thoughts, “I see you’ve held on to that notebook I gave you…”

“…”

“The drawing you showed me before was quite good…” She paused, “Have you drawn anything else?”

I looked down at my drawing of Raynelle and Ava sleeping. Slowly moving from detail to detail, almost tracing the process of drawing it in my mind, until I eventually got to a broken line.

It’s not finished yet…

…

Should I show it to her anyway?

It is a drawing of her…

…

She is also the person who gave me the notebook in the first place…

…

Maybe…

“…Mhm,” I responded while avoiding eye contact.

“Can you show me one then?” She asked immediately.

…

But what if she doesn’t like it?…

What if she’s insulted?…

…

M-maybe this can be… a test!

…

If… if it’s really that bad I… I…

I shouldn’t show it to Ovia…

Slowly, I turned the notebook around, gradually moving my gaze up to Raynelle's face as I did, bracing myself for her reaction.

But she didn’t say anything. Her face didn’t change. She just silently stared at the drawing.

What does that mean?

Did I get ahead of myself?

Why did I think this would be okay?

I quickly shut the notebook with a loud slap and brought it in close to my chest. As soon as I did, Raynelle’s eyes immediately shifted back to me.

“I… was just a little surprised,” She said, “… For some reason, I really didn’t expect to see a drawing of myself in that notebook of yours… Especially one that good… The last time I had a portrait done was probably…”

Her expression darkened for just a moment, but she was quickly back to smiling as if nothing had happened.

Did I do something wrong?

My heart started to beat faster as I hastily tried to figure out what mistake I had made. However, before I could come up with any answer, Umbra yawned before turning their eyes up towards me, clearly expecting something.

What do you want me to do?

There was only one thing I could think Umbra would want from me, so I reached out one of my hands to pet them, but before I made contact, they jumped up, completely dodging my hand, and grabbed the notebook from me.

“No!” I tried to grab them, but they expertly jumped off of my shoulder and into my shadow.

It didn’t take long for them to return, strutting back up to me with a proud look on their face.

Why did you do that?

I wasn’t finished with it yet.

I wanted to scold Umbra but just couldn’t bring myself to, and instead, I ended up petting them, even making sure to give them a scratch behind the ears, before they climbed into my lap and went back to sleep.

“Um…” Raynelle suddenly spoke up, giving me a little scare.

Wait, no!

That wasn’t supposed to happen!

I-I was supposed to hide them!

“Are you going to introduce your… little friend?” She asked, gesturing towards the fox sleeping in my lap.

Almost instantly, I covered Umbra with one of my arms to protect them.

“Hey, don’t worry, we’re not going to do anything to them,” She waved her free hand, “Trust me, after what just happened, I’m almost tempted to strap them to you just in case it happens again.”

…

I was about to ask Umbra to go into my shadow, but before I could even lean in, they wriggled out from under my arm and walked straight up to Raynelle.

What?! What are you doing?!

What if she does something to you?!

But nothing happened. Umbra just quietly approached Raynelle before sitting down and staring back at me with those same expectant eyes.

“…” I remained silent.

What?! Are you wanting me to do something?

Or…

…

Do you just… like her better than me?…

She… would be able to treat you better than I can…

While I was stuck in my thoughts, Ava suddenly let go of Raynelle’s neck and fell forward into her lap.

“Huh…” She mumbled, “What… Pillow…”

Raynelle tried to grab her but unfortunately didn’t make it in time as Ava rolled off of her lap and onto the floor with a loud thud that could probably have been heard in the room over from us.

“That’s… That’s not right…” Ava, while lying face down on the floor, started haphazardly throwing her arms around the place.

That didn’t wake her up?

Somehow, despite falling onto a wooden floor, Ava still hadn’t fully woken up.

Was she always such a heavy sleeper?

“Sorry about this,” Raynelle said, “It’s been a while since she’s acted like this, but she probably just needs to get some more sleep. That’s what’s worked in the past. She probably had it a bit rougher than I did since she was using her magic right until she passed out.”

“Where?…” Ava opened one of her eyes ever so slightly, “There… My pillow…”

Ava’s arm shot out towards Umbra, but before she could grab them, Umbra jumped back. Raynelle then lifted Ava’s head back onto her lap.

“At least all she wants is a pillow this time; last time, she was complaining about wanting a… No, never mind, you’re probably a bit too young for that conversation,” Raynelle ran her hand through Ava’s hair before letting out a sigh, “Y’know, I feel sorry for the poor souls who will have to deal with her when she’s drunk. Then again… that’s probably going to be me anyway…”

…

What am I supposed to do here?

…

I looked over at Umbra, once again hoping for some kind of response, but there was none. Instead, Umbra just went back to sitting next to Raynelle and staring at me as if nothing had happened.

…

Just… Can someone just tell me what I’m supposed to do?

…

I don’t want to be in this situation.

“Well, we got a little bit off track there, didn’t we?” Raynelle asked, “But back to what we were talking about. Does your little friend here have a name?”

Umbra’s tail started to sway back and forth when she said that.

…

“…U-Umbra!” I blurted out before quickly turning around.

Is that what you wanted?!

…

“So, it’s Umbra then… Well, Umbra, thank you for helping Kierra out,” She chuckled a little, “And I guess I also thank you for helping us out as well, even if you didn’t mean to, don’t know how long I would’ve been able to hold her if you didn’t help her calm down.”

If it was that bad, why did you do it then?

It doesn’t make sense…

…

There was no reason for you to get hurt like that…

Tears had started to form in my eyes, but I couldn’t understand why. I wasn’t sad, or in pain, or sick, at least that’s what I thought, but the tears still wanted to come out.

What’s wrong with me?

…

At that moment, I felt Umbra jump into my shadow behind me before immediately jumping back out of it in my lap and trying to lick the tears from my face.

…

You really just do whatever you want… don’t you…

Despite what I was saying in my head, I lifted Umbra up and hugged them tightly as I waited for the tears to stop.

…

I had expected Raynelle to say something to me, but she remained silent right until I turned back around to face her.

“Hey, look… I think I’m going to take Ava back to our room so she can get some proper sleep,” Raynelle lifted Ava up, gently cradling her in her arms, “If you want, we can continue talking afterwards. Or maybe we can make some other plans for the day? Whatever you feel like.”

“…” I didn’t respond.

“Oh, come on, don’t be like that. There’s got to be something you want to do, even if you don’t quite know what it is yet.”

…

I know what I want to do…

I just… can’t do it yet…

“Hmm… Actually, before that, there’s something I was supposed to give you. I’ll bring it all here in a bit… But maybe I should wait for Ava to wake up first… Nah, it’ll be fine. She’ll understand.”

What do you mean something to give me?

You’ve already given me enough.

You gave me a dress and a scarf already…

…

That’s already going to be hard to pay back… So if you give me more…

…

“Come back here!” Ava suddenly shouted, somehow still fast asleep.

“Guess that’s her way of complaining that I’m taking too long,” Raynelle walked over to the door but abruptly stopped, “Um… can I get a hand with this?”

I didn’t say anything and carefully set Umbra down on the floor before getting up and opening the door for Raynelle.

“Thanks, just give me a minute, and I’ll be back,” She called back as she walked through the hallway.

…

How is she going to open her own door?

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