Hello, Raye.

Hands were stuffed in the pockets of his black pants that hung off his slim waist. His feet padded over the floor as he stalked the library. Ears were on the swivel and bright eyes flickered about. His outwardly casual air was hindered only by these small signs of alertness. Okay, yes, he was tracking. A wolf in particular, actually.

He had had a thought today, and the sudden desire to see Raye had been overwhelming. Of course, he knew exactly that they were on rough grounds, but that was partly the reason. But this, this was bugging him, this feeling. It was a familiar feeling and he knew what would come of it, but that was the reason he had to be sure.

He passed the W isle and stop short, gaze catching on the form he was trying to locate. Smirk twitching at the side of his lips, he cockily leaned against the bookcase, pulling a hand from his pocket to tap the pointer and middle knuckles against the wood as if entering a room. He raised an eyebrow, but otherwise his expression was rather unreadable. Flecks of gold in amber glinted as hard eyes pinned her. His ears were slightly turned back and his tail flicked. The only thing obvious was that he was here for her in particular.

"Hello." His voice was low toned and the word was drawn out on his typical purring drawl. "Raye."

Raye, who had been quite happily reading sat in her favourite spot of the library, looked up when she heard the tapping of knuckle against wood, snapping her book shut.

The voice that followed after the rapping of wood made her flinch quite visibly. Her eyes slid shut and she inhaled slowly before turning around, cyan eyes wary.

Yup. It was Ndale. Sometimes she cursed her ability to recognise voices so well.

This meeting really wasn't one she had wanted quite yet. Last time they'd been in the same room together he'd been angry at her. And she really didn't like the idea of being alone with someone physically larger and stronger than her - in both forms - that was angry at her.

"Ndale," she greeted with a small bob of her head, eyeing first his flicking tail, then the ears pinned against his head before meeting his eyes. "How're you?"

His eyebrow raised higher at her flinch, and his shoulders pulled back just the slightest. It was not clear whether he was amused or insulted by it. It seemed she was less than pleased to see him...well, an interesting development, though as well she should, he assumed. He had great reason to be angry with her at the moment. What with the roof incident, and then the rather familiar situation with his boy friend that she had found herself in. His eyes flashed coldly. In fact, he could be livid, and he might have been. There was indeed a part of him that was. A part that admittedly wanted to harm Raye, but he was not. That was not what he was there for and the momentarily hostile vibe was quickly swept away as he pushed off the book case smoothly.

"Oh, swell~. And yourself?" Almost languidly he strolled closer, though it was reminiscent of how one cheetah might stalk and survey a wounded gazelle. He certainly seemed predatory enough with the way he drew out his words and kept his eyes on Raye's. "Been awhile."

He was humoring her with small chat. As it was, he didn't need a particular thread of conversation topic to confirm what he figured. The feline approached the wolf, moving to stand in front of her.

Her eyes widened a little at the cold flash in his eyes.

She shuffled back a little when he pushed away from the bookcase. She knew that stalk. And she really didn't like it. It was the same gait she used when she was hunting.

Being on the receiving end of it really made her nervous. Now she knew what it was like to be the sheep. She felt like a sheep. Her mind turned to the skull sat on the blanket in her room. She really didn't want to end up like that quiet yet.

"I've...been all right," she replied warily, stopping her backwards shuffling and standing to her full height. She wasn't as tall as Ndale, but standing definitely made her feel a little better. At least now she could stand her ground.

...Or retreat.

How far would she get before Ndale caught her...?

He found the smirk that threatened to pull at his lips as Raye shuffled backwards. He was succeeding already, and while he was pleased he was getting the reaction he wanted, it was...well...

As Raye stood, he continued on, though he pulled back his shoulders and lifted his chin in a slightly haughty manner, accepting the seeming challenge that she was standing up to him rather than roll over and expose underbelly in submission. His tail swung out in a wider arch, white tip and cheetah spots flashing. Stopping in front of Raye, he took a moment to glance over her form, expression blank. Then, he gave a small smile and lifted a hand slowly, trying to be nonthreatening as he raised it to cup her jaw gently and maybe even a little lovingly. His air visibly warmed and became more amiable.

"I'm making you nervous." It was a statement, though his tone was soft and almost sweet. Maybe even a hint of sadness that she would think so of him.

Her wide eyes narrowed slightly at the arrogant raise of his chin. He wanted her nervous. Why?

She didn't move as he stooped in front of her. When his hand moved at his side, her eyes darted down to it, following its path. She would have flinched again when his had touched her but the touch was softer than she was expecting.

The Jinn's eyes darted back up to his, filled with question.

...Wasn't he angry at her?

"Yes," she answered truthfully, though her tense shoulders relaxed a little. He didn't seem to want to attack her at the moment.

But she was alert. People's moods could change in the blink of an eye and she had learnt the hard way that the soft touch to her jaw could quite easily become a punch or slap hard enough to leave a bruise.

In his head, he was almost sneering. Still, his hand was warm against her cheek and his smile widened a bit more. He gave a light chuckle that rolled in to a purr as he stepped closer, arching his neck to be closer. He used the hand at her chin to try and lift her face up a bit towards him. He had made her nervous, now, he wanted to see if she could be comfortable again, or rather, allow him near despite being nervous.

He noted the questioning look, but didn't answer it.

"And why is that?" His second hand moved just as slowly to Raye's hip to just rest lightly. It was also a move, though, in courtesy to allow her to keep track of his other hand despite turning her gaze away from it. He didn't want her thinking he was trying to sneak something, now.

Her eyes flickered over his face, as her face lifted.

"Because I don't understand why you're doing this when you're angry at me."

The thought would not leave her mind. Ndale was angry with her. She hadn't made up that fierce glare she received at New Years.

When his hand touched her hip, she relaxed just a little more. At least she knew where both hands were now. He couldn't hit her without her knowing it, at least.

"It makes no sense unless you're trying to manipulate me to do something."

Her hands flexed at her sides. If he owned up to trying to manipulate her, she'd deck him. Hard. She was sick of being jerked around by the two boys. Both seemed to care for her somewhat. But then her and Ndale were on rocky grounds from the incident on the roof. And when they had finally made up and everything seemed right Shae decided to use her as a means to irk Ndale. Hello again rocky grounds.

The feline stared back with the ability that all cats seemed to be profound.

"Doing what?"

He hummed lightly, carefully noting the slight movement of her hands.

"I'm not angry with you Raye." He spoke almost flippantly. "I could be." His voice dripped in to a more growling tone for just those three words, gaining a harsh edge that was gone just as quick as it had appeared. "But, I'm not. Shae has already pleaded your innocence with me for that rather unfortunate situation."

Gently, softly, he trailed his finger along her jaw, following the curve up. Slowly, he tried to make his way to that spot behind her ear, remembering the effects of petting her.

"I manipulate everything I do Raye, but no, I am not trying to get you to do anything." Well, not really. Not an action. He was manipulating, yes, but just to see if he could. He had no intention of requesting, demanding, or making her do anything at all. Well, not yet.

She stayed silent, merely staring back at him.

Her eyes filled with more confusion. He wasn't? She flinched again when his voice dropped to a harsh growl, pulling back slightly. This is what she meant by moods changing in the blink of an eye. And then he was back to playing nice.

What was he trying to achieve?! If he wanted to scare her, he was doing a fine job of it.

And then she blinked. Shae had...? Even when she was angry with him? She wasn't expecting that. And the shock clearly showed on her face.

She was so shocked that she didnt even murmur a protest as his fingers made their way t the back of her ear.

The tenseness slowly diffused from her body. She really needed to be careful about letting people find out what relaxed and disarmed her. She hated people using it against her.

"Then why?" She stared hard, piercing him with an unblinking gaze. "Why are you here? Doing this?"

His smirk pulled wider at the clear set of emotions displayed before him. In the meanwhile, success was reached as his fingers made it to behind her ears, and sent to rubbing firm but gentle circles through the silvery grey hair. He applied pressure to the hand at her hip to urge her closer from her slight pull back from his growl.

He was actively trying to make her melt, give to his subtle suggestions. He wanted to see how much control he actually had here. Purring lowly, the boy leaned in slightly.

"Doing what?" Ndale insisted in a barely hidden cocky tone.

She leaned into the hand rubbing circles behind her ear as her eyes slid shut. She followed through with the pressure on her hip, taking a small towards him.

Her hands ran up his chest and curled around his neck.

Her eyes flitted open and she pulled herself up to stand on the tips of her toes, pressing her cheek against the Cheetah's

"Screwing with me, Ndale."

She pulled back, taking a few steps backwards, glaring at him.

The cheetah's satisfied purr strengthened as Raye leaned in to his touch and stepped in to him. His eyes fell half closed at the hands trailing up his chest and pressed his cheek back against hers as if fondly. At her words, though, his smirk split in to a wide grin for her to see as she pulled back again. His left his hands slip from her as she took more than one step away. They immediately returned to his pockets passively as he tilted his head. His smile may have been warm, but there was a wicked undertone.

"Consequently." He said flippantly, giving a half-heart shrug. "Don't worry. I'll leave you be. I've gotten what I came here for." Casually narrowed eyes trailed over her as he turned as if to leave with offering no further explanation.

Yes, he had confirmed his feeling. He knew Raye, he knew how to make her wary, how to ease her back to a form of comfort. From this simple display, he was confident that with more effort and time on his part, he could sway her. This feeling was sated, it was fact in his mind and no longer itching against his thoughts. And what was left was what he expected. He knew Raye. Raye was his friend, and he had no desire to further that to anything closer.

The chase was over.

He was bored.

Time to move on.

Her teeth clenched at the sight of the grin.

Gotten what he came here for...? Her tongue darted out over her lower lip as her hands began to tighten into fists. And then he turned his back. The fists clenched tighter.

"Is that all I am then? Something to use to relieve your boredom?"

She reared back her first, took a few steps forwards and aimed a punch at the back of his head.

She knew that he would not be amused with her. She also knew that he was fast and would probably evade it.

But she was angry. And this was the sort of anger that bled through all your common sense and rendered it useless.

She wanted to land a hit. Just one.

He had taken only one step when he paused, hearing Raye's voice. An unimpressed, flat look settled on his face as he started to turn back to look at her over his shoulder. His view of her was blocked, however, by the incoming fist. His eyes widened and he pivoted, knowing the back of the head to be a particularly bad place get clubbed. That was all he could do, however, as the punch collided firmly with his cheek where cheek bone and jaw neared the ear. His head was forced to turn and he stumbled back, slightly disoriented. Catching himself against the bookcase, a few of the bindings shaking, one falling to the floor.

The cheetah shook his head quickly, trying to dislodge the shock as the smarting pain filtered in. Taking a deep breath, he lifted a hand and prodded his face for any broken bones and worked his jaw. It clicked and he winced. Slowly, flaming amber eyes found their way up to Raye's face, and his ears pinned. You could trace the anger flooding, creeping up as his mouth set firmly in to tight, displeased frown and his brows knitted. His messy hair spiked as his hackles raised and his shoulders hunched threateningly. The feline peeled his lips back and out came a furious, animalistic hissing growl, baring his canines. He pushed off the book case and stalked forward.

"Yes, Raye. And that was not your wisest move." His voice was cold and laced with the horrid hissing noise as if he was having trouble keeping his vocal cords human. "I did consider you a friend, and I wasn't going to hurt you. Why is it that we're finally back to being non-hostile, you botch it up. I told you I was going to leave you be." His fists clenched as he shook, tail flicking violently with restrained rage. He lunged forward suddenly, intending to trap Raye against the opposite book case.

She turned as soon as skin met skin and began walking to the end of the isle, rubbing her throbbing knuckles.

The Jinn stopped momentarily to pick up her manga before continuing on her way.

She stopped again when he spoke again. "Yes, I know it wasn't. But I'm not known for being incredibly wise, am I?" She turned back around to face him. Another not-so-wise move. If she had run then she might have gotten away.

Did. Past tense. Not friends any more. That made her cringe inwardly.

"I seem to botch anything related to friendship, Ndale. I can't keep a friend to save my life."

She stumbled back when he lunged, trying to avoid him but (very stupidly) backed into the same bookcase that he was intending to back her into in the first place.

A loud curse flew from her open mouth as she bared fanged teeth at the Cheetah.

"Will you just stop?!" Baring his canines right back, Ndale loomed, attempting to bodily keep her pinned.

"Funny you should use that phrase." His tones had dropped low and threatening. "Shae can't help you in this one, Raye."

Fire-lit eyes glared down on the wolf girl and his tail flicked snappishly through the air.

"What is wrong with you? We were fine one day, and the next moment you're scared to death of me. What happened, Raye? Where did your strength go?" Ge ground out, angry, but also seemingly disappointed. "You were fun." He spoke that slowly, implying she was no longer.

"I don't need Shae to follow me around helping me. I can fight my own battles." Battles that she, admittedly, couldn't pick very well. This was a battle that she probably couldn't win. He was bigger, stronger and in a better position.

"I'm fine until I get attached. I have fun, meet people, have a good time, laugh and joke and do whatever the hell I want. But then I get attached. I care about your opinions of me and you can get under my skin far too easily. I get self-conscious and worry about what you think of me." She sighed heavily and slumped back against the bookcase. "If I were in this position with anyone else - anyone that I didn't care for - I wouldn't be here, pinned against the bookcase babbling like I am. Being told that I'm just something to amuse yourself with... I'd probably think the same about you. I wouldn't have thrown that punch."

She frowned, eyes dropping to stare at his shoulder. "I don't like getting attached to people. It's complicated and scary."

The feline's eyes narrowed.

"Apparently, you do, because you know what? This didn't have to be a battle at all." He scoffed cruelly. He did fall silent and listen to her explanation though. Of course, not that he accepted it as an excuse, it just sounded pathetic to him, and he showed as much as his expression fell blank and unimpressed. Getting close and getting under people's skin was what he did. He just never put any attachment to it.

"You punched me...because you care about me..." He couldn't find the logic in that. Finally, he snorted airily and gave a few light chuckles. "Do you know silly you sound, Raye? How is making me mad at you going to help this at all? If you care what I think, why? We weren't attached to each other. You amused me, I amused you, that's as far as our relationship went." His brows furrowed slightly. "It was simple. You complicated it. When and why did your opinion change?"

He had no intention of moving, or letting Raye move, until his questions were answered.

"What, then, do you want from me?"

"I know it didn't..." She continued to stare a hole in his shoulder

She snorted. "When you put it like that it sounds stupid. I punched you because you made me angry. I got angry because I care."

The Jinn hissed a sigh. "I know we weren't attached to each other but somewhere along the way I-" She fell silent as he continued to speak and her lips pressed together. "Exactly, I complicated things." At the question, though, she fell silent. When did her opinion change? She couldn't pinpoint a moment. "I don't know."

And at the second question, she had the same dilemma. What did she want? It was fine and dandy telling him that she felt for him but that wouldn't do anything, would it? "I don't know."

She pursed her lips as her eyes slowly wandered back up to his. "There are two ways we can go about this."

"One, I forget about this." She lifted her hand and motioned between the two of them. "And we go on as if we didn't know each other. Just familiar strangers that go to the same school. No association beyond that."

"Or two, we carry on as friends. We go back to what it was like before I decided to be an idiot and complicate things. We tease each other, laugh and joke just like before."

Her shoulders lifted in an easy shrug, as if the topic of conversation wasn't all that important to her.

Ndale rolled his eyes, really, he didn't have time for these dramatics.

Staring down at Raye, and into her eyes as she looked up again, he asked quietly.

"But somewhere along the way you what?" It was't harsh, but more of a gently coaxing. "You don't know a lot of things, do you?" He purred, and shifted his weight, leaning over Raye against the book case in a more casual, less hostile way, though he moved no farther back or gave her any more moving room. Listening to her options, a slow smile spread over his lips and his eyes closed for a long blink as he huffed lightly in amusement.

"No...and no." Denying both options, he leaned down, closer, to place a small kiss at the corner of her lips. He didn't buy her passive attitude and he was willing to bet that there was something deeper, he wanted to dig to find out what it was.

"Somewhere along the way I made things complicated and developed feelings for you."

She gave an airy snort at his purred question. "So it seems."

As the Cheetah shifted position, Raye did the same. The slumped position she was in was a little less than comfortable.

"Then what do you suggest?" Her voice died out as his lips pressed against the corner of hers. her immediate reaction was to back up, but with the bookcase behind her, she wasn't going far. "Because those two are the only options I can see."

"Developed feelings for me?" He purred out again, air ghosting over Raye's cheek as he only pulled back far enough to speak. He was aware that this would be uncomfortable for her, but that was somewhat of the point. "My, my, Raye, have you fallen for me?" He smirked.

"And I haven't figured that out yet, but both of your options involve forgiving and forgetting that punch you gave me..." His tone dipped lower. "I have no intention of letting you go that easily." Ndale paused, as if thinking it over. "Though, I suggest you find a way to repay me before I think of one, or else you'll find out how scary I really can be."

The feline's methods of payback hardly involved physical pain. He strength wasn't in throwing punches or some such. No. His methods were simply relentless. Once he had someone figured out, he'd get under their skin and hit all the right places just to make them crumble. It was a drawn out process, but worth the efforts, he believed. It worked...especially if they found him attractive, of all the things he could do with that...his smirk pulled wider.

"Once I've been sufficiently appeased...we can revisit the idea of going back to your options. But first, I think it's about time you got some spine back, cutie." He was daring her to do something about this situation.

She didn't answer. How could she answer that without looking like a fool?

A disbelieving chuckle bubbled from her lips. He denied both suggestions because she had punched him?

Her fingers brushed over the skin that her fist had connected with, a twinkle in her eye. "Looks like its gonna bruise. How long for, though, I wonder~?" Knowing that she had landed a hit she had been certain he was going to avoid made her mood lift.

She did worry a little when he promised payback if she didn't come up with a way. Raye wasn't very imaginative. He'd probably have thought of a way to get payback and executed it by the time she had come up with something.

And she knew she didnt want to be on the receiving end of Ndale's quest for payback.

"And how, do you suppose, I should go about getting back some spine, eh, Ō chītā yō-juu~?"

His eye twitched just the slightest in a wince as Raye's fingers brush over the sensitive area and he worked his jaw again stubbornly.

"Oh, it'll be gone by tomorrow." Really...Od was a God with makeup. He smirked dangerously.

"I suggest you do something daring. You've becoming quite...predictable." He purred cockily. "And I suggest you don't hit me again." There was a flicker of irritation the sparked in his eyes, but otherwise remained relatively amiable in appearance, if more than a bit arrogant and mischievous. His smirk pulled wider, distroting his face in a rather suave, but horribly cruel expression "In fact, if you'd rather, I've already come up with a rather brilliant way for you to repay me love. Do you wish to lay down and roll over, grandma, or take a chance and try to right this yourself." He snickered, eyes glinting. He almost wanted her to just give in after all, so precious his revenge would be. In fact, be believed he had come across a maid outfit recently while snooping through some old stuff, all frills and lace. That would surely do. But..it was rather harsh. He had to stop and question himself. Was he really that vindictive as to subject Raye to such a thing...

It only took a second to decide.
Yes. Yes he was.