Sins of The Storm

Chapter Eight-Keep Friends Close, Enemies Closer, But Shadows The Closest

"Rain? Rain!" Smoke's urgent voice startled Rain from his thoughts, making his head snap up. He was met with the she-cat's blue eyes that always had some sort of determined light inside them. Oh, how he wanted to see behind that light! Who are you really, Smoke? What do you want from me?

But he couldn't; Smoke's eyes were keeping her secrets faithfully.

The blue-gray she-cat tilted her head to the side, watching him carefully. Rain shuddered; Smoke was always watching, always paying attention. He felt like she could see into his soul, while he couldn't do the same for her.

The two stared at each other silently for a few more heartbeats. Suddenly, Smoke broke the silence, catching Rain off guard.

"What are you staring at?" She asked almost challengingly, the corner of her mouth lifting into a mischievous half-smile. Rain's heart jumped, a strange shudder running through him. He froze, even if it was just for a little moment. And he didn't understand; that half-smile was no stranger to him as Smoke did it quite often. But the feeling, in fact, was. All the words he wanted to say jumbled together inside his head, sending him into complete confusion for seconds. All he knew was how familiar that half-smile was, and how much he is going to miss it.

StarClan, no!

"Y-your eyes!" He quickly replied, only realizing how stupid that sounded when Smoke raised her eyebrows, rather in amusement than in confusion. Rain wanted to slap himself right there and then; what is wrong with me, he wondered, trying to shake that weird feeling off. Am I completely stupid, or what? 'Cause it sounds like that! He finally got rid of that idiotic feeling, regaining his usual confidence again. He opened his mouth to explain it, but Smoke cut him off.

"You don't have to excuse yourself, I know I have beautiful eyes," she winked, and Rain looked away, his pelt feeling like it was on fire. "Anyways," Smoke continued. "I think this is where I say goodbye..."

Rain tensed. He knew that Smoke wasn't going with him, but he wanted her to. He was aware that it was wrong, that it was unnecessarily putting him in danger, but he didn't want to leave the she-cat behind.

"No." The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. There were so many ways he could've expressed himself; so many ways to tell Smoke to stay, but this was the one word that described his thoughts best. No. You aren't going anywhere.

Disbelief shone in the blue-gray she-cat's eyes, but Rain didn't care about what she wanted. No matter how selfish it sounded, but this wasn't about her; it was about him. He had made the choice for her; she was coming with him. No questions asked.

And why exactly? The orange tom asked himself as he looked Smoke in the eyes sternly. Why do I want her to come with me that much? He studied Smoke's face carefully, noticing the way her whiskers were twitching uncomfortably. She felt trapped, Rain could tell by the way her gaze was sparkling. For a brief heartbeat, a tiny thought raced through his head, indicating a possible answer to the question. Blue eyes met blue eyes, both so different and yet so similar in one thing: being lost.

Rain's mind was in fragments, his memories were shattered to a thousands of pieces and scattered all over his head, leaving him to wander around cluelessly, trying to gather the pieces and build them back up. He couldn't be sure of anything anymore. Except one thing; that Smoke, despite being ever so secretive and difficult, was always there with him.

I may hate her and she may hate me, but she has been here all the time since this nightmare started. And I'm not about to let her go.

"Rain..." Smoke began, but her voice trailed off uncertainly almost in an instant. She swished her tail in irritation, a clear sign of anxiety. "I'm not going to go with you."