72 Conquering Fear with Kindness

Recovering from his initial shock, Nobu answered, "Uh...yeah...?" while scratching the back of his head.

("Did Kazue infect me...?")

As that thought crossed his mind, Nobu nearly jumped out of his skin when Kaia smashed face-first into the iron bars. At the exact same time, Yui stepped out in front of him, shouting, "Kaia! Heel...!"

Hearing Yui's command, Kaia backed away from the slightly bent prison bars, blood dripping from her forehead as she plopped to the ground. Throughout this entire process, she continued staring directly at Nobu, her pupils rapidly expanding and contracting as she breathed heavily from behind the bars.

Though she didn't move from in front of Nobu, Yui nodded in approval, saying, "Good. Now, stay. If you lose your calm, we'll have no choice but to leave."

With her claws kneading the reinforced stone floor as if it was tofu, Kaia nodded her head and said, "I know...I just...I just wanted to be closer to him..." in a somewhat pain-filled tone.

Exhaling a sigh, Yui was about to say something to try and pacify Kaia's frustrations when Nobu surprised them both by remarking, "Holy shit. Are those claws? You even have paw pads on your palms. Talk about a furry's wet dream..."

"My Lord...?"

Bypassing the confused Yui, Nobu forced himself to walk until he was just outside of Kaia's range. The girls had already explained all the safety precautions to him. More importantly, they had told him that he shouldn't exhibit fear in front of Kaia. This was pretty much impossible, but, fortunately for everyone involved, he was genuinely intrigued by the wolfish woman's appearance.

"Let me see your paws..."

Without any hesitation whatsoever, Kaia extended her hand through the bars as if she was trying to grab Nobu's face. Fortunately, there was a line on the ground that denoted the maximum distance she could extend her claws. Nobu was several centimeters behind this line so there was still ample distance between his paling face and the shimmering black claws extending towards him.

"You really know how to give a guy a heart attack..."

Furrowing her brows in response to Nobu's words, Kaia asked, "D-Did I do something bad...?" while straining to squeeze her shoulder through the bars.

Noticing Kaia's attempt, Nobu did his best to appear stern as he said, "Stop trying to force your way out. You need to calm down. What did Yui just say? I don't want to leave but you're not leaving me with much of a choice..."

Though she didn't retract her hand, Kaia ceased trying to force her way through the cell bars. This somehow made her even scarier, almost like a grenade that had lost its pin or a massive firework that had run down its fuse without exploding...

Resisting the urge to wipe away the sweat from his brow, Nobu stared at Kaia's paws with a curious yet cautious gaze. Her hands were nothing like the hands of a person. Her digits were much thicker, and, despite being covered in silvery white fur, it was possible to make out the musculature hidden beneath. They gave off the impression she could crush metal with her grip strength...

Ignoring the vicious black claws extending and retracting from Kaia's paws, seemingly in tune with the beating of her heart, Nobu ran his along the rest of her arm. Her forearm was entirely covered in the same silvery-white fur as her paws. As for her upper arm and bicep, it almost appeared dainty at a glance, but, every time her muscles tensed, they would swell noticeably...

Following the path of Kaia's body, Nobu's eyes nearly descended towards her rather voluminous chest by pure instinct. Instead, he managed to shift his focus to the muzzle around her face, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end as he saw the rather prominent canines concealed within. She also produced a fair amount of steamy condensation with every breath, and, when he finally returned his gaze to her eyes, Nobu had the distinct impression that she would devour him down to the bone if not for the cell bars separating them...

"You're pretty scary..."

Though his words were intended more as an observation than an insult, Nobu was surprised to see the oversized ears atop Kaia's head droop rather pathetically the moment he finished speaking. At the same time, the tensions in her body seemed to drain away, almost as if she were deflating right in front of him.

Since he was shit at apologizing, Nobu offered a wry smile as he extended his hand, surprising both Kaia and Yui as he poked the former's paw pad and added, "Relax. I wasn't trying to make you feel-"

Before Nobu could finish his non-apology, he felt a sharp pain from his shoulder as Kaia pulled him against the prison bars with extreme force. This caused Yui to exclaim, "Kaia! Bad...!" in a remarkably panicked tone, her body tensing like a spring as she prepared herself to cut down the white-haired wolf girl.

Fortunately, Nobu had become increasingly accustomed to pain ever since his arrival in this new world. As a result, he was able to hold up his hand, groaning, "Calm down..." even as Kaia strained her muzzle against the cell bars, eagerly inhaling his scent.

With the power disparity between them, Nobu knew that Kaia could rip him apart without any real effort. Instead, she pulled him towards her with an inhuman yet tolerable amount of force. In other words, the thought of harming him hadn't crossed her mind. Instead, as she had stated previously, she just wanted to be close to him...

Though she didn't retract the sword in her hands, Yui forced herself to nod as she stared directly at Kaia's panicky but possessive expression. She could tell that the latter didn't mean to do any harm, but, at the same time, there was an unwillingness in her eyes that made it clear she wasn't going to cooperate as usual.

As that thought crossed her mind, Yui was genuinely surprised to see Kaia obey when Nobu said, "I want to turn around and face you. Let go of my arm. I won't run away..."

After a very brief moment of hesitation, Kaia reluctantly released Nobu's arm. She had been taught to trust and obey him her entire life. Thus, even though this was their first meeting, she felt a strong compulsion to do as he said.

Drastically increasing the tensions in Yui's body, Nobu ignored the pain in his shoulder as he turned to face Kaia. Then, before she could forcibly seize him a second time, he said, "Give me your hand..." while extending his own.

Though it took a considerable amount of willpower not to draw Nobu towards her, Kaia ultimately presented her hand, palm facing upward. In response, Nobu grabbed her wrist with his right hand before gingerly placing his left hand overtop hers. He had encountered numerous tropes since his arrival in this world so he wanted to see if he couldn't use 'gentleness' to try and get through to the untamed woman. This was pretty common in movies and other forms of fiction, so, with Kaia having spent most of her life isolated from others, Nobu felt compelled to treat her gently...

"Your heart is beating quickly...are you afraid...?"

Hearing Nobu's question, the pupils in Kaia's eyes contracted as she quickly retracted her paw from his grasp. To Yui's surprise, she even took a few steps away from the cell bars as she said, "Kaia isn't afraid of anything..." in a thoroughly unconvincing tone.

Demonstrating considerable surprise of his own, Nobu stared blankly at Kaia's retreating figure. He wasn't sure what he had expected, but this certainly wasn't it.

"My Lord..."

Since the time for casualness had long since passed, Yui defaulted to referring to Nobu as her Lord while restraining the urge to charge over and pull him away from the danger zone.

Without removing his gaze from Kaia, Nobu left Yui feeling an inexplicable urge to ask what the hell was wrong with him as he said, "Yui...unlock the gate..."

"..."

"..."

With even Kaia staring at him as if he had lost his mind, Nobu could feel his skin beginning to crawl as he rolled his injured shoulder and asked, "What? Are you thinking about hurting me...?"

Responding without any hesitation, Kaia shouted, "No! Kaia would never hurt Master...!" as her eyes briefly flickered towards his shoulder.

Though he noticed Kaia's gaze, Nobu pretended not to as he said, "Then it's fine." before turning to Yui and saying, "You know I don't like repeating myself..."

Clenching her teeth, Yui restrained the urge to smack Nobu on the head with the butt of her sword as she turned to the woman who had escorted them, saying, "Hand me the key..."

"Yui-sama..."

Adopting a serious expression on her face, Yui absorbed her sword back into her aura as she said, "The Matriarch and the Elders have placed their trust in Nobunaga-sama and his judgment. Are you questioning them...?"

Shaking her head rapidly, the rather plain-looking kunoichi immediately produced the key to Kaia's cell, saying, "I would never...!" in a slightly panicked tone.

"Wise choice."

Accepting the key, Yui ignored her own inhibitions as she walked over and promptly unlatched the lock. She wanted to ask if Nobu was certain, but, fearing she might make things worse, she steeled her heart, suppressed her better judgment, and decided to trust in him.

In truth, Nobu had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He was basically just winging things and making decisions based on the flow of events. He didn't really view himself as anything like a 'main character', but, after everything that had happened, he suspected that fate or whatever might be on his side. Besides, he had already died once. What was the worst that could happen?

Ignoring the urge to punch himself in the face for having such thoughts, Nobu stepped into Kaia's cell without any obvious hesitation. Then, despite feeling as though he had just entered a cage with a carnivorous animal, he took a knee and said, "Come here..." with his hand extended towards the wolfish beauty.

To Nobu's surprise, Kaia replied, "I shouldn't..." despite staring at him with hungry eyes.

Returning a smile, Nobu asked, "The person who told you that...are their words more important to you than mine?"

With her pupils contracting, Kaia clasped her paws together as if she were about to pray as she said, "Kaia doesn't want to hurt Master..."

Though the hairs on his forearms stood on end, Nobu did his best to maintain a calm smile as he said, "Then don't. That doesn't stop you from coming near me..."

Widening her eyes, Kaia began to fidget slightly as she said, "But Kaia is dangerous...she isn't-"

Without waiting for her to finish, Nobu said, "You were born to serve and protect me. I've made you wait eighteen years. Are you telling me I can't trust you...?"

Shaking her head with enough force to make her inordinately large ears flop, Kaia exclaimed, "No! Master can trust Kaia...!" in a shrill yet resolute tone.

Visibly relaxing, Nobu's smile became more genuine as he said, "Then it's fine. So long as you keep that in mind, there isn't any reason you can't come near me. Right?"

Though she had been taught to stay away from others, Kaia found herself unable to refute Nobu's logic. Thus, after a considerable amount of hesitation, she proceeded to hesitantly crawl towards him. This caused the smile on Nobu's face to turn somewhat wry, but, from start to finish, he did his best to appear calm as Kaia extended her paw to place in his hand.

"Good girl..."

Feeling a tingly sensation run through her body, Kaia managed a somewhat scary smile as her tail began to brush along the ground, gently sweeping from side to side. This gave Nobu the urge to laugh. Unfortunately, the moment he dropped his guard, Kaia literally pounced on him, shouting, "Master~!" in a surprisingly girly tone.

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(A/N: