Reborn into The Promised Neverland//RayxReader//

//haircut//

"What are you doing?" I questioned why he was cutting his own hair. Ray looked up to me with those grey-green eyes of his and blinked.

"Testing how it cuts through hair." He remarked, before gesturing for me to sit down.

I gulped and sat down in front of him, picking at the ground nervously as he began to work, the sharp knife dangerously close to my head.

"...I'm glad everyone is safe and sound..." Emma continued talking while Ray cut my hair carefully, working in silence.

While I tried to pay attention to Emma's speaking of the safety of her family and her worry about the correctness of the decision she made, the larger part of my brain was consumed by the thoughts of Ray cutting my hair. These thoughts didn't have anything to do with the fact that he could kill me and claim it was an accident incredibly easily- ok, so maybe a few were- but rather, they were about trying to control the blush that was threatening to spread madly across my face.

'What the hell?!' I spoke to myself, trying to stay stalk still for Ray's convenience. 'He's a literal child!' I argued with myself. 'You're a literal child! " The other side of me argued, despite also not wanting this to happen. "Two years younger, in fact!!' I continued like this for a while- until I just receded and gave up.

"...finished." Ray said, setting down the knife. He exhaled, handing the knife back to me then leaning back. I hummed, running my fingers through my hair. I wouldn't be able to see what it looked like until later, but it felt nice at least.

White strands of hair surrounded us, and I brushed the remaining ones off of my jacket before pulling it off and shaking it out. "...thanks..." I murmured to the older boy and he shrugged.

"No problem." He waved my thanks away.

"It looks great!" Emma reassured me, giving me a thumbs up, before turning back away with a dejected look. "But... as I was saying... I think... I've decided to talk over our problem with mister..." Emma stated quietly yet confidently.

"Emma, wait-" Ray began, clearly unsure of this idea. I grabbed his arm and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Knowing her, she'll be fine." I said confidently. Ray relaxed a little but we still followed after the outrageously kind girl.

"Mister!" She to Yuugo, who turned around a little shocked and a lot annoyed. "Before tomorrow comes, let's sit down and have a long heart-to-heart. I'm going to save you." She stated.

"The hell-?" Yuugo grumbled, looking down at the young girl. "You're gonna... save me?" Yuugo confirmed, an eyebrow raising on his head.

"Yup!" Emma stated once again. Despite the revolutionary conversation that was going on I was glancing all around me, trying to search for any sign of the demons who would be making an attempt at Emma soon. "Its strange." Emma's voice was fading in and out of my consciousness as I searched around the ginger girl.

"YOU WANNA SAVE ME?!" Yuugo's shouting snapped my attention back to him. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, YOU LITTLE BRAT?! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK... JUST QUIT F*CKING AROUND YOU SH*TTY LONG-HAIRED B*TCH!" He raged. I frowned. Calling her a b*tch is a little too far...

"I HATE YOU!" He continued screaming angrily. "ALL OF YOU!" I looked to Ray besides me who looked close to punching him in the face. He caught me looking and I gave him another reassuring smile- despite being angry at Yuugo's words myself. "I'M NOT TELLING YOU GUYS SHIT! NOW BACK OFF-!!"

"NO!!" Emma yelled. Ray immediately relaxed, a slightly dumbfounded grin spreading across his face. I snorted despite myself and continued watching their interaction, still being careful of my surroundings. "I DON'T CARE IF WE'RE HATED OR KILLED, I CANT JUST IGNORE THIS! LET'S JUST STOP ALL OF THIS! HIDING IT IS USELESS, AND NOTHING WILL BE SOLVED IF YOU JUST KEEP RUNNING FROM IT!"

"WHAT?!" Yuugo yelled but unable to say anything else because Emma wasn't done yet.

"It was painful, wasn't it?" Her voice broke as she spoke, heavy with emotion. "You had a 'good family', didn't you? Made of you and all of your comrades. And you loved them all, didn't you, mister? But then you lost them, and became sad, frustrated, and hateful. You suffered so much, all on your own, for many, many years. Every day felt like you were being torn apart by those feelings, didn't it?" Emma spoke truthfully, every word weighing down on the older man.

"...the hell do you think you know about me... You're just a-" Yuugo was practically grasping for straws, trying to come up with a good counter to Emma's truthful words.

"I don't know. All I can do it guess..." Emma continued speaking to Yuugo kindly. She spoke of how our family is likely similar to Yuugo's own and how that's why he hates seeing them. She talked about how all Yuugo was doing was ruining his own life. As Yuugo countered once again she then offered him to live on with her. She told him about her plans to return to Gracefield in two years. "Let's go see the world that our friends wanted us to see!"

I gulped, my throat tight from the emotional scene. I saw Ray himself tear up a little as she spoke about loosing Norman and living on for him. If only... if only I could tell her he's alive right now... but not only would they never believe me- but it would completely throw off their plans- and likely get them killed. They'd look for Norman instead of the 7 walls- and possibly cause Norman himself problems.

I watched as Yuugo faced a battle within himself and felt my stomach clench."Turn back now." He said. I immediately shot up, looking in the air above Emma for the pursuers. Any second now... I stood ready to shove her out of the way. "Anyway, turn back now. By morning, "those guys" will have-

It seemed to happen in slow motion. Emma turned to Ray and I with a horrified look on her face. "Y/N! RAY! GET DOWN-!!" I blinked in confusion. What? Why us-?! I felt the vines wrap and snag around my waist, intertwining both Ray and I in them. Emma reached towards us while Yuugo watched in fear. There was a tugging sensation as we were flung through the air before the black of unconsciousness descended on my brain.

"Huh-??!"

(A/N: You're welcome for the cliff-hanger (●'ω｀●) but on the bright side it's over 2,300 words so-)