^{Human Territory Chpt. 7}

*****

Dokuja sighed softly as she caught up to Renzo and Kitsune. Without a word, she moved past them, silently, and followed Shimauma down the right tunnel. She crossed her arms with a smirk when she saw the light ahead, and Shimauma's heat signatures on the ground leading towards it. "Well.. crafty." she said from behind him, having come up behind him as quietly as a snake in the grass.

"Shit! Don't sneak up on me like that!" Shimauma complained after jumping slightly at her prescence. Despite being a zebra hybrid and having extremely good hearing now, he didn't hear Dokuja at all. "Where did sharky and the fox go? They took the left route didn't they?" He asked in a mutter, walking on ahead again. "Had a feeling they would.. dumbasses.."

Dokuja chuckled and shook her head. "Yeah." she said simply, not sure if she was talking about not sneaking up on him or agreeing with him that the other two were morons. She stepped closer to him. "Shim.. can I ask you something?" she asked softly, her voice actually sounding sincere as she rested a hand on his arm.

Shimauma glanced down at her hand on his arm for a brief second before returning his eyes to the light at the end of the tunnel which was slowly getting larger, but it was also dimming, meaning that it was no longer daylight. "Yeah, whatever." He answered Dokuja finally, shrugging slightly.

Dokuja gripped his arm here, stopping them both from walking any more and looked at him, facing him fully, her green eyes shining. "Why did you stand up for me back there? Against Renzo, I mean?" she asked, watching him closely. In truth, no one had ever stood up for her.. She had always had to defend herself back in the past, not even Kinage had protected her. It was a new feeling..

Shimauma raised an eyebrow as he looked at her and folded his arms across his chest. "Why? Is it really a big deal to you?" He asked, still watching her closely. Eh, why does she care so much? It isn't like I care about her or anything.. His thoughts said inside his head. Or do I? Hah, shut your mouth. Idiot. You want to get yourself out alive. Just you and no one else, right?

Dokuja watched him closely then slowly stepped back, shaking her head and letting her hand drop. "No... It's not." she lied. There's no way in hell I'm letting him see another weak side of me. He doesn't care anyway. she thought angrily, then crossed her arms under her breasts as well, mimicking him. "I just wanted to say that you better cut it out. I'm not some weak priss you can act all tough for. I don't need it." she said sternly and turned, walking on ahead. But no matter how tough she had tried to sound, it hadn't sounded as intimidating as Dokuja would've liked. Maybe I shoulda slammed him into the wall or something..? she pondered.

Shimauma smirked at her back as he walked on too, his pace a little quicker than hers so he now passed her instead. As he walked past her however, he spoke in almost a whisper. "You needed it when I saved your life back there, though, didn't you?" He shrugged again and passed her fully so he was leading them both again.

Dokuja blinked and watched him, then growled and clentched her fists. "Watch it. I could poison you again and this time not save you." she threatened. Though, inside, she was rather impressed with him. He's definitely a lot tougher than he looks.. she thought, the first signs of colour coming to her pale cheeks as she watched his backside ahead of her. She bit her lip and glared at the ground. She still didn't sound so tough.. Actually.. She didn't feel so tough around him anymore either. He's seen me in my weakest points... I CRIED in front of him... I haven't cried since I was little! That bastard.. making me feel weak.. she thought with a growl.

"Ugh, you're always so dammned negative, and it really pisses me off." Shimauma grumbled, turning now and grabbing her wrist. "Come on." He muttered, pulling her along with him. My grips too tight.. So? You said you didn't care before, right? Yeah, but.. Eh, I don't know. His thoughts confused him, but he loosened his grip on Dokuja's wrist and just kept his eyes ahead of him. "Besides, if you killed me now, who would save your life if you were seconds away from death? Who would know how to?" Shimauma added, not looking at her.

Dokuja gasped when he had grabbed her wrist, and out of instinct, was seconds away from releasing her poisons, but she stopped herself when he had loosened his grip. W-Why is he being gentle with me..? she thought as she looked at his hand around her wrist. She looked at the back of his shaggy-haired head and tried to read his body language, but found she just.. couldn't. She sighed and looked ahead of herself at the light at the end of the tunnel, not saying another word.

"I didn't think you'd have an answer for that one." Shimauma said as they both finally exited the tunnel after a few minutes or so. When they reached outside, they weren't outside at all. They had stepped out into the sewers of New York. The light they had seen from the tunnel however was from one of the large circular holes in the roof of the sewers where a lid once was. It seemed that the people or creatures who had traveled through the tunnel had escaped through there. The dim light from the disappearing sun outside poured through the hole and to the brown sludge in the ground. Shimauma grimaced at it. "Nice." He muttered, letting go of Dokuja's wrist and moving towards the metal ladder which led up to the hole.

Dokuja rubbed her wrist a little once he had let go of it and looked around the sewers. There were no heat signatures to worry about except for those of a few lowly rats, who were too big of cowards to fight for the animals, but wouldn't show themselves to humans either. She spat at the ground in disgust and slowly followed after Shimauma, her bare feet not making a sound, not even in the thick sludge. She stood at the base of the metal ladder, beside Shimauma and looked up at the opening. "Is it safe..?" she asked softly, thinking aloud more to herself than asking Shimauma. If anything, all she wanted was to feel the warmth of the sun.

Shimauma shrugged and wrapped his hands around the bars of the ladder and pulled it agressively, grunting a little as the ladder didn't move at all. "Yeah, I guess so." Another shrug of his shoulders and he began to climb, his tail seeming to automatically curl itself around one of the bars of the ladder, giving him more support as he climbed. When he finally reached the top, and poked his head out of the hole, his tail loosened and dropped dead. "Shit.." Shimauma said quietly. "Come on up here, you gotta see this." He called down to Dokuja, pulling himself up through the hole and out onto the streets of the city.

Dokuja blinked and stood, shifting her weight from one foot to another, uneasily, before grabbing the ladder and climbing it gracefully. She reached the top and looked around, then at Shimauma. "My gods.." she whispered as her eyes scanned the rubble and crumbling city.

"Say that any louder and the rest of the buildings will probably fall." Shimauma said quietly, using his spear to poke at some of the dust and rubble which was in a pile near him. "Dammit!" He called out, stepping backwards quickly, the volume of his voice causing the fountain in the square to crumble even more. When he had poked at the large pile, he had spotted a bloodied hand amongst the rubble. "There's bodies here, too." Shimauma said tonelessly. "That grizzly son of a bitch was right. This is a war." He growled, his fists clenching tightly, one of his hands around his spear. "But what the hell have we got to do with it?"

Dokuja sighed and shook her head, getting up out of the manhole and sitting on the edge, looking around. There were hundreds of different heat signatures.. all over the place. Footprints, handprints, rubble.. "Animals were here not too long ago.." she whispered. "Their heat is still in the rubble." She stood and dusted off her long skirt, then put her hands on her bare hips as she looked around. "This isn't just a war.. it's a massacre.."

Shimauma just growled as he glared at the bloodied hand in the pile. He swallowed hard and stood straight. "Come on. We can't see this." He muttered, now beginning to walk. "We should find somewhere to rest. Somewhere which is actually intact." His now emerald green eyes surveyed the buildings around him while he tried to spot any buildings which looked.. well.. habitable. A place which wouldn't fall down while he and Dokuja slept.

We would have been safer in the cave.. Dokuja thought softly as she followed him, her eyes scanning the area also. Maybe, if they were lucky, a set of footprints or heat signatures would lead them to a sturdy hideout. She walked close behind him, but not too close. She bit her lip at the sight of several dead bodies, just thrown into a pile in the middle of nowhere. Better than being strewn all over the ground.. she scoffed.

Shimauma was pretty much thinking the same thing as Dokuja as he turned his head from left to right, looking at each building. "Man, we end up in this shithole and it's my fault." He growled, his fists clenching even tighter. "Spotted someplace 'cosy' looking, yet?" Shimauma asked, turning his head to look at Dokuja. He stared at her for a moment and followed her eyes to the bodies on the floor. He gave an impatient sigh and grabbed her wrist again, but not tightly like before. "We gotta keep moving." Shimauma said quietly.

Dokuja watched the bodies a moment longer, only taking her eyes from them once he pulled her along. She let her snake eyes roam over the crumbling city once more and blinked when she thought she saw something. "What's that..?" she asked, pointing. On the other side of a pile of debris was a bright orange sign that read, "QuickStop! Your one place for a quick shop!" She narrowed her eyes at it. "Some kind of convenience store..? Looks stable.." she shrugged, looking at Shimauma.

"It looks retarded." Shimauma commented, his eyes inspecting the sign. "You'd think that they would pull that dammned thing down. These people don't have time for a 'quick shop' or whatever the fuck they want to call it. Come on." He growled, pulling Dokuja along with him as he made his way towards the store. "It's better than nothing." He added in a mutter.

Dokuja frowned and roughly pulled her wrist from his grasp. "You need to stop complaining, and stop pulling me around like a three year old!" she growled and walked ahead of him, her hands clentched into fists at her sides. She didn't notice until it was too late when a rabid coyote suddenly jumped out at her from behind a crumbling wall, foaming at the mouth with a tattered coat. She gasped and put up her arms, claws out, poisons up, but it still knocked her to the ground.

"Shit!" Shimauma growled, holding his spear up with the sharp end pointing to the sky. He glared at the coyote, wondering whether or not Dokuja could handle herself against it. In all hell she couldn't! Look at the son of a bitch! Smack it, Adam! Shimauma frowned at the voice in his head. "Who the hell's Adam?" He asked out loud, before shaking his head and running at the coyote, his spear pointing towards it's side as he ran.

"DON'T MOVE!" Dokuja shouted at him, kicking the coyote off of her roughly. It flew from her across the way and hit a wall, letting out a yelp as the wall crumbled on top of it. She got up, panting, her forearm badly gashed open. "It's rabid.. It isn't even sane anymore." she growled, eyeing the pile of dusted rubble as the coyote, crazy with rabies, stood up and out of it, shaking the dust from its matted fur, a foaming drool dripping from it's jaws. "I'll just put it out of its misery."

Shimauma stopped instantly and growled at her. "Then do it!" He snapped, suddenly feeling quite stupid. Why did I offer to help her anyway? I don't care about her at all. Right now I feel nothing for anyone but me. Nothing. He thought to himself angrily, his fists clenching again as he started to walk, passing the coyote and Dokuja without looking at either of them. She's just showing off. I wouldn't give a damn if that mutt ripped her apart.

Dokuja stepped towards the coyote slowly, threatening in her steps as her blood dripped onto the ground from her arm. But something was different about it... Instead of being healthy, red, blood, it was black and sizzled when it touched the ground, melting the sand and rock as it melted over it. Her blood was laced with as much poison as her pores were. "Poisoning you would be too cruel. It's too slow." she said to the coyote, who was so rabid it couldn't even speak for itself anymore. It only coward back a step and whimpered pathetically, as if asking for death, for mercy, but trying to avoid it at the same time. Dokuja spat at the ground and her spit sizzled and cracked on the ground also. She suddenly lunged forward, grabbing the coyote by the throat. Digging her sharp claw-like nails into it's jugular, she ripped out its throat in one clean chunk, watching as the rabid dog species fell in a lump, bleeding out in a quick death. She threw the piece of its throat away and spat at it again, this time amazed at how quickly her spit dissolved the dog's fur and flesh. Maybe their experiments did do something to me.. she thought. My saliva is poisonous.. like a Spitting Cobra's.. She looked down at her bleeding arm and how her blood melted the earth as it fell. She scoffed and lifted her arm over the dead dog, allowing her blood to fall on it and watching as her blood melted the dog's flesh like nothing. Looks like I'm acidic all over. Inside and out.. "A true monster.." she whispered.

"Have you finished yet, or what?" Shimauma called in an annoyed tone from a few stores away with one hand on his waist, watching Dokuja with an impatient glare. "If you don't get your ass in gear, more of them will come after hearing that thing's barks and cries." He growled again and started on towards the convinience store for the second time. Yeah, I did actually see what she just did. My eyes weren't playing tricks on me. Man, she's a freak. And to think that I actually stood up for something like that.. Shimauma thought, his teeth clamped together. If she has abilities like that, then what the hell do I have? Do I even want to KNOW?

"Right." Dokuja said softly, looking down at the melting coyote, then turned and walked away. She followed after Shimauma, but kept her distance. The same question was rolling through her mind. If I'm this powerful.. what is he? I heard the animals talking about him like he was some... god.. She watched him with a small shudder and shook her head, glancing down at the ground as she walked. The blood still dripped from her arm to the ground, melting and sizzling every spot it dropped on. "I hope this place as a medical kit or something... I can't be bleeding forever.." she said, not loudly, but loud enough for him to hear. Is that what I'm doing..? Bleeding acid..? If that's the case, there won't be any humanly medical supplies that could possibly stop it.. They'd all melt. And I already know medicines don't work against my acidity..

Shimauma just shrugged his shoulders at her and grumbled something which was too unclear to make out. Every step he took resulted in him stabbing his spear into the ground, and his tail swung madly from side to side as he walked. "Don't come near me." He said coldly, moving away from her slightly even though Dokuja wasn't close to him. What was this feeling he had? Jealousy? Hate? Fright..? What he had seen Dokuja do had made Shimauma wonder. He wondered how powerful the other hybrids were, and what they could do. The thought secretly frightened him.

Dokuja frowned at his back when he had spoken, and looked at the ground. She wouldn't say anything, but his words had hurt her a little inside. Why..? Why do I care? I'm a monster, he has every reason to be afraid of me. But why does it still upset me..? she wondered, letting her eyes roam as they neared the convenience store. Surprisingly, it was still mostly in one piece, except for a piece of missing roof towards the back. Even the glass windows were still whole, despite how cracked they were. She stopped once they had gotten close enough to it, heeding Shimauma's words and keeping her distance from him. Secretly, she didn't want to hurt him unintentionally. She couldn't afford to go near him with her pores still full of poison and her blood melting the dirt next to her feet. "Let's hope it at least has drinking water inside.." she mumbled, keeping her eyes averted from him.

Shimauma simply ignored her and moved forwards towards the doors of the store and growled at them. Locked. They were automatic doors which opened when someone was to walk near them, but they were well and truly sealed shut. But they're glass He thought and dropped his spear on the ground. He just glared at the doors for a moment before charging towards them and using one of his feet to throw a sharp front kick at them, causing the extremely thick glass of one of the doors to shatter instantly. However, when Shimauma had lifted his leg to kick the door, he noticed something tied around his ankle. What? He wondered, kneeling down and fingering the plastic ribbon around his ankle. "Go inside." Shimauma muttered to Dokuja, inspecting his foot curiously.

Dokuja didn't object or argue. She needed to find a sink or something to wash her pores before she ended up accidentally poisoning herself again. She moved past him at a safe distance, making sure none of her blood fell on him either, and walked straight inside, heading towards the back. She found a bathroom with a small shower, used incase someone was accidentally covered in something toxic and smiled. "Thank Gods.." she whispered. She closed the bathroom door behind her only slightly, so if Shimauma were in trouble she could rush right out, and began to strip, starting with taking off her steel throwing knives. She set everything in the sink, her needles, her clothes, and pulled on the string. The water was freezing cold, but it was running. She sighed in annoyance and shrieked at how freezing it was once she stepped under it.

"What..?" Shimauma repeated, this time out loud as he still touched the plastic around his ankle. He took it between his thumb and index finger in hope of snapping it or pulling it off his body, but again, like back in the tunnel, an image swept through inside Shimauma's head.

He was lying on something, and his eyes were transfixed on the ceiling of.. a lab? Maybe. He could hear voices, but he couldn't turn his head to look at their owners. His whole body was paralyzed, but he could feel something on his right ankle. "Leader, we have done it. ID number 001, name, Shimauma. Experiment, success." "Good. Tell me. What can this creature do?" "Well, judging from the bones in his thighs, legs and feet area, we can confirm from the cell activity that his legs hold the exact same power as that of a zebra. He already was a.. I'm not sure what they call it.. but he was what they call a kickboxing teacher before we found him. He could smash a diamond I would imagine. And more." "Well, then. He really is something, isn't he?"

Once Shimauma returned back to reality, he frowned and growled at the plastic, and let go of it roughly, giving up on pulling the thing off. "Diamonds my ass. Everyone knows they're tough motherfuckers to smash." He muttered to himself, pulling his trouser leg back over his bare skin and picking up his spear as he stood up. Shimauma then made his way inside the store, stepping away as far as possible from Dokuja's blood which dotted the floor in small puddles. "Ugh." He grimaced at it and walked around the cereal aisle in an almost patrolling manner with his spear over his shoulder like the troops in the army would hold their rifles.

Dokuja sighed as she washed her arm under the running water of the shower, whimpering at how bloody cold it was. She watched her watered-down acidic blood go down the drain in the floor and then looked at her arm. The coyote hadn't gashed her too deeply, but enough to keep the flow of blood from her arm steady. She thought of something and slowly dragged a finger over her tongue, effectively covering it in her sticky saliva, then ran the finger over her gash. She gasped and watched as it sizzled, but it didn't hurt her. In fact, it was acting as a bonding agent, melting her skin together in a new coat. C-can I withstand my own poisons now?! she thought in amazement. She looked up at the shower head while her arm healed and sighed. She knew she'd have to get her entire body wet now. She held her breath and stepped under the freezing water to wet her hair, letting out a scream as it stabbed her flesh like millions of tiny needles.

Shimauma growled at the sound of Dokuja's voice screaming and he moved away slowly from the cereals and towards the back of the store while avoiding Dokuja's blood splattered on the floor. He kicked open the door of the bathroom when he reached it, merely using it as an excuse to see if his legs really were as powerful as the voices in his memory had said. The poor door was sent flying off it's hinges despite being ajar already, and Shimauma walked in casually, looking at the door which had landed in the corner of the room. He hadn't spotted Dokuja just yet. "What is it now? Rabid fish come flying out of the toilet or something?" He asked in a bored tone, finally looking at Dokuja. But when he did, he froze. "Ah.. shit." He mumbled, not being able to move. Stop staring, idiot! She's a freak, remember?

Dokuja had gasped out of fright when Shimauma had kicked down the door and stared at him wide-eyed, somewhat covering her naked self with her arms. She blushed deeply, for once her cheeks becoming something other than the pale white they always were. She shook a little, but only because of the cold water that was still rushing over her black hair that partly covered her eyes. "W-w-water's cold." she finally stammered, her teeth chattering, as if her excuse would fix everything. Damn these humans for not putting up at least a curtain! she thought, but her face still showed shock and embarrassment. Why is he just standing there staring at me..? Am I really so ugly..? She swallowed, bit her dark-coloured lips which already had a hue of blue underlining them, and she turned so her back was to him. "S-s-sorry.."

"Uuh.. n-no problem.." Shimauma stammered himself, not being able to take his eyes off her for a while before he finally turned quickly with his own back to her also. "Just.. get yourself cleaned up and get some heat to your skin.. or whatever the hell someone like you needs.." He said this quietly, looking to the floor for a moment and then returning back inside the store itself towards the fruit and vegetable area. Shimauma growled in his throat when he picked out one of the shiniest looking apples in one of the trays, despite it having a few soft areas on it due to being out for so long. She shouldn't have screamed like that. He thought angrily, taking a bite into the apple and chewing it. "She's so dammned annoying. What's her problem?" Shimauma muttered once he had swallowed.

Dokuja bit her lip as she stood under the water, thinking she should just stay there and hopefully die of hypothermia. She put both hands and her forehead against the wall of the bathroom and breathed deeply, trying to keep from crying. Never in her life had she been so embarrassed. Damn him! But.. why do I feel like dying? For his sake? Please.. he's nothing and I shouldn't care. she growled. But.. he looked at me as if I was... some hideous thing.. not even recognizable.. She turned to face the cracked mirror of the bathroom and looked at her reflection. Her beautifully paled skin, covered in patches of scales only in various spots on her chest, thighs and lower back, bright green snake eyes and pitch black hair stared back at her. I am ugly.. she whispered. A perfect appearence for a monster, I suppose.. she thought and looked at the floor. She sighed and finished washing herself, waited until her arm had healed itself completely, then turned off the water and got dressed. She wished she had a more suitable pair of clothes besides her wrap tube shirt and split skirt. They weren't enough to keep her warm and after being seen by Shimauma, they felt a lot more revealing. She wrapped her arms around her bare stomach, simply carrying her belt of silver throwing needles, and walked out of the bathroom, looking for bottled water to drink. She didn't look at or say anything to Shimauma, and in fact it seemed as if she was trying to avoid him, letting her hair hide her face.

Shimauma had turned when he heard her walk past him, and he growled again when he finally tossed his half eaten apple back in the tray and jogged after her. I don't care about her. But she wanted water, didn't she? She can get it herself. Shut up. He grimaced at his thoughts and hesitantly grabbed her shoulder gently, but didn't look her in the eyes. "You wanted something to drink, right? Water's back this way." Shimauma pointed behind him with his thumb and let go of her shoulder. Without another word, he walked back slowly to where he had come from and let his spear drop by one of the aisles, simply because he was sick of carrying it around now.

Dokuja had almost flinched when he'd grabbed her shoulder, refusing to look at his face. She was more intent on hiding her own. She stayed silent when he spoke and hesitated following after him. She was thirsty.. and hungry.. but even more, she was cold. Her entire body was covered in goosebumps and had a light hue of blue to it. She was freezing, shivering. But she tried to hide it, hugging her bare stomach as she walked after him, ghostly silent. When she reached the freezer where the water was kept, she opened the door and grabbed a bottle, but didn't open it straight away. The freezer had broken long ago, so the water wasn't cold anymore, but it was still fresh drinking water. She bit her lip. She needed something hot... hot food, a warm blanket, a sweater, hell, even a fire.

"Don't tell me you can't open a bottle of water.." Shimauma groaned, taking the bottle from her and opening it in a flash. "Here." He passed her the bottle and walked off again. "I'll be back in a sec, I'm gonna find the bakery section or whatever the fuck it's called, 'cause I am freezing." Shimauma waved a hand lazily behind him and disappeared off towards where the bread and other bakery foods was sold. When he reached it, he stepped through into the back area where a small factory-looking place was. In the middle of it was a huge oven, and if just the plug was switched on again, it would be blaring a hot fire. Shimauma glared at the wire which trailed practically all around the factory until he saw the end of it. He sighed lightly out of relief and saw that it was still intact. "Must have been unplugged when the workers left.." He muttered, bending down and plugging it into it's rightful socket. Soon enough, a lovely warm fire roared it's way around the factory, and Shimauma sighed again, turning to look in the direction of where Dokuja was. "Oi! Over here! We got heat!" He called, almost sounding.. friendly.. chatty, even.

Dokuja blinked, biting her lip again. She was still hesitant to go near him, but she needed warmth. She walked towards where his voice had come from, not having taken a single sip from her water yet. She moved towards the oven and looked at it, the heat blaring in her eyes. She sighed softly, mostly out of relief and sat near it on the floor, drawing her knees up and keeping her elbows tucked in. She looked... weak and rather pathetic that way. I feel weak and rather pathetic anyway... What does it matter? I'm a monster. I know how powerful I am, but it doesn't mean anything... Little did she know, she was feeling a pang of loneliness, and depression, still under the impression that she was ugly. Before she wouldn't have cared if she was ugly or not. But Shimauma was different to her now. He'd seen her in a moment of weakness and she felt closer to him because of it. He doesn't like me anyway. What do I care what he thinks of me?! I dunno... maybe I should just kill him in his sleep and leave..? Or... just plain leave... he'd be better off on his own anyway, I'm sure..

Shimauma yawned widely, a lot like a zebra would and rubbed the back of his head as he watched the flames for a while. Why isn't she talking? This side of her is so lame.. It's like she's acting like this for attention.. He turned his head and looked at her with a frown. "You know, when I said don't come near me before, I meant then, not now." Shimauma said, looking up at the ceiling as if he was interested. "Just didn't want to get crap all over myself, you know?" What am I saying? It sounds like I'm talking with her as if she's my friend.. or.. something along those lines.. He cleared his throat awkwardly and sat down himself, grabbing a loaf of bread from one of the shelves as he did. "And talk a little more. It really pisses me off when I'm with someone who acts like a mute when they aren't." Shimauma added, tearing off a chunk of bread and popping it into his mouth while he watched the fire again.

Dokuja glanced at him, blushed when the image of him bursting into the bathroom replayed in her mind, and looked down at the floor again. "Go fuck yourself." she grumbled and finally sipped her water. Actually, that one sip turned into a series of gulps. She hadn't realized just how thirsty she was. She finished the bottle within minutes, and tossed the empty bottle aside, hearing it clatter across the floor. "I don't care what you think." I don't.... Do I..?

"Good." Shimauma seemed to smile now as he shook his head and tore another piece of bread. "That's the Dokuja I'd rather spend the rest of the war with if I really had to." He shrugged and tossed the bread into his mouth, still staring into the flames. "As for fucking myself, well, it takes two to tango, babe." Shimauma said once he had swallowed his bread. He raised an eyebrow at her, threw his loaf into the trash since it didn't taste too good like the apple, and got up, leaving the factory and returning a few minutes later with two chocolate bars. Shimauma tossed one of them at Dokuja and sat down again. "You do still eat chocolate, don't you?" He asked, looking at her.

Dokuja looked at him, a little confused, but also surprised when the candy bar landed in her lap. "Uh.. I.... I'm not sure.." she said softly and looked at the chocolate bar in her hands. She tore one corner and examined it, making sure it was still good, then nibbled the corner. It tasted bittersweet, but still just as good as she remembered. "I guess ssssssssso." she mumbled and munched on the corner of the chocolate. She had never felt so annoyed at her snake tick, the hiss of her elongated "s," nor embarrassed about it. She moved her eyes back to the floor. Why is he nice when I act like a bitch? It's confusing as hell. She curled her toes beneath herself and wrapped her feet in the ends of her skirt, still kinda cold despite the fire in the oven.

Shimauma yawned again once he had finished the last of his chocolate and threw the wrapper into the fire of the oven, watching it's folds curl amongst the flames and eventually burn. The black charred colour of the wrapper reminded Shimauma of how empty his head was, and how much he couldn't remember. "Maybe that's why I'm so pissed all the time.." He said quietly, wondering out loud by accident, even though he hadn't noticed it yet. He sighed and put both of his hands to the back of his head and leaned against the shelves.

Dokuja looked at him. "Oh? And why is that? You have something stuck up your ass all the time?" she asked angrily. He was starting to piss her off now. "I'd believe it. Oh, but let me guess, it's also dead." She snapped and got up with a growl. "And rotting." she added, then turned and walked out of the room, going to look for a blanket or something to curl up in.

"What the hell is her problem?!" Shimauma growled, moving his hands out from his head and down to his lap. "Man, girls are so weird sometimes. Especially her." He growled again and slunk down to the floor so he was lying down. One of his arms layed across the floor while the rest of his body was on it's side. Shimauma rested his head on his arm, covering his eyes, and just thought for a while. One minute she's all 'hug me, give me attention, Shimmy..' then it's 'you got something up your ass'. I think SHE'S the one with something stuck up HER ass. Shimauma grumbled into his arm while he thought.

"How can he be so fucking aloof?! After walking in on me like that?! He's such a bastard!" Dokuja growled, slamming her fist into one of the shelves and making several jars fall and smash on the ground. She didn't care about the glass strewn across the floor, but simply stepped over it. "He stares at me like I'm some FREAK after so valiantly coming to my 'rescue' because he hears me scream. Oh! And we can't forget the damned coyote! He wants to come to my rescue like I'm some CHILD! And dragging me around by my arm! I'm not TWO!" she shouted, not caring if he could hear her or not anymore. She just wanted to scream. "I shouldn't have saved his life! I shouldn't have let him see me cry! Gods, I'm so pathetic.." she said, her shouts dying as she leaned against the wall.

Shimauma growled even deeper and louder in his throat when he heard Dokuja's shouts. She's so dammned irritating, and I don't think she even knows it. Someone ought to tell her for her. He thought angrily, twisting so he was lying on his back. He stared up at the ceiling, but he couldn't see anything. It was just like staring inside his head. Shimauma grumbled something and pulled himself up. "She's acting like a kid." He muttered, stomping after her to where he had heard her shouts. When he saw her, his eyes narrowed as he watched her for a moment, and he again, stomped towards her. "Listen to me, will you?" He started, putting one of his hands against the wall as he leaned over her, his emerald eyes staring into hers. "Tell me what you want. If you want to be alone, just say instead of whining about it. It's not gonna do either of us any good. I'm pretty much on the verge of leaving you on your own, you know, 'cause I'm pretty sure you don't want me here right now." Shimauma said, his tone of voice serious, yet dull.

Dokuja pressed herself against the wall as he leaned over her, her snake eyes staring back into his emerald green ones. She glared at him at first, but her look softened. "I... I don't know what I want anymore." she said softly, not sure what else to say. She looked away, turning her face away from his so she would have to look at his eyes anymore. "I'm a monster.. I should be dead. I'd rather be dead than be used as a weapon." she whispered. "No one likes me anyway, it's not like I'd be missed."

"Oh, please." Shimauma rolled his eyes and moved his hand away from the wall and stepped beside her so he was leaning against the wall himself. "Didn't you hear a word I just said back in there? I like the other Dokuja. I like the other Dokuja a lot." He shrugged. "And as for being a monster.. well.. trust me, if you were one of those, I'd have told you right there and most probably laughed at you on the spot in the bathroom. And I didn't say anything did I?" Shimauma turned his head to look at her. "You jump to conclusions waaaay too quickly." He sighed.

Dokuja growled at him. "You sure gawked at me like I was a freak!" she snapped and turned to go somewhere else. She didn't want to deal with someone who taunted her so. In fact, she felt helpless, like she was a freak, and she could feel tears pricking in her eyes. Not again! I'm not going to fucking cry in front of him again! she thought with determination.

Shimauma threw his head back and sighed heavily before moving after her quickly and grabbing her wrist for the third time that day. He didn't pull her so she would end up facing him, though. "I was 'gawking' because I thought you were pretty, okay?" He admitted with a growl, letting go of her wrist. "Man, learn how to take a compliment once in a while.." Shimauma turned so they were facing each other back to back. "Get some rest." He said softly before walking on ahead slowly back towards the bakery, thinking to himself silently. Way to go.. you've known her four days. Actually.. it's five. It's two in the morning right now. Whatever.

Dokuja had stopped dead in her tracks when he had said she was pretty, and felt her cheeks get very hot and red. She bit her lip and slowly turned to watch him go, a couple tears finally breaking loose. She wiped them away quickly though and looked at the ground. "Thank you.." she said, just loud enough for him to hear, but still rather quietly. She had never been called pretty before..

"Don't mention it." Shimauma replied, shrugging as he paused and turned to face her. "Now come on, let's warm up. It's fucking freezing in here, and quite frankly, I don't want frozen nipples." He smiled. For the first time since he had been at the labs, he smiled. Despite being a zebra hybrid with odd facial hair which had stripes running through it, Shimauma actually looked good looking.

Dokuja looked around, trying to find something else to look at besides him, still blushing, and rubbed her arms. He was right, it was cold. And being cold blooded didn't help. She nodded and smiled at him a little and walked to him, looking up at him. "Okay.." she said softly and moved past him, her arms crossed over her chest again.

Shimauma stretched out his arms, letting out a relaxed groan as he felt the pleasurable pull in them. "Eh, will you be warm enough in there?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at her, noticing how she was covering herself. "Or am I gonna have to hold you or something?" His own arms found his chest as he watched her. "'Cause I'm not really sure if I saw any blankets and stuff when I came in. This place sells food mostly."

"I'm sure if I sleep close enough to the fire, I'll be fine." Dokuja shrugged, turning to look back at him. Her eyes were smiling, even if her lips weren't anymore. It didn't have to be said, she had a face meant to smile. She turned and walked back into the bakery, sitting on the floor close enough to the fire to feel it's heat in even waves and laid down, using her own arm as a pillow.

"Whatever you say." Shimauma said with a shrug, letting his arms drop from his chest and to his sides as he made his way inside the bakery too. When he was inside, he didn't sit down straight away, he just stood in front of the oven, enjoying the warmth from the flames. Both of his hands found the deep of his black trouser pockets while the flames danced before him, their beauty reflecting back in his eyes. I feel kinda calm.. for some weird reason. Shimauma thought to himself, his voice quite soft in his head.

Dokuja sighed softly, a reflexive shiver going up her spine, and she curled into a tight ball on the floor. She wished she had a pillow.. or a blanket. At least back in the labs, I had a cot for a bed. It sucked, but it's better than the floor. she thought, biting her lip. And it was warmer... Even with the fire going, I feel cold..

Shimauma stayed by the fire for a while to warm himself up before finally deciding to turn and return to his own spot near the shelves which held the loaves of bread. But before he was about to set himself down and get comfortable, he looked at Dokuja. She said she would be warm enough, so why are you staring at her as if you're worried about her? She looks cold to me. Oh? Then what exactly are you planning to do to try and act all hardass? I don't know.. Shimauma sighed and moved over to Dokuja away from the shelves. He crouched down by her side and poked her head lightly. "Cold, aren't you? I knew you would be." Shimauma smirked. It wasn't a cold or a mocking smirk, it was pretty much a smile, but Shimauma hardly ever smiled so it was hard to tell with him.

Dokuja blinked and looked up at him, watching him a moment as he spoke, then rested her head again on her arm, averting her eyes again. "A little... but what does it matter to you?" she asked softly, not mockingly, not angrily, but just.. gently. She wondered why he cared.

"Well." Shimauma started, shrugging as he sat himself down instead of crouching beside her. "You dying of hypothermia is the last thing which we want right now. 'Cause if another one of those mutts comes back, I won't know how to take care of it. But you will, which is kinda handy." He shrugged again and let his eyes move to look up at the ceiling, again, completely uninterested by it. Adam.. seriously.. are you on something? Dunno.. maybe. But who's Adam?

Dokuja frowned a little and looked back up at him, turning a little onto her back, her raven-black hair fanning out around her head like a dark halo. She watched him a moment, then looked up at the ceiling too, as if there was something up there worth looking at. "You suck at making up excuses." she whispered and sighed, shivering again, her entire body becoming covered in goosebumps. "But there's nothing we can do about it. So I'll just have to deal." she shrugged and rolled back onto her side.

Shimauma rolled his eyes at her comment and shook his head. "You're so damn clueless it's unbelievable." He muttered, moving to stand up. "I was gonna offer to.. er.. sleep close to you or whatever you want to call it." Shimauma shrugged. "Since you've already used my body heat before, I kinda guessed you would have gotten the idea by now. But I guess not." He stood up now, but didn't move. His hands found his pockets again as he stared into the fire.

Dokuja opened her eyes and looked up at him, watching him closely. "I understood, Shim. I understood perfectly well." she whispered, then sat up, leaning back on her palms, but still looking up at him. "But you seem reluctant to do it. I just wanted to see what you'd say. You shouldn't do anything you don't really want to." she said with a small smile, a sincere smile. "I know you're too badass to snuggle up to me." she winked and looked at the fire.

Shimauma stared down at her and chuckled lightly which was the first time he had laughed ever since he had been captured by the animals. "Too badass? Look who's talking! You and that dog thing, damn." He smirked and looked back into the fire too. "You know," His voice started quietly as he watched the flames. "The real reason I stood up for you back there against sharky was because I got kinda protective without knowing, I guess. Memories keep coming back to me and all that shit, y'know? When you're alone with someone for so long, you don't want to lose them so you don't end up by yourself." Shimauma shrugged and moved, this time to sit down next to Dokuja, but he still kept his distance. What the fuck am I saying? I'm acting all soft now, dammit! Why? Why now?! "We might have to hang here for a couple of days until we know it's cool to go out." He said, looking up at the ceiling again as he tried to change the subject discreetly, even though he knew that his plan to do so hadn't really worked at all.

"Sssssssooo.." Dokuja started, frowning at her snake hiss again, hating it all the more. "You didn't want to lose... me?" she asked, sounding confused, but smiling as she looked back at him. She knew what he was saying. He didn't want to lose me.. because he doesn't want to be alone. So he stood up for me... Interesting. she thought. "You were protective of me.." This time it was a statement, not a question, and she smiled as she said it. She blushed a little and looked down at the floor. "No one has... really ever been protective of me... Not even papa Kinage."

Shimauma raised an eyebrow and turned his head to look at her. He blinked a couple of times before finally answering what she had just said to him. "What? Your old man didn't care about you?" He questioned, now frowning. "Man, that must have sucked. Maybe you're better off alone." There was a long pause until he then he realised what he had just said and he suddenly found himself feeling quite guilty. "Ah, sorry. I meant.. if your old man didn't care about you, then.. Forget it." He grumbled, turning his head to his right instead and looking at more shelves which held baguettes.

Dokuja frowned and shrugged, bit her lip, and shook her head. "Yeah.. forget I said anything." she whispered and moved to lay down again, wanting to hide her face. But her hand slipped on a piece of rock and caused her to fall in a way that caused her shoulder and head to hit the floor roughly, making her curse loudly. "OW! DAMMIT!" she growled, sitting up and rubbing her head.

"Yep, this is one reason why you shouldn't be left on your own." Shimauma sighed, stretching out his arm to pat Dokuja on the head with his hand playfully but lightly. When he replaced his hand back in his lap as he sat in his usual trademark position with one knee up and his arm resting over it, he smiled at Dokuja a little and watched her. "What did you do anyways? Bread isn't exactly lethal. Or is it?"

Dokuja sighed and sat up, crossing her legs and rubbing the sore spot on her head. "Ow..." she groaned, when she pulled her fingers away, she saw she was bleeding a little again, but not badly. "No, I hit my head on the floor!" she snapped and sighed again, biting her lip. She then twisted to look at her sore shoulder. It would definitely be bruised in the morning. She frowned, not noticing her skirt was shifting as she moved, the splits rising higher on her thighs.

Shimauma shrugged at her and looked away for a moment, thinking that she was most likely pissed at him, which wasn't really out of the ordinary between these two. But as soon as he turned, his eyes had caught something which caused him to look back at Dokuja again. He looked to her head, but didn't gaze at it for long as his eyes moved down to her shoulder and eventually to her thighs. "Uh." Shimauma mumbled, leaning over and pulling her skirt over her bare skin quickly without any hesitation, simply not being able to stop himself. "You'll uh.. you'll be even colder if you don't cover yourself up." He mumbled again, not noticing for a while that his hand was still holding Dokuja's skirt. And since Shimauma had bounded straight into action, he hadn't realised how close he had been sitting next to her(despite wanting to keep his distance) and he seemed to have jumped a little too far, resulting in his and Dokuja's faces being rather close to each other. Shimauma swallowed hard. He was literally frozen and couldn't bring himself to move away at all. Dokuja's natural perfume which didn't come out of a bottle was.. calming. Just like the fire.

Dokuja had looked at him when he'd pulled on her skirt, blushing when she realized just how close their faces were. She blinked as she looked at his face, admiring every inch of it quietly, before her yellow-green eyes met his deep emerald ones. Her lips parted slightly as she breathed out softly, slowly. Her heart was pounding loudly in her chest and she felt as if it would break through any minute. "What happened to keeping your distance..?" she whispered, her eyes finding his lips next. She slowly let her arms fall, but a hand moved to his bare chest. She wasn't stupid. She knew what usually happened next, but she had never been in this situation before and still didn't know Shimauma all that well, so she still didn't know what would happen next.

For a few seconds, Shimauma had been on the verge of snapping her hand away from his chest, but.. her hand actually felt quite pleasant, and it didn't seem like she was pushing him away or anything along those lines. "I.." He started, his voice cracking a little. Funnily enough, he wasn't blushing. But his insides were. His heart was pounding as well as Dokuja's, and he could feel his tail moving somewhere, but he couldn't stop it as it wrapped itself around Dokuja's waist, causing both of them to be pulled even closer together. Shimauma's eyes widened. "That um.. I can't control my tail.. sorry. Heh." He chuckled awkwardly, but inside his head he was fuming. Dammit! Now she'll think I'm a complete pervert! Shimauma's eyes still wouldn't look away from hers, simply because she was staring right back into his, and it felt as though he was being hypnotised by their irresistable beauty. Even if they were snakelike. Shimauma liked them.

Dokuja chuckled a bit at his tail and looked down at it around her waist, then back at him with a smile, amused. "I think it's kinda funny that your tail is making all the moves for you." she whispered, moving slightly closer. Her free hand played with the tuft of hair at the end of his tail, then she traced her fingers along the length of it, leaning closer to him the further away from her body her hand got. Her hand stopped right at the base of his tail where it met his pants, their faces only mere centimeters away. She could feel his breath on her lips and it made her blush a little more as she looked into his eyes, also mezmerized by them. "When are you gonna start making moves of your own?" she whispered again.

Shimauma swallowed hard again as he shivered at the feel of her hand on his tail. Hell, he couldn't even move his tail, so why was it doing all the work for him? Man, she's practically touching my ass. She never would have dreamed of doing some crazy shit like this five days ago I'll bet. Shimauma still stared into her eyes as he thought, his own lips open slightly, even though they were pretty dry. "I think it's doing what my thoughts are telling it to do. My tail I mean." Shimauma said, almost matter-of-factly even though he was still feeling very awkward and wanted to avoid Dokuja's question as much as possible. "You know, if I do kiss you, why do I get this really sharp feeling that you're just gonna laugh at me and tell me I sucked at it?" Shimauma asked, although his voice wasn't snappy or angry. It was calm and soft if anything.

Dokuja chuckled and shook her head, looking down for a moment to hide her blush, then looked back at him, licking her lips slightly. "Because I'm laughing even more at your attempts to prolong actually doing it?" she suggested, as a joke. "You know, I have a feeling that if I don't kiss you, we won't ever get anything done." She smirked at him and looked down at his tail again. "I think I'd have a better chance of your tail kissing me first. At least it knows what it wants." she teased. She kept her fingers at the base of his tail near the back of his pants, twisting it slightly, gently, massaging it between her fingers. She smiled at him, her other hand still on his chest. "So?"

"Ugh, you are definitely the most complicated girl I've ever met." Shimauma muttered before rolling his eyes and putting one of his hands to the back of Dokuja's neck and kissing her instantly without any hesitation. Sure, when he lived a normal life as a human, he had had quite a few girlfriends, so he had kissed many times. Shimauma's grip on her skirt loosened, and his hand moved up to her waist while he kissed her deeply, but gently. It had been a while since he had done it. But kissing to Shimauma was just like riding a bike. Once you've done it, you never truly forget how to do it. Shimauma broke the kiss extremely slowly for a short moment, but he kept their lips close together as he spoke. "I swear, if you laugh, you are on your own." He muttered, locking their lips together again.

Honestly, Dokuja was deeply impressed. He was so good at it that she actually got shivers, and not from the cold. She felt his hand on her waist and blushed, leaning into the kiss significantly. Her hands moved to his shoulders, then up around his neck as she sat up on her knees, pushing him back slightly. It was obvious she liked it. In fact, she liked it so much that she was scared she wouldn't meet up to his standards, and that he'd laugh at her. When it broke for the second time, she kept her eyes closed and her face close to his, breathing slightly heavier, blushing still. Not knowing what to say, she brushed her lips against his again, but not in a kiss. She just wanted to feel his lips again.

Shimauma had gotten the wrong idea, thinking that Dokuja had wanted to kiss him again, so he pushed himself forwards and kissed her a third time. It might have been because he wanted to, or simply because he didn't want to appear to be a coward in front of Douja. Either way he didn't really give it much thought there and then. The hand which was around her neck moved out and onto her cheek as he moved her hair out of her eyes which was beginning to tickle his face since- Wait, what? She's on top of me? Shimauma broke the kiss, licked his lips a little and looked at how the two of them were now sitting. Or.. lying even. It seemed that the both of them had been so entwined, and when Dokuja had been pushing Shimauma forwards, he hadn't been stopping her and had ended up on his back on the factory floor. "Man, you must have really been getting into it, huh?" Shimauma grinned. In the past, not many of his girlfriends were ever 'on top' and Shimauma had always found it to be.. attractive. So because of this, he gazed up at her, admiring how her hair hung over her face as she leaned over him.

Dokuja looked down at him and swallowed thickly, licking her lips and breathing heavily. "Yeah... You're better than you think." she whispered, leaning over him. She looked at his lips and wanted to kiss them again, but stopped herself, held herself back and forced herself to gaze back into his eyes. She sat up a little more, so her hands were on either side of his abs and looked down at how they were positioned. "Well.. I suppose it's one way to get warm.." she said with a shrug, looking at them at every angle she could from her sitting position. "But..."

"But what?" Shimauma raised an eyebrow at her, both of his hands wrapped firmly around her waist as he looked up at her. "What's wrong now, huh?" He frowned a little. I've kissed her three times, now what does she want? He watched her closely and then followed her eyes to his chest. He spotted the wound in his chest from where he had been stabbed and growled. "Ugh, don't let this thing put you off. Okay? Now get down here, you're making me feel cold just looking at you." With that, he pulled her down by her waist so she was well and truly lying on top of him. At least his tail was underneath him now, and it wouldn't try to.. well.. do anything else. Especially in this position.

Dokuja gasped as she was pulled down on top of him again, and blinked at him. But she didn't object. How could she? She breathed softly and wrapped and her arms around his neck loosely, her head on his chest. He definitely felt warmer than the floor.. She closed her eyes for a long moment, then opened them again and looked at him. "Shim..?" she whispered.

Shimauma moved his arms from around her waist and stretched them out above his head before replacing them back around Dokuja's middle where he could still feel the same warm patch where his arms once were. "What, now?" He asked with a yawn, his eyes closing tightly as he did so.

Dokuja watched him, then bit her lip before whispering. "Your ass better still be here in the morning." she said, then sat up slightly to reach his lips, kissing him again and closing her eyes. She amazed even herself at how soft, and deep it was--almost passionate, actually.

Shimauma replied with his lips as he kissed her back as softly as she kissed him, his hand moving her hair out of her face yet again as his own eyes were closed. He had to admit, many of the girls he had been with had been darn good kissers, but there was something about Dokuja which was.. reassuring. Sure, she was good. But different in a good way. Shimauma broke it and licked his lips, shrugging lightly. "Where else have I got to go?" He asked, looking up at her. Why was she so passionate and loving? She was acting like a complete bitch earlier, now look at her..

"I don't know." Dokuja replied softly, shaking her head a bit. She sighed and rested her head on his chest, his heart thudding in her ear, and her hands on his abs beneath her stomach. "But I don't want to be alone anymore.." she whispered as she closed her eyes, the warmth making her feel tired.

Shimauma nodded a little, agreeing with what she said. "Yeah, I get you." He said softly, but tiredly. "But does anyone want to be alone at this point?" Shimauma put one of his arms around her shoulders while the other one was lying under his head acting like a pillow of some sort. His own eyes closed as he yawned again.

Dokuja yawned too and sighed, cuddling against him. "No... but.. I feel lucky... to have you.." she whispered, half-asleep. The instant she'd finished talking, though, she was dead asleep, limp on top of him.

"Heh, that's a laugh." Shimauma whispered as he grinned to himself, knowing that Dokuja was sleeping now due to her breathing. "We only kissed.. what? Four times? Within ten minutes?" He shook his head and smiled, closing his eyes again. She'll be pissed tomorrow, and I'll get a slap, I'll bet. Within a few minutes after thinking for a while, Shimauma was also sound asleep.

Dokuja fidgeted a little in her sleep, dreams passing over her eyes in flashes, people she didn't recognize, but still felt connected to.. They all seemed familiar.. They all looked like her in a way. She frowned when she saw three of them dead in a pile of rubble, a woman and two men, but the fourth one, very young but without a face, survived. His face was blurred. She couldn't recognize him... But she saw something silver around his neck and a purple butterfly on his hand. She frowned and whimpered, shifting enough to roll and fall off of Shimauma, making her snap awake with a gasp. "Gods.." she whispered, putting a hand to her head as she looked at the fire in the oven. She wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep, but she felt tired.. exhausted. And scared.

Shimauma, however, was still sleeping soundly. Although he had moved a tad when Dokuja slipped off him, and he felt a slight shiver run along his bare chest where she once lay. He frowned in his sleep also as he stayed lying on his back, with his head faced to the side towards the warm oven which was still burning cosily. Shimauma dreamt, but he couldn't make out any pictures at all. Just.. voices. Voices he didn't recognise at all. He frowned again for the second time, and seemed to mouth something, but no sound came from his mouth. When he mouthed again, his voice came out in a mutter, and it sounded like complete gibberish. "Ugh.." Shimauma mumbled, his whole body turning onto it's side so it was facing the oven. His tail seemed to be awake as it moved slowly along the factory floor, it's movements appearing to look a lot like that of a snake's.

Dokuja looked at Shimauma, remembered the kisses they shared and blushed deeply. Is he just using me..? she wondered, and got up, going to look for something to eat. She grabbed a couple needles from her belt, in case she ran into another animal, and started to search the convenience store. None of the packaged foods looked... satisfying to her, so she crept into the back corners of the store. She found a few rats feeding on a piece of stale bread, and grinned, licking her lips. She let fly her needles, landing two rats instantly and wounding the third. She caught the third rat before it could crawl away or call for help and hit it against the wall, holding it by its tail, to break its back. One swing silenced it permanently, and she grabbed the other two with a proud smile. My aim isn't as bad as I thought it'd be. she thought. She skinned them with a paring knife she found in one of the isles, washed their naked bodies and gutted them in the bathroom sink, flushing their insides down the toilet, then cooked them in the oven, watching them brown as Shimauma slept behind her, licking her lips.

"What.. the fuck is that smell..?" Shimauma's voice asked groggily, his head raised slightly as his eyes peered tiredly towards the oven. It seemed that the scent had awoken him, along with the heat which had caused his whole body to sweat madly since he was lying on his side facing the fire. He let his head drop with a heavy sigh as he looked up at the ceiling. But again, there as nothing to look at. Just darkness. "How long you been awake?" Shimauma muttered, yawning widely and putting a hand to his mouth after he had spoken.

Dokuja glanced back at him over her shoulder, then shrugged and turned back to the cooking rats. "I dunno... a while, I guess." she said softly, still watching them. She was so terribly hungry. The water and chocolate Shimauma had given her before they fell asleep had done little to quelch her stomach, and she knew that only meat would help. Fresh meat. And the horrid smell of the cooking rats didn't bother her one bit.

Shimauma grunted as he pulled his top half of his body up from the floor. I would pick the most crap place to sleep. He thought, annoyed while he rubbed the back of his neck, clicking it when he cocked it from left to right. "You should've woke me." Shimauma muttered, glancing around at the factory for anything edible other than bread. He groaned when all he saw was buns, loaves and baguettes piled in rows around the huge room. He picked himself up properly, now standing in the middle of the room. "It light outside yet?" Shimauma asked, moving towards the main store area, but pausing with both of his hands in his pockets as he looked at Dokuja. Man.. I could do with a shower.. He thought, feeling the sweat on his chest when he was facing the oven again.

"No, not yet. The rats are still out." Dokuja said, motioning to the ones in the oven. "Easy prey." She looked up at him and smiled a little. "Want some? They don't taste as bad as they smell." she assurred him. In fact, she had used some spices from one of the shelves.

Shimauma looked to the rats in the oven and raised an eyebrow at them. "Uh, no." He answered, looking at them with almost a disgusted look upon his face. "I think zebras are veggies, and all of a sudden, I hate meat." A shrug of his shoulders and he turned again. "I'm gonna look for something for me. I'll be back when I'm back." Shimauma said before leaving the factory and walking towards the fruit and vegetable area.

Dokuja shrugged and poked at one of the rats with one of her needles to check how done it was, and happy with the results, she pulled them out, using her needle as a stake, and put them on a paper plate. She licked her lips again, fanned them with her hand to cool them off, then dug right in. She savored the taste of the hot meat with a moaning, "Mmmm!"

"Man, this place has gone to the dogs.. Literally." Shimauma muttered to himself, looking outside to where Dokuja had killed the coyote as he picked out one of the apples from the fruit stand. After inspecting it carefully, he growled before throwing it over his shoulder. "Why do I have to be such a shitty animal, dammit?! I got no qualities apart from this damned thing hanging off my goddamn ass." He growled again, this time grabbing his tail and glaring at it. "It's your fault." Shimauma said coldly. "It's your fault I kissed her. Four times, man!" He let his tail drop and moved over to the cucumbers where he grabbed any one and snapped it in half, digging into it instantly, as if taking out his anger on the poor piece of food. I'm not supposed to care about anyone. So why did I let myself do it? Why did I let her use me as a goddamn water bottle? Ugh.. I don't care. I don't. But I gotta say.. her eyes weren't THAT bad to look into I guess.. He thought while he ate.

He's being.. kinda mean to me this morning.. I wonder if he regrets kissing me last night? Dokuja thought as she ate the rats, tearing them to shreds and looking rather... barbaric. Maybe.. I wonder what he'd say if I made a move on him? I'm not supposed to be... open. I'm not supposed to care about anyone...But... I think I do. she frowned as she picked at the now clean bones on her plate. She licked her teeth as a way to clean them out, scrubbed them with her nail, then stood up. "Only one way to find out.." she whispered to herself.

Shimauma growled at the cucumber he was eating and threw the remains of it over his shoulder like he had earlier with his apple. "Fuck the.. whatever it's called.." He squinted his eyes and tried to read the name of it. "Queue.. queue.. Ugh!" He gave up on reading the label next to the cucumbers; quite simply because he had forgotten how to read, as well as forgetting what his real name used to be. Shimauma trudged over to the other fruits and vegetables, but nothing appealed to him whatsoever. "All a zebra eats is grass." He muttered to himself coldly, replacing his hands into the deep of his pockets as he surveyed the stands again, just in case he spotted anything which he may have missed the first time he had looked.

Dokuja cleared her throat, smoothed out her dress and adjusted it so the splits were even with her thighs, then adjusted her tube top. She grinned at a reflection of herself in one of the shelves, running her fingers through her hair to make it fall over her eyes and shoulders sexily, then turned and headed out to the part of the store where Shimauma was, shivering once she'd left the vicinity of the warm oven. She walked with a smooth and sexy sway in her hips, straight towards him, silently. When she reached him, she slipped a hand up his tail, then up his arm to his shoulder.

"Aah!" Shimauma exclaimed, turning quickly at the touch on his shoulder and shoving Dokuja into one of the fruit stands. But it wasn't too hard. He was too busy thinking at the time when Dokuja had come up behind him, and he hadn't had much to eat since.. well.. hell, he couldn't even find anything edible which wouldn't make him ill. "Get the fuck away fr-" Shimauma began in a loud growl, one of his hands resting on one of Dokuja's breasts since he had grabbed her by her chest clothing when he pushed her. "Oh-" He mumbled. "Sorry.. thought you were someone else." Little did he know, he was completely oblivious to where his hand was since he was staring into Douja's eyes again like he had the night before.

Dokuja blushed bright red as she stared at him. She certainly had not planned on him being so rough with her. Damn! And I hardly made a move at all! she thought, watching him, her heart pounding. "G-get your hands off of me.." she demanded, but it was still slightly quiet, suprised, the blush hot and red on her cheeks, her eyes wide. Wait! That's not what I wanted to say! Spit it out! she yelled at herself. "O-or.." she cleared her throat and looked down biting her lip and blushing even more. "Use your hands in a shower.. With me..?"

"Wha-?" Shimauma gaped at her and then followed her eyes down. When he saw his hand, he didn't know whether or not to snap it away and bolt from the store with sheer embarrassment, leaving Dokuja completely on her own, or just keep it there for a little while longer and ask her what the hell she meant. "Are you.. I mean.. wait, are you outta your goddamn mind?!" Shimauma asked loudly, his hand still not moving, making it appear as if he had forgotten about it completely. Even though he hadn't. What's she implying..? He wondered.

Dokuja looked at him, this time hard and stern. She growled and pushed him back, away from her, rather hard and it was difficult to resist the urge to poison him in the process. "Get away from me! You're obviously a lot more stupid than I thought, and I'm not going to ask again!" she shouted back, clentching her fists. She turned angrily and headed towards the bathroom anyway, feeling dirty all of a sudden. Bastard! It was embarrassing enough asking the first time! Did he really think I'd repeat myself?! she thought with a huff.

Shimauma had to stop himself from toppling over onto the floor since Dokuja's push was that hard and strong. It surprised him, too, and he had to regain his voice from shock before he could speak again. "I'm not letting that bitch get away with this! It's like she's two people, dammit!" He growled. "Get the fuck back here!" Shimauma barked, stomping after her, his own fists clenched. "I-I want to kiss you, ya hear?! So stop, dammit!" He growled, his voice cracking in the process. I want to check something.. I'm one crazy fucker for trying it, but what the hell. It's the only way I'll know what she's trying to do. Shimauma thought to himself, his whole body shaking.

Dokuja did stop, his words causing her to, her eyes wide and the blush back on her cheeks, red hot. She spun to face him, blinking in surprise. "W-what..?" she stammered, blushing bright red. He wants to.. To k-kiss me?! But he seemed to be coming at her so angrily, that she almost didn't believe him, taking a hesitant step back.

"You heard me." Shimauma growled, his voice a little lower and quieter now that he was closer to her. He still walked towards her however, and when he reached her, he grabbed her neck, put one of his hands to the back of it and locked their lips together tightly. Shimauma kissed her deeply, a lot deeper than they had kissed the night before, and as he kissed her, Shimauma was slowly pushing her backwards. Towards the bathroom. Let's see what she'll do. He thought, almost.. wanting what she had asked him to do to happen.

Dokuja made a soft sound, not unlike a moan of protest, and put her hands on his chest, almost pushing him away. But the deeper the kiss got, the more she blushed and allowed him to push her backwards, not caring anymore. She kissed him back, quickly wrapping her arms around his waist, pulling him closer as she felt a wall behind her back. She broke the kiss in order to push him backwards into the bathroom, grinning a little. So he did want it. Interesting... she thought, but kept blushing. In actuality, she didn't remember what it was like, but knew exactly what "it" was. It would be almost like her first time again. She pushed him against the sink in the bathroom, almost bending him backwards as she jumped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him again roughly.

What happened next was simply a blur to Shimauma. It all ended so fast. Then again, didn't it always end quickly when it was with someone.. well.. good? Shimauma thought so anyway. Of course, he had had sex many times before, but honestly, he couldn't remember it. So with Dokuja, it pretty much felt like his first time, too. But how did he know what to do exactly? The thought made him wonder as he pulled on his trousers and zipped up his fly. There was a mirror in the bathoom, and so of course, he looked at himself in it since he had never seen his new appearance before. No difference. Apart from the weird facial hair with a random stripe going through it, nope, he looked pretty much the same. Not forgetting quite handsome. He had that chiseled look about him. "Well, I guess you won't have any complaints when I try to grab a certain part of you, huh?" Shimauma muttered to Dokuja with a wry smile as he stroked his chin a little in the mirror.

Dokuja bit her lip and looked at the ground, sitting on the toilet. There was no doubt, she had liked it a lot, but it had ended a bit faster than she wanted, and Shimauma had dressed as if he was going to just leave here there to reminisce on her own, like a one night stand--which, incidentally, she had experienced plenty of in her old life. The hurt came rushing back and she refused to look at him. "No... I won't complain.." she muttered, but it didn't sound too convincing. Why does it feel like he only used me for the sex and now he wants to have nothing to do with me? she wondered sadly. She sighed, getting off the toilet and picking up her clothes, but instead of putting them on, set them aside and started the shower again. She still felt dirty..

Shimauma was still looking in the mirror, and he caught Dokuja's reflection within it. He sighed himself when he saw her facial expression. Even if she was naked, he turned to face her. "Eh, I'm not the most affectionate of guys, but.." Shimauma said, shrugging before moving over to Dokuja. "Don't worry about it, 'kay?" He put both of his hands on her shoulders, and moved them down to her arms where he rubbed them gently. He didn't know why, but he kissed her again. This time soft, gently and reassuringly.

Dokuja kissed him back, putting her hands on his abs and then on his hips as she did, shuddering at the cold of the water sprinkling her back. She was NOT looking forward to stepping back into that freezing water, but it felt VERY necessary. When the kiss broke, she gave him a weak smile and nodded, but still couldn't look him directly in the eyes. For some reason, not even the kiss had stopped her thoughts. Other's have done that before... It doesn't mean anything.. They still left. said the voice in her head. She frowned a little at it. Who was 'they'? she wondered. She turned, though, and stepped under the water, gasping deeply and squeezing her eyes shut tightly, stepping back out of it quickly.

Shimauma frowned at her as he stood there with his arms folded across his bare chest. "Ah, I think I understand why you don't like it cold." He said, moving over to her again after thinking for a few moments. "Snakes are cold blooded, right?" Well, OBVIOUSLY! Everyone knows that! Man, I'm such a dick. I shouldn't be acting so friendly. I only wanted to see how far she would actually go. Even if she was pretty damn good..

Dokuja gasped again at the feel of the water and ended up falling back against Shimauma with her back to his chest, watching the water. "Yeah.. that's why." she said, softly, but with a "no duh" tone. She whimpered and frowned at the water, afraid to go back under it, but knowing she needed to. Dirty pores, whether she used her poisons or not, could still make her sick.

"It's not going to kill you, you know." Shimauma said, almost matter-of-factly, his hands resting on Dokuja's shoulders lightly. "It's just water, right? If you can get through a freako mutt like the one yesterday, then this is just a piece of piss." You swear far too much at the wrong time.. So? That's me, deal with it. You always were stubborn. He frowned again, this time at the voices inside his head arguing with each other. "So, yeah. You've done it before, even if you did scream and I came running like a complete idiot." Shimauma muttered, feeling quite stupid as he remembered his actions from yesterday.

Dokuja frowned and looked at him. "Actually, it could kill me. I'm cold-blooded. Being in that cold water for too long could kill me with hypothermia." she said, seeming hurt that he wouldn't know that. "And I don't need you to walk me through it." she said, giving him a small push, but it wasn't mean, just annoyed. She turned back to the shower and stepped under the water, screaming with her mouth clamped shut, her eyes shut tightly and her arms tucked over her chest.

Shimauma just shrugged his shoulders at her with a shake of his head. "Like I said, you are one complicated chick." He said, but not coldly or with a sarcastic tone. His body twisted on the spot so he had his back to her. "I'm gonna check things outside." Shimauma said, as if he wasn't speaking to anyone in general. Another shrug as he glanced at Dokuja over his shoulder, and he moved towards the door slowly, as if waiting, just in case she wanted to say anything else. Who knows? She might have something else to add with that smart mouth of hers. Hell, I've KISSED that mouth. Shit..

Dokuja didn't say anything else, just standing beneath the water and shivering madly as she washed herself as quickly as possible. When she was done, rinsed herself off, she turned off the water and shivered again before drying off and grabbing her clothes, throwing them on despite that she was still slightly damp. Her teeth chattered and her skin looked almost a pale blue as she walked out to stand close to the oven, hugging herself for warmth. Fuck.. this convenience store sells everything else BUT clothes and sweaters?! Fuck humans! she thought angrily.

Shimauma had been outside for around a quarter of an hour. He was just simply strolling along the streets, walking between the countless mounds of dust and rubble which were piled in different places. He would grimace now and again whenever he saw a body or a mauled hand or leg which would be peeping out from a smashed car wreck or more mounds of debris. Man, the shit really hit the fan in this place.. Shimauma thought as he tilted his head back slightly to look up at one of the lit lamposts which he was about to pass. It was still dark, and Shimauma guessed that it was around six in the morning. He let out a yawn and returned his eyes to face the path in front of him. He passed plenty of stores, many of them not really seeming to appeal to him since he would take once glance inside whether it be through the windows or the open doors, and just look forwards again. "I need a tee.. or something.." Shimauma muttered to himself, his hands in his pockets as he fumbled around for nothing inside them. He was keeping an eye out for a clothes store of some kind. Maybe one which sold both male and female clothing since it occured to him that Dokuja had wanted something warm back in the convenience store. But what interested Shimauma the most, was that there were no dead bodies of any animals. Just humans. Damn.. they must be pretty strong to wipe out a whole city as big as this. He thought again, looking to the dead bodies, his eyes narrowing slightly as he peered closely at the claw and bite marks which covered each single body.

Dokuja shivered as she hugged herself next to the fire, staring into it. The gas stove was running low on fuel and so the oven fires were dying, making the cold impend more on the bakery of the store. She was shaking so badly by now that her teeth were chattering to a point of being painful and her skin had a purplish-blue tint to it. What she needed and wanted was sunlight... It would help the most. But it was still very early in the morning and the sun wasn't barely coming up yet. She sighed and wondered where Shimauma was and wondered if he'd be willing to hold her for a while to help her get her body heat back up when he got back. Where did he go again..? Fuck... I can't even remember... damn the cold... It always plays tricks on my mind.. she thought sadly, the sound of her teeth chattering the only thing she heard in the entire store as she shivered on the floor, her knees drawn up.

Shimauma carried on walking, trying his hardest to ignore the bodies as he passed more and more of them. There were so many of them.. they looked like dead flies left on a window sill of a rundown house. "Ugh.." Shimauma grumbled again as he had to step over a rather overweight middle-aged man with half of his insides sprawled out on the pavement to get inside a clothes store which he had finally seen. Shimauma shot a glance over his shoulder at the city through the door, but when he looked back inside the store, his eyes met something even more horrific than the body he had to dodge before. Well, alright, not completely horrific. But when Shimauma saw the huge lumbering black bear, around the same size as the grizzly back at the labs, an image of his own insides dotting the pavements came to mind. The bear seemed to be in pain, but it still roared at Shimauma when it saw him. Why isn't it charging towards me? Shimauma thought, his eyebrow raising as he moved slowly towards one of the racks of clothes which held shirts for men. His eyes still stayed on the bear however, and the bear kept his eyes on him. Shimauma grabbed any piece of clothing, and he soon had a black t-shirt in his hand. When he moved slowly again, this time towards the female section, he saw why the bear couldn't move. It had a pole stabbed through it's chest. A pole from one of the rails, and it was stuck to the wall firmly so the animal couldn't budge. "You can't even speak, can you?" Shimauma smirked, grabbing an olive green coloured vest top for Dokuja and a black jacket as he spoke. "Kudos to whoever did that to you. Well, see you around." He smirked again, and sped out of the store instantly, clothes in hand with the bears' roars echoing in his ears. Without slowing or stopping, he used his strong legs to dart back towards the convenience store. "Oi!" Shimauma called out, letting the clothes drop from his hands after he had entered the store. He pushed one of the store's huge stands across so it was covering the two doors since he had to smash the glass the day before and it would get pretty cold if it wasn't covered. "I got clothes for you!" Shimauma called again, panting slightly after using both the energy in his arms and legs.

Dokuja didn't answer. By now, she was laying on her side as close to the dying fire as she could get, her eyes staring blankly ahead with her skin a light purple and her lips turning blue. She couldn't speak... couldn't move. She was trying to conserve as much energy and warmth as she could without going out of the store. She blinked a couple times, her teeth still chattering and she shivered violently. Clothes... good man.. she thought softly in her mind, curled into a ball on the floor.

"Aah.." Shimauma sighed happily as he leaned against the stand for a while while slowly getting his breath back. He then bent down and picked up the clothes, inspecting his new t-shirt closely while he began to walk back towards the bakery. "Didn't you hear me or something? I got you some clo-" Shimauma paused once he had entered the bakery, and looked down at Dokuja with a slight frown. What's going on with her skin? He thought, chewing his tongue a little. "Hey, you doing alright?" Shimauma asked, dropping the clothes and moving over to Dokuja where he leaned over her slightly as he crouched down. He touched her cheek lightly. "Oi." Shimauma muttered.

Dokuja heard he was closer to her, and could feel his body heat eminating off of his skin from doing all the running and heavy lifting. He was probably sweating, but she didn't care. She slowly turned her head to look at him, and his heat signatures all over his body were off the scale in her eyes. She breathed deeply, shakily, and suddenly sat up, wrapping her arms around him and pressing her body as tightly to his as she could. "C-c-cold.." she whimpered, clinging to him with her face in his neck.

Shimauma frowned and didn't hold her at first, but when he felt how cold she really was, his eyes widened a little and he sighed as he put both of his arms around her. "Well, s'good job I brought back some clothes for you, huh?" He muttered, letting go of her and shuffling over to where the clothes were piled in a heap on the floor. "Here ya go. They're not the greatest colours, I know, but it's a green top amd you've got green eyes, so.. ya know." Shimauma shrugged and pushed the vest top and jacket into her chest. "Put them on, I want to see how they look on you." He paused as he looked down at her legs. "I.. kinda like the skirt you're wearing, so I didn't get anything for your lower half. Besides, there was a bear in there, so I had to scoot around the damn place pretty quickly to get stuff for both of us."

Dokuja blinked and looked down at the vest and jacket in her hands, still shivering as she gripped them. He got these colours... to match my eyes? He likes my skirt..? she wondered and felt herself beginning to blush. It was probably the only heat in her body now. Damn, being cold makes me act so weird. He probably thinks I'm a freak.. "T-thank you.." she stammered between her chattering teeth and started to put the clothes on. But her movements were really slow and jerked, trying to move while shivering.

"Don't mention it." While he yawned widely, Shimauma helped Dokuja pull her new vest top over her top half rather casually, not seeming to be affected by her naked body anymore. He took the jacket from her hands and unzipped it. "I think I've had one of these before. This thing looks pretty familiar anyways." He said thoughtfully, eyeing the piece of clothing carefully, especially the zip. "Hm." Shimauma shrugged it off and put the jacket around Dokuja's shoulders. "Warm, yet?"

"N-no.." Dokuja stammered, hugging herself around her jacketed body. "B-but you h-have sssssssssucceeded in m-making me feel l-like a f-f-fool.." she said, keeping her eyes down.

Shimauma frowned at her as he folded his arms across his chest like he usually did when he was annoyed or confused. "A what?" He asked, rather puzzled. "I only brought you a few mingy clothes. What did I do, now?" Shimauma moved his arms and picked up his t-shirt. He opened it up and stared at it for a moment before shrugging and pulling it on. When he finally decided that it was comfortable enough, he looked at Dokuja again with the same, confused glance.

Dokuja sighed and shook her head. "I n-never did l-look good in h-human clothes..." she whimpered and hugged herself tighter, looking at the floor sadly. She pulled her knees up and hugged them tightly, her forehead on her arms. He should know that if I don't have body heat to warm myself, what are clothes going to do for me? I can't even heat myself, let alone heat the clothes to keep me warm... she thought sadly. She felt... misunderstood. She wanted to be held, but she knew that was just a side effect of being cold. Her first instinct was to seek out the first thing that had warmth but wasn't threatening. That was Shimauma.

"Eh, what brought this on, huh?" Shimauma scratched his head and frowned. "You do look good. You look really good." He sighed a little. "Man, that's one thing I hate about girls. They always have to have someone to tell them that for them." Another sigh and he pulled Dokuja's arms out from under her forehead almost casually as if it was a daily routine and put them around his neck. He put his own arms around her, and moved them up and down her back. "If you wanted me to hold you, you should have just said instead of keeping quiet about it and then getting all pissy at me afterwards." Shimauma muttered, moving one of his hands to the back of Dokuja's neck and resting his warm hand on it in an attempt to warm it up. As he did this, despite being all hardass and a complete asshole, he kissed her forehead lightly and rested his chin on her head. "Eh, you've cramped my style, ya know. But that's okay, as long as you don't tell anyone." Shimauma said quietly, almost smiling a little.

Dokuja had blushed brightly after he'd done all this. It confused her. I'm cramping his style..? He chose to do this... she thought, but couldn't stop blushing. She hugged her arms around his neck a bit tighter and nuzzled her nose into his neck slightly with a soft sigh, closing her eyes as she slowly shared his warmth, regaining some of her own heat from it.

"Better?" Shimauma asked low, his own eyes closing too since a lot of his energy had been taken away from him when he had ran all the way back to the store from the city earlier. Plus the fact that he had pushed the stand across the doors, too. Her hair smells pretty good.. He thought, moving his chin from her head and burying his face in her hair. "Man, what shampoo do you use? Whatever it is, it smells fucking great." Shimauma mumbled into her head, even though he was more or less thinking out loud. Again.

Dokuja blushed and opened her eyes, slowly looking up at him. "I... I don't use shampoo... My body creates its own special oils..." she whispered. That's why I don't have hair on my arms, legs... that other place.. And that's why my skin and hair are always so soft. she thought, watching him with her snake-eyes. "Do... Do you really think it smells good..?"

Shimauma blinked down at her. "Well, yeah." He shrugged a little. "Really good." He couldn't help it, he smiled and then kissed her, this time on her lips. She's bringing out my soft side.. shit.. But her smell, it's so relaxing.. I can't stay all badass like I usually do when she's around. Especially when we're THIS close anyways.. He thought, pulling Dokuja closer to him as if he didn't want to let her go and lose her scent.

Dokuja kissed him back, closing her eyes happily. She had never felt so... comfortable. So wanted. So... loved. I can't believe it... He likes my smell.. He likes me..? Maybe.. But I don't want to push things just yet.. I don't want to scare him away. What is this? I wish I knew. She made a soft sound and stroked his neck with her fingers, then tangled her hand in his hair.

Shimauma shivered a little under her fingers upon his neck, but he didn't take much notice of it as he put his own hands in her hair, enjoying how soft it was. He could still smell it, too, so it made Shimauma feel even more relaxed while he kissed her still. He pulled her even closer to him, and his tail wrapped itself around her waist again. When Shimauma felt it move however, he broke the kiss and glared down at his tail while licking his lips a little. He pulled his tail from around Dokuja's waist and muttered something, but he just replaced his hands around her waist where his tail once was. "My hands should be there instead." Shimauma said softly, kissing her again.

Dokuja chuckled a little under the kiss, running her hands along his arms, then back up around his neck, playing with the very tips of his hair, twisting them around her fingers. She pulled herself into his lap, sitting on his legs comfortably with her own wrapped around his waist loosely. She kept her eyes closed, one hand moving down to stroke his tail again gently between her finger tips, the other still in his hair.

"Mm.." Shimauma mumbled, breaking the kiss and looking down at how the both of them were sitting. He laughed lightly and put both of his warm hands on Dokuja's upper thighs while he looked at her closely, his lips lingering by hers as he spoke. "You know, how we're positioned.. It might lead to something kinda similar to what we did before, don't you think?" He raised an eyebrow at her. "Now, it's not that I don't want to, but. Right now you're wearing new clothes which I went out to get for you. I don't really want to rip them off." He shrugged. "You get my drift, right? I don't want to piss you off 'cause you'll run away again and I like your smell too much right now for you to just disappear." What the fuck am I saying? It's like I'm not even me anymore.. ugh..

Dokuja smiled and looked down at how they were sitting also, still rubbing his tail until her fingers reached the back of his pants again, then smiled at him. "But it will help me get warm.." she whispered. "And you don't have to rip my clothes off.." She kissed him again, then sat back slightly and unzipped her jacket, taking it off along with the vest, then her skirt. "See?"

"Hmm.." Shimauma smiled, now resting his chin on his palm as he looked her up and down. "Yeah, I see." He grinned, raising his head and putting a finger to her cheek and sliding it down to her neck, then to her shoulder, between her breasts and then to her lower stomach where he tickled her gently, chuckling as he did. I really am turning soft, huh? But what the hell, she wants it. Who'd be mad enough to turn away a girl who wants it? Not me. He thought comically.

Dokuja smiled at him in the eyes as he trailed his finger down her body, then moved closer, sitting on her knees so she'd have to look down at him, stradling him. She gently placed both hands on either side of his face and smiled, as she kissed him deeply, slowly slipping her hands down his body and up under his shirt.

"Shit.." Shimauma chuckled once he had broke the kiss for a moment so he could pull off his shirt. "I only had it on for what? Ten minutes? Damn.." He shook his head with a grin and kissed her while he put both of his hands on her thighs, moving them up and down gently, slowly moving them higher whenever he reached her stomach. Despite her scaly areas, he still touched them.

Dokuja actually loved it when he touched her scales. They were sensitive and it let her know he wasn't afraid or grossed out to touch them.. To touch her. She moaned softly in his mouth and pushed him backwards onto the ground, holding herself over him. "I'm feeling warmer already.." she murmered against his lips and smiled.

Shimauma chuckled again. "Really? But you still want to do it again, anyway?" He raised an eyebrow at her, both of his hands on her hips now as he stared into her eyes with his own emerald green ones. His tail had somehow managed to peep out under his backside, and was now moving along the floor slowly, it's movements matching Shimauma's mood. He was relaxed, of course.

Dokuja chuckled and shook her head. "Of course. I'm still here, ain't I?" she whispered, brushing her lips over his, and looking him in the eyes. She kissed him again deeply and held his face in both hands, then started to pull down his pants, flicking her tongue at his lips with a smile.

"Oi.. take it slowly, huh?" Shimauma grinned, pulling his trousers back up playfully and squeezing her hand before putting it to his cheek. "Let's not rush like we did last time, alright? It won't feel as good." He leaned up and kissed her neck lightly, moving up to her lips and back down again, this time even lower, near her breasts, still not feeling affected when his lips brushed her scales.

Dokuja gasped softly when his lips touched her scales and her eyes closed slowly, licking her lips. "Mmm... Okay.." she whispered in a breath, letting him take his time. She felt herself getting more and more excited the longer he took his time, though. "M-maybe it would be... easier.. if you were on top..?" she asked softly, looking down at him.

"Why make it easier? You gotta experiment with stuff like this." Shimauma peered up at her and winked softly. "You're staying there, 'cause I'm not moving." With that, his trousers were off in mere seconds, and the two of them made love. But this time it was a lot more gentle and loving than their first time of doing it. Shimauma felt some sort of love within it anyroad, and when he layed there on his back afterwards, staring up into the darkness, he thought he could actually see something. Eyes, maybe. Dokuja's eyes? Inside my head? But why..? He thought, closing his eyes and breathing steadily.

Dokuja was snuggled up to Shimauma's side closely, one arm draped across his chest, and her head on his shoulder. She was breathing deeply, slowly, her eyes closed, but she wasn't asleep. That was amazing... And it felt... more loving than the last time... How is it different? What changed..? she thought and yawned, shifting to nuzzle his neck. She sighed, happily, and tightened her grip around his middle, slowly drifting into sleep.

---

Meanwhile... Back in the tunnel with Renzo and Kitsune...

"Oh great!" Renzo said out loud. He walked briskly forward and looked left and right, on either side there were electrical signals, but he was finding it difficult to pinpoint either Shimauma's or Dokuja's. As he paced back and forth, deciding which way to go, he stubbed his toe on a rock "Aah! Shit!" He bent down and started rubbing his toe "You little fucker! Hiding there in the dark!" He seemed to be speaking to the rock. Still rubbing his toe, he looked in the general direction of Kitsune's signal "Any idea where those two buggered off to?" He asked, rather more angrily than he had intended.

Kitsune bit her lip as she tried to look for the other two figures in the darkness. She gripped Chris' dagger tightly as she sighed, but more or less out of worry. "No.. I can't see them anywhere. They must have both gone on ahead." She hesitantly began walking again, only to stop after a few minutes when her fox senses sniffed out a different smell. "There's another path, here.." Kitsune whispered, moving forwards to inspect the second route on their left.

"I know there's another path!" Renzo said, still angry at the rock. He rubbed his toe still, making angry grunts every now and then. "Which way do you think we should go then?" He stood up and limped towards the left, then looked right "I reckon it's a fifty-fifty chance whichever way we look at it" Then slapped his forehead with the heel of his palm, realising the stupidity of pointing out something so obvious. "So then, left or right, skip?" He said, almost endearingly.

Kitsune's eyes darted from the left route to the right route a number of times as she gripped her dagger tighter still. Which way would Chris have gone..? She pondered, looking down at the dagger(well, what she could make out of it in the dark anyway). It just looked like a random piece of silver hovering like a falling feather to her. Kitsune looked up again. "Left.." She said quietly, moving towards the new path.

"Right then" Renzo limped after her, still cursing silently as he moved further into the darkness of the cave. "I hope we get out quick so I can get a look at this foot" He hissed in pain as he let too much weight fall onto his injured foot. "You any idea what made you want to come this way?" He asked, for once interested in keeping a conversation going.

Kitsune blushed slightly, thinking why she had chosen the left route. But of course, the darkness hid her cheeks so her blush couldn't be seen. I chose it because I had a feeling Chris would go this way.. She whispered inside her head. "I don't know.. I guess it just felt like this was the right way to go." She shrugged lightly.

"You're lieing" Renzo said simply, noticing Kitsune's conflicting brain signals. "But if you aren't going to tell me why you're lieing, then you must have a reason so keep it to yourself for now" He added, but with that usual cold tone that suggested he was not in the mood for sharing any personal feelings.

"I don't have to tell people everything..." Kitsune replied. And you probably would hate the real reason anyway. She walked on slowly her hand gripping the dagger tightly. "Do you not think i'm capable of finding a way out of here? Is that why you question the directions I choose?"

Renzo thought about it for a moment "I guess so, but mostly I wanted to keep the conversation alive to make this trip in the dark a little easier" He said matter-of-factly. "Watch out for any more rocks" He added, his once noticeable limp now less so.

"Don't worry i'm a little more careful than other people." Kitsune said then giggled slightly. "So...what do you want to talk about? To make this trip easier..."

"I'm not the conversationalist here" Renzo said, as if this was obvious. "You think of something" He waved his hand impatiently, and waited silently for Kitsune.

"You were the one who just said you were trying to keep the conversation alive. I don't care if we walk in silence." Kitsune said stubbornly.

"Keh, whatever then!" Renzo said, a slight edge of annoyance in his voice Pain in the ass! He frowned and carried on walking, then spied a light at the end of the tunnel "Hey, it looks like the way out!" He was almost jumping with glee.

"Your right!" Kitsune said excitedly. Maybe Chris is out there.... she thought as her pace quickened.

When both Renzo and Kitsune reached the end of the tunnel and appeared outside, they were no longer in a forest. Their surroundings weren't very forest-like at all whatsoever. Where they appeared looked more.. man made, and there were a few buildings of different sizes surrounding them, including a huge tank of water. To their right, was a huge sign. It read, 'USA MILITARY'. If it wasn't for the lights attached to the top of the sign, the letters wouldn't be legible at all since it was still rather dark, and was the early hours of the morning. No one was around in the military base, it was pretty much dead.

*****
back to human territory