Miyu woke up smiling despite the noise and pain her stomach was making. She was warm, happy and felt almost loved for some reason. She opened her eyes and saw a bone plate with several pieces of meat with green mold on it. Her morning was almost ruined before she realized that the green things on her slices of meat weren't mold but spices and herbs. The aromas of the seasonings hit her like a bat while she was blind folded. She reached for them like a starving animal and wolfed them down in a similar way of one. After eating half of the meal in just under twenty seconds she stopped to savor the tastes.

It was just so perfect and the best thing she had eaten in ages. Raye really out did himself this time. She chewed slowly and held back the tears and when Raye came in to the cave she practically tackled him.

"OH MY GOD RAYE! This is the best thing I've ever eaten!" she said nearly crushing his chest with her arms.

Raye struggled to breathe and speak. "Yeah I'm… glad Miyu." He wheezed. At this rate she'd break his already injured ribs. "Miyu please let go!" he said as almost all the wind in his lungs left.

Miyu didn't let go for a while but just before Raye passed out she did. "Where did you get these herbs?" Miyu asked after taking another bite and pointing to them.

He ignored the pieces of meat flying from Miyu's mouth onto his face and just explained. "Well I was wondering how herbivores like the antelope could survive on this planet and since their teeth are too rounded to eat meat I decided that they had to have a feeding ground or a way of finding plants. By chance I spotted an antelope and followed it. After a few minutes it felt safe and hungry so it dug into the snow and began to graze. I dropped the poor beast after I was content with my discoveries, checked the hole it dug and found those."

"And what did you do with the antelope?" Miyu asked forcing down the enormous bite she just bit off.

Raye smiled and looked at her food. "What do you think?"

"Well what do you know? He was beneficial and tasty!" Miyu said as she licked her hands.

"You must be starving; I've never seen you so… eager to eat." Raye said sugar coating the fact she was being a total pig.

"I'm hungry damn it! When was the last time I ate?" Miyu asked.

"Well it's a long story really. You've been in bed for about a week now." Raye said.

"What?" Miyu gasped.

"Yeah. We ran into a saber tooth a while back, it clobbered you, I killed it and then I brought you back here. I went back a few hours later after making sure you were alright but I didn't see any sign or trace of the tiger, not even bones. When I got back you were still unconscious. I waited for as long as I could before I tried to wake you. When I did you wanted me to-" Raye said but stopped suddenly. He hadn't considered what Miyu might do to him if she found out he had kissed her. She was half asleep so she might not have remembered.

"I wanted you to do what?" Miyu asked noting the sudden stop.

"Nothing." Raye said too quickly.

"What did I want you to do? You can tell me!" Miyu said feigning a sense of security. She was terrified of what she wanted him to do and he would tell her or face the bitter consequences and depending upon the answer face the consequences of what he did for her.

"And you won't be angry?"

"I will not be… angry." Miyu said as pleasantly as possible. Raye mumbled something incomprehensible. "What was that?" Miyu asked leaning in.

"You wanted me to…." Raye said trailing off into murmurs. Miyu gave him a reassuring look and Raye finally said it. "You asked me to kiss you."

Miyu just nodded slowly. "I see… and did you?"

"I had to! You were starving and you wouldn't have let me fed you if I didn't! Please don't be mad I would never have done it if it wasn't a necessary!" Raye said quickly beginning to get nervous by the calm way she was handling the situation.

Miyu just nodded slowly some more before she kneed him in the gut. Once the human was winded she began to kick him in the side now that he was on his knees. "YOU. SICK. SON. OF. A. BITCH!" she yelled with every kick.

"I'm sorry!" Raye yelled back frightfully before a kick landed where he should have been defending like it was a vital organ. "Gah! My bal-"

"You sick twisted skinner! You took advantage of me! Not only is that the sickest, foulest and most terrible thing I've ever seen but you are a god damned human! Do you even realize what this would do to me if anyone found out back home? I'd be branded as a skin lover and become an over night pariah!" Miyu hissed.

"I'm… ow… sorry." Raye groaned.

"You're sorry? You're sorry?" Miyu repeated not believing him. She didn't know where all this pent up anger came from but it felt good letting it out.

"It was just a kiss- ow, nothing more." Raye said curling up into a ball to prep for the next assault. He didn't feel like moving just throwing up so there was no way he could get up just yet.

"Just a kiss? It was the best damn kiss of your life!" Miyu shouted in outrage and then kicked him in the back.

"I meant that!" Raye groaned. He had never been more tempted in his life to hit a woman without a justifiable cause. He began to get onto his feet and Miyu went ape scat.

"Oh no you don't! You deserve to be on the ground like the pig you are!" Miyu shouted as she raised a hand to slap Raye.

By now Raye was not in a pleasant mood and would not tolerate another unopposed hit. He reached for the strike and grabbed Miyu's wrist. Miyu tried to slap him with the other but Raye grabbed that one as well. He ignored the pain and forced Miyu down onto the nest. He held her down while hovering above her, the weight of his body in his knees.

"It was just a kiss!" Raye snapped, his face levitating a few inches above Miyu's. She was so surprised how similar this was to her dream, not exactly the same but here she was, under Raye and under his overpowering might. "I'll show you just how insignificant it was!"

"No don't!" Miyu cried out before their lips met again. To her delight and dismay she got the exact same rush she did in her dream. She felt like flying, felt warm, felt safe, and felt almost loved. Raye experienced the same rush of feelings despite his attempt to show her it was just an insignificant act of two bodies. His face went red and he closed his eyes dreamily as he enjoyed it for as long as it lasted. Five minutes later came too early for both of them.

The cold arctic winds crept into the cave and reminded the two entranced beings of the dangers of being out for much longer. Raye and Miyu broke apart. Miyu was at a loss of words and had an awestruck look on her face.

"You see? It was just a small exchange of saliva and a connection of a body parts!" Raye said trying to throw science into the mix to try to keep himself from going at her again and to make it seem less than significant.

Miyu just nodded and said. "Yes you're right it was just a… kiss." Miyu said purposely forgetting "wonderful" before kiss. "I'm sorry I hurt you." She said at last.

Raye groaned and shrugged. "I'll be fine. It's no worse than what you first did to me. You shot be then!"

"Yeah…." Miyu said drifting in and out of reality. One second she was talking to Raye and another she was in his arms, safe, warm and almost loved.

Raye scratched the back of his head. "You know I've been meaning to ask you something. What is a skinner?"

"It's slang we call you. Like how you call us animals we call you skinners because you don't have scales, fur or even feathers."

"Ah…." Raye acknowledged solemnly.

For awhile everything was silent. Neither one wanted to admit they felt anything for fear of what the other might say, feel or do if he or she didn't feel anything similar to the other. When a second blast of frozen wind smashed onto skin and fur they both began to shiver. Still neither one would announce it was time for bed. Finally the cold chill became too much for Raye.

"I think it is time for bed… unless you aren't tired." Raye added nervously.

"No actually I feel kind of tired now that you mention it." Miyu lied. In truth she was wide awake, just cold.

"Alright then." Raye said. Miyu got in the nest on the right and Raye in on the left. Once they were both in it was another long and awkward pause until.

"So do you have any more of those herbs?" Miyu asked trying to get things moving if not a little less awkward.

"Oh yeah tons. Took me three trips but I got them all. We should have good food for weeks now."

"Good, good." Miyu said while nodding slightly.

Neither one made eye contact, touched the other or even breathed towards the other. It was like a sudden and unbreakable barrier had been brought up form the ground to tower thirty feet above them. It was cold on both sides and both Raye and Miyu hated it. Until today they were rather comfortable around the other, there was no sexual tension, no gender tension, no war tension, Hell there probably was no tension anymore but those two kisses brought most of it all back.

Miyu began to shiver even though the nest was cozy enough to intoxicate someone who had drunk a crate of energy drinks into a deep sleep. She couldn't stand it. Raye had given her a narcotic he couldn't give her enough of and now he was holding out just as she came to love it. Her claws sheathed and unsheathed. She had a plan but a thousand things could go wrong with it but she had to do something, the tension was killing her.

Mustering all her strength, physical and mental, the lynx sprung an attack on the unsuspecting human. With one quick motion Miyu shattered the wall between the two confused beings, mounted Raye and held his arms down. The look of shock in his eyes was too much for her to bear as she drew in for another kiss she stopped just above his lips and completely froze up. She could feel both of their heartbeats edging her to get on with it but all her strength faltered. Instead she moved her mouth to Raye's cheek and licked it once.

Raye blinked as her wet pink tongue glided up his cheek. It was so shocking, so exciting and so invigorating that he began to team with ecstasy. He wanted more. He tried to move his arms so that he could wrap them around the strange lynx and make her his but she was already off of him lying on the other side of the nest with her back turned to him. It all happened so fast he hardly believed it. Raye touched where she licked him, it was practically on fire because of how hot his face was and the best part was it was wet.

Raye sat up. "Miyu?" Raye asked half hoping she wouldn't respond so they could just get back to trying to get some sleep.

"Yes Raye?" Miyu said weakly preparing for the worst.

"What was that?" Raye asked stroking the trail of her tongue.

"G-grooming?" Miyu said half sure of what it was and what it wasn't.

"Oh." Raye said nearly lying back down but stopped.

Miyu was shivering again and looked awfully dirty and in need of a good wash. He leaned in close to her, wrapped his right arm around her and brought her to her back. He climbed onto his knees and on top of her shaking form and stared into her blue eyes. They were full of fear, angst and what was most certainly pain. Raye only smiled and leaned his head in. Their lips came so close to touching that the space between them was almost immeasurable. Just like Miyu, Raye's strength faltered and instead of kissing he licked her on the cheek.

He gazed back into his eyes worried he had made a fool of himself. He shrugged and a nervous grin spread across his face. "Heh, grooming?" he asked more than stated. In truth he had no idea what he just did. Slowly he got off of Miyu, the red in his face a glowing beacon of embarrassment, shame and fear.

For a long while the two confused creatures laid back to the others back as they traced their fingers along their faces. It all seemed so unreal that the tingling where they were each liked almost seemed like a lie.

Almost at the same time the tension became too much and they both rolled over. Both could see the other's surprise and almost turned back over but the blessed cold stopped them.

"Cold tonight." Raye laughed nervously.

"Yeah, yeah it is." Miyu said scratching behind her feline ears atop of her head.

"Guess we should… well… you know… get err, close?" Raye said with great difficulty.

"Yeah we should… if we want to survive that is!" Miyu said quickly.

"Yeah, yeah! Because dying is bad!"

"That's true!"

"Right well let's err…." Raye said but trailed off.

"All right then." Miyu said as she inched closer to Raye.

"Right." Raye said as he moved closer. The no man's land betwixt the two slowly faded away until at last their shoulders touched. "I don't think we're doing it right." Raye said still freezing his butt off.

"Yeah let me just err…." Miyu said wrapping her arms around him. "I think this is the part where you turn around."

"What? Oh yeah that's right…. Miyu I was thinking we don't necessarily warm our cores too fast that way. If we were to, I don't know lay prone and supine on each other that might keep us warmer."

'What the Hell is he talking about?' Miyu thought to herself. 'There is no way that that is logical! Wait a minute; if we were to… oh I get it now.'

"You know what? I think you are right. And if it is for survival that I don't see why not!" Miyu said climbing onto his chest. Miyu laid her head and chest on Raye's and she could hear his heartbeat pounding as quickly as hers. They were not new to love, sex or relationships but this one that was hardly even in the making just yet was causing more stress on them than any other. But the thing was it was all worth it.

"Good night." Raye said as he wrapped his left arm around Miyu bringing her closer.

"Good night Raye." Miyu said as she nuzzled his warm torso.

AUTHOR'S NOTE~~~ Well, well, well, things are heating up now aren't they? Not even Hell's sub zero temeratures can keep those two apart. In fact quite the opposite! Hope you enjoyed, don't forget to tell me what you thought! Also I actually proof read this chapter (which I sometimes do for other chapters for this and other stories but usually am just too lazy) so tell me if you see a mistake! Bet you can't find one! MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!