The next chapter is posted! Enjoy :)

They made it back to his ship within the next few minutes.

Bhu'ja made a quick assessment of her to be sure she wasn't seriously hurt. But Raelyn assured him that she was alright. She was mostly just shaken up more than anything.

She didn't want to think what would've happened if Bhu'ja didn't get to her in time.

The young woman's train of thought was broken when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up into the masked face of the young Arbitrator.

"I'll return in few minutes. I need to go back out and get my trophy." He informed her.

Raelyn noted that he had a couple of skulls attached to his belt.

"Aren't these your trophies though right here?" She asks as she lightly touches the skulls.

"There is another out there, a bigger one. I need to get it back before something starts eating it. But as I said, I left it not far from here. I shall be back momentarily with it." He tells her.

She nodded, "Ok, I'm going to put everything away. And...I kind of feel like I need another bath after that."

Bhu'ja gave her a sharp nod. Then he went to the exit door they just came through and went back out. He ran back through the woods towards the area he left his trophy.

While Raelyn went to go put her armor, mask, and weapons back in the kehrite.

As she left there, she looked down at herself. At least her outfit hadn't been torn or ruined. Though it was quite dirty from the times she fell to the ground.

She was quite dirty herself. And she wanted to bathe so badly, a part of her still felt the touch of their hands, and she wanted to be rid of that feeling.

So, she walked back to Bhu'ja's bedroom.

Once there, she grabbed another clean set of clothes and went into the bathroom. She put them aside and started up the water for the tub.

It was hardly filled halfway when she entered. Raelyn grabbed the soap bottle and emptied out quite a bit of it into her hand and started to roughly scrub her skin.

She wanted their touches and their scent off of her.

The young woman scrubbed herself quite thoroughly as the water level continued to steadily rise. Her body was quite lathered up by the time the water level reached her waist.

Afterwards she sat on the underwater bench and tried to relax her nerves.

Her whole body shook a little remembering the horrid memories of being forcefully touched. And how it brought her to the times, she was raped onboard by a couple of her captors.

Raelyn brought her knees up to her chin and silently cried a bit.

It was still scary that she managed to find herself in such situations. On Earth, she likes to think none of this never would've happened. And while she felt like she was just getting by in life while home, it was still a life.

One filled with happiness, that was mainly brought on by her love of ballet.

A life she feels she will never have again. But...she also realizes how lucky she is. How many can say they have a friend like Bhu'ja? In so many ways, he was also like her guardian angel.

And someone, over the course of time she spent with him, started to develop feelings for the large pale yautja.

But she is unsure how to convey how she feels towards him. She is quite aware that most of his kind is not monogamous. That there are no feelings involved when males and females come together to mate.

And while she may care about him, she doesn't want to be with him that way if he wants to have sex with her because it was practical to do so.

But then, her mind went back to the moment they shared in the shower that time not long ago.

The look in his eyes. It seemed to convey strong emotions. Raelyn believed she saw care in those light yellow and green orbs. And perhaps she's overthinking it.

She swore she thought she saw love in those light orbs as they acknowledged her and held her close.

Raelyn closes her eyes with a sigh. As much as she wanted to believe it, a part of her thinks it to be wishful thinking. After all, his kind doesn't love mates like humans do.

Not most of them at least.

She is aware that his kind do have what they call Life Mates. Mates who mate for life and stick with each other until the end. But she recalls him telling her that it is rare.

And just like that, the young woman felt like her resolve crumbling. If it was as rare as he claims, perhaps what he actually feels for her is infatuation and not love.

Raelyn stays in there for several minutes, just letting the water wash away the dirt, and scent of those horrible bad bloods that touched her.

In the meantime, Bhu'ja made it back with him new trophy. Despite the horrors he and Raelyn went through, he was still glad he was able to acquire such a trophy.

He was lucky that no other carnivores had yet to find the large, severed head of the un'jiwe.

Once he got there to retrieve it, there were only a few nt'guas there feasting on it. But they were tiny little scavengers that barely came up to his shins.

And once they saw him approaching, they ran for cover.

Bhu'ja picked up the cord that was still attached to the severed head and jogged with it back to his ship. He then dragged it through the entrance and inside.

He noted that Raelyn wasn't around. And he dragged to skull to his work room to be skinned and polished.

It will take some time to do. Most large skulls take up more time to clean and polish than the smaller ones. But he's confident he could do it in a couple hours or so.

Then afterwards, he could present it to Raelyn, to show her how much she has come to mean to him within her time here with him.

Bhu'ja was aware that humans were known to be very affectionate creatures. Unlike his own race. He hopes that this skull will help convey his affections for her.

Affection. Something that was known to him, yet so alien at the same time.

It's something he hasn't felt in a long time since he was a pup. And once he became an adult, he hid such sentiments away, believing they would only get in the way or be a distraction from reaching his goals.

And those goals were to become one of the best Arbitrators on Yautja Prime. A force no one would dare reckon with. Someone that bad bloods would fear and flee from.

It's these goals that strive him to work harder than the others. Once he became a Youngblood and passed his Kainde Amedha Chiva; he worked twice as hard to move up through the ranks.

By training with various teachers in as many fighting forms as he could throughout his youth.

His friend Ci'tde eventually became one of those mentors and it was because of him and his growing skills that caught the eye of the Elders and senior Arbitrators.

And through his dedication and skill, he became one of the youngest Arbitrators at the age of one hundred and thirteen.

It was unheard of and completely uncommon. But he showed a great demonstration of skill, bravery, and determination throughout his training.

And it was enough to sway the Elders.

Fast forward nearly five decades, and he was revered as one of, if not the best. He brought in enough bad blood skulls to rival a good portion of the senior Arbitrators that were much older and been doing this longer than he has.

And for the longest time, he felt that was all he cared about; his position and duty of ridding this Universe of bad bloods.

Until Raelyn came along. Then, it felt like everything started to slowly change.

He hardly ever came across live captives before. And never once a live ooman captive. Until he stumbled across that stolen ship full of bad bloods and he infiltrated it and found her.

At the most, he thought she may have ended up being an unwanted burden on his ship.

But the more he got to know her, the more it seemed less likely that she would be anything but a burden. She ended up being quite the opposite.

Despite her horrific encounters with his kind, she proved how strong and resilient she can be.

And once she begun to heal emotionally while under his care, she started showing determination in training and wanting to know more about him and his kind.

While at the same time, had done things to make him laugh and smile.

The last time he recalls feeling as carefree as this, was when he was a pup, before his family was killed.

Raelyn awoken a side of him he thought long dead. And that alone made her very special to him. If you combine it with her witty personality and alien beauty, it made her even more irresistible.

While Bhu'ja still felt the need to check on her, he recalls her assuring him a couple times, that she was fine.

And he didn't want to keep bothering her and hovering over her like a female was with her offspring. He wanted to give her this time ti have her space.

She said she was going to put everything away and then take a bath. So, he'll leave her to it.

In the meantime, he should start working on this large skull before him. He'd like to have it done by no later than tomorrow morning. Perhaps, if he works nonstop on it, it will be done by later tonight.

Then afterwards, he will surprise her with the gift. And present her with the newly polished large skull.

With that in mind, Bhu'ja grabbed his cleaning tools and went straight to work on his new trophy. Already, he was looking forward to presenting it to Raelyn.

Hopefully, she will see just how important and special she has become to him, through this gesture.

At the same time, Raelyn had finally dragged herself from the bathtub. Of course, by the time she did, her sin was quite wrinkled and pruned. Though she didn't care, as long as she was nice and clean.

She dried herself off and put on her clean clothes.

The young woman then exited the bathroom and entered the bedroom.

Bhu'ja still wasn't around. Which was odd, because he told her he'd only be a few minutes getting his newest trophy.

'Perhaps, he was in the work room cleaning it. I know he will go in there sometimes to clean the skulls of his newest kills. I saw him do it once before with a small animal he had killed on Planet Sy'tria.' She recalls.

It was an animal he had killed for sustenance. She was curious at how he preps and cleans his trophies. So, he showed her once how he does it.

It was fairly gruesome, yet interesting at the same time. And she could tell he admired, each and every one of his kills. It was shown when he brought her into his trophy room and showed her all his skulls.

In which case, she felt like there was more than she could count.

She let out a yawn, apparently this whole ordeal took more out of her than she thought. With all the adrenaline out of her system. Raelyn found herself to be pretty tired.

So, she went over to the large bed and laid down upon it.

The young woman pulled the soft pelt over herself and before she knew it, her eyes drooped shut and she felt darkness pull at her as she fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Bhu'ja continued to work on the eight-foot-long head of the un'jiwe he killed in his work room. He was determined to make it look perfect for her her.

Until Next Time ;)