Kita'thalla Ch. 06

Kita shuddered. "Never seen anything like that before, hope I never do. I've seen worse than this as well," she nodded her head towards the storm outside "several times, but, ah, we always had the appropriate survival gear as part of our armor. I came here wearing ship to ship combat gear, and of course I really...really didn't have time to grab anything... wreck on fire." she stuttered as her body started to quiver.

That last sentence caused alarm bells to go off in Eric's head. By this point he'd managed to warm up, feeling returning to his fingers and toes that had gone numb during their trip through the storm. Looking at Kita, she was still shivering heavily. "Kita, are you okay?" he asked, although he had a growing suspicion of what was happening.

"Y-yeah..." she replied. "I'm just...K-Ketra n-never gets this cold..."

Eric cursed. The drafts of wind that made their way into the cave were getting colder. She wasn't getting warmer either, and worse yet, the survival kit he had wasn't optimal for the situation. When the fleet first surveyed the planet, they'd seen a tropical environment just like the one he'd observed on the first day. So of course, most of his supplies were for the hazards of warmer environments, things like a mosquito net, sunscreen, and sunglasses. If they'd known the planet was capable of producing wild weather patterns like this, he probably would have been provided with cold weather gear as well.

Eric moved around the fire to get a closer look. Just as he suspected, she was starting to breathe rapidly, and her lips, normally a deep brown color, were taking on a darker tone that in a human, would have been bluish in color. She looked away from him, telling evidence that she knew what was going on.

"Kita, you're not okay."

She shuddered and nodded. "M-My kind...we...we c-can s-survive many things. G-go weeks w-with low food,...b-but c-cold..." she shook her head. "N-not good..."

Eric looked out of the cave mouth, seeing no evidence of improvement, then looked back at the shivering Kita. Realization of what they had to do worked its way into his head, and he just hoped that she'd understand. At best this would be awkward, at worst, it would be deadly for her if she didn't follow. Moving back slightly, he took a deep breath before speaking. "Kita, I need you to lie down here next to the fire."

Kita looked at him, uncertain of where he was going with this. "W-what?"

"I'm going to lie next to you" he continued, doing his best not to show the nervousness in his voice "and we're going to wrap both of ourselves up in both blankets. I'm going to wrap my arms around you, you need to do the same to me, and we need as much skin to skin contact as possible."

Kita was speechless for a moment as she comprehended what he'd just asked. "Y-you want me to do what?" she stuttered. She'd heard him perfectly fine, but the idea of getting that close to a human, no less a naked one...

"Look" he said. "If we do this, we can share body heat, and there will be also less surface to lose warmth from. Right now you're still shivering, which means you haven't gone and done any damage to yourself yet, but we need to do this now, or you're going to get worse and it'll be harder to turn things around."

Kita registered something wrong in her mind. It wasn't what he was saying, it actually made perfect sense. She realized that she was agreeing with him way to easily. The thought of lying naked with a human, ordinarily repulsive...when she thought about him, the idea wasn't as daunting. No time to think about that now though, he was right. She was going to be in trouble if she didn't do something about the cold.

Eric held his breath as Kita eyed him, still shivering. Slowly she shifted her weight and moved to lie down next to him. Trembling as he laid himself next to her, Eric grabbed the edge of his blanket. Doing his best not to let precious heat escape, he enveloped the edge of his blanket over hers before slipping an arm inside to find her shoulder. With a bit of shifting, he was able to make it so both of them were wrapped up in the pair of blankets. He carefully moved his left arm under her neck while his right encircled her waist, and he lifted himself so that she could get her arm under him before pulling her close into an embrace. He tried to ignore the two soft mounds pressing into his chest as he brought her body against his, quivering as he made contact with her cool skin.

The short fur covering her, while not soaking wet, was still a little damp, but the material on the inside of the survival blanket was designed to wick moisture away from the body, so he hoped that would help. He felt her tail snake over his thigh to wrap itself around his knee as she pulled him closer, and he shivered as he felt her bury her face between his shoulder and neck. Her hair smelled of the rain, and a pointed ear twitched as a stray breath from him tickled the tuft of hair at the end. Eric hooked his chin over her shoulder and settled in what he hoped would be a comfortable position for the both of them.

+++++++++

They laid there in silence for what seemed like an hour before she stopped shivering and Eric finally spoke. "You feeling better?"

He felt her nod. "I can feel my fingers again."

"Well...that's good" he replied. He was still having a hard time believing the situation he was in. Three days earlier she'd been trying to kill him, and now the two of them were lying together naked, pressed up against each other. The silence was starting to wear on him, but he couldn't think of anything to say in the current situation.

"What?" Kita asked.

Eric realized he must have made some indication of his frustration. "Uh, nothing" he said. "Really, it's just...well, what does one talk about when they're lying next to someone in a cave without a stitch of clothing on either of them?"

"Heh, I was actually thinking the same thing." she replied. The silence aside from the raging weather outside was a little unnerving, but she was having no luck in coming up with anything to say. It didn't help that she was also a little distracted. Any doubt in her mind that Eric was a male of his species was fading fast as she tried to ignore whatever it was that was poking her in the stomach just below her navel. Trying to take her mind off of that, she pulled her arm out from under him and propped herself up on one elbow, glancing over at the pile of clothes they'd kicked to the back of the cave earlier. "Are those still wet?"

Eric gulped as the motion brought the upper curves of her breasts into sight. As close as he was to her, he didn't want to make the situation any more awkward by reacting to that. He turned to the pile and reached out to check their garments. Squelch. "Yeah, they're still soaked. We're probably going to have to wait till the storm stops and set them out somewhere to dry."

"Ah..." she said. "So, we're stuck like this for a while then."

Eric nodded slowly. "Yeah. And we should probably stay close still. I don't know how long that storm will last, but if it lasts to the point where we're falling asleep, we need to conserve as much warmth as we can." Eric took this opportunity to grab another piece of wood from the pile and threw it onto the dimming fire. Turning back to her, he wrapped his arm back around her waist and tried his best to focus on her face rather than the cleavage that was now exposed in the corner of his vision. "Are you comfortable?" he asked.

She nodded. "I'm okay like this. Although..." she grimaced. "There's a stiff spot in my back from lying in the same position for so long. One moment."

She tried to reach behind her with her left arm over the top of her shoulder. This had the very noticeable effect of causing the entirety of her left breast to pop into view from under the blankets. Eric was stunned for a moment by the sight just inches away from him before hearing Kita groan.

"Thak cha..." she cursed in her own tongue, oblivious to the focus of Eric's attention. Eric closed his eyes to gather himself for a moment, as he was close to losing control of things down south. She finally gave up and pulled the covers back up.

"Where's the problem?" he asked, the question coming automatically before he realized what he was saying. In the back of his mind his voice of reason was setting off alarms, but he wasn't listening.

"You know that spot right between your shoulders that you can't really reach?" Kita replied, shifting herself around a little.

"Right here?" he asked, shifting the arm that had been around her waist upwards. A part of him was still yelling that this was a bad idea, but somehow he couldn't stop himself.

Kita froze as she felt his hand on her back move upwards. Yes, she'd just been in very close contact with him for most of the time since they'd sheltered themselves from the storm, but the way his hand had moved right up her spine sent chills racing back all the way down to the end of her tail. She nodded as he found the spot, her eyes flicking to meet his for a moment before looking away. "Yes, right..."

She drew a deep breath as he pressed in a slow rubbing motion. The part of her mind that had been yelling at her ever since she'd realized she didn't want to kill him was throwing a fit. It didn't matter that he'd helped heal her injury. It didn't matter that he'd treated her well. It didn't matter that he'd helped her survive both the inhabitants and the weather on a hostile planet. It didn't matter that she actually was really enjoying his company. He was a human, and she shouldn't be letting him get this close, much less touch her. There was only one problem, one that silenced all these complaints in a single instant.

It felt really, really good.

She tried to hold her breath as his hand moved away from the now gone tightness, wondering if that would be it. But no, he continued to rub several sore spots she didn't even realize were present across her shoulder blades, and finally letting go she was unable to prevent the exhaled breath from catching her vocal cords that reflexively tightened in pleasure.

Eric stopped as he heard something. Did she just growl at him? "Sorry, should I stop?" he asked.

Kita was silent for several seconds before she shook her head and mumbled something.

Eric blinked, uncertain on what she'd said. "What was that?"

Golden eyes fixed on his gaze for a moment before she leaned in close and whispered two words into his ear.

"Don't stop"

Eric felt her grip on him tighten as he resumed his massage of her shoulder blades. He was probably lining himself up for major disappointment, that part of his mind told him, but at this moment he was focused on nothing but the beautiful creature clinging to him. He moved his right hand up past her shoulders and lightly ran his nails from behind her ear to the nape of her neck. He heard her inhale sharply as he ran his fingers through her fur, and suddenly his ear was filled with that rumbling sound he'd heard earlier when she exhaled. She wasn't growling. She was purring.

His left hand, joined the right, scratching her gently around her neck and ears. The intensity of her breathing and the volume of the purring increased as she pressed her face into his neck. The sound was intoxicating. A thought occurred to him, thinking back to his parent's cat at home. Dare he...? Before he could answer, his right arm was already moving down her back, and he felt the muscles beneath the skin ripple as he stroked the short silky fur covering her body. Slowly his right hand made its way down to her waist. Pausing for a moment as his mind made one last ditch effort to stop him, he continued downward to stop just above the swell of her shapely rear end.

Kita gasped as he gently scratched and massaged the base of her tail, right where it joined with her back. Her back arched and her top leg wrapped around his as she trembled at the sensations he was giving her. Eric became aware of warm soft folds pressing against his thigh, a feeling that made him quiver as he felt a certain part of himself rise to full mast. Heart pounding, he pulled away from her and looked at her face. Her eyes were wild with excitement, her lips slightly parted as she continued to breath and purr heavily. Gently cupping her head with one hand, he brought his face forward, brushing her nose with his and...

A bolt of lightning struck so close to the entrance of their cave that they felt the shock wave as thunder crashed, the sound causing both of them to clamp hands over their ears as it reverberated through the cave. Both of them stared out into the storm, breathing heavily both from their passion and the shock of the sudden blast that had interrupted it. Finally calming down as the ringing in their ears died, they looked at each other as they both comprehended what had almost happened.

Eric swallowed before speaking. "That was...wow, I'm glad we have the cave." he said, quickly deciding not to say anything about their...interaction.

Kita nodded warily. "Staying here would probably be the best idea"

Eric laughed nervously. "Tell me something I don't know..."

"What?" she asked, lying back down and pulling the blanket up around her as she realized her chest was exposed.

Eric shook his head. "Never mind. Just an expression" He looked around, making sure that nothing else was amiss. Seeing nothing, he threw another log on the fire before laying back. He found Kita staring at him wordlessly, although it looked like there was a lot she had to say. Personally, the sudden interruption had caused his mind to regain control. Eric looked away for a moment before looking back at her. "I uh...sorry. Did things get out of hand there?"

Kita's shook her head. "I...I don't know."

Well that didn't tell him much. He watched her ear twitching slightly, and remembered the thunderclap. "...you okay?" he asked. "That was...really loud."

Kita nodded. "Just startled me really." She yawned and closed her eyes. "Suddenly I'm really tired again."

"Backlash?" Eric asked. Kita nodded sleepily. "Okay then. You get some rest" he said.

Eric watched her get comfortable, at the same time constantly replaying the events of the past few minutes in his mind. He'd been so close to...well, he'd been close to doing a lot more than just that. The worry that had been growing in his mind the past few days was starting to become more than just that. But...she didn't seem to fight it. She had asked him not to stop so...didn't that make it okay?Tentatively he searched under the blanket until he found one of her hands. He smiled when she returned the squeeze he gave it. For now, everything was okay, he could sort it out tomorrow. He made himself comfortable. It would be a while before he was tired enough to sleep, but he was content stay, occasionally glancing out at the storm but mainly watching the sleeping alien woman next to him.

Drifting off to sleep, Kita was still deep in thought about the recent event. She had no idea why she'd let him get that far. She recalled the moment when he'd brought his face close to hers, the feeling of his hand cupping her head. Everything he'd done up that point was...she'd never let anyone touch her like that before, much less a human. But that one moment. After wards, when he'd asked her if things had gotten out of hand, she was still sorting through her mind as to the answer. But now, she knew the truth of it. It had definitely gotten out of hand.

But she'd liked it. A lot.