The Beginning ((Yugo,R))

"This is how we comunicate when in wolf form," she said with a gentle voice. Her tail shifted and covered his legs as she licked his shoulder, her bright blue hues shining in the darkness. She barked a soft laugh as he happily sighed that he was warm. A wolf's fur was always warm they gave off more heat than other creatures.

Squall could only give her a chilled nod. He looked at her feeling her soft lips on his cheek. Squall's brown eyes widened slightly when she transformed. What surprised him even more was that he heard her words...in his head! "What the hell?" he thought to himself while staring hard at Lily. "How are you...in my head??" he thought again while his teeth chattered away. Sighing, he shook his head and moved over towards her fur covered body. He did as she suggested and wrapped his arms around her. Suddenly, his shivering stopped. Squall released a long sigh of content as he nuzzled his face into her pelt. "Hmm nice and warm now.."

"You dont like the cold?" She asked watching him come into the cave, cursing the cold. She crawled up next to him and hugged onto him, kissing his cheek before facing into her wolf form, her thick warm white fur, welcoming his cold body. Her tail wagged as she looked at him with perked ears. "I'll keep you warm, come lay down with me an d keep your arms around me"she said

The air was getting colder by the minute. What started out as a light breeze had turned into harsh mountain winds. Squall shivered hard. He despised the cold more then anything! Rather then allowing his clothes to dry he decided to use his flames to heat them. Sure, he had almost burnt them in the process, but at least they were dry now. As soon as he was clothed he made his way towards the cave and entered glad to find that there was a fire already going. His teeth were chattering like crazy. He leaned in close to the flames trying to warm his body. "Bloody cold..."

Lily nodded and made her way to their cave. She walked in, impressed with his work for such little time to make it. She knelt where they would be sleeping and spread the moss seeds over the leaves he had placed down and, ran her hand over the area. Quickly soft thick moss engulfed the leaves leaving the area with a plush velvet cushion. She plopped down on it and sighed softly, stretching her body out

"Great.." Squall thought to himself and rose to his feet after she kissed him. Well, at least she wasn't mad at him anymore. He raised his arms above his head giving his body a good stretch. "Well I'll be going back to the stream then. The cave I dug is straight ahead. You cant miss it." he told her and turned around. When Squall got to the stream he stripped off his clothes. The water wasn't that deep and only came up to about his knees. His bath was a little on the boring side to say the least so he washed up quickly. While he was at it, he rewashed his clothes too to get all the dirt, dust, and bits of rock off them.

Her ears were flat against her head and her tail tapping the ground angrily. When he crawled up and apologized her ears slowly moved forward and she looked at him. "Just...try to be more careful...." She said softly as she rolled onto her back and looked up at him. "Your punishment will be.... having to bathe alone" She said curtly as she sat up and lightly pressed her lips to his before she grabbed the remains of the rabbits and walked over to the tree line, digging a hole and burying both of them. She clapped her hands together and bowed her head, saying a mental prayer, in thanks for providing them with food and wishing their souls well

Squall stared up at her from the ground. He'd have to learn to pick his words a little better. He closed his eyes sighing softly. He wasn't use to holding back. Normally, he said whatever was on his mind. Sitting up, he stared at her for a moment before crawling up to her. "I'm sorry." he replied softly and leaned in nipping her neck. "I didn't mean anything by it. I know how strong a pack is and how value your kind place in teamwork. Really, I didn't mean what I said to come out so...offensive."

Lily closed her eyes momentarily as his hand slid along her cheek. She leaned her head into his hand as he scratched her ear. "They wont, they will search for maybe a week before the assume me to be dead" She said and lightly glared at him at his last comment. As he panicked she sat up and knocked him over, sitting a top him with a low growl. "On my own I can do little, but with my pack I can do anything....it is when I'm with them that I can fight at my fullest...On my own I can survive... live day to day and hope for the best"She muttered and crawled off him

"Sounds good doesn't it?" Squall grinned and turned so he was facing her too. He stared into those big blue eyes of hers and leaned in placing a soft kiss on her lips. His hand gently slid along her cheek stroking it before moving to one of her ears and giving it a nice scratch. "How much effort do you think your kind will put into bringing you back? You're only good for fighting right?" he asked. Squall suddenly sat up tho realizing what he had said. "I...that came out wrong..."

She shrugged and laid back after the had finished her dinner. Her bright blue hues stared up into the sky, her tail wagging back and forth now and then. She looked to him as he lad down next to her and smiled. "That'll be nice, we'll be able to cuddle and keep one another warm at least" She said and she turned onto her side to face him

"Nothing." Squall stated while shaking his head. Food was was to be eaten slowly and enjoyed. He wouldn't pick at her eating habits though, especially since they had bigger things to worry about. Once Squall finished he wiped his mouth the leaf she had given him. He laid back letting out a long sigh of content. "That was pretty tasty. I'm full now." he smiled up at her as a light breeze rushed past them. "I dont think we'll need to stand guard tonight. We both should be able to sleep peacefully since we're so high up."

Lily looked at him when he made his comment. "Huh?" She asked. She didnt know what he was talking about, it was how her kind ate, It wasnt like she was making a mess. She was actually very clean while eating, she just...well wolfed it down. She popped a few of the nuts she had gathered into her mouth and chewed on those for a moment before finishing off her rabbit

"Oh come on. You're the hunting one and I'm the fly us anywhere we need to go one." Squall explained and started digging in too. He paused tho after seeing how quickly she ate. Squall couldn't help but to stare. It wasn't exactly a turn off. Np, it was just....different. "Careful you just might bite a finger off at that rate." he stated, completely serious too. His eyes soon turned to his own food. He began to eat, though at a much slower pace.

"Whats that suppose to mean" She said, her ears flattened at his comment. "You know your going to have to hunt too you know" She said while poking him in the cheek. She handed him one of the cooked rabbits and a large leaf that held all the nuts and berries she had collected for the both of them. She sank her fangs into the cooked meat and tore off a chunk, chewing it quickly and swallowed. Wolves were famous for their fast eating habits

"Foxes hmm? If I remember right they cant always be trusted. The older the fox, the more dangerous it is too..." Squall thought to himself. If push came to shove tho he'd just have to watch Lily's back while she made her trade. After he finished washing up, Squall came back to the fire. His face could actually be recognized now that it was clean. He sat down next to Lily ready to eat. His stomach had been growling for hours. "thanks for hunting." he smiled at her and leaned forward ready to dig in. "Having a wolf around might not be such a bad idea after all." Squall laughed and gave her a playful nudge

"Why would I need convincing?" She asked, one ear flopping to the side as she tilted her head. "Hm....there may be a fox race that would be willing to trade goods... They love herbs since they themselves arent as trained as wolves are at collecting them, so I could pick all different kinds and make trades that way." She said. "There are a lot of sub species that have their own small towns, they know of the war, but they probably wont thing much of seeing a wolf and dragon in their town at the same time so long as we keep our distance from one another" She said. "Come back after you wash your hands and face so you can eat" She called as he walked to the stream

"Ooooh you didn't even need convincing." Squall grinned. When she mentioned supplies his grin faded. He gazed down at her scratching the back of his head which made him even dirtier. "I know, but where? We cant go to our own cities, which means we'd have to enter the city of a different race. Any neko cities will be out. You wolves have signed an alliance with them right?" Squall asked and frowned a bit. Suddenly their situation wasn't looking so good. "Perhaps we can locate a small village where we can trade for supplies. When we do, we should probably avoid being seen together. Its gonna look weird for a dragon and wolf to be strolling hand in hand." he stated with a deep sigh. At that point, Squall's entire face was covered in black. "Anyway, I'm going to stream. See you there."

Kathrine's white ears perked and she chuckled. "Go wash your hands and face and then I can join you for a dip, sound good?" She asked before gently returning his kiss. She readjusted the rabbits over the fire so they would cook evenly before looking up into the sky as he did. "We have to find a town of some sort...we are going to need supplies" She said softly

"Ah..it seems I do." Squall smirked and wiped his face, though it only made the black dust worse. "Well I'll get on that, though I'd rather you bathe with me." Squall smirked and leaned down placing a tender kiss on her lips. He loved them and could kiss them all day if given the chance. He stood up straight and gazed up at the night covered sky. This was going to be his life. Sure, part of him would miss life in the capital every now and then but Lily was worth the sacrfice in his book.

"Hm, they should be done soon" She said and looked at him. "You need another bath" She chuckled while running her fingers along his cheek and showed him the dirt left behind on her fingers. "I'll do something about the bed, carry moss seeds with me, and with my ability I am able to make it grow fast and thick" She said while patting a small leather pouch on her side. She shook her head as he joked about the flying lessons. "No thank you..." She said. She really hadnt cared for flying, she preferred running through and through, though she did have to hand it to him flying was faster

By the time Squall finished he was covered from head to toe in dirt and dust from the rock. He looked like he had just gone diving into a deep coal mine. His clothes would need washing again, but he wasn't too concerned about them at the moment. "Something smells good." he smiled and moved to sit in front of the fire placing his hands near the flames. "I've made us somewhere to sleep. We can make a fire and it should keep us warm during the rest of the night. The bed...well...yours was probably better." Squall sighed. There wasn't too much for him to work with so high up so he had to make do. "Today wasn't too bad. I got to give you a flying lesson." he smirked and moved so he was sitting right beside her. "Want another?"

Lily had managed to nab another rabbit and carried them both back in her jaws. She trotted up to where she had left Squall and dropped the rabbits, her paws and face covered in dirt from digging after the rabbits. She fazed back into human form and washed up, she could hear him working on something, and left him to it as she built a fire and skinned the rabbits, sticking them over the fire after preparing them. While they cooked she walked around finding some nuts and berries for them to eat as well. She even found a couple tree roots for them to chew on.

Squall nodded and sat back. His eyes shifted up towards the night sky. They were up so high that the stars looking like they could be touched. "She'll like this.." he smiled and rose to his feet. Thee was a cool breeze blowing, but Squall knew that it would get colder during the night. While she was off hunting he began to build a shelter for them. He used a combination of his harder then diamond claws and his fire to carve out a hole in the side of the mountain deep enough to keep the wind out. He laid tons of soft leaves in a big pile near the back trying to make the best bed he could so Lily would be comfortable. It was strange. They had only just become mates. Technically, he really didn't know too much about her, but her happiness was still a big concern of his.

"I'm used to eating off the land, that's all my kind has ever really done, plus I smell some rabbits around here too" She said, her ears twitching as she sat up. "I'll go get a couple" She said and fazed into her wolf form. She trotted into the brush, sniffing out the rabbits warren and began to dig into the hole. As one rabbit tried to zip by her her fangs closed around it, with one bite she killed the rabbit, giving it a quick and painless death. She laid it to the side and started to dig for one more