-Authors Note

This is my very first FanFiction. Some spots might not be very well told or done. Any feedback is very much appreciated as well as ideas/suggestions what could happen next.

I recently rewatched IceAge 4 and 5 and I completely fell in love with the couple Shira/Diego. Please keep in mind that I'm German and still learning English so please correct me if I get something wrong

-/Authors Note

-Infos

Main focus on the Dira couple, others might be included as well

Story is set after IceAge 4 cause it's a good starting point.

-/Infos

With a loud, scratching noise the iceberg/ship - nobody was quite sure what they should call it - beached itself.

Everyone was excited for their new home and while Manny was still talking to his daughter Shira elegantly jumped off the ship and landed on the soft sand of Hyrax Island. Diego followed her with his glance amazed by her beauty and agility.

"Hey Softy, u coming?"

Diego snapped back to reality, jumped off the iceberg and pounced on Shira

"Hey, who allowed you to call me that?"

he tried to sound offended but he couldn't hide a small smile which instantly jumped onto Shiras face.

"So, I'm here. Wanna check out our new home... Kitty?"

With that he ran of following the beach. The silver cat let out a playful growl and ran after Diego.

Soon she had reached him and was running beside him because he wanted her to catch up.

While Shira was more agile and Diego stronger, on speed they were equal.

Without warning Shira stopped for a moment leaving Diego looking at her confused.

Leaving Diego no time to react she pounced on Diego taking advantage of the fact that Diego was still running.

After a few minutes of rolling around the beach laughing Shira finally managed to pin Diego to the ground so no matter how hard he would have tried he couldn't escape.

"How many times do I need to tell you not to call me Kitty!" Shira said playing hurt

Diego, still trying to spit out the last bit of sand from their little play fight, was taken by surprise by her harsh tone.

"I... uhh... I really... didn't..."

Now Diego was even more confused as Shira started to giggle.

"Hey Diego calm down I'm just messing with you. You just look too cute when you're embarrassed." Shira softly said. Now starting to laugh she got off Diego

"Who's the softy now?" Diego sarcastically asked. He looked away to hide the smile that was spreading across his face.

"I'm sorry Diego you just look so funny when you are embaressed."

Shira could now slowly control her body again and stopped laughing.

"Weren't we supposed to check out our new home" Diego asked

"I guess so. Now since we're even with these silly names (giggles a bit and smirks at Diego). Come on there's much more in the woods that on the shore"

"Commin..."

At first they were just walking besides each other until they heard something growl. Shira looked at Diegos stomach and giggled a bit.

"Awwww... Is our Softy here hungry" Shira couldn't help but tease him a little. "On a more serious note I could also use something to eat"

"I think I caught a scent" Diego replied as he started to track their prey down.

After a few minutes Diego had found their meal, a lone gazelle on a clearing.

"Ok so how about you try to get at its throat while I try to get the neck of the gazelle" Diego asked

"How about you catch it... for me?" she said with a sexy undertone in her voice "Or is our Softie here afraid to fail infront of a female?"

With that said Diego couldn't contradict her and went low to the ground to sneak up to his prey.

Diego virtually melted in with his surroundings, even Shira could barely see him. The gazelle looked up as Diego stepped on a small twig but it couldn't make him out so it went back to eating.

Once Diego was close enough he leaped in the air and tried to pounce on the deer, but in the last moment it noticed and started running.

Diego started chasing the gazelle and he slowly caught up to it. Once he had done so he jumped up again and instantly broke its neck when his fangs dug into the meat.

The gazelle fell down to the ground lifelessly and Diego dragged it back to the clearing they had been to before.

When he had reached Shira he looked at her with a satisfied smirk on his face.

Shira was indeed impressed how quickly Diego managed to catch the gazelle. Not that she was planning on showing him that. At least not at the moment.

As Diego came up to her she leaped out of the bush they had been hiding in before and playfully grabbed part of the gazelle. She started pulling on it and Diegos instincts were making him do the same.

After a bit of pulling around and no one getting the better of it it came to Shiras mind that they maybe shouldn't rip their food apart. But before saying anything she made a mental note to herself to get him to repeat the whole tug of war thing later on with a something else.

"Diego, if you still want to eat that, maybe we shouldn't rip it apart. So would you please let go of it?"

"Why me?" he said but because he had their prey in his maw he let go of it.

Shira had exactly that in mind so she pulled the gazelle away and started to run for a bit. Of course she would never take Diegos meal away but she made sure to out an extra annoying smirk on while waiting for him to arrive.

"Hey, be careful what you're doing... Kitty" he said half laughing half serious. Then he started to eat.

Shira let out a playful growl and started eating as well.

At some point there was only one bite left and Diego took his paw and pushed it towards Shira who gratefully took it.

"Shira, it's getting dark. I think we should head back to the herd. We don't want Manny worrying about us the same he does about Peaches do we?"

Shira laughed at that statement and said

"I highly doubt he would do that but still, I also think we should head back to the herd."

With that they started to walk back to the beach with Diego walking behind Shira admiring just how beautiful she looked.

This time around they took the direct path through the forest instead of walking along the beach.

Suddenly Shira stopped with Diego nearly bumping into her.

"Why'd you stop?"

"Look"

Shira looked to the right where she had found a cave.

A spacious cave that went on quite far into the hill in front of them.

Inside there even was a tree that had somehow managed to grow inside there. The top branches of the tree seemingly supported the roof if the cave.

"Do you think this cave is suitable for the herd? Remember we still don't have a home on the island."

"Why shouldn't it? It's certainly big enough. We have to check if the cave is taken first though. We don't want to cause any unnecessary trouble."

With that Shira went inside and Diego followed soon after. They smelled for another animals scent, but fortunatley there was nothing to be found.

"Let's go tell the herd"

"Manny said we were to meet at sunset on the beach so we can tell them there."

"Race you there"

"You're on Kitty"

Shira sprinted off with Diego in hot pursuit.

Diego had just passed Shira, even though not by much.

With just a few meters left Shira leaped up from behind and pounced on Diego pinning him to the ground.

The two of them ended up sliding the rest of the way to the beach considering the speed they had before.

"Hey that's unfair. I still won. Could I please get up now" Diego said but he didn't really sound displeased by what Shira had done.

"Who made those rules? It's a tie and you can't say you have a problem with that considering you could have easily gotten up by now. I'm not really holding you tight, am I? ... You are such a Softie."

With that Shira smirked at him and got off Diego. Diego growled a bit for being called a Softie again but he also couldn't deny that either.

"Manny"

"What's the matter, Diego?"

"We found a cave. It should be big enough for all of us to fit in."

"What are we waiting for then? Ellie? Peaches? Sid? Come on!"

The whole herd (and no, Sid didn't forget Granny and Peaches didn't forget Louis) followed the lead of the two sabres to the cave. Upon reaching their new home Peaches screamed out:

"Wow, that's beautiful! The way the tree supports the roof, the little pond outside and the small stream running down next to the entrance. The tree might even be strong enough to sleep on!

"Eddie, that is the most awesome place ever! We could use the branches on the roof of the cave to prank the others from above!"

"Dude, I'm Crash. When will you ever remember that? Still I think this cave is a great spot to have some fun with the others. I got a few ideas in mind..."

"Hey, I'm not called the fireking for no reason. Let me light a small fire in there to keep us warm."

"Sid you idiot! You know that wood burns right? And there's a tree in that cave! If I were you, I'd rather light a fire outside, on the meadow next to the pond."

Manny once again wasn't surprised how the sloth managed to get himself into trouble that often.

Later that evening

Sid had lit a rather large fire where Manny had instructed him and the whole herd had placed themselves all around it. Shira was laying very close to Diego with both nearly leaning against each other. Manny and Ellie had interlocked their trunks while Louis was resting on Peaches' trunk with a wide smile on his face.

It was clear to everybody, well, except for Granny, that the two sabers liked each other a lot, not that the two felines were planning on admitting that to anyone anytime soon.

Well, they are sabres, known for their strength and not for their big hearts. Still Diego was probably the softest saber one could find, but that was exactly what Shira liked most about him. And of course she had to remind him of it every time she got the chance to do so. He just looked too cute when he was embarrassed like that.

As for Diego, Shira just was a beauty. Her silver fur with black stripes, her sapphire eyes the could pierce through anyones hard outer shell. Shira was just so similar to him, her quick witty and hard outside shell, but a huge soft spot in her heart. That really became obvious when the two sabres were alone.

Shira was just thinking, looking into the flames.

Wow, his fur looks so beautiful lit up by the fire, orange like a sunset... Oh come on Shira, you're supposed to be a lone, independent sabre. Don't tell me you're falling for this handsome sabre next to you. Well, if anything I have already fallen for him.

"Shira?" Shira didn't seem to react

"Shira?" Diego asked again. This time she noticed him

"What's the matter Softie?"

"Are you sure you are ok? Usually you don't just let your guard down like you did just now." Diego said with a concerned voice.

"I'm fine Diego. Just a bit sleepy I guess."

As if Manny had read Shiras mind he got up and said:

"Guys, we haven't come far with exploring the island today. There's a lot to be done tomorrow and it's getting quite late. We should go to sleep now."

With that he went into the cave and picked a sleeping spot right at the roots of the tree. Soon the rest of the herd followed.

Diego and Shira came a bit later because they had to made sure the fire wouldn't spread anywhere they didn't want it to.

Finally Shira and Diego entered the cave. The herd had decided they should sleep near the cave entrance in case any dangers might come about.

"Shira, wanna sleep here? Looks to be the best spot around here."

Diego was talking about a patch of moss on the left of the opening.

"Oh, that really looks good. Thanks you left me that place Softie."

"Hey, if you call me a Softie again I'll take that spot myself." He said half laughing

"You left the best spot around to a lady. You really are soft."

"Ok fine, I might have become a bit soft in a herd of herbivores."

"Not just a bit. You are probably the softest sabre one can find" She said, but in a playful way

"Oh come on Shira" Diego said still in a half laughing tone. He just couldn't be mad at Shira. "Any other animal probably wouldn't be alive at this point."

"So why am I still alive?"

"I... errr..." Diego was almost thankful Shira cut him off there.

"Is it because defeated you on the pirate ship?" Shira smirked at him.

Diego didn't use any further words, he just leaped up, with his claws retracted, of course. He tried to pin Shira down but she saw that coming and got out of the way.

They ended up in a little play fight until Shira got Diego unprepared and pinned him down.

"Told ya. You can't get me that easy" She smirked at him once again and got off him. " I think we should catch some sleep now. Tomorrow is gonna be a long day for all of us."

With that Shira went to her sleeping spot while Diego took his place on the opposite side of the entrance.

End of the first day, therefore the end of the first chapter

To be continued...

Don't forget to RR and thanks for reading