Two Paws

Chapter 1

His feet scurried along the ground as his nose sniffed for an answer. Eyes observed the surroundings carefully. The area around him was packed in snow and the blizzard didn't seem to be stopping.

The day had slowly come to an end as the last gleam of light from the sun disappeared behind the mountains. Only his emerald eyes lit up in the total blackness of the night as the forest engulfed his view to a limit.

The tiger had to stop for a moment as he scraped his teethed daggers with his paw. Slivers of meat were still stuck between them from the meal that afternoon.

On the bright side, he was still full; happy that he was, for once, able to take something down that walked on all fours. Most of the time, he'd have to go find some variety of fruit or vegetables so that he wouldn't die of hunger. Hunting wasn't something he was very good at. And of course it was what the world expected him to be good at.

I better be full for the next couple of days.

And he was praying he was right. After all, getting hopelessly lost in the middle of an endless forest did concern him a bit.

He cursed at himself for being this stupid. He had left the den maybe a little under two hours ago just to go on a run and get some exercise running across the fields and forests.

Because I do that enough already.

Yet, there was a funny side to it. Exercise is meant to help. But the tiger had found that he could possibly die of starvation for trying it.

I take the same path I always do. Just a loop around.

What bothered him more was the blizzard. It was hardly snowing at all when the saber left for the evening. How was he to know? Yet, his mind convinced him that he was suppose to know. Just like anyone else would.

The scenario he found himself in only sparked back the remembrance. The truth about his life.

I'm a total fuck up.

Tried as he did, he couldn't look at it any other way. The mistakes he seemed to make throughout his cub days. How nothing prepared him for life afterwards, regardless of whether it was his fault or not. Situations kept piling up on top of the self doubting saber.

Other sabers he knew growing up seemed so perfect. Everyone seemed happy. Talkative. Interactive. They knew communication.

He did not.

He never understood why. Maybe that's just how he is. How he was born. Where nothing seemed to be sticking. Nothing seemed to be showing a way.

Or... at the very least, a way out of this forest.

He kept wandering for a bit, begging, pleading for the forest to give light and show an exit.

Already, he began thinking of the possibility that he'd have to find some place to stay for the night. If it came down to it, he'd have to build a shelter of some sort in the snow.

Before I freeze to death.

And that was another problem. It was so damn cold out. Probably in the double digit negatives. He could feel his legs going numb. Or rather, he couldn't feel them at all.

He tried yelling, roaring at the top of his freezing lungs. He started to panic at that point, picking up the pace as he scurried along the darkness. Trees and branches nearly missed his head.

He kept running. He kept running straight, figuring it was better than walking around in circles. But soon he realized it was just going to get him more lost and let the darkness swallow him to death.

The tiger had to stop and lie down in the snow, attempting to ease the severe panic attack.

I'm never getting out of here. I'm never seeing anyone ever again. Oh shit... I'm so gonna die out here.

His shivering turned into crying. His crying turned into fearing. And it just cycled through panic.

His paws reached around his cranium, holding it tight, feeling the pulse from the tension in his head. The fear in his throat choked and jolted him. The uncontrollable heavy breathing started to hurt him.

When all possibility of hope seemed to leave, something hit him... literally.

As he was laying there, he felt something kick his side. The blow was rather hard, knocking him over and on to his side. Powdered snow sprayed over the side of his face as it collided with the ground.

He wasn't sure what it was that hit him. His first guess was a deer, or herbivore of some kind. He only expected to hear it take off. But that wasn't the case.

The darkness still prevented him from seeing much, despite his natural ability to see better than most animals in the night. The problem wasn't just the darkness. It was also the dense forest that didn't allow any light from the stars or moon above. It was pitch black.

However, his hearing was still useful. He heard growling and snarling. Right away, the tiger knew that it was another saber. The pitch was so familiar to his own. But he couldn't see who it was as he started to lift himself up.

"Hey... wait. It's okay." He stumbled the words, still a bit dizzy from his head hitting the ground fairly hard.

No sooner did the growling cease to an end. But the shivering and the crying continued. The voice was female.

"It's alright..." he continued to speak, wanting this new presence to not feel threatened and take off because, truthfully, he desperately needed some help.

I need so much god damn help.

He could feel her presence draw near as he felt her bump into his shoulder.

"Sorry." He heard her speak.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked, concerned. Her crying breaths stopped as her eyes looked up. He could barely make them out as they stared at him.

"I should ask you the same question." She smarted back.

A little feisty, aren't we?

Though he was jumping to assumptions too quickly, the truth was; he didn't know a damn thing about this saber or what she even looked like.

He could only picture it in his own fantasy. The most beautiful saber he'd ever lay eyes on. Jaw dropping. Heart stomping. Mind tossing. He could only imagine.

But thinking about stuff like that. Relationships. Commitments. It all seemed like a lot of work. More work than he was willing to put into it, anyway.

And so, he just shrugged off the idea and quietly laughed a few breaths about it.

She growled in response, letting him know that she still didn't completely trust him.

But that trust would soon have to arrive as the two were just standing there in the dark. In the cold. Shivering and going numb.

I just want to be warm.

He couldn't help it. From the pain of the weather. From his own self worth. From pretty much everything up until this point. How he was such a huge mistake. He didn't even feel like he deserved to run into someone. To even think about the possibility. The chance. The very small chance.

The chance that he'd find something to live for.

So he cried. He whimpered. He lied down in the cold, elbows in the snow and freezing. He was expecting her to gain amusement from his pathetic state. A male saber. Crying. Since when?

Quite the opposite occurred. Literally. Instead of amusement, she seemed to have sympathy as he felt her presence draw nearer, the sound of paws crinkling the snow in front of him.

"Is something wrong?" She asked so softly and in such a concerned way. The tiger had never heard anyone sound so... caring. That alone warmed him.

"Well... I mean... I-

"I'm sorry for talking back like that. I was just-

"No. It's not that. I really... don't want to talk about it."

"Oh..." she wasn't sure what to say. It just reminded him of how bad he was at talking to anyone.

"Anyway..." her voice had him lift his head from the ground.

"Why are you out here?"

"I got lost." The tiger responded, embarrassed.

"Lost?"

"Yeah, I know. I'm a dumb ass."

She only laughed in response. It was just beautiful to his ears.

Just maybe...

His heart thumped at the thought of being something more.

"No, it's fine. I got lost, too. You see, I was..."

She stopped there for a second.

"Well... maybe it's not important right now."

It shocked the tiger how much has changed in the matter of minutes. Complete strangers one minute, then just talking it off the next. Of course, he only assumed it was because both of them were in dire need of help. Because of a life threatening situation.

"You have a name?" She asked.

"Yeah. Diego." He answered. Why she cared was beyond him. He was still bugged that he couldn't see this mystery saber at all. He knew he shouldn't care. But he couldn't help it. He wanted to know. And the fact that they were going to have to stick together to get out of this... it just furthered his fantasy.

Fantastic.

The blizzard had worsened since they ran in to each other. Trees shook violently as snow powdered through the trees like wind.

The entire time they traversed the forest, they had to be leaning up against each other so they wouldn't separate. And that caused only one thing to take up his thoughts.

I can't believe a saber... a female saber... her pelt. Her soft and warm pelt. Why is this happening?!

His urges to know only furthered his desire. The warmth. The curves. The scent.

Something he never noticed before was how amazing she smelt. He wasn't sure what it was, but it forced him to actually control his animal instincts.

Now it just left him wondering... what did she look like? He tried so hard to squint his eyes as he looked in her direction, but to no avail.

"How did you get lost, exactly?" He heard her ask, her breath's scent driving his fantasy wild. He could just imagine.

"I... went for a run. Before sundown."

"Makes sense. It wasn't really snowing before night time, was it?"

"No." He responded, not sure what to add. Not while anxiety was practically killing him.

"You run, often?"

He didn't understand why she was making this small talk. Regardless, he appreciated it as he began to calm down and take his mind off everything else.

"No. First time... and probably last."

He heard her giggle. It was too adorable for him.

This saber I just met. That I haven't even seen. We're just-

As he was lost in thought, he felt the ground below him vanish as he took the final step before falling.

Diego heard her scream his name. Soon after He felt her claws reach at him as he started to fall, cutting his arms a bit before luckily latching onto his paws. He heard her struggling to hold on. Her claws dug into his skin as he yelped in pain. He just dangled there, not feeling any ground below him. Not feeling anything in the bottom half of himself, to be honest.

His heart raced. Death possibly only tired paws away.

Diego could feel the effort she was putting into it. She jolted back, but it only led to her paws slipping on the ice as she inevitably drifted off the edge. He only felt the sudden drop, her paws still latched on as the two fell off the cliff's edge. Too much initial shock flooded them to even bother screaming as they plummeted.

Luckily, the cliff wasn't too high. Both sabers hit the bottom of the nearly three second drop. Diego could feel snow explode in a cloud around them. Silence echoed. They groaned and twitched, sighs of relief soon after.

"I'm so cold Diego. Honestly." She said out of fear.

"Me too. I wish there was someway we could stay-

She gave him no time to finish that sentence as he felt her latch onto him, shivering like crazy. Her legs cuddled in. Her chest met his. Her head buried under his neck. They held on as tight as they could, getting body heat to warm them, though it was rather tough to do so because of their state of blindness. Legs bumped. Heads bonked a few times. But they both laughed it off, realizing how ridiculously unavoidable it all was. But it was all necessary to survive the night. All they had was minimal cover from the cliff's edge. Other than that, they only had each other.

He embraced it all. He realized everything he had at that moment. All he needed. Someone to hold. Some sort of connection.

"I'm so sorry I cut you." She murmured. Truthfully, he hadn't noticed the pain in his wrists until she brought it up.

"Don't be. At least... it's warmer down here"

"I just wasn't thinking." She blamed herself and seemingly wasn't getting over it. She only reached for his paws, pressing his chest a few times to better locate them. And she just started rubbing them. His paws were so cold as he could imagine hers were too.

"Really. It's fine. It doesn't hurt that much." He lied

She only sighed in response. He could tell she wasn't going to get over it anytime soon.

She's emotional... but in a good way.

So suddenly, a realization kicked in.

"You never... told me your name, by the way." Diego said in between shivers. In between the acceptance and defiance that this was really happening. That he was actually wrapped up warm with another saber.

"Oh... yeah..." she seemed to freeze up in place.

"The thing is, I don't like my name too much."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't. Simple as that." She sassed back. Diego only laughed in response.

"I'm sure it's fine."

"You say that now..."

"Really, what is it?" He was so eager to know. He knew he'd love it no matter what. Just like he knew he'd love the way she looked no matter what. He could feel her body. The amazing shape she was in. He knew she'd be beautiful. He just knew it. But how beautiful?

"Shira."