Hello there! ACertainSabre here, sorry that it took so long to update the story, at the moment I'm kind of lacking the motivation to write. Please note that this chapter was often written with only a sentence a day so it might have some slight logical errors. Anyways that's how far I've come, enjoy!

Diego woke up quite early the next morning. He looked outside and noticed it was still completely dark outside. He looked around the cave just to observe that everyone was still sleeping. Then he looked towards where Shira should have been, but her place was empty.

Diego jumped up slightly panicked just to calm down immediately when he saw Shira outside next to the pond.

He got up and walked next to Shira and let out a yawn

"Hey Kitty, woke up early as well?"

Shira put on an annoyed look on her face because she had been called a Kitty once again but this early in the morning she just couldn't say anything against it.

"Morning Diego. Guess so much is obvious." Shira yawned as well

"Why are you up this early? Are you alright?"

"Just had one of my silly dreams again. So I guess you could say I'm fine."

"I don't think you should ignore dreams that make you wake up this early. What was it about?" Diego said in a caring tone

"It's just Gutt, I know he's dead but he just keeps haunting me." Shira said annoyed about herself

"Shira look, Gutt is dead forever, there is absolutely no need to be worried about him anymore. Here you got a herd. We got each other's backs, you can trust anyone here, well, maybe not the possums" Diego chuckled a bit about the two troublemakers.

"I just sometimes get the feeling I don't deserve all of this. After all I nearly killed all of you when we first met. I should be dead at the bottom of the ocean" She said with a sad tone in her voice.

Diego couldn't believe his ears when he heard that. He stood up and walked face to face with Shira.

"Shira, what are you talking about?! Everyone, and I really mean everyone deserves a herd and good friends. Friends you can trust no matter what. You do belong here and nowhere else." Diego said a bit shocked by what the silver tigress had said before but still with a firm, convincing voice.

Shira smiled at his words. Somehow this sabre was able to make all her worries wash away, make all her problems look so tiny compared to how much fun she could have with that handsome sabre in front of her.

"Thanks a lot Diego. I really do owe you a lot for giving me the opportunity to start again."

Diego was happy about her change in mood and decided she was probably up to have some fun.

"Hey Kitty, wanna go for a morning hunt?"

"Thought I had told you not to call me Kitty."

"Must have slipped my mind... Kitty" Diego smirked

"Oh, now you're gonna get it." She laughed

"Gotta catch me first" Diego bolted off with Shira directly behind him.

They raced through the forest laughing leaving the other animals watching confused as an orange and a silver blur race on deeper into the island.

Shira managed to trap Diego in a dead end and pounced on him.

"Gottcha Softie." She laughed

"I have to agree, you really did well here, but..." Diego reversed the pin so he was on top "... I got you" Diego smirked

Shira laughed and gave Diego a smile.

"So, about that from earlier, I'd love to go on a hunt with you. Well, only if I get everything we catch, that is." Shira said jokingly

"Hey, watch out Kitty" Diego laughed. "But since you are still pinned, ... I wonder if you mind THIS " Diego started to tickle Shira

Both of them soon started to roll on the ground laughing.

"H-H-Hey cut i-it Softie. Im rea-ally ticklish." Shira said between her breaths. She hasn't had so much fun with someone of her species for ages.

"Beg for it" Diego laughed.

"Di-Diego pleas-se stop"

Diego stopped tickling her and she took their momentum to her advantage and flipped the pin once again.

"That was..."

"... Fun" Diego completed her sentence.

"Yeah, it really was. Has been a long time since I last had so much fun."

"So, wanna go hunting now? I could really use some food right now."

"Sure, how about we split up and whoever catches something first wins?" Shira challenged

"Sounds like you want to lose." Diego joked "Anyways why not, sounds like it will be fun."

"Ok then, I reckon we should go to the forest first and then split up so we've got an equal starting point"

"Sounds fair, let's do it." Diego said.

While they were walking towards the forest Diego caught himself staring at her. He shook his head and hoped Shira hadn't noticed. She had.

"Time to start, we reached the forest. How about you go left and I go right?" Shira asked.

"As you wish"

"Ok then, starting in... three... tw-" Diego disappeared into the forest. "Hey, you started early. Don't do that" Shira laughed. It really didn't matter. After all there was no 'real' competition here. With that Shira ran into the forest as well. She knew a spot where she would probably find some prey to hunt.

While Shira ran to her hunting spot Diego was looking for prey as well. He was searching for a scent in the air but at their current hunting spot there was nothing to be found. After a while the golden feline decided it was probably better to look for Shira so they could hunt together. As much as he loved their friendly competitions, he just wanted to be together with her. With that in mind he went to look for Shira.

Shira on the other hand was unsuccessful as well so she was aimlessly walking around the forest trying to find prey in other places. After a while she heard a twig crack next to her

That's it! I finally found something. I was about to give it to Diego here but not anymore.

Shira got into pouncing position and jumped at her prey or what she believed to be it.

"What the ...? Shira, what are you doing?" Diego asked puzzled.

Shira noticed she was still snarling at Diego as if he was her prey so she quickly changed that into a smile.

"Ummm... I don't really know. Did you catch anything yet?"

"Nope, couldn't find anything."

"Well that that makes me the winner!" Shira stated

"What did you catch?" Diego asked surprised

"You got three questions, but I'll only answer with yes or no."

"Oh come on." Diego said slightly annoyed. "Fine, did you catch a gazelle?"

"Nope"

"A deer?"

"Nope"

"Blueberries?"

"Close, but no."

"Fine I give up. What did you catch?"

"Well, to be fair I can't say I didn't catch what you'd usually call prey. (Starts to laugh) Well, I caught... you."

Diego starts to laugh as well. "Really Shira? Come on. You didn't do that on purpose did you?"

"Who knows... Maybe that was on purpose... (Shira smiks) What do ya think? Stay together and finally get something to eat?"

"You read my mind, let's look in another area on the island, here's nothing to be caught... well, except ourselves." Diego chuckled

Later

"That was a good Meal you caught there Shira"

"Thanks Diego, but you helped as well."

"Well, at least I didn't have to catch it alone this time" Diego said referring to what happened the day before

"Ok then, I don't think Manny will like to see us with blood in our fur, let's go clean ourselves. I think I saw a pond that way." Shira pointed to her left

"Solid argument you got there. I could use a swim anyways."

Shira suddenly looked at her paws and got silent. Too silent for Diego's liking.

"What's wrong Shira? Did I say anything wrong?"

"No, you didn't Diego. It's just that... I can't swim." Shira got more and more silent as she said that.

She expected him to laugh at her. After all she had lived on a ship for most of her life. But instead, Diego spoke up in a caring tone.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with that" He starts to smile as an idea crosses his mind. "You know what? I'll teach you."

"Oh really? You would do that?"

"Why not Shira, we're friends after all."

"Just friends?" Shira asked playing a bit hurt.

"No... I mean... Yes... Uhhh... Let's just pretend that never happened."

"If you say so... Let's get moving then."

with that the two cats went off to the pool...

That's where I'll end this chapter, dont forgot to rate and review, see you in the next one