For anyone who stumbles upon this fic, you really ought to check out onedivinemisfit's art on Tumblr. She does a phenomenal job with her fanart, and even her older fanart is really, really pretty. The way Obi and Shirayuki look in this AU is entirely based off of two fanarts by her, and they are so good. Trust me. She both draws Obi and Shirayuki has humans and as animals; there are more than just cats that she's drawn them as, if you're curious, go see. She's an insanely talented artist, and I don't think you'll regret looking through her artwork.

For onedivinemisfit, I hope you like this! For the first time ever, I wrote an Appreciation Multichapter Giftfic, so hopefully you like this little story. (I've already written chapter three as well, so we might be zooming at least through the early chapters.) The days that I thought this would be a oneshot are long passed; your art is so inspiring, along with the AU, that when I was beginning to brainstorm what I wanted to write for you, I realized within moments that it branched from a long-ish oneshot into a short multichapter fic. So, here we are. I hope that I've managed to begin writing something beautiful for you, and that it's something that brings a smile to your face. (Also, don't worry Obi and Shirayuki will formally meet soon.) I hope that you have a very wonderful day! (You are an incredible fanartist by the way; I think I first discovered the ObiYuki squirrel fanart months ago, and fell in love with it, and then slowly discovered much more of your artwork.) (And the outfits in the groupchat look so pretty!)

It's one thing to be a city cat, used to the fact that going outside of her "parents" apartment might not be such a good thing. The fact of the matter isn't that she was born to be in the city, but when she was just a kitten, she'd lived with two people out in the mountains, catching mice and bringing them home, and then one day, all of that changed. And she moved right into her "grandparents" as she called them's home.

Now, she's a city cat, always just a tad shy of adventure, gazing outside of their balcony, wondering just what possibilities the city has that the country doesn't. It's here though that she gets groomed as if the rest of the world is merely something far from here, as if time is something that is never ending, and it's here where she gets her signature flowers tucked in her fur.

They are old hairclips, two red flowers with golden middles, signs of domesticity. She doesn't wear a collar, too used to wiggling out of them back when she was still a kitten, so her only hints of home life are her flowers. Though she doesn't leave the apartment anyway. Not like her grandparents are scurrying off anyway.

They call her "Shirayuki," which means "Snow White," for the lone white stripe down her forehead and her pretty white paws, the same paws that she'd once turned brown with dirt, when she was almost too young to remember what life was like. It's the city that she's known the most though, not in the way that alley cats flicker through it, never staying long enough to have a home.

Her desire to explore, her craving for adventure, means next to nothing compared to the kind of life she has here. She's still not sure what moved her all the way over here; it was something unknown to her as a kitten, but Shirayuki's come to know things much better now that she's a grown up cat. She leans on her paws and gazes outside, past the messy alleys, that see their share of cats, and over towards a cat slinking his way out of a distant one.

He comes by sometimes, with his bright golden eyes, and his rough black fur. He'd be quite pretty if he'd had someone to smooth the rough edges from his fur; it's only when he draws close that you can see the missing chunk of his ear. All Shirayuki can think is that that must have bled like crazy when it left him. He's a fighter, the city's version of a good mouser, she assumes, as she gets up, always moving away from the window, in case he looks up and spots her.

She doubts he's looking for a conversation, but he doesn't seem to be looking for a fight either. So, she moves past her grandpa's feet, tucking herself into Grandma's side. Her grandmother's hand is still soft and gentle as it runs through her orange fur. Life is good, and Shirayuki tries not to imagine the thrill of catching a mouse outside for far too long; she isn't willing to be tempted for long by adventure. If she let it, she'd be outside, checking the city streets for adventure.

She couldn't worry her grandparents like that, not after her worry over her "parents," two of the best people she'd ever met. The one was her mom, a little rounded with new life, and always cautious of too much adventure, but loving just the same. Her father seemed to thrive in the sort, and he's the one that would play hours worth of games with her.

He's the one who accidentally taught her to hunt; Shirayuki closes her eyes, to be caught within the memories once more, to remember how her paws were tinier than they are now, and far used to the kind of adventure that a city can't quite provide.