Kisibhi

The early morning sunlight pulled Kisibhi from her sleep. She stayed still, with her eyes closed, a soft purr rattling in her chest. She was resting on something soft, and warm. The air was filled with the smell of moon sugar and sunlight. She inhaled deeply; there was moon sugar by her lips. Kisibhi flicked her tongue out, lapping up the sweet grains and sighing deeply. She hadn't felt this relaxed in what must have been years; someone was running their fingers through her mane. Kisibhi purred louder, nuzzling whatever she was on happily. She could hear the steady thump of a heartbeat, the hand buried in her mane scratched her behind the ears and drifted up to play with her earrings softly. She happily lapped up a little more of the precious moon sugar for a moment. Kisibhi frowned softly; she recognized the smell of the cave. It was one she had used before, but how had she gotten….

The memories from the night before rushed back and Kisibhi sat bolt upright, horrified.

She had been resting on the black kitten's chest, the hand belonged to Shiro. And the moon sugar was… Well, the sigil still painted onto his chest. Kisibhi swore, leaping to her feet, hastily combing her fingers through her ruffled mane. She spotted the red kitten sitting against the wall, he looked caught between amusement and absolute horror. She spat over her shoulder, gagging. She thought she heard him chuckle a little while she spat repeatedly and tried to wipe her tongue off.

Mortified, Kisibhi tried to retreat deeper into the cave to reclaim the shreds of her dignity and gather some herbs to release Shiro from the effects of the moon sugar. A grip on her tail made her freeze, she turned and felt her stomach drop. Shiro held her tail and was staring up at her with pleading adoration. He tugged her tail lightly, silently begging her to come back. She normally would have punched him, but this was her fault, technically. Kisibhi huffed and sat down next him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and all but pulled into his lap, nuzzling her neck and burying his hand in her mane again. Kisibhi squeaked, scrambling and trying to get away. She caught the red kitten's eye, his jaw was hanging open and his cheeks had turned scarlet.

"This is not Kisibhi's doing!" she snapped, her fur standing on end, "Get the red herbs from the back of the cave. NOW!" he scrambled to follow her orders, leaving Kisibhi to handle the incredibly awkward situation she had just been thrown into. She tried to pry his arm from around her waist but it was made of metal. She yelped when he nuzzled her neck. She hooked her foot under her satchel's strap and yanking it over, she tried to rummage through it for something, anything, to get her out of his arms.

Naturally, she had nothing for this situation.

"HURRY UP!" Kisibhi snapped, the red kitten returned, looking like he was trying not to laugh. He handed her the herbs and helped her slip out of Shiro's arms. The red one had a hard time keeping him from grabbing her again. Kisibhi hastily ground the herbs and mixed them with a health potion, heating it from a flame in her palm. All the while dodging out of Shiro's reach, she hissed at him when he almost grabbed her again.

"Did you just hiss at him?" the red kitten asked, arching an eyebrow while struggling to hold Shiro at bay.

"Yes!" She spat, ears flattened as she counted the seconds until she could force the mixture down his throat and balance the effects of the moon sugar in his system. Just as she looked up to tell him to drink it, he broke free of the red kitten and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her off her feet. Kisibhi yelped, nearly spilling the bowl and hissing when Shiro nuzzled her again.

"STOP! Put Kisibhi down! Now!" she ordered, glaring at the red armored boy. He sighed, rubbing his face. Shiro mumbled something she couldn't understand.

"I'm sorry, Shiro's bigger than me," he pointed out, she huffed and thrust the bowl at him to take.

"This one will do it herself," she grumbled, he took the bowl and Kisibhi struggled to try and force her way out of his arms.

"Soft…" Shiro murmured, the fur on her shoulders stood on end and she spluttered something in her native tongue.

'Khenarthi he is strong,' she thought, wiggling and writhing to try and escape. Suddenly, he dropped her. She landed in a heap on the floor, Shiro was batting the red boy's hands away, laughing. The red-armored boy wrapped his arms around him, pinning Shiro's arms to his sides and holding him back relatively well.

"Oh, now you decide to help." She sighed, grabbing the bowl from the floor before it got spilled and pressed it against Shiro's mouth, he looked surprised but drank the contents anyway. He choked on the taste but swallowed it all. Kisibhi tossed the empty bowl aside, taking a few steps back and trying to comb her fur back into place, muttering unhappily in Ta'Agra, and trying to fix her tangled mane. She glanced back in time to see the cloudy look in Shiro's eye fade and be replaced by horror. His face turned scarlet and he looked mortified.

"I…erm…Keith…Hi…" Shiro cleared his throat, looking anywhere but at them. Keith had let go and backed up a little, the expression on his face was priceless. Kisibhi smirked, adjusting her belt and smoothing out her tail.

"Shiro," Keith said, staring at the other boy.

"What?" Shiro muttered, finally looking at Keith, who silently held Shiro's shirt up. Shiro's eyes went wide and he looked down at his bare chest. He swore, brushing the remaining moon sugar off of his chest and snatched the shirt out of Keith's outstretched hand, struggling to pull it on properly in his haste and embarrassment.

"…I could have lived with this, now not so much," he muttered, his face turning an even darker shade of red. Kisibhi fought back a laugh, she had never seen anyone look so uncomfortable. Keith half smiled, though he still looked a little uncomfortable as well. Kisibhi cleared her throat slightly, checking her earrings and wiggling her whiskers.

"The rest of your armor is by the wall if you want it," Keith stated, after clearing his throat and crossing his arms. Kisibhi could tell he was fighting back a full grin at Shiro's embarrassment.

"Let's never speak of this again, yes?" she said finally, Shiro's face burned scarlet again and he stared at the floor. Keith gave him a wicked grin, a familiar mischievous glint in his eyes.

'Kisibhi will definitely hear of this again,' she sighed a little, but rolled her shoulders back, breathing deeply. She frowned a little, parting her jaw and scenting the air. She could smell pines, and moon sugar, the ash in the fire…

'Galra?' Kisibhi narrowed her eyes at them, tilting her head slightly. It wasn't coming from Shiro, she would have picked it up earlier if it was. It was coming from Keith. She glared at him, growling a little. Keith glanced warily at Shiro, who had also tensed when she growled.

"What?" Keith demanded, shifting his weight under her burning gaze.

"You smell like Galra," Kisibhi said simply, kicking her staff into her hand in case one of them decided to attack her. Shiro flinched and moved closer to Keith, frowning and Kisibhi took a few steps back, ready to defend herself. The last time she had smelled live Galra, she had been forcing them to rot, frying them with lightning, and crushing their skulls with her staff, and then forcing them to attack each other. Something wasn't right… They both looked surprised and scared, plus they hadn't tried to skin her yet.

"Kisibhi has a very good nose. She can smell it on you, why do you smell like the angry purple elves?" she asked, tilting her head but not relaxing yet.

"I… I don't know. I don't know what you're even talking about," Keith gave Shiro a confused look, Shiro shrugged helplessly.

"Did Zarkon do something?" Shiro asked quietly, Keith shook his head and they exchanged another nervous look before finally making eye contact with her again. Kisibhi flicked her ear, watching both of them carefully. Shiro's arm glowed slightly, and Keith slipped his hand into his pocket, she guessed he had some sort of dagger and now they were waiting to see if she was going to attack them.

"Don't," she told them, sheathing her staff and holding her hands up, "Kisibhi won't harm the kittens. She was merely wondering why she smelled Galra," she kept her voice calm and shrugged slightly. They both relaxed a little.

"Wait, what did you just call us?" Shiro demanded, crossing his arms.

"She's been calling me 'red kitten' for twelve varga, don't worry about it," Keith whispered in response, grinning a little at Shiro's indignation. Kisibhi grinned, kneeling by her satchel and pulling out some strips of jerky. She tossed them, and her only water skin, at the boys. They looked at it a little warily.

"It's food, not poison," she pointed out, they started to eat, a little hesitant at first. But when they didn't immediately start dying they ate more eagerly. Kisibhi watched Keith from the corner of her eye, he had no purple skin or fuzz. He looked like a Nord but somehow smelled like Galra. She couldn't fathom how that worked.

"WAIT! How do you know who the Galra are?" Shiro demanded, almost dropping his jerky. Kisibhi chuckled when Keith froze, his brow furrowed as he realized what she had said.

"They invaded Nirn eight years ago, they wanted to hold the people as slaves. We were… Disinclined to acquiesce their request. So we fought instead. And Kisibhi taught them what pain means. When they left, the Orsimer mounted their heads on pikes surrounding the strongholds. And this one helped burn the remainder of the bodies," she explained a little offhandedly as she poked through her satchel, finding a piece of dried fruit and gnawing on it. She glanced up at them, Shiro looked impressed and unnerved.

"Yeah. I saw that." Keith muttered darkly, crossing his arms. Shiro gave him a bewildered look.

"You what?" she almost felt sorry for him, although a glint of excitement had entered his eye.

"They came, we slaughtered them. They will probably come back, but when they do, we will just slaughter them again," Kisibhi shrugged, Shiro swallowed hard, he looked lost in thought. She ate in silence, letting it all sink in.

Shiro

It took a few dobashes for Shiro to process what the quiznack had happened. All he could remember after he and Black crashed was his side being on fire and something sweet in his mouth.

He rubbed his temples, sighing. His head felt like someone had cracked it open, the pulsing pain was making it very difficult not to lay back down and pass out. The only time he remembers feeling a headache this bad was when he compound fractured his femur in a biking accident when he was sixteen. The concussion was almost worse than the break, three months of medical leave from the Garrison later and more morphine than humanly possible, he was back and still the top pilot.

Shiro glanced at Keith, the Red Paladin looked largely unharmed but was still looking at the furry cat lady who looked like a black tiger. She looked only half as embarrassed than him at what had transpired that morning.

Speaking of...Shiro made a mental note to make Keith swear never to bring it up again.

Not to mention Kisibhi's story of the planet chasing the Galra off. He'd never heard of something like that ever happening. When had the Galra ever been unable to take a planet? He hastily got to his feet.

"Shiro?" Keith prompted, concerned, Shiro waved him off a little.

"Just… Give me a minute, Keith. Okay?" he trudged to the front of the cave, trying to gather his thoughts and somehow make his head stop pounding. Parts of Kisibhi's story weren't adding up… The Galra never gave up and retreated, if they failed once they would definitely be back. Probably with triple the troops. So these inhabitants were either unaware of this or were cocky enough to think it was a one time deal. They needed to be prepared-

Shiro gasped and scrunched his eyes shut, pressing his palms into his eyes as the throbbing escalated into a blindingly sharp pain.

Shiro opened his eyes, sitting bolt upright. Whipping his head to the right and left, looking around rapidly. He was surrounded by crystal, it was all his surroundings were made of. Looking up, he saw endless walls of pink, blue, and white crystals. There had to be a ceiling, but it was all so blended together he couldn't tell. There seemed to be endless paths leading into a massive crystal labyrinth. Aside from his confusion, everything was calm and quiet. Eerily so.

'Is this heaven? It feels… too wrong to be heaven…' he thought he did feel something familiar though. Which didn't make a ton of sense since he'd never been in this odd crystal place. He got to his feet, touching the walls lightly, they were warm. A chill went down his spine, a soft but insistent pressure built in his head. Something he'd only felt once before.

Seeing through the Black Lion's eyes.

"Paladin," he jumped, he had never heard Black with words before, usually, it was only images and feelings! "My Paladin,"

"Black?" he asked, a little hesitantly, looking around and wondering if he would see her.

"You must prepare, our bond is steady but my former Paladin will stop at nothing to destroy you" Black warned him, he could feel her urgency.

"Zarkon…" he gritted his teeth, hands curling into fists. "Allura… Why didn't you tell me?"

"You must prepare for battle, he will come," Black repeated, a tone of insistence in her voice.

"Black, how? He… He is stronger, he took you away from me" Shiro whispered, sharp pain in his chest. Black reached out again, he felt a calm reassurance, trust, and hope.

"He lost my trust. He is not my Paladin. You are." Black replied firmly, Shiro sighed.

"What do I need to do?" He asked calmly, crossing his arms. He understood now, and he was grateful for it.

"Training will await you and the other Paladin's. But for now, I only ask for your trust. This planet is dangerous, you will need to keep your guard up" she told him just as calmly, he felt a warmth in his chest. Before he could ask her anything else, the crystal world imploded in a flash of white.

"Shiro?"

He blinked a few times, snapping out of his flashback. Keith and Kisibhi had joined him by the entrance. She had her staff and bag packed, Keith was armed again and ready.

"Are you okay? I called you, like, five times" Keith frowned, a worried look on his face.

"I'm fine, did I miss something?" Shiro asked, trying to play off his racing pulse.

"No, Kisibhi is going to take us to where you crashed. Red just got there, they are waiting for us" Keith explained, Kisibhi was checking outside, she looked tense.

"Great" he nodded in approval "We can use them to try and track the others, or at least figure out if they landed on this planet" he paused, it occurred quite suddenly to him that he wasn't sure what planet they were even on. He remembered little to nothing between crashing and waking up.

"Follow Kisibhi, she will lead you to them" she smiled over her shoulder, already jogging down what looked like an animal path down the mountain.

As they descended, Shiro could make out windswept plains, but no signs of civilization. But he also didn't know how these… Orsimer folk lived, they could be nomads for all he knew. Or dwell underground like the Balmerians. Soon enough, he could see through the forest enough to pick out the decimated crash site.

Just like Keith said, Red was there and so was Black, both appeared to be recovered from battle and were sitting in their resting positions, particle barriers up.

"Cousins!" Kisibhi cried happily, the lions tilted their heads towards them. Feelings of relief flooded Shiro's being, making him feel a little giddy. Although he couldn't remember much of what had happened, it must have been worse then he thought. Haggar's wound had caused him to pass out before they even hit the ground, which is what jostled him enough to wake him up so he could drag himself to Black's paw. It was in bits and pieces, but he remembered feeling certain he was going to die.

"Cousins?" Keith repeated, Shiro blinked, did… did she just say, cousins? Before he could ask her about it, she grabbed his arm and dragged him forward.

"Kisibhi saved the black kitten, just like she said!" if Black had been a flesh lion, Shiro had a feeling she would be nuzzling him like crazy. He could feel her purring through their bond, making the hair on his arm stand up.

"The cousins are pleased" she whispered to him, he couldn't suppress a smile.

"Wait, you can talk to them?" Keith asked from behind them, sounding as shocked as Shiro. "You can talk to the lions?"

"Metal or not, they are khajit, like Kisibhi" she replied, smiling up at them in an almost adoring manner.

"Khajit? So there's more than one race on this planet?" Shiro asked they'd seen multiple species inhabit a planet before, but not often. Kisibhi frowned at them, looking almost offended.

"There are many species on Nirn. Altmer, Bosmer, Khajit, Argonian, Imperial, Dunmer, Nord, Redguard, Bretons, and Orsimer" she pointed out, arching an eyebrow at them. Shiro held up his hands.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, we just haven't been to a planet with more than one people in a long time," he told her, Kisibhi flicked her ear and shrugged.

"This one won't hold it against you," she said offhandedly, he was a little surprised at how easily she let it pass. She ran a hand through her white mane, ruffling her fur and sighing.

"Let's take off and find the others" Keith was already halfway to Red, who had let her barrier down and was already bending down to admit him. "With any luck, they landed on this planet" Shiro nodded and was about to lower Black's shields when Kisibhi spoke up.

"Take off?"

"Yeah" he replied "Our lions can fly" he smiled at her, she glanced over at the lions.

"You want to fly? Kisibhi would highly discourage that" she told him, crossing her arms, her ears flat against her head. Shiro frowned at her.

"Why?" he asked as she glanced at the sky nervously.

"Dragons," she said simply, shrugging like what she said wasn't the most bizarre thing he had ever heard. But he wasn't surprised at this point.

"DRAGONS?" Keith shouted, "Your kidding, right?" Kisibhi opened her mouth to respond when a distant roar echoed across the plains. It was unlike anything he had heard before.

"No. Kisibhi is not joking about the winged devils" she replied in a deadly serious tone.

"Alright, no flying" Shiro agreed, he didn't like how close that roar sounded, and from her tone, dragons weren't friendly here. If they had the other three lions, he wouldn't mind risking it. Not that he doubted his and Keith's teamwork, but this was a foe they had never encountered and they had little to no information. Now the only problem was that, unlike Green, Black and Red couldn't turn invisible and were essentially exposed.

"Is there anything we can do to hide them, at least?" Keith asked Kisibhi ruffled her mane again.

"This one can do something but... It's Oblivion magic," she told them slowly, in a quiet voice. Shiro stared at her, confused. He had no idea what 'Oblivion magic' was, and neither did Keith from the look on his face. And now he knew he was probably missing something important while he was knocked out, it wasn't like Keith to ask a random person for help. Particularly when it involved the lions. Kisibhi appeared to have somehow gained his trust very quickly, and if Keith trusted her, so could he.

"What are you going to do?" he asked, intrigued.

o~o

AN: And cut! Sorry to stop there but... where's the fun in that otherwise?!

Anyway, nothing too crazy happened this chapter, but apparently, when Shiro is high, he gets really cuddly. HA!

Also, if anyone was confused about the conversation with the Black Lion, that was when Shiro's soul was in the soul gem (which will play a BIG role later on just so you know!)

Please comment and review, I'd really appreciate it!