Author's note: Hey guys, back with another chapter!
Before we get started, I would just like to highlight a point made by 'Getcool42' about Option C: Taura DOES NOT end up with the male tiger hitting on her, but there will be a jealous Diego in it which might get things spicy ;).
So, here are the results for the special One-shot chappie:
Option A: I I I I
Option B: I I I
Option C: I I
So so far, Option A is in the lead. Lemme clarify another point guys: as sad as it is, you guys cannot have both or all three options at the same time! It has to be one, sorry.
Just in case, I'm gonna put a poll on my profile! SO U CAN VOTE THERE TOO OR IN REVIEWS!
Anywho, I'll decide after one chapter or more and THEN we'll pick the option. Anywhootz, here are the replies:
Yeeeaaaah: Mwahaha! I KNOW! Anywho, thank you so much and I hope u like this chapter!
Villains' Bad Girl: Thank you! Hopefully you'll get it and I hope u like this chapter.
Shiego627: Don't worry, I'll make sure to not do anything stupid with her! Aw, thanks for worrying for her! But don't worry, after reading this chappie, you won't be!
GoldenSaber: Well, you'll have to read and see won't ya? ;) Hope you like this chapter!
Optimus Prime's Daughter: Uhhh...plz don't explode, I would much rather u wrote ur lovely reviews. I can't say whether he'll confess or not in Ice Age 2, otherwise it would be an unnecessary spoiler! ;)
Megatrons Midget: I will not forget about this story! Count on that! Well, read this chapter and see! Hope u like it!
TimberPaw: Uhh...hehe, u don't have to do that, really, but thank u for the thought! Thanks for calling it great, I hope u like this chapter!
DonTheHero: Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough! Thanks and I hope u like this chapter!
Rae-Kawaii: uh, OKAY!
ScarletWolfX: Ugh, I know but I couldn't HELP IT! TOO TEMPTING! XD Anywho, glad u like the options and I hope u like this chapter!
Italics means telepathic communication
Warning: OC pairing, Don't like, DON'T READ!
Disclaimer: Don't own the Ice Age franchise or any of the characters in it; that all belongs to Blue Sky
It took Taura a while, but she finally found the rendezvous point they agreed to meet up at.
She looked up to find a large cliff side coated in a thin layer of silver, painted on by the invisible brush of moonlight; here and there were lush bushes that surrounded its base and on the left side was a wide chasm twice her size which opened into a cave. Taura walked up to the entrance but didn't come inside. She waited for a minute...and then another...and another...until finally, she suddenly snapped.
"Ugh, can you just skip the over dramatic pounce scare and come out already?!" Taura growled to the cave, her voice echoing around the cave's hollow walls.
After a moment, an annoyed, deep growl echoed back from the cave and out came a very large brown saber. If Taura thought that Diego was muscular ("which I don't!"), then this saber was on steroids, because he was as big as Soto or even larger!
He had a very dark brown coat which then lightened into a dark beige when it reached his stomach, paws and tail. He had the same amber eyes as Taura, but a shade darker and had specks of brown here and there and he had a wavy tuft of fur on his head that went down as a fringe on one of his eyes. His sabers were very long and half of its length went below his chin. He had broad shoulders and very large muscles that showed underneath the fur of his legs and back.
The saber had a grumpy scowl on his face and his eyes narrowed towards Taura, "Well, I see you're still as big a killjoy as ever Taura!" He grumbled at her,
Taura rolled her eyes and sighed "It's nice to see you too Kraz..." She wondered how his immaturity still hadn't changed from the first night they reunited...
The quartet have just finished a nice, fun sunny day at the water park and were now sleeping next to a warm campfire in a clearing. Diego was in his usual position next to the fire, Sid was mumbling away in his sleep on top of a rock and Manny was lightly snoring away and leaning next to giant ice boulder.
And Taura? Well...
"GAH! Where's a good spot to pee when you need one?!" Taura growled in her head as she wandered around a forest terrain in agitation, looking for a suitable bush.
Suddenly, there was a rustling in a bush behind Taura, which made the fur on her neck stand on end, her claws to suddenly unsheathe themselves and her head to snap up in attention, listening to the air for that sound rustle again. When it didn't, Taura shrugged and continued to hurriedly look for another bush until it happened again on another bush!
This time, Taura's eyes narrowed and her ears pressed against her head. She lowered her body towards the ground and stalked towards a cluster of bushes ahead of her. She scratched her claws against the ground in anticipation and wiggled her haunches, waiting for the bushes ahead of her to shake. When it did, she counted to three:
1...
2...
3...
And she pounced!
Taura landed on something warm and hard and the two bodies collided and tumbled down a hill until Taura clasped her claws against her prisoner's shoulders and pinned him to the ground. Taura found herself pinning down a large brown male saber who was looking up at her with a dry grin, while his eyes held something akin to amusement; as if he knew something that she didn't.
Taura bared her sharp canines and growled threateningly at the stranger "Okay buddy, you've got five seconds to explain why you were stalking me before I claw a number on your face!"
As if the female on top of him hadn't threatened him, the male saber simply rolled his eyes and scoffed in a deep, baritone voice "I'm not sure whether to be offended that you haven't recognized me by now or be impressed by you finding me THIS quick."
"Oh please, your breathing was as loud as mammoths having -" Taura was about to boast before she shook her head and narrowed her eyes even further at the stranger below her "Wait a minute, what do you mean 'recognize' you? Am I supposed to know you?!" And Taura sincerely hoped she didn't; the last thing she needed was to meet some old acquaintance who turned into a creepy stalker of female sabers.
The male simply raised an eyebrow at her and his grin seemed to grow, "Well I should hope so, what with you being my little sister Roo-roo."
It was as if someone flicked a switch inside Taura, because as soon as that sentence was uttered, her entire body froze. Her eyes were as wide as dinner plates, tears already starting to gather and threatening to spill at the corners; her mouth agape in absolute shock and her muscles were tense and stiff making her completely immobile.
Now, if anybody else had said that sentence without the finishing phrase, Taura wouldn't have hesitated to use her fangs to send them to Kingdom Come. But...there was only ONE person in her entire LIFE who had ever called her that nickname...
Taura suddenly felt her throat clogging up from the swelling of emotions inside of her,
"K...Kraz?" She whispered hoarsely, as if saying it too loud would shatter the possible illusion she was having.
By now, Kraz's smile was as big as the Cheshire cat's, elated by the fact that his little sister finally recognized him.
"The one and only!" He chuckled, his eyes holding a soft light to them as he looked up affectionately at Taura, "I missed you so-"
Kraz suddenly found his head facing to the side and a stinging pain on his cheek. His eyes wide with shock, he lifted up a paw just to make sure and felt three light scratch marks on his cheek: he had been scratched by his sister?! He turned his head again to find Taura glaring at him with the most venomous heat in her eyes and her mouth set into a growl that showed off her sabers again.
"Do you..." Taura heaved, tears by now streaming down her brown cheeks. "Have any idea...what you put me through?!"
Kraz's mouth retracted from its original smile into a apologetic frown, "Taura, I-"
"I THOUGHT I LOST YOU!" Taura yelled, her voice screeching in his head, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA...how much...it hurt?"
By now, Taura had lost her angry scowl and her face melted into one of huge relief and sadness. Kraz's eyes had the most apologetic sadness held in them as he slightly winced in guilt. They both stared at each other for a while before Taura melted and fell on top of him in an awkward hug.
"I'm...glad you're back..." Taura hiccuped while rubbing her face against Kraz's chest, tears continuously streaming down her face and her eyes clenched shut. "I really...missed you...SO much..."
Kraz nodded silently and brought his paws behind her back and pushed her further against him. He shut his eyes and simply kept her there while rubbing her back comfortingly.
"I missed you too..." Kraz whispered, "I'm very sorry Taura, I would've come sooner but there were some things I had to deal with and I didn't wanna put you in danger but I really did miss you so much and-"
"Kraz..." by now, Taura stopped crying and her lips pulled up into a small smile, "Shut up."
And ever since that night, Taura and Kraz have been meeting up every night (until recently because of the flooding events) and happily catching up on what has happened between the two after all these years. Apparently Kraz survived the human massacre when a mysterious two legged creature healed him one night and then the next day...he found himself alive and alone in some barren snow land.
Taura was originally going to let the herd meet Kraz, but he told her not to because he was conducting a search...for their parents. When Taura first found out about it, she scoffed dryly and pointed out that they were exiled when Diego's pack took over their territory and both were killed by the harsh environments.
However Kraz told her that on one hunting morning, he caught some bird that told him it saw a pack of sabers travelling south...all of them baring the same fur colour! Taura felt inclined to believe it at first, but then pointed out that it would've said anything for him to spare its life. Kraz told her that he thought so too, but on the same day when he went to investigate, he found a bunch of saber tracks heading in the same southern direction the bird was talking about! After hearing rumors about a long lost saber pack and investigating further, Kraz just knew that it was their pack! And maybe, just maybe...their parents were there! Their entire family could have survived!
Taura was elated to find that out, in fact she was hopping with joy when she first heard and nearly cried, but it wasn't until Kraz asked her to come with him...that she suddenly didn't feel as joyful. Taura wanted nothing more than to run away with him, she truly did! ... But that would mean that she would have to leave the herd! She would run away from Manny and Sid...and Diego... She couldn't just leave him, not after everything he'd done for her!
In the end, they both agreed that they should wait until all of this flood fiasco was over with and then Taura would decide on what to do.
And so, this was how Taura wounded up having a friendly conversation with her big and rugged brother, both laying down next to each other on top of a smooth large boulder that overlooked a nice view of the forest.
"So...how are things going between you and Mr. sideburns?" Kraz inquired with a smug grin, his eyebrows doing a wweird wiggling motion.
Taura groaned and rolled her eyes, "Kraz, how many times do I have to tell you we are not together?"
"Oh come on!" Kraz chuckled while bumping his shoulder next to hers, "You two are the only felines in your group and not ONCE did you ever think of...you know... hooking up?"
Taura sent him a withering glare before sighing "To be honest...I don't know. I guess I just never have the time to consider if that is the case between me and Diego..."
Taura looked on into the forest view and had a far away look in her eyes, while Kraz looked at her curiously before shrugging. "Well, for what it's worth, I'm sure whichever guy you pick will be a great mate to you," He smiled softly at her, earning another matching one from Taura as well before they both continued to enjoy the view.
However, Taura looked up at the sky and knew that they've reached way over their one hour time limit for their meetings since the sun was almost up. Hey, what could she say? Cats, especially females, needed their beauty sleep after all!
Taura's eyes widened in panic and she shot up from her spot, making Kraz look up at her worriedly and standing up with her, before quickly jogging off the boulder. "Oh shoot! The group are gonna wake up soon!" Taura gasped before quickly running off while Kraz followed her retreating figure with his eyes.
"Bye Kraz, love ya, see ya soon!" Taura called in his head one last time before she ran off to the distance.
Kraz was left standing there in the boulder alone, but he smiled softly at her retreating figure anyways, knowing that they would meet each other soon.
"See ya later Roo-roo..." Kraz whispered