Tigerstar x Princess

『 Note: This is a SFW fanfic. I hope you enjoy it! 』

With the arrival of a gentle autumn, the noise of the ShadowClan kits grew louder and more ferocious.

They ran and pounced amidst the pile of dry leaves. A mess that the apprentices would later have to clean up, a task the clever warriors had passed on to them after receiving a direct order from the Clan’s deputy.

The latter, to his misfortune, had to shoulder the weight and well-being of the group. The new leader, Tigerstar, was in a deplorable state overall.

The tabby pelt that normally looked impeccable and well-groomed in the presence of the other warriors was now messy and ruffled. He felt an unbearable itch behind his ears, his eyes were as dry as clay, and, above all, a thumping hammer inside his skull kept him from thinking clearly.

That same cat who had tried to murder the leader of his former Clan had not foreseen that the conflicts left unfinished after abandoning his rogue life would cause him such distress.

Though things had turned out according to his will and orders, he couldn’t help thinking he had rushed certain moves. Above all, leaving Bluestar alive still caused him a sharp discomfort, compounded by the betrayal of the other warriors, including his former mate, Goldenflower.

He held a more bitter resentment toward the latter, despite knowing deep down that it was complete foolishness on his part.

He had wanted to become the leader of ThunderClan for a long time. He wanted to take command properly, in full view of everyone… leaving the former leader confused and unsettled, perhaps blaming herself for a slight or tragic oversight. But the plan had failed.

Now he would have to take power by force in front of everyone. Even if he had lost the trust of his family and the loyalty of his former Clanmates, he only had the consolation of fulfilling his initial goal.

Yet despite it being the perfect moment to strike, the pain would not let him concentrate!

He had been shut in the gloom of his den since midday. He had barely eaten a bite… and felt his head spinning. It was a horrendous migraine.

He inhaled slowly, expanding his chest and scenting the dampness of the ground, trying to focus.

He got up cautiously, feeling the warm morning light hit his forehead. The caterwauling of his warriors and apprentices finished waking him completely. He could see and hear them clearly, sharp and loud.

He lashed his tail nervously, remaining at the den entrance. Then, he shifted his slitted gaze toward the rear exit of the camp. He had to take a moment to himself to escape all of this.

“Hey, Tigerstar.”

The voice made his ears swivel backward instinctively. His muzzle wrinkled in a sneer of annoyance before he turned and forced a more approachable expression for his deputy, Blackfoot.

“I’m just going out for a morning walk…”

“I know, I know. I just wanted to ask for a little help,” the cat said, spreading his forepaws. “You see, the apprentices have been a bit restless ever since the warriors started delegating every task to them, and lately they’ve stopped listening to my orders. I was wondering if maybe you could talk directly to the warriors, please.”

Tigerstar narrowed his slitted eyes, bringing his nose close to his deputy’s face in a clear display of dominance.

“Those kinds of matters are yours to deal with alone.”

“It’s just that they don’t respect me anymore…”

Tigerstar planted his heavy forepaw onto the cat’s white chest. Blackfoot looked down, curious at the touch, just before receiving a hard, direct shove toward the ground.

He collapsed onto the dry dirt, kicking up a fine cloud of dust. Tigerstar’s muscular strength hadn’t weakened in the slightest despite the migraine.

“If you can’t even stay on your feet after a simple shove, I’d better find a new deputy to replace you soon,” the tabby leader rasped, turning around to walk away as quickly as possible.

Behind him, he only heard the stifled murmurs of his deputy, who remained sprawled on the ground. When he was far enough away, the echo of a brief mew of frustration reached his ears.

Tigerstar moved forward with a firm stride without looking back. The headache squeezed tightly, making him feel as though his ribs were digging into him with every deep breath. The dirt his claws kicked up as he walked made him tense and edgy; he felt he could easily trip if he didn’t keep his eyes fixed on the stones along the path.

His sense of direction, usually impeccable, was beginning to falter. And that, more than a simple nuisance, was a clear sign of weakness.

Could it be that I ate a rotten mouse? If so, I’ll skin the apprentice who gave it to me, he thought angrily.

That was Tigerstar’s last thought before pushing through the final bushes marking the boundary of the forest.

Uncovered before his eyes stood a wooden fence, two fox-lengths and a half tall, the physical barrier delimiting the territory that any Clan cat was strictly forbidden to cross. Venturing into the dangerous Twolegplace was equivalent to certain death.

At least, that was what he remembered his mother telling him when he was just a kit.

Letting out a low snort that made his whiskers vibrate, he ignored any nursery tales. He crouched before the structure, flexed the muscles in his hind legs, and bounded up in a powerful leap to perch on the top edge of the wood.

A faint gust of wind ruffled the fur on his spine. From his high vantage point, he caught sight of the noisy, alien landscape where he had never dared set a claw until this moment.

With the sun perched high in the sky, it seemed like it would be a quiet day. However, he couldn’t help tensing his muscles every time he saw the two legs figures passing back and forth.

He went on high alert, the skin along his back pulling taut… but he flicked his ears to clear his head and leaped down to the other side, dropping to pace forward slowly.

Pressing his muscular body against the walls and using his whiskers to gauge the space, Tigerstar began following the directions he had received from his accomplices.

He started advancing steadily to the left. He kept every sense on maximum alert so as not to get distracted along the way, overwhelmed by the barrage of unfamiliar noises echoing around him.

The mere thought of crossing paths with one of those metal monsters, and having it suddenly swerve out of its path to lunge and hunt him down, gnawed at his guts. It was a primal, instinctual terror that, try as he might, his feline nature could not escape.

As he crossed the streets, he pushed forward flanked by strange, towering structures. The solid edifices that the Twolegs raised toward the sky, erected as if to impose their dominance over the surroundings, kept him baffled.

There was a constant display of lights, blaring noises, and stray cats and dogs scattered on every corner. Some coexisted naturally alongside the two legs; others, on the other hand, were kicked out without a second thought.

He saw several alley cats stealing food from the Twolegs, while other two legs left bowls of mystery food beside the doors. Passing in front of a picture window, he watched a man stroke a kittypet wearing a leather collar on his lap; the same kind of band he remembered around Firestar’s neck when he first arrived at the camp.

Tigerstar let out a tense snort and slipped quickly into a shadowy alley. His head pounded violently, and the heat of the fever scorched his skin beneath his dense pelt.

The absence of territorial scent-marks among the local felines struck him as bizarre. He had heard that BloodClan possessed a formal hierarchy, but he wondered if they worshiped StarClan, or if the warrior ancestors watched over clanless cats as well.

I don’t have time for this nonsense; I just need to find them, he told himself, setting his jaw.

However, his strength collapsed. Retching contorted his abdomen until he vomited onto the stone floor. The remains of devoured mice were violently expelled, leaving him with an empty stomach and a sharp pang in his guts.

Tigerstar gritted his teeth, straightened his back, and resumed his march in a straight line. Only a few streets separated him from his objective. He had to project an infallible image before his future allies. If he managed to exterminate Firestar and his detractors, the accumulated tension would finally disappear.

“Hey… are you okay?”

The soft voice of a she-cat behind him brought his paws to a halt. His stomach rumbled with hunger at the exact moment he turned his neck to pinpoint the origin of the mew.

On a window ledge rested a delicate-looking she-cat. She wore a domestic collar and showed slightly swollen teats, an unmistakable sign of having nursed a litter or two.

Tigerstar narrowed his slitted pupils, let out a low growl, and decided to ignore her. However, his paws felt heavy as lead, his eyelids closed from sheer exhaustion, and his body ended up stumbling blindly against the ground.

After a hard thud of his head against the warm pavement, his ears brushed the Thunderpath before the pain plunged him into unconsciousness.

***

Everything turned to shadow. The sense of relief he expected to receive from StarClan seemed to have manifested, though his body was far from recovered.

His eyelids were heavy, and his throat felt as rough as sandpaper. His muscles had rested, but he had no idea how many hours had passed.

Tigerstar gradually opened his eyes and stretched his claws, colliding head-on with the back of another feline turned away from him. His paw pads sensed the plush texture of a carpet.

The sweet scent of the she-cat from the window filled the air. It was her lying beside him. For a second, their eyes locked, their leather noses accidentally brushing as they moved. The female observed him with curiosity through her green eyes.

“My, what beautiful eyes you have,” she mewed softly.

Tigerstar bristled his spine fur and scrambled back, feeling a stab of pain in his joints. He tried to maintain a firm posture; finding himself disoriented in unfamiliar territory posed a mortal danger.

Where was he? Was this an ambush orchestrated by BloodClan? Had they led him here through trickery to leave him defenseless?

The questions triggered his battle instincts. However, inspecting the surroundings revealed only a Twoleg dwelling, deserted of two legs and furnished with wooden pieces. The only living beings in the room were the she-cat and himself.

“You looked terrible outside, so I brought you indoors. I’m sorry if I scared you; it wasn’t my intention. My name is Princess.”

Tigerstar blinked, suspicious, and took a step forward. His stomach let out a roar so powerful it echoed through the room. Before the tabby leader could unsheathe his claws, Princess darted out of the way with agility.

She walked toward the far end of the room and nudged a ceramic bowl brimming with dry kibble, the typical processed food of kittypets, with her muzzle.

“Here. If you’re hungry, I can share my food with you. I’ve already eaten breakfast, so I have plenty to spare. My owners won’t be back until tonight, so there’s nothing to worry about. Eat a little.”

Tigerstar glared sternly at the dish and struck the bowl away with a sharp swipe of his paw. Despite his rejection, his guts twisted again with hunger.

Ignoring the food, he headed toward the window with a firm stride and spat with contempt. He deemed the female a naive creature for offering shelter to an unknown warrior without gauging the danger.

“I’m leaving. Thank you for… the shelter,” he rasped out.

Princess flattened her ears in a docile gesture, but nodded.

“Alright… Just be careful, you seemed to have a high fever.”

“I must consult this with my Clan’s medicine cat,” he muttered to himself.

Princess pricked her ears upon hearing the key word. Meanwhile, Tigerstar flexed the muscles in his hind legs and launched himself toward the sill.

“You’re a Clan cat?!”

The cat’s sudden screech threw him off balance mid-leap. Tigerstar miscalculated his trajectory, slammed awkwardly against the frame, and crashed onto the floor on his foreleg.

“Damn it!” he roared from the pain of the impact.

Princess sprinted toward him upon realizing he was injured. She reached out her paw to examine him, but the warrior bared his fangs and lashed out with a warning swipe.

The she-cat held his gaze firmly and, causing a strange flutter in the ShadowClan leader’s chest, gently took the affected limb between her pads to assess the damage.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?! This is your fault!”

“Be still,” she ordered without losing her calm.

The firm resolve in the cat’s voice, authoritative like that of a protective mother, took him by surprise. Stunned into stillness, he let the weight of his hindquarters drop to the floor and stared at her, eyes wide.

Princess began examining the injured joint. Resting her weight on her hind paws, she used her soft pads to massage the limb, pressing deftly from the claw up to the exact spot of the contusion.

Then, she pressed the injured paw against her cheek and let out a deep purr that vibrated against the warrior’s fur.

“It’s very hot… your whole body is,” the female murmured. “This doesn’t look good at all.”

Tigerstar let out a low growl. Between the pounding hammer behind his ears, the emptiness in his guts, and the pain in his joint, he felt his pride collapsing.

What an absolute humiliation, he thought, setting his jaw.

Princess inspected the limb for a few more seconds and nodded to herself, as if she had decided on a course of action. She fixed her green eyes on the tabby leader and gestured with her muzzle toward the rug where they had rested earlier.

“Can you lie down there for a bit longer? I know you’re in a hurry, but in your condition you won’t even make it to the corner. I’m going to get something to heal you.”

Tigerstar arched his back and yanked his paw away with a harsh swipe, glaring at her with outright contempt.

“And where do you get off thinking you know how to heal a warrior? Kittypets always think they’re smarter than they are.”

“At least in this, I am.”

The great tabby cat curled back his upper lip, baring a threatening fang, but the female held his gaze without blinking.

“I have raised every single one of my kits by myself, and not one has died on me. So as far as I’m concerned, I’ve beaten death a few times. Now, go lie down. I’ll bring back something that will ease your pain.”

Grunting in annoyance, Tigerstar dragged his body toward the rug. Leaning subtly against Princess’s flank to avoid stumbling, he let himself drop onto the fabric.

The she-cat trotted briskly toward the window, leaped onto the frame, and paused for a moment to look back over her shoulder.

“In exchange… I just want to ask you for a bit of information.”

“Of course, nothing is free,” Tigerstar grumbled. “Out with it.”

Princess twitched her ears in hesitation, but blurted out the question she had been holding back:

“If you know… Rusty… that is, Firestar… or my son Cloudtail, could you tell me if they are all right? They are part of a Clan too.”

Upon hearing the names, Tigerstar’s ears pricked instinctively.

“Firestar?”

“I’m… his sister,” the cat nodded, her eyes clouded with anguish.

The ShadowClan leader’s pupils dilated in surprise before he flattened his ears against his head. He spat out a tense huff and lashed his tail against the floor with a sharp thud.

He kept a frozen silence for a few seconds and growled:

“Not all cats belong to the same Clan… I haven’t the slightest idea who they are.”

Princess lowered her head in bitterness, but forced a small, resigned smile and nodded before disappearing over the other side of the window.

Tigerstar was left alone in the gloom. He curled up on the rug with his claws unsheathed just enough, alert to any sound.

So, Firestar’s sister… What a useful detail. It’ll serve me to leave a bloody message for my enemy the next time he tries to look for his family, he told himself before exhaustion finally overtook him.

When he opened his eyes again, the room felt calm. He had managed to sleep for a couple of hours, though his empty stomach rumbled, demanding food.

He considered leaving immediately, but his muscles still responded clumsily; the only logical option was to wait for the kittypet to keep her word.

Shortly after, the window curtain rustled. Princess returned, carrying a small bundle of medicinal herbs and the fresh body of a fat mouse between her jaws. Tigerstar narrowed his eyes, incredulous at the catch.

“Where did you get that? Which Clan did you steal it from?”

Princess deposited the haul onto the rug and twitched her whiskers with a satisfied air.

“Every mother has her resources. These are my stashes; I tracked and hunted them down myself.”

“Hunted? A kittypet doesn’t know what it means to catch her own prey.”

“Well, if you’re going to turn your nose up at the food my Twolegs leave me, you’d better swallow this mouse unless you want your guts to keep twisting,” Princess replied firmly. “Mind you, I caught it especially for you…”

Tigerstar let out a growl, but necessity won out. He lunged at the rodent, sank his gums into the warm flesh, and began to crush it.

He felt the wetness of blood on his tongue as he chewed savagely, swallowing the bites until the emptiness in his belly was satisfied. As the prey traveled down his throat, the pressure behind his eyes began to give way, and he let out a long gasp of relief.

While he finished eating, he watched Princess crush the leaves with her fangs until they formed a greenish paste. The female applied a portion to his warm forehead and brought the rest to the leather of his nose.

“Swallow this.”

“It smells like rot,” he muttered, jerking his head back.

“You were supposed to eat it together with the mouse.”

“That’ll turn my stomach again. I’m going to spit it out the second it touches my tongue.”

Princess huffed, turned around, and walked toward the corner of the room. Tigerstar followed her with his gaze, feeling a prickle of annoyance at watching her walk away, but the she-cat reappeared instantly, pushing the ceramic dish filled with the Twoleg dry food.

She mixed the medicinal paste into the kibble and set the bowl directly beneath his muzzle.

“Then… swallow this.”

Smack!

The sharp impact of a paw swipe to his cheek echoed through the room. Princess’s stern, direct gaze locked onto his, silencing him instantly.

Tigerstar went rigid, feeling the sting in his whiskers from the blow. Slowly, he lowered his gaze toward the dish, not daring to hold the female’s eyes.

He snorted under his breath and, grudgingly, began to chew the mixture. He thought that if he swallowed quickly he wouldn’t feel the mushy texture, but the dry food forced him to chew deliberately.

He gulped down one piece after another. Without realizing it, the food and the healing plants began to restore strength to his fatigued muscles.

Princess remained standing tall before him, watching his every move until the dish was licked completely clean. Once he was done, the she-cat relaxed her shoulders and let out a soft purr.

“You’re cheeky…” Tigerstar rasped softly, without looking at her directly.

Princess didn’t bother to reply to the insult. Instead, she settled close against his side and pressed the warmth of her maternal belly against the tabby leader’s flank.

Tigerstar felt a sudden heat at the tips of his ears at such closeness; the warmth emanating from the female’s chest enveloped him completely.

Twitching his whiskers awkwardly, he turned his head to lock his pupils onto hers.

“Do you mind if I lie next to you for a moment? There are so many things I want to talk to you about,” Princess mewed, seeking his gaze.

Tigerstar growled and glanced out the window out of the corner of his eye. The golden light of sunset was beginning to stain the glass. He inspected his own paws, bringing his vision into focus on his injured limb, and rested his heavy head on the floor.

He collapsed entirely, exhausted, closing his eyes with the intention of going to sleep to avoid further embarrassment and annoyance. However, the soft, steady purr of the she-cat beside him kept him from drifting off.

Resigned, he kept silent and gave a barely noticeable nod. Princess intertwined the tip of her tail with the big tabby cat’s and nestled even closer. They remained pressed together, flank to flank.

Tigerstar let out a noisy huff through his nostrils and pricked his ears.

“Make it brief,” he grumbled. “And be clear that as soon as I recover, I…”

“Do you think my brother and my son get sick too?” she interrupted.

The question came out with a melancholy tone, heavy with genuine concern. Baffled, Tigerstar raised an eyebrow.

“What?”

“I-It’s just… well… just like you, I’m sure they go through very stressful situations out there, don’t they? I don’t fully understand it. I’m genuinely worried about them being so far away from me. At least I get to see my other kits on the streets sometimes; they’re grown up now. But the only one I know nothing about is my little Cloudtail.”

Princess lowered her head. Tigerstar pricked his ears as he caught the faint sound of a sob.

“My son… could he be sick?”

“He’s probably perfectly fine,” Tigerstar grunted. “That reckless fool is more stubborn and rash than you can imagine. If he’s sick with anything, it’s in the head.”

Princess blinked and swiveled an ear toward him.

“W-What…?”

“And your stupid brother is just as brainless. And fools don’t get sick easily, haven’t you heard that saying? It applies to him to the letter. Even when I faced him nose to nose, or when a plague was going around the camp, that idiot didn’t even sneeze. Do kittypets have some kind of special protection in their blood?”

Tigerstar had been talking to the air without looking at her. But when he turned his neck and set his eyes on her, he discovered that behind the sheen of tears, the cat’s green eyes shone with a beautiful glint that left him completely thrown off.

The tabby leader felt a sudden heat in his ears and lowered his muzzle, flustered.

“W-What are you looking at me like that for?” he mewed.

“So… you do know them?” she probed, her voice breaking. “You know my family in the forest?”

Tigerstar twitched his whiskers nervously. Realizing he had let his tongue slip, he growled and jerked his head away toward the wall.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know my forest family, don’t you? What you said describes exactly how they are. So… are they all right? Oh, heavens above…”

Princess brought her forepaws to her face, torn between laughter and stifled sobs.

“They’re fine… what a huge relief.”

The cat’s body began to tremble from the shock. Tigerstar watched her with surprise. Seeing that the spasms weren’t stopping, he acted out of pure animal instinct: he gently hooked the fur on the female’s back between his teeth and dragged her against his side.

He wrapped his thick tail around hers to hold her steady and contain the shaking.

“I see being overly sensitive and inept is a family trait,” he muttered.

Princess raised her head, and their gazes locked at close range. Suddenly, the racket coming from the street seemed to fade away. Even though the metal monsters kept passing by and flashing beams of light outside, Tigerstar’s thumping headache vanished completely in that instant.

Only the small space between their faces and the faint brushing of their whiskers remained. Tears kept welling from Princess’s eyes; Tigerstar reached out a heavy paw and, with his main pad, wiped her cheeks dry.

“I am no friend of theirs, let that be crystal clear,” he warned in a low rumble.

Princess felt a flutter in her chest and pressed her lips into a smile.

“You’re quite sensitive yourself.”

“What did you say?!” Tigerstar mewed, bristling his spine.

However, before he could protest, he felt the she-cat’s head rest slowly against his chest as her eyes closed.

“I truly believe… that if you got to know each other without fighting… you could be great friends… really.”

Tigerstar opened his muzzle to reply, but the murmur died in his throat as he caught the rhythm of a steady purr. Princess had fallen fast asleep against his chest.

The din from outside returned all at once, startling him. That was when he observed her more closely. A beam of light from a monster swept across the window, illuminating the room’s gloom for a second.

He discovered the cat’s exhausted muscles and dirty pelt, a far cry from the impeccable appearance she had when she rescued him. He also picked up the scent trail of a strange male feline and made out faint scratches beneath her skin, along with a missing patch of fur on her tail.

Tigerstar’s ears pricked into rigid points and his pupils dilated in alarm. A surge of instinctual fury ran down his back: the stench of an unknown male pervaded the female’s fur, and the marks on her body betrayed the harshness of street life.

Tigerstar nuzzled the cat’s back with his snout. In her sleep, she emitted a soft, trembling purr and sought out his scent of pine and damp earth. The smell of the forest seemed to comfort her, for she stopped shaking and pressed even closer to the tabby’s chest.

The ShadowClan leader kept silent and held her firmly against his body. His own muscles still needed rest. He thought for a moment about his Clan duties and grumbled under his breath.

As he pressed his nose against Princess’s, the turmoil of the surroundings grew quiet once more. It was as though only this proximity could bring him calm. Convincing himself that he was doing it solely for that reason, he wrapped his forepaws around the cat.

He gave in to sleep without feeling any pain, enveloped in a strange peace that he knew was a disgrace in the eyes of StarClan… but which, at that exact moment, was the only thing capable of soothing his spirit. A deep, true rest, the likes of which he hadn’t experienced since beginning his ambitious rise in the Clan.

***

The rest was long. Resting his paws was quite comfortable, feeling them against soft fur. Warm. Though somewhat voluptuous.

Voluptuous?

The thought startled him in an instant.

Tigerstar snapped his eyes open as he felt himself kneading Princess’s maternal teats with his paws. After falling asleep, through sleepwalking movements, it seemed he had slid lower than he had been. He noticed that higher up, the fur on the cat’s chest had also been kneaded.

His face flushed red… and he pulled away slowly. He licked one paw… but began cleaning them both with a certain tension. He glanced out of the corner of his eye at the she-cat, who was still sleeping comfortably, and sighed in relief.

That was when he realized his fever was gone.

Tigerstar blinked and began touching every part of his body to confirm he truly felt fine. He stroked his cheeks, his chest, and then his hindquarters and tail. His neck no longer itched, and his eyes felt fresher.

He shook his whole body as if he had just been bathed and realized he had fully recovered his strength. A smile appeared on his face. Even his paw no longer hurt.

At once, Tigerstar turned around.

“Hey, look, I’m healed!”

Tigerstar’s loud tone went unnoticed by the sleeping cat. She seemed to be in a deep sleep. Tigerstar swallowed hard and approached cautiously.

She seemed to be all right. Though, now that he thought about it…

From the time she started taking care of him until now… which appeared to be the early hours of the morning, he hadn’t seen her eat at all. When she returned, he hadn’t noticed her tasting any mouse; her breath only smelled of medicinal herbs.

And that bowl of cat food… was fuller than it should have been.

When Tigerstar placed his paw over her mouth, he noticed her breathing was normal. Her lips weren’t dry, nor was her nose wrinkled. He slid his paw down her body for a moment… and when he touched her stomach, she trembled slightly, wearing a look of anxiety… which then relaxed as Tigerstar began to massage it.

Tigerstar remained silent for a moment. He looked outside, then at his paws. He licked his paws and stood up.

He walked toward the window in silence… and leaped out this time without stumbling.

He turned to look back. The cat was still asleep… but there was no sign that any of her Twolegs had returned, contradicting what she herself had told him.

The silence in the streets, with everything in darkness except for those strange tall posts glowing like fireflies, made leaving the Twoleg nest much easier.

And without a word… Tigerstar took his leave.

***

The noise from the street was what finally woke Princess, hours after having felt a kneading at the level of her stomach. She opened her mouth to yawn softly… and then licked a paw.

She stretched… and sniffed the air.

It smelled… of fresh mouse.

“What…?”

Princess got up carefully, yawning a bit more… and finally shook her head, seeing a tabby figure in front of her.

“Get up, sleepyhead.”

Princess blinked a bit more… and smiled, calmer now.

“Are you going to eat breakfast, or not? Honestly, having to hunt for you when you’re this lazy in the mornings… you have no shame.”

Princess purred and began to take soft bites of the forest mouse Tigerstar had hunted for her.

Tigerstar stood watching her with a vigilant gaze to make sure she ate the whole thing, while tapping his front left paw against the floor and giving slight twitches of his tail out of impatience.

Princess took the last bite and smiled, looking up at him with a slight blush.

“Aaaaaah.”

She opened her mouth, showing that she had eaten it all.

Tigerstar narrowed his eyes and made her chew the remaining scraps thoroughly.

“Forest mice are healthier than street rats. If you don’t eat it all, you won’t get better either.”

Princess closed her eyes, letting Tigerstar help her eat better until she finally swallowed.

The gesture was incredibly gentle. Princess thanked him with closed eyes and a smile. Tigerstar looked away… blushing just the same.

It was the tenth day Tigerstar had come back to visit her since he first met her here. Every morning, making sure to bring her a fresh mouse and staying to see that she ate it completely.

Princess had found it odd at first… but even though he acted cold, the she-cat clung to him with a clear smile and affection.

Purring against his back by surprise, licking him all the way up his neck.

“You take care of me more than you probably take care of your own mate.”

Tigerstar twitched his ears and pulled back a lip, visibly uncomfortable with the question. He nipped her ear and she mewed, but she didn’t pull away.

“Don’t get overly familiar. I’m just returning the favor. That’s all.”

“…It’s not bad… either way.”

Tigerstar released her ear and she walked toward the window to look outside for a while. Tigerstar remained sitting on the rug, watching her back. He twitched his tail… and sighed.

He had already verified it, but he found it hard to understand.

Princess was a spoiled Twoleg cat. But… for some strange reason, her Twolegs hadn’t returned home for several days.

The dry food in her dish that she had offered him had been full because she only ate a little each day. And even so, she had taken the risk of giving it all to him to eat.

Though she probably didn’t think I’d finish the whole thing… Tigerstar thought to himself.

It was possible… that it had caused the she-cat some sadness. And that was why she wasn’t eating properly.

Tigerstar didn’t like that situation one bit.

He was going to stay in his Clan, and he had even told himself he wouldn’t go back.

But as soon as he saw a mouse and hunted it in ShadowClan territory, his body instinctively bolted to bring it to her before she woke up the next morning.

Then, hours later, he would leave. He promised himself not to return. But every dawn he went out and hunted, only to bring it to her.

To the point… where he adjusted his sleeping hours, just to get enough rest to bring it to her at the exact time she always got up.

He didn’t know why… but seeing her eat… gave him satisfaction.

A strange, truly strange… satisfaction.

“Hey, Tigerstar!” Princess mewed from the window. “Are we going out for a walk today?”

“I’m sorry, I am the leader of my Clan. I have… responsibilities.”

Princess kept looking at him… appearing to rethink her response. And with a smile, she mewed to him:

“What if… I invite you on a date?”

The noise, for a split second, vanished once more.

Yet he could see every single fiber of Princess’s pelt moving in the breeze from outside.

Tigerstar twitched his whiskers… and then smirked, chuckling softly.

“I misheard… didn’t I? Mind you, your—”

“A date. A real date. Don’t tell me Clan cats don’t know what one is?”

“Of course we do, but we don’t just go around declaring one out of nowhere!”

Princess smiled in silence and flicked her tail.

“And why not?”

“What? Look, I don’t have time…” The tabby closed his eyes, huffing.

“Tigerstar.”

But he opened them the moment she called his name.

She stood watching him in silence for a moment… and tilted her head to the side, as though saying it… was difficult for her.

“Go out with me… on a date.”

Tigerstar gritted his teeth… and brought a paw to his head, closing his eyes.

All his Clan duties rushed to his mind… and among them, he remembered the lessons for the apprentices.

…He didn’t… feel like doing any of that.

Then he looked back at Princess and growled at her.

“I don’t know what you want that for. What? Now you’re going to say you like me? What a ridiculous kittypet…”

“Well, yes. I like you. I like you a lot, Tigerstar.”

“Ah…”

Tigerstar was left speechless, a shiver running through his entire body.

The first thought that flashed through his mind was the fear of retaliation from StarClan… or from his own Clan. Nobody was aware that he was coming to visit this kittypet.

Tigerstar remained silent. Not because he didn’t know what to do. It was easy. Run away. Evade her declaration… and get the hell out.

But… he didn’t want to. For some strange reason, he couldn’t even do that. His entire being… froze.

What exactly should he do? He couldn’t get involved with a kittypet… to this extent.

Reject her…

He had to reject her. For his sake… and for hers.

He still had to search for BloodClan. He had to stay focused on his goal.

Tigerstar looked at her sternly. And after drawing in a breath of air… he mewed:

“…Whatever you want… Let me out…”

He didn’t even understand what he had just said… but he crushed his own remorse.

Princess smiled at him and signaled for them to go outside together.

Tigerstar felt an inner voice screaming at him. Loudly.

Go back to your Clan! You still have time! You idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot!

But as if it were a bothersome flea, he simply crushed it with his claws until it lay dead on the ground.

Leaving it behind… Tigerstar moved forward.

There was something more important to him right now, something he felt would eventually drive him crazy if he didn’t resolve it.

A strange flutter deep inside him… that made him feel like he was going to lose everything the moment the day ended.

Either way… this would be temporary. Something light. A casual outing.

And then… he would return to his Clan.

And he would promise himself never to see her again in his life.

***

“Mroaaaaw…”

The newborn kit’s mewing was the most annoying sound Tigerstar had ever heard in his life. Even in Clan territory, he had made sure never to be around when they cried or squealed. But no matter where he went, even to the corner of the Twoleg house where he had been sleeping… the noise reached him one way or another.

So he gave up fighting it… and simply lay down near the kit, touching his nose to the little one’s. The kit scrambled up onto his muzzle… squeaking a bit shakily.

“Good grief… seriously… was I ever like this?” he asked himself in all earnestness.

For the image of that little creature… was identical to his own.

Reminding him, deep down, just a little bit… of Bramblepaw.

Princess was sleeping off to the side… taking the kit and setting him back at the level of her maternal teats so he could suckle and leave his father in peace.

Tigerstar purred.

“He never shuts up.”

“That’s how it always goes. But…”

Princess groomed her little one’s head.

“…He is… the most precious thing in the world…”

Tigerstar watched him in silence… and sighed. Wrapping his tail around the kit to keep him warm, he rested his chin on Princess’s head, letting her lean against his chest.

“…More than me?”

“More than you.”

Tigerstar looked at him again… and smiled. Nestling closer to Princess to drift off to sleep.

“Right… well, yeah. Yes he is…” he mewed, before falling asleep once more.

Three full moons had passed since they first met.

Tigerstar… got more involved than necessary while visiting Princess. And without meaning to… he had grown attached to her.

He still left and returned to his Clan. But now he devoted every night to being with Princess and… his son, the kit he had fathered with her.

He still found what he had done hard to believe… but StarClan hadn’t punished him with anything. And the kit seemed strong and healthy.

Tigerstar thought… of Goldenflower and Sasha. But as he inhaled the scent of Princess’s fur… his mind wiped them away.

…With this… most likely… he had become a father to kits with each of them.

…What a warrior… he had turned out to be.

The Clans seemed to be on higher alert. Dog barks could be heard at times… and he knew the Clans were starting to betray one another.

Tigerstar sighed.

…There was something that did cross his mind, and he didn’t know whether to heed it or not. Since the voice telling him to turn back had been crushed long ago… only the voice that soothed his heart persisted.

But… it contradicted everything he had ever dreamed of.

What if… he just stayed here… with Princess, and that was it?

Had any warrior… or leader… ever given up before to make a choice like that?

What would happen to the Clan?

…Either way… he guessed… no one would miss him.

He didn’t want to die, that much was true.

And he still hadn’t found BloodClan.

…In truth, he didn’t even want to find them anymore.

StarClan… what decision… should I make? he thought… finally falling asleep, letting out a heavy sigh despite himself.

The following morning, the rising temperature made it difficult for Tigerstar to head back to his Clan. The main reason was that he had detected the beginnings of a fever in his kit.

Princess tried to calm him, assuring him the little one would recover on his own. However, for Tigerstar, who had just suffered through the exact same illness, sitting on his paws was not an acceptable option.

The kit retained an enviable energy; vitality practically seeped from his skin. Nevertheless, staying cooped up inside that space of his own free will gave the ShadowClan leader the opportunity to witness a scene entirely unprecedented in his life.

Normally he would have departed at dawn, but this time he decided to stay and guard the kit alongside Princess.

He had never noticed that a newborn’s ears twitch slightly while suckling. The way he nursed from his mother’s teats was adorable, and even a bit amusing.

Princess gave him a gentle nudge with her nose on his cheek when she noticed he had been staring at them for too long. Tigerstar could only manage a faint smile.

When he stepped outside to hunt a mouse, he couldn’t get the kit out of his head. He was such a vulnerable creature. It seemed absurd to bring another feline into the world just for him to live under the thumb of Twolegs instead of running free in a Clan.

She should have at least thought it through better, Tigerstar pondered to himself.

After catching a plump rodent, he returned to Princess. The two shared the prey and, between bites, Tigerstar broke the silence with a low mew.

“What if I take the kit with me to the Clan?”

Princess stared at him intently and twitched her ears.

Ah, so he inherited that gesture from his mother, the tabby leader thought.

“I don’t think that’s right,” the kittypet answered softly. “Besides… your Clan must be worried about you, right? If they see you return with someone else’s kit, they’ll ask questions.”

“What does it matter? If I set my mind to it, I can make sure to shut their mouths. If you’re worried about the little one’s well-being… you could come with me. I’d guarantee you a very comfortable nest in the den.”

“My brother explained to me what life in the forest is like,” she replied. “I don’t think it’s a suitable environment for me. I let him take my first kit because at the time I didn’t feel capable of raising so many at once. But now I have the chance to be more careful with this new son.”

Princess pressed her leather nose against the kit’s head and, right after, nuzzled Tigerstar’s cheek with her snout.

“I don’t know if it’s asking too much, but… could you stay and raise this kit with me?”

Tigerstar’s mind went completely blank. An unhinged grimace spread across his face, reaching the base of his cheekbones. He felt deeply uncomfortable.

“I can’t. I simply can’t do that. I’m sorry.”

“I see…”

Princess’s gaze fell, temporarily losing its shine.

Tigerstar maintained a tense silence.

The kit unlatched from his mother and began crawling awkwardly toward his father’s foreleg. He latched onto it with both little front paws and tried to climb up him.

Tigerstar remained motionless while the little one scrambled up his muscular back until he crested his head.

Princess, however, avoided looking at them.

Tigerstar flicked his tail and looked up. The kit greeted him from above with a vibrating purr.

“He’s strong,” the tabby muttered. “If he were to become a warrior…”

“Have Clan kits ever been asked if they actually want to be warriors?” Princess interrupted.

Tigerstar twitched his ears. The little one’s playful squeaking echoed in his ears, but the she-cat’s question threw him off focus, leaving him hesitant.

“Being a warrior is the natural aspiration of any kit,” Tigerstar mewed. “It grants you honor, respect, and great alliances. Besides, StarClan watches over your life.”

Princess raised her head and held his gaze. Then, she flattened her ears against her skull.

“Is that how your life in the Clan has been?”

Tigerstar kept silent for a long moment.

“It was.”

“And even so, you consider life here to be worse?”

“For him, it might be different.”

Princess approached him, took the kit by the scruff, and settled him onto her own back. Then she locked her pupils back onto the leader’s.

“I don’t want it to be different. Not for him.”

“What fate awaits a kittypet in this place, then?”

“Whatever he chooses to be. Literally anything.”

Princess lowered the kit to the rug and licked his head tenderly. The little one purred, snuggling against his mother’s belly.

“I want him to be everything he wishes to be and to reach any goal he sets for himself. That’s what I long for him: to choose how he wants to live, and to visit me only if he feels like it. I don’t care about anything else.”

She wrapped the little one with her tail in a protective gesture.

“I want him to be happy. The happiest of all.”

A solitary tear ran down Princess’s cheek. Tigerstar swallowed hard. Despite the dull roar of the monsters coming from the street, he moved. He drew near Princess and rested his snout on her head.

He remained silent.

For an instant, he looked back on his entire journey: from his apprentice days to his rise as a warrior, deputy, and finally leader. He had given an entire lifetime in service to the Clan.

He looked at his own claws and let out a heavy sigh.

Had he truly been happy?

If his relationship with ThunderClan and with the rest of the cats was on the brink of collapse, he wouldn’t be able to offer a peaceful existence to this kit either. Princess clung to the young one with a visceral instinct.

I don’t want things to end like this, he told himself.

Tigerstar didn’t fully understand the nature of his emotions, but the tightness in his chest was sharp enough to force him to act.

He wrapped his thick tail around the bodies of Princess and the kit, and gave a warm lick to the heads of both.

If allowing his son to follow in his footsteps meant condemning him to the same torments he suffered, perhaps the wisest choice was to take a different path.

But would he be capable of giving up everything he had built?

What could weigh more than the warrior code at this stage of his life?

What made Princess any different from the mates he had had in the past? What made this kit distinct from his previous litters?

“Daddy…” the kit mewed.

Tigerstar lowered his snout as he felt the little one latch onto his paw between his own once more. Princess turned toward him and their gazes met again, melting into absolute silence.

Above any other doubt, the question that tormented Tigerstar most of all was just one:

Why did he feel so downcast when, for the first time, everything seemed to be alright?

He closed his eyes tightly and opened them again.

As he observed his surroundings, he noticed Princess was gently twitching her ears. Tigerstar mimicked the movement with his own as the she-cat raised her gaze to hold his eyes once more.

And Tigerstar… twitched them. Barely.

“Damn it… how do you even do that?”

“What?” Princess mewed, tilting her head.

“That. The thing with the ears. You two make it look so easy. Look…” Tigerstar tried to move them in front of both of them, but only managed to twitch one. The other remained completely rigid on his skull.

A sharp squeal broke the silence. The kit let out a playful squeak and mimicked his father’s posture, shaking both ears with ease in an attempt to teach him.

Princess watched the two felines. Tigerstar pressed his snout tight, pulling his mouth into a flat line while flexing his facial muscles to concentrate. This time he managed to move the opposite ear, but the first one stayed paralyzed.

The female kept quiet for a second, but couldn’t hold back her laughter. She let her body fall sideways onto the floor and began to laugh openly, rhythmically thumping the rug with one of her forepaws.

The kit continued demonstrating the movement to his father. Tigerstar let out a long sigh and gave the little one a loving lick on the head. The small kit purred loudly before running to his mother to repeat the demonstration.

Princess laughed heartily again, tucking her forepaws against her chest.

The tabby leader approached them and sighed with a suppressed smile.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to give this kit the best upbringing. The only things I know are the rules and customs of the Clans. But…”

Tigerstar lay down on the rug. A small chuckle escaped his chest as he saw his son continuously mimicking the ear gesture over and over again.

“Maybe it’s my turn to learn the ways of the streets.”

Princess held his gaze and flicked her tail with elegance. Her green eyes suddenly lit up. Though her paws remained still, she stretched her neck to bring her snout close to her mate’s.

“Then…”

“If this kit is going to live on the streets one day, we had better teach him right,” he interrupted, resting his damp leather nose against the she-cat’s. “But I don’t even know how life in this place works myself. I’ll have to learn from scratch. Though I warn you, I am no easy student.”

Princess smiled and wrapped her forepaws around him, welcoming the kit into the warm space between their bellies.

“Are you sure…?” she murmured, her nose pressed against his chest, hiding her face so he wouldn’t see her right then.

Tigerstar took a deep breath. He tried to summon the image of his Clan, but the memory simply dissolved in his mind. He drew his tongue firmly over the she-cat’s head, smoothing the bristling fur on the nape of her neck.

“Teach me… how to be a foolish kittypet.”

Princess raised her face, revealing eyes bright with tears. Tigerstar pushed his snout forward to close the distance, but she was the one who lunged ahead to lick his muzzle eagerly.

The kit had to scramble hastily up his mother’s back to keep from getting squished between the two massive bodies, tumbling onto his bottom onto the rug off to the side.

The young one watched his parents intertwined, one on top of the other, without fully understanding what they were doing. Even so, he let out a cheerful purr and scampered over to tangle himself between their paws to play with them.

In that moment, in the gloom of the room, absolute peace reigned.

Extra

The First Date

Tigerstar never thought such a beautiful place could exist in the Twoleg streets. Among the pink and yellow flowers, varieties that rarely bloomed in his Clan’s territory, the green-eyed she-cat calling out to him from the middle of the thicket looked even more striking.

Princess had led him to a meadow of lush grass, bounded by high stone walls. In the center of the enclosure stood a thick-trunked tree that cast the perfect shade to rest for hours under the sultry heat of the sun. Its branches were packed with birds chirping endlessly. That corner seemed like a true paradise for resting.

Not long ago, he had accepted the “date” the female had proposed. In his warrior mindset, cats went out together to patrol, hunt, or carry out specific Clan duties. A stroll with no clear purpose felt baffling to him, but he decided to give it a chance.

At this hour, a few Twolegs walked in the distance. Being such a wide-open space, the area felt peaceful and empty. The two legs remained focused on their own affairs, sitting on benches or chatting while standing. Tigerstar noticed that many were moving in pairs, flanking one another.

He strode forward with a steady step alongside Princess, keeping his muscles tense and alert to any approaching two legs. Looking down at their limbs, the she-cat gently brushed the tip of her tail against his, letting out a deep purr. The contact caught him off guard, and he jerked his tail away instantly in a defensive reflex.

“And what exactly are we doing here? Is this your usual mouse-hunting ground?” Tigerstar inquired, pricking his ears.

“Not necessarily… There’s hardly ever prey around this area. But there’s a very fresh breeze blowing.”

“The air in Twoleg territory always reeks of smoke,” the tabby leader grumbled. “I doubt it smells any different here.”

In response, Princess brushed the tip of her tail against Tigerstar’s damp nose, covering his muzzle for a second. The warrior let out a dull huff, but she gave him a slight smile.

“Just follow me.”

Tigerstar didn’t object and followed her in silence along the grassy path. He detected no threatening scent marks or crouching cats around them. He wondered if it was truly safe to lower his guard on such open ground, and why the female moved with such ease.

She looked in every aspect like a kittypet. Tigerstar realized he had never asked her the reason her Twolegs hadn’t returned to the house, which had likely pushed her to venture beyond the wooden walls.

He remembered the taste of the dry food she had given him when he was sick with fever. That granulating food had left his stomach full, surely because she didn’t want to swallow it either.

“We’re here,” the she-cat announced, stopping by the base of the great tree.

A gust of wind ruffled the fur on Tigerstar’s back. The warrior raised his ears in confusion.

“And what do we do here now?”

“Breathe the air.”

“Wait… were you serious about that?”

“Try it,” Princess insisted, taking a step toward him and letting out a small, bossy huff.

Tigerstar wrinkled his snout to suppress a growl. He sighed loudly, raised his head, and began to sniff the morning wind, letting the icy breeze enter his nostrils.

The scent trail didn’t seem like much to him. He wondered what point there was in standing there with his head raised like a fool in the air when…

Mwah.

Tigerstar’s gaze dropped suddenly. His lips, pressed tight until that instant, met directly with Princess’s, who had lunged forward to lick his muzzle firmly.

The big tabby cat froze, his muscles stiff and his claws half-unsheathed over the earth. The shock of the sudden display of affection kept him from reacting right away.

Princess stepped back a pace and passed her forepaw over her face, smoothing her whiskers. She raised her green eyes to the warrior and smiled mischievously at him.

“You didn’t like it?”

Tigerstar kept silent as a shiver ran down his spine from head to tail. No one had ever taken him by the snout by surprise like that. His mind went blank. He lashed his tail in a clumsy motion, unable to hide the heat starting to rise to his ears and cheeks under his fur, laying bare the satisfaction the gesture brought him.

Princess purred softly. She turned around and walked toward the bark of the tree, placing one of her pads against the wood. Tigerstar remained motionless in his spot.

“This is where Twolegs and cats come to leave marks when they go out together. Two Legs do it often, but I’ve seen several felines copy the custom. Look.”

Tigerstar narrowed his pupils and approached with slow steps, still somewhat numb. At a cat’s eye level, the bark bore deep scratches and overlapping grooves.

Before he could question the tradition, Princess unsheathed her claws with a sharp click. The tabby leader tensed his muscles in alarm, but the female merely began to carve the outline of a heart onto the trunk. Right after, she narrowed her eyes, stuck out the tip of her tongue in concentration, and began tracing the warrior’s face inside the shape.

Although the mark turned out rough and crude on the wood, it bore an obvious resemblance to his features.

Princess took a step back, yielding the space in front of the bark to him.

“It’s a token of my affection. What do you think?”

Tigerstar examined the carving carefully.

“Is my face really that wrinkled?”

“What?!” Princess exclaimed, turning to look at her own artwork.

“Look at the lines on the cheek. They look like wrinkles.”

“They aren’t wrinkles, they’re your tabby stripes!”

Tigerstar narrowed his pupils as he saw the she-cat huff and puff her cheeks in indignation. He swallowed hard to hold back a taunt and, relaxing his back, unsheathed his long claws. With firm strokes, he drew the female’s head right beside his own, inside the same wooden heart.

It took him a few seconds to complete the outlines before stepping back.

Princess’s silhouette had turned out even more crooked and lopsided than the first one.

The kittypet stood open-mouthed, gazing at the carving. The two locked eyes in a tense silence.

“And what are those marks on my face supposed to be?” she asked.

“They’re wrinkles.”

“You nerve!” Princess mewed.

Laughing openly, she pounced onto his chest. She tried to land a play-bite on his forepaws, but miscalculated her momentum and ended up sinking her fangs softly right into the great warrior’s muzzle.

“Ow-Ouch…” Tigerstar muttered, turning his snout aside from the nip.

Princess pulled away instantly, flattening her ears against her head.

“W-What? Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

But Tigerstar didn’t relent.

He sprang up with agility, tensing the powerful muscles in his hind legs, and pounced on Princess. He clamped down on the scruff of her neck with his teeth and pinned her against the grass, covering her body completely.

The she-cat let out a soft mew of surprise that immediately turned into a raspy, warm groan.

“A-Aaah…”

Tigerstar’s pupils dilated. Releasing his grip on her neck, he remained standing over her, gazing down at her from above. Princess had flushed cheeks and a feverish face beneath her fur.

The tabby leader blinked, fascinated. She looked even more beautiful.

The bed of yellow flowers surrounding them highlighted the pale tone of her coat. Not even the heavy leather collar around her neck could eclipse the natural grace of her form.

Tigerstar lowered his snout just millimeters from hers. Princess rested the pads of her forepaws against the warrior’s broad chest.

The tabby watched her in silence for a second and, yielding to his instinct, sought her lips. He pressed his burly torso against the she-cat’s belly and kissed her firmly, parting his jaws to deepen the contact and eagerly devour her mouth.

The stillness of the surroundings kept his heart beating at a measured pace, but as he felt the tremor in the kittypet’s muzzle, his own pulse began to race out of control.

As he pulled back, he ran his tongue over his lips. The she-cat gazed up at an imposing tabby warrior with a dazed look, heavy breathing, and cheeks flushed from the encounter.

Likewise, the tension of the moment had made his body react: his dick was already showing erect between his hind legs, though the leader himself was only just beginning to realize it.

Princess looked down toward the area, her breath catching in a short gasp.

“Don’t you think you’re rushing things a little?”

“What…?”

It took Tigerstar a moment to process the comment. Following the direction of her gaze and noticing the stiffness of his prick, heat rushed to his ears all at once. Reflexively, he curled his thick tail between his legs to hide his cock.

Princess, however, reached out with one of her forepaws and softly stroked the bulge, keeping him from covering himself completely.

“I’m not saying… I don’t want to, either.”

A dense, electrifying silence took hold of them both. Princess rose carefully, keeping her eyes fixed on him with open curiosity. She slid her damp nose up the warrior’s neck and breathed in his scent deeply, filling her lungs with his wild trail.

Right after, she gestured with the tip of her tail toward the thicket of some nearby bushes.

Tigerstar swallowed hard with difficulty.

“Over there…?”

That was still unfamiliar territory to him. Truth be told, any unknown corner of the Twoleg place aroused a slight, watchful tension in him. Yet after holding the she-cat’s gaze, he remained silent.

Because he couldn’t deny that, in the deepest part of his being, he wanted the exact same thing.

---

Author’s Note:

Thank you all so much for reading the fanfic! This time I’ve focused much more on character development. As you’ll see, this fanfic, unlike others, is a SFW (Safe for Work) one. There are still many fanfics I want to write, but I’d like to get some feedback this time about what you thought of this one. I put a lot of effort into it. Good night, everyone!