Hey guys, I'm still stuck on writing for Ice Age, and I'm working on a new chapter for my Love of a Friend fanfic, just so you know. This basically just covers how Shira became part of her pirate family (I like to think of them as a family. A very rough one, but still), and how she won them over. Please tell me what you think.

"Squint." Captain Gutt said in a carefully controlled voice. "What is that?" he demanded, nodding at the squirming leaf he had, as if it had something in it.

"W-Well, uh, Captain, this is-" the wiggling bundle managed to break free of his grasp and tumbled to the floor. It revealed a tiny ball of white fur, staring up at the three adults with curious blue eyes. The cub tilted her head, cooing questioningly.

"Is that a baby?"

"Yes, Captain. A saber, if I am correct." His bird companion, Silas, said.

"Wh-what'll we do with it?" Squint asked.

"Throw it over board." He said simply. Squint took a sharp intake of breath. Normally he wouldn't question his orders, but to throw a defenseless newborn overboard? That was horrible. And for some reason… the babbling baby was actually pretty cute, he kind of wanted it to stay.

"B-But Captain." He protested weakly. "She-"

"She? You mean it's a girl?" he sounded disgusted. He nodded uncertainly. "Then it's definitely not staying."

"But… Captain, look at her. She's so small. She couldn't possibly remember her past, not there's much of it to begin with." Silas said, also feeling pity for the little one. "We could… train her. You know, sabers are hunters that everyone's afraid of; she could be very useful if taught right." He had a (somewhat) fake, but still very convincing, evil glint in his eyes to convince him.

"Alright, we'll give her a chance." He said grudgingly. He turned to look back down at the little one, who was sucking on her paw. Paying no attention to them, she brought it out of her mouth, studying the fur on it, which was matted down from all the slobber on it with great interest.

"Come on, kitty." He coaxed harshly. Upon that word, her head snapped up, her eyes burning with anger, a level of ferocity that shouldn't have been possible for one so young. She pounced on the nearest living thing in sigh, which happened to be Squint. He yelped when her tiny kitten claws dug into his arms, although it didn't really hurt; they were still pretty small and dull. Biting at his ears, she growled angrily.

"Ow! Get off me!" he shoved her off, making her tumble on the deck for a few moments. She looked up with tears brimming in her big blue eyes, lower lip trembling as she made a pitiful whimpering, her breathing choppy.

"Oh no… Squint, apologize to her…" Gupta said as the crew gathered around.

"No way! The little brat deserved it!" he yelled, his hot temper taking over his desire to have her stay. Just then, she started screaming her head, sobbing loudly, tears pouring down her cheeks and making quite a racket. They all clasped their ears in pain, desperately trying to block out her wailing cries.

"Oh, make it stop!" Boris exclaimed.

Gutt smacked the small rabbit upside the head. "Ow!"

"Do something!" the cub giggled momentarily through her sobs, then went back to crying, although not quite as loudly.

"Hey, hey!" Raz said. "She likes that. Do it again." He moved to smack him again, the little girl giggling once more, tears still falling, although not as fast and with no more sobs. After about sixteen more hits and Squint nearly passing out from all the blows, the girl was hopelessly laughing, her feelings of hurt long forgotten.

"Ok… n-now can we keep her?" Squint asked, stumbling around in circles before collapsing from the dizziness.

"You know, I think I could get used to this kid." Raz said, trying not to laugh at Squint's dazed expression.

"And she certainly knows how to attack those who make her mad." That earned the bird some questioning looks. He nodded to the slightly red scratch on the rabbit's ear.

"So what're we gonna call her?" Raz asked, petting the cubs head rather affectionately. "I was thinkin' Shira."

"Shira…" Gutt tried it out, it sounded ok. "Why?"

"It means loyal, determined, and independent. Should make her a good pirate."

Sounded ok to him. "Good enough for me." He went to climb the mast.

"Wait, sir." She called. "What should we do with her?"

"Just keep an eye on her!" he snapped, climbing up.

She shrugged and bent down to get a good look at her. Pretty strong, healthy looking, good enough. She picked her up around her middle, letting the cub bat at her other paw playfully. "You know." She spoke in a low voice so no one would hear her. "You're actually a pretty cute little squirt, you know that?"

She just babbled at her before yawning and snuggling into her chest, purring and sighing. Raz, despite being tougher than tough, with a hard core and hardly ever showed emotions other than anger, hostility, and aggression, was still a girl and felt her heart melt at the sleepy newborn cuddling her. With a soft smile that was above and beyond unnatural for the rough-and-tumble kangaroo, she gently rocked the sleeping baby as she slowly hopped to a quieter part of the ship, underneath the high-rise platform which had been hollowed out.

Setting up a couple dead branches like walls to make sure she didn't roll away and laying down a few leaves for a soft bed, she gently went to lay the baby down. However as she turned to grab a leaf for a blanket, the young Shira started whimpering in her sleep, squirming around slightly.

"Oh…" her hard exterior crumbling, she quickly emptied her pouch of all weapons and again picked up the baby girl. As soon as she was back in warm arms, she settled down into a once again peaceful sleep.

She sat the tiger cub inside, feeling her shift to get comfortable, then falling still and silent. Hey, she may not have been a joey, but she fit nicely, so she didn't mind. After all, she could tolerate swords and daggers and such bouncing around in there all day, so she could most definitely handle one very small, very tired few day old baby.

After a while, she realized with a start that, whether she liked it or not, the little cub had snuck into her heart and wrapped herself around it. Things were definitely going to be different around here with little Shira running around, that was for sure.

So how'd I do? Was it ok? Please tell me, and I'm always up for ideas that I could throw into one of these one shots. Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier, I don't own Ice Age. Never could, never will. Please review, tell me what you liked, pointers, ideas, anything and everything's appreciated. Next chapter should be up soon.