[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Not knowing what Muroki would do when he would come across Hatari, Umeme ran as fast as she could to the waterhole. She only hoped that she would arrive t find nothing amiss and go back. But her feelings were telling her otherwise.

Sprinting past the now getting-all-too-familiar trees and stones that lay on the path to the waterhole, many different situations played out in her head. Last night, Muroki seemed very calm and collected after she told him everything. But this morning he left without even waking her up, much like yesterday, except that this morning he had clearly taken precautions to make sure that she would still be asleep when he left. Unlike yesterday. For many different reasons, this did not feel right.

She finally made it to the waterhole, but no one was there. As she regained her breath from the mad dash over here, she scanned everywhere she knew either Muroki or Hatari might be, even up in the trees, but she didn't see any lions around. Umeme was about to tell herself that she was simply overreacting and that Muroki did not go here when she heard growling coming out from the den nearby.

He heart sank. Even though the growl was quite dim, she knew Muroki too well to know that it was he who was causing it. Without hesitation, she bolted to the den and stopped at the entrance, frozen with shock and fear at what she saw.

Muroki had Hatari pinned to the ground, his paws pressed hard against Hatari, making sure that the lion could not escape. But what made Umeme afraid the most was the shear crazed rage in Muroki's glare. She had never seen anything like that from him before. It scared her.

Rooted to the spot, afraid to go near the two lions, Umeme did the only thing she could think of. She opened her mouth and growled as loudly as she could.

"Muroki, what are you doing?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Spoiler: show

I hope this lives up to your expectations of a "nice surprise tomorrow morning".

Muroki was so caught up in his fit of fury that he did not hear Umeme when she tried to talk to him, nor did he even notice that she was there. It was the look of pure dread in Hatari's eyes that made him regain his bearings. In all honesty he had never planned to cause Hatari any harm, but he couldn't stop himself from being angry now that he was face to face with one of the lions who was involved in killing his parents. He was still far from calmed down, but he did seem to be confused, shocked and even horrified by his expression of uncontrollable rage a few moments ago.

Hatari, on the other paw, did hear Umeme but he could not get himself to look away from Muroki's eyes. First it was the sheer, unadulterated hatred in them that got to him but that look in the lion's eyes soon changed to astonishment, anxiety and sadness. It was unbearable to look at, and yet Hatari couldn't look away. It might have sounded like an exaggeration, but Hatari would have rather died instead of being forced to see the first friend he's had in a long time look at him like that. That, added to all of his guilt, was just too much to put up with. "Just go ahead and get it over with..."

Muroki's eyes widened in shock. Was Hatari really suggesting this? "But make it quick... please..." It was difficult to explain, but the look on Hatari's face told Muroki everything he needed to know. He knew more than well that Umeme was right. "What are you waiting for?!" asked Hatari after a short silence, tears forming in his eyes. "I killed your parents! I've taken the lives of so many innocents! If revenge is what you want then you have to kill me!"

Muroki remained frozen where he was. He continued to look into Hatari's eyes for what seemed like eternity before the mixed expression of anger and fear disappeared from his face altogether. "Do I have the right?" he asked at last, getting a silent stare of shock in response. Those were five words Hatari doubted he would ever forget. With no sign of hesitation or reluctance, the slightly larger male stepped backwards, letting Hatari go. "What would killing you achieve, anyway? It won't change anything." He took in a deep breath, his entire figure shaking as a single tear rolled down his cheek. "You can't change the past..."

It was only then that Muroki noticed Umeme was there. True, she had a somewhat relieved expression on her face, but he could see in her eyes that she's been there long enough to see him lose it just a minute ago. Feeling ashamed and even afraid at her having seen him like that (even he was still shocked because of it), he slowly walked past her without saying a word before breaking into a run, only stopping some distance away from the den. Turning around upon hearing his mate's voice, he couldn't prevent himself from cowering from her when she approached him, fearing that he might end up hurting her in case he ever ended up going into such a rage again.

[DGFone]

Umeme could only stand there when walked past her, not even looking at her. Still shocked at what she saw, it took her a few more moments to get herself to follow him. "Muroki, wait!"

He cowered when he looked at her, and Umeme stopped close to him, unsure if it would be a good idea to get any closer. She had never seen Muroki this furious before, and had never even imagined that it was even possible. But just standing there in silence wasn't going to do anything, and she could see how ashamed Muroki looked. "Muroki... what happened back there?"

Cautiously, she took the last remaining steps towards Muroki and embraced him in a hug. "You really scared me back there," she said again, "I'm don't want to say that you had no right to get angry at Hatari, but... it wasn't even you anymore back there. I didn't see Muroki back there, and I want to know who was it that didn't even react to me as they were about to kill someone else."

As Umeme continued to hug the trebling Muroki, she couldn't help but think that if she had not told Muroki everything last night, non of this would have happened.

Spoiler: show

Yes it was. And I see you changed your avatar back to the first one

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki seemed to become more hesitant the closer Umeme came, and when she asked him for an explanation he couldn't help but look down at the floor in shame. He'd have given her an answer, or at least attempted to think of one, but he honestly had no idea what had happened back there. True, he knew that him confronting Hatari might not be the calmest experience he's been through, but he never expected that to happen. While he'd had no intention of killing Hatari even while at the peak of his rage, he was still scared by himself at having become this angry.

When she then closed the gap between them and embraced him he had to resist the impulse to break away and run off again, especially when she mentioned how much he'd scared her just a few moments ago. It was what he feared he might hear her say. "N-no..." he said in an unstable tone, still shaking uncontrollably. "I- I w-wasn't going to kill him..." It kind of looked like he was from her point of view, probably. "A-and I didn't realize you were there, I..."

Unable to restrain his tears any longer, the lion embraced his mate, feeling somewhat afraid to let her go. "I don't know..." he didn't know who it was back there, but it definitely wasn't him. "I- I'm sorry... I just don't know what came over me..." he paused, taking in a deep breath. "I'm sorry I scared you like that..." he pulled away slightly so that he could look at her. "Y-you know I'd never hurt you, right?" he asked, not knowing what he'd do in case her answered turned out to be a negative one.

Spoiler: show

Felt like it. :3

[DGFone]

Umeme smiled slightly at Muroki. "I know you will never hurt me," she answered, and nuzzled him, trying to comfort him and ease his trebling. She didn't say anything else, instead just letting her presence calm the weeping lion next to her.

Obviously, Muroki had scared himself just as much if not more than he scared her, and Umeme simply wanted to be there for him as he ever so slowly began to calm down. When his shivers slowly died out, Umeme knew that he was beginning to relax and get over what he had almost done.

"So what are you going to do now? If you want to just leave, I'll be fine with it." She knew that Hatari was still inside the den, most likely scared stiff, but Muroki went into a rage, it might be better if they did not see each other anymore, just to be on the safe side.

Spoiler: show

So I felt like it too.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki slowly let out a heavy sigh of relief when Umeme said how she knew he'd never harm her. His biggest fear because of his behavior earlier was that the love of his life might have been driven away from him. He honestly didn't know what he would have done in such a scenario, and he was more than happy that she understood that the last thing he wanted was to hurt her in any sort of way. "I love you, Umeme... I care about you more than anything else in the world..." he said softly, returning her nuzzle.

The lion couldn't help but sigh when Umeme reminded him of why they were there in the first place. As much as he could tell that Hatari was no longer the lion he used to be, he just didn't know. "I don't know..." he said with a sigh, pulling away from her and looking down at the ground. "I know what you were talking about, I can see that he's changed, but... " he paused, feeling more uncertain than he's ever felt about anything before. He felt like the moments he'd spent with Hatari were still real, but maybe it was just too early for him to decide yet.

[DGFone]

Despite the situation, Umeme found herself blushing when Muroki told her that he loved her. Not that she didn't know that already. "I love you too, you know," she teased, but stopped when she saw that Muroki was not yet in the mood for such things. Looks like her attempt at changing the mood failed, but it was worth a try.

When he again talked about Hatari, Umeme nodded, knowing at least somewhat what Muroki was talking about. "If you need more time, both of us can understand." She looked back at the den where Hatari was inside. "You know, yesterday after I told him that he was responsible for the murder of your parents, he was devastated. He said... he said that he didn't deserve to know someone as good as you."

Umeme sighed. "I guess what I am saying is that if either one of you won't be able to get over what was done in the past, it just might be all for the best if you left each other alone. He will understand." A part of her knew that losing Muroki as a friend would be another devastating blow to Hatari, but at the same time, she somehow doubted that Hatari really considered Muroki a friend all things considered right now. But she also knew that finding a replacement friend would be hard for Hatari, and if she had to pick one or the other to spend time with, Umeme would always choose Muroki.

Which really meant that if Muroki would leave Hatari alone for good, Hatari would effectively lose two, and most likely, his only friends. Was it wrong that Umeme didn't really mind? Sure, Hatari had changed, but he did commit all those terrible acts in the past. Muroki on the other paw never did anything to deserve to have his two close family members torn away from him.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki found himself slowly nodding when Umeme said that, if he needed more time, she'd understand. Since he was still so confused by everything that was happening it semed like some time to think was exactly what was necessary in order for him to figure out what he really wanted to do. If he was to keep seeng Hatari, for example, then he would have no choice but to let Delano know. "Yeah, I need some time to think about this..." he said with a sigh, hoping that he would be able to form a solid opinion on the matter soon.

He couldn't prevent a look of surprise from appearing on his face when Umeme told him about Hatati's reaction to discovering that he had killed his parents. "Really?" he asked, not knowing what else to say. "He said that?" So Hatari really did have no idea that the lion he'd befriended was actualluly one of his victims, in a manner of speaking. So that mean that all the moments they'd spent together were real. If it weren't for the knowledge regarding Hatari's past they wouldn't be in this mess. True, that wouldn't undo Hatari's actions, but still...

[DGFone]

"Yeah, really." Sensing that Muroki was ever so slowly changing his opinion about Hatari, Umeme dared herself to go further. "So you want to talk to him...?" Muroki just sat there in silence, most likely thinking. Considering that Muroki had just almost killed the other lion, or at least was very close to hurting him badly, perhaps it wasn't the smartest of ideas...

Then Umeme got another idea. "Listen, Muroki, it might be better if we go home now. A lot has happened today, and I don't think that we want to risk anything happening again... We need to give some time for emotions to settle and to think about it all." She nuzzled him a little. "That sound like a plan? Come on, let's go home."

She was going to let two things happen now. Either Muroki would insist on talknig to Hatari, but she doubted that, or she would go home with Muroki, only stopping by the den to tell Hatari that he shouldn't have to worry for his life from Muroki. Either way, it felt like just staying here was counterproductive in all ways she could see.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki silently sat there, not sure of what to do. On one paw he wanted to go talk to Hatari again, to see if this whole thing could maybe work out like he genuinely wanted it to, but on the other he felt like it was just too soon. He didn't want to risk ending up making the situation even worse just because his emotions were still running a little wild. It seemed like the better option would be to listen to Umeme's suggestion, even if doing so would mean spending more time with this feeling of uncertainty.

With a sigh and a nod of his head, the lion slowly stood back up, managing to smile a small smile as he did. "Okay..." he said quietly, returning the affection by nuzzling her back. He was still a little troubled, obviously, but it brought him comfort to know that no matter what he ended up deciding, no matter what the outcome of this whole ordeal ended up being, Umeme would support him and be there for him. "Let's go home..."