[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Umeme giggled as Muroki used the cub's own fatigue against them to use the opportunity to clean Ubawa. Sure enough, the cub, while complaining rather loudly, only tried a little to escape before giving up and sulkily accepting his fate. She then grabbed Marini and began to clean their daughter up as well, who unlike her brother, enjoyed the opportunity to rest while enjoying the personal attention given to her by her mother.

With the other two cubs occupied, Delano watched as Lina took Akili in between her arms and also began to clean him. Surprisingly, Akili didn't complain too much, despite normally, much like Ubawa, not enjoying needing to be cleaned. Their son was obviously glad to be with his parents again, no doubt having wondered why he was watched over by Kato in the morning and not them. Hoping that it would distract him from his worries for at least some time, Delano asked their son, "So how weer you this morning? Did you get Marini?" While competitive with both of his cousins, Akili always like to especially go after Marini, who was often better at fighting him off than Ubawa, and was the only girl out of the three of them.

[TheWhistlerify]

With the cubs having played only in the water just now, giving them a bath was more for the sake of drying up their fur before the wetness would help them catch any unnecessary dirt rather than actually cleaning the little hairballs. Not that it made any difference to the trio, seeing how the process was the same for them. It didn't take very long for Muroki to finish up with Ubawa, and once he did he simply rested his head down in front of the cub, chuckling at the still grumpy look on his son's face.

Akili was far too tired to complain about his bath let alone even try to escape it so his mother didn't really have to deal with either one of these this time around. It was to be expected, seeing how his smaller size meant the effort on his part in comparison to his cousins was much higher. Looking up at his father, the cub shook his head. "No..." he still remembered that one time where he did manage to pin Marini, and, naturally, he was still just as determined to get her again.

[DGFone]

Delano hadn't really expected Akli to succeed again, but he still felt somewhat disheartened when his son confirmed that he hadn't pinned his cousin. Perhaps it was due to everything that had gone on this morning, that Delano wanted something to feel glad about. Ignoring his own feelings, he was able to smile at his son and add, "well, it will happen again soon. You did it once before." From the looks of it, Akili understood this and so Delano didn't say anything else.

With Lina busy, he allowed his gaze to wander off, and he soon found himself loosing track of time, not even noticing as sometime later, the three cubs went off to play again, this time outside the water. He was still busy thinking about that lion, and how to best stop him. Despite Lina's concerns, he still thought it best that he act as bait to lure the lion out into their own trap. At least, that plan gave him the feeling of being in control, something that for a long time he didn't feel like he had.

However, there was still the matter of telling that to the king. As much as Delano rather regretted saying it, he did promise Lina to do whatever the king would tell him to, and the chances that his plan wouldn't be taken up were very high. Feeling rather agitated about the whole thing, Delano hoped that at least, even if the plan won't be accepted, that something else would be thought up.

[TheWhistlerify]

With their son and daughter back to playing with their cousin, Muroki and Umeme were able to turn their attention to each other again. Kato seemed to be taken a nap so he most likely wouldn't be interrupting them, and the two could allow themselves to focus on one another without worrying about being rude by ignoring the younger lion.

Nuzzling his mate tenderly, Muroki couldn't stop himself from thinking that, technically speaking, they were still supposed to be off alone having the day all to themselves. "Umeme, I'm still sorry that today hasn't gone as we both wanted it to..." he said quietly as he rubbed his head against hers. It was almost hard to believe seeing how well the morning had started

It was clear that going over to Hatari made it much harder for him not to think about his worries. But it wasn't Hatari's fault or Umeme's for that matter. He couldn't blame the lioness for wanting to use the opportunity to see how their friend was doing, especially after the fight. And with how unstabable he himself has been recently, it was possible she might have felt as though it could take some time before another chance to see the former member of the underworld presented itself.

[DGFone]

Umeme was somewhat startled by Muroki's actions, but quickly recovered herself and returned the nuzzle. "It's okay, Muroki, really," she replied, "it's nothing to worry about. We can always try again later. Besides, I kinda like it here as well..." After all, their cubs were behaving for now, and they were talking to each other and for the most part, simply enjoying each other's company, which is not that different than what they would have done otherwise. She didn't even feel all that disappointed that the day had turned out the way it had: they really did rush things considering how Muroki was not long ago.

"The only thing is... I can say that I wanted to stay with Hatari for a bit longer," she admitted after a short while, "I guess I am somewhat worried about him being all alone out there." She knew that it was going to Hatari, and outside the border, that had put her mate on the edge, so Umeme didn't think that it was wise to try again soon. "Perhaps, when Delano will be up to it, all four of us can go together." From what she can tell about her brother-in-law's recovery, it won't be too long from now.

Nearby, Delano heard his name, but as he turned his head to see Umeme and Muroki talking to each other, he decided to ignore it and placed his head on his paws. Having spotted Kato asleep, he decided that grabbing his own nap would be a good way to pass the time, especially because of how he was feeling. Closing his eyes, he allowed himself to drift off into an uneasy rest.

[TheWhistlerify]

Hearing Umeme once again say that she didn't have a problem with the way the day has turned out did offer Muroki some comfort but, naturally, there was still a part of him that wished it could have gone according to plan. He wouldn't be surprised if the same thing could be said about his mate, even if she would never admit to it for the sake of making him feel better about this whole thing.

Sighing softly, he gently pulled the lioness closer to him, licking her across her muzzle as he did. "I know..." Ironically enough, it was being out of the border, where Hatari lived, that caused him to fe uneasy and made it impossible for them to stay with him for very long. "I hope he'll be alright..." This was Hatari they were talking about but, even if the lion they were up against was working alone, he was still very dangerous.

[DGFone]

Umeme allowed herself to be pulled in closer to her mate. "Well, he's been all right so far," she said slowly, thinking about it so that she can calm both Muroki as well as herself down. "I think he will be all right for a few more days." She was certain that they would be able to visit again in no time at all. After all, there was no reason why they can't try going to Hatari again if it would be all four of them. A part of her suspected that Muroki hadn't felt safe today, which was why he had reacted so poorly to being there. If all four of them went, he should be able to feel safer about visiting their friend.

While Delano wasn't exactly mobile yet, just yesterday he wasn't even able to walk around on his own, so with his current rate of progress, he shouldn't take too long before they can go. From what Umeme understood, the fight with Sanders hadn't gone well until Hatari showed up, so while she remembered how uncomfortable Delano would get around Hatari, she was certain he wouldn't mind going again this time, therefore providing Muroki the chance to try again as well.

For now though, she was content to sit here with her mate and enjoy his company, especially as he licked her behind her ears. Giggling quietly, she noticed that apart from the cubs, everyone else around them looked to be asleep. Frowning playfully, she muttered to Muroki, "I hope the cubs will continue to behave for now. Looks likes we're the first and only thing between happiness and disaster." True, they can always wake Kato up, since he did promise to watch over the cubs, but with the two of them here, Umeme didn't see the point. As long as the two of them didn't get carried away too far, everything was going to be fine.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki had to admit that the idea of all four of them going over to visit Hatari sounded a whole lot better, not to mention that Kato might be available to tag along as well. Even if he still wasn't too certain or happy about Hatari being all on his own out there, going out of the border and not feeling complete dread as a result did sound nice. The possibility of the cubs coming as well immediately crossed his mind seeing how their presence was bound to lighten up their mood, but the lion quickly dismissed the idea.

If anything, having the hairballs there would only make him more paranoid, not to mention that he still didn't want them to go anywhere that could be dangerous. It was going to take him time before he would feel comfortable about taking them to see Hatari again...

Speaking of the little ones, Muroki then noticed that he and his mate were prety much the only pairs of eyes capable of watching them at the moment. Well, so long as the noise they made didn't start sounding too far off or suddenly stopped or something else, there wasn't really any need to look in their direction all that often. Chuckling at the sound of Umeme's giggling, he carried on with what he was doing. "I think we'll manage." he said, playfully pressing his muzzle against hers as he embraced her more tightly.

[DGFone]

Umeme smiled as she felt that Muroki was liking the idea as well. She chose not to say anything else though, because he was busy playing with her fur and she didn't want to say anything that might cause him to stop. With the trio of cubs playing around, although not in the shallows like before, she also agreed that they were enough to keep order. If they will need to, they can wake someone else up...

...But for now, she was enjoying what Muroki was doing to her, and didn't want it to stop. As the time went on, while he did eventually ceased to play with her fur, the two of them didn't move away much from one another. In fact, quite some time had passed when she was interrupted from her daydreams of running around with Muroki when Ubawa and Marini came over, complaining about being tired. "Oh, all right," Umeme muttered, separating herself from Muroki, who also looked surprised at the cubs' appearance, "you can rest right here."

Knowing that they would soon start complaining about her and Muroki anyways, Umeme made some room between her two front paws for them to settle down into.

---

Delano was woken up from his nap when he felt himself being poked in the nose by something soft. Opening his eyes, he saw Akili staring at him, looking rather embarrassed to be there. "Akili? What's wrong?" Looking around, Delano didn't see anything that might be of any concern. Ubawa and Marini were over by their parents, and Kato was also nearby, still asleep, as was Lina next to him. Sighing slowly, Delano felt like he might as well help his son out without waking her, even if he didn't feel like dealing with cubs right now too much.

[TheWhistlerify]

It was mostly the sudden coldness when Umeme separated herself from him that caused Muroki to realize that their son and daughter were really right there. The two little hairballs were bound to have grown fatigued eventually, so it couldn't really be helped. As a matter of fact, it was a surprise that he and his mate managed to enjoy some peace and quiet for as long as they had.

Still, regardless of the interruption and despite feeling quite disappointed that their moment was cut brought to an end himself, the lion couldn't help but smile as the two cubs settled down between Umeme's paws. It was Marini who huddled closely to her brother, who seemed too exhausted to pretend to be annoyed by the sudden closeness this time around. With the two of them resting and not paying attention to their parents, there was no reason for the two adults not to at least snuggle like before if they wanted to.

●●●●●●●●●●

With his two playmates no longer available, Akili was faced with no alternative but to go back to his own parents as well. Also, being younger and smaller than his cousins, he was also feeling tired himself by the time they were finished playing. But both Lina and Delano were asleep, and now that he wasn't running around the cub was starting to feel the chilliness of the evening's wind.

He wanted a place to settle down between the two adults where he would be warmer, but the two were lying very closely together as always and it would be very difficult not to mention a bad idea in general for someone his size to try to squeeze in between them. So, waking his father up, Akili slightly hesitated before telling Delano that he was cold as he took the liberty of huddling closer to the lion's chest. But doing so only provided some warmth from the contact while still leaving him exposed to the wind around them.