[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Umeme squealed in delight at the news. While she was already married to Muroki, she sometimes felt like she was used to the idea that Delano and Lina wouldn't actually get married any time soon. So not only was the news surprising, it was also very good to hear. "So he finally did it? Congratulations!"

She reached over and pulled her sister into a tight hug. "I always wondered when that would happen. Do you want to make it official with a grand ceremony, or just leave it as it is right now?" While Umeme and Muroki didn't have any fancy ceremony themselves, she did feel that perhaps Lina might like one, or even better, they can have one for all of them now that all four of them were officially married.

Back inside the den, Delano felt himself blush beneath his fur when he heard loud cheering coming from Umeme and Lina. "Guess Lina told her then," he muttered, "now how many neighbors are going to complain about the noise levels?" He was only joking, but he did think that he would not rather have Umeme and Lina announce their engagement to the entire world like that.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina nodded in excitement in response to her sister's first question. While the whole 'finally' part used to bother her up until the previous evening, now that the two of them were married it no longer mattered to her how long it had taken for Delano to propose to her.

While she and Lina always complained about their mother's tight hugs, they never seemed to even notice how tight they sometimes hugged each other. "Well, I dunno..." she said. The option of having a ceremony has never even occurred to her. Now that what she'd waited for for such a long time had finally happened, it didn't seem important whether a ceremony was be held or not. "I don't think Delano would like that very much, actually..." she smiled. "Honestly, it doesn't matter to me. I wouldn't mind either way."

She recalled how Muroki and Umeme haven't held a ceremony either, simply going as far as telling those they knew about their marriage. They didn't look like having not made it official with a ceremony made them unhappy or anything. "I mean, you and Muroki didn't have a ceremony either. It doesn't seem as important as I initially thought it would... It's not like we're royalty or something, right?"

Muroki couldn't help but chuckle at Delano's statement regarding the noise. "Well, it's not like we're going to be announcing things like that on a daily basis, is it?" he asked, smiling. "I don't think there's anything to worry about. Besides, most of the lions who live here are not even around during the day." he added. "They all come back when it gets dark."

[DGFone]

Umeme shrugged. "Well true, so if Delano doesn't feel like it, there's no pressure on having anything done." She then smiled. "But I think I can safely say for all of our family that we are glad for both of you. We were all waiting eagerly until the two of you would get together proper."

She gave Lina one last hug before motioning for her sister to follow her back to the den, where Delano and Muroki were sure to be waiting for them. Together, the two lionesses walked back to their mates.

Inside the den, Delano chuckled. "Yeah, you two should know more than me about what happens out here." He looked up when Lina and Umeme walked in, and felt really glad to see Lina again. After today's events, he really wanted to just go home and snuggle up besides her and take a nice long nap. Speaking of going home...

"Lina, it's getting rather late, and I'm feeling rather tired. Let's go home." He walked with her back to the entrance and bid Muroki and Umeme a good night, not even bothering to conceal a long yawn. "Come, Lina," he brushed his nose against her head a little. "today was quite the adventure to say the least. " Eager to get some shut eye, he began to walk, with Lina joining him by his side.

[TheWhistlerify]

Not only did Lina think that a ceremony wasn't exactly necessary, she also knew Delano well enough to know that he most likely wouldn't enjoy having one. Since she wouldn't mind and since Delano would rather just keep it as it was, there was no reason to even speak of the posibility with him. After bidding her sister and brother-in-law a good night, the two of them left the den and headed home, slowly walking side by side.

It's true that the two of them haven't done anything other than tell Muroki and Umeme of their marriage, but Lina didn't care. Now that she and Delano were officially together, she wouldn't mind spending hours and hours on end just enjoying his company. "Here we are..." she said with a smile as they arrived back inside her parents' den, blushing ever so slightly.

--------------------

Muroki couldn't help but smile as he watched his brother and sister-in-law walk off together. "And they're off..." he said, happy to see that, after all of this time, the two of them were finally married. He hoped that whatever doubt either one of them might have had about the future was now gone, and from the looks of it the two didn't have a care in the world.

That day sure has gone by surprisingly quickly considering how he'd barely gotten to spend any of it with Umeme like he was used to. "I've barely seen you today." With a smile he walked over to her, still able to remember that they had acted exactly the same way Lina and Delano were acting now when they first got married. "I'm not used to that, you know."

[DGFone]

The pair of Delano and Lina took their time getting back home, so when they entered the den, Lina's parents were already inside, fast asleep. Delano chuckled slightly, feeling that if they were already asleep, he would rather not wake them up. Muroki and Umeme felt it important enough to tell their parents right away, but Delano and Lina would wait.

Besides, he was tired. So Delano lay down and wrapped his paws around Lina. "Goodnight," he whispered, and very quickly was quietly snoring without a care in the world.

---

"I know you like me around," Umeme replied, "but I had to do something today." Knowing that it was just the two of them, she felt like it was a right time to tell Muroki about what she learned. "Listen, Muroki, yesterday, I discovered something rather... bad. You know Hatari? Well, there's a reason why he insists on staying away outside the border. And..." She hesitated, slightly afraid of how Muroki might react. She knew him to be a gentle, calm, and very rational lion, but how might he react in this case? "It's not a reason which you will like..."

Quietly, she told him everything she had learned about Hatari, as well as explaining why she was gone for almost the entire day. She made sure to tell Muroki that she really believed that Hatari had changed for the better, and was greatly regretting his actions. "...I don't know what to do, but he is really lonely," She finished, "and perhaps he just might deserve some forgiveness from you. I know I'm not the right one to make that decision though."

She waited to see what he would say, expecting the worst, and hoping for the best.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki was still naturally curious about Hatari, so when Umeme said she knew the reason he insisted on not coming within the territory of the kingdom he was more than interested to hear what it was, only becoming slightly apprehensive to actually hear what she had to say when she mentioned that it wasn't a reason he was going to like.

And, of course, what Umeme told him immediately afterwards had to be the last thing he thought he might hear. The first thought that came to his mind as Umeme started talking, gradually revealing more and more horrifying information about the rogue he had so easily befriended, was that there had to be some mistake. However he could see just how serious she was, and he knew more than well that she would never say something like that about anybody unless she was completely certain that the information was true.

After his mate wrapped it all up by saying that she thought Hatari deserved his forgiveness he continued to look at her without saying a world for what seemed like forever. He trusted Umeme and valued her sense of judgement, but... Could she really know that for sure? Even if Hatari did regret his actions, did his remorse make any difference? Technically, it did not. And what in the world was she thinking going back going back to see Hatari on her own in order to get some answers? What if the rogue had tried to hurt her in the process?

As disturbing as the thought of Umeme getting hurt was, he couldn't get himself to even think of scolding her for going back alone. To think that he finally knew where one of his parents' murderers was was somewhat an even bigger shock, and the fact that he had actually befriended that lion was even more unnerving, in a way. The lion he'd spent so much time trying to find after his parents' death has been right under his nose for who knew how long.

Even though he's given up on finding those responsible a long time ago, he couldn't stop himself from getting this sensation of rage now that he actually knew where to find one of them. But then there was Umeme, who seemed to genuinely believe that Hatari deserved some forgiveness. "How long did you know about this?" he asked at last, wondering just how long it has been since Umeme found out. He knew that Delano would freak out once he found out, but that was something Umeme probably knew as well.

Thinking that he might have ended up losing Umeme as a result of he curiosity made him more relieved about the fact that she was okay rather than upset about her taking such a huge risk. "Promise me that you won't go there on your own again." he said softly, embracing his mate. "I..." he doubted he needed to tell her just how worried he was about her potentially getting hurt. "I don't know what to say." Was he feeling enraged? He was. Was there some part of him that still wanted to avenge his parents' death? There was. But there were other parts of him as well. He sighed. "I'll... I'll think about this..."

[DGFone]

To say that Umeme felt relived at how Muroki took the news was an understatement. Especially how well Muroki reacted, the least she could do was tell Muroki the truth. "I only found out the basics yesterday," she finally told him. "I took Lina to see Hatari and she instantly recognized him. That's why I came back to him today. To learn more."

She nuzzled up closer to Muroki. "Don't tell her what I told you today," she added, "and especially don't tell Delano. Lina's already spooked enough. The last thing she needs right now is to have him freak out over this as well." Umeme knew that Muroki knew not to tell his brother, but she didn't want to leave this to assumptions.

"...But you know, I don't think Hatari is going to cause any more trouble. I think at most, Lina will not want to see him ever again, and Delano might be better off not knowing at all, and for you... yeah, you can think about it some more." She was doubtful how comfortable Muroki was at withholding such information from his brother, but they both knew it was safer if he never found out for the time being.

Snuggling up against her mate, Umeme closed her eyes to try and fall asleep. "But you know, Lina was so happy today," she muttered dreamily, "especially after yesterday, she really needed that happiness. Your brother really had good timing there."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki didn't feel all that comfortable about simply trying to go to sleep after hearing everything Umeme had to tell him about Hatari. Falling asleep was certainly going to take him a while. He still didn't know exactly what to make of his discovery, but he did know that, in order to be able to figure out what he'd like to do about this, he was going to have to talk to Hatari himself. Muroki couldn't help but wonder whether Hatari knew all along that the lion who came to visit him every now and then had lost his parents because of him.

As much as he hated hiding this information from his brother, who's been through so much in order to find those responsible for everything the two of them have been through, he knew that doing so might end up being a very bad idea. If Hatari really did regret his actions and no longer posed a threat on anyone, then there would be no point in having Delano freak out over the matter. His brother had every right to know, of course, but Muroki wanted to form a better opinion before doing anything else.

Then there was also the part of Hatari having committed the crimes he had committed. Just because he was regretting his actions did not mean that he shouldn't be trialed for them. But, again, Muroki still didn't know what he wanted to do about this whole thing. "Yeah, I suppose Delano had good timing..." Telling Delano right away would probably only make things worse so he wasn't going to do that, for the time being at least.

With a sigh, the lion went ahead and lay down next to Umeme, putting a foreleg around her and holding her close. "Look, I'll think of what to do tomorrow... For now could you stay here? Please?" He wanted to make sure she was out of harm's way until he decided how to deal with this whole mess, even if Hatari could have tried to harm her when she came to him on her own earlier that day and didn't. It was still hard to believe that the lion he'd befriended, who seemed like he wouldn't harm a fly, actually had such a history.

It took Muroki a very long time to fall asleep. The thoughts about Hatari refused to let his mind rest, and the more he thought about the matter the bigger of a headache it gave him. He had no idea what he was going to do. The first step would be to go see Hatari, but he had no idea what that would end up leading to. As soon as the first ray of light entered their den after what seemed like a very long night, he carefully moved away from Umeme and left. The sooner he got this over with the better, he told himself.

[DGFone]

Umeme knew at least somewhat that no matter how calm he sounded, Muroki would be a lot more worried about this than her. "Alright," she replied, "I'll stay here." She knew that he was only having her not visit Hatari for her own safety, but she had already visited the lion alone once before after finding out about his past. She couldn't help but feel that there might be something else that Muroki was not telling her at play here.

Which was rather ironic considering how much she had not told him until now, so Umeme suspected that it was almost certainly something else as well. She didn't feel mad at Muroki though. He had all right to have his own suspicions and doubts, so if he felt it better to keep his feelings to himself for now, she was fine with it. With that, she let herself fall asleep.

The next morning, Umeme woke up to discover that she couldn't feel Muroki anywhere near her. Feeling around with her paws, she didn't come into contact with his warm body, and she forced her eyes open. Sure enough, she was alone in the den. Thinking that Muroki had simply left outside, she waited for some time, allowing herself to wake up, when her mind wandered to the previous night's conversation.

Quickly realizing that this was a far more likely reasons to why Muroki wasn't in the den, she exited and sure enough, he wasn't anywhere in sight.

Sure, she told him that she won't go to Hatari, but if that's where he is, then she won't be alone. If Muroki won't be there, she will simply turn around and run back. Glancing around once more just in case, Umeme confirmed that Muroki was not in the area before running off to find him.

The sun had already risen quite a way's by the time she woke up, and Umeme had no idea how long Muroki had left her for already.

[TheWhistlerify]

As Muroki slowly made his way towards where Hatari resided he could feel his uncertainty grow bigger and bigger. Back when he still had the intention of finding those responsible for his parents' death he had imagined what such an encounter would turn out like many times. However, actually going to talk to Hatari now made him feel like the conversation could end up going anywhere. Not knowing exactly what might happen made him naturally nervous, but he was determined to see Hatari before deciding what to do next.

When he neared Hatari's home he began to walk a little more slowly, deciding to be much more careful than he had the previous times now that he knew who Hatari was. There was no telling what Hatari might do, regardless of Umeme's conversation with him earlier. Soon enough the small den and waterhole came into view, and the first thing Muroki did was to look up at the tree Hatari liked to rest on. However, Hatari wasn't there this time. For a moment Muroki suspected that the lion might have fled, but he soon found him inside his little den.

It seemed like he was asleep, but when Muroki came to a stop right by the entrance Hatari's ears twitched a little and he looked around, immediately rising to his paws upon seeing him. There was no doubt that, whether Hatari knew all along what Muroki's been through because of him or not, he knew now. "Muroki! I, uh..." Hatari fell silent, not sure exactly what to say. The expression of the lion in front of him was a blank one and not the expression of rage he'd expected to see. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I just thought I'd drop by." said Muroki as he walked inside, much to Hatari's confusion. Had Umeme told her mate about all of this? From the looks of it it looked like she hasn't yet. But what reason could she possibly have for postponing something like that? Muroki forced a smile as he sat down at the opposite side of the den. "I know this is quite an early hour, but... There's no better time than the present, is there?" he chuckled somewhat nervously, rubbing the back of his head with paw.

Then, looking at the walls of the den, he saw something that looked strikingly familiar. He remembered how, back when he and Delano were in their basic training, they'd been taught how to write messages on rocks. The walls of Hatari's den were filled with writings he no longer remembered how to translate properly, but he could make out a few words. It looked like Hatari's been busy regretting his actions in more than one way. "Hatari!" he said all of a sudden, his gaze moving back to the lion.

"Yes?" asked the other lion, looking somewhat confused at Muroki's expression.

"How'd you make all those strange engravings on your wall?" asked Muroki, his paw dropping back down to the ground in the blink of an eye.

"Oh, those?" asked Hatari, still unsure of what to make of this whole situation. "It's done by using sharp slices of a specific kind of stone..."

"Indeed." said Muroki, rising to his feet and walking over to another corner of the den. "What's the origin of these signs?"

"Um... I haven't the faintest idea." said Hatari finding the way Muroki was now looking at him to be rather creepy.

"Of course you don't." said Muroki, his expression somewhere between a smile to a snarl. "You don't even know what these are for, do you, Hatari?" he couldn't help but wonder whether Hatari was even this lion's real name.

"No..."

"Hmph. I'll tell you." said Muroki with a frown. "This form of communication was invented by police agents generations ago." he explained, slowly advancing towards the lion in front of him. "The unfortunate thing is that while it mostly served a good cause, it was also used for evil." Coming to a stop inches away from him, he could feel his anger grow wilder and wilder. "And that's what you are. Thoroughly evil."

Hatari gulped. So Muroki did know. Before he had a chance to even think of a response he felt a sharp pain as Muroki's paw collided with his cheek. The blow was so powerful that it sent him directly down to the floor, and before he even realized what was going on Muroki had him pinned down, growling aggressively at him. While the two of them were probably around the same age, Muroki was slightly larger than he was. Nevertheless, the pale colored male was stronger than he looked.