[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Umeme looked at where their mother motioned at and nodded. Zebra, being herd animals, would not willingly be found alone. So for this one to be all off alone meant that something was wrong with it, making it an ideal prey. Slowly and quietly, the three lionesses crept forwards, making sure to stay hidden from the zebra, and that the wind was blowing in the right direction for it not to notice them.

As they got closer, Umeme slowed down and thought of what to do. "Mom, if you and I chase down the zebra, we can make it edge to the right over there," she motioned with her head where the ground rose slightly, meaning that the uphill will slow the chase down, "where you, Lina, can wait in ambush for it." She knew that Lina was fairly good at ambushing, so the hardest part of the hunt will be in bringing in the zebra towards Lina.

---

Despite his complaining and protesting, Delano found himself on the start line with the others. "Seriously guys, this is not funny," he said again, but they weren't listening.

Kasi just grinned. "Relax, Delano. Besides, it's only one race. It'll be good for you." He nodded. "We run on three. Ready?" Amuza and Shrike nodded, and Kasi counted down, starting the race. The four lions broke into a run, and raced after each other.

Even though it rather hurt and sure enough, he was last, Delano rather enjoyed the feeling of the run. It had been along time since he released so much energy in such a short amount of time. He decided not to admit it to the others, though.

By the time he returned to the line, the others were already done. Gratefully, he plopped himself down in the shade of the tree, groaning. "Told you I'll be last," he mumbled, covering his eyes with a paw. The short run had left him feeling more tired than he predicted, and the idea of a nap was very welcoming right now.

[TheWhistlerify]

Fadhili listened to her daughter's plan and nodded, liking the way Umeme was thinking. They will need Lina to position herself on the hill before doing anything, but she could already see her making her way to a position that will work and interpreted it as a silent agreement. She did know that Lina will not be able to tell them once she was ready because the zebra might hear her and that Lina couldn't risk revealing herself in order to let them know she was ready because the zebra might see her.

---

There was a short and rather awkward silence between Muroki and Gakuru before Gakuru spoke up again. "So do you always wonder around like that? Don't you think it's dangerous to do that?" it was a stupid question, he knew that. With the underworld gone, those living in the land they were next to had no more reasons to worry about anything.

"Not really..." said Muroki, sitting down in front of the lion he was facing, "I usually hang out with my mate, but she's gone hunting for the day." he sighed as he said that.

Gakuru smiled a little. Even though the small spot he was now living at was a paradise, he often felt lonely and that something was missing. "I wished I could have someone to love, to start a family with..." with how he didn't really have a place to go to he doubted it would ever happen.

"Oh, we're not starting a family yet... The subject came up but she told me she wasn't ready yet. Well, obviously her opinion matters more than mine." he paused for a moment. "All I want is for her to be happy, so I guess I'll just let her take her time." Gakuru only nodded. It probably feels great to have someone you care about more than yourself, but he doubted he would ever experience something like that.

[DGFone]

Umeme waited as Lina left them to get into position. So far, the zebra continued to munch on the grass, oblivious to the danger around it. It was too risky to talk to Fadhili, or to even move around for that matter, so Umeme lay on the ground, preparing herself for the charge and how to do so in order to bring the zebra to run at Lina.

After what felt like a good amount of time, Umeme turned her head slightly to where she can see her mother. She nodded slightly, signaling that she is ready.

---

Kasi plopped himself down next to Delano. "Want to go again?" he asked, grinning. He didn't really mean it, instead just saying that in order to prod his cousin's nerves.

Delano shook his head. "Nah, I'm alright," he muttered, "let me sleep." He ignored the laughter coming from his cousin and his friends, deciding not to bother arguing with them. But they insisted on pestering him still so he couldn't ignore them any longer. "Look, guys. I already ran. Just leave ma lone..." He pawed the air around him, trying to shove them away.

Kasi avoided Delano's paw. "Alright, we'll leave you alone," he said, eyeing Amuza and Shrike. "But you know, once you get back to yourself, we really should do this again. Or rather, even more. A full race or something. Even you know, with all of us."

[TheWhistlerify]

Fadhili looked back at her daughter and nodded. It was impossible for Lina to signal to them without taking a huge risk of somehow alerting their prey, so what they had to do was wait until they felt like Lina had enough time to get into position. Because she wanted to see how her daughter would manage the whole thing, she waited for Umeme to decide once they've waited enough. When Umeme gave the signal they crept on the zebra as much as they could before chasing it in the direction of the hill.

Lina arrived at the spot towards which Umeme and their mother were going to chase the zebra. She was familiar how hunts of that sort worked, and knew to wait for her sister and mother to chase the zebra in her direction and not risk alerting the zebra by making any stupid noise or gesture. Eventually her hunting partners did their part, and she leaped at the zebra once it came close enough to her and tackled it to the ground, going for its neck. At some point her mother and sister arrived and helped her keep it down, at which point Lina was finally able to set her jaws on the neck and finish the zebra off.

---

Gakuru and Muroki found themselves talking about all sorts of things and the time passed without either of them really noticing how fast it was flying by. Muroki had to admit that this whole thing was rather new to him; just hanging out with another lion that wasn't his brother. They were having such a good time just by talking to each other and taking a short swim in the small waterhole every once in a while that when they looked at the location of the sun they noticed that it was already late afternoon.

"Wow, time flies..." said Muroki, feeling rather disappointed that the day was over to quickly. "I should probably get back now, I don't want to have anybody worrying about me."

Gakuru looked even more disappointed that his new friend had to leave. The time went by so quickly that it felt like they've only been there for a few minutes. "I understand." he said, smiling at Muroki.

"I'll find time to come over again sometime soon."

"Really?" asked Gakuru, rather surprised. He was about to ask Muroki whether he will see him again or not but felt rather awkward about doing it. "Great, I would love that."

"Well, see ya." said Muroki with a smile.

"Bye." after that, Muroki left and headed back towards the den.

[DGFone]

Umeme grinned with the success of the hunt. "We did it!" she breathed out, trying to regain her breath after the run. "We got it!" She gave Lina a congratulatory nudge on the shoulder. The only bad part about it now was that they would have to carry the zebra back with them, and they were quite far away from the den.

So she sat down next to the kill. She didn't feel like eating yet, but they can rest for now, and start heading back as soon as they will feel ready. Plus, she was quite eager to get back to Muroki, so the less time they took getting back the better.

---

Kasi and his friends started to talk among themselves, and Delano used the opportunity to allow himself to fall asleep. But it only felt like a few short moments had passed when he felt himself be shaken awake by someone. Groaning, he opened his eyes and saw Kasi staring at him. "Alright, I'm up," he complained, letting out a long yawn as he pushed himself up into a sitting position.

Kasi also sat down now that he woke his cousin up. "You really passed out just now," he said, smirking, "it's time to go."

Delano blinked. "Go? Go where?" His question caused Amuza to laugh, but he ignored it.

Kasi smirked. "Go back home, where else?" He motioned at the shadow of the tree, which had moved considerably. Delano's surprised expression didn't escape him. "Like I said, you really feel sleep just now. And as for getting back, yo wouldn't want to keep Lina waiting, would you?"

At this, Delano right away got up to his feet. "No, I wouldn't. Lets go!" Not waiting for Kasi, he walked off, heading in the direction that will take him back to the den.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina took in a few deep breaths before allowing herself to drop down by the zebra she, her sister and her mother worked together in order to take down. Fadhili smiled at her daughters, "I am very proud of you, you have significantly improved since the last time we hunted together." now that she was thinking about it, the last time they hunted together was a really, really long time ago, but it didn't matter. After a minute or two of resting the older lioness stood back up, "Come on, let's carry it back." she could see that her daughters wouldn't mind a few more moments of resting but she wanted to get back to the den already. "Don't you want to see Muroki and Delano?" she saw their faces turn red and chuckled, "Come on, let's get going."

[DGFone]

Umeme picked up the zebra, ignoring her mother's jest. Sure, they told Fadhili that she can't tease them about Delano and Muroki, but there was no actual way of enforcing it, and they knew it, which is why Fadhili can still make fun of them like that. What made it worse was that their mother was correct: Umeme really did want to see Muroki again, and sitting around won't bring him closer to her.

At least with the zebra, Umeme could pretend that her face was read from the effort it took to hold the kill on her back and not because she was blushing. "Alright then, let's go home," she muttered as much as she can though her grip. "and if you don't mind, help me carry this thing. It's heavy." She was already looking forwards to a nice meal when they come back.

---

Kasi said his goodbyes to his friends and quickly caught back up to Delano. "Wasn't so bad, was it?" he asked.

Delano sighed. "Alright, it was better then I expected," he said, "but seriously. My legs hurt. Did we really have to race?"

Kasi laughed. "Sure did! Besides, if I'm not mistaken, you are walking back faster than when we went there. I think you can do more than you can say." He grinned playfully at Delano, who looked away, sighing in annoyance.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina also picked up the zebra as did Fadhili. While she didn't want to keep her daughters from their mates for too long she'd be lying if she said she didn't want to see Moto. She didn't really tell him that she was going out to hunt today, but he was used to having her wander off from time to time. The only times it did upset him a little was back when she was pregnant. "Alright, let's go." she said, carrying the dead zebra back towards the den with her help of her two daughters.

---

Muroki eventually arrived back at the den, and was surprised to see his brother and cousin also approaching it, obviously making their way back from somewhere. It made him wonder what did his brother really do today while Muroki was not there. "Hey," he said, approaching the two, "Where have you two been all day?" he was aware of the fact that they would probably ask him the same question at some point, but he knew that he couldn't let them know about the lion he had met because of the promise he made.

[DGFone]

With Fadhili and Lina helping her out, Umeme was able to walk at a reasonable pace while carrying some of the load. The three lionesses carried the zebra back, walking in mostly complete silence. Umeme was already imagining herself back with Muroki, sharking some of the kill with him and enjoying a good meal together. Just the thought of that prompted her to walk faster, getting a little ahead of Lina and Fadhili.

---

Delano was rather shocked to see that Muroki also arrived back at the same time. He was expecting his brother to be either gone or still be in the den, but not to arrive at the same time. Never the less, Delano sat himself down next to the entrance of the den, not feeling like going inside. "Spent the day with Kasi and his friends," he explained, "or rather, they had a great time driving me about, and then I rested for the rest of the time." He grinned slightly, stretching his sore limbs. "I hope I will feel good enough to walk around with Lina tomorrow," he said, "instead of lying about all the time."

He then looked at Muroki, wondering where Muroki came from. "So where did you go?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina and Fadhili helped Umeme carry the kill back, but at some point they began to notice that Umeme was walking a little fast. "Slow down Umeme." said her mother, grinning even though there was nobody who could see it. "We understand that you're quite eager to get back but you should remember that I'm not as young as you are." walking as fast as Umeme wasn't really hard for her, but carrying a zebra on your back would eventually become more difficult as it was.

---

Muroki was somewhat confused when Delano told him that he had spent the day with Kasi and his friends, having never met any of them before. He found it rather weird that he had been living in the same pride with his cousin for so long without ever meeting even one of his friends. "I just took a walk." he said to Delano's question, having expected it, "Been a while since I just went for a walk, and since Umeme went hunting and you were gone by the time I woke up I didn't see a reason why not."