[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano grumbled when Muroki informed him and Lina that Hatari had gotten himself captured. "Good for him." While he knew that something was off in that two days before, Hatari did help him, he simply wasn't ready to accept that the lion had simply switched sides. And the nightmares were certainly not helping in changing his attitude towards that lion.

Umeme did not like Delano's reaction. "Delano! If it wasn't for him, Kato could easily be dead now. Not to mention either you or Muroki as well!" While she could somewhat understand Delano's hesitance to accept that Hatari was helping them, she thought that he would have realized a while ago that all the evidence shows that Hatari was in fact helping them.

Delano growled at Umeme. "So what? It doesn't excuse what he did before!" He didn't know what made him lose his temper like that, but he found himself standing as close to Umeme as he could. "He killed out parents!" he hissed at her, "so I don't care what will happen to him!"

Umeme stared back at Delano, not knowing why he was so angry. "What has happened to you?" She looked at Lina and Muroki, but they didn't look like they had any idea either.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki, while anticipating that Delano would be somewhat hesitant in lending him a paw, certainly did not expect that reaction from his brother. Yes, nothing could excuse everything Hatari had done in the past, but simply ignoring the way he saved the lives of all three of them? "I don't care what he's done." said Muroki with obvious annoyance, standing directly between his mate and his brother, who made room for him by slightly backing away in surprise. Muroki obviously did not like the way he was growling at Umeme.

As much as he wanted Dekano to change his mind, he wasn't going to waste what might be very precious time on that. He could tell the king about Hatari without the help of his brother. "If you're not going to help me," he continued after a short silence, still looking his brother directly in the eyes. "then you better stay out of this." If Delano knew what was good for him he's keep to his word - that he didn't care about what would happen - and not interfere.

With that said, Muroki decided to get straight to the point. He turned and slowly walked over to where the king and his family were sitting. Hatari saved the prince's life, he assured himself. The king would listen to him. "Good morning, your majesty," he said, a little hesitantly. The king and the queen responded with silent nods of their heads while Kato simply smiled. "I was wondering if I may speak to you. Please."

b]"By all means."[/b] said the king.

"Er, it's about that other lion you're holding imprisoned here..."

"Oh, him..." said the king, his expression turning into a frown. "I was wondering whether I'd ever catch this one.." Muroki gulped.

[DGFone]

Delano glared at his brother, annoyed at how Muroki was now telling him what to do. As if he had the right! "And what if I don't?" He hissed back, but Muroki had already turned and walked away, leaving a very angry Delano behind. He sat down, trying to ease his breathing and to figure out what exactly just happened. He remembered waking up from the nightmare, and the next thing he knows, he is trading glares and angry words with Muroki. Going over what happened, Delano began to slowly realize that he just made another big mistake.

He hesitantly looked over at Lina, seeing how she also looked quite displeased at him. Feeling extremely ashamed of himself, he got up and ran out the den. He simply couldn't believe that he lost his temper at someone again, and this time it was on Muroki and Umeme. Slowing down, he collapsed on the ground sobbing, not noticing the shadow of a lioness who followed him.

Back inside the den, Umeme watched with worry as Delano fled, closely followed by Lina. As much a she wanted to follow her sister and make sure that everything would be alright, for some reason Muroki now looked extremely nervous about something the king had said. "What's going on?" she asked, hoping that the news wouldn't be too bad.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki was about to answer Umeme, but then the king spoke again. "This lion, if one should even call him a lion, is responsible for the deaths of many innocents icluding your parents. He was exiled for trying to force himself on your sister in law and is pretty much the one behind what resulted in the loss of your aunt's unborn cubs as well as what so far appears to be her inability to ever have cubs again." Muroki's ears went flat against his head. Having all that reminded to him wasn't very pleasant. "Need I go on?" the king asked.

To this, Muroki hurried to shake his head in a negative response. "No sir. As a matter of fact, I already know what he's done in the past."

"If you came here to make sure I'm aware of the crime he's committed," said the king, "then I can assure you that he'll get what's coming to him."

"Actually..." said Muroki nervously, rubbing the back of his head with a paw. "I wanted to ask you whether there's even the smallest chance that you'll, er.......... let him go..."

The king looked rather shocked, to say the least, when he heard that. "What?!" Kato seemed to shrink when his father raised his voice. Hearing the list of Hatari's crimes and then seeing his father nearly yell at Muroki wasn't fun.

"He's changed, he's not the lion he used to be." said Muroki nervously, causing the king to roll his eyes as if he'd come accross a case like this one before. The only reason I was at the gorge was because he told me what Sanders was planning." as he said that the king looked at him, confused. "Later, after I was injured, he was the one who brought the antidote for Kato instead of me. He also helped to stop the bleeding in my shoulder. Kato and I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him."

The king and the queen looked at him with disbelief. "I'm telling the truth..." continued Muroki. "Why would I defend him if that weren't the case? After all, he did commit all of these crimes..."

"Bring him here." said the king after a very long silence. One of the guards nodded and left the den. Muroki wanted to let out a sigh of relief but he stopped himself. It was still too early to celebrate.

~~~

Lina folowed Delano as he left the royal den, once again surprised at just how fast her mate could run when he really wanted to get away from something. When he finally came to a stop she began to slow down in order to catch her breath, eventually reaching his side. She didn't know what to say to him so she simply lay down beside him, as she usually did in situations similar to this one, deciding to patiently wait for him to calm down on his own.

[DGFone]

To Umeme, it was clear that Delano wouldn't be the only one who would need some serious explaining to do about Hatari. "What Muroki says it's true," she tried to argue, "after all, Hatari killed Muroki's parents, and he knows it. Why would he be defending him if Hatari didn't help us?" She stared at the king, daring him to argue. "What would Muroki gain out of it?"

Still, the king didn't reply. Instead, he had the guards leave in order to fetch the lion. A short while later, they came back with Hatari in tow. The lion looked quite nervous as well as very afraid, which Umeme could understand since he could easily guess that he is being brought here in order to have his fate decided. She would be nervous and afraid as well.

---

Delano felt Lina lay down beside him, but initially, he ignored her. After some time, he slowly began to calm down at least a little, enough for him to start talking. "I don't know what got over me Lina," he sobbed out, "I... I didn't mean to do that! I swear! I didn't want to shout at Muroki and Umeme!" He let out a low groan. "It's what I was afraid of, Lina... I... I can't control myself anymore. I'm a danger to Muroki, I'm a danger to you!"

He remembered how last time, when he was locked up in the cave, he had even asked Muroki to just go ahead and kill him. Or was that just a dream too? Real or not, the thought made him so sick that he had to quickly move his head aside before he threw up on the ground.

"What can we do, Lina?" He asked shakily, "I... I just can't go on like this. I just can't!"

[TheWhistlerify]

The king could see the logic behind Umeme's arguement, but chose to say nothing for the time being. When Hatari was brought in, he looked quite nervous to say the least, although the presence of Muroki and Umeme was noticeably of some comfort to him. "You saved my son's life? And his too?" the king asked simply as he pointed at Muroki, getting a silent nod in response after what seemed like a very long time. "Why?"

Hatari was silent for a short moment, knowing that he had to pick his words very carefully. "Why not?" he asked eventually. This answer seemed to surprise the king and the queen. It wasn't the type of answer they'd expected. "I could, so I did. I've come to regard life as something precious ever since the underworld has been disbanded.."

"And I suppose you think that that would undo all that you've done in the past." said the king, almost as if it were a fact.

"You mock me, your majesty." replied the defendant. "It won't. Nothing ever will. It won't make me feel less guilty either."

The king fell silent. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, but he seemed rather impressed by the answers Hatari had given him.

~~~

Lina let out a sigh. "Just because you shouted at Muroki doesn't mean you're dangerous to him." as nervous as she'd been during their unpleasant discussion a few minutes ago, she simply couldn't even begin to imagine Delano ever harming Muroki, her or anybody else. Ignoring the fact that he had just thrown up, she continued. "You're taking a long time to calm down, it's understandable." she said, falling silent for a short moment. "Did you really mean it?" she asked eventually. "That you don't care?" She doubted Delano really was going to ignore the fact that he owed Hatari his brother's life.

[DGFone]

Umeme wanted to say something, anything that might help Hatari, but she couldn't think of anything, especially after what Hatari told the king. But what was worst of all, was that she knew that the final word lay with the king. Once the king would decide what to do with Hatari, there wouldn't be anything she or Muroki could do or say that will change the lion's fate. So she had to settle with waiting, and hoping that the king won't rule in anger, but will take everything Hatari had done into consideration.

The good news lay in that the king didn't have Hatari dragged away immediately. The longer Hatari was here in the king's presence, the more it meant that the king wasn't choosing to simply kill him. So while the wait was quite nerve wrecking, Umeme also knew that it meant that Hatari even had a small chance of survival.

---

When Lina asked that final question, Delano broke down sobbing again. "I did" he managed to blurt out, "Lina, I did... mean it." He knew that this answer was not one that she was hoping for, but it was the truth. At least when he had shouted at Muroki, he really did mean it when he said that he couldn't care less what would happen to Hatari. "Lina, when I was undercover... when I found out that he killed our parents... he enjoyed it! He was laughing about it! And then what he tried to do to you!"

He couldn't get himself to look at Lina anymore. "I wanted to kill him! I really did! And after that, he just vanished..." It took him some time to calm down again, at least enough to continue talking. "When Umeme came running back shouting that Muroki was in danger, and he just showed up, suddenly helping us? I... I just couldn't believe him. I thought it had to be a trick to lower our guard. When he left, I only let him go because Muroki needed help... if not, I don't know what I would have done. I guess I can say that I was ready to murder him on the spot..."

Delano forced himself to take deep breaths to slow his breathing down. "Go ahead. Say it. I'm a complete mess up. I don't deserve you, Lina. You should go and find someone else. I'm not good enough for you..." He la down on the ground and buried his head beneath his paws, once again wishing that he could simply die or vanish.

[TheWhistlerify]

The king was silent for what seemed like eternity. Then, after a very long silence, he finally spoke. "Do you realize that, if I walk up to a random lion or lioness in my pride, chances are that they'll almost certainly prove to somehow be related to what you've done?"

Hatari slowly nodded, his head dropping down in shame. "I do..."

"Am I to ignore their right to have someone who most likely ruined their lives brought to justice?" asked the king. Hatari made no answer. "As ungrateful towards you as I might turn out to be, I'm afraid that letting you go is something I can't do just like that." While this made Muroki's heart sink, at least he knew thatthe king was somewhat convinced that Hatari should be at least somewhat forgiven for his crimes.

"What if I gained you some approvals?" asked Muroki all of a sudden, getting the attention of all of them. "Will you reconsider then?"

"Muroki, don't bother." said Hatari with a sigh. "I'm not worth it..."

"Will you?" asked Muroki, ignoring Hatari.

"I supoose that if he were to be forgiven by enough-" he was cut short when Muroki suddenly turned and ran outside. To the king's surprise, Kato followed him.

~~~

Lina couldn't stop a slight frown from appearing on her face. "Do you think I forgot about what he almost did to me?" she asked. "I can't stop thinking about it now that he's back... Do you even know how long I refused to go outside after it all happened? Now that he's back I get hesitant when I think about this but, well, with you in mind..." she blushed slightly. "I know I brought it up a while ago when you said you weren't ready, and now we're on the same page... Even if he did help us..."

She was silent for a short moment. "But he did save Kato and Muroki." she added, still not knowing that Hatari had also saved Delano from being choked to death by one of Sanders's lions. "I know you and Umeme would have been devestated if Muroki had died back there. So, for what he did, I forgive him for what he tried to do." She knew Delano might find that hard to believe, but she sounded confident.

[DGFone]

Just like the others, Umeme ha no idea where Muroki was going with "getting approvals" for Hatari. So before she could lose him, she ran off after him and Kato, wondering just what was on Muokir's mind. Sure, she knew that he was going after someone who he can rely on to vouch for Hatari, but where would Muroki find such a lion or lioness?

"Muroki, wait up!" However, he didn't slow down, so with a groan, Umeme made herself run faster in order to catch up to him. "When he wants to do something..." Normally, she rather admired his determination in doing what he really wanted to do, but right now she found it somewhat even funny that he wouldn't even wait for her to catch up to him.

---

Delano mentally cringed when Lina reminded him of her own troubles with dealing with Hatari's actions. He was so caught up with his own problems that he completely forgot that she too had trouble with that lion, and yet here she was, telling him that she was willing to forgive the lion.

"Lina, I..." he hesitated, unsure about what he wanted to say, "I just don't know if I can forgive Gakuru." He sighed, knowing that in his family now, he was the only one not knowing if he can forgive Hatari. "Of course, he was just doing what Sanders was telling him to do. If it wasn't for that lion, non of this would have happened." Delano let out a growl of anger. "Him... I don't want him murdered, I want him to... burn. Burn alive and slowly so that he can feel the pain he caused." He raised his head and roared, not caring if Sanders could actually hear him or not. "You got that? I want you to burn!"

Delano sat down, breathing furiously. Spotting a large looking rock on the ground, he slammed his paw hard on it, ignoring the pain it caused. Roaring again, he repeatedly hit the rock hard as his anger consumed him again. Only once blood began to flow from his paws again did he remember that there was someone next to him.

His lip quivered as he stared at Lina, her gaze filled with both concern, but more worryingly, fear. "Lina..." He lay back down on the ground, holding his paws close to his chest. "Lina, I didn't mean to..." He couldn't believe that he lost his temper like that again. He really did feel like he had no control over himself anymore.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki was in such a hurry that he didn't hear Umeme calling out to him and asking him to slow down. Heck, he didn't even hear Kato asking him to slow down, and the prince was closer to him. The younger lion was having an even harder time keeping up. I don't need Delano's help... he thought to himself with a frown. His brother wasn't his only family, and there was one specific family member he had in mind who he knew would be more reasonable about this whole thing.

After a little while longer, he arrived at his destination. Luckily for him, his aunt and uncle were there. Kasi was no where to be seen, but Muroki figured that his cousin was hanging out with his friends somewhere. "Auntie?" The last time he'd called his aunt auntie was back when he was still a cub.

Laini raised her head from her paws, staring at him with surprise and even shock. "Muroki?" she asked slowly, rising to her paws and walking over to him. Dakari, her mate, appeared to be asleep. Muroki was about to say something when, to his utter amazement, his mother's sister slapped him. "What's gotten into you?" she asked, frowning. "You and your brother don't come to visit anymore, and then you move out, not even bothering to tell me where I should look for my own nephew now! Then you almost get yourself killed, and you don't even think of letting me see that you're alright with my own eyes?"

Muroki, while at first taken aback by what his aunt was saying, began to feel shame slowly begin to affect him as she gave him a piece of her mind. "I'm sorry..." he said eventually, his ears flat against his head like when she used to scold him as a cub. "You're right... It was very unthoughtful of me..." Over his shoulder he could see Kato and Umeme look on with somewhat amused looks on their faces. His uncle also seemed to have woken up from all the noise.

~~~

Lina felt completely helpless as she watched Delano continuously slam the rock with his paw. She wanted to tell him to stop before he ended up hurting himself, but not a signle word agreed to come out of her mouth. Sure enough, her feeling of helplessness only increased when her mate's paw began to bleed. "Delano..." she said worriedly as she lay down beside him, tenderly licking his paw. "This has to stop..." Delano might have said that he was a danger to those around him, but it looked like the real problem was him potentially harming himself.

Spoiler: show

How come you posted at such a late hour? Also, do you think Sanders should still make an appearance of some significance? (As in more than just him talking while constrained by guards).

And, did you like my entry? :3