[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Ubawa was quickly distracted by a small fish swimming about in the water, and he eagerly began to try and pounce on it, but for some reason, it was always able to escape at the last minute, much to his father's amusement. "I'm hunting, dad," he answered Muroki's question, pouncing into a faceful of water and no fish yet again.

He had absolutely no idea how come the fish was able to constantly escape him. It was like it knew where he would be and would always move out of the way. However, at least for now, that only made Ubawa all the more determined to catch the fish.

---

Umeme smiled at Marini. Clearly, their daughter had yet to wake up properly. "That was the plan, dear," she replied, "but we decided that we would rather be here instead." She didn't see any reason why she would need to tell Marini about the real reason. Lina perhaps, but the cubs didn't need to worry about things that they most likely weren't even able to fully comprehend yet.

"Not to mention that I think Muroki wanted to run around with Ubawa," Umeme continued to explain, "it had been a while since he last did that and he didn't want Ubawa to think that he was forgetting about it."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki was very much amused at watching his son try, again and again, without success, to catch that small fish which, surprisingly enough, kept swimming in the shallow part of the waterhole they were in. Ubawa was absolutely adorable with that look of determination on his little face, and his father couldn't help but be reminded of when he himself was that age as he kept observing the cub's antics.

Chuckling, the lion gently placed his paw on his son's back, preventing him from pouncing in another futile attempt. "It keeps getting away because you're moving around too much." he told the cub. "It can hear the noise you make in the water. Also, if you look carefully, a fish's eyes are placed on either side of their rather thin head. Their only blind spot is at their very back and it's very small."

In Muroki's opinion, what better way was there for the two of them to work on their bond than for him to help Ubawa with something like this? Also, catching fish was far easier than actual hunting, and they could prove to be very nice snacks. "Try to stand still, it'll eventually calm down." After a matter of several seconds, like he'd said, the fish stopped swimming around erratically.

"Now, you don't want it to know you're coming, so pouncing on them rarely works unless you're coming from outside the water." he continued, very slowly raising his free paw into the air so to not cause their target any alarm. Once the fish casually swam close enough he swung it down, sending the tiny creature flying out of the water and onto the solid ground at the very edge of the waterhole where it lay squirming helplessly.

"See?" Briefly ruffling up his son's "mane" with his paw, he stood up before walking towards the shore and gently pushing the small fish back inside. It then quickly swam into the deeper parts of the waterhole, but there were bound to be others as well. "Now you try." Practice was what made perfect at the end of the day and it's not like that fish just now was enough to count as food anyway, not to mention that Ubawa wasn't hungry, so he might as well release it.

●●●●●●●●●●

Marini didn't question her mother further about why she and her father had returned so early. She always loved having her parents around so, since they were there, she was happy enough to not care about the reason. Still looking rather content where she was, the cub giggled. "Daddy will never forget, mommy!" she said, referring to what Umeme had just said about Muroki going to run with Ubawa.

[DGFone]

Ubawa stared in amazement as his father caught a fish seemingly without any effort. As Muroki tossed his fish back into the waterhole, it was the cub's turn to try and catch something. Finding another small fish in the shallows, Ubawa tried to imitate how Muroki had snuck up on on the fish. Getting close, the cub pounced into the water, aiming to get the fish, but was only rewarded with more water.

Blinking in surprise, the cub stared at the fish, which was now swimming erratically as though to tease him for his failure. Undaunted, Ubawa prepared to try again. "I'll be able to do this, dad. Just watch!"

---

Umeme smiled at Marini. "I know he won't." She continued to clean Marini, content to wait for Muroki and Ubawa to come back before deciding on what else to do. Next to them, Lina chose to sit next to Delano, but the two didn't seem to be doing much apart from watching over Akili, who seemed to be the only one left remaining to wake up.

[TheWhistlerify]

Spoiler: show

Akili's not asleep...

Muoki found it impossible not to chuckle again as Ubawa once more tried to catch a fish by pouncing at it despite having been explained and shown a much better method for doing so. "Not like that, Ubawa." he said, gently ruffling the cub's head with a paw for a brief moment. "Like I just showed you." He once again raised one of his paws into the air to demonstrate. "You don't move so the fish calms down before waiting for it to swim close enough to you..." he then randomly swiped at the water. "Then you try to get it onto the shore." The lion gave the cub a reassuring smile. "Try again now."

●●●●●●●●●●

While Marini looked very satisfied where she was, her cousin looked very grumpy. Ubawa, his play mate up until a few minutes ago, had been practically stolen from him. And Marini, as always, was probably going to refuse cutting her bath short for the sake of helping him fight off the boredom. Walking over to his parents, he managed to feel somewhat better as his mother nuzzled him, even if he didn't show it.

[DGFone]

Spoiler: show

My bad You can ignore that part then.

Imitating his father once more, Ubawa again pounced on an unsuspecting fish. This time around, while he didn't catch it, he was completely certain that as his paws hot the water, he actually felt the fish as it desperately tried to swim away. Grinning at the slight victory, it still took him a few more tries, but eventually he did it.

"Dad! I caught one!" He had pinned a fish beneath his paws to the bottom of the waterhole, and as he tried to bring it to the shore, it slipped away and swam off. Still, even without the fish, the cub was still pleased of what he had done.

---

Delano was distracted from his thoughts as Akili came over and settled between Lina's paws, very clearly bored out of his mind. Looking up at the cub's mother, Delano felt the uneasiness return, knowing that he really needed to tell her... However, he wasn't able to get the courage to do so, and finding an excuse why not to tell her was all too easy...

Also noticing that Akili could use someone to play with, Umeme finished cleaning her daughter up. "There, all done," she said once she was satisfied with her work. If Marini was disappointed at having the bath end so soon, she didn't show it as she ran over to Akili, who also tore off away from Lina so that he can play. It looked like the bored cub crisis was averted quickly and easily.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki was so surprised that Ubawa had actually managed to pin a fish against the bottom of the waterhole that he remained absolutely silent until he noticed the fish slip away as his son attempted to take it to the shore, unsuccessfully. Still, that didn't change the fact that he'd managed to catch it, something the cub seemed very much aware of. "That was very good, Ubawa!" praised his father as he gently pulled the little hairball closer to him.

Giving the cub a loving nuzzle, the lion chuckled as he felt him purr haplily in response. "You seem to have gotten the hang of the timing. If you'd used one of your paws to smack it out of the water, it wouldn't have escaped." This, of course, would be easier for his son to pull off when he became older and bigger. But at least he was getting the hang of the more important things! "You know," continued Muroki with a grin. "You actually got it right faster than it had taken me when my mother taught me and your uncle how to do it, and we were almost grown out of cubhood and into our adolescence at the time." Why not give Ubawa something else to feel proud of? He certainly earned it. "Our manes had already started to grow."

●●●●●●●●●●

Back in the royal den, now that Akili and Marini were distracted playing with each other, Lina looked at her sister. "The two of you sure came back early..." she said quietly, still curious about that. Did something bad happen? Both she and Muroki looked perfectly fine... "Muroki looks really improved compared to before..." she added cheerfully. "But... Is something wrong?" She wasn't going to push her sister into giving answers she didn't want to give, though.

[DGFone]

Hearing Muroki telling him how he was doing even better than his father was at an older age made Ubawa beam with joy. He ran over and climbed on top of Muroki's head, despite still being soaking with water. "Come on, we have to run back and tell Marini!" he said excitedly. As far as he could tell, his sister hasn't yet done anything like this, so it would be a great opportunity to brag to her. He was also eager to tell his mother about this as well.

---

With Akili now playing with Marini, Delano once again found himself alone next to Lina. Out of the corner of his eye, he was able to see Kato watching them, and knew that he really couldn't stall any longer. He had to tell her...

"Hey, Lina, can you come with me for a moment?" If he was going to tell her, he didn't want it to be somewhere surrounded by others, since he was already so close to losing his nerve again that the prospect of having someone else be near him was enough for him to give up. Limping out of the den with Lina in tow, he stopped when he felt like they were far enough away not to be heard and sat down, staring at the ground as he struggled to build up the courage to tell Lina about what was going on.

"Lina... I need to tell you..." he was so afraid, that he had trouble making coherent sentences again, "I... I wasn't entirely truthful with you lately..."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroko felt very much satisfied at seeing his son look so happy. Coming here has turned out even better than he'd hoped. He was feeling much better than before, not to mention that Ubawa's joy levels were through the roof. There was no doubt that the cub was going to brag about his achievement to his sister, but perhaps that would spark her interest and give their father an opportunity to teach her as well. Of course, Ubawa could use more practice too. Grinning, the lion began running back towards the den with his son hanging on to his mane.

●●●●●●●●●●

Nodding her head in agreement, as well as feeling her curiosity rise up, Lina went ahead and followed her mate out of the den. His limp definitely seemed better than the previous day, something she felt glad to see. Of course, the lioness became even more intrigued about what Delano had to say when he told her he hasn't been very truthful recently. And he looked very worried for some reason...

Noticing her brother in law coming back in a sprint with their nephew riding on his head, she waited for the two to go inside before looking at Delano again. "What's wrong?" she asked, sounding a little concerned herself because of how he was behaving.

[DGFone]

Whooping as he once more got a ride on top of Muroki's mane, who only came to a stop when they arrived at the cave entrance. Jumping down from his father's head, Ubawa could hardly contain his excitement as he ran inside. "Mom! Marini! Guess what dad just taught me to do!" Very quickly, in a way that was almost impossible for Lina to keep up with, he told Marini and Akili about how Muroki taught him to catch fish, and how in the end he did do that.

"Dad said he was never able to do that at my age!" Ubawa finished, grinning like mad, "neither him nor uncle Delano!"

---

Delano was hardly able to get himself to look at Lina, let alone to tell her everything. But he was able to eventually force the words out of his mouth. "Lina, it's about... the fight with Sanders. It's.. it's why my nightmares have returned, and why... Muroki hasn't been well either..." He felt Lina reach out and hug him in order to try and comfort him and he didn't resist her, because he felt like he really needed the contact. "...There's someone else," he finally said in a hoarse whisper, "another lion... the one who helped Sanders escape. He's still out there..."

Unable to continue talking, Delano remained in Lina's embrace, shaking slightly from the effort it took to finally confess to her what he had kept inside of him for far too long.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki seemed very much amused with just sitting there behind his son as the cub began to tell his mother, sister and cousin about what had happened at the waterhole. Surely enough, while he's never said to Ubawa that it had taken Delano just as long to be able to catch a fish, for example, even if that much was also true, the little hairball has decided to jump to these conclusions on his own.

As was to be expected, Umeme looked rather surprised, no doubt because of the age of the bragging cub, while Marini and Akili simply looked at him in awe. Cubbish pride just seemed to be emitting from Ubawa by that point. Meanwhile, Muroki quietly went ahead and joined his mate. "He actually managed to pin a small fish against the bottom of the waterhole." he explained to the lioness. "On top of that, he really enjoyed himself back there." The male chuckled. "And look at him now..."

●●●●●●●●●●

Realizing that what Delano had to say was connected to the fight, as well as easily noticing how difficult it was for the lion to talk, Lina slowly reached out and and embraced her mate with her forelegs, feeling her own discomfort ease as she sensed him become a little less tense. Well, it's not like a hug could possibly ever make things any worse.

When Muroki's brother finally came clean, though, she felt at a complete loss for words. It certainly explained both his behavior as well as that of her brother-in-law, but what it really meant was that it all wasn't over. Akili could still end up getting hurt... "Who is this lion?" she eventually asked quietly, unable to think of anything else to say.