[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

((awesome! I like longer posts))

Delano smiled slightly, his head resting on his paws. "Yeah, this patrol is much better than the past few days." He never told Muroki about it, but he still hurt from the constant work, and the patrol finally offered him an opportunity to rest, even while walking. He opened his eyes briefly, thinking. "Hey, Muroki, I don't want to sound like I am enjoying this, becasue I'm not, but do you think that this training actually does something?" He closed his eyes again. "I mean, we just walked for the entire day, and that was easy." He remembered when they had to leave their parents after their death. His heart fell at the memory. "When we came here, a full day of walking nearly finished us off." He was glad that hi eyes were already closed, because he felt tears forming, and he didn't even know why.


Kasi looked at the lionesses nervously. "They are, uh, away." He quickly answered, not knowing if it was a good idea to tell them where Muroki and Delano really were. "They're safe, if that's what you're worried about."

Umeme glared at Kasi. He was hiding something important, she could tell. "Where are they, Kasi?" She demanded. "I know that you know where they are. Tell us where they are." By this time, she was already growling dangerously.

Kasi backed away slowly, nervous and even scared at Umeme's hostility. "Look, I really can't tell you!" He pleaded.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki closed his eyes when Delano began talking again, only to open them with a slight hint of surprise when Delano mentioned the day they walked through without a stop. He never thought about it at all in that regard, but Delano was right. "Wow, I've never thought about that... I guess this wasn't such a waste of time after all right." he said with a slight chuckle. And the good thing, that it was probably going to be over soon, and they will be away from that depressing place and the endless running.


Even Lina was surprised at the sudden hospitality coming from her friend. Even when Umeme argued with one of her parents in a really storming argument she would never come to such tones. She tried to figure out the reason for that sudden behavior, but could think of nothing at the moment. Deciding to leave that for the time being, she looked at Kasi, "Why not?" she asked, an eyebrow raised. Maybe him explaining why would give her and Umeme a clue about what happened to the two brothers.

[DGFone]

Delano didn't reply, instead he simply lay next to Muroki, and thought. Before now, they were always busy, and he never had time to think of anything else but their task. But now he had time to remember. And the memories of their parents came back. The shear ferociousness of the wave of feelings that engulfed him made Delano wish that he had something else to think about. For the fist time that they started with the training, Delano felt homesick. And he hated it.

Rolling over, Delano hoped that a more comfortable position would help him fall asleep. But he didn't. Whatever previous drowsiness he felt before was gone. Opening his eyes again, Delano saw that it was already dark. Had he been lying awake all this time? He looked up and saw the sea of stars above the world. Just this evening he wanted to see the stars again. But now, they only brought on more memories of him and Muroki watching the night sky with their parents.

Delano forcefully shut his eyes. His heart ached, but for now, there was nothing he could do about it. Feeling defeated, he fell into a restless sleep.


Kasi didn't know how to answer. He figured that if Delano and Muroki wanted to say where they were going, they would have said so. Well, thy did. To him. "They had to do something," he said, hoping it would be enough to satisfy the lionesses, "it was something that they had to do. They asked me where to start, and I showed them." When they separated, Kasi was sure that it was the last time he would ever see them again. Was this feeling preventing him from telling the lionesses about his cousins? Like they were already dead in his mind?

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki wasn't too tired, so it took him a short while to fall asleep, but he still fell asleep earlier than his brother. Soon, they will be done here and will probably go back to their cousin's pride untill they decided what to do next. Going back made him think about Umeme and how he woke up to find her by his side the morning they left. The most logical explanation for that was that she was tired and didn't notice where she was about to sleep, but it was still a nice feeling.


Lina was not at all satisfied with Kasi's answer and Umeme probably wasn't as well. "So what exactly did you show them?" she sounded much more patient than Umeme did, because she was. Even she would get worried for Kasi's well being if he kept refusing to tell them because Umeme seemed really upset, though she was still not able to figure out the reason. Umeme wasn't that worried when Kasi went missing for an entire day just a few days ago, which made Lina a little confused.

[DGFone]

Kasi still didn't know if he should answer properly or not. "I... I showed them what they wanted to know." It wasn't a real answer, and the lionesses knew it. But he hoped that they would understand that it was a secret that Kasi would keep until his cousins would come back, if they would. Then he might tell where they were. But for now, he would remain silent.

Umeme desperately wanted to lash out at Kasi, but she stayed put. Why the idiot couldn't answer one simple question was beyond her, but clearly something was stopping him from answering. What if Kasi's cousins asked him not to tell? With this thought, Umeme calmed down a little. Maybe Kasi was doing the right thing by not telling them. Maybe he wasn't. But for certain, he wouldn't talk. "Are they safe at least?" She finally asked.

Kasi was certain that Umeme was about to lose her temper, and he flinched when she spoke. But when she didn't shout at him, he looked up at her in surprise. "Y-Yeah. As far as I'm aware, they're safe." He replied.

[TheWhistlerify]

Even Lina was surprised when Umeme didn't end up lashing out at Kasi. The rather awkward silence that followed Kasi's answer gave her the opportunity to again think about the reason for Umeme's behavior. After a few moments, she felt like she might have found out the reason. Lina was worried because she kind of liked Delano, so maybe, just maybe, Umeme was worried because she was starting to like Muroki? However she couldn't tell for sure, so she decided to wait until they were both alone again before asking.

[DGFone]

Umeme sighed in frustration. "Alright," she muttered, "you won't tell us." She accepted the answer without further complaint, but not without regret. She looked up at the night sky. "It's getting late. We need to go back in." Without waiting for the others, she went inside the den and lay down, curiously at the same spot where Muroki spent his few nights at. Soon enough, she was asleep.

Kasi gave Lina a apologetic look and followed Umeme inside the den. He was glad that he didn't get mauled during the questioning, because he was scared a lot by Umeme's polarizing moods. But seeing that she was already lying on the ground, he cautiously lay down in his usual spot. But instead of falling asleep, he lay with his head on his paws, eyes open and thinking. He hoped that Muroki and Delano would pay at least one visit before they would try something crazy.


The first rays of the morning sun caused Delano to open his eyes. He blinked and looked around. Most of the others were still asleep, but it looked like they would wake up soon, or the trainer would wake them up instead. He took the opportunity to lie on the ground and try and get some rest, because the night did not work well with him, and he didn't get much rest from it. At least they would go on with the patrol, and not do something more demanding.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina also went inside, becoming much more confused when she recognized the spot Umeme lay down at as the spot Muroki always slept at. As much as she wanted to interrogate her friend about this now, her friend didn't seem to be in a mood at all. And before she could try to convince herself to ask anyway, Umeme was already asleep. Sighing, she lay down in her usual spot and also went to sleep, deciding to ask in the morning if Umeme was in a better mood.


The next thing Muroki noticed was that it was already morning. Unlike Delano, he had a flawless night and was not tired at all comparing to the other mornings in which he had woken up while in the training program. After a few moments his mind again settled on Umeme, like it did before he went to sleep. He looked at Delano and, noticing that his brother was awake, asked something which he doubted Delano would find odd. "Say, um... we're going back when this is over right?" he then added something just in case, "I mean, to see Kasi and let him know we're fine?"

[DGFone]

"Hmm?" Delano opened his eyes slowly and looked at Muroki. "Yeah, I guess. I don't see why not..." He thought about their cousin and the lionesses that shared the den. "Do they even know where we are? Kasi showed where to start, but does he know that we are in this training thing?" He thought about it even more. "Even if they do know, we should stop by. If only to tell them that we're fine. But after that..."

His blood boiled at the thought of what he was going to do to whoever was responsible for their parents deaths But he couldn't do anything about it now, and he calmed down quickly. "Do you think they miss us? Kasi and the lionesses?" He asked, forgetting the names of Lina and Umeme.


Umeme woke up early the next morning, feeling awake despite the shorter than usual sleep-time. Falling asleep early must have helped. She got up and walked over to Kasi. Umeme prodded the lion awake. "Hey, Kasi, wake up..."

Kasi felt something nudge him, and he woke up, annoyed. "What?" he mumbled, and saw that it was Umeme. "What do you want?" Was it still about yesterday?

Umeme looked at him sheepishly. "I err... I wanted to apologize for last night. I shouldn't have lost my temper with you."

Kasi closed his eyes again, wanting to sleep more. "It's alright. I didn't exactly answer your question, did I?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki looked at his brother, a little surprised that he didn't remember their names. "You mean Lina and Umeme? I guess maybe they're wondering where we are. Kasi's probably worried for sure." then again Kasi could be thinking that they got themselves killed, but Muroki didn't really see any difference. He then thought about something; how were they going to do this? They had no idea where to look, or who they were even looking for. Muroki considered the posibility that he and his brother might end up finding nothing.


Lina woke up just in time to hear Umeme's talk with Kasi, which showed that her friend was probably in a much better mood comparing to yesterday evening. Getting up and walking over, she nudged her friend's shoulder, "Hey." she wasn't going to ask what she wanted to ask in front of Kasi, nor was she going to ask Umeme if they could talk on their own so to not bring up Kasi's suspicion up over nothing that he should be concerned about.