[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Umeme didn't know what to say. She didn't even know if she should be scared of them now. Or for them. "But, but they didn't do anything to you? You left on your own, not because..." She stopped, mostly because of how Muroki grinned when he shook his head. "So you two did well?" She asked. Muroki nodded. "And you came back anyways?" He nodded.

And when Muroki admitted how he had missed Umeme, she was stunned into silence. "Really?" She finally managed to ask. Now she no longer felt so stupid herself for missing him. "Because I, well, I missed you too." She looked at the ground, feeling slightly ashamed anyways. When Muroki finished explaining his end, Umeme looked up at him eagerly. "I would love to!" She said eagerly. "I would love to hang out with you!" She stopped suddenly, and looked at Delano. "But what about your brother? What about him?"

Kasi looked at Delano. "And what made that happen?" He asked.

Delano shrugged. "Well, it was mostly Muroki who got me to realize everything. But he... he was able to convince me that what I was doing was useless." he admitted. "And even now, I guess it is." He looked at his brother, who seemed to be doing just fine with Umeme. Delano grinned slightly. "Looks like Muroki's getting along well enough," he said.

Kasi also looked over. "Yeah..." He frowned though. "And it looks like there's something your not telling me here." He told Delano accusingly. "After all, you did drag me over here as soon as I left the den. What's going on?"

Delano shrugged again. "Ask them if you want to know."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki found himself smiling the biggest smile of his life when Umeme agreed to hang out with him for the day. "Really? Wow... cool." he looked at Delano as Umeme asked about him, "I'm sure he can live without me for one day." he said with a rather nervous short laugh, still unable to believe that Umeme actually said yes, nor that she also missed him as much as he had missed her. "Um... I've never really... uh, how do I say it, gone out with anyone... I don't know what to do here..." again he felt embarrassed.

[DGFone]

Umeme also smiled, because she too was not certain about what to do. "Well, we can go somewhere for the day?" She suggested. Deciding that it was a good idea, she got up. "Come on!" Laughing, she ran off, Muroki close behind her.

She ran on, but saw to her dismay that Muroki had no trouble keeping up with her. "Where you always this fast?" She asked, slowing down to a walk in order to catch her breath. "Your not even close to being tired yet!" But what she did accomplish was get the two of them away from the others. Together, they walked through the savanna, with Umeme still trying to regain her breath after their run.

Delano watched as Umeme and Muroki ran off. "So that's how it starts?" He asked, forgetting that Kasi was next to him.

Kasi looked at his cousin. "Yeah..." he replied. As Umeme and Muroki ran off, he wondered what happened to Lina. Getting up, Kasi walked over to the den. "Hey, Lina, you still in there?" He asked. "What's taking you so long?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki, with a smirk, broke into a ran and followed Umeme. He didn't run very fast, but fact enough so he could keep up with her. It took him a few moments to notice that Umeme was slowing down. After going through the training program, he wasn't used to slowing down until a long while has passed. "Oh, we went through this training program when we were away..." he said, walking a little slowed than her so that she could slow down as well and catch her breath faster. "We didn't continue, but I guess it still paid off huh?" he smiled, relieved that he could be more like himself now that his feelings weren't hidden from Umeme anymore.

Lina heard Kasi and came outside with him, "Taking so long? I didn't know you were waiting on me or anything..." she noticed Muroki and Umeme were no where to be seen. "Where are Umeme and Muroki?" she asked, looking around but mainly at Delano. After a moment of thinking she thought that maybe the two were finally out on a first date, but considering both Umeme's and Muroki shy personalities she doubted that was the case, because she was also unaware of Delano's earlier reassurances of Muroki.

[DGFone]

Umeme laughed a little. "Looks like it did," she answered. "So what else did you do there? I want to know everything." She said eagerly. "What did you do there? Where have you been all this time? Why didn't we see you after you left until now?"

Her questions escaped her before she even realized that she was asking them. When she did, Umeme flattened her ears in embarrassment. "I just want to know what happened."

Delano ran after Kasi and reached the den just in time to hear Lina's question. "Oh, they ran off together," he answered. "Why? Something wrong?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki smiled, "It's alright. Actually I'm glad to know that you care so much." he truly was. "Well, on the first few days it was just training and training... Near the end we 'practiced' some border patrols and the last three days, before we returned here, was some sort of a final assignment. We walked for like a day to a hill to find some sort of rocks..."

Lina was quiet for a moment, "Oh, that's cute. What could be possibly wrong?" she asked with a smile.

[DGFone]

Umeme laughed after Muroki finished telling what happened. "That's it? Doesn't sound like much." She said. "But I want to know why you didn't say that you were going to leave? Because you left with Kasi one day, and just... vanished." She looked at the ground. "And after he refused to say where you went..." She looked up at Muroki. "And you were gone all this time, and you were never able to get back, even for a little while, just... just to say hello?" Umeme gave him a small smile. "I really missed you, you know. And with you reappearing suddenly like that, it was a great surprise, but I would have liked to have known where you went. To have known that you would come back."

Giving up on that, Umeme decided to change the subject. "So what was the rock like?" She asked, throwing Muroki off guard.

Delano looked at the direction his brother had chased Umeme off to. By now, the two of them were far gone though. "Well, by the looks of it, they seem to be getting along rather well. So I don't think that anything can go wrong." Kasi let out a laugh, and Delano looked at him angrily. "What?"

Kasi got up and began to walk away. "Oh, nothing. I know of something that can go wrong. But it's unlikely. Anyways, I have some stuff to do, so see you later!" Still grinning, he walked away.

Delano sighed as his cousin walked away, not knowing what he meant. The fur at the back of is neck tickled, and Delano realized that that he was all alone with Lina. All of his confidence left him, and his own advice that he gave Muroki was also forgotten. "Uh, yeah, anyways... Hi... Good morning..." He stammered. "How are you?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki's ears flattened against his head, "Sorry." he then went ahead and described the rocks they've found. "Well, they were black, shiny, and also a little transparent... The trainer said something about using those rocks to scratch some other rocks..." he didn't really remember though. "Uh... Honestly I didn't think you'd miss me, or that you'd want me to come by every once in a while, I mean... I didn't think that someone like you could grow to like someone like me." he hated saying it, but that was just the way he was feeling before he realized that Umeme actually did miss him a lot.

Lina was about to be overcome yet again by her usual nervousness around Delano, which was obviously greater whenever they were by themselves. But there was something about Delano's behavior that made her completely forget that this was the part where she would become shy and nervous. Was Delano being shy all of a sudden, or was it just here. "I'm fine." she said with a smile, finding Delano's behavior cute. "How are you?"

[DGFone]

Umeme grinned and nudged Muroki. "Well, here I am, and I'm telling you that I missed you. And that makes you wrong." She pushed him over onto the ground. "Who did you think you were, anyways? You thought that you were all big and strong?" She did not mention that most likely by now, Muroki was indeed stonger. He was certainly faster than her.

"Any funny stories to tell?" She asked, sitting down next to him. "You made it sound so boring, but surely there was something that was funny." She grinned. "Come on, anything?"

Delano took in a deep breath trying to control himself. "I-I'm fine." He replied. At the moment, he desperately wanted to walk away from Lina and get a clear head. But at the same time, he knew that he won't be able to do that, not without hurting her feelings. "So, uh, what's up?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Marini smiled up at Umeme rather nervously, "Uh, I never said I was thinking that way..." he got up into a sitting position beside her and tried to think of something funny that has happened to them. "Well, it was boring." part of him wanted to playfully push Umeme so to 'get back at her', but she wasn't his brother, and he didn't want to appeal too juvenile. "I can't think of anything really." his more fun-loving side soon got a hold of him and he gently pushed Umeme down, "What was that for anyway?"

Lina held back from raising an eyebrow at Delano's unusual behavior, because this was the first time he was being nervous around her. "Nothing." she said, smiling. "Looks like we're spending the day together huh?" it looked like it from the fact that Kasi, Muroki and Umeme were gone, but she mainly wanted to see how he would react to the idea.