[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Umeme let out a playful yelp of surprise once Muroki finally did push her over. "Because," She replied after getting back up, "You got boring again," She grinned, "Right up until you pushed me over." She sat back down next to Muroki. "So that's what the... training was like?" She asked. "Boring and repetitive? No wonder you two left. I'm surprised anyone stayed." There was one question though that she was hesitant to ask. "Well, from the storied I heard of how things are run around here, how were you two able to get out? I would assume that they would have found a way to force you to stay."

Delano was starting to suspect that Kasi did not leave because he had something to do, but for another reason entirely. "Oh, yeah, looks like it." He let out a nervous laugh. "So do you want to go somewhere? It won't be interesting spending the entire day here in front of the den." Now that there was no avoiding it, Delano was forced to accept that he was going to spend at least some time with Lina, and somehow this realization enabled him to lose some of his nervousness. "Do you know of any interesting places?" He asked, even surprising himself at how much calmer he sounded, "Kasi and I didn't get to explore this kingdom much."

[TheWhistlerify]

Umeme's last question caused Muroki to sigh. "Well, he couldn't force us to stay, but he said that they'll be able to force us to help them if things are very dire..." he hoped that wasn't going to happen, because he was simply tired of that and he didn't want to leave again, especially not after promising Umeme that he would stay. "He said that it most likely wont happen, so I'm not too worried..." he said, looking at Umeme with a smile. "You have the most beautiful eyes."

Lina nodded with a smile, "Well, there's the cliff border, but I've heard from Kasi that you've already been there with him, so..." she tried to think of an alternative. "I don't think there's anything else interesting around here. But we can just... Walk around or something." she said, her cheeks turning slightly red at the idea.

[DGFone]

Umeme was about to ask who this 'he' was, but suspected that it wasn't anyone really important. But Muroki's last comment came out of nowhere and left her speechless. "Why, err, thanks," she said, blushing and looking away. "What made you say that?" She didn't think he was lying, but she had to say something. Come on, Umeme! Get a grip on yourself! She thought to herself. She opened her mouth to say something else, but closed it after her mind came up empty.

Right now she was really hating Muroki for making her stop thinking.

Delano recalled the cliff, and decided that it wouldn't be a good idea to go there. And he didn't feel like walking close to the border, not this soon after their training, so that left with heading deeper into the lands. He got up and began to walk, stopping to turn his head to Lina. "Hey, you coming or what?" He asked her.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki smiled, "Well, because I think your eyes are beautiful." he figured that she was also referring to his sudden change of subject. "I don't really want to talk about the training... It was mostly a waste of time. I know I shouldn't have left just like that and I'm sorry... I also missed you terribly, that's another reason I wanted to come back." he was really happy that he didn't have to hide his feelings from her anymore.

Lina stared at Delano for a moment before smiling, "Yes, of course." she got up and walked over to him, blushing slightly upon arriving by his side. "So uh... Where are we going?" she wondered whether Delano was aiming for any place in particular. As they walked, Lina couldn't help but wish that they would end up in someplace romantic.

[DGFone]

"So was it a waste of time because you missed me, or did you miss me because it was a waste of time?" Umeme asked. She wanted to know if Muroki's feelings were genuine, and not just a side effect from boredom. But considering that here she was alone with him, it should have been obvious to her that Muroki meant everything he said. "It's just that I also missed you," Umeme said, "and I don't want to wake up one day again to find you missing."

Delano looked back at Lina and grinned slightly. "I don't know," he answered. "We have a lot of ground and a lot of time. Let's just see where we'll end up at." And so the two of them continued to walk, with Delano leading. He didn't concentrate on where they were going, and just let himself move somewhere as he thought about things. "Uh, Lina," he asked randomly, breaking the silence, "so you lived here your entire life?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki smiled, "It was a waste of time because I missed you." just like her he was hoping that he wouldn't wake up one morning to be forced to go back to the police again. "I hope nothing will happen... The trainer said that the odds are very slim... But I promise that if anything happens, I wont leave without seeing you and telling you first." he said, looking into her eyes for a few moments and then down at his paws nervously.

Lina again blushed a little when Delano grinned at her, trying to hold the blush back despite how handsome he was. "Yeah, born and raised right here." she managed to smile slightly as the two carried on walking aimlessly. As she looked at Delano she just wanted to snuggled up to him and rest her head in his fuzzy looking mane, but doing so would be really awkward, for now at least.

[DGFone]

"You really mean it?" Umeme asked, and Muroki nodded. She grinned in turn. "But I think it would be better if you won't let them drag you away," she told him, "After all, I might just not let you leave." She noticed that Muroki was again looking at the ground, so she waved a paw in front of his face. "I'm over hear, Muroki," she said, trying not to laugh. "They didn't ask you to leave yet, now did they? There's no need to act like it's the end of the world."

Delano needed to think of something to say after his rather pointless question. "Oh, it's just that Muroki and I, before we came here..." He stopped briefly as memories of their parents came back. But he forced them back. As Muroki said, there was no way to bring them back, so they better move on. "Well, we would just explore the area we lived in. Sometimes we would even find some interesting places."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki noticed Umeme's paw in front of his face and looked up at her, "Of course, I know..." he said with a slight chuckle. "It's just that..." he had the urge to again stare down at his paws and avoid Umeme's gaze, but this time he managed not to. Despite how looking into Umeme's eyes made him nervous, he remained still. "It's just that I never expected anyone as... as beautiful and as kind as you to ever take a liking in someone like me." he wanted to lean over and nuzzle her, but he didn't know how she would react if he did so he didn't. Hopefully she didn't notice that because that might turn out really embarrassing. "It means a lot to me..."

Lina shrugged, "Well, I wasn't much of the explorer, so who knows, we just might come across some place interesting." 'Or romantic' she thought to herself, holding back a smile. At certain points of their walk she found herself almost saying something stupid that might reveal her crush or at least create some suspicion about it, but luckily she managed to know when to keep her mouth shut. "Do you like sunset?" it was a stupid question, but Lina could always say that she was just being curious.

[DGFone]

Now it was Umeme's turn to look at the ground in embarrassment. "You really think that?" She asked, "Because... Well...," She didn't really finish saying what she wanted to. Instead, Umeme leaned over, and with only a slight hesitation, she nuzzled Muroki's mane. All doubts that she had about him vanished at that instant. "It means a lot to me too," she echoed him.

Had Delano been actually looking at Lina, he would have seen enough to suspect that something was wrong. But instead, because of her question, he was instead looking up at the sun. The light blinded him, so he looked back down. "Oh, well, yes, I guess." He replied. "I rarely stayed up for the sunset though." He looked back at Lina, wondering. "Uh, Lina... well, now that you mentioned it..." He really wasn't sure that it was a good idea, but why not? "Would you like to stay up and watch the sunset with me?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki continued sitting in front of Umeme as he waited for her to finish, only to freeze again when Umeme suddenly leaned over and nuzzled him, as if reading his mind. He wasn't going to allow himself to sit motionless like yesterday when she had hugged him, so he returned Umeme's nuzzle with a smile. As he did, his body became filled with so many emotions he could not figure out, yet they brought him nothing but joy.

Lina was already planning on how she was going to lead the conversation to the point of asking Delano whether he would like to watch the sunset with her. Surprisingly however, Delano went ahead and asked, which saved her the effort and probably also the embarrassment. "Yes!" she exclaimed, nearly jumping in her place out of excitement. Realizing that she had practically yelled her response she forced herself to calm down, "I mean... Sure, I'd love to." she forced a smile, hoping she didn't look as embarrassed as she was feeling.