[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano looked over at Muroki. "Morning," he mumbled, speaking for both himself and Kasi. He didn't really feel like talking now anymore.

Eventually, it was Kasi who spoke up out of all of them. "Hey, guys, I just wanted to say..." He stalled, obviously embarrassed. "Well, thanks for your help. Last night... I appreciate it." He fell silent again.

Delano nodded, but inside he felt slightly guilty for giving Muroki a hard time after they brought Kasi back. He should have kept his composure up.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki managed a slight smile at their cousin, "It's alright, that's what family does." other than that he didn't really have anything else worth saying. He really wished that there was anything he or Delano could do to improve Kasi's mode or to help avoid having any other lion meeting such a horrible death like their parents or Kasi's friend did.

[DGFone]

Delano sat next to Kasi and Muroki, thinking. What he really wanted right now were answers. And he wasn't going to get them from Muroki, because his brother didn't know anything new, and Kasi knew even less. Getting up, he turned towards them, "Hey, Muroki, can you stay with Kasi for today?" He asked. "I need to do some stuff." He turned and walked out of the den before Muroki can argue. He'll explain later.

Once outside of the den, he broke off into a run, heading towards the police caves. They should know at least how bad the situation is.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki nodded at his brother, "Of course." he didn't have even the slight intention to leave Kasi any time soon, even if his parents or any other of his friends decided to keep an eye on him. Before he had the chance to ask Delano where exactly he was going, he was already gone. Muroki sighed and lay down, staring at one of the cave's walls. After a short while he looked at Umeme and Lina who were still sound asleep. They both knew Kasi since cub-hood and were still very good friends with him, despite Lina being in a relationship with Delano and Umeme with Muroki. Muroki had no doubt that the two sisters knew Tango, and he hoped they wouldn't take the news in too badly.

He and Umeme have been growing a lot closer to each other in the past few weeks. While he knew that this was not the right time to think about how his life was going, he couldn't ignore the fact that he had grown to care for her even more than he had when they went out for the first time together, something which even he thought was impossible. Unknown to him because he was so deep in his own thoughts, he let out a sigh. He loved her. Her well-being meant more to him than his own well-being and he knew that he would prefer die if it meant keeping her safe.

[DGFone]

Umeme woke up slowly, feeling cold and somewhat unusual. Feeling around, she discovered that Muroki was not next to her. At first, she just assumed that he had left to run with Delano, but when she finally opened her eyes, she saw that Muroki was right there in front of her, but not next to her.

Lifting her head up in confusion, she saw that Muroki was next to Kasi for some reason. "Muroki, what?.." She was confused, wondering why Muroki wasn't next to her, and then got a better view of Kasi, and how badly he looked. "Kasi, what happened?" She asked, her voice filled with worry for her den-mate. Having grown up with him, he was almost family to her. When Kasi didn't answer, she looked at Muroki. "Muroki, what happened?" She asked again. "Where's Delano?"

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki managed to feel slightly cheered up when Umeme woke up, but it still wasn't enough to make him stop worrying about his cousin. He got up and slowly walked away a little from his cousin, motioning to Umeme to come with him. He didn't want Kasi to be there when he told Umeme of last night's events for he was already feeling horrible as it was. Once they were far enough for Muroki to talk to her without having Kasi hearing, Muroki sighed and began quietly. "Do you know Tango?" he wasn't surprised to see her nod her head, "Well... He's dead..."

It took him a few moments to find the words to continue, even though he never knew Tango or ever met him before. "Kasi found his body in the middle of the night..." for some reason he decided to mention the the stage-up of the snake bite. "It was just like what Delano and I saw when we found our parents dead that day... I can understand why he's so depressed..." he let out another sigh, remembering how he himself felt when he saw his parents' bodies. "Delano left just a minute ago, I don't know where he went... I'm keeping an eye on Kasi in the mean time..." once Umeme looked as if she had somewhat regained her composure, they both headed back to where Kasi was.

[DGFone]

"Dead?" Umeme whispered, shocked. Now she understood why Kasi looked so bad. As Tango was one of Kasi's best friends, she knew him very well, and was also deeply saddened to find out about his death. Umeme leaned over and rubbed hear head against his mane, seeking comfort in him and trying not to start crying. "Why?" She asked. "Why did he have to die?"

She broke away from Muroki, suddenly feeling angry. "You said that things will be fine!" Umeme shouted at him. "This wasn't supposed to happen!" Once again, her mood changed suddenly, and she leaned back on Muroki. "I just don't want you to be the next one," she whispered to him, "At first your parents, then Tango. Why is it always someone connected to you? When will it be you? I don't want it to be you..."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki tried to find the right words, only becoming even more speechless when she suddenly lashed out at him, "I... I never expected..." he never thought that such a thing could ever happen. While he and Delano were living in the middle of nowhere with their parents, this was a much larger pride, and Muroki never expected anybody to sneak in and kill somebody right in the middle of the land. Sure, there was this lion who he and Delano spotted during that patrol practice, but that was at the border. Muroki never imagined such a thing happening in the middle of a pride.

Muroki felt himself calming back down a little when Umeme leaned against him again, her tone not as angry as it was a moment ago. "Umeme, I..." he said softly, holding her close, "I don't know what to say... I never thought such a thing could happen here... I mean, we used to live in the middle of nowhere with our parents, not in a pride" he let out a sigh, rubbing his head against hers gently. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. And I'll never let anyone even attempt to do such a thing to you..." he then realized that as much as he could be next, so could Umeme. "Never..."

Lina meanwhile woke up from all the noise caused by Umeme's sudden outburst. At first everything seemed usual when she opened her eyes; Muroki and Umeme leaning against each other, and Kasi in his usual spot. Only after a moment she noticed the distressed looks on the three's faces. Also, Delano was no where in sight. Lina would have guessed that he had gone to run with Muroki, but Muroki was right in front of her. Getting up, she walked over to where he was sitting with her sister. "Guys? Is something wrong?" even before they had a chance to answer Lina could already feel sick to her stomach.

[DGFone]

Umeme was glad that Muroki was there to protect her, but didn't feel like it was necessary. "I'm not worried about myself," she told him, "I'm worried about you. I don't want to wake up and find you missing, only to find your body later mangled in some ditch." She leaned into him, finding comfort in his presence, reassuring her that he was still there.

She heard Lina speak up, and turned her head towards the noise. "Yeah, everything is fine," Umeme said, but quickly changed her mind. "Well, no. Not really. It's about Tango. He's..." She struggled to find her voice. "Muroki says that he's dead. Kasi found him." Umeme finally managed to say.

Kasi couldn't take it anymore. "Will you guys just shut up about him already?" He shouted at the others, not caring that he was lashing out at his friends and family. "Tango's dead! He's gone! Get over it!" Feeling exhausted just from shouting, he lay his head under his paws, not bothering to stop his sobbing.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki, Lina and Umeme all looked naturally taken a back by the way Kasi just lashed at them. While Muroki could understand his cousin's anger, Lina looked slightly offended by it. With a huff only she and maybe also Muroki and Umeme could hear, she said in a voice just as quiet, "That's horrible..." she never expected such a thing to happen, not to a friend of hers. Suddenly something occurred to her, "Where's Delano?" she asked, her gaze shifting from Umeme to Muroki over and over again.

Muroki shrugged and said quietly, "He said he had to go somewhere and that he'll be back soon..." he couldn't help but be curious about what exactly was his brother up to.

Lina looked slightly more worried as Muroki said that. "What?" a lion was killed 1 minute of walking away from the main den and Delano decided to go wonder around? "Alone? After what happened? Why did you let him go?" before she could set off to look for him Muroki, anticipating it, grabbed her by the arm and stopped her from going anywhere. She sighed and shook her arm free of his grip, understanding the message. Delano could take care of himself, and the odds of her finding him on her own were very slim considering the pride's large territory. Also she doubted she should go out on her own, if at all.