Vitani and Mheetu's life.

[Dark Huntress]

Ajani cracked an emerald eye open as a clawed back-paw kicked him in the face. He snarled then sighed as he realized it was only his younger brother, Jirani. Ajani grumble inaudibly and attempted to push himself upwards. However, Jirani's bulky body, which he'd insisted on laying completely on top of Ajani, proved too heavy for Ajani who was sore after yesterday's fight. With short-tempered annoyance, he bit down on Jirani's ankle, drawing blood.

The pain barely awakened Jirani who yawned, revealing his long white canines and reddish tongue. "Yeah?" he asked lethargically.

"Would you please remove your giantly heavy body from my very sore and pissed off one?"

Jirani blinked hard and stretched out with his large paws. He pulled himself forward slowly, stretching one back-paw, then the other. He sat down and scratched one of his mid-gray ears. He shook his mane, fluffing it up, then looked over at Ajani.

"You need to relax," he made an obviously irritated face as the sun shone in his eyes.

Ajani gave his brother a disbelieving look and stood. "You need to be on guard. You were so asleep an elephant could've snuck up on you!"

"Nah," Jirani said, clearly unaffected,"I would have scared it off with my snores."

Ajani shook his head at his rather immature brother. "C'mon," he said, rising,"let's find Baya or Zira. Maybe they'll have something for us to do." He stalked off through the dusty caves, his lean body casting distorted shadows across the walls.

Jirani followed haltingly, his much larger body casting shadows as big as elephants. "Yeah, like sleep." Ajani let out an exasperated huff; Jirani was hopeless.

===

He found Baya barking at his children, two runts, though not particularly small, that paled in comparison to Ajani and Jirani.
"Sir," Ajani said respectfully, Baya being the one lion he feared and stood in awe of. Everything about the lean lion demanded respect and Ajani was not slow to give it, having already earned a scar or two for not paying it.

Jirani obviously got a Baya's nerves, being so big and powerful, but so soft. He rather got on Ajani's nerves too. But he was crucial.

"Do you have anything for us to do, sir?" Ajani asked, meeting Baya's eyes, both burning like emerald fires. He knew Baya liked for lions to show coolness and control-and making eye contact was the first lesson to showing you aren't intimidated.

[Kopalover]

Vitani smiled, "You must be a tough guy, eh? Wrestle me then, big boy." Laughing then winking, obviously it was a joke. Though, she did love the trill of a mock fight. She imagined a young Mheetu alone by himself, but quickly shook the image from her head. "I've missed you too Mheetu." Whispering to him and nuzzling his neck, something she had wished to do for a very long time. "I've been waiting my entire life to see you again. I'm so happy to be with you." Pulling away, she smiled at Mheetu then straighten herself up. Her tough-girl look came from hiding the pain of not being able to see Mheetu, now that it was gone, she had to mask how happy she was.

"I'm sorry about my mother, she was wrong." Vitani looked down, and placed her head in her paws. She was clearly still upset about her mother, not even Mheetu could make the pain of her mother's death go away. Zira may have given her a bad life, but she was still her mother. The small good times added up for the large bad times. Vitani still had to hide the pain.

[Zoketi]

His teeth flashed as he bared them with amusement at her words. With a ruffled shake of his mane he listened to her speak again. Once again he felt regretful for all the time that they missed, apart when they should have been together. The feel of Vitani's muzzle against his mane and her voice murmuring to him quietly pulled all sorts of memories. Mheetu took a slow, deep breath and enjoyed her presence next to him. When she pulled a bit away he blinked at her, not minding when he saw the easy smile on her face. He straightened as well, with a slight glance around the circle of lions to see if anything was happening, or if any of them had noticed. It wasn't that he really minded being in a big group with Vitani, though sometimes he felt a bit uncomfortable with everyone right there.

Mheetu twitched his ears as the young tan lioness spoke again. The topic of Zira made him less enthusiastic but he didn't mind if Vitani wanted to talk about it. Of course she would be upset. For all the cruel things Zira had done, she must have been motherly enough to Vitani. He gave her a soft nuzzle on the shoulder, eyes glimmering with a hesitant concern. "If only she had let go of her hate." he murmured quietly, in agreement.