[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Despite Kato's clear enthusiasm for showing the waterhole to Desta, Umeme was able to sense some hesitation in him. "What's the hold up, Kato? Surely you're not getting nervous about, are you?" She walked back to him, grinning. "Let me tell you something: When Muroki was first starting to fall for me, he too was quite the nervous wreck. In fact, at some points, he could hardly form a coherent phrase when talknig to me because of how nervous he would get."

She grinned back at Muroki, who despite his clear embarrassment, was also nodding to confirm her story. "So it's okay to be nervous. Just be yourself, and it should all work out." She thought about what to say some more.

"Think about it this way: the worst thing happens, and you make an utter fool of yourself, okay?" Kato grew very nervous about this, but Umeme ignored his reaction. "You might not feel like laughing about it, but if Desta won't be able to love you despite something like that, then she won't be worth it anyways. If she really is that good as you say she is, not only will you not have to worry about her making fun of your mistakes, but in no time at all, both of you will be laughing at both of your... not quite the shining moments." She motioned back at Muroki. "Just like me and that doofus over there." She made sure that Muroki heard that part.

---

Atop of the rock, Delano gratefully returned Lina's nuzzle. "I know I don't have to, but I feel like I need to..." He looked at her, trying to smile slightly. "We just got married, and I feel like things are not where they are supposed to be... It's not because I don't love you. I do, and with all my heart!" Lina smiled at this, and this time, he was even able to return it easily. "It's just that I don't think I am doing everything I can for you... I want to be fine again, but I fear that I won't be able to just let it pass like last time. And... it's getting in the way of everything, and I don't want it to."

He showed her his paw. The bleeding has stopped back when they were walking here, but the cut was still very visible. "When I ran off on you... I didn't want you to see me lose it. That's what I'm afraid of Lina... That I can't be, well... me."

[TheWhistlerify]

Kato rubbed the back of his head with a paw. "She never thinks any less of me when I make a mistake..." he said, a little defensively. "We usually laugh about this sort of thing in no time..." He couldn't help but blush as Umeme called Muroki a doofus. "Yeah, the word doofus does come out every now and then..." He chuckled as he recalled the way Desta always giggled or laughed whenever she called him that. He's always enjoyed seeing her smile, and it's not like she really meant it and was trying to hurt his feelings.

"I stuttered like a newborn cub back at the time." said Muroki as he joined the two by the shore of the waterhole. "You can try to decide what you're going to say to her before asking her to come here with you. Yes, you might babble, but at least you'll have something to say." He then looked at Umeme wth a sly grin. "Oh, I am a doofus alright." Unable to help himself, he pushed her directly into the water, laughing as he did.

Kato couldn't help but laugh as well, but before he knew it he found himself inside the waterhole as well. Having not seen it coming, he resurfaced after swallowing some water, coughing as he did. Oh, so Muroki wanted to play that game. Climbing out, the prince attempted to push Muroki inside, but the larger lion wouldn't budge. Muroki chuckled, and just when he was about to tease Kato for his miserable attempt, he felt Umeme wrap her forelegs around him before pulling him back into the waterhole with her.

~~~~~~~~~

At first Lina appeared to be somewhat calmer at what Delano was saying, but her ears went flat against her head as he showed her his paw. "Oh, Delano..." she said with a sigh as she gave the cut on his paw a gentle lick. "We'll get through this together, I promise... And after we do, we can start building our lives together..." She said that last bit in a somewhat flirtatious tone as she rested her head beneath his chin. "Wouldn't that be nice?" she asked.

[DGFone]

In the back of her mind, Umeme knew that since they were at the waterhole, it was only a matter of time before she would get wet. Despite knowing that, she was still surprised when Muroki pushed her into the waterhole. She emerged from the water, noticing how her mate was distracted by Kato. She smiled when the prince failed to shove Muroki into the water in revenge, and took the opportunity to sneak up on Muroki, and wrapped her paws around him, using her legs to push back and toss him into the water as well. "Surprise!"

Since Kato was already wet from being tossed in before, Umeme didn't see any reason why he would avoid getting into the water again. "Kato, come on!" She splashed some water at him, before swimming away from Muroki, who she noticed was getting suspiciously close to her.

---

Delano grinned. "Heh, yeah, that would be nice." From down below, he heard some yelps of surprise, followed by the sound of something big hitting the water. He looked over and saw that the other three were now busy tossing each other into the waterhole. "Want to join them, Lina? Or stay up here with me?" He didn't really feel like going down there and joining the games, not to mention that he would rather stay up here with Lina anyways.

[TheWhistlerify]

As annoying as having Umeme ruin the amusement brought to him by Kato's helplessness was, Muroki knew that he had it coming. Surprisingly enough his shouler gave him no trouble, only making it slightly harder to swim as quickly as he was used to. This meant that Umeme was pretty much in the clear if she decided to evade him. "You see sometime I miss being a cub," he said to Kato wth a smile,"but nobody said that I can't act like one every once in a while."

The prince, who soon joined the two of them by leaping back into the waterhole, couldn't help but think of the silly ways he and his friends still had to pass their time, despite not being cubs anymore. Sometime Desta would tell him that he was completely immature, only to soon laugh because of his antics and act in pretty much the same manner. For the time being the younger male seemed to be satisfied with watching the grown up couple chase each other around as if they didn't have a care in the world.

~~~~~~

At first Lina thought that Delano wanted to join the others in the waterhole as well but she soon discovered otherwise. As much as she enjoyed this sort of thing, she'd told Delano that she'd use this opportunity to hang out with him a little. "I think I'll stay here..." Delano's warm fur and mane was too tempting in order to leave behind if he wasn't going to come with her as well. "We did say we'd spend some time together, didn't we?"

[DGFone]

Umeme laughed as she swam away from Muroki. While she knew that what they were doing can be considered "cubbish", Muroki phrased it perfectly. It was fun to act like cubs again every once and a while, and if anyone wanted to argue, they can live a boring life for all she could care.

Spotting Kato join in from the corner of her eye, Umeme grinned and dived under the surface in order to sneak up on him. As he went after Muroki, she surface behind him and used her paws to send a large wave of water at his head.

---

Delano smiled and remained where he was. "Yeah, I believe I did say that." He allowed Lina to settle into his mane. He figured that as long as he won't let himself fall asleep, he should be fine. He got himself more comfortable as well, lying down next to his mate. "Hey, Lina, I was thinking... After all this is over, how would you like it if we go and search for our own den as well? Muroki and Umeme found a really nice one, and I was thinking that perhaps you would like to find one like that as well. Or perhaps an even better one."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki knew Umeme well enough, but by the time Kato realized that the older lion was trying to to warn him with all those sudden movements rather than splash water at him it was too late. Frowning as his partially grown mane / hair tuft got into his eyes after getting completely soaked, he turned around in order to counter attack, only for Umeme to dive underwater again, much to his obvius annoyance. Muroki chuckled, making sure to keep an eye on the water around himself in case his mate would decide to pick a different target.

~~~~~~~~

Last time Lina had brought up the subject of finding their own place and even starting a family Delano had immediately grown uncomfortable and avoided talking too much about it. Therefore, hearing him bring it up again, not to mention suggest that they looked for their own den, was quite surprising to say the least. "Really?" she asked, as if to make sure she wasn't imagining things. "Yes! A million times yes! I'd love that!" she exclaimed, embracing her mate in a hug.

[DGFone]

Umeme alternated between going after Muroki and Kato, however, despite it being one crazy free-for-all, they soon learned how to at least know when she was nearby, and while she was still often able to get them very much wet, she too became the receiving end of splashes soon enough.

After what felt like a really long time, Muroki was the first to quit, and swam back to shore. Umeme didn't really pay much attention to it, except that she caught him limping a bit. Worried, she followed him to dry ground. "Muroki, how's your shoulder?" As much fun as they had, she hoped that they did not accidently make things worse for her mate by having him use his shoulder more than he should have. She gently massaged his shoulder, noting that he didn't seem to wince too much in pain, so he clearly was much better than in the morning. "You feeling alright?"

---

Delano nodded at Lina's question, then suddenly found himself in a very tight hug. Overcoming his initial shock, he relaxed and returned the gesture. "Well, alright. But... I'd still like to deal with these dreams first. But after that... yeah, we can go and look for our own little place to call home."

He allowed himself to relax and lean a bit more against Lina. After yesterday's events, and then the restless night, being able to be relaxed like this with her next to him felt really nice.

[TheWhistlerify]

Kato also left the waterhole once Umeme followed Muroki outside, becoming somewhat concerned upon noticing the slight limp Muroki had. True, he'd also limped a little on the way over to the waterhole, but the prince hoped that all the swimming and splashing about hasn't somehow made anything worse, even if only by a little. When he arrived next to the two of them he saw Muroki lying on the ground and looking quite content thanks to the way Umeme was massaging his shoulder.

"It's the same as when we left and came here earlier." he said with a smile, noticing the concern in her tone. True, his shoulder was feeling a little more sore after playing inside the waterhole, but he knew it was natural and therefore nothing to be concerned about. "Don't worry about it." He brushed his cheek against her paws as they massaged his shoulder, letting her know that he appreciated the gesture.

~~~~~~~~~~

Lina allowed herself to relax in her mate's embrace, purring as she did. "I bet it'll be wonderful..." she said with a sigh, resting her head in his mane. "Don't you think?" She knew that it would be a while before actually they would actuslly start looking for their own den, but she hoped that trying to concentrate more on the bright future she and Dlano had together rather than on the past would help him get rid of his nightmares faster.

[DGFone]

Knowing that Muroki was feeling fine and was not in pain, Umeme was able to relax. "Good. Just make sure that it stays that way. Better stop and rest earlier than when it's too late." Through the trees, she was able to see where the sun was. "Especially since we'll need to get going soon. Don't want to have cubby over here having to deal with nervous parent issues." She grinned smugly at Kato, who didn't look particularly amused. "You'll be able to stay up later when you're older. Until then, you'll just have to deal with it."

"Besides," she added, "Desta might be waiting for you."

---

Delano found himself starting to drift off to sleep, and jolted himself awake. "Yeah, it would be nice," he replied, "maybe... we an even try to look for a den close to here. Imagine, having our own little waterhole right next to home..."

A strange silence caused him to look down, and saw that the reason for the lack of noise was because the others had left the water. "Looks like they had their fun," he commented, "kinda makes me wish that we were down there too." He looked back at Lina, grinning. "But being here was better." He then chose to say something that could possibly make Lina mad, but hoped that she would get the joke. "But only by just a bit."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki looked at his mate with a smile. "I know. That's why I left the waterhole just now." It really was starting to look like they were going to have to start heading back soon, especially if they were to go with Kato first. He couldn't help but chuckle as Umeme teased the prince, especially because of the way the younger kion reacted."Don't tease the boy, dear." he said jokingly, but by then Kato was too busy thinking about the possibility of Desta waiting there for him.

"You think so?" asked the prince with a goofy smile. The last time he'd seen her was before the whole incident with the gorge, and he really wanted to see her again and ask her if she'd like to see this beautiful place tomorrow. Then, he'll try to tell her how he was feeling. "Alright! C'mon, let's go!"

~~~~~~~~

Lina's expression lit up as Delano mentioned the possibility of them finding a den next to this waterhole. If such a den existed, then it would be the perfect choice. "That would be perfect!" she said, complimenting him for the idea by licking his cheek.