[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Delano only nodded at Muroki's question, unintentionally letting Lina answer for him right before she embraced him in a hug once more. "Easy there, Lina," he chuckled, "you don't want to round me in here forever." While she had avoided his wounds this time, it was only a matter of time before she would forget about them again in her excitement. "Muroki and I need to get better first. Only then can we go and look." However, he did place his head on her shoulder again.

Next to Muroki, Umeme sat down next to her mate. She was almost completely certain that neither Lina nor Delano actually remembered being scolded about walking off without telling anyone, but she couldn't bring herself to repeat it. The two of them looked too... cute for interruptions. "Is that what we look like?" she asked Muroki, just loud enough so that only he was able to hear, "I have to say, it looks rather well... embarrassing."

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina continued to hug Delano, listening to his comment and making sure to not let her excitement rise too much. She began to purr in content as her mate rested his head on her shoulder, releasing her grip on him as they continued to lean against each other. "Well you need to get better quickly." she said giggling as she placed one of her paws on his. She knew that her sister and brother in law were still there, but she didn't mind. This reminded her that, just a few days ago, her father had asked her whether she and Delano were planning to also get their own den soon.

Still smiling to himself, Muroki looked at his mate and laughed quietly at her question. "Maybe. I suppose." nudgng her shoulder with his own, he chuckled. "Only cuter, I'd say." Flashing a smile in her direction, he licked her forehead. "It is embarrassing, I have to admit..." he pretended to shudder. "Especially if your parents are there and we don't even know it."

[DGFone]

Delano let out a loud yawn. "Sure, I'll get better soon," he eventually said, "but first, I think I'm going back in and get some sleep." Not only Lina, but also Umeme and Muroki rolled their eyes. It was almost like a joke now at how much time he can spend passed out. Stumbling up onto his feet, Delano waited for Lina to get up too before walking in the den and lying down. His head barely hit the floor before he was out and snoring once more.

Even though Muroki was joking, Umeme still quickly looked behind her just to make sure that her parents were not in fact behind her. "Muroki!" She scolded, "you nearly gave me a heart attack!" She was about to continue when she was interrupted by a rather loud yawn from Delano. "There goes sleepyhead again," she muttered, grinning to Muroki. "How does Lina deal with him?" Together, they followed Delano and Lina inside, where Umeme sat down next to her mate near a wall. It was only a matter of time before the gentle snoring of Delano echoed through the cave. Umeme stared at Muroki, her eyes wide. "How does he do that?"

Spoiler: show

Time to FFW

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki certainly did not expect Umeme to react like that, which obvioisly made the way she turned around in a hurry to make sure her parents weren't there very funny. Holding back a laugh, he looked at his brother. "Yeah. That's Delano alright." he said quietly, walking back into the den with his mate and the others. The two of them sat down together next to one of the walls. Truth be told, Muroki was also quite tired. "Beats me, but I'm going to try to find out."

After holding back a yawn for a brief moment, he lay down and patted the ground, inviting her to join him. When she did he wrapped a paw around her back and held her close to him, giving her forehead an affectionate lick before resting his head down on the ground with a sigh of content. With them out of the royal den and on the way to moving back into their own home, his spirits were very high. "Goodnight..." he said, purring in content as his mate placed her head in his mane.

A few weeks later

Muroki ran out of the den belonging to his parents in law with Umeme right behind him. Surprisingly enough, instead of having to wait for Umeme's approval for him to do as he pleased again, it was actually the queen who ended up making him wait rather than his mate. Even though he was feeling perfectly okay and has felt like that for over a week already, having even been given permission from Umeme, Kato's mother was still not convinced. As impatient as both he and his mate were, they knew that the queen knew her stuff.

She'd told him to come back that morning for another evaluation, which was why he was so eagerly making his way towards the royal den. It was still a very early hour in the morning, and he was doing his best not to think of how grumpy Umeme probably was because, as much as she wanted to finally go back to their own den, she also thought it could wait an extra hour or two.

Since Delano hadn't been as severely injured as Muroki had been, his brother has already made his full recovery. However, since they all agreed to stick together until both Delano and Muroki got better, Delano and Lina still haven't started looking for their own den, also thinking that they should wait for the queen's approval on Muroki's regard.

"Come on, Umeme! Hurry up!" yelled Muroki with excitement as he kept running as fast as he could. Looking over his shoulder, he was surprised to see that his mate had no trouble keeping up with him. "It looks like I'm not in shape like I used to be!" he added, laughing to himself. Today, hopefully, Kato's mother would finally tell him what he so badly wanted to hear.

[DGFone]

Umeme had no trouble at all keeping up with Muroki, even though he was already panting hard and generally having a hard time staying ahead of her. "Don't you worry, hun. We'll get you back on all four feet before you can blink!" If the queen hadn't insisted, they would have moved out by now. However, they couldn't exactly simply disobey her, especially after all she had done for them, no matter how bored it made all of them to have to wait longer than they wanted to. "Look on the bright side, today we should be able to move out."

Reaching the den, she slowed down and let Muroki catch his breath before walking inside. "Hello?" she called out, "it's us! Umeme and Muroki!"

----

Back at their parent's den, Delano woke up. Having healed, as well as having several weeks to rest, he finally was able to get over being tired and sleepy all the time. Lina was still asleep next to him, but as he looked around the den, he saw that Muroki and Umeme had already left. Groaning in annoyance, he nudged Lina slowly with his nose. "Wake up, Lina. We need to go and chase after your sister and my brother..."

[TheWhistlerify]

While Muroki was already used to being able to easily out-run Umeme, he was too excited because of how well he was feeling that he couldn't be bothered by the fact he was out of shape. "Hopefully..." he said in between heavy breaths, following his mate into the royal den. At first he suspected that the queen might have not woken up yet, but she came over to them from deeper inside the den rather quickly. The look on her face suggested that she'd expected Muroki to come so early.

"Did you sprint all the way here?" she asked.

"Um... Maybe..."

The queen chuckled and rolled her eyes. After a quick look at his shoulder, she gave him a slow nod. "You're ready." Muroki nearly squeed in delight.
~~~

Lina meanwhile was sleeping peacefully. Having never been an early riser, she was in no mood to wake up so early in thd morning. Groaning in annoyance, she looked at Delano with haof open eyes. "Ugh... Why?" she felt Delano nuxge her again and chuckled, playfully shoving his head awah. "Go back to sleep!" Muroki was already feeling much better if not perfectly okay. And he had Umeme with him. So why worry?

[DGFone]

Umeme grinned in delight. She walked over and gave the queen a quick hug. "Thank you," she said quietly, "for everything." She allowed the queen to return the hug before returning to Muroki's side. "Well, we now have permission from the queen no less to go home. Are you ready?" She knew that Muroki was just about as excited as she was to be able to return to their den. She raised a paw before he could answer her. "But first," she warned, "we need to stop by Lina and Delano to tell them." She hated to do that as much as Muroki would, but Umeme knew that they would get very worried if they never came back.

---

Delano looked at Lina, remembering how whenever he would desperately try to get some rest, she would let him. "Alright, I'll let you sleep in," he relented. "I'll be outside." He got up and walked outside, yawning loudly as he did. Sitting down on the rocky ground right outside the den, he stayed in the shade to avoid the direct glare of the early morning sun. Really, did Muroki and Umeme have to get up this early?

[TheWhistlerify]

Feeling happier than he ever has been in quite a while, Muroki followed in Umeme's paw prints and hugged the queen as well. Perhaps a little too hard, but Kato's mother returned the gesture nonetheless. "Thank you... If it weren't for you me and my brother would be dead..."

"And if it weren't for you and Delano," replied the queen, "then Kato wouldn't be here." She ended the hug and smiled fondly at him. "Besides, it's my duy."

Smiling with excitement, Muroki looked at his mate and was just about to suggest they went straight back to their new den when she cut him short. In his enthusiasm he'd completely forgotten about Delano and Lina, not to mention that he should probably tell his parents in law and thank them for their hospitality as well. "Alright..." Chuckling, he gave her a brief nuzzle before looking back at the queen. "Would you mind telling Kato that I said hi?" Since it was still early, the prince probably hasn't woken up yet. "Oh, and he's welcome to drop by whenever he wants. Um, you are too, of course, if you want..."

"Thank you. I'll tell him." Kato's mother continued to smile as Umeme and Muroki took their leave. In Muroki's and Delano's case of unfortune during the past few months, everybody lived. For a change. She needed more days like this.

~~~

It was perhaps a few seconds after Delano lay down that he felt the warmth of Lina's fur as she lay down beside him and buried her head in his mane. "Mind if I join you?" After all, it was hard to go back to sleep without the pillow she was so used to. When considering the odds that she wouldn't be able to fall asleep again, she realized she'd rather be by his side. Also, knowing how badly her sister and brother in law wanted to go back to their own home, she doubted it'd take them too long to come back anyway.

[DGFone]

Umeme waited patiently while Muroki also gave his thanks to the queen. When he finally finished, she gave him a quick nuzzle before leading him outside. "Let's get back to Lina and Delano, they will want to know about the good news!" As eager as she was to get back and then be able to finally move in back to their den with Muroki, Umeme didn't run as fast as she could, knowing that Muroki had enough of a hard time keeping up with him this time.

---

Delano looked at Lina and smiled at her. "Not at all," he assured her, "not at all." He wondered how long Umeme and Muroki had already been away out of the den, and how quickly it would take them to get back. "You know," he said after a while, "I wonder if they will even stop by here at all, or if they will simply head straight back to their new den..."

[TheWhistlerify]

As he and his mate slowly made their way outside Muroki had to partially close his eyes because of the sun right in front of them. They could go home, finally, after all of this time. "I'm right behind you!" he said just as excitedly, running after Umeme. Having tired himself quite a bit from running as fast as he could earlier, he didn't mind not running too fast this time around. If anything, he felt like he should reserve some of his energy for the rest of the day.

Lina smiled as Delano gave her permission to use him like the pillow he was, purring as she got comfortable against him. She felt herself doze off and become sleepy, but not enough to actually fall back to sleep. "They might forget about us in their excitement." she said with a sigh of content. "We could always go there if we feel like they're taking too long." However, after a few moments, the sound of running paws was heard and the couple in question came into view, making their way over to them and the den. "Somebody looks happy." commented Lina with a chuckle.