[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

As Umeme lead her family back to the den, she at first payed attention to what Marini and Ubawa were busy arguing about, but soon lost interest. Muroki must have also been thinking that whatever they were talking about was not worth listening to, because he smiled and rubbed his head on hers.

Returning the gesture, she noticed that they were nearing the den, and she remembered what was still inside. "They don't know that we have zebra in there," she whispered, not wanting to spoil the surprise for the cubs. "I just hope that they will not get even more excited and not go to sleep today."

---

Knowing that Akili meant well, Delano didn't scold his son for not actually helping him. Akili couldn't help that he was too small to be able to help with the cold. Wrapping his paws around his son, Delano settled his head on the ground, still shivering from the cold. "Don't worry about me," he said quietly, "go back to sleep."

He hoped that he would be able to go back to sleep himself, otherwise he would be looking at another hard day. At the same time, he also didn't want Akili to stay up worrying for him. However, he felt his son's breathing sloe down into a steady pace that told him that Akili did indeed go back to sleep. Now he too simply needed to get some rest.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki was rather amused by Umeme's little concern. As focused and energetic Marini and Ubawa appeared to be thanks to their little argument, Muroki doubted that it would take too long for the two cubs to start showing signs of exhaustion. "I doubt they won't go to sleep soon." he said with a chuckle. "They'll most likely begin to get.sleepy once they have a decent meal." Just like how an adult could end up feeling like taking a nap after eating, the same thing applied to cubs. The reason they were still so lively was most likely the fact that they were hungry.

Smiling as they went into the den, where the zebra still was after haven't been moved a single inch, Muroki looked at Ubawa and Marini with a smile. "I bet you two are hungry." he said, dragging the remains of their kill from earlier into the main den where it would be more comfortable to eat from it. "You've had a long day after all." The two little balls of fluff wasted no time in digging on, clearly hungry just like their parents thought they were. Giving his mate a loving lick across her forehead, Muroki decided to join their children and eat a little as well. Better sooner, when it was more fresh, of course.

[DGFone]

With the rest of her family all eating, Umeme also decided to grab some bites of the still relatively fresh meat herself as well. While she and Muroki did finish quite soon, having already eaten earlier today, their two cubs were very busy stuffing themselves on the delicious meat. While waiting for them to finish, she sat now next to her mate. "They really are hungry. I don't think I've seen them eat so quickly and... roughly like this before." While a part of her did not like seeing Ubawa and Marini this hungry, she really couldn't blame her parents on not feeding these two - it wasn't their responsibility to always have food available. Which made Umeme all the more glad that the and Muroki had caught the zebra.

Eventually, even the two cubs were full. Seeing how content they looked, Umeme decided that she would not torture Ubawa for now and not clean him up, even if he was rather dusty. "Alright you two," she told them, "now that you ate, it's time to go to sleep. It's already dark outside."

Ubawa looked up at his mother eagerly. "No bath?"

Perhaps he asked too eagerly, because Umeme was already reconsidering her decision. Finally she smiled and said, "Not today. But you will have to get clean tomorrow." The cub let out a relieved squeal and hopped in between Umeme's paws. Sure, she could always change her mind and surprise him, but she didn't feel like it.

Lying down on the ground herself, Umeme was joined by Muroki and Marini. "Goodnight," she muttered in between a long yawn.

---

Back in Laini's and Moto's den, Delano also managed to fall asleep after Akili, but not for long. For whatever reason, most likely from the uneasiness and bad feelings he was in from the day and previous night, he found himself in another nightmare. While not as bad as those before, he still woke up screaming, unintentionally squeezing Akili, who was still asleep between his paws.

Trying to calm down, one of the first things he noticed were the painful groans of his son, who he quickly let go. "Akili?" he asked desperately, hoping that he hadn't hurt his son, "Akili... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to... Are you alright? Please be alright!" Carefully, he pulled his son towards him, hugging him gently.

[TheWhistlerify]

Akili, unlike his father, was actually having a rather pleasant dream, which was only to be expected from a cub whose mind was still so innocent, when he suddenly found it very difficult to breath. Waking up with a start, all the cub could do was was squirm about frantically against Delano's grip but, luckily, his father soon heard his choked up groans and realized what he was doing. The first thing the cub did once he was free was to just lie there and breath heavily, a little too shocked in order to actually move anywhere.

Not only had Delano's hold made it very hard to breath, but there was also the very simply fact that Akili's body was so small - meaning that, aside from not letting him breath, the way he'd been squeezed had been rather painful to say the least. For the cub, pain was something he was completely unfamilliar with. Sure, he'd tripped and fallen over before, for example, occassionally earning a slight bruise, but this? Not knowing what to make of what had just happned, all he did was lie there in Delano's embrace and shake uncontrollably. His mother, being the heavy sleeper that she was, has slept through the whole incident.

[DGFone]

Still trying to figure out what had happened, Delano was all to aware if Akili's shaking. While he had known that he still occasionally had nightmares, he never thought that he would accidently hurt someone because of them, at least, not from the occasional odd bad dream. He recalled painfully all to well how when he was suffering the endless nightmares, the only one he really hurt was himself.

But now he had hurt someone else, and to make things worse, it was his own son. "Akili... try to come down," he pleaded, feeling tears start to fall from his eyes, "please... I didn't want to hurt you." He clutched onto his shaking son, bitter at himself for hurting someone so young and vulnerable.

Looking over at Lina, who was still asleep, Delano gently pushed Akili towards her and wrapped the cub with one of her paws. Quickly getting up and seeing that Laini and Moto were also still asleep, he ran out and fled the den.

[TheWhistlerify]

Akili, still shaking uncontrollably as a result of both pain and confusion, let out a soft, startled whimper as Delano suddenly clutched at him gently and held him close. Why had his own father hurt him like that, especially since he just said he hadn't wanted to? Not knowing what to do or even think, he whimpered once more upon finding himself being pushed towards his mother, but cuddled up against her paw as he felt it rest against him. Shrinking as he watched his father stand up, the cub's fear fully gave way to his confusion as Delano then took off.

He stood up, staring at the mouth of the den. "Dad?" he asked cautiously, but got no response. His entire body was still sour, but that did not stop the cub from walking over to the entrance and attempting to spot his father. To Akili's suddenly growing concern, he couldn't spot the lion he was looking for anywhere. It was way too dark, not to mention that Delano was far gone. "Dad!" Still nothing. Not knowing what else to do, as well as being quite shaken up by what had just happened, he simply lay there and began to sob quietly, waiting for his father to return.

[DGFone]

Delano ran away from the den, desperate to escape the place where he hurt Akili. But his tired legs didn't seem to agree though, and he very quickly tripped and fell over, coming to a painful stop not very far from the den. As he struggled to get back up, he froze when he heard his son's desperate shouts. Looking back behind him, Delano was already far enough not to be able to see the den entrance anymore.

But was close enough to hear his son plead for him to come back. Unsure what to do, Delano waited where he fell, afraid to go back, but also held off from running away again by the sounds of his son. Soon enough, he wasn't able to hear Akili anymore, and Delano slowly got back up. Still wanting to run away somewhere else, he was about to do so when he heard the barely audible sound of Akili crying.

Grief tore into him as he heard it, knowing that he was responsible for all of this. If anything, this caused Delano to want to run away even more, wanting to not hear the proof that he really messed up this time. Despite his fears though, Delano turned back towards the den. As he slowly made his way back, he came in sight of the den entrance, and spotted his son lying on the ground nearby, crying.

Unsure if he should continue forwards or not, Delano silently edged on and when he reached the den, lay down next to his son. With a shaking paw, he reached out for Akili once more and brought his son close to his body. Not knowing what else to do, he held onto Akili in silence, feeling as his own emotions overtook him and he too began to cry.

[TheWhistlerify]

Being distracted by by how confused and tired he was, Akili had no idea as to just how much time has passed by the time his father finally.decided.to come back. It probably hadn't taken Delano as long as his son thought it had but, to a cub so young, every moment spent in such a state of shock and fear was like eternity. Even though thdle only thing he wanted was for his fsther to return, Akili found himself tensing up as the shadowy form of Delano began to make its way over to him.

The cub fell compeletely silent and shrank a little as the adult lion lay down next to him. He even got the urge to run away when he noticed Delano reach out for him with a paw, but he remained where he was and continued to tremble every so sliently as he was pulled, soon finding himself cuddled up against Delano's body. Was it going to hurt again? A few seconds passed without anything happening, and then suddenly his father began to cry as well. "D-dad?" Why was his father crying? Akili didn't want to hear yim cry - he never cried!

[DGFone]

Delano looked over at Akili, feeling ashamed at what he had done. It didn't escape him that at some points, his son looked afraid of him, and that, if anything, was what hurt the most. The realization that he made Akili scared of him was almost too much to bare, and a fresh set of tears fell down his muzzle.

"Akili... I... I didn't want to hurt you," Delano pleaded, "I... I didn't realize what was going on! And when I did... I let go..." He really didn't know what to tell his son. Should he tell him about his nightmares? Most likely not. At best, the cub would not understand them. At worst, he could easily hurt his son a lot by telling him. But at the same time, of he didn't tell, what would Akili think? Would his own son still trust him?

Unsure what to do, Delano placed his head next to Akili's body, still crying quietly. "I didn't want any of this to happen, Akili... please... forgive me..."

[TheWhistlerify]

The exact same questions from before returned to dwell on Akili's already uneasy mind as his father once again tried to get him to calm down. But he couldn't. He just didn't understand. How had his father not realized what was going on? How come it all happened even though he hadn't meant it? Why would his own father ever even do something like this to him? The cub was just unable to find the logic in what he was hearing, so it was impossible for him to calm down and he just continued to lie there underneath his father's paw, still shaking uncontrollably.

Despite how dark it was, Akili managed to see his father's face very clearly when Delano placed his head down next to his small, fragile body. He'd never seen him cry before up until that point. As clear as it was that Delano greatly regretted what had happened, at the same time, seeing the lion he looked up to so much in such distress seem to only scare the cub even further. "I-it really hurt, dad..." he eventually said, his voice quiet as he sobbed at the same time. His body didn't hurt as much anymore, but he still remembered what it felt like to have almost been crushed...