[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Umeme grinned smugly at Muroki down below. "Well, all you can do is run," she taunted, "but sometimes raw speed is not the answer." Grinning, she crouched on the tree limb she was on and hopped down, landing on Muroki's back and sending him crashing to the ground. "Got you!" Umeme pressed tightly on Muroki, making sure that he won't be able to escape.

---

Delano finished the kiss and leaned back again, blushing furiously. "I, I err... that was..." he realized that he wasn't able to form any coherent phrases, and got even more embarrassed. "I mean... what I really... what I wanted to say was..." He was beginning to feel bad. He had enjoyed the kiss, but for some reason was beginning to regret the action. "I... I'm sorry," he whispered, looking away, "I shouldn't have done it..."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki continued looking up at Umeme, before his eyes widened all of a sudden when he saw Umeme heading straight down for him. He didn't really have a lot of time to react and Umeme landed directly on his back and pinned him down rather quickly. "Ouch!" it wasn't that Umeme was heavy, but having anyone jump onto your back from a tree wasn't really pleasant. "Like I said... yeah, you got me." he said, grunting. It reminded him of that one time when they went hunting and he got thrown off the zebra's back, as it hurt pretty much about the same. "Ugh, was me admitting that you won not enough?" he asked, grinning up at her even though he wasn't feeling comfortable at all.

---

Lina found herself leaning forward even more when Delano began pulling away, not wanting that moment to end. However, there was a limit to just how much she could lean forward and the kiss ended, causing Lina to open her eyes. She smiled slightly, only for that smile to disappear when Delano suddenly said that he was sorry and that he shouldn't have done that. How could he say that? This was probably one of the most romantic moments they've ever had! "No, Delano..." she said, getting off of him and lying down beside him so that she could nuzzle him, "I'm glad you did it..." she said, closing her eyes and resting her head in Delano's mind. "I'm really happy that this happened..." she hoped that Delano would realize that there was nothing to regret here.

[DGFone]

Umeme was able to sense Muroki's discomfort, so she got off him. "But I only won one time," she answered, "compared to how many times you won?" She grinned. "Can't I just rub it in deep that I won this time?" She gently prodded Muroki. "For a big tough guy, you are certainly easy to knock over."

---

Delano slowly looked back at Lina. "You- you really think that?" He asked quietly. He quickly looked away again. "I don't know... but I... I just can't help thinking that for some reason, that I... that I'm making a big mistake." He looked back at Lina. "I love you, Lina, I really do..." His eyes fell back to the ground. "But like last night, when I shouted at you... I saw the fear in your eyes, and.. it scared me. You made me afraid- of me."

He slowly got up off the ground. "Whenever we have these good moments, I'm afraid," he looked back at Lina. "That I'll hurt you again... and I don't want to hurt you." He slowly began to walk away, his head slumped down in shame. "I'n not ready for you yet... I'm sorry."

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki grunted once more and thankfully stood back up, looking at Umeme with a slight grin. "Of course you can rub it in, but..." he brought a paw over to his back, "Not physically next time alright?" he couldn't help but chuckle at what she said however, "Me, tough?" maybe he was in shape, but the only time he could remember wanting to hurt someone was when finding his parents dead, and that was long behind him. "Look at us... If this was Delano or someone else giving me such back aches I would have lost my temper with them long ago, but you..." he smiled, "I just don't seem to be able to get upset with you."

---

Lina's ears flattened against her head. Was that the reason to why he was acting like this? Wasn't arguing and yelling sometimes a part of any relationship as far as she knew? If so, why was Delano making such a big deal of it? All she could do was just stare at Delano as he walked away, not knowing what to really say to him. Well, maybe he needed some time away from her in order to get used to everything. Beside, she knew how much she loved him, and if he needed some time before he was ready, then she could wait.

[DGFone]

"What, did I hurt you?" Umeme asked, grinning. "Did I hurt the big all mighty Muroki?" She reached out and began to rub the area where she landed on. "There, does that feel better?" She asked. As if in answer, Muroki purred in contentment. "But I think that I prefer it that you won't be able to get angry at me," she continued talking to Muroki, "so that you'll be an endless source of teasing that I will be able to rely on..." She chuckled and gave Muroki one final rub on his back. "You know, the view was rather nice up in the branch. I think it' strong enough for both of us."

---

Delano hesitated. He had expected Lina to argue, to protest. But instead, she let him walk away in silence. Lina would want him to come back to her, and yet she didn't voice it. It would have taken her a lot of strength to allow him to just walk, and Delano realized then just how much she loved him, to ignore her own feelings in order to help him. He looked back at her, and saw that she was standing where he had left her, watching him. And sure enough, he saw in her eyes how much she wanted him to come back to her side.

"I- I will meet you at the den in the evening," Delano said, just loudly enough for Lina to hear. "I need this time... to be on my own." he turned back, not able to look at her any longer. "I hope you can understand..." His head hung low again, he slowly walked into the grass and out of sight.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki smirked, "Mighty? me?" he chuckled, "Well, I'll start taking those as a compliment from now on." it was kind of fun to hear such compliments from her now that he was thinking about it. He then closed his mouth and began to purr like a cub when Umeme started rubbing his back, since for him to rub his own back was kind of impossible. "You know you can always rely on me, not only when it comes to teasing me... By the way, it looks like I owe you a back massage..." he said, looking at her with a thankful smile once she was done rubbing his back, before looking up at the branch. "Hmm, it does look strong." he looked back at Umeme with a smile before bowing his head slightly and gesturing towards the tree with one of his paws, "After you."

[DGFone]

Umeme grinned smugly as she quickly hopped up onto the branch. "So, are you going to join me?" She asked, looking back down at Muroki. "Go on, then." Eventually, Muroki was able to get himself up onto the branch and moved over next to Umeme. She nuzzled him, but not as much as before in order to keep herself from falling off.

"It's rather nice up here," Umeme said, and tried to move herself even closer to Muroki. But the movement caused the branch to swing more than she liked, and Umeme gave up. "If somewhat unsteady..." she added.

---

Delano slowly made his way back to the waterhole. Feeling terrible, he lay down under a tree and covered his muzzle under his paws. "I'm sorry, Lina," he whispered, knowing that she wasn't around to hear him, but he didn't care. "I'm not ready... I hope you can understand." He eventually fell silent, but continued to lie under the tree, not moving.

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki smiled and after a few moments figured out a way to climb onto the branch Umeme was on, smiling an even wider smile when she crawled a bit closer to him and nuzzled him. Returning the nuzzle, he said, "It is nice... Nice than I expected being on a branch could be." he said, getting somewhat nervous as the branch began to swing, but calming down once it stopped. "Well, if we don't move too much it should be alright..." he said, looking back at her with a chuckle. It was very tempting to pull Umeme into an embrace like he always did whenever they were just staring at each other, but if he attempted that then they would both fall for sure.

[DGFone]

Instead of hugging Muroki upright and risking falling over, Umeme let her tail intertwine with his, and smiled as she felt his tail do the same. Together, the sat on the branch, enjoying each other's company and watching the savanna life around them.

"Hey, look," Umeme said pointing with a paw, "some more lions are over there." She squinted, trying to make them out. Something about the lions seemed familiar, but they were somewhat too far away to be certain. "I think I know them..." She leaned forward, nearly falling off the branch ,as she tried to make them out. Slowly, she let her hopes rise up as she became more and more certain of the identity of the lions.

Then they came close enough, and Umeme was certain. "Yes, I know them!" She said excitedly. "It's mother and dad!" Without even letting Muroki prepare for the shift in weight, she jumped down, nearly making him fall in the process. "Come on, Muroki!" She called out at him, running towards her parents. "Mom! Dad! It's me!"

[TheWhistlerify]

Muroki simply sat there next to Umeme, his tail intertwining with hers as they sat there and stared at the savannah together. Muroki suddenly felt the branch move a little when Umeme pointed towards two lions who Muroki did not know. He looked at Umeme, wondering whether she managed to figure out who they were, that is if she really did know them both. Before he could even let the fact that the two were her parents sink, he found himself losing his balance and nearly falling off. "Your parents?" he asked quietly, mostly to himself since Umeme was already running. "But what if they don't like me?" or worse, what if they'll hate him? Gulping, Muroki got off the branch and ran after Umeme, not running as quickly as her though because he was nervous.