[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

This time, Delano stayed with Lina instead of running ahead again. Truth be told, he was starting to feel tired, and figured that he would need to rest once they got to the waterhole. The long time of waiting for his leg to heal was not good for his strength, but at the moment, he didn't care. Soon enough, he will regain his lost strength. He smiled again at Lina, "I really missed being able to run around like this," he told her, "especially with you."

Kasi chuckled a little at Muroki's reply. "Well, yeah, but that's not the point!" But much like the others, he was glad that Delano was better now, and that they were able to go out again like this.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina smiled at Delano, "I missed it too." What she was happy about the most was that Delano had fully recovered, both physically and mentally. Now that Delano stopped running in random direction, it gave her the opportunity to return the lick he had given her a few moments ago.

Muroki looked at his brother, who was ahead of them walking alongside his Lina. They both seem quite happy, especially Delano. "Don't worry, it'll be fine eventually." It seemed like things were finally going to be normal again.

[DGFone]

Delano blinked in surprise when Lina licked him back. Sure, he himself was happy now that he felt like licking her, but he didn't expect her to return it. For a while, Delano just stood where he was, blinking as he tried to regain his senses. It took Lina calling to him before he cleared his head and quickly returned to her side, grinning foolishly.

Kasi grinned. "It better be. As your cousin, I order you to watch over Delano and make sure that he doesn't get out of hand."

Umeme laughed. "Hey, I didn't know you can do that, Kasi," she said, "hey, Muroki, can Kasi order you around like that?" She leaned over to his ear and whispered, "although I think I can boss him around all I want, should you just tell me to." She grinned evilly at Kasi, who pretended not to notice.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina couldn't help but chuckle at Delano's reaction to her licking him, especially considering the fact that this wasn't the first time she licked him. It kind of reminded her of his reaction when they first kissed each other. Muroki looked at Umeme, "Who said I was going to listen to that?" he knew that Kasi was only joking about having to keep an eye on Delano. Beside, Delano had every right to be so excited after being immobile for such a long time.

[DGFone]

Now Delano stayed with Lina, and walked with her. "This is just how I wanted the last time to be like," he told her, "all of us walking together." He smiled and rubbed his head against hers. "I know you were with me almost all the time during all that time, but I guess that I never really payed any attention to you, so I wanted to say, well..." He looked at Lina, feeling both nervous and relieved to finally be able to say what he wanted to, "I really missed you." He looked into her eyes. "I know it might sound weird, but I never really felt like I was close to you before, not for a long time" he smiled at her, "but I feel like it now."

Umeme grinned at Muroki. "I know that you will listen to me at least," she told him, "because if you won't, well, I'll just find a taller tree to jump on you off." She knew how much Muroki hated the time she jumped off a branch onto his back, and was now using it against him.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina was quiet for a few moments after Delano was done talking, taking in what he had just said to her and trying to find a part of it that made any sense. "You're right, it does sound weird." even though she had to admit that she missed him too. Yes, he was there, but ever since he came back he wasn't like himself. Now that he had fully recovered, they could finally be together again like a sane couple.

Muroki sighed as Umeme mentioned that one time with the tree, sounding somewhat annoyed. "My back still hurts at random times because of that." Her 'threat' wasn't really threatening. He could always just move aside when she jumped or something else of a sort. Then again, maybe he shouldn't hang out around trees at all.

[DGFone]

Delano waited nervously for Lina to answer him. When she finally did, he took a few moments to fully understand what she said. He broke into a smile then and rubbed his head against hers. "Now we can be together like we always wanted," he said.

They walked together for a bit longer until Delano saw where they got to. "Hey, look, we're here already!" he said excitedly. "Race ya to the water!" He crouched down next to Lina, waiting for her to start running. "Come on, show me what you've got!"

Umeme just grinned at Muroki. Both of them knew that she didn't mean anything when she jumped on him, but it was still quite a sore spot for him. "Relax, you haven't done anything to get my wrath yet," As if to show it, she reached out with a paw and rubbed his back, just as after she had jumped on him, making Muroki smile in satisfaction. Umeme smiled back. "Now come on, now we really are falling behind."

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina smiled and purred as she rubbed her head against Delano's. Like he said, it looked like things were finally going to settle down. That didn't mean that Lina suddenly changed her opinion about running or going fast, and at first she was about to protest when Delano challenged her to rave him to the water but decided against it. She could always jump into the water in order to cool down after the run. "You're on!" she tried to guess whether Delano could still run as fast as he once could after being immobile for so long, but she didn't really care about who got to the water first, knowing to herself that she would simply dive inside if she arrived first and that she'll push Delano into the water with her in case he arrived first.

Muroki couldn't help but wonder at what Umeme said. While he had seen Lina and Delano argue from time to time, he couldn't remember a single time when he or Umeme raised their voice at the other even a little. In fact he doubted ever seeing Umeme when she was truly angry. He had seen her upset sometimes, but he knew that when someone was really furious it looked a lot different. "Oh, we are falling behind." he said, noticing that even Kasi was now ahead of them.

[DGFone]

Delano took the initiative and broke off into a sprint, gaining an early lead on Lina. But to his surprise, she quickly overtook him with what appeared to be very little effort, and ran right past him as though he wasn't even trying. He pressed on harder, but he was no match for Lina. By the time he finally reached the water's edge, she was already there waiting for him, looking as though she was there for a long time now. "I, I think I went easy on you just now," Delano said in between pants as he went over and dropped himself next to Lina's side. "But soon enough, you just wait... I'll be faster!" He grinned and licked Lina again.

Finally, the other three also reached the waterhole. Umeme smiled when she saw Delano and Lina together, clearly happy to be next to each other. "Hey, look," she said, nudging Muroki, "that must be what we look like half the time!"

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina chuckled at Delano's reaction to losing, especially because she really did not have to put too much effort in order to outrun him. Clearly he was out of shape, but she had no doubt that he would get back to his physical strength soon enough. Having not jumped into the water yet, it was tempting to push Delano insoide just like that, but perhaps she should wait until he had some rest so that he wouldn't drown or something like that. Muroki meanwhile looked at Umeme, "Only half the time?" he asked with a fake tone of disappointment.