[PRIVATE: DGFone & Thewhistlerify]

[DGFone]

Umeme turned red at her mother's teasing. She looked briefly at Lina and saw that her sister was also blushing slightly. Perhaps if she can mention Delano, Fadhili will then tease her instead... Umeme chose not to, instead concentrating on seeing where the grass looked greener. They will be able to follow it to the herds then.

It was Lina who spotted what looked like the promising direction, and the three lionesses headed there. Umeme thought about what Fadhili had said about her and Dakari, and then asked, "so how did you find dad, anyways? Did you grow up together, or was it something else?"

---

Delano chased after Kasi, and finally plopped himself down next to his cousin, who was already sitting in the shade of a tree with two other lions. "So these are your friends, I take it?" he asked, trying to regain his breath. The short run took a lot more out of him than he expected.

Kasi grinned and nodded. "Yeah, Delano. These are my friends, Amuza and Shrike. Guys, this is Delano."

Delano nodded at Kasi's friends, feeling somewhat uneasy at meeting new lions. "Kinda weird, but I'm surprised that this is the first time we met," he said, "would've thought that we would have come across at least before."

Shrike grinned. "Not really. Kasi already told us about you and Lina. What made you come here today instead of spending the day with her?"

Kasi had to dodge a paw that Delano threw at him at this. Clearly, Delano was not to keen about others knowing about him and Lina yet. Delano glared at his cousin, before nodding, feeling his face redden. "Hunting," he muttered.

[TheWhistlerify]

Fadhili was somewhat surprised at Umeme's question. Her daughters never showed too much interest about how she met their father before. "We both grew up here. When we were cubs I was a good friend of Kasi's mother and of Muroki's and Delano's mother who was her sister. Your father, Delano's and Muroki's father and Kasi's father sort of had their own 'gang', kind of like Kasi and his friends. As cubs we mostly teased each other and not really spent time together because we were young, but mostly the boys were the ones looking for trouble all the time." she chuckled at that, remembering how silly their shenanigans were sometimes. "But they'd always mess their plans up somehow."

---

Muroki headed towards the border. It was a long time since he had last been there, and that was back in that training program when they taught them how to patrol. Speaking of patrols, there weren't any around at the moment, and if there were any when he came back then he wouldn't have a problem coming back inside. Aside from the place where he and Delano used to life with their parents, he hadn't really got to see places. Beside, he wouldn't go too far, so it didn't seem like anything could possibly go wrong.

[DGFone]

Umeme nodded, taking in what Fadhili was saying. This presented her with some interest in Muroki's and Delano's parents, something that she had yet to ask Muroki much about. "What were they like, then?" she asked though, figuring that her own mother was a good of a place to start as anything "Muroki's and Delano's parents, I mean." She already knew what Kasi's parents were like, seeing as they lived in the same den.

---

Amuza looked at Delano, noticing how Kasi's cousin didn't look very eager to do anything. "So what's wrong with you? You look quite out of breath..."

Delano rolled his eyes. "Broke my leg a while ago," he replied, "had to spend a lot of time basically lying down as it healed. You know what that does to your strength..."

"How did that happen?"

"What?" Delano looked at Amuza, and then at Shrike, who was the one who asked the question. "Oh, I uhh..." He looked at Kasi, who simply stared back at him, his gaze telling Delano that he was on his own. Delano thought fast, not wanting to reveal how he broke his leg. "I was climbing," he said quickly, "climbed up a tree. And when I jumped back down on the ground, I landed all wrong..."

Kasi saw that his friends bought Delano's story, and felt relieved. From what they told him, the knowledge of a lion who was set free after betraying the kingdom was quite common, and not everyone believed that the traitor was innocent, despite the official statement. So he knew that it would be too risky even for his friends to know about Delano's real reason for a broken leg. "Yeah, I was there when he jumped," Kasi said, grinning. "I told him not to, but he didn't listen..."

[TheWhistlerify]

Fadhili was sort of expecting Umeme to be more interested about how did she and Moto get together, but she didn't mind talking about her cubhood friends. "They were a lot like their sons." she paused for a moment. "The first time your father and I heard that they were dead was when we came to visit you and stayed." she looked at Umeme with a smile, "You and Muroki were already mates then. I was quite happy to hear from Kasi's mother that these were their sons, I haven't met them until then. Looking at the four of you reminds me of when their parents were still living here."

---

Muroki walked for a few moments away from the pride's territory before coming across what reminded him somewhat of the waterhole Delano and Lina had found all that time ago. There was a small waterhole and a very small den next to it, which seemed like it could have two grown-up lions in it or three in case they pressed together. The whole sight looked like a small piece of paradise, and the only different between it to the waterhole Delano and Lina found was that it wasn't hidden. The only things that surrounded it were some bushes and trees.

For a moment Muroki wondered why wasn't this a part of the pride's territory, but it didn't take him too long to figure it out. The pride was a large one and this den and water source were very small, not to mention that the distance between this place to the main den was quite big. Still, Muroki was already happy about deciding to take that walk. This was the perfect place for a couple to stay at, even if just for a little while. He couldn't wait to show this place to Umeme, thinking for sure that she'll love it. It would be perfect if they'd ever feel like just taking a break from everything and spend some time on their own.

[DGFone]

Umeme grinned. "You should've have seen Muroki and Delano when they first came here," she said, "they were completely different then they are now... Well, not in a good way. They're much better now." She looked at Lina. "Remember? They hardly reacted to anything at all. They were basically walking blocks of meat. Without a mind." She broke out into a smile again. "Now they're much better though, don't you agree?"

---

After the initial discomfort of meeting Kasi's friends, Delano discovered that they were not that bad to hang around with. It only made sense, seeing as they were friends with Kasi, but Delano was quite eager to feel his nervousness lessen with each passing moment. He still kept a lot of things from them, not knowing what they knew and not wanting to make them ask questions, but they didn't pester him into saying anything he didn't want.

Soon enough, Delano found himself laughing and joking with them, and lost the track of time. Several times, he felt like he really wanted to bring Lina along to join in, but he knew that he won't be able to find her.

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina nodded at her sisters question. "Yes, I remember. I remember how you kept saying that Delano couldn't even see past his own nose." she chuckled, remembering how clueless he looked from time to time back then. "But once they've moved on from what happened to their parents they came around."

Fadhili smiled at her daughter, "Well whenever you wonder what their parents were like, just look at the two. I'm quite sure that you would have gotten along with their parents well."

---

Muroki was so excited about the place he had found that he failed to notice Gakuru who was sound asleep on a branch of one of the trees. He was already trying to imagine Umeme's reaction once he showed her this place that it never once occurred to him that somebody lived there. After calming down and having some water, he suddenly caught sight of the sleeping lion above him. "Um? hello?" he called to the lion a few times, eventually waking him up. Gakuru, in his suddenly startled situation, ended up falling off the branch, causing Muroki to wince.

((Okay, now I'll see ya in a week ^^ ))

[DGFone]

Umeme also nodded. "I'm sure we would. But I'm perfectly fine with getting along with Muroki and Delano. Especially Muroki." She grinned at Lina, knowing that her sister was thinking the same thing about Delano.

Although at that moment, a sickening thought swept over her: if Muroki's and Delano's parents had not being killed, they would not have moved here to her and Lina. Umeme chose not to say this, knowing that there was nothing that could be done about the past, and that she should be at least grateful for being with Muroki now.

---

One thing that Kasi knew his friends loved to do was play pranks on one another. And now that Delano was with them, he got a good idea. "So Delano, you know how you're a really fast runner..." Just this was enough to get a very angry glare from his cousin.

Delano did not like where Kasi was going. "I was fast once, but not anymore," he corrected, "so wait before you get any ideas. I am perfectly fine with not moving for now."

At this, Amuza and Shrike leaned forwards, clearly eager for a challenge. "Nah, come on. The sooner you start running again, the better it will be for you," Amuza said.

Delano groaned. "I moved a lot yesterday. Right now I feel as stiff as a hippo. So no racing. Not now!" Even though he was complaining, he was smiling broadly, clearly amused as well.

((Okay, See ya!))

[TheWhistlerify]

Lina found herself blushing a little when Umeme grinned at her. Normally she wouldn't feel to nervous when her sister made such comments, but now that she and Delano were officially mates it felt like the beginning of their relationship all over again. Still, she teased Umeme from time to time about her and Muroki, so it was quite fair and square. Fadhili looked at both of her daughters with a grin, "You keep teasing each other but I'm not allowed to tease you? Now that's just not fair of you." she chuckled as her daughters looked at each other nervously. "Come on, we still have to keep looking."

---

Usually studying a lion over by his looks took a few moments, but Gakuru studied Muroki over in perhaps a second or two. He was used to doing things like that. Muroki was slightly larger than most lions his age and he looked like he was in good shape. He also looked like he was well fed, which was how Gakuru knew that he was part of the pride which wanted him dead because there were no other prides living nearby. And if Muroki would turn out to know who he was, then he was really in trouble.

Even though it didn't look like Muroki recognized him from the way he approached him, Gakuru knew better than to take any risks. "Please, don't hurt me... I'm not inside your pride's territory or anything..." he looked and sounded like he was scared, mainly because if he ended up being hunted down now he wouldn't really have a place where he'll be able to survive for long.

Muroki only smiled a half smile at the lion in front of him. "What are you talking about? I'm not going to hurt you." Muroki was the type of lion that would never hurt a fly not to mention another lion. One of the many things he would often wonder about back when he still wanted to work undercover was what he would do in case they really did find the lions who were responsible for his parents' death. Of course he had no idea that he was facing one of them.

[DGFone]

Umeme felt herself redden at Fadhili's comments. "Life's not fair, mom," she replied, "so no, you don't get to tease us, but we do." But she did fall quiet and looked around, spotting an occasional animal out in the savanna. Soon, they should find the herds and prey worth catching. Because of this, though, she knew that they will have to stop talking soon, unless they would want to alert their next meal of their presence and make it run off.

---

Kasi, with some help from his two friends, finally managed to get Delano up on his feet. He traced a line on the ground, creating a starting point. "It's simple, really," he said, "we start here, run to that tree over there, and come back here." He grinned. "Last one back is a fat zebra."

Delano was not finding it funny. "Come on you guys, that's hardly fair," he complained, "I just barely started walking. How am I supposed to keep up with you in a race?" As a reply, he got nudged closer to the starting line. "Come on you guys, this is not a good idea," he mumbled. "We all know I will be last. Just let me be that fat zebra and not have to run..." He wanted to reserve his energy for tomorrow, when he will be spending the day with Lina. If he will use it all up today, tomorrow will be very boring, not to mention that he will have to face Lina's wrath.

[TheWhistlerify]

Fadhili only chuckled at Umeme's comment, because it was clear that her daughter knew that there were more teases to come. Still, now wasn't really the time to tease her daughters, because she spotted a zebra in the distance. She cleared her throat to get her daughters' attention before gesturing towards the lone zebra ahead of them. Silently, she followed her two daughters, wanting to let them decide how to pull this off so that she could observe how they handle a hunt.

---

After a short moment of silence, Gakuru realized that the lion in front of him did now know who he was and was not looking for any trouble. "Sorry..." he said, "It's just that I haven't had much luck when trying to approach a pride before..." if he wanted to start all over again he needed a story that wouldn't tell everybody that he had once been a murderer.

"Oh, I see..." said Muroki, finding the whole situation rather awkward. "Well, you don't look like you're not eating enough or anything like that..."

"I've been here for quite a while and hunted outside of the borders here, hoping that I'll be able to live here. Even though I'm not really trespassing, I doubt that your king will be too happy about a rogue being so close to his pride, which is why I was so startled when I saw you."

Muroki, seeing as the lion in front of him looked rather friendly, didn't feel like there was any reason to let anybody know he was there. "Don't worry, I will not tell anyone." he didn't really like the idea of keeping secrets from his family, especially Umeme, but if anybody finds out the lion in front of him might be persecuted and even killed. Maybe he could later tell just Umeme, so to not end up having any secrets between them. "Maybe if you come with me they'll take you in?"

"I'd rather not take any chances... My history with finding prides to join isn't too bright..." he knew that if he ended up inside this pride's territory he will probably never get out of it alive.

Muroki knew that he could not force the lion in front of him into doing something he didn't want. "I'm Muroki by the way."

Gakuru thought quickly, knowing that he couldn't risk having Muroki recognize him by his name in case he had heard it before, nor could he risk having any pride member know he was just outside of their home in case Muroki did end up telling anybody he was there. "I'm Hatari."