There was something out there, she was SURE of it. Tapanga's bright red eyes, heritage from an unspeakable line, widened even further as she stared out at the dark night beyond the den of her parents keeping. Most of her siblings were... asleep or off doing their own thing, it seemed, but no one worried about them. After all, most of the pride was related, and if a few cubs ended up in someone elses litter every few nights, no one really minded. For her part, she was shoved up against her father, as she always was. His easy breathing kept her from completely freaking out, but when a particularly moarnful howl came fromoutside, she squeaked and attempted to dive under Tabbu's chest.
Taabu was good at sleeping through a lot of things - hell, he could sleep through almost anything if he really put his mind to it. However, it was instinct to simply know when one of his cubs was unsettled or frightened, and more so when said cub happened to be his youngest daughter. As always, she was pressed right up against him, choosing to sleep against his big fluffy bulk rather than her mother's sleek little form. With a soft sigh, he parted his own red eyes, a few shades of difference to tell the different inheritence from his daughter's, and let them swivel down to the precious dark little female. "What's wrong Tappy, love?" he asked, scooping up a paw around her smaller body and pulling her close against his furry chest. He turned his attention towards the night, ears perked for any sounds of a noise, but simply smiled at her distress. A lot of cubs were scared of the dark - especially when they didn't know what was out there. "There's not a thing out there that's going to get you while I'm here, you know that."
"but it was cryyyinnnnggg," She whined and nuzzled her way into her father's chest. Her voice, as usual, was hardly more than a whisper. Of course, now that her father was awake she no longer heard the strange, chilling, heartbreaking sounds outside the den.
Taabu chuckled softly at her and leaned down to give her little pink-tufted head a gentle lick. He had encountered many-a-times the elusive noise or sound, and Tappy wasn't the only one that heard them. He remembered them from his youth, and the older litter had constantly been whining about it. However, it was the knowledge of his own frightful experiences that made him sympathize with the pretty thing. "Well, do you want me to go out there and see what it was?" he tilted his head, red eyes shining in the little moonlight coming into the cave.
Her eyes widened and she shook her head rapidly, "No don't leave!" Leaning close up to him she whispered in an aside, as if saying it more loudly would somehow cause the worst to happen. "It might get you."
He couldn't help the little smile that spread across his maw at her concern and simply lay his head down next to her little frame, eyes watching her regardless. "Alright, alright, then I won't go anywhere," he said with a small nod (or as good of one as he could manage in this position). He did, however, quirk his eyebrow at her, "but you think that it could your big ol' daddy?" he said, raising a rather large paw to tussle her head-tuft for emphasis.
She gave a soft giggle, despite the fear, and let her eyes fall shut as she ducked her head under his paw, then pressed into it to rub herself all against him. He always made her feel better. "I don't wanna take that chance."
He smiled softly as she rubbed her little body against his big old paw, lifting his head up slightly to watch her. He hadn't been extremely close to his older daughters, even though he automatically felt more protective over them than the boys, but he had grown a bond with his youngest girl and he didn't know what he'd do if something ended up happening to her. Poor Taabu, he'd not been so smitten with a female since he first asked Nyunya to be his mate. "Well, then, if you think that it's best I should stay in here, then I certainly won't go out there and find out what's been making your little bones shake." He smirked and tucked her back against him, letting his head prop over the back half of her little body. "What do you think the scary noise was?"
"I think it was a ghost," She nodded as if this were the most obvious and intelligent ever. "it was crying because its lost and wants to go home to its family but can't find them, cuz they all got sad when it died and they couldn't stand to live in this place anymore."
He smiled softly at her theory, looking at her with a bit of amusement glimmering in his deep red eyes. After a moment, he nodded, and let his mirth fade away to a face that looked much more serious, and even thoughtful, although the amusement remained in the depths of his ruby gaze. "Well, that's probably what it was - so it's a very good thing I didn't go out. I don't think I could fight off a ghost by myself." He shook his head, as if her idea of what it was seemed perfectly reasonable. "I bet it was probably the old ghost that lives in the forest - maybe it just decided to leave for the night and come romping around the pride?" He frowned, glancing over at the bulky white shape of Njozi snoring against the den wall. "You think maybe your brother and I could take it on together?"
"No," She shook her head, "I think its seen enough sadness. we should probably just leave it alone, since we can't put it to peace." The girl offered him a smile and sniffed, "I think the sun is coming soon.. it smells like morning."
He nodded, poking out his lower jaw in thought before he finally answered her. "You know, you're very right, if it's that sad then we might as well leave it alone and let it find it's way back home," he smiled at her next comment however and glanced up towards the sky outside. It did indeed look like the sky was lightening very slowly, and the undeniable smell of morning was on the air, "well, if it's that close to morning, it must be well on its way back to the forest, don't you think? Probably why we haven't heard anything else." He nodded, as if that just explained it all.
Her face flowered into a wonderfully blissful little grin, her ears lifting once more. "That must be it!" She bounced a little and nuzzled back into her father.
He laughed softly and pushed himself up into a sitting position now that he realized morning was indeed on the rise and there would be no chance for him to get back to sleep. He glanced towards the sky outside, tilting his head with a little nod, "you think it's too soon to go out there, or should we let him have a little more time to crawl back to his home?" He looked back to her, watching her, and letting her make the decision. She was so excited to have figured out why he was gone, he might as well enthuse her a little longer, "or do you think it's still not safe?"
"I think...." A bird sang in the distance. "I think its safe!" With that proclamation, the female got to her own feet. After a short stretch and yawn, she bounced out a few feet from the entrance to look about her. Tapanga had always been a bit of an early riser, and the cool of the morning was wonderful against her fur. "daddy, can we go to the water hole..?"
He chuckled softly at her sudden eagerness to be up and out of the cave, pushing himself slowly to his feet and giving one long stretch before following her bouncing form out of the entrance. He gave one look around, eyes narrowing on their surroundings just to make sure that there was indeed nothing hanging around the cave in hopes of making a meal out of his cubs, then glanced down to her after he deemed it safe. "If that's where you want to go, then we can certainly go there. Do you want to lead the way?" he said with a smile, quirking an eyebrow with his question. He certainly wouldn't let her get more than a step in front of him - but it would make her feel special, regardless, and that's all he wanted.
She nodded vigorously, then paused. Her ears ducked sheepishly back against her head and the girl gave a giggle. "Unless you want to, daddy?" She was still too young and child-minded to really catch that he was only doing that as a courtesy to her. To her, it was something to be intensely proud of, and had she been the bragging sort, she would have done so to her brothers later that day.
He thought for a moment, as if he were seriously contemplating wanting to lead the way. Then, with a little shake of his head, he gave her a smile and nudged her forward with his paw, "no, no, I think I'm alright with you doing it. Besides, if I do it, I might get lost." He shook his head and sighed, "where would we be then?" There was a small twinkle is his red eyes, and he couldn' t help being amused with himself. He did love to indulge the little girl.
"Daddy would never get us lost!" She stated confidently, but her chin lifted a great deal and her tail raised as she trotted out in front of him anyway. There was a bit of a 'march' to her step that day, as if this were the most important of all duties, though they were really just going to get a drink to ease the night-brought cotton mouth.
He smiled at her confidence and began a slow gate behind his daughter. He watched her, making sure she indeed knew how to get them to where they were supposed to be going, but he also let his gaze swivel through the ever-lightening surroundings. It was his job to protect the pride, and his cubs were a few of the most important things in the pride in his opinion. "Well, if you really think so," he said as he looked back towards her proud, prancing little body, "but I think you could do a much better job of getting us there. Probably a lot faster too." There was absolutely nothing wrong with filling her little head full of praise in his opinion.
Tapanga giggled. "Daddy?" She asked suddenly, glancing back at her, "Why do you look around so much? Mommy always said that the pride's lands are safe."
He smiled as he glanced back towards her and away from his skimming of the forest line, his tail flickering behind him. "Because I'm one of the reasons that the pride is safe, me and your brother Njozi. We spend a lot of time making sure no one bad comes in to hurt you and the other cubs," he nodded, reaching up to flick her tail before laughing softly. "I wouldn't want anyone to hurt your or yours brothers, and your grandma decided we'd be really good at keeping watch." Of course, he didn't really think she needed to know the true reason he and Njozi had even started their rounds. While they did indeed deal with any intruders, they were mainly there to make sure Damu or Tamu didn't go into a rage near the rest of the family. Of course, those were few and far between and now they just spent most of their time as normal guards.
"OHHHhhhhh" Tapanga nodded a little. "We're here!" She bounded forward suddenly to the water's edge where she bent to take a drink. It was good to have something that washed away the dry, stuffed feeling. Once she'd gotten that cleared away, she looked up with a grin. "Can i be a guard someday?"
He chuckled softly as he noticed the water hole ahead and her little black and pink form bounding off towards it. "You did a good job," he said with a small laugh, leaning down slowly to take his own good fill of the cold water. His ears leaned forward as he drank, hearing her questions, and he greeted her with a smile and another small chuckle. "Well, if you're very good and listen to what I tell you, I don't see why not!" He smirked, leaning to ruffle her little hair tuft once again, "besides, I think your Bibi would be very happy to have a lady for a guard."
She giggled again, then frowned, "The boys don't think i can!" Not that she'd ever really wanted to be until this moment, but she was more referring ot their other.. forms of teasing. Though she loved her brothers dearly, she was the only girl, of her litter anyway, and her sisters hadn't been around enough to really help her out. Somehow, despite all of that, she was proving to be very much a girl, and not in the least 'boyish'. "They think that that i'm too scared to fight and be strong."
Taabu scoffed slightly and rolled his eyes in a rather comical fashion before looking back to her with a big grin on his mug. "Don't you listen to what they say, love," he said, giving her a little nudge in the chest with the toe of his paw, "they're just silly ol' boys. They wouldn't know their heads from their butts if your mother didn't tell them." He chuckled, using a paw to pull her chin up slightly to look more at his face, "anything they can do, Tappy, you can do it too, and don't ever let them tell you otherwise." He loved his sons just as much as he did dear Tappy, but something about her just put a shine to his eyes. Maybe it was simply because she was one of a kind among a litter of boys.
She grinned a little, "I'm just as good as a boy," She whispered softly, barely daring to believe it. Another cub may have claimed to be better, but she had no 'illusions' about herself. In fact, one might have said she was a bit too modest. "I promise i'll try not to take it to heart, daddy."
With a nod, she turned her eyes from him, sweeping them across the lands as the sun finally broke over the horizon. "Do you have to go on your Rounds now?"
He smiled softly as he heard her words, watching her in silence as she told herself that she was just as good as her brothers. She was and he would tell them so if they ever asked, just as he told her now that she was. "That's my girl," he said quietly, leaning to tussle that pink tuft of mane once more.
His owns eyes drifted up to the horizon, spying the glimmer of molten gold slowly widening and stretching out into the sky, "yes, I do, actually." He glanced back in the direction of the den - it was just beyond the trees there, not too far away. "Do you think you can make it back to the den by yourself?" he quirked a brow, wondering if she'd rather him take her, or if she'd like to prove she could do it. She was getting older and it was time to let her do things on her own - it really wasn't that far anyway.
"I can do it!" She stated proudly, grinning. For all intensive purposes she seemed completely happy with the idea. Actually, the responsibility was good--she was happy he trusted her... but she really wanted to go with him. That didn't seem as if it would happen, not yet, though, and she didn't want to ask. So, instead, she would be happy with what she got from him. "I'll see if Njozi is up yet."
He chuckled and leaned down to give her a little nuzzle, rubbing his much larger head against her tiny body. At her next comment, however, he let out a small chuckle. "If he's not awake, you better wake him up, that silly boy needs to start his rounds too." After a pause, he grinned, flickering his tail, "why not see if you can get him to take you on his rounds, love? I'm sure he'd be pleased." He thought Njozi probably would be - the poor boy loved cubs almost as much as he loved that girl he was always going on about these days.
Her ears perked further, "REally?!" There was no doubt that was what she'd wanted, even without saying it. Tapanga gave her father's maw a lick. "Yes daddy!" With that she bounced off a few steps, then began a hard run back to the den.
It wasn't far off and she was a fairly active cub, so it didn't take terribly much out of her by the time she ended up back in the family's den. Bounding in, she found her brother's form easily and pounced directly onto his back. "NJOZI!!"
Taabu simply smiled, shook his head, and began to trot off in the direction that his rounds would take him.
"Ughn?" came the rather unintelligible response as the mostly white male felt a tinier form bounce right onto his back. He rolled a little, crimson eyes spreading slowly as he was roused from his slumber. "Whatdya want, Tappy? I'm sleepin'," he said drowsily, shifting so he could turn his head to look at her, though it was doubtful that he really saw much of anything through those heavily lidded eyes.
She fell off his back when he rolled, but easily rolled on the floor herself. A moment later the cub was back up again and bouncing onto his top-most side, settling down there. She was small enough the older male probably had little trouble carrying her weight. "Daddy says its time to get up!" She pipped, dark ears tipping forward. "You gotta do your 'rounds!... and take me with you." The girl nodded, "Daddy says I get to be a guard when i grow up."
"He said all of that now, did he?" he said with a comical grin that really wasn't too different from his fathers. With a little groan, he flopped his head back, overly dramatic not just for her - but because he typically liked to whine about getting up when he could be sleeping. "Reminds me to thank him later, then, will ya?" he said, although the tone in his voice suggested he wasn't exactly going to be thanking anyone. "I'm up, I'm up," he groaned, nudging her off of him gently and pushing himself up with a big old stretch, "uggnmm." He shook his mane out and looked down at her little frame again, "going to be a guard, hm? Well, it's a tough job." He chuckled, nudging her with his paw, and began to walk towards the entrance of the den.
She skittered off of his form when he started to get up, then followed him at her usual energetic bounce. The older she got, the more energy she seemed to gain, rather than losing it as her brother seemed to have had. Unlike Njozi, she coudln't fathom sleeping in all the time, when he was the type that slept at any given chance. "Daddy did say all of that!" She giggled, because it was true, "And he said that i'm as good as any of you boys." That was really as close to bragging as Tapanga ever got. She trotted along beside him to keep up the pace, for as old as she was... she looked younger, especially in size. "So if you can do it, so can i!"
He laughed soflty, although not insultingly, at her words and looked down at her slowly as she trotted along beside him. He had to walk slower for her little legs, but it didn't really bother him - he was never in a hurry to get anywhere. "Well, he's right, you know. Anything I can do, you can do, at least.. when you're older. I'd not want you trying to take down a big deer or anything right now." He smirked, tossing his black tuft of mane out of his eyes irritatingly. "Rounds really aren't that fun though, they're actually.. kind of boring."
"But you getta go for long walks all by yourself, and see the whole pride!" She protested, unsure of how rounds could possibly be boring. Even the den wasn't boring, when you looked at it from a positive perspective.
He chuckled and nodded, "I guess I do get to go on long walks, but it's the same long walk every single day." He smirked then, however, and turned his head to look at her, "I found some pretty nifty stuff on my rounds though." He glanced away, towards the horizon, "I suppose as long as you didn't tell dad, I could show you.."
She frowned at that, "Why can't i tell dad?" Tapanga didn't liek the thought of that. Hiding something from their father?! That was.. that was.... lieing. Her ears sunk a little uncomfortably. "Why wouldn't you tell him something?"
HE frowned as soon as she started to act bothered, wiggling his nose slightly in his rather sudden predicament. How was he supposed to know that would upset her? "It's not lying, it's a secret! A special secret that only one other person knows about," he nodded, looking down at her with a small smile, "if you tell dad, then he's going to tell mom, and then the boys will find out - wouldn't you just rather it be our little secret?"
"I didn't say it was lying.." She objected quietly, frowning as she pondered that over. A secret. A special secret for only them. "is it... dangerous?"
He shook his head slowly. "I wouldn't go near anything dangerous," he said with a little frown on his mug, "not unless I had to. No, this is big pretty secret - only person I've ever shown besides you is Ihlo." He smirked and flicked his tail, "but you better tell me fast if you want to see it or not - cause we'll go right past it if you don't." He nodded seriously, looking down at her.
"I...." Curiosity warred with her need to tell her father everything. But... well he said a lie wasn't the same thing as a secret. Maybe not telling her father everything wasn't entirely damnable... "I wanna see!" She decided quickly and smiled up at him with a little less hesitation.
He grinned and nodded as she finally agreed to come with him - it gave him a good excuse not to do his rounds, even if she didn't realize it. With a little nudge, he started towards the forest line - nowhere near where the haunted section was, but a thick part none-the-less. "I thought you would," he said with a grin, pushing down some big foliage at the edge of the treeline so she wouldn't have to tussle with it.
She slowed down when she saw that they were going to enter the forest. At first she started to protest, then stopped. He'd said it was okay, and he was a guard. Besides that... she didn't want him to call her chicken, did he? Her thought sreturned to the 'ghost' from that morning, but she shoved that aside. Her brother said it was okay! That thought got her into the tree line. "How far in is it?"
"Just a little ways," he said with a grin on his mug, making sure to trample down some of the bigger bits of bushes and limbs in the path. If one bothered to look close, it was obvious there had been a small form of a path made - barely noticeable even to the animal eye, but he and Ihlo had come this way a few times. As they got a bit farther in, the foliage became even denser, until they were met by a big wall of vines. He pushed it apart with his paws and motioned her in. "Go on now, go look." Inside, it was dark - except for the fireflies whirling overhead - though there were fewer now in the morning and most of the ones left were beginning to go back to their nests. A small pool of water had settled in the center of the small, making it appear that there were twice as many, and it seemed one of the few places that had a little reprieve from the heat.
"OOHhh!" She gasped out as she entered the place. Running , she stopped just beside the water pool and stared in wonder at the dancing insects she'd sent scattering out of their nests again. "Woooooow! This is so neat!!" The little girl turned to look at her brother, obviously excited, "This is wonderful! How did you find it?"
He grinned and gave a bit of a shrug as he sat down, staring around at the pretty little place that Ihlo had deemed 'their heaven". "I was walking through the woods because I heard a noise on my rounds, and I just happened to fall right through those vines there," he said. Well, it was worse than a fall. He thought they would be more solid, so he gave them a good running charge, and he tumbled head over heel and landed with a mouthful of dirt. She didn't need to know that thought. "I thought you would like it - now you know my little secret."
"Hehehe, I love it!" She pranced a little around the forest oasis, almost dancing to some tune only she could hear. It was more than a little amazing to her, and she loved to play with the fireflys. Njozi would know, of course, that was a favorite activity for her during the summer nights. After awhile, though, that energy ran out a bit, and she'd tripped herself into the water enough times to be a little drowned-looking. She padded her sodden self over to her brother's side and curled up against it, purring. The cub gave a yawn, eyes already closed even as she hit the ground and snuggled into him.
He smiled as he watched her run around, chasing the fireflies in the same way he had seen her do during the long summer nights. "I'm glad you do, because now it's your little secret too," he said quietly. It was easy to tell that she was getting tired, and not just after the third or fourth time she went tumbling into the cool water. He frowned slightly as she pushed her wet body up against his, but being that he wasn't too miffed with his fur getting dirty or displaced, he simply curled a paw around her and settled down beside her. With a little yawn, her turned his head to the side and shut his eyes as well. See? They got along just fine.
"loveuu.." She murmered, purr stronger than ever as she heaved a sigh, half a yawn again. The red eyes blinked a bit in the dim light, seeming to glow almost like coals in her dark face. A moment later she drifted off.
"Love you too, squirt," he muttered lazily, words already with a heavy slur to them, and eyes closed tight agains the dim light the few remaining fireflies gave off. Then, with a deep sigh, he drifted off after his sister into the dream world.
