Kiuma paced restlessly, her path wandering back and forth as she stared around herself with a rather hostile expression. She remembered this place... and it didn't make her particularly happy, even if she couldn't fight the urge to come here. Sure, she could have gone around the Kusini lands... she could have avoided it entirely. But there was something here... something that called her. The red lioness growled as her head hung low, swinging as she turned her gaze, never resting.
Uumi had found himself near the right most watering hole, tail flicking as he stared dully at the water before him. He was bored with this existance, but that was no surprise. It was almost as if the fiesty, cruel light in him had blinked out of existance. He shifted a little and yawned, after a moment he stood and stretched as he began to head away over the land, he was supposed to be watching the cubs at the moment but he'd needed a break. As he went he spotted a flash of red, and thinking it one of his children he headed for it. "What are you doing away from the den?" He called, not as sternly as his voice once would have been.
Kiuma flinched and tensed as she heard someone call out to her, slidding around to face where the voice had come from. Head low and hackles raised, her expression was quite forbidding with the glare and curling lips. She stood her ground as she waited for the male to show himself, her tail flicking restlessly. Whoever he was, he'd get the sharp side of her tongue, for sure.... she'd been looking for something to take her frustration out on. Poor, unlucky male.
His eyes flicked over the form and he continued forward, sighing. The little brats never seemed to listen to him, even the ones who surprisingly looked up to him. His tail flicked as he came closer. "Come, I told you not to wander from the den and here you are... do you want your mother to kill.." His raspy voice trailed off as he realized he was stairing at a full grown, female replica of himself. "Kiuma.." The last word, her name, was too soft for anyone but him to hear.
The female twin growled as she caught sight of who it was that approached her, her head flying up as she pressed her ears back to her sleek skull. Her scowl didn't fade, but the flex of her claws came more from nerves now than from anger. Gods, why him? She should have just slipped through, or gone around and never even had to see him... She was not ready to see him again and she didn't know if she ever really would be. "Uumikaji." She stated bluntly, her voice a rumbling growl. "Miss placed one of your... cubs?" She shifted subtly, travel-hardened muscle rippling. She felt self-concious, feeling keenly the paths of scars down her cheeks and the almost imperceptable weight around her midsection. What did he see when he looked at her? What was he thinking? Had he missed her? Had he thought of her at all, or wondered about her? So many questions in her mind.
Uumi's eyes floated over that his twin almost in a thirsty manner. She was heavy with child, he could tell that easily after Sye's third litter... scars... she was still strong and beautiful... still the same lioness he'd left long ago to secure himself a spot in these lands. He wondered if he would have kept up the sharade of being only Kiuma's if he could have seen the future back then?
He was stunned for several moments as he watched her, an unsure frown flitting across his features. "I had mistaken you for one of them." He said slowly, thinking that it was bizarre she was here. He never thought he'd see her again. "What are you doing in these lands, Kiuma?"
Kiuma scowled at her twin, shifting to place her paws a little closer together, standing as tall as she could. He looked like she remembered, like she'd dreamed of... he'd changed precious little from that last time in the dessert. Idly, she wondered if he'd ever found his son. His question made her stiffen, bristling and prickly. "What do you care? I don't have to answer to anyone, least of all you."
He sighed and looked away, things would never be well with them again and honestly it made him upset. Uumi's fight had gone out of him a long time ago, no he was a dull shell of himself. "Alright fine. But if you aren't willing to answer to a member of these lands I figure you hardly have a right being on them, it targets you as a threat." He shifted a little, his crimson orbs meeting her own.
The red lioness huffed as she eyed her brother. She didn't like this distance either, but her pride and her hurt wouldn't let her bend. It never had. "A threat..." She snorted, her smile cruel. "And just what are you going to do about it... Brother." A short laugh dripped from her fangs and she turned a little away from him, settling to sit back on her haunches. "Don't bother raising an alarm or anything foolish. You know there are precious few here who could take me... you'll just end up with wounded to care for. I'm leaving anyway... I wouldn't have even bothered to come to this place, but it was in my path."
He snorted, she was full of herself as always. He shook his head lightly. "I wouldn't dream of doing anything about it." He stated dryly, still watching her. "It doesn't matter how strong you are one on one, what happens when they gang up on you, hmm? I never took you for the stupid type, Kiuma. I would think a lioness so far along in her pregancy would avoid conflict, rather than seak it out by coming into lands you're not wanted in." He spat out.
Kiuma growled as she side a side-long glance at him, her fangs showing. "I'm not that far along..." She hissed. "And you're not stupid either... I'd be gone before you even made it back to raise the alarm. I won't risk anyone finding Baala, least of all the lions from -this- pride. I really don't know what you see in them... What have you accomplished by staying here, Uumikaji?" She shook her head, casting her eyes towards the sky.
His eyes narrowed a little and briefly he wondered who Baala was. "I've accomplished nothing by staying here." He stated bitterly. "And what does that matter to you, Kiuma? What have you really accomplished by all of this traveling?" He finally realized what was wrong with this picture, where was her mate?
She grinned as she turned her head, giving him a mocking look. "That's right, you've done nothing here... and me? What have I accomplished?" She rose smoothly to her paws, turning to pace towards him with a deadly sort of grace. "I've seen the world, Brother. I've met lions and done things you can't even imagine." Her eyes almost glowed with her furver. "I've been to the Mistweavers, the Firekin, the Graveyard... I'm grown strong and fierce. I've born five strong cubs to a god and I killed the lion that killed our father. I've been betrayed... twice, and I've survived and found love again. You could never understand... I've -lived- our dream, Uumikaji, just the way we always planned. And what have you done? Nothing, as you said." She spat the 'nothing' at him, breaking out a soft, mocking laugh.
Both brows raised slowly and he shook his head. "That was my dream then, it is no longer my dream now." He said, almost bitterly. He had no dreams of doing anything, really. He'd long given up on seeing the world or becoming great, though he'd had so much potential to when they were young.
His tail flicked a little and he took a deep and slightly sad breath, he'd never regain that connection he'd had with her while they were cubs, it would never happen. He turned away, staring off at the horizon. "Are you quite finished?"
Kiuma pulled back a little at his response, her ears back before she glared at him. Finally, she lifted her head, her expression haunty. "Well, I answered your question, didn't I?" The red female was a little taken aback, unsure how to really respond to him. She expected... well, a fight, an arguement, anything, but this sort of frustrated refusal to rise to her challenge. Last time she'd seen him had been so different from this... apathy. "What about that female of yours? You still her happy little husband?" She sneered. "Giving her lots of bouncing little cubs? Must be nice, having that happy little family life..." Unable to stay still any long, she paced a few steps and turned to come back, feeling a need to do something, anything, to relieve the tension she felt. Why was it always like this? And why couldn't she just leave well enough alone?
His eyes narrowed and he sneered slightly, shaking his head softly. She answered his question sure enough, but it just made him feel... pathetic, on some levels. But he also felt like he didn't care about her life any longer, after all, they'd been apart for so long.
Ah, but here was his chance. He smirked slightly and his eyes narowed. "Yes, still cared for by a much more amazing female than you'd ever be, Kiuma. Still have kids, still a nice close family." So it was not so loving and not that great of a life, but it was still his.
Kiuma tensed at that comment, a snarl curling her face. "You know nothing... How could you? You left me before you had the least chance to know me. I wouldn't have let you waste yourself on this backwards place..." She hissed. "Tell me, Brother. Are you happy? Hmm? Are you proud of your place in this pride? Despite my faults, I AM. You.... disgust me. Yes... I see it now, why you anger me so much. Why the thought of you makes me want to shred something. You gave up everything, and for what? Maybe you found love, but at what cost? I had the family, once, but it didn't last... it was all a lie, a sham. Just like the love I thought you had for me." She growled as she shook her head, the claw dangling from her ear bouncing against her scarred cheek. She had to stop, before she did something terrible, probably to him. This would be her last meeting with him... she didn't want it to go like this. "I'm leaving. Not just here... I'm going south and I don't know where I'll end up. I'm going to find this so-called perfect life you say you have, but it will be on my terms. I'm not going to come back, so if you have something to say... say it. Its the last time you'll have the chance." The red female turned to glare at him, half-hopeful and half-despairing, both desperate for what he'd say and afraid of it.
His anger rose and rose, but it seemed too much of an effort to use it. He'd learned long ago it was pointless being angry with a female who if she wasn't more intelligent than you would always be more cunning. His ears flattened as he listened to what she had to say, the slightly demented expression of anger cooling into something more apathetic. "My life is far from perfect, don't go putting words in my mouth you self righteous..." He trailed off with a sneer though and shook his head. If she had a family that broke apart than that was her own fault, she obviously didn't know how to behave in a relationship. At least, that was what he forced himself into thinking. There was so much he didn't know about her, so much he'd never know.
He stared at her, eyes narrowing as she asked if he had anything else to say. He'd like to say a lot of things to her, but sadly had no clue how to express them. He sighed deeply, he'd never be his sisters twin again in this life time, it seemed. "I hope... that out of all the things you've done and seen... you've been able to find happiness Kiuma, it sure as hell doesn't seem like it." and this time he turned fully away, to leave
Kiuma snarled as she paced, lashing her tail in the old, hot anger he always brought out of her. "You know nothing." She hissed, low enough that it probably wasn't really ment for him to hear. "I don't need your well wishes... they are meaningless, and I doubt you truly care anyway. If that's all you have to say, then we're done. I'm making my own happiness, don't you worry about that. I will have it." She hissed in frustration, this meeting again not going how she would have wanted. Too proud, too wrathful, too stubborn... She could see now that she'd most likely never be able to forgive and mend their relationship. She'd almost gotten a rise out of him, almost, and if his words had rung hollow, at least he had tried to offer some sort of well-wishing. Those two facts would be her only comfort in the years a head. Forcing herself to feel some kind of solace, she turned and left without a backwards look. Much as it pained her, it would seem this would be the end of it. Good-bye just seemed... wrong, to say. She couldn't bring herself to utter the words as she disappeared into the grass, her claws exposed to tear at the ground as she left.
