Sakura pushed his way through the deep foliage. He'd left Shakuntala with his mother, in hopes she could help the bird-colored leopardess. For now... He had to see his aunt. He could feel the jungle breathing around him, a welcome sensation compared to the grasslands that he'd found Shakuntala in. She'd certainly recovered a lot in the journey to the jungle, but her memory was still very shoddy. The pink leopard took a deep breath, then jumped up the stairs to the inner temple that royalty lived in. "Aunt Sayen..."
The striped leopardess rose to her paws, looking up from her grooming to her nephew. He certainly stood out in a crowd, being so... Pink... Even with Sayuri as a mother, Sakura was the only one in the whole litter to show much pink, second only by one of his brothers. Regardless... He was as devoted as his mother. "Sakura, what brings you this far in the ruins? You don't usually come here..."
It was true, he didn't usually venture this far into the ruins. It just wasn't in him. The invitation had been extended to his whole litter to join the rest of the royalty, but Sakura himself had refused. All the better to keep an eye on the borders if he didn't spend all day hidden away like that. "I've brought somebody new in... She's in need of recovery, but I think she'd make a valuable addition to the colony." He just hoped she could hunt or something. With time, he was sure she could.
Sayen smiled, going over to the male. "Well, I'm very glad to hear! We need all the leopards we can get... What with..." She folded her ears back, glancing in the general direction of Fu's own den. "That illness coming back..." It worried her. What would happen to their colony? Their numbers had already been devastated by the earthquake, and then to have the disease come back as they were just recovering... She frowned, then returned her gaze to Sakura. There was a look in his eye... "There's more, isn't there...?" Was this leopardess her nephew had brought in harboring some secret?
"Well..." He couldn't lie to his aunt. He feared her disappointment more than his mother's anger, in a way, since Sayen controlled half the power to oust him from the colony if he failed in some manner. "When I found her, I smelled a cheetah... And while she's having a hard time remembering anything... Barely even her NAME... She's mentioned a cheetah once or twice. She forgot within two days' time, though." He looked up. "And I believe her when she says she doesn't remember. Her body was pretty battered when I found her." He could only guess what had happened to her.
Sayen let out a hm. She was lost in thought for a moment, before looking her nephew in the eye. "I suspect foul play against her. Whatever happened to her was on purpose... Why, I'm not sure, but a cheetah may be involved... Or it as a truly helpful soul. We may never know." She padded out of hers and her mate's den, heading down a temple passage toward the exit. "But regardless of what happened, the gods put you where they did to find her, and bring her here, and she's a leopard... So she'll be welcome." She just hoped there were no unpleasant surprises.
"Foul play?" Sakura hurried after his aunt, paws making soft whispers on the stone. "Like what? Whatever injured her like that was SET on her? On purpose?" He certainly HOPED not! He had to admit... He was beginning to like the leopardess. He felt like he had a sense of purpose, watching over her. "And if that cheetah she mentioned is involved..." His ears went back, a snarl crossing his face. "I'll hunt it down and kill it myself!" He found himself swiftly stopped by his aunt. "What?"
Sayen gave her nephew a hard look. "DON'T." She stepped up to him, doing her best to tower over him - It wasn't so much a physical stature thing, but an authoritative one. "We can't be wasting ANY leopard power on a wild goose chase, and we have more important matters to begin with. Our colony is still too small right now to risk losing even ONE leopard!" She then turned, trotting for the exit from the ancient temple. "We need to focus on increasing our numbers!"
Under his fur, Sakura blushed a bit, before hurrying after Sayen. "Um, Aunt Sayen... Uh... I... I don't think I'm... Er..." It was embarrassing, to say the least, to think of his aunt telling him to go forth and multiply. He stammered over his words, not sure how to phrase that he... Really had no urge to right now.
The striped leopardess stopped, glancing back at her nephew, then chuckled. "Not quite what I meant, Sakura." She reached up, ruffling his hair. "I mean, we need to pull more leopards in... THEN worry about cubs." She let out a sigh, then turned, starting to walk. "When I was little... This place teamed with leopards... But then one thing led to another... After Mkorogo left the colony, an earthquake struck... And an old disease long sealed in the belly of the ruins decimated the numbers.." There were so few original Usafi leopards left, after so long. "We used to be a mighty colony... I'd love to see that again..."
Sakura nodded, his embarrassment melting away. He could see where she was getting there. "When Shakuntala's better... I'll go out and start recruiting more leopards..."
The leopardess smiled. "I'd like that, Sakura." She gave his forhead a lick, then ushered him out. "Now go on, go get this leopardess for me so I can better figure her out!" As she watched him go, she took a right turn and headed into the throne chamber. Finding the two seats empty, she picked one and climbed in it, splaying her full body length across it with a content sigh. Now... She waited to meet this Shakuntala who caught her nephew's attention.
