Bukaera lead his brother through the tunnels of Mazunguko. It took some time to get through. On the way they ran into a couple of lion diggers. Bukaera gave his brother a weary smile. When they were out of ear shot he whispered to him, “I should have warned you that the pride lets in non leopards. That was a major downside of the pride. I almost didn't join because of it.” When he was younger their father taught them to hate any creature that wasn't a leopard. He told them that non-leopards were always wicked. Bukaera did well to follow in his father's foot steps, except for his occasional fling with a lioness or cheetah. That happened quite rarely and he only did so to get in their good graces.

“I taught my son though right from wrong. He knows not to interact with those who are not leopards. I think father would be quite proud of his grandson.” Bukaera said in a boosting way. He knew his father would like Ekaitz. That is if he would even acknowledge Ekaitz as his grandson. His father would be upset that Ekaitz came from a fling. Bukaera thought he did the right thing by not giving Ekaitz the family name. He wanted to, as a way to keep the family tradition going. However he thought that he should give the family name to his sons who came from a breeding he would eventually have with his mate.

“Now brother, I'll warn you if we run into a leopard name Ijara I might get a little weird. I was flirting with him and having a bit of fun when he starts telling me how to raise Ekaitz. Anyways since than I've been making his life difficult.” Bukaera explained as they went deeper. “You see he gets really awkward when I flirt with him and he hates having his personal space invaded. It's entertaining watching him squirm.”

Hasierara didn't pay much attention to Bukaera when he talked about his son. He figured he would meet Ekaitz before forming an opinion on the cub. When Bukaera talked about the leopard named Ijara he couldn't help butbe a little interested. His brother had always been a flirt with females. It was just apart of who he was. Their father always made sure that it stayed at flirting though. He would never let Bukaera be alone with a female that wasn't a relative.

Part of their old pride was that slaves were not aloud to pick their mate or have flings. Instead the lions would arrange 'marriages' for their slaves. It was another way for them to control their slaves. The lions never cared about the slave's orientation either. Instead they were more interested in what couple would have the strongest cubs and what couples would be 'interesting' together. Hasierara was thankful that he was never put in an arranged marriage. There was talk that Bukaera was next on the lions list. One of the rumors he heard was that the lions were planning on mating him to a lower class female lioness. If that happened Bukaera would have been devastated.

As he listened to his brother talk he learned three things. Their fathers teachings about hating all non-leopards sunk in better in Bukaera than it did Hasierara. After leaving the pride Hasierara hated all non-leopards. However it didn't take him to long to realize there were non-leopards who were kindhearted. It was just the families bad luck that they were in a pride of cruel lions. When Bukaera talked about non-leopards Hasierara couldn't help but pity his brother and his son. He hoped that someday his brother would learn that not everything their father taught them was correct.

The second thing he learned was that his brother was bisexual. He had always wondered about this since they became adolescents. The way he talked about Ijara made him remember how Bukaera used to talk about females in their old pride. If a leopardess didn't return his feelings he would often pick on them. Hasierara would always be around to tell his brother off when this happened. He didn't have problems with his brother's orientation. Instead he wondered how long his brother has realized it himself.

Finally he realized that his brother had grown up physically, however not at all in maturity. He hated whenever anyone questioned what he did. If another slave disagreed with him he would constantly bully them till they gave in or when Hasierara stopped him. The only way to stop Bukaerara when he was in one of those moods was to beat him up. It used to be a fairly easy feat when they were younger. However now that they were adults, Bukaera was quite a bit larger than Hasierara. He hoped that maybe talking to him would get him to stop picking on the poor Ijara fellow. The poor leopard did two things to start Bukaera's wrath, by not flirting with him and by disagreeing with him.

“Maybe we could team up on him. That would really freak him out. Are you comfortable with flirting with other males? Cause if you are it will make it that much better. He'll be regretting the day he told me how to be a father.” Bukaera laughed. His brother's silence didn't affect him at all. He was the talker and Hasierara was always the quiet listener. Bukaera failed to remember the fact that Hasierara always got in the way of his bullying. In fact he only remembered the times the two of them worked together to harass others, not the times Hasierara got in the way.

Hasierara was now questioning his second notice about Bukaera's orientation. He started to think that perhaps Bukaera only pretended to be bisexual as a way to harass Ijara. This troubled Hasierara very much. As much as he didn't want to, Hasierara realized that he was going to have to interfere with Bukaera's life. He didn't want to make a scene. “Bukaera would you mind showing me your den? I am curious what dens look like here.” He didn't bother answering Bukaera's question. He would get to it when they had a more private place to talk.

Bukaera nodded and started heading to his den. The den was empty when he came in. The only time he shared it was when Ekaitz wanted to stay with him instead of the brotherhoodmothers. “Well this is it. Other there is some rock and more rock. Rocks are vital part of living down here.” Bukaera said jokingly. He laid down in the den. “Huh. Wouldn't it be fun if we could corner Ijara in here? He would have no where to escape.” He let out a laugh.

Hasierara let out a sigh and sat next to his brother. “Bukaera, I need to talk to you. You aren't an adolescent anymore. You are an adult. I know we were deprived of a real youth, but that's no reason for you to act out like this. It isn't right for you to just bully another leopard, or any creature for that matter. Adults don't do that. Adults work their problems out by talking. I know father taught us differently, but I hate to tell you this, father wasn't always right. So why don't you just grow up and become a decent role model for you son.” Hasierara watched his brother carefully to see how he would react. He hoped that he wouldn't get violent.

Instead Bukaera just stared at him with confusion. “So you are actually siding with a leopard you've never met over me? And you are telling me I am not a good parent.” Bukaera almost ran his paw across Hasierara's face, but he controlled his temper. His father would not want the two of them to start fighting after they found each other. He shook his head instead. “Maybe it was a mistake for us to run into each other. At least now I will have a chance to spend time being a horrible father to my son instead of looking for a worthless brother. Look, I think you can find your own way out. I have some work to do in the pride.” Bukaera got up to leave.

“You don't understand what I am saying. I think you are probably a good father at times. Other times I think you probably set a poor example for your son.” Hasierara said as Bukaera walked down the tunnel. It became apparent that Bukaera wasn't going to listen to him. He decided to rest a bit before he left. Perhaps that would give Bukaera enough time to cool down.

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