Huanfu, for the most part, knew that no one liked to spend time with him. He didn't realize why, but anyone who looked at him always surried past him to continue on their their business. It had been a very long time ago, but Katua was still heartbroken over a fling that never should have been. Somehow, he had been protected by the fact he went on a very, very long hunt, fell in love with a pretty little lioness, and then came back. He wished that she had followed him here, but she claimed that her extensive family back in the Pridelands would miss her too much for her to leave. So he had returned, not realizing how much it would hurt him.
Then the visions came. He realized that he was seeing what was actually happening, and nothing that was just a dream. He could see her, see Biskuti as she raised their cubs well...without him. It hurt, realizing what he had done to his children what had happened to him. He treated Aishang like a mother, as she raised his siblings and him when they had been surrendered to her buy a terrified lioness. But to know...that he did that was hard. He missed her, he missed the fact that his cubs didn't know much about him except the very few stories she could tell...and that was it.
He tried to comfort himself with another traveling lioness, and did the same thing. That time it was different; the lioness seemed to know what she wanted, and the three cubs grew up strong. There were passing thoughts of running off to find them, but the idea of never being able to see his siblings or home again (added with the fact when the Duke returned with his wife...!) kept him home.
So he was always depressed. His visions were strong, always showing him his regrets and how happy they were without him. Everyone avoided him, except for his family. Li Biyu especially. She did her best to cheer him up, or to make him snap out of it, but perhaps even the skilled bard was growing tired of hearing the same old pathetic story out of his mouth.
For once, someone else approached him. He glanced up, seeing Yuang Wang's bright red eyes looking sadly down at him. That red...so similar to Li Biyu's coat. He was trying to court her, and honestly...he was a bit jealous. If Li Biyu accepted, suddenly he wouldn't get to see his sister as much, and that frightened him.
"Huanfu," Yuang said quietly, listening to the sounds of shuffling paws as others ignored them. "Can we talk?"
"About what?" Huanfu grumbled, never really wanting to talk to anyone. He didn't have a huge amount of interest in getting out of his depression, though little did he know that there was a growing talk about it.
"You. Li Biyu. The West as a whole. Look, words been going around and...there are some rougher members that want you to stop what it is that you're doing, or go."
"....go?" It jostled him enough that he sat up, looking at the brown hunter more carefully.
"Well...yes. I can tell you that its from much higher up, but you just kind of..bring others down. You're unhealthy, you just lounge around all day...c'mon, you're always welcome to join me in a hunt." Hopefully he would just take the hint. Perhaps if he hid himself a bit more, then it wouldn't become such an issue anymore and everything would be ok.
"A hunt? Really?" The tan lion was a bit offended that somehow hunting would fix him out of his moping. If it was that easy, wouldn't he have gotten over this long ago? He grumbled, rolling over to turn his back to Yuang.
The brown lion tried to not take it too personal. If anyone could fix this moron, it would be Li Biyu. Not someone else. He sighed, frustrated. "Seriously, you need to let the past go. If you keep spending so much time focused on it, the present and the future are going to go by without you! Hell, have you even tried to just look for a girl around here?" Honestly! There were a lot of pretty females, and it seemed like the Pridelands may try to situation a relocation of some of their members into Tianxia. There had to be more pretty ones coming, but if he kept hiding his head in the mud no one would even take notice of him.
Katua grumbled. This place wasn't going to do anymore. He rolled himself up onto his paws, glaring at Yuang whenever he was facing the stupid hunter. "You happy now? Fine. Let's go on a hunt, and then you'll leave me alone for a while." He suddenly resented that this lion was the one that wanted Li Biyu's paw...and instantly regretted it. There was nothing wrong with Yuang, Huanfu was just extremely unhappy with his life.
"Good. I nearly gave up on you. Let's go." Yuang turned to leave, noticing that some of the members standing around gave both of them a berth to move easily. If only Huanfu realized that he was the one doing all this, and no one else...sigh.
Shaking his blue mane to settle it across his shoulder more comfortably, he followed after Yuang. At least it was easy to move to one of the hunting trails, with everyone moving out of the way for them. It did help lighten his mood a bit, as then he wouldn't have to look at anyone else more than he had to. Suddenly, an extremely bright, and odd coloured coat for the West house caught his eye. It was a cheetah, decorated with quite the shoulder ornament. Someone important...most certainly not for the West. Just behind her was...a gorgeous lioness. She seemed uncomfortable, and instantly Huanfu wanted to know why. The West was a calm place, so why was she nervously looking around as she followed after the cheetah? That was odd...he ditched Yuang quickly, following after the pair from a safe distance. Yuang wasn't a moron, and he followed after Huanfu, determined to keep the lion on task.
"Hey, what're you doing? We were going to hunt!"
"Shhh. No, I'm curious about those two," he replied, peeking between brush and bodies to watch them enter the area where the Lord and Lady reclined to receive visitors.
Well, at least he's interested in something other than his own depression, Yuang thought. He shrugged and followed after them as well, content with this change...and a bit worried as to where it would go from here.
(1,113 words)