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((Finished over AIM.))
"I know that," Tendaji growled. He sat up and brushed the dirt off his face, trying to buy some time to think of an excuse. "I just wanted to try it and see how it went," he said at last. "It went, uh, okay, I guess. Paws are better." He touched his nose carefully, but nothing appeared to be broken.
Izinhliziyo rolled his eyes with a snerk as he padded over to him. The snake, meanwhile, sought this is as an oppurtunity to escape and made a beeline out of there. "A'course they are. Your just weird like that." He flicked his thick tail. "....Were you spying on me?"
"I am not," he said. "I am so not weird. Just... adventurous. Yeah. Real adventurous, I go on all kinds of adventures." He puffed up his little chest, trying to look big and brave, just like daddy.
"Nu-uh," he lied.
"You are so! Your the weirdest of the weird. And all your adventures are weird." He stuck out his tongue. so there! Izin screwed up his face. He'd been stalked enough times by a certain other brother to know when someone was behind him and it made him paranoid. "Really?" He asked spectically.
Tendaji scowled. “Am not. And my adventures might be weird, but they’re still the best.” He unconsciously placed his paw over the “magic” feather necklace he had made. It was the best, really.
“Sure,” he said, looking away. He didn’t like lying – and he wasn’t very good at it - but he hadn’t really been spying. He’d just been up on a rock, enjoying the sun, and Izin had happened to be there… he was his younger bro, sometimes it was good to look after him. Tendaji was the oldest after all. That meant he had to responsible, never mind that he was anything but.
"If your sure...." Izin gave him a sidelong glance, then shrugged. Maybe he was just imaging things. He did that from time to time, when he was all jittery after a fight with Rynskald. Thank the Gods he had Tendaji; otherwise he would be traumatized by the color green for the rest of his life.
The little leopard played with his toes in the dirt before leaping up on a rock. "C'mon, let's do something fun!"
Tendaji sighed. He shouldn’t have lied like that, not to Izin. But he really hadn’t been spying, or meant to spy. It was just… yeah. Rock. Perch. Little brother.
“Yeah, let’s go explore!” Tendaji said, hopping up besides Izin. “And fight crickets. You really can’t trust those guys.” He frowned. “But… but, okay, this time it’s your adventure. You decide what we do.”
Izinhliziyo paused and looked at his brother, his mouth slightly agape. "Really? I get to pick?" He'd never done that before. He pondered, stroking his imaginary mane before it hit him. "Let's play 'guard the pride'. It'll be just like da..." Then his face drooped. Oh ya. Suppressed thought reappearing = not cool.
“Yeah!” Tendaji said happily. Man, he should have thought of this before. Izin just looked so happy… it made him feel all warm and fuzzy and good about himself. Oh yeah, he was totally the best brother ever.
Tendaji gave his brother a concerned look. He had looked so happy just a minute ago. “What’s wrong Izin? That sounds like a good game.”
Izin shook his head. He didn't want to worry Tendaji if he didn't have to. It was an accident that he found out, and now he could never take it back. "Nothings wrong. I'm fine. It's a great game, so let's play okay?"
He gave a half-hearted smile and bounded off. "I'll be the rogue!" That gave him some space between his brother to shake it off.
Something was totally wrong. But if it wasn’t the game, what was it? Tendaji’s curiosity was piqued, and he wasn’t going to let Izin shake him off that easily. But it didn’t look like Izin was going to tell him, so how was he going to find out? Maybe if he pinned him… no, no, he wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t be Kamau.
He half heartedly trailed after his brother, too distracted to be any good at the game but too uncertain of what to say to ask again what had bothered Izin. What had he said, right before he got all sad? Something about guarding the pride, and something about da –
“What’s wrong with dad?” he yelped.
Izinhliziyo bounced nervously, peeping over his shoulder, getting a twitch in his nose upon seeing Tendaji. He almost tripped over a stone, but caught himself at the last minute.
Then he paused, ducking down with his ears pinned to his head. "...Abrafo's fine." He tripped over the foreign name, so used to calling the lion dad.
Tendaji stopped and stared at Izin. This wasn’t normal, this wasn’t right. Izin was nervous, and he wouldn’t even tell him why!
Abrafo. Why? Tendaji closed his eyes, not wanting to know, but took a deep breath and pushed on anyways. "What do you mean, 'Abrafo'?"
Izinhliziyo shifted from paw to paw, looking everywhere, but directly at his brother. Should he? Could he? Mom was going to be so mad, but she didn't even know that he knew, so maybe it was okay?
"Tendaji, Abrafo's a lion." He started off slowly, speaking barely above a whisper. "We're leopards."
Tendaji didn’t want to be hearing this. He really didn’t. He tried to say something, but his mouth was too dry. He needed a drink, he needed…
But it made sense, didn’t it? It made some kind of terrible, awful sense. Mom was black, dad… ‘Brafo… was also black, and white. Kamau was the right colors, but also spotty, and Izin was brown, and him?
He was green. Really, really green.
He wanted to cry.
Izin did cry.
He hunched over, biting his lip to try and hold back the sobs that tore through his chest. He hated himself so much for having to break the news to his brother and felt like if he'd been stronger, smarter, that he wouldn't have said anything at all.
Tendaji had just had his world drop out from under him, and felt numb, numb all over.
Abrafo wasn’t his father.
He had no father.
Abrafo…
Izin was crying. With a shake, he walked over to his brother and leaned against him, wrapping his tail around him. His brother was crying. His brother, all his. That was right, wasn’t it? Izin had said “we’re leopards.” We.
And maybe… maybe dad… Abrafo… could still be his father. Kind of. Even if he was green, an awful color, a cricket color.
It couldn’t be true, could it? How could it be true?
Izin leaned against his brother, curling in as tight as he could. He just kept keening. At this rate, someone was going to hear him, and he would be punished for his weakness, but he didn't care.
Not now.
All he wanted to do was crawl in a hole and forget everything. He could do that, right? Just disappear?
Tendaji curled up tight around Izin. His world was gone, but he still had his brother. One last thing to cling to while he sat, staring into space, trying not to think about what Izin had told him.
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The dusky day held ample promise for Izinhliziyo as he meandered around. Ducking and dodging behind boulders, he was hot on the trail of a dirty brown snake. It's engorged belly made it all that more appealing to the little leopard. He licked his lips, his eyes going cross eyed. Just a little...closer...
