N'gombe settled herself on the edge of Noir's den, gazing out onto the rest of the Pride a wistful look in her moon pale eyes. She'd not left her love's den in almost seven days. The black leopard did not like it when she was not where he could find her, and she'd learned quickly that not to be where he could ended badly.
Oddly, it never ended badly for her, but for him. He would become frantic, seeking her out, the worry and hurt in his dark eyes like a physical blow to the delicate cheetah. It made her ache for him, and made her never want to see such a look in those obsidian pools again, and certainly not placed there by her paws.
Still, she could not help but become restless by her imprisonment, no matter the cause of it, and on sunny, beautiful days like today, it chafed as much as the cuffs and collar that encircled her delicate ankles and slender neck had when they were first placed on her.
N'gombe held such an odd place here among this Pride, not mate..yet not slave. She belonged only to Noir, but was treated as if she were simple minded, as if she was missing some piece of the puzzle she'd not figured out yet. There was more to the Pride then what she was being allowed to see. Much more. They kept her at a paw's distance. Though there had been a handful of them who had ventured to speak to her, among them, Tabia and Ajani, both Entertainers.
They had been kind, even shown her a few dance paces in exchange for a few simple phrases in the language her mother had taught her as a cub. Ajani had just wanted to learn for the sake of learning, but Tabia...Tabia was like Noir, to many sercrets hidden behind her golden eyes. Noir...it always came back to him.
Biting her lip, she laid her head down on her paws, her mind turning over what she knew about her dark love and trying to fill in the gaps of what she didn't. Noir had brought her here, he'd laid claim to her, and whisked her off to his den, where he had promptly shown her just how innocent she had been. Color rose to her cheeks with the memory, it still seemed like a dream in so many ways.
Noir had been gentle at first in his affection, but over time he'd become more aggressive, until her tears had reached him and he'd held her close, curled around her, promising to never make her cry again. A promise she knew he tried so very hard to keep...even if he had not been able too.
The delicate cheetah frowned, biting her lip harder as her brow furrowed. So many things did not make sense when it came to Noir. He'd sometimes not come to the den for days, and when he did it was often at night. She rarely saw him during the day time. Then there was the Pride...they hardly ever spoke about him, and when words were uttered, they were in hushed tones and never where he could hear them. She suspected that if they thought more about her and didn't treat her like she didn't exist, they wouldn't have spoken where she could hear them either.
It almost seemed to her that they were speaking about two different felines, Noir and a leopard named Bugie. Perhaps Noir had a brother. It would explain a few things if he did. Though he had told her when they first met that he had no family. Maybe they did not get along, and were estranged, which would explain why he never mentioned a sibling, but if he did have a sibling, he wouldn't have said that he had no family to speak of, and certainly someone in the Pride would have let it slip that there was a brother. Even in so tight lipped a place as this, such a thing would be mentioned in passing, and his 'apprentice' of sorts hadn't even made a sniff about it. Even when she'd been as surprised to see Ng'ombe, as Ng'ombe had been to see her those first few days after Noir had brought her to the Pride.
N'gombe did not have to be born into the Kuroi'Nera to know that there was certainly something not lining up with what was being said...or rather, what was being left unsaid. Her tail lashed back and forth behind her as she became irritated with the secrets and half truths, and the word games that made it seem as if she were the only one in the entire valley that wasn't in on the secret that Noir seemed to be carrying around tucked in under one paw. She wasn't certain, but she was fairly sure that felines that loved each other didn't keep secrets under their paws from each other. Her mother and her father never had, at least...not from each other...that she knew about...but they had from her...hadn't they?
It was all very perplexing, and made her head hurt just thinking about it. Maybe it was best she didn't question and just accepted the gift of her beloved Noir as it was and be content. She remembered one of her favorite bed time stories her mother used to tell her, it was the story about the Star Born Prince and the cheetah he had loved and how his only rule was that she not ask his name. As long as she did not, he'd stay beside her and be her perfect mate...she'd asked...and he had left with the dawn.
Yes, that was who Noir was. He was her Star Born Prince and if she wished to keep him she'd not ask his name...after all, she'd already given him one, hadn't she? Smiling to herself, N'gombe closed her eyes, letting the sun warm her as she waited for the night and Noir, to come.
Word Count:1001
