She could now trot a little. On one hand, it was upsetting that this bouncy little movement was the best she could do, and she couldn’t even do it so well. On the other, Zyanya was extremely glad she was capable of doing this again. She attempted to go a bit faster, widening her circle around the dark leopard.
After spending the whole night up, as was normal for him, Usiku was feeling rather tired. Still, his cheetah woke up pretty excited, saying she was going to try to run today. He might be a little underwhelmed, because when he thought of Zyanya running, he thought of her on that day when he saw her hunt, the same day she got hurt. She had been fast and daring, and now she had to trot around on those dainty little legs, stepping particularly delicately with her injured paw.
As Zyanya sped up, the leopard started to get perhaps a little more excited. There could be hope for this cheetah yet! Eventually she left the trot and attempted a short sprint. For a moment, it looked like it might work, but it seemed the female’s leg started acting up, and she mis-stepped, got tangled up, and tumbled to the floor.
“Are you alright?”
Usiku didn’t know how he had gotten by her side so quickly, to be honest. One moment he’d been sitting in the center of her growing circle, then, the next thing he knew, he was standing by her side, nudging her shoulder to help her to her feet. Zyanya accepted his help, but once on her feet, she was quiet for a few moments. The dark leopard frowned and flicked his ringed tail. He knew what she was thinking, and he didn’t like it when she thought that way.
“Did you see that? I almost got it!”
… Okay, he didn’t know what she was thinking. Usiku was pleasantly surprised. He offered her half a smile. “Where’s that optimism coming from?” He perked his ears. “You could have hurt your leg all over again, too.” Without warning, he used one of his paws to lift her injured one, moving up and down. “Does this hurt?”
Zyanya didn’t seem to mind the impromptu examination, allowing her leg to relax so Usiku could move it around freely. “I’m getting back to my normal self, I guess.” She grinned. “The faster I get, the better my attitude will be!” She purred, clearly pleased. Now she finally seemed to pay attention to his examination, and snorted. “Stop fussing, it’s fine. I think.” She lifted her paw to get it away from his own, and put it on the floor, adding a bit more pressure, until it hurt. “Doesn’t hurt any more than usual.”
Usiku figured he could accept that answer. If anyone should know how much her leg hurt, it was her. “Okay, then. But you should still be more careful.” Said the leopard. “Or else I might be stuck with you even longer.” He smiled, attempting to add some cheer into his scolding. Inadvertently, he he seemed to have made it more awkward, because Zyanya looked at him, seeming almost hurt.
“Yeah, right.” She said, awkwardly, and looked down at her paws. He sat, too, and looked down at his own. Zyanya knew Usiku hadn’t meant to be at all hurtful with what he said, but she just hadn’t really thought about the fact that she might hae to split up with him. Or that it seemed inevitable, at some point. Since the leopard had saved her from getting killed, she had grown quite fond of him, and had even accepted that she depended on him to survive.
Apparently intent on fleeing from the awkwardness, Usiku stood up. “Well, I’m tired. I think I’ll go sleep now.” He turned and begun to trot away.
On a whim, Zyanya stood and hurried after him. “Wait up! I’m coming, too!” She had a feeling she wanted to talk to him, but wasn’t quite sure about what. She saw Usiku’s shoulders hunch up and ears fold back, uncertain.
“But you just woke up.”
Casually, Zyanya fell in beside him. “So what? I can keep you company until you fall asleep.”
Soon enough, they had reached their den for the day. The two of them had begun moving around more, and for whatever reason had been heading north. It was slow going, since Zyanya slept most during the night, and Usiku slept most during the day. It seemed he’d pick a few days to stay up more during the day so they could move further, but he always seemed irritable because of the hot sun on his dark fur. Zyanya had begun to consider switching sides, just to please him, and sleep during the day.
The den for today was a tree with some bushes at it’s base. Zyanya would sleep in the bushes, and Usiku on the branches. But with Usiku up in the tree, she found it would be harder to talk. Still, he moved to climb up anyways. To guilt him into staying on the ground, Zyanya attempted to climb, and promptly fell down. With a sigh, the leopard remained grounded, and curled up in the bushes.
“Do you think I’ll ever be able to take care of myself again?” She asked, after he had settled down, and she had sat beside the tree. She looked at her paw. Maybe she would one day be strong enough to run, but who knows if she would be capable of taking down prey?
There was a silence before the leopard spoke. “I don’t know. I hope so. For your sake.”
She couldn’t help it. Needed to ask. “Does it bother you? Taking care of me?” She felt almost bad. Usiku seemed like he had almost been falling asleep, but at her question, his eyes snapped open. He turned his head to focus those green eyes on her. She kind of thought it was funny, how similar their eyes were. The leopard didn’t answer quickly, and she wondered if this was good or bad.
“No. It doesn’t bother me.” His ringed tail flicked. “I didn’t mean to give you that impression. It was an attempt at humor that didn’t work.” Okay, fine. She supposed she could accept that much, that he hadn’t meant anything like that with what he had said earlier. But…
“It’s just… weren’t you usually on your own? I’m not tiring you, or anything?” In her time spent with Usiku, he’d never talked about knowing anyone else. Maybe he didn’t have any other leopard, or even someone of a different species, he regularly hung out with. Usiku might just be the loneliest creature she had ever met. But he never seemed upset.
The leopard considered this a bit, and when he spoke, he seemed careful. “… Yes. You do tire me sometimes.” he said. “But so does being on my own. I will care for you for however long you need me to.” Okay, so he wasn’t exactly totally reassuring, but she supposed it was better than nothing. She offered him a small laugh.
“Okay, then. If you’re sure.” Zyanya said, standing up so she could walk towards him and pat his head with a paw. “I’ll let you sleep now, okay?”
The leopard looked up at her from beneath her paw before standing up so he could climb up to his preferred sleeping spot on the branches of the tree. With that, Zyanya turned and began to walk/limp away, to figure out something to spend her time with that day.
As long as she needed him, then. Okay.
