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 Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:22 am
Nothing ever seemed to go right.
Kiraku dug his claws into the sand, growling irritably. He was different from his siblings, and it was no secret. Aku constantly got scolded for bullying his siblings, causing trouble, and misbehaving in general. But how could he not? Everything around here was so boring, so dull!
What frustrated Aku the most was that it was usually his father who punished him. But wasn't Manoari different too? He had always seemed off somehow to the juvenile, but he couldn't quite put his paw on why. Perhaps it was because his father was reserved, always seeming out of place, as if he didn't belong there.
But when he had tried to approach Noari about it, he was shot down, told to go play somewhere else. Aku flicked his tail, growling again as he crushed a seashell beneath his paws. Well, today he'd get answers! He was tired of being treated like a cub, never knowing anything, always getting in trouble.
"Dad," he called out, an edge to his voice. If there was one thing consistent about Noari, it was that he was always there when he was needed.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:27 am
Something was off about the cub, and it was only Noari who knew what it was. Those damn Firekin genes. He had worked so hard to overcome that innate nature he inherited from his mother, and now that he was finally happy, finally forging a life for himself, he had passed it on to his son.
"What, Kiraku?" he called, flicking his tail. His son was trouble, no doubt about it. He was arrogant and cocky with a pronounced mean streak. Just like I was, he thought, frustrated. How could he beat it out of Kiraku? It seemed like it would be so much easier for the cub to overcome it now, when he was young, but he was so damn stubborn!
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:30 am
"I want you to stop lying to me!" Kiraku growled bluntly. "You're not from here and you're different than Mom. But whenever I bring it up, you get mad at me! I want to know who you are. Where did you come from? Why do you act like you do?"
The fur on the back of his neck bristled. "When I get punished, you're so much more harsh than you are with any of the others. Why am I the one that gets picked on?"
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:01 pm
Noari felt his temper flare and he lowered his head, trying to keep it back. "Why do I pick on you? You get in trouble because you pick on your siblings, on the fish, on the preybeasts... you pick on everyone! That's not acceptable, Kiraku, and I'm not gonna tolerate it. So yes, you're going to get in trouble."
He shifted uncomfortably, the questions hitting way too close to home. "I... you..."
Should he lie? Should he be honest? Noari honestly wasn't sure how to approach the subject. On one hand, he didn't want to fill his son's mind with things that didn't concern him, but if he lied, and Aku found out, it could damage their already strained relationship even further.
"I'm not proud of where I come from," he growled finally. "It's far from here, in the desert... a pride called the Motoujamii, or the Firekin, as they call themselves. A bunch of ill-tempered savages." His gray eyes flashed with rare emotion. "It's not a good place, Kiraku. My mother was a Firekin and my father a rogue. I inherited several Firekin traits from her that I struggled to eliminate for a long time. I see some of them in you, Kiraku, and... it worries me."
Noari hesitated, looking down at the juvenile.
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Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 8:06 pm
He, too, felt his temper flare, but unlike his father he did not care to restrain himself. "They deserve it!" Aku said hotly. "If they weren't so weak and stupid I wouldn't have to bully them!"
But when the answers started coming, he bit his tongue. Noari was finally answering him, which he hadn't really expected, and he wasn't about to cause him to stop. The information sent a thrill down his spine. What Noari called ill-tempered and savage must surely be proud and adventurous, right? He never had any fun, so his definitions must've been off.
"The Motoumajii, huh?" he asked, completely disregarding Noari's comment about his own personality and how it worried him. What did that matter to him? Aku was happy with how he was and if his father didn't like it, tough. "In the desert?"
The wheels were already turning in his mind.
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Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:24 pm
"No one," Noari said, his voice hard, "is stupid or weak. Not your brothers, or your sisters, or your mother, or me, or anyone else in this pride. You are the only one at fault here. Don't try to pan the blame onto others."
At his son's words, the lion almost laughed... almost. "Huh uh," he growled, padding towards the juvenile aggressively. "No way. Don't even think of such a thing. It's not going to happen now and it will never happen. I forbid you from ever going near the desert!"
The growl that had been growing in his throat emerged as a roar. His own son - he had tried so hard to raise them right, away from the Firekin influences, and yet here was Kiraku, still so young, with such horrible thoughts and ideas. Was it genetic? Nature over nurture?
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:25 am
Aku smiled. Then he grinned, and then he chuckled, and then he laughed. And laughed. And laughed.
"You forbid me?" he asked, eyes sparkling as he grinned derisively. "Mister big lion, huh? You're too scared of your own heritage, too pathetic to own up to it? Does Mom know? Do the others know?"
He laughed again. "You can't forbid me from doing anything! I'll do whatever I please! I don't need your approval."
The juvenile flicked his tail insolently, eyes gleaming at Noari. "And if I want to go find this desert... who's gonna stop me? Not you!"
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:44 am
Before he knew it, his claws unsheathed and paw snapped out, striking Kiraku across the side of his muzzle.
Only after it happened did he realize what he did, but there was no time for apologies and guilt and shame. Aku was speaking dangerously, going much further than the lion had ever expected him too. Go find the Firekin? Did the cub have a deathwish? What on earth did he expect to accomplish? Aside from rebelling against his father, of course...
"If you leave," Noari growled, feeling his stomach turn over. Why, why, why? After all he had done, after all he had done (or intended to do) to Nkechi, and the guilt that caused, and how hard he worked to reform himself, why did Aku have to act this way? It was like a cosmic force working against him, trying to keep him down and punish him for what he did and almost did.
"If you leave," he said, taking in a deep breath, that sick feeling still heavy in his stomach, "you won't be welcomed back."
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:55 am
With a gasp, Aku drew back, feeling droplets of blood bead on his muzzle. It hadn't been a particularly brutal hit, but the shock was enough to stun him for a few moments. Finally, he regained composure.
"That's fine!" he shouted, fur bristling. "I hate it here, I hate you and I hate them and..."
Something, a tiny, tiny twist of uneasiness stirred within him. The only one he felt any fondness towards was their mother, and he was not particularly clingy towards her, but in a way he felt protective of the lioness. If he left...
But how could he stay? He didn't want to deal with his father, how pathetic and cowardly he was. He didn't want to grow up here, around lions who weren't like him, didn't understand him. The thought sickened him, being stuck in this stupid little pride, gawking at the ocean all the time.
His nose stung and he looked up at Noari, eyes blazing with anger. "I hope I never see you again!" he growled. "And you get to explain to Mom why I'm gone!"
And that was it. He didn't want to waste any more time, or stick around here any longer. Kiraku turned tail and fled.
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Posted: Wed Oct 03, 2007 1:59 am
How was a father supposed to ignore that stirring in his paws, the one that urged him to chase after the son that was running away, running towards what he had tried so hard to escape from? Noari lifted a paw, and then set it back down, and then took a few steps forward, and then stopped. He wanted to chase, he wanted to let him go. He wanted to save Kiraku, and he wanted him to learn for himself. What was he supposed to do? Had he failed?
"Kiraku," he roared, his voice desperate. But there was no response. He was gone.
He'll be back, Noari tried to reassure himself.
Right?
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