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 Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:14 pm
He'd gotten along fairly well for a few months, almost a year really. He'd gotten along without her, without his daughters. All alone and homeless.
Korou didn't even know where he should turn anymore.
For where could you turn when you didn't know how to save yourself? Korou hadn't known how to save his family and he knew even less how he should save his family.
Well there really was no saving it was there?
A dotted paw smacked against a rock and sent the lanky cheetah sprawling. That was it. He didn't know what to do anymore and this was getting too hard. The halloween colored cheetah could barely even tell where he WAS any longer. Letting a sob rip from his muzzle, Korou's deep chest puffed out as far as it could and he curled up in a little ball of striped black and white mohawk and black and orange spotted body. If it hadn't been for how long his legs were so that his back legs had to kick out at an angle, Korou would actually look like nothing more than a ball.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:22 pm
She had barely changed since Korou had last seenher, her small and slender frame flowed accross the savannah like a breeze, perfect soft blue eyes glimmering in the un, her coat in perfect form, every hair in it's correct space. If nothing else Colche was a clean creature. Having spent the better part of a year raising her three sons, or should she say being raised by her three sons, the whispery voiced femme was out and about on a hunt. Her sons were older now, able to care for themselves, they knew how to hunt and how to care for them selves. Afiya kept dissapearing and she hadn't seen Akilli for a while. Moyo hung around often coming to say hello to her and kiss her cheek before vanishing on his own buisness. They were nearlly adults now and although she hated to let them go she had to, they had their own lives to lead.
It was a surprise then when she caught a familiar scent upon the breeze. It was not that of one of her sons but it was a males scent she knew well. "Korou?" She voiced the name even before she saw the dark land worn ball of fluff on the ground. "Korou, Korou " She smiled and a tinkly laugh echoed from her lips as she bolted for herold friend. She had watched korou grow up from cub to adult, she had felt for him when he was sad and rejoiced when he was happy, yet here he was looking broken and dishevelled. What was wrong with him?
A gentle nose touched the young male upont he shoulder and she licked his ears automatically. "Korou, Korou it's me, Colche are you okay?"
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:37 pm
One of his ears flicked when she called his name, her touch sending shivers down him because it was like 'hers'. However he knew it wasn't 'her', he knew who it was, very well knew who it was. It was Colche, the cheetah that he'd seen from the time he was a young cub. The female that he'd always loved, though it had gone back and forth over the time he'd known her.
It might have just been young cub hormones, but he'd thought of her as a mother once, then as something else, then as a mother again. Confusing as that was, Korou had been okay with it after so long.
Cracking a blind eye out of respect to show that he'd heard her, Korou turned his head into her licking and tried to calm his sobs, body still shivering.
When he finally managed it, his ribs stopped fluttering as fast and his spots stopped their dance. "Colche...." It was a whisper, almost desperate and needy. Needier than he'd ever been before for certain.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:45 pm
The little females ears twitched unhappily, Korou, he Korou, he looked so defeated. "Oh Korou, what has happened to you?" She whispers nudging him fromt he top of his head all the way to his haunches. "Up, come on, get up you need to come with me." As quiet as the little cheetahress was she knew when someone needed help, and this was Korou, her korou. He was hurt and exhausted and she had no idea why. Her soft blue eyes welled with tears, he could tell her his tale as they walked, she had to get him back to her den amongst the trees, he would be safer there. She had soem food buried that he could break his fast upon until she went to hunt properly. Right now, the hunt could wait, she had only eaten the day before and could spare her storage for Korou.
"Oh Korou, what has become of you my little sweet one." She coos padding up beside him to lick his ears comfortingly, she had been a mother for more than a year now, if there was something she was now very good at, it was mothering and worrying and Korou had walked in to her life right at the time when noone needed to be mothered any longer. She would help Korou and he would stay with her, they probably needed each other.She had missed the little black and orange furball although he wasn't so little any more.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 4:53 pm
Korou didn't speak for a long time, he simply rose to his dotted paws and braced his shoulder against hers so he could be lead where they were going. It wasn't that he was blind that he let her lead him, it was that he was still somewhat lost. His blind eyes were glazed, more so than they'd been before when he'd been happy.
Now the once bright and bouncy cheetah was lost so utterly lost that he didn't know where to turn. And now here was this female that had walked back into his life right at the moment when he needed her the most, when he needed someone to lean on.
"She's gone... all three of them are gone." His voice was nothing more than a broken whisper. "I don't even... I don't even know why."
His breaths came fast again and he closed his eyes tight and desperately. He just wanted to leave it all behind.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:00 pm
Colche sighed gently huzzling the young cheetahs cheek softly as she lead him towards her hollow. It was a place where others came to hear her stories,it was the place where her children had been born and raised, it was her home. A small copse of trees on the horizona nd she knew she must get korou there to care for him.
Hearing his scattered and confusing words she shook her head. "Don't think about that now, lets get you home and get you somehting to eat and all will be well." A slow puurr started in her chest then as they walked along, she liked to purr she knew it had a calming effect on most, when he cubs were young she had put them to sleep by puuring out a soft song using only the whistly chirps and gentle puurrs. Without words she sang to them.
Hardly able to think of words to comfort what seemed to be a very broken little cheetah she started to chirrup her sweet songs, her voice gone replaced by the sounds naturally made by her kind, her puurr becoming musical in volume as she held tightly against him and lead him onwards. She had a feeling she could make korou better. No matter what had happened she would make him better.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:06 pm
Tears welled in his bi-colored eyes at her chirps and purrs. It felt like the first home he'd had with Zakiya, but Zakiya had never chirpped unless he had done something very wrong or was in trouble. No, she'd simply purred him to sleep for a few nights when he'd slept against her.
The happy memories seemed to warm his chest and ease the jarring and breathless pain that had begun there. It wasn't by much, but Colche was helping him now, she was bringing back his memories, the sights and smells from before.
The images of all those he'd loved before roamed before his eyes. Faraqui, Hinotama, Zakiya, Colche, Safura; they danced before his eyes almost playfully.
A small smile spread over his muzzle, weak and soft, but it was still a smile. The fluttering in his chest almost stopped, though not entirely, as his heart was pounding far too hard for him.
Taking in a deep breath, Korou leaned a little harder against Colche. They were almost the same size, he was just an ear taller or so, unlike when he'd been with Chopi, she'd been much larger than him. However, Colche had always been small. The less than distinct size difference helped as well, for it made it easier to lean and walk with her.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:13 pm
Colche caught the gentle smile on those dark lips and she licked his cheek to confirm she was pleased that that whisper of a smile had flickered accross his lips. Gently blue eyes watched the tears roll down his cheeks. She realised as they walked that the young male whom she had adored from such a young age could no longer see. His eyes were dark and milky, clouded almost. She frowned. Her poor Korou what had the world done to him.
Continueing her gentle chirruping song the little cheetaress flicked her tail and curled it around Korous, a sort of holding gesture, letting the dark male know she was beside him, she was holding him, she would not let go.
"we'r nearlly there now Korou. You'll be safe there with me and I won't have you leaving my sight understand?" She smiles and a little tinkle of a laughter echoed form her lips, she was trying so hard to raise his clearly dampened spirits, she would have the old Korou back. She couldn't stand to see this broken shell. She wanted ehr lovely little Korou back, so innocent and wise, her closest friend for a very long time. She didn't dare ask what was wrong again for fear of upsetting him, she didn't care, she would take him to her nest and care for him and she would look to the future with him, start afresh with a clean slate.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:25 pm
With no need for his eyes, Korou turned and leaned his head over Colche's shoulder softly, curling his tail around hers as tight as he could. It was desperate, it was needy. Colche had been one of only two females that had ever welcomed him and cared for him in any way. He'd been a fool for almost a year, even more actually with who he'd ended up with.
"thank you Colche... I've missed you." Korou's voice still shook, but the way he clung and leaned on her and to her spoke that he was gaining a little bit of strength. It was welcomed strength, coming from his thoughts of times long past and of thoughts of the future. "I won't leave your side ever."
It was a promise more than a statement, though in reality it was both. Korou had no intentions of ever leaving her again. In the past he'd run back to his mother, or back to Chopi, now he wasn't going to leave, now he would stay with her for good.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:33 pm
Colche smiled gently , she could feel his strength seeping back in to him as they walked, her gentle shoulders helping to support him. She kissed his face when he leaned over to her and she gave a gentle nod. "It's just as well because I won't let you go." She laughs gently again her eyes wrinkling with glee. It wasn't that she missed looking after her children, it was just that they didn't need her, her sons had needed her until they had gotten old enough to feed them selves, to go out and find thei own lives. She knew that Korou needed her and always would. It was a wonderful feeling.
Letting her puurrr echo from her chest they finally stepped in to her little copse. The shade beween the barren acacia trees provided some shade, this was a place where Colche did her best hunting from. Leading Korou over to her neest of leaves in the bowl of one of the larger trees she settled him down amongst it's roots before laying beside him. First thing was first he needed to be bathed, the world had clearly not been kind to her handsome little korou.
Starting at his face her gentle tongue lapped at his eyes and forehead, careful around any scars she found in his coat, cleaning away the dirt and muck of travel. "Now, no more words of the past, we will start today and go from here okay?" She smiled and touched her nose to Korou's "I'm so glad you've come home to me."
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:40 pm
With his legs tucked up under him, Korou nestled down onto the leaves that crunched beneath his thin body. He wasn't emaciated of course, he was just thin from travle and from exhaustion. He was thin from the sickness of loss that he'd felt. It wasn't normal pain, it was horrible.
Yet... now was hope.
"A clean slate? I.... I'd like to start one of those with you." Why was he saying that?
Maybe it was that she was cleaning him in a way that was motherly and yet wasn't at the same time. It had a softer touch than what a mother would do, a much softer one.
Leaning forward, he nuzzled his head against her shoulder and curled his tail around her back gently, almost shyly. He'd thrown himself into his last relationship, he hadn't understood it even when Chopi had explained it to him. So of course he hadn't been ready for it to happen. Now... now was different.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:47 pm
Colche puurred softly cleaning behind his ears when he laid his head accross his shoulders. "You shall Korou, I would very much like you to stay with me here, I promise I wont let anything bad happen to you ever again." She whospers her blue etes closeing as she snaked her head around his shoulders and hugged him in a feline fashion.
With a small gentle laugh she lookedover the male shehad loved for a very long time, she had wished him never to leave her all that time ago when he had gone out in to the world with the female she never met. Now here he was frightened and broken. she wouldn't let that happen again. She had always loved him.
Wriggling out from his grasp for a moment, the slender femme padded a few feet away from him and started to dig, she soon unearthed a fairly large chunk of meat, it was her emergency stash. but it could hbe used for the moment. "here, you must eat all of this until I go hunting." She lay back beside him then and contined to groom him, though she watched him with a loving eye to be sure he ate every bit of the food she had offered him. Her poor Korou. "I won't let anyone hurt you again my little love" she coos, her heart giving a little skip in her chest. She had always loved him.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:53 pm
Sniffing down towards the meat, all of Korou's whiskers stood on end, his nose inching towards it until his whiskers hit it. Natural reaction aside, it was just how he found things now, through feel and touch. Reaching out his small paws, the male placed them on top of the hunk and started to chew, his muscles bulging under his short fur, rippling against his bones and shoulders, making them look like waves almost with the way he was moving.
Lifting his head back up halfway through, Korou licked at his chops and smiled at her softly. He felt loved again all of a sudden, maybe it was that her words caused his heart to flutter and throb with them, or maybe it was because there was some sort of spark that kept hitting his fur when she touched him.
"Nothing'll ever hurt you either." He whispered, nuzzling at her shoulders and neck lightly. It was another promise, but she probably already knew that.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:59 pm
Colche puurred quietly, that little promise made a glimmer shine in those sweet blue eyes. Her Korou, the phrase was truer now than ever. The younster whom she had takenunder her wing and the little one she had hopeedwould return to her safe. here he was safe but worn. She would help him back on to his feet and together they would be happy.
Colche always longed to have someone to look after to care for to lkove. Her previous fling with the roaming male had produced for her three beautiful sons, but he was long gone in her mind, she had never loved him he was more of a passing fancy. She needed soemone to love. Korou had always been that someone it was just that he had never come to her.
A gentle sigh escaped the king cheetah marked femme and she leaned over to lap at his nose. "I now my love, I know." She cood sofdtly, the words didn't need to be said,s he knew that, but there they were, love, my love, she wouldn't let him go again as she had before, she and Korou would live happily now, it was a new begining for the both of them.
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 6:05 pm
A little braver now at her lapping tongue and her soft words and at how she was leaned against him, Korou kissed the side of her head softly and nuzzled at her throat softly, kindly. Lovingly. He'd known it before, he'd struggled with it before.
It had been a long long time since they'd first met, but Korou had come to accept that with time all things changed. Why he hadn't seen it before he didn't know, but it probably had something to do with age.
Now that he'd loved and lost Korou accepted that he didn't want to lose again, accepted that he wanted to stay with her forever.
Accepted the love that he'd shrugged off before as insanity. Age didn't matter to him, why would it ever? His love for her was as pure as anything he'd ever felt. What he'd had with Chopi was long gone from his mind, all thanks to Colche now. Now he was safe, now he was loved where he hadn't been before.
"I love you Colche." A purr came from him, the first he'd had in months, it cracked at first and then slowly it became more sure and deeper, as if he were trying his hardest to voice just how much he really DID love her.
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