What in the hell had he done? With a slight frown on his face, Niruzu sat underneath a tree, near the lake where his cave was. He could see it from here, but right now, even looking at it gave him shudders. No, the experience hadn't been bad - not in the slightest. Thinking about what her father would do to him was what made his mouth go dry.
He sighed, pushing himself up onto his feet, and walked to the lake edge to lap up some water. He saw his reflection there, staring at the black-maned ghost that rippled on the surface. He looked healthier, he knew that, but how healthy was he going to look after that brute was done with him? Maybe Shetani wouldn't tell on him and he'd be alright.
Maybe.
He'd find out soon enough. "Allo, mate" An all too familiar voice stated from the forest line. The girl who was, actually, his opposite in appearance practically danced into the clearing. She'd been in good spirits after the.... event, though she'd given him some space. It was more than a little amusing to whatever fates were dictating this matching that he'd had to do that to get her to leave him alone. Still, the reprieve didn't last forever.
Shetani pressed herself to his side in greeting, then lowered her muzzle to the water to take a drink for herself. She didn't seem to be worried in the slightest... but what did SHE have to worry about?
He tensed as he heard her words, his head whipping around to make sure there wasn't an older, bigger lion with her. He relaxed slightly, though her pressing against him sent too many memories through his skull.
"Thought you'd gone and fallen off of a cliff somewhere," he said, though there was a slightly amused smirk to it. He would have said the few days she'd been gone was a reprieve - but he had been looking over his shoulder the whole time, waiting on her dad to come and slit his throat.
He yawned lightly and moved away from her, leaping up onto the boulder that he had grown accustomed to when he first found the lake. He watched her, pale eyes on her form. He wanted to ask her if she'd told her dad, but knowing her, she'd lie about it just to make him wonder.
"Yer no'tha lukay," She chuckled and lapped up a little more water. A short stretch later and the girl actually flopped down on the ground for once, not bothering to mount the rock to bug him. The girl lifted a paw and began to groom him. For awhile it seemed as if that was all she was going to say to him, but then her ears perked and she gave him a devilish grin. "y'missed may, dinnit ye?"
He furrowed his brows as she flopped on the ground. Not that he minded having his space for once, but he was used to her climbing up and crowding him instead. He lay his head down, yawning slightly, and stared across the water. If she had told her dad, he'd be here by now, right?
"Missed you?" he said with a bit of a snort. Then, thinking better of it, he gave a little bit of a shrug. "Sort of," he admitted, though it wasn't what she had originally meant.
"Oi kin it." She grinned at him and batted a playful splash of water up at his face. Giving him a playful look, the girl turned onto her back and rolled a little in the mud. Dirt didn't really bother her much, that was apparent, and she slapped her tail a few times on the ground in happiness. Looking at him upside down probably should have made her sick, but it didn't. "Ye loike may!" She giggled a little, "Thu Oi guess tha' shudda been ob'vus affa last toime oi's here."
He growled slightly as the water hit his face, narrowing his eyes at her with irritation. He huffed lightly, watching her roll around in the mud, suddenly very glad that she hadn't decide to get up here and sit with him. "I guess you could say that," he said slowly, though he shifted in an uncomfortable way as she started talking about 'last time'. "Yeah, yeah," came the mutter, his pale eyes looking elsewhere.
The girl caught that. Of course she did. Shetani fell silent then glared at him a moment. She rolled over and got to her feet--bounding up to the boulder and jumped upon him. Shetani said nothing for once, merely shoved her face into his and glared at him.
He groaned irritably at her as she jumped up on him, rubbing the mud into his fur. "Damn it, Shetani," he groaned out, trying to shift away from her so that she'd stop grinding the grit and filth into his much paler fur. About that time he caught the glare and writhed beneath her, "what the hell did you want me to say?"
The girl bristled even further, if that were possible. Stupid, ungrateful, unthinking, b*****d... BOY. He was getting to her, even though he hadn't meant to. Ok, so he didn't like mud in his fur? She rubbed her filthy self further against him then jumped down. "Figgit oot yerself." The girl spat and kicked up mud in his direction as she headed to leave.
He groaned as she rubbed the mud further into his fur. He leaned up to watch her, just to be met with another splash of mud to his face. He spluttered, spitting some out that had gotten into his slightly hanging-open mouth. He growled irritably, rolling his eyes, before he leapt off the rock after her.
"What do you want from me, girl? I mean.. yeah, I liked.. what happened but I'm not gonna proclaim my love for you," why did he even care? She was annoying at best. Of course, he did have a heart, and he probably just didn't want to crush hers. "It was what it was," he said with a shrug as he walked after her, working his jaw.
What if she got mad and told her dad?
"Oo sayd Oi wunt yer luv?" She rolled her eyes, still unappeased. Her motions,t hough mud dampened, were fluid as she headed into the jungle. This time it was him doing the following, and she didn't miss that even with her currently bruised feelings. "h'it were whut h'it were, an' don' ye bay thinkin' h'it'd bay 'appenin' 'gin."
He groaned as she stayed moody, gritting his teeth and shaking his head as he followed behind her. With a sigh, he took a few leaps, sending mud in all different directions, and scooted around to leap in front and face her. "What do you want? I don't know what to say, I'm not used to this.. whatever it is." He frowned, staring at her, trying to work out something that would mend her feelings. Damn it, but he knew he could hurt her, he just didn't know how.. not to. Damn his conscience, damn it all. "It was nice and.." he sighed, letting his head droop, his half-mane covering his face.
That was a good question, what she wanted. Upon thinking about it... well she really didn't know. All she knew was that his indifference mad her angry, at least about that, and that she wasn't used to masking anger. Anything else, certainly, but not anger. The girl snorted. "Noice? Guess tha's'gud fer ye." Whatever that was supposed to mean, she ducked around him and continued on her way.
He groaned aloud and lifted his head to look up at the sky, gritting his teeth in his irritation. What in the hell did she want him to say? He'd never done this before, never thought about being in this kind of situation truthfully. He turned around to follow her again. "Damn it, won't you stop and bloody talk to me? I don't.. know what you want from me. I enjoyed it, it was nice, I appreciate what you did. I like you fine enough, but I'm not thinking of.." he sighed and trailed off. He didn't know what to say, especially without digging himself in a deeper hole.
That got her to stop. Her anger didn't dissipate, but it did take a back seat as she gave a surprised bark of laughter. The lioness turned around finally to look at him with the most singularly amused expression she was capable of. "Are ye now? Oy.. An' 'ere ... hah.. ye act'ly tink Oi'd bay int'reste' in dat wit ye?" Shetani shook her head disbelievingly.
He huffed as she said it, watching her with a frown creasing his mug. "That's exactly what I'm talking about. You're acting like that's all I want, damn it, but I didn't think of that at all when you came back to see me just now." He thrashed his tail lightly, grinding his teeth as he tried to push his way through his irritation. "Didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but you don't want me to bloody lie to you, do you?"
Shetani raised a brow at him. She remained still for a few moments then snorted, "Ye're no fun, y'ain't." The girl shook her head and turned, "Oi'm leavin."
"Fine, then bloody ******** leave," he growled, turning his back on her and beginning to stomp back through the jungle to the lake. He wasn't going to put up with it anymore. He didn't know what to say and she was still going to hold it against him? Fine, whatever. She could do whatever the hell she wanted.
