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With a loud roar, Hai rushed the cheetah and his half-eaten kill. The cheetah, startled beyond wits, simply ran. Hai watched him go with a mixed sense of guilt and satisfaction. Guilt because even now, she could feel the hunger coming off him like a static buzz. When he'd first killed the antelope, he'd been so hungry, that she couldn't get near him. It was only after he'd eaten some, that she'd been able to brave the voices. She'd roared not only to startle the cheetah away, but to momentarily drown out the voices.

Either way, though, here was meat. Hai looked down at the ex-antelope and felt her own hunger cut through her like an elephant's tusk. Oh, for just a bite! But she couldn't. She didn't want her cubs, her precious little ones, to starve. They had to eat what Hai brought them. They couldn't hunt for themselves, not yet. She could manage, for now. Though she didn't know how long she could continue. The energy just seemed to evaporate anytime she made an physical effort. Lately, even the mental efforts had been costing.

With an iron will, and a Mother's love, Hai refrained from taking a bit of the antelope. Instead, she grabbed one of the horns spiraling from its head, and began the arduous task of dragging it back to the den.

...

A long time later, an extremely tired Hai dropped the antelope at then entrance to her den, a small cave in the face of a cliff, and called out to her cubs. She did her best to appear at ease, despite the trembling in her limbs.

"Kids, dinner!"

Hai smiled tenderly at her eldest cub, pulling him close to run her tongue over the small tuft of fur on his head before letting him go eat. It was amazing how much Njaa looked like Him, but Hai never even felt a twinge of fear at those features on her son. She purred and settled down near the carcass to watch her cubs eat.

"I've eaten already, so take your fill." she assured him, attempting to look serenely full, even though her mouth was filled with saliva at the sight of the flesh her son was currently tearing into. She was momentarily distracted by the adorable sight of her son attempting to chew through the tough hide of the antelope. She refrained from chuckling, knowing that her Njaa was quite precocious, and she'd probably hurt his feelings. She'd seen how he tried to protect his siblings when they'd gotten into trouble. At times she was troubled, since she didn't know whether to scold him for the crime, or ignore his noble tendencies and give punishment where it was due.

Not that it was needed, on the whole. Hai had been blessed with cubs who generally knew when to behave themselves. For Hai, a single mother, this was fortunate, since she had little knowledge of parenting, and didn't want to practice the habits her own Mother had followed.

Hai purred down at her son, and began to clean the blood off his nose and jowls. She relished in the action, for it seemed this was the only sustenance she was freely allowed. Hai's cubs were always completely cleaned after a meal, this was one rule she held to quite rigorously. Feeling a bit better for the second-hand nutrition, Hai lay back and let Njaa come to a sitting postion.

She allowed Njaa to bat at her skull, chuckling at his questions. She looked over at the carcass, to the head that had been partially cleaned of meat, and flipped her tail thoughtfully.

"If you'd like a skull, there's one right over there, Njaa. Though it would take a while to get it clean enough to wear, and," she chuckled, "that skull is practically big enough to fit on your head!"

A small dark form at the back of the cave groaned audibly. Waya didn't like being woken. Even the sensational smells from the antelope weren't enough to chase away the annoyance the small cub felt. In any case, her stomach did grumble at the sight of the half-eaten antelope. Waya stretched and pushed herself to a standing position.

Walking over to the kill, she paused to nuzzle her mother. Even in her worst moods, she reserved what little good temperament she possessed for her mother.

"Hello mum," she said in her typical reserved form. It took a good ear to discern the trace of love in her voice.
"Thanks for the food!"

She ignored her brother for now, too grumpy to say anything nice. Instead she trotted over to the antelope and began tearing at it unceremoniously.

The eldest male cub watched as his sister greeted their mother, silent and respectful, waiting for her to say her own peice before he continued his quest for his skull. "Oh I promise mother! I'll take care of it and I'll clean it and I'll grow in to it just you wait and see." He beamed and trotted over to the antelope.

Perching down before it he looked the dead beast in it's cloudy eyes. "How do I get it off mother?" It was perhaps an obviousl question but he knew his teeth could not possibly cut through the thick bones of the spine to disjoint his prize from the large body it was attached to.

The young male smiled looking at the skull wearily for a moment, sizing it up and deciding how he was going to deal with it. head on he decided was best. Hunkering down before the large skull the young cub started to tear at the throat of the beast, pulling away fur and skin and eventually sinnew until he came in to contact with the neck bone. he knew this would be the hardest bit so he looked to his mother for support.

He grinned toothily his forequarters completely covered in bloody goo, bits of fur stuck in the mushy mess. he was fairly proud of this mess and he only had one more bit to go.

Taking a depe breath he plunges in to the bine noshing and tearing until finally, with a little help from his cubby weight he managed to release the skull from the rest of the frame.

Sitting back njaa admires his handy work and looks to his mother for praise, and perhaps a bath, being this mucky was all well and good but he knew a bath would have to come sooner or later, he might as well get it over with before he hid his skull for the bugs to deal with the rest of the flesh.