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"s**t." s**t. s**t s**t s**t. s**t. Elephant s**t!

Zito closed her eyes against the world, trying to stay and stand without falling over. Her head was swimming, vision blurry and her entire body quaked. She was coming down from another vision. A minor one, compared to the others, but damn if they weren't ******** annoying. Because as soon as she had seen it, she knew. She just... knew. One night. One crazy night with that batshit-insane cheetah, and it would haunt her forever. s**t.

She swallowed hard, and dunked her head into the watering hole she'd collapsed at, pulling her head free after a minute and gulping in air like a starving cheetah. She looked around, eyes narrowed hesitantly, and then sat as upright as she could and tried to peer down at her belly. She'd seen fur again, but fur she recognized for no reason at all. Fur she knew, and... Dare she say it, loved. Fur she cherished beyond all measure.

Fur of her cubs.

s**t!

For the first time in Vu’s life, Pride Rock was beyond his sight. Though Vu still missed his mother at night, his friends, brothers and sisters, Mollie (he kept it to himself), this particular milestone passed without notice. After a few days he simply grew tired of searching the horizon for an old pile of rocks that only made him homesick. Now Pride Rock was as far away as the sun in the middle of the night, but life was new and exciting and full of challenge. Home was a pleasant dream and faded just as quickly.

He padded along the edge of the watering hole, tail waving like a flag as he shook off his muddy mane. He had been harassing a family of hippos on the other side of the watering hole. Suddenly a mother hippo decided she had had enough of his shenanigans and charged him, and gods almighty she could run, but Vu managed to out pace her and escaped her wrath with muddy legs and a big stupid grin to show for his adventure. That grin vanished when he saw Zito by the watering hole. She looked like she was sleeping, but who falls asleep at the edge of a watering hole? It looked almost as if she’d collapsed. Vu’s pace quickened, sucking in air as he ran. “Zito!”

This can’t happen; we just met! She’s got to be fine. She’s just got to be.

He padded up to her and nuzzled her shoulder. She looked like she was having a nightmare. No one else was around. Desperate and confused, Vu tugged at her ear. Suddenly Zito sprang up. Vu yelped and jumped backwards, backpedaling into the shallows. He glanced back, shaking off his back legs with a grimace, and glared softly at Zito as he moved back to dry land. He would have been mad if he weren’t so relieved. “What the hell? I thought you died.” He tilted his head, looking confused. “Hey. Are you okay?”

"Nothing 'got a hold' of me." She scoffed. The nerve! Suggesting something would get the better of her. Puh~lease. "I scratched myself, is all." She eyed him, fuming a little. "What were you messing with them for? That bored, huh?" She smirked. "I could put you to work, y'know. If you're bored."

She ignored the curiousity she knew the youth had about her little episode. It was bad enough the hyena knew about it. She'd be damned if anyone else did. Especially not her new...friends. The original group knew, of course, it's how they were all banded together, around her Sight. But Vu and Sellion didn't know, and didn't need to. She snorted quietly, eying him. "So, what do you want." Because if she didn't let him ask, she could just see him exploding from keeping it all in. Ah, the young, always so curious.

“Smart,” Vu cracked. It was hard to believe how worried he was only a few moments ago. He admired that about Zito, the way she picked herself up after a fall as if nothing happened – as if she meant to do that. Respect only goes so far out here. As her friend, he had a right to know. He shrugged.

“I was just looking for something to do. Maybe find some gazelle. I’d ask if you want to come along but in your state…” His ears flicked condescendingly. They could always do this the hard way.

"I..." She was what? In the middle of a vision, sorry? She shook her head, ears flattening for a different reason. She loved lying to people; why was lying to Vu any different then someone she didn't know? She reached up, clawing at the scratch on her face absently. A part of her hated the scratches, because she knew why she did it when she was completely out of control of herself. She hated the things she'd done, hated herself a little for all the mistakes she'd made. She'd managed to ruin so much good, and while Zito was selfish, she wasn't delusional.

She didn't regret most of her mistakes, but she regretted enough of them to make a difference. She sighed, rubbing her paw over her eyes. "I haven't been straight with you, Vu." He'd just find out from Tamaa, that stupid hyena, anyway. It was better coming from her. At least then she could control just how much he knew.

Taken by surprise, he suddenly looked away, catching their reflections in the water. Now he realized how much he was looking forward to a good scuffle. That seemed to be the normal way of solving problems with Zito. To Vu it was also the appropriate way. See Vu, I told you I was fine, now quit being so worried and bring me some gazelle! He shifted his paws. “So what is it then?” His words came out sounding bitter.

She watched him, and looked at her reflection. "Don't be angry, Vu." She snorted, cuffing him on the head lightly. "It just never came up." It was hard to bring her visions into a normal conversation. "See... I have this gift." If one could call it that. She snorted. "I can see things. Not often, but frequent enough." She grumbled. It'd been coming in rapid precision, as though all her visions were trying to hit her at once to make up for the years she went without her Sight. "The future, mostly. And sometimes even the present, but that's... Rare. And hard to decipher." She looked over at him.

"When you saw me there, I was having a vision. I..." She glared a little at her reflection. "That is my weakest point. If an animal had decided to wise up and try to kill me, I'd've been dead." It was a curse, being that vulnerable in lieu of seeing the future. She'd trade having no visions at all if it meant never being that helpless.

"That's not what I'm upset about, kid." She snorted, rolling her eyes. "Cheetahs are a dime a dozen, males and females alike." She clawed at the dirt, eyes dark and hateful. "We're not worth the trouble." Herself included. She rubbed her eyes, and sighed quietly. "And I'm bringing more into the world." She looked up at him, face solemn and stony. A mask to hide the turmoil inside.

"That... b*****d left me with his cubs and bolted." Upset she might be, but her eyes blazed. She wasn't depressed. She was pissed.

When Zito finished the earth seemed to buckle beneath him. Vu opened his mouth to protest (what else could he do?) but no words came. His eyes darted away as his mind struggled to deal with this new development. “W-wait…. Are you saying—you got knocked up?”

"You've got such a way with words." Zito snorted, rolling her eyes at him. "Yes, my dear, I 'got knocked up'." She huffed, sitting up. "Three, I think. Just three. But that's three mouths that've gotta eat twice as much as us because they're growing constantly and whining for their Mommy and--" Oh god. Mommy was her.

"I'm not mother material!" She fumed. "I'm barely capable of taking care of myself half the time."

Pregnant was such a technical term. Besides, he didn’t like the thought of tiny pink cheetahs squirming inside the belly of his best friend like parasites. He groaned sickly and turned away, stomach knotted in disgust. “What’d you expect me to say? Congratulations!”

He walked past Zito shaking his head, paused after a few confusing paces and turned back restlessly, stopping beside Zito and gawking at her with bafflement and a little bit of fear. Rarely in his life did Vu feel fear. The last time he felt afraid he had been pinned under a juvenile Firekin twice his size. Now the thought of a trio of hyperactive cheetah cubs running around with Zito’s pack made his heart flutter. He didn’t have a clue how to behave around kids. Even when he was a kid himself he was often chastised for his lack of etiquette.

"I'm not gonna be that big." She huffed loudly back, glowering a little. "It's only three." She hoped, anyway. "And besides, I won't be pregnant very long." She grumbled, sitting up and licking her paw clean. "Brat." She stuck her tongue out in an oddly childish move, before returning to cleaning her paw.

Vu snorted and turned to go, glancing over his shoulder and blithely swatting his tail in Zito’s face, smirking as he did.

She smirked, and bit at his tail with a growl, eyes gleaming. "I'm going to be a mother soon, kid. I can always practice interesting punishments on you." She threatened pointedly.

Expecting her retaliation, Vu yanked his tail away in the nick of time with a merry laugh. “Not for long. I’m gonna be a lot bigger than you soon.”

Truthfully he was already bigger than her. For now the difference in size was small and almost unnoticeable, especially when Zito’s personality made her seem larger than she was. Zito probably didn’t notice the restraint he used during their scuffles.

"If by bigger you mean 'fatter' and 'lazier', then I believe you." Her eyes gleamed. She hadn't noticed him holding back, and if she had, she'd've cuffed him one just for doing it in the first place. Zito grinned a little, rolling her eyes, and waved at him dismissively. "Go chase hippos, kid." She smirked at him, eyes gleaming. "I think I'm going to tell Mir." She said, rising off her butt and shaking her fur free of the dust that'd settled while she'd been by the water.

"And try not getting yourself killed, huh?" She smirked over at him teasingly.

Vu shook his head, though he’d had enough of hippos for one day. He would much rather go patrolling and look for rogues to fight. He figured his skills might actually have a practical use once Zito delivered her cubs. They would need someone to protect them, after all. He smiled lightly at that, surprising himself. Something about protecting others made him feel warm inside. He kept his thoughts to himself, knowing Zito would only mock him. “I’ll do my best. Good luck, Zito. Don’t faint in anymore watering holes!” He bounded off before she could make a comeback.