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Kafei eased his stance and slowly stood up. What emerged from the green leaves was a young lioness. Her coat was made up of severeal shades of rust, her face and her front limbs pure white, and distinct golden stripes climbed up her rear limbs. It took a moment for Kafei to notice, but she seemed distressed, her blue eyes filled with tears.

"Of course!" Kafei replyed nearly immediately, almost shouting his answer. He took a moment to gain his composure before asking a vital question.

"May I ask what a Cucco is? I'm new around this area, we didn't have any where I come from." He asked somewhat hesstantly, not wanting to seem uncultured for not knowing what this Cucco business was.

"Cucco is... my Cucco!" She cried again and started whimpering, wrapping her paw around her snout. This didn't help Kafei much, and he panicked at seemingly upsetting her by not knowing.

"What I mean is, what does she look like?" Even if Kafei had never seen one of these creatures before, surely she would be able to give him enough information to work off of. The lioness managed to whimper out in her cries of distress, a discription of her friend.

"She's real little, and white with red."

"I... don't mean to be rude, but you're small, white, and red." He walked up to the lioness and leand down so that he was eye-level with her. "Listen, I won't be able to help you until you calm down." He spoke in a kind but stern voice. The female finally got her first good look at Kafei, not paying much attention to who she was asking for help. She looked straight into his pericing red eyes and nodded her head. She then lowered her paw, taking a deep breath before explaining herself.

"I'm sorry I was in such a panic before. You see, Cucco is my best friend. She's a small bird who I've taken care of since she was very young. Cu runs away a lot though, and she gets mad when I go looking for her, but... I can't help but worry, so I go after her anyways." Her ears were folded back, her eyes lowered like that of a cub who had just been told off. Kafei finally got the information he had been looking for, but didn't run off to go looking for this little bird just yet. He stayed right were he was and pressed his forhead to hers, the female's warm colored tuff of hair mixing with his bright blue and purple mask marking.

What a mysterious character... Anju thought to herself. Why would his parents leave, and not come back with their son? Especially if they loved the pride so much that they would still teach Kafei about it's theology.

Not really her business, but that didn't keep her from speculating.

"I'm guessing Sahen put you in Tama, but what about your rank?" She inched closer to the male, almost as close as he had gotten to her a little while earlier.

"I'm a Lord, actually." He held a similar rank in his previous pride as an adolescent, so it wasn't much of a change of pace.

Anju's eyes grew wide... it was apparent he had connections in high places. The female was easily impressed by such status, being from a family that was of what one could consider humble roots.

"That's neat Kafei. I'm a huntress myself, but..."

"But?"

"I don't like it."

"Anju, if you don't like it why are you a huntress?" Kafei was a firm beliver in creating your own destiny, there had to be a better rank for the lioness than some..... the usually mentally-collected male felt as though he was going crazy. Just looking at Anju so close was distracting the heck out of him, he couldn't even remember what they had been talking about.

"It's either this, or slavery. As you can imagine when your given those two options I'm quite happy with where I am." Anju spoke with a contentness in her voice that wasn't present before. Hunting wasn't exactly something she enjoyed, especially since she had just learned her mother was killed carrying out her duty. She knew however that both her parents took great pride in their positions, and besides, things could always be worse.

Kafei and Anju wandered through the canyon side by side talking about anything that came to their mind. Kafei reminisced about his childhood antics in his old pride, while clumsily dodging questions from Anju as to why he left. The rust colored lioness added her own stories to their conversation, though the fact that she really didn't have many childhood friends made her contribution limited.

Anju laughed uncontrollably as Kafei told her the story about how he once got roped into playing the role of a young lioness in a performance. And the male listend with a heavy heart as Anju told him both of her parents had passed away, all the while trying her best to hide her sadness.

The pair continued walking long into the day, more often than not forgetting the reason they were out together to begin with. As sunset approached, Kafei started to get more nervous about being out so far away from the pride, the risk of getting caught in a dangerous situation was higher at night. If it was only himself at risk it would be one thing, but having Anju out as well was another thing entirely.

"I think we should start heading back." Kafei spoke with reluctancy in his voice, he had so wanted to find Cucco for her. Anju tried her best to look disappointed, but really wasn't too worried at this point. Tomorrow was always another day to go looking for her friend.

"I know a quick way home from here!" Anju grinned and took the lead, and this time she actually knew where she was going. Deciding to spice up the trip, the Atmaja quickened her pace until she was at a full sprint and leaving her new, blue friend in the dust.

"Try and catch me Kafei!" She yelled out and letting out a victorious laugh.

Not wanting to be shown up by this little lioness, Kafei promptly went after her. Inch by inch he would get closer, almost the point where he could reach his paw out and touch her. Every time he got too close though, Anju would dart off even faster than she was going before, as if she was only letting him catch up as a tease.

Finally Kafei mustered up one last push and as soon as he got close enough pounced Anju and gently westeled her to the ground.

"You cheated!" She cried out, squirming between his paws.

"How did I cheat? You were the one who started running off in the first place!" Both of them busted up laughing, all the while trying to catch their breath. After what seemed forever, the two finally gained their composure and laid side by side for awhile as the sun began to disappear over the side of the valley.

"We should do this again sometime." Anju rolled onto her back and turned her head to face Kafei.

"That would be great."

Although darkness had already set in, their race had gotten them close enough to home that they were mostly safe. Anju insisted that she would be fine from that point on, but Kafei would have nothing of it and made sure she arrived safely in her den.

"Thanks for helping me look for Cu, and walking me home. I appreciate it." Anju swayed her tail and looked back at the empty den her mom also use to occupy. "Are you going to be okay on your own? There is plenty of room here if you'd like to spend the night."

Kafei was taken aback by the females offer, and if he was any other male he would have.

"Thank you, but I'll be fine. It really isn't too far away from here actually." The light of the moon made the markings on his face seem to glow as he spoke.

"I understand." She looked down looking sad only for a moment before her ears peaked up, signaling an idea had come to mind. "Okay then, how about we meet again tomorrow? We don't have to go looking for Cucco, but maybe go hunting or something."

"That sounds great Anju, we can meet in that spot I resting at today if that's fine with you."

Anju leaned up and nuzzled Kafei's cheek as he had early in the day to her. With every inch of self control the male could muster, he politely bowed his head and head to his own den the male turned around a made his way back to his den.

"I hope your not too lonely tonight, princess." Kafei mumbled to himself as he walked further away from Anju's den in the darkness.

((Word Count: 2450))