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 Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2010 4:19 pm
 As the sun peaked out from the edges of the canyon, Kafeis eyes too fluttered open. He felt groggy, like he hadn't gone to sleep at all the night before. Slowly things where coming back, he could recall that he in fact did have a difficult night of sleep, but why? That's right... Anju. Anju had agreed to let him help her hunt the next day, so the Tama eagerly awaited the sunrise so he could meet her again. His eyes started to squint as the morning sun shined in his face. He had slept in. Quickly getting onto his paws, Kafei darted out of his den and headed right towards their spot just as the two agreed. As he got closer, he worried that he had kept her waiting. the sun hadn't been out for long, so maybe she had slept in and he would get there first after all. Heck, she might not decide to show up until later in the day all together. "Good Morning Lord Kafei!" No such luck. Anju sat under the same tree he had been under when she found him yesterday, her tail swaying patiently behind her. The Atmaja lioness looked all groomed, as though she had been awake for hours. Not only embarrassed from being late, but also rather straggly looking from a rough night sleep, Kafei tried to inconspicuously tidy himself up. First thing first; the male shook his mane out hoping the matted fur on the side he usually slept on would just fall into place. "Good morning Anju. I'm really sorry I was so late, I had a few things to attend to before I could come. Kafei paused for a moment before continuing. "You don't need to put Lord in front of my name. Kafei is fine.""Alright." Anju agreed, though with a hint of reluctancy in her voice. The Huntress was known to be star struck rather easily by any lion holding a high rank, and she liked acknowledged them as such. She didn't dwell on that for too long though, tilting her head while watching Kafei press his paw into the tuff of fur on his tail, trying to straighten it out. "You Okay?""Just fine, I uh, thought I saw a piece of a leaf stuck in my fur or something." He must have looked like an idiot with a nervous tick with how much he had been figiting around. "Oh, let me help!" Anju egarly approached him and leaned down to inspect the royal blue tuff on his tail better, pawing at the fur to part it. She was so sweet to want to help find the piece of leaf in his tail that he just lied about because he was too much in a hurry to groom himself before racing to meet her. As much as he wanted to tell Anju that he got it out or something similar, he couldn't muster out the words.  "Um Anju...""Wait I think I got it. It's really small though and I can't seem to get it with my paw, lets see..." The Atmaja lioness brought her muzzle closer and tried to grasp whatever she had found with her teeth. Kafei visibly tensed up as she did so, his claws digging into the soft ground below him. He was so nervous having her so close to him, but it didn't make sense. This was common practice between lions after all. Regardless, every instinct in his body wanted to either run in the opposite direction, or... "Gawet ewt!" She mumbled with a big smile, between her teeth was a small twig.
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Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 7:01 pm
Kafei let out a sigh. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't seem to figure out what she was thinking. At times she would act so comfortable around him, but then she turned around and seemed uneasy about not being able to call him by his more formal title lord Kafei? That conversation in particular was really itching at him for some reason.
"Is something else wrong?" Anju looked up at him, there was a worried look deep in her eyes. Kafei looked as though his head was hurting; maybe he needed her help with something else and he was too shy to admit it.
"It's okay Lord Kafei, you can tell me anything."
Was she trying to confuse him!?
"No no. I'm perfectly fine now that you've helped me." He quickly loosened up as to not alarm her again and replaced his worried look on his face with a bright smile. He wasn't sure if all girls were so observant, but regardless, it was truly adorable how caring she was.
"We should get going before it gets any later." Kafei spoke, trying to ignore the fact that it was his fault they hadn't started earlier.
"Okay! Let me take you to one of my favorite hunting spots. Mom would come here all the time when she was teaching me the basics." Anju spoke about hunting much more enthusiastically than she had for a long time. It was work for the lioness in every sense of the word; Anju hated going out each day and having to bring back food. Having Kafei there who was so willing to help her though, made it into an adventure.
"We are going to catch something good today, I just know it." She flicked her tail, running a little further ahead.
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Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 5:03 pm
Kafei tried to casually quicken his pace to keep up with Anju He had enjoyed chasing her down the night before, but he didn't think he could do that and then try and hunt back to back.
"Anju," He called out to her, even with his attempts to keep up she was still a few steps ahead of him. "Are we close to where the hunting spot you were talking about?" He spoke in almost a pant, his spoiled kid roots getting the best of him once again.
"Yeah pretty close, but to find any prey around here you usually have to get closer to the boarder." She spoke so casually about going into what was prominently known as Ligi patrolled areas.
"What if we run into..."
"A Ligi?" She finished her friends sentence. "Then we can ask him for some help if we need it."
Kafei went quiet, though still following Anju as quickly as possible. He knew what he was doing was incredibly dangerous. The two could get caught together, and it would be hard to explain why a Tama Lord was tagging along with a beautiful Atmaja huntress. Even worse was the possibility of running into one of the Ligi Kafei had personally insulted shortly after his arrival in the pride.
What really struck him though was not the danger he was getting into, but Anju's attitude towards the Ligi. She was obviously somehow on good terms with the warriors and possibly even the Shatkona himself.
Everything his Tama house instincts where telling him to forget this all and politely apologize for not being able to fulfill his promise to help her hunt. The sweet girl Anju is, she would give Kafei the same sad look she had when she was worried about finding Cucco yesterday, but would be understanding none the less. The two would part ways and most likely not run into each other again.
Still, Kafei followed the small Atmaja lioness silently. Every reason he could think of kept leading him to the logical conclusion to simply turn around, but Kafei wouldn't even take it into consideration. He wanted to help Anju so badly. He wanted this lioness he had only met twenty four hours earlier to like him, as a friend of course.
But maybe if they kept meeting like this, maybe...
"We are here Lord Kafei!" Anju proclaimed loudly to her friend who had fallen quite a bit behind. Kafei quickly snapped out of his day dreaming state and ran up to quiet down the lioness.
"Shhh. You shouldn't talk so loudly, Anju." He spoke in a low voice as he looked around nervously. It was quite possible she had alerted any Ligi in the area.
"I can talk as loud as I want!" She exclaimed again in protest. Kafei was nice and all, but she wasn't about to let him push her around like that. That was a position only Junko was allowed to fill.
"No no, you don't understand." Kafei was practically flailing, trying to get the lioness to quite her voice. She didn't think Ligi where bad at all, and if suggested that some might be in the area she might go looking for one. He had to convince her to be quite for another reason, and quickly. "Your going to scare the prey away." Yes! The perfect cover, there wasn't many ways she could argue against that. At least he hoped.
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Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:56 pm
"Good point" Anju nodded in agreement and toned down her voice. As she was explaining to the Tama Lord what they would be doing next, the lionesses eyes suddenly grew wide. Kafei tilted his head unsure of what to make of the strange face, but then realized that she wasn't looking at him, but behind him.
Kafei stood perfectly still, but Anju wouldn't say a word about what she saw. Perhaps telling her to be quite was coming back to bite him after all. Of course the worse case scenario ran though the young lions head. He wondered if a guard had heard them earlier and was now trying to confront the two.
His head carefully turning, Kafei's deep red glazed over at the sight of a small rotten whom seemed oblivious the presence of the two lions only a few feet from them. What a relief it was not to find an angry Ligi, but instead exactly what they were looking for.
"Anju" Kafei whispered. "What.. what do we do now?" The Tama was terrified that he would ruin her opportunity to catch something that he tried his hardest to stand perfectly still.
"Let me show you." The huntress flashed a grin and got into a crouching position. Her tail lied well below her back, but she took great care in making sure it didn't drag against the loose leaves on the ground. Anju's ears folded back, disappearing behind the tuff of fur on top of her head. She had lurked almost a claw swipe away from the mouse she was stalking.
Kafei watched in amazement at the amount of concentration and resilience Anju was exercising, and was beginning to wonder why she needed his help in the first place. It was easy to tell that she was from a family of very skilled hunters.
Anju quickly glanced back at Kafei, and then back at the mouse. Taking a deep breath she leaned forward to get into the perfect position to pounce on it.
She leaned forward further....
and even further....
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 1:29 pm
"OOF!" Loosing her balance, Anju landed face first into the ground.
Kafei let out a gasp; did that just happen? "Anju!"
Her eyes fluttered open slowly, she could see the tiny paw prints left by her prey. Focusing her eyes better, Anju could see it's tail swaying behind it and quickly scurrying away. "Wait no, Not again!" She leaped to her feet and stumbled after it, taking a quick swat at the rodent and losing her balance once again.
Suddenly Kafei darted past her, determined not to let some stupid mouse get the best of them. He was going to catch it- no he needed to catch this for Anju. Trying his hardest to not loose track of their small target, Kafei closed in, crouched for a spit second, and pounced.
"Did you get it?" Anju ran up to her hunting partner, panting.
With his paws still firmly over his catch, Kafei turned around to face Anju and smiled. "We got it." The two celebrated for a moment then leaned down as Kafei lifted one of his paws to reveal... some leaves and twigs. Anju pawed at the leaves, just to make sure the mouse hadn't been hiding under them.
"Bu-bu-but it was here, I felt it squirming." Lifting up his other paw, to reveal that the mouse was in fact nowhere to be seen, Kafei looked completely defeated.
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Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 2:33 pm
"I'm sorry I couldn't fulfill my promise to you, Anju." Kafei spoke softly and looked down at the ground. "I know it was just a mouse, and heck, your huntress might not have even thought of it as an acceptable catch, but I really wanted to make sure it didn't get away."
"Kafei."
"I completely understand if you never ask me to help you hunt again. Maybe it's my fault- I should have been more upfront to you that I don't really have too much experience hunting."
"Ka... fei...."
"I was a nobel, which is pretty much like a Lord in this pride. I did learn how to hunt, but nothing really substantial."
"Will you shut up and look over there!?" Anju whispered and nodded her head to her left. There was a rabbit, who seemed completely oblivious to their presence.
"I have an idea." He whispered. "I'm going to sneak over there, you chase it towards me and we'll have her cornered."
After getting a nod of agreement from the small lioness, he circled the rabbit carefully. He had remembered how Anju crept towards the mouse earlier, and tried to channel that intense energy into his own steps. It wasn't at all as graceful as she had done it, but it got the job done. Now all that was left to do was to make sure it didn't get away.
The huntress got in her usual position, though nervous trying to hunt right after her previous blunder. The pressure was off a little however- she didn't need to get as close to her prey as last time. Anju began snarling and charging towards the rabbit, which quickly bolted in the opposite direction- and right into their trap. Out of nowhere, Kafei leaped out of the brush and sunk his claws into their prey, finishing things off by with a quick bite to it's neck.
"That was amazing Kafei, we actually pulled that off!" Anju cheered when she saw him with the rabbit in his mouth. He set it down at her feet and and bowed down in front of her.
"Oh Lady Anju, Princess of Ashnai'le, I humbly present thee with this catch."
Letting out a quick giggle, Anju got into character to play along and bowed her head. "Thank you noble hunter Kafei, it's a fine catch indeed! Surely you couldn't of slayed this beast alone."
"Oh of course not, I had the best huntress in all the land helped me. She's very humble and underestimates her abilities."
"You mean the one who let a mouse get away from her?" Anju swatted at the top of Kafei's mane, urging him to get back up. "Really Kafei, thank you so much."
"I'm sorry I couldn't get you anything bigger."
"You don't understand, this is a great catch. It will help feed someone tonight." She smiled and looked down at the rabbit. Sure it wasn't the biggest achievement in hunting history, but to her the plump little creature could have been a water buffalo and she wouldn't be any prouder than she was in that moment.
"I'm glad your happy Anju, but you should go get that rabbit to your Head Huntress as soon as possible." Kafei said with concern. It would be a shame for them to have gone through all that work for her to loose their prey to a Ligi or another predator.
"Your right, but one thing before I go... about calling me Princess..."
Kafei was taken aback by her comment. He was just joking around anyways, so he wasn't sure why she would bring it back up unless he had really offended her. "I'm sorry, I figured lionesses would liked being called a Princess. How about Queen or maybe just Lady Anju?"
"Oh no, it's nothing like that like. It's just that there already is a princess of Ashnai'le, silly. I met her the other day and she's pretty nice... in an aggressive Atmaja kind of way. She seemed really proud of the title, and I just think it might be a good idea not to go around claiming it, even if we were just playing around." She smiled and then leaned down to pick up the rabbit by it's foot.
"hank yew awgan. sew yew tewmarrow." Anju mumbled before heading back to show her prize to Ibis, the Head Huntress of Anju's house.
Kafei just stood there, a bit dazed at what he just heard. There was a Princess of Ashnai'le? He had never heard that the Shatkona had family of any kind before, and suddenly now he had an heir. One that Anju knew and apparently liked.
His mind was flooded with all kinds of qustions. Was she anything like the current Shatkona? Was it possible he had more than one heir? Did that mean to take out Shaen, he would have to hurt his immediate family as well? Who was he kidding, he still had no idea how to progress with his plans. The only thing he had managed to accomplish so far was to piss off some Ligi, and besides that he needed to become a lot stronger than the sorry state he was currently in.
This was getting complicated.
( Word Count: 2907 )
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