Whirling and swirling tornadoes of thoughts and doubts and dreams swept through Tuli's mind, keeping him awake and very much uncomfortable that morning. Every un-focused moment was spent thinking about one thing and one thing only. Well, not a thing...a lioness.

Sanka.

Body coiled tightly, Tuli was looking particularly grumpy beneath the shade of a kopje. Sanka was snoring on the rock just above him, obviously fast asleep for her regular long, morning nap. The two had been sharing one another's company for a good several weeks at that point, so Tuli had come to expect Sanka's naps. He'd even come to follow her example and began the habit of napping at the exact same time.

But he hadn't slept well in a good solid week. He didn't understand why Sanka could sleep so soundly--so peacefully, so blissful...jaw stretched open, paws askew, hair tangled over her face like--

Snarling to himself, the normally calm male rolled over onto his back and glared at the sky. Clouds shifted over the sun and patched him in a mix of shade and sunlight. This effect, he noticed, made Sanka appear delicate despite her rather audible snoring.

Shaking his head, the leopard stood and chose a different spot to lie down in, hoping a change of space would help him to sleep. He was wrong in this idea, and was left in the exact same state as before, just...in a different spot.

GODS, what was wrong with him? Every moment he wasn't busy shifting positions, his pink eyes were glued on Sanka. Maybe that was what being a friend was all about? Tuli had only ever really had his family in the past, not friends. He hadn't been on his own for that long, just like Sanka. The two had become each other's first good friend, despite the taboo attached. But he still couldn't figure out why he had begun to feel so ill around her. Strangely, he became more sick when he wasn't around her.

"Stupid lioness," Tuli grumbled, feeling opposite from his namesake.

The night before had been full of hunting. Tuli could remember it vividly without even closing his eyes. Only a week ago, Tuli and Sanka had hunted together for the first time. The night had made the two giddy with adrenaline and anticipation for the kill, both felines working together to select and bring down their prey. Neither one had ever experienced something so strange--hunting with a species different from their own. They'd never felt so high off the hunt, either. They relished in the take-down, both grinning at the other's techniques and unique ways of doing things.

Ever since that night, they had both hunted together. It was hard to imagine hunting alone, Tuli thought. They worked together perfectly--it was borderline surreal. The leopard was sure it might not have been entirely healthy to feel that jacked up during a hunt, either. He even recalled bouts of mind-blankness, filling his memory with a few empty spaces each time he tried to recall a specific hunt.

"Stupid lioness..." Tuli growled again, quieter this time. He glanced down at his paws, then at Sanka's. They were similar, but different. Well, of course. But he wasn't thinking of the obvious. He was considering something strange. He was considering that the two were so similar that perhaps it didn't truly matter that one was a different species from the other? Perhaps that they were both feline was enough?

Perhaps they could--...

Pupils thinning, the male rose to his paws again, this time staring at the grass beneath him.

What...was he thinking? Eyes wavering over the earth in thought, Tuli seemed captivated by nothingness in front of him. His stomach gave a sick turn and his ears folded. Hew knew that feeling all too well. He'd come to grow used to it over the time he'd spent with Sanka. It was also in that moment that he firmly decided the feeling was caused directly by Sanka. But he still couldn't bring his mind to come out and say why.

They were friends. They'd met by chance and had gotten along. That was all. They'd decided to stick together...that was all. There was nothing more to add to the story, Tuli thought. What else could be added? They were hunting partners, sure, but that tied in to sticking together. They had to look out for each other--watch each other's backs. Help each other get food, help watch out for animals that may not be very easy-going or understanding. That's what friends did. That's what best friends did.

But as that single thought passed through Tuli's mind, he felt warmth in his throat. He tried to convince himself briefly that he didn't know why he felt a slight shift in emotion, but he knew very well why.

He didn't want to say they were just best friends.

What, then? It was torturing him, day and night, silently thinking about a billion times a billion things, all alone, without Sanka's knowing. He spoke easily to her at times, all the while mind racing with images of her and the feelings she caused. Sometimes he had been so confused and ill he had wanted to strangle her neck with his fangs in hopes that it would aid him, only to replace the thought with fluffier ones.

He really made himself ill, he knew that. It wasn't her fault...

Padding closer to the lioness, Tuli hovered above her, eyes staring directly down at her closed ones.

"Stupid lioness..." he whispered, no longer glowering.

As Sanka's scent fluttered into his nose, turning his stomach, Tuli was able to admit what he had been fighting against for weeks. There he was, staring face-to-face with the solution to all his problems. He was at the entrance to every bad feeling he had, with every good feeling warring against them. He was staring at his frustrations and confusions that he had so long spent ignoring, but only now was he comfortable enough within his own mind to quell them and replace them with understanding.

He was madly in love with Sanka.

Eyes closing, Tuli bent his head down and pressed the side of his face against hers.