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Walking. Walking. Walking. That's all they did! Where was this stupid pride they were going to, anyway? Haiba certainly didn't know, and he was sick and tired of this roaming the rouge lands. He felt like he'd be an adult before they finally got there. Was mother just leading them on with this pride idea so they'd keep following her? No...she sounded so sure of herself when she talked about the other cheetahs that lived through the forest. The only thing he could do was continue walking, trying to keep himself entertained.

This day, though, he was alone. One of his sisters had stepped on something prickly, so they were taking a day off to let her foot heal up before they pressed on. Haiba had taken the opportunity to go exploring. He was a very curious cub, always wanting to know how things worked so maybe he could use it to play a joke on his siblings.

After a few minutes of pouncing on grass and little bugs, he spotted a lizard. He chased the thing for a while before it went into a hole. With a sigh he glanced up to head back in the direction he came but...everything looked the same. He froze, his little heart beating quickly as he suddenly realized he had no idea where he was. Trying not to freak out, he sniffed the air to try to find his way back. Unfortunately, it was rather windy and he couldn't figure out which way he had come from.

"Oh no...Mom's gonna kill me," he moaned as he put his paws over his head and laid flat on the ground. She'd kill him if she could find him, that is. The very thought of being alone made him quiver in fear.

Haiba was perfectly content to lay there and let the sun burn him to a little crisp. It would probably be better than having his mom come find him and punish him for walking so far. He was so wrapped up in his own painful death by sunlight that he didn't hear footsteps until they were pretty close. Even then he didn't register someone was there. It took the soft voice to jerk him from his thoughts. He rolled over quickly with a gasp and stared at the white lioness in fear. A lion! Oh...oh no no no no no not a lion!

"H-hello," he stammered, claws digging into the ground, ready to flee at a moment's notice. He was pretty fast being a cheetah and all, but he was just a cub...this fully grown lion could easily outrun him. Or catch up to him. And eat him.

"S-sorry, is this your space? I'll go," he said quickly as he stood. He didn't even get two steps before tripping over his tail, making him sprawl out on the dry ground. Oh no...he couldn't even make a clean getaway!

Haiba looked at the lioness as he picked himself up off the ground, his legs shaking too much to make a quick getaway now. He wondered if his mother would come to his rescue before this white devil tried to eat him. Probably not...she was still picking spines out of his sister's foot, most likely! He was going to die alone and painfully and-

Wait...had she said cheetah sons?

"You...you had cheetah sons?" he asked, tilting his head to the side. How? "But...you're a lion!" He felt the need to remind her of this. Perhaps she forgot. That wouldn't be too hard to do, not in this heat. His brother had gotten a bit dizzy and had been seeing spots a few days ago from the lack of water and food. He was all better now, though, thanks to the adults in their little caravan.

"Me? Pha! No way!" he said as he puffed out his chest a bit. Now that he knew this lioness meant no harm he wasn't afraid! ...okay maybe kind of afraid. She was still really big. "I just don't remember which way my mom is." Although his pose spoke of bravery, his voice was timid and small. He was SO lost...

A hybrid...that was...wait, that could happen? Haiba had no idea what a cheetah crossed with a lion might look like, but he suddenly was very, very curious to know. He'd have to keep an eye out for any funny looking cheetahs once he got to this pride they were supposed to be going to.

"They must'a been funny lookin'," he said honestly. "Lions are big and strong and cheetahs are skinny and fast." Maybe they made like...the ultimate hunter. That would be pretty awesome, actually, now that he was thinking about it. Aw man...why couldn't he have been an awesome hybrid? Maybe he could ask his mother to make him one.

"Uh..." He glanced up at the sky as he thought, trying to remember where the sun had been. His shadow had kept falling over him and the lizard he had been chasing, so it must have been behind him. "It was to my back," he said, fluffing up again as he remembered. Hey, maybe that might help him find his way back!

"I'm Haiba," he said as the lioness offered her name. "Dimu sounds like demon. You're not a demon right? You're really white and have pink eyes and you're too nice for a lion. Mom said lions would wanna try and eat me."

"Ooooh...thin small lions...heh, that's kinda funny!" Haiba said with a laugh. He wondered what he'd look like with a mane. Probably really cool. Man, why did his dad have to be a cheetah? Maybe he could find some of these hybrids and become friends with them just to look at them all day. Would they be bigger than him but smaller than a lion? Somewhere in between, perhaps. That would be good for wrestling! Yes...he'd definitely need to find some.

The reassurance that Dimu was safe and not going to eat him allowed Haiba to relax completely. So much so that he moved forward to walk around the white lioness, taking in her size and strength. "Good!" he said as he stopped in front of her, looking up...up...up! Just to see her face. "You have really big teeth. Bigger than mom's. I'm glad that you don't eat cheetahs. You're really nice," he added before turning to look at the sun.

"Oh yeah...to get back I should just look at the sun," he said with a little laugh. Boy, did he feel dumb. In his moment of being scared, his wits had left him. "Thanks, Dimu! My mom would say thanks too if she knew you were helping me. I'm really not supposed to be so far away from her..."

"My mom's real fast, yeah," Haiba agreed. "I wanna be as fast as her some day! Then I can catch her prey so she doesn't have to." He really did love his mother and, once he was old enough, wanted to be able to bring her presents and treat her well for all she was doing for her large litter. "And then nothing can catch me if it tries to eat me. But not you, because you're nice and you won't eat me," he reminded her, just in case she had forgotten.

The question made him bounce around happily. "I have four! There's Sahira, Nhlakanipho, Zuna, and Kamaria, but me and Laka are the only boys. We all like to play but mom says we gotta stay by her because we're going to a pride that's really secret and if we get lost then we're in trouble, which is why I was so scared, but now I'm not really lost so it's okay."

He jumped forward and put his much smaller paws on one of Dimu's as he looked up at her. "Hey, do you wanna walk to me back the way I came so I don't get lost again?"

"We're all pretty awesome together," Haiba corrected. He loved to play with his siblings, even if a few of them were a little more nervous than he was to run around and have fun. Obviously he was a bit reckless to have gone off so far, but he had the best intentions at heart.

"I hope we find it too. We've been walking since we've been able to walk." He said this with a pout, obviously not very happy about that. His paws were getting conditioned for long distance, at least. "We're not supposed to play until we stop for the night but by then everyone is too tired. It's soooo boring," he said with a dramatic sigh before hopping off her foot and turning around.

"Okay. Mom might be a little nervous, yeah. And she has a friend that helps protect us. He might be even more scared of you and try to chase you off. So once we see the right tree I can go by myself. And I was chasing a lizard," Haiba said with a grin. "It was really fast and hard to catch!"

"I try to play with them but they don't like it," Haiba huffed. Of course, his playing consisted of pouncing, chewing on ears, and chasing. Maybe he could try a game like I Spy. It sounded a little calmer...maybe his siblings would enjoy something like that. Anything to keep his mind off being bored!

As Dimu stood, Haiba grinned and began to prance off in the direction of the sun. He hadn't ran too far, hopefully, so the tree should make itself clear soon. At least, he hoped so. "Okay! That sounds like a good idea," he said with a nod. "You're really smart, too! Nice and smart. That's good things to have."

He ran around the lioness before darting ahead, pouncing on rocks and tall grass as they went. "So where do you live?"