Hyun stretched and rolled her shoulders through the sandy grasses of her home. In her time with Unguzo her legs had gotten longer and her skills better. Periodically she scanned the horizon in all directions for her mentor or her ward, and for the time being, all was still and all were distant. She made her way up the rocky face of the dens to her own.
She'd moved not too long ago to a more hospitable place, if there even was one amongst the stones, and it suited her size better, and even allowed for a cub to sneak in when she wasn't paying attention. The lioness paced before coiling and flopped to the dusty ground, brushing aside bones with her tail and staring out before her in a bored manner.
Unguzo sat in his den, looking out over the lands in front of him. His little home had not gotten any bigger, and he knew it was his fault. He had not been seeking his pride, had not been keeping to his goals. He had these cubs to bother him, distract him, but he could hardly blame them. He almost liked training them, though the pink one was more than he could handle most of the time. He was glad to have given it to Hyun, and be rid of the hassle for most of the day. He blinked and wondered what Hyun was up to, standing and padding away from his den without thinking about it.
He was halfway to her old den when he remembered she relocated. Shifting directions, he quickly came to her new abode, walking up slowly. He held himself high, prideful as ever, and lowered his head when he was close enough, spotting her in the darkness.
“It hardly befits a warrior to look so complacent and lazy,” he said with a grumpy snort.
Hyun quickly shuffled to her feet, curling her tail around her legs and turning her nose up in the air, "Well look who's bowing their head to who?" She stood and brushed past him like so many times before and stopped just short of the edge that led down to the grassy floor.
"Besides," she started, "I was practicing surveillance from a high-up vantage point so as to spot intruders before they even near this place." Her tail thwaked his legs as she spoke, countering his accusation with a half-truth.
“I only lowered my head to see you, down there on the floor. A natural movement, considering how often I’ve you pinned down there,” Unguzo countered with a growl and a toothy grin. He watched her as she stood, backing up a pace and eying her. She had gotten larger. Older. How long had they been training together now? It seemed like there was no beginning to it any more. That this was just how it was. He turned as she brushed by him, his muscles coiling.
“What about intruders that have already slipped by your oh-so-keen eye?” He asked, crouching down. Never the nice guy, he charged her while she wasn’t watching, butting her head into her and literally trying to shove her off the edge. He had to stop himself from falling down, of course, his momentum a bit much and his balance thrown by the impromptu attack.
Hyun turned half-way to growl deep in her chest and start to defend herself, but before she knew it, she was tumbling down the rocky surface of her home. It had happened enough times that she tucked her head in close to her chest, and was buffeted around until gravity had finished with her. The lioness shook off the loose pebbles embedded in her coat, and those that had pierced her skin. Pulling her lips back in a snarl, she tensed her muscles for an intense attempt at scaling the surface only in hopes of dragging Unguzo down with her.
Unguzo grinned from atop his higher perch, looking down at her with a lofty expression of pride and triumph. He watched her as she tried to get back up to him, tilting his head. He leapt from the edge, sailing by her, and landing heavily on his paws on the ground. Jarred, but sturdy, he bounced after her, catching her tail in his teeth and giving it a tug. He didn’t know if he was playing with her or fighting with her.
He often couldn’t tell the difference. They were both really fun for him. He was in a good mood, if he could say he knew what a good mood was. He wasn’t angry, in any case. So maybe this was play. Just a bit rough. He had no lessons to teach her, after all.
"Unguzo!" Hyun roared his name like a curse and fell again. She rolled and turned until she caught his tail between her teeth. Through the fluff she smirked and clamped her teeth harder. For the lioness, their routine fights were hardly 'games'. She narrowed her red eyes to accompany her grin and bit down even harder. To go along with this, she dug her feet in and shook her head a little.
Okay. So maybe sometimes it was a game to her too, and she never wanted to lose.
Unguzo released her tail and turned sharply, hoping to free himself but only finding her biting harder on his tail. He growled and pulled, not caring about the pain, wanting his tail free of her jaws now. Not having any success, he turned around on her sharply, using his own tail to pull her closer and swat at her muzzle with his big paws.
“Let go of that!” He ordered gruffly, not liking it now that the tables were turned. He batted at her muzzle, not being too gentle about it, curled around in a tight ball so that his head was actually quite close to hers. He thought about headbutting her, though he didn’t want to disorient himself.
So he just kept batting at her with one giant paw, growling and pulling at his tail.
Hyun squinted with bat after bat but she just tugged harder, his battering conformation of the irritation. It was payback, however small, and she just held fast. The rumble that came from her throat and through his tail was an attempted "No", and for good measure, she gave it one more shake.
But she was tiring of the taste of tail, and eventually let it drop and turned to face him more comfortably, but not before stepping on her prey.
He glowered at her.
“Couldn’t you have come up with your own move to counter me? Instead you took the easy road. I thought I taught you better than that. No ingenuity. I hope you’re not passing such things on to my child. He’s useless enough as is. I hardly need you encouraging such behavior.”
He grunted and flicked his tail, noting that it hurt and was numb at the same time. Not a pleasant sensation, particularly as the tingling crept into his lower back. He looked at her from under his high, haughty glare and then suddenly jumped on her, trying to wrestle her to the ground in a flash of fangs and paws.
She caught herself before saying "he only gets scraps", as she knew regardless of how little Unguzo may care, it was still her job to teach the little bugger. Rolling her eyes she didn't see the lunging form coming towards her. It had been dozens of times she'd succumbed to this tactic, but this time seemed different. Though her front legs buckled, she refused to give all the way, and digging and scratching, she fought back and resisted his domination.
For the moment it was just the sound of their struggle that filled Hyun's ears, and she willed herself to be stronger - or maybe him weaker,
Unguzo was surprised by her resistance to him. He had so many times before been able to get her to the ground in moments. Yes, once or twice she had managed to fight back but he had still always triumphed. The game ended whenever he pinned her. Not once yet had it been the other way around. Laughing gutturally, a beast of a sound, he grappled with her with an almost happy look on his face, underneath his growl and focus of course. Only someone who really knew him would be able to see it.
And that only someone was a bit busy trying not to get pinned by him in that moment.
To his surprise he found his legs buckling and suddenly his back knees gave out under him. He had his paws busy with batting at her and blocking her attacks, so he found himself without support. The wrestling ended abruptly as he stumbled, and for a split second he was open to attack.
Only her subconscious reregistering the opportunity before she took it, Hyun threw her full weight against Unguzo's opening, deadly serious about their game and determined to trump him this time. However, she was a little too gung-ho with her approach and nearly kept on going as she slammed into him, still inexperienced as a real fighter, and her only hope for a pin was grip. Unsheathing her claws into Unguzo's side, her face told of her own surprise as she stared down into his face, her red eyes filled with something besides shock and adrenaline, and closer to guilt.
But that didn't matter right now.
She was panting, out of breath and her throat hurt from the heavy breathing and growling, her blood was pounding through her veins and she could feel Unguzo's beneath her. For a change.
She had won.
Unguzo blinked.
Had he just lost?
Staring up at the young, though admittedly changed and now older, face of his ward was a weird experience for him. It wasn’t an angle he was used to seeing her from, and he was stunned into silence by it. His expression was heavy, angry, his eyes burning dangerous with a thousand things he wanted to yell, but his voice had left him. He swallowed hard, realizing the bitter taste in his throat was his own pride, and he growled as he shoved himself to his feet once the fact that the game was over sunk in for both of them.
Wobbling, he winced surprised by how effective her rather haphazard attack had been. His side was bleeding from her pinning him, but he was more focused on how tight his chest was. He growled again, not knowing what to say, or if he would even be able to say it. He glowered at her for a long time, looking like he might lunge for her throat, and then, in an instant, he grinned at her and his dangerous eyes flickered.
“Not bad, little bug.”
Hyun threw out her chest as she was thrown off of her mentor, tilting her head upward so she could look down on him still. "I believe that's Hyundur'ton, to you, Unguzo." Her tail swished from something between pride and the tension that the fight might not be over, but his grin nearly put her at ease. Her red eyes darted around for any cub that could testify to her win, but it was just the two of them, and resuming her normal posture, she stared silently.
Should she apologize for inflicting wounds? Her toes danced nervously in the dirt, Unguzo's blood acting as a glue for the dirt to her claws. For a moment, she looked as though she would say something, or move towards him, but after a silence, she turned to scale the wall back to her cave, her mind as dumb and silent as her mouth for once.
Unguzo laughed, shaking his head and growling.
“I wouldn’t get too far ahead of myself, if I were you. You haven’t earned so much respect, from just one triumph. Perhaps I was off my game? Whatever the case, I will call you… Hyun, for now. I suppose you’re earned enough respect to lose the pet name I’ve been calling you.” He flicked his tail, not knowing how he felt about this until he said it. He didn’t really want to stop calling her by the name he had grown used to, but she wasn’t a little bug any more. So he couldn’t avoid it.
He spoke until he realized she was on the move, turning and watching her go. He didn’t fancy climbing back up there, his side aching and his body telling him it wanted a nap. Now. So he thought it best he didn’t follow her. Sighing, he would take a long path to his den, though it would be level and easy. And it would give him some time to think.
“You’ve come far,” he called to her, before heading off, “but you’ve still some distance to go. I’ll return soon.”
Hyun was good enough for her, though a part of her, more childish, wanted to hold on the 'little bug' part of her. Maybe she would start calling that green thing 'little bug', even though he responded to 'it' just as readily. She looked over her shoulder to watch him leave, taking in his words more somberly than most of his lessons. Her eyes followed him until he was too far gone to respond to, and shrugging her shoulders in time with her ascent, she made the journey towards her cave, knowing he'd bring more lessons.
