[PRP] If only I could, now... (Hantu, Mufasa)

[Kinreii]

She slipped through the night, a silver ghost against a jet black sky. Overhead, the moon shone bright, and cast a single beam down onto the savannah. It was one of those beautiful, silent nights in the Pridelands... everything was dark, and the only sound was that of the crickets as they sang in chorus. Seeing the light, Hantu shuffled towards it, curiousity seizing her as it usually did on such nights.

She'd strayed away from her mother, Kit, and hoped that she would not be so quickly missed. Her parents, after all, had many of them to take care of... and she hoped that they would not notice her disappearance. At least, not yet. Now, she wasn't the type to sneak off, as many did... but tonight, the den had been a busy place, and there was no time to ask permission from Mum and Dad.

Instead, she'd upped and left, although not too far, not away from the Pridelands. Hantu liked obeying the rules, and disliked sneaking off, but it was the only way to check out the single beam of moonlight. Thus, she'd left the great den in the former King Mufasa's towering rock, and gone for a nice walk.

As she went, her sides starting paining, but she decided it was nothing.

Just a stitch, she thought, and kept travelling.

Surely on a night so quiet as this, there would be nobody around, right?  

[Seaki]

A white and brown cub was laying on his back looking up at the stars. He had woken up from a weird sleeping pattern about and hour ago.

The cub sighed and rolled to his side before deciding to get up and wander. There was nothing better to do after all.

Mufasa shook his coat to get the grass and dust out of it before looking up to the sky again. It was dark. He shook his head and grinned a little after started to walk away. Uovu had probably went to sleep already.

He wasn't really sneaking off. Anyone could have stopped him if they really wanted to. After all, he just walked away.

He didn't know where he was going, but he knew how to get back to the Southlands quickly if he needed to.

He trecked on; his chocolate eyes scanning the area. He was alone after all, so he was cautious. He couldn't fight that well or anything. He would admit that, too.

The cub's chocolate colored eyes started to stare at something silvery. Curiousity being the better of him, he starting towards the shape in the moonlight. He recognized the place he was faintly, but it wasn't ringing a bell. He was probably farther then he was before, but he didn't mind.  

[Kinreii]

A pair of pale green eyes appeared, shining through the darkness, looking out at Mufasa through the safe cover of the long, savannah grass. The grass itself was wet with dew, and made a 'swwwsssh' sound as soon as she placed her paw pad onto it... and so, gave away her prescense to the stranger ahead.

Hantu, realising that there was no need to hide anymore, pushed her little body through the grasses and hopped out into the open. Shaking small, stray dew drops off her coat, she looked and turned to see someone lying on shorter grass nearby.

A... young lion?

He didn't look too much older than herself... and he didn't look too dangerous, either, though Hantu knew that looks could be deceiving. Still... curiously seized the young Pridelander, and she scuttled closer to Mufasa for a better look.

"What're you doing?" she asked, her voice soft and gentle.  

[Seaki]

Dark ears flicked as the white and black lion looked became more aware of the young lioness.

"Nothing really," the rouge cub said. "There's nothing to do after all..."

Mufasa shook his head. "I'm just wandering. What're you doing out so late?" he asked. It was a bit late. The moon was already casting out it's glow that usually guided him during the night.

Chocolate eyes glanced up to the moon and he asked. He didn't want to speak too much so he tilted his head to look back to the female cub.  

[Kinreii]

"I'm out late because..." Hantu's eyes glimmered, "I like the darkness. It's so silent at night, so tranquil. And nobody's busy, many are asleep. It's much less tiring to look at than the russle and bustle of the savannah in the day."

The sun was also less intense at night, with the moon reigning over the skies. Aaaah, the wonders of the night time. Hantu paused, and slithered over to Mufasa's side.

"It's also good to come out at night to meet interesting strangers," her eyes glowed with interest, but she did not smile, "Like you."

 

[Seaki]

Mufasa shook his head. "I'm not interesting," He stated. Shaking his head lightly, he looked over to the lioness.

"What's your name anyways?" He asked letting his gaze wander to the lioness' curious green eyes. He didn't stare for more than a second before looking up at the sky.

It was rude to stare after all.

"I'm not here in the day time," he started. "So I wouldn't know. I've been here befoer though. On the border..."  

[Kinreii]

As Mufasa spoke, the silver lioness's green eyes rested on a nearby cricket. Playfully, she batted it between her paws, not looking into the boy's eyes, but rather intently listening, and concentrating on the cricket at one time.

"Every stranger is interesting to me. And my name is Hantu," she said smoothly, her eyes not moving off the distressed cricket as she pawed at it, "It means 'Ghost' in some foreign language from a long way over the seas. I'm named that because of my pelt, as you might have noticed."

Her silver and purple fur almost glowed in the night. It was no wonder why Hantu held such a name.

"You should offer your own name before you ask someone elses," at last, the cricket left away, and Hantu finally broke into a soft smile, "What's your own name, lion?"
 

[Seaki]

"I see, I see," The cub nodded. He looked over to her and 'observed' her seemingly glowing pelt.

"I apologize for being rude," Mufasa said kindly. "My name's Mufasa."

Mufasa didn't know why he was named, but he wasnt going to be depressed about it! He just hoped this lioness didn't ask about being named after this 'former king' mumbo jumbo. It annoyed him slightly.

The brown-eyes cub sighed. He haddn't ment to be rude to the girl. He hated being rude. To anyone. It was just against his code and it made him feel a bit bad.  

[Kinreii]

"That's quite alright," Hantu nodded, and her smile seemed warmer now. She hadn't meant to, herself, seem cold. It was just her... way, she supposed.

"Mu...Mufasa, huh?" she repeated, raising her eyebrow a little, "What a name."

She didn't say much else... Hantu hardly knew the old king of the Pridelands... he was deceased before she was born, and thus, Hantu found nothing special about the old guy. She'd only heard him in stories, and by the chatter of passing lionesses from Pride Rock.

"You haven't been rude to me at all," she commented lightly, and circled the boy, observing his every move with a raised brow, "If anything, I have been the strange one. Say, what were you looking at before, Mufasa? The stars? Do you like catching crickets?"

 

[Seaki]

Mufasa grinned. He was glas that the lioness didn't bring up the 'king' that everyone seemed to know. He haddn't been raised to know this 'king' as he had been brought up thus far by a band of rebels.

"The stars and the moon," He answered her. Though, he did blink at her last question. "I've never tried to catch crickets. Only rain..." He said.

He had 'caught' rain with Uovu when he first met him. Then they had raced to a place. The Southlands. Fear almost gripped him as he thought of meeting the leader.

He let the fear disperse though. He wasn't there right now, so he would have to wait. He hoped Uovu hadn't awoken yet. He liked coming and going with no detection.

"You seem to like to though. Is it fun?" He asked blinking his chocolate eyes in curiousity.  

[Kinreii]

"What, catching crickets?" Hantu asked, "Oh, sure, it's great fun. I really love playing with them... fireflies are even better. They're these... insects with lights on their behinds, and though it doesn't really sound pleasing, they really are beautiful creatures."

She stopped, surprised at herself for pouring out words all of a sudden. She usually kept them to herself, but had a tendency to not say much at all, and then burst out into a flood of words and feelings. Right now, though, those feelings overwhelming her were playful ones.

"I've... never caught rain before..." she blinked, sitting down next to Mufasa, and rolling onto her back to watch the stars, "What... is rain? Such a pretty word... it must be something nice."

Maybe as nice as what Mufasa was watching, the stars and the moon.

"If you've never played with crickets or fireflies," Hantu paused, her voice low and soft again, "It wouldn't bother me to show you how."
 

[Seaki]

Fireflies? Mufasa never really looked around at night. He just trudged on until he decided to trudge back.

Fireflies seemed interesting though.

He paused from his thoughts.

What... is rain?

"Rain. Rain is little drops of water that fall from the sky... They look like beautiful crystals," the cub didn't seem to be satified with his own answer. He wished he could explain it more.

He looked back up at the moon. He loved how the bright of the moon washed the land in a pale color. It made everything look ominous. Creepy and down right beautiful in it's own way.

"Playing with crickets and fireflies seems fun," Mufasa grinned. "Show me then."  

[Kinreii]

"Rain..." the word tingled on Hantu's tongue, "Rain."

It sounded... wonderful. Flowing. Crystals, huh? Now, if only she knew what they were...
Nethertheless, Hantu thought that names defined a lot of characters... although it was silly to base one's first impression on a name, sometimes it did work. Names suited creatures, a lot of the time. She knew her own name suited her fine.

"So, you want to play with them, do you?" she gave Mufasa another one of those rare smiles, the type that stopped halfway between happiness and sadness, "Fine. I'll show you. Follow me."

She got to her paws daintily, and stretched, padding slowly towards the taller grasses of the pridelands. She gingerly parted the grass with one paw, and beckoned with her tail for Mufasa to follow.

"It's just through here," she whispered, and crept through, "The grasses are long. Don't loose sight of me, Mufasa."  

[Seaki]

Mufasa watched her for a second. His ears flicked towards her as she spoke.

The brown and white cub moved to follow the ghost like lioness. He only nodded to her, though she probably couldn't see him now that they were pushing through the grass.

The grass brushing against Mufasa fur tickled him slightly. It made a shiver run down his spine, but he kept following her.  

[Kinreii]

She walked for a few minutes, winding her way through the grass, parting it with her forepaws as she went. Minutes went by, and no words passed by her mouth... she instead did her best to concentrate on the direction she was going. The pathway to the fireflies was a tricky one... a special place that she had discovered upon by chance one night, and a place where it was difficult to retrace steps. But she'd taken care to memorise the location of her hideaway, and she silently slipped through the night, hoping with all her heart that Mufasa was right behind her.

After many minutes of pushing, sliding and crawling through the long grass, the route began to become easier, smoother. The path, no longer blocked by grass, led up to a large rock over ahead. Hantu couldn't see anything else in the pitch blackness of the night, but instead raised her voice softly to call upon Mufasa.

"Are you still there, 'Fasa?" she asked, quietly, "We're almost there. You'll see when we reach the top of that rock over there."