Chapter 11:

The day was still young, and since they had not gotten much sleep, Kito and Bango found a hollowed log to crash. It was wide enough to fit both in comfortably... almost.

Bango opened an eye as he felt Kito move around on his back. "Kito, could ya stop moving around so much and go to sleep? You're wasting the half a day before we look for Rafiki's tree."

Kito growled as he sat up and rubbed his near blood-shot eyes. "I can't get comfortable! Your spine is all bony and bumpy. Now I know why my dad slept on your dad's stomach. Roll over, would ya?"

"I'm comfortable, thank you."

"How can you be comfortable in a hollowed out tree?"

"It's a soft wood. You should try it."

Kito yawned deeply and slumped forward on Bango's back. "I would, except I don't wanna get squished in case you eventually do roll over. I'd sleep in front of you if I didn't wanna get breathed on and get my fur wrinkled."

Bango lifted his head up and looked back at his cousin. "Are you sure you just want to stay up so you have a reason to be cranky?"

Kito gave the warthog a tight, scary smile as he slowly retorted, "I am not cranky, Bango. I'm... sleep deprived."

Bango shrugged and laid his head back down to sleep. "Same thing."

Kito mumbled as he gathered some of Bango's skin up to make a pillow, "Same thing, I oughta..." He continued to mumble as he laid his head down, closed his eyes, and covered his ears as Bango started snoring.

The snoring could be heard on the outside, it was a hollow log after all. A pair of hazel eyes peeked out from the tall grass. The body they were attached to was crouched down low. The thing's shoulders shifted slightly and it let out a soft growl, preparing to pounce.

Inside the log Kito had just about fallen asleep when he felt Bango's body jerk suddenly. He first thought it was Bango kicking in his dream or something and his body reacted. But then it happened again, so he lifted his head up, reached up, and grabbed onto Bango's ear. "Quit dreaming you're chasing something."

"Am not," Bango mumbled.

"Are too. If you're not, they why did I feel something move?"

"I wasn't moving." Bango lifted his head up to look back at Kito. "I thought it was you."

"Any moving I'd be doing would be on your back, not the entire log. I'm not as big as you."

Bango furrowed his brow. "Are you calling me fat?"

Kito didn't get a chance to reply. They both gulped when they felt the log start rolling with them in it. They jumped to their feet and started running along with the rolling. "Is it just me, or are you getting motion sick, too?"

They felt the log come to a sudden stop, probably got stopped by a rock. The sudden stop surprised them and they fell forward, crashing through the worn-down log. They panted, tired. They didn't want to move again. They both gulped again when they heard a soft growl from behind them. They both covered their eyes and quivered as they heard the growl walk around the log to meet them. The growling continued to ring through their ears... but that was the only thing. No roaring, no slashing, no unpleasant noises whatsoever.

Bango slowly lifted a hoof from his eye and peeked. In front of the warthog and meerkat was a cheetah... cub. It was a three or four month old cheetah cub. The cub was crouched down, his rear in the air with his tail swishing quickly from side-to-side. He continued to growl as he stared at the two. "Uh... Kito?"

"You want me to apologize, don't you? For dragging you out here. Well--"

Bango uncovered both hooves from his eyes and nudged the pup. "Kito, open your eyes and look."

Kito peeked through his fingers, and then lifted his paws from his eyes. He jumped to his feet and dashed back into the log. "Cheetah!" The cheetah growled and hopped from side-to-side, batting a paw at Bango. Kito poked his head back out when he realized there wasn't any killing going on.

"Um, Kito, I know neither of us are familiar with cheetah behavior... but what's he doing?" Bango motioned to the cheetah.

"If I had to guess, I'd say he's playing with his food," Kito said dryly as he walked back out.

"Come on, guys! I wanna play!" the cheetah said as he got out of his playful attack mode to sit in front of the two. "I'll take you both on! Play any game you want! I'll even be it!"

"It?" both Kito and Bango asked, blinking.

"Yeah, you know, a game of tag? You run, I tag... get it?" the cheetah said with a toothy grin.

"Oh, we get it, all right," Kito said gulping as he hid behind Bango. "We run, and you tag us with your teeth."

"With my teeth?" the cheetah blinked, a little confused.

"Well, wasn't that what you had in mind? We're cheetah food, aren't we?" Bango asked as he sat up.

The cheetah tilted his head to the side. "Cheetah food? I thought you were a pig and a mongoose."

"Warthog," Bango corrected him dryly.

"Meerkat," Kito corrected him dryly.

"And I think we're below you on the food chain."

The cheetah blinked and put a paw to his chin. "Oh, so that's why you were scared of me. I thought it was just when you were with parents."

"Why's that?" Kito asked, peeking from behind Bango, and ducking back behind him when the cheetah looked at him.

"Well, the parents think they know better and that they're saving their kids from being eaten, I guess. I just wanted to play with them."

"You want to play with your food?" Bango asked, referring to himself and Kito with a gesture of the hoof.

"You guys aren't food. Food is what Mom would drag over by the throat to me. And they don't move."

"Speaking of which, where is your mom?" Kito looked around nervously.

The cheetah bowed his head and lowered his eyes. "She got sick. We both went to sleep one night, but I was the only one to wake up."

Kito and Bango both looked at each other and gulped. "Sorry," they both said.

The cheetah suddenly perked up. "So now I go where I want without Mom nagging me about what not to do. Although it's harder to get good food without her."

"What do you eat then?" Bango asked, blinking.

"Grass, fruit, whatever falls out of trees. They taste bad, but better than starving," the cheetah said, twitching his nose.

"Poor guy, being forced to eat fruits and vegetables because he can't hunt."

"You know I'd like to help him, Bango, but we're wasting our day and a half here. I don't want to spend it with a poor cheetah cub that doesn't know how to hunt. We gotta find Rafiki's tree, remember?" Kito asked as he climbed on top of Bango's head.

"Rafiki? You mean the shaman?" the cheetah overheard.

"You know him?" both Kito and Bango asked.

"Not really, but Mom told me if I ever had trouble I couldn't handle on my own to go to his tree. I haven't been starving, so I couldn't think of any other time I'd be in trouble."

"You know where Rafiki's tree is?!" the warthog and meerkat were frozen in shock.

"Yup." The cheetah stood and stretched. "I'd show you the way, but I'm getting hungry. Gotta find something that'll taste better going down than up."

Kito put a paw to his chin, thinking. Gaining a little courage he asked, "Have you tried bugs?"

"Bugs?" The cheetah tapped his front paw as he thought, and then shook his head. "Never came to mind."

"Let's make a deal. We'll teach you how to catch bugs..."

"Really?" the cheetah's tail began to swish as he smiled.

"If you point us in the right direction to Rafiki's tree."

"Really?" Bango asked, a little nervous now that they would be finding Rafiki's tree.

"Really both ways! Deal?" Kito jumped onto Bango's snout and offered the cheetah his paw. "I'm Kito, and this is my cousin Bango."

The cheetah looked at the paw, and instead licked Kito from toe to head, leaving the pup in a mess of saliva. "Deal. And I'm Morake."

"Morake...?" Kito nervously smiled as he shook some drool from his arm. "A simple paw shake woulda sufficed."

To be continued...