Advances

"How about a little break, huh?", Ushindi panted. With his eyes he pointed into their spectators' direction. It was a small gesture, only meant for Askari, who noticed it immediately and nodded. Both of them sheathed their claws and finished their sparring session with an amicable headbutt.

With a grin Ushindi walked over to the nearby water hole and lowered his head to drink. He could literally feel her gaze… and enjoyed it. After he quenched his thirst, he began to stretch to relax his muscles what felt great after the little training fight.

"Like what you see?", he suddenly asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare." Weupe gave him a slightly embarrassed smile, after seeing that she was the only one still sitting there. The other lionesses had already left, unnoticed by her.

"No need to apologize, princess", he said, as he walked pass her, seemingly intending to rejoin his friends. "Being stared at doesn't hurt, so I'll be fine, I guess." This was already the second time he had caught her doing this and he was glad about it. Of course, he had been right. He'd simply focused on the wrong lioness at first. The wrong sister. And even better, by now he knew she would be the one doing the first step. Since the first day he had noticed the way she looked at him and Askari. Actually, more at Askari at first – she seemed to be very impressed by what she heard about his strength and skill in fighting – but he had already reacted to that. Today's sparring session for example had been Ushindi's idea and luckily, his friend had played along. For their companions it was a known fact that Askari was the better fighter, but for everyone else… This and the previous sparring session the two lions had staged had presented them as equal. It hadn't been hard for Ushindi to convince Askari to do him this little favor. And the plan worked. Quickly noticing Askari wasn't interested, Weupe had turned to Ushindi.

Slow paced, he continued walking, giving her time to find the right words.

"Impressive fight!", she suddenly said.

"Thank you." He stopped and turned around, giving her a smile that she gladly returned. "Come on, what is it?", he added, after a moment passed, with them simply looking at one another.

"Uhm, actually I wanted to ask you something", she admitted. "Surely you remember my offer from earlier, to help you with everything you could need and I thought… Maybe I could show you around? You've barely seen our kingdom since you arrived. Only if you're not too exhausted of course."

His smile became wider. "Oh, I'm fine, and… well, yeah. It would be my pleasure."

"Well, that was quick, even for him." Lying next to Askari, Tekelea watched the two lions. "Just look at them!" Imitating Weupe, she flicked her tail, slowly tickling Askari's chin. "Oh, Ushindi! I know we're only dating since yesterday, but if you want you could have me right now in those bushes over there!"

While the lioness chuckled, barely able to stop herself from laughing out loud enough to alert halve of the kingdom, Askari rolled his eyes. Like probably everyone he enjoyed dirty jokes among males, but with Tekelea it felt just… awkward. He already regretted coming with her to spy on his friend, but still he had to admit that she had a point. "If I wouldn't know this is what he intended, I'd say she's the one seducing him and not the other way round." With a paw he wiped her tail tuft out of his face.

"Maybe it is the other way round", Teke chuckled. "Maybe this time it's our lover boy who's being played around with. Wouldn't mind it!"

"What I don't understand is what all the secrecy is about." He stood up and turned, certain the two lovebirds wouldn't even notice him. He had seen enough and the whole situation was getting too awkward for him.

"Me neither. It's not like we're not welcome here. Probably her father would even like to see them together."

Askari sighed. A part of him had hoped she would stay to continue spying, but instead she also got on her feet and followed him. Since the beginning of their journey, she had turned out to be the lioness whose company he enjoyed the most, but at the moment she simply annoyed him.

He quickly stopped listening to her, as she continued to talk on their way back to the kingdom's throne and was relieved when they met the king halfway. At least his appearance stopped her from talking about his daughter.

"There you are!", the king greeted them, or rather Askari. "I was looking for one of you guys."

"Well, here I am." Askari bowed his head. "What is it, your highness?"

"Without beating around the bush, on your way here, have you noticed any other rogues following you or heading the same direction?"

A little confused about the question, he shook his head. "Uhm… I don't think so. Did you?" He turned to Tekelea, who also negated.

As a respond, the king simply nodded and quietly mumbled into his mane.

"How comes that you ask?", Askari wanted to know, sensing something was wrong. "Has the other attacker returned?"

"Oh, no. No, it's just… one of my huntresses saw an unfamiliar lion lurking around our border and I thought, maybe you'd know him. I can't be too careful, you know?"

"Totally understandable after what happened", Askari agreed, seeing an unexpected opportunity arising. "Do you… want me to go check him out?"

"That… would have been my next question, yes", the king admitted, happy about his offer. "The lioness said he…"

A roar followed by screams sounded trough the savanna, making all the lioness's observations redundant.

Within an instant, Askari was on full speed heading into that direction, Tekelea on his heels. He knew the voices the screams came from and even worse, he recognized the roar!

The attack came out of nowhere. One moment Ruya and Heba had peacefully slumbered in the afternoon sun and in the next, a massive figure jumped between them. A scream escaped Ruya's lips, as a brutal strike send her to the ground.

In terror the younger lioness watched her friend going down, while the attacker turned towards her. She tried to turn around and run, as the lion pounced, but in her panic, she stumbled and fell. His paws reached her and all air left her lungs.

Pinning her down, he dug his claws into her back, not deep, but enough to cause pain, adding to her fear. "Time to teach you a lesson!", he growled and bend down to Heba's ears. "No one turns me down, especially not a filthy rogue!"

"What in all… HEBA!" Another lioness appeared, saw what happened and rushed to her aid. "Get off her!"

With a furious roar the lion let go of his victim, lashing out at Chagina, who tried to grab his neck. Protected by his thick mane, the lion managed to throw her off. A few seconds later, she lay next to Ruya, whimpering and barely conscious. Immediately he turned back to Heba. Now crying, the young lioness tried to crawl away from him. She screamed, as she felt him getting hold of her again.

"Make sure to tell your brother about this when I'm done", the lion hissed in her ear as he bent down again. "I want him to know who fathered his… OH YOU CAN'T BE SERIOUS!"

The brute looked up and saw yet another lioness rushing towards him. With a swift motion, he dodged her attack and send her to the ground. He already lifted a paw for the final blow, as he saw that she wasn't alone. Two full grown males, one unknown to him, but the other with the dark coat he would never forget followed her and in the distance, he heard the roar of a third. "Told you I wouldn't forget it!", he shouted at the dark one, before he turned around and ran off. "This isn't over yet!"

"So, you do know him!", the king concluded heavily panting and glared at Askari.

The lion was busy checking on Ruya and Chagina. Both were moving, so he turned his attention towards Tekelea, who tried to comfort the sobbing Heba and exchanged an aghast glance. "Yes", he said, his voice like ashes, noticing their mistake way too late. "We do."

AN: Do you remember this guy? Well, he kept his word, that's for sure...