XII

A Cheetah's Weakness

When dusk bore into the day, the cubs would be found near a large river, watching as a hundreds, if not, thousands of herd animals moved into the waters, passing angry crocks on their way. A few died in the scurry, being trample or trapped, and still others were killed by those overgrown reptiles. Banjija licked his lips as he stepped forward, eyes wide.

"No," growled Meersha, putting a paw on his chest. "Look at all of 'em. Gali was right. We'll never be able t' catch one."

Gatu couldn't help his stomach from growling and neither could Meersha stop herself from licking her chops as well, gazing intently at the prey.

"Those crocks get all the luck," complain Banjija.

When night came, the migrating creatures that had not yet past the river quieted down, and so slept near the bank, as did Meersha and the other cubs, right near the waters.

Morning came, and the cubs were still by the river. But Meersha suddenly awoke, looking to see the face of a young hippo.

"Gali!" the lion cried, happily.

Gali dropped the zebra carcass, and suddenly the smell of flesh caused the eyes of Banjija to open, as well as wake up Gatu.

"Yum," Banjija said, licking his lips and staring at the dead animal. "Is that...?"

"Yeah. It's for you three." Gali answered.

They all jumped on the meat and began to dig in.

"Finally, we're first," laughed Banjija with a mouthful of bloody guts.

"Not really. The crocks had killed this one. I just stole it," the hippo explained casually. "My dad didn't want lions around the pod. Sorry 'bout that yesterday. Anyway, this is the first and last time I'm doing this for you."

"What!" Banjija cried.

"B-but-" Gatu started.

Gali shook her head. "Sorry, but tomorrow's sunrise, we're going back t' the river."

Meersha suddenly got up and padded forward to plead, "Please, Gali. Do you know anything about hunting?"

"No,"

"No, but she's an expert on stealing," Banjija remarked with a smirk.

Gali made a laugh-like grunt, only to reply, "I'm not a thief! Besides, I was doing this for you so you better shut it."

The cub laughed before eating some more. Gali then turned to Meersha warily.

"Please, we'll starve," Meersha said.

"I think the best thing for you to do is become scavengers."

"F-forever?" asked Gatu, gravely.

Gali shook her head. "No. Just till you get a little bigger. Or join or make your own pod."

"Pride," corrected Meersha.

"Yeah. Whatever." and she grunted again. "Oh man. Dad's coming. Run!" Gali then cried.

The cubs gasped, looking up from the meat only to see the great hippo charging at them once more. They quickly turned back around and scrambled away. The male hippo stopped beside Gali and grunted loudly. It seemed to reach out everywhere, sounding like low laughing.

Later, Meersha, Banjija and Gatu were crawling through the grass, tumbling over each other, growling and giggling like little cubs. Each tried to stay low in the lightly swaying blades, as if hiding.

"So why are we doing this again?" asked Banjija.

"The cheetah successfully hunts alone," explained Meersha, lightly batting at her brother and friend playfully. "If we study it, then we can learn from it."

"I don't get why we don't just try hunting ourselves." Banjija sighed then. "Those rogues...there was just two of 'em and they looked healthy. Obviously they hunted. And other lone lions do, too."

"Yeah, but the-they were b-bigger than us," Gatu replied.

"They were." Meersha stated in agreement. "Now if we take what our mothers and the lionesses taught us, and study other cats and their hunting ways, when we get just a little bigger, then we'll be the best hunters! But for now, we have to be scavengers," she delightfully added at her brother's expression.

"I'm not being a scavenger," Banjija then huffed.

"Never stopped ya before," his sister said, smirking.

"H-hey you guys, what's th-that?" stuttered Gatu.

They all looked up to see a slender, spotted feline, walking gracefully through the savannah, just a few yards away. But, as its ears twitched and eyes wandered over to them, the three cubs popped back low into the grass. After another minute or so of waiting, the cheetah suddenly stalked down a hill. Meersha, Banjija and Gatu hurriedly scrambled after it, watching carefully. The cheetah crouched a bit lower, its eyes not blinking as they sat on a herd of gazelle. It inched ever so slightly closer and, before long, the cat suddenly pounced. A gazelle snorted and took off, and the rest of its family followed, but the feline was on their tails.

"Whoa," whispered all the cubs at the same time as they watched from the top of the hill.

Suddenly the gazelle the cheetah had had her eye on turned to the left. The predator hissed and turned right after it. Due to the daunting turn, though, she had lost speed and the distance increased between herself and her prey. But, as she came closer with each step, the animal abruptly took a sharp turn to the right, after its family again. Once more, the cat hissed and found herself trying to turn without falling to the side. Angrily, she lashed out as she came close enough, but yet another time the gazelle turned. The cheetah was soon left in the dirt. One more turn and the animal was after its herd again.

Meersha could tell that there was rage rushing through the cheetah's blood as she stalked over to a near water hole to take a quick drink.

"I thought you said they hunted successfully," Banjija said.

"I guess not all the time...most of the time, though. I mean if it was never successful, how would she be living now? Hmm...I think it was those sharp turns,"

"What about 'em?"

"They prevented her from getting her meal. Both she and the gazelle knew it was her weakness."

"S-so everything h-has a we-weakness?" asked Gatu. "Even g-great hunters?"

"Gatu," said Meersha. "Do you remember when we were little cubs, waiting for our mothers to come back with a carcass? Well even when we were hungry we didn't get one all the time."

"Yeah," exclaimed Banjija as they all got up and began to walk away. "And when we went hunting with them, not all the time they got their meal..."

"We just need to find out what weaknesses and strengths each hunter we come upon has." Meersha stated.

"Well we have t' be careful, otherwise we'll be the ones hunted," laughed Banjija.