Chapter Ten: He Will Live

I couldn't kill Itunya.

I didn't care if he was of no use to me--

Itunya would live.

I couldn't do it.

I could kill all the others, but not him. I could not stop seeing my mother in his wide, terrified purple eyes, that still held that surreal knowing, knowing that he would die and there was nothing to stop it.

The same thing my mother had known. The same thing I had known; I had known she would die, I had been there, I had seen Sorake and Wazakhol die...

Ikaine's little brother will not die this day. He is traumatized; he won't remember this. Not that I did it, anyway.

Itunya will live.

There was a flurry of movement around me as Zira, Piga and even Tojo rushed to me.

"Karibua! Itunya!" Tojo cried in horror, dashing at us. Itunya, unconscious, lay sprawled across my back. He was a little thing, blue fur, purple eyes and tailtuft. He didn't even have the beginnings of a mane, yet.

Just a bit roughly, Piga took Itunya's weight off me and placed him on the ground, and gave him a short sniff. "He's not hurt," she declared, "none of the blood is his." Something in her expression twitched at that but she said nothing more. She narrowed her eyes at me, however.

"What happened?" Zira demanded in a snarl.

"I found him… like this." I lied. "The rest of the Pride… they're…" I took a gulp as if bracing myself, but the truth was I had something in my teeth and swallowed it. "They're all dead, murdered. Many were dead when I got there and the ones that were still alive are probably dead by now. But… but I didn't see Ikaine anywhere." At least that wasn't a lie. We were up the river, far enough away from the River Pride's base so that it looked like I really had just stumbled in on the carnage. They knew I couldn't navigate my way in these treeless, markless lands, it was believable enough.

Zira looked thunderstruck and Tojo didn't seem much better. Piga's jaw dropped, and I could have sworn her eyes grew glassy-- but she quickly avoided my gaze. Suddenly, she swung her head around back and me and roared, "How do we know you didn't do this?!"

…Smart lioness. Though, I did have some wounds on me. I couldn't have expected to fight an entire Pride without getting some wounds in return. But they were all in places that weren't that easy to spot. Piga was obviously very observant.

Tojo stared at her as if she were insane, and I couldn't help but feel the slightest bit impressed by how strong he sounded, even though he had just learned his family had been killed, "Are you crazy?! Karibua… I admit he's strong but he's not… he couldn't kill an entire Pride!" He exclaimed.

No, I couldn't. I thought, glancing at Itunya. Not every single one. Not unless I went stark-raving mad. But not even that could make me do it.

"You know he nearly killed you earlier!"

Tojo blinked, "What? That? He just tackled me to the ground! I mean, I can get annoying sometimes so I don't really blame him--"

Piga elongated in a growl, "He. Was. Going. To. Kill. You." She seemed particularly upset by this. I guess she cared more about Tojo than she let on.

Zira rounded on her sister, hissing quietly so Tojo would not hear (though I strained my own ears to hear), "Enough of this! Scar trusts him so we should as well!"

Piga growled back in the same low tone, "You're always doing everything Scar says--"

"As should you!" Zira spat.

Piga opened her mouth to retort something, but she closed it a second later. She said nothing but it was clear-- at least, to me-- the message in her eyes, Maybe I shouldn't anymore.

An alarmed Tojo interjected, sensing the hostility, "Guys! We can't fight amongst ourselves right now! We have to get Itunya and ourselves somewhere safe, in case what-- not who--ever did this comes back!" He paused and added, "And we should find Ikaine."

There was a silence, before Piga (gently, this time) lifted Itunya by his scruff, with Zira determinedly leading the way (she declared she had found some of Ikaine's scent earlier), while refusing to even look at her sister.

We had to return Itunya to his big brother.

We'd only been traveling for fifteen minutes at the least when a high-pitched voice cut through the air, "Kariiiiii!" It was a bit distant but there was no mistaking it.

Great Savannah, please don't let it be-- It was of no use. Not that the Savannah would've listened to me anyway.

"Kariiiiibuuuuaaaaaa!" A great yellow blur launched out of the grass around us, and the wind was knocked out of me as I was barreled into from my right flank.

I couldn't hold in a groan as I shook my head to clear it. I opened my eyes to see a pair of orange ones staring down at me. "Xithoga." I grumbled.

She grinned down at me. "Pinned ya!"

"So you did." I shot back crossly.

"Where have you been I've been so worried I thought we were friends Yekopa's getting really mad at you for disappearing so much lately Ukatib's been teaching me a lot of hunting stuff you won't believe what you've been missing and guess what Tara's pregnant it's Yekopa's I know he doesn't deserve the pleasure of being a father but still you can't help but feel happy for Tara you know she's always wanted a cub and now she's gonna have one I wonder what he'll look like hopefully nothing like Yekopa ew…" The young lioness babbled.

She will never leave me be will she. That was rhetorical.

Tojo looked thoroughly weirded out. "Uh, dude…? You know her?"

"Her name is Xithoga." I grunted, straining my neck to look at the blue-eyed young lion. "We belong in the same Pride. Shadow, but you know that." I glared at Xithoga, "How did you find me?"

She actually looked surprised, "Karibua, it's easy to track stuff in this grass!"

I hesitated, "No it isn't."

"Yes it is! All you gotta do is focus on the scent you're looking for. Y'know, ignore the grass-smell." She insisted.

"It is impossible to do anything in this damn tallgrass." I told her.

"Nuh-uh!" Pause. "And you shouldn't curse like that!"

"It is." I retorted, ignoring her last comment.

She made a exaggerated scoffing sound. "Pfft. Just because you can't do it doesn't mean everyone else can't." That was exactly what it meant, thank you.

Tojo was wheezing with laughter. "I like this girl!"

And moments later, after much argument...

"She's not coming with us." I deadpanned.

"But she's fun!" Tojo whined.

"She's daft." Zira cut in. Piga wisely chose not to say anything in our debate. Itunya was still unconscious.

Xithoga raised her scruffish, yet still somehow feminine eyebrows, "Um… you do know I'm right here, right?"

We ignored her. "She'll hold us back. Send her back to Shadow. I'll escort her myself if I must." I vowed. However, as soon as I said Shadow something came crashing back to me. I was supposed to rule Shadow. I had told Scar it was my destiny to overthrow Yekopa. I of course still wanted revenge for my mother's murder, but no longer did I really care about leading the Shadow Pride.

I don't know what made the change. It used to be of the utmost priority to me, and now…

Funny how goals change as you grow.

But Yekopa would still die, that much was certain.

Xithoga looked more than a little hurt at my words. I ignored the tiny pang in my chest as Tojo said, "How will she hold us back? Obviously she's a good tracker-- hey, hey! Maybe we can create our own Pride!" He shouted out the last part. Piga swept her tail across his mouth; he was too loud.

"Of course not," Zira scoffed, "We're going to Scar."

The muscles in Piga's tail tightened around the darkish young lion's mouth and Tojo coughed a bit. His blue eyes were wide as he stared up at Piga, obviously wondering why she was still keeping him quiet. The brown tuft of fur on his tailtip was puffed up, and so was the rapidly spreading beginnings of the mane around his head.

There was also the pinkness of a blush creeping through his darkish fur-- no easy feat. Being so near Piga must've been affecting him.

I wondered what kind of inherited bloodlines this guy had to have to look so naturally comical.

Xithoga tilted her head in confusion, "Scar? That creep who's King of he Royal Pride now?"

Zira looked offended at this. Piga's expression did not change.

Spluttering as he finally wrenched Piga's tail off him, Tojo agreed, "Yeah! Why should we go to him?"

I could almost see Zira's mind thinking fast, "Scar is the Royal King now, and as such, he has the authority to find out whoever did this to our Pride." Something flickered in her eyes as she said the last part, something dangerously close to grief, but she pushed seemed to push it away. "As you know, the Royal Pride has more power, more resources, connections and power--"

Tojo interrupted, "You already said 'power.'"

"--to get the job done, and get it done right." Zira ignored Tojo. "They supervise all the lesser Prides, if you will. They live differently than us. Lions and lionesses can only have one mate in the Royal Pride, and do not… necessarily have to kill off the cubs born during the former King's reign."

My first thought was, Clever.

I stiffened as the meaning of Zira's words dawned on me.

They didn't have to-- what?! Why didn't all the Prides have that rule?! This could have all been avoided--!

No use crying over spilt blood. A silky voice I did not recognize hissed in my ear.

For reasons I did not know (I seemed to be unknowing of a lot of things lately), I listened to it. No use. I agreed.

Xithoga looked as stricken as I felt. "W-what?" She whimpered, but Zira didn't seem to notice her distress. That or she didn't care.

The tan-gold lioness was staring down at her intensely, studying her. "You have the looks of an Outlander." She said at last.

Xithoga's brows furrowed together, "A whatlander?"

How stupid could she-- I'm not even going to comment. How many times had Ukatib told us about the-- geez.

Zira snarled at her and Xithoga flinched back, "An Outlander, stupid girl!" Her red eyes were alight with fury. "I carry their blood in my veins, and you look as if you do too!"

"I… do?" I think Xithoga believed she had become a parrot.

"Yes!" Zira exclaimed in exasperation, baffled by the yellow she-cub's stupidity.

"Whoa, whoa, there, Zirwhatsit!" Tojo said, stepping between the two females. If possible, Zira seemed to grow angrier at the nickname (that I had actually come up with a few hours before.). "No need to go off on 'er like that!"

There was a tense pause, and Zira, looking as if she would like nothing more than to snap the birdkeeper's neck (where were his birds now anyway?), hissed maliciously, "Shouldn't you be mourning for our Pride, Tojo?"

Even I knew that had been the wrong thing to say.

Tojo froze, mouth dropping open. His tail drooped until it hit the ground and his shoulders slumped. A horrible, dawning look appeared in his sky-blue eyes, which suddenly didn't look so bright. It was then that I realized he had been blatantly ignorant of the fact that his family was dead, and the reality of the situation had just crashed down on him because of Zira's words.

Piga bristled at her sister, who pointedly ignored her very existence. "How dare you--"

Then Itunya woke up, stirring and mumbling quietly in his sleep, and I too felt my own shoulders slump; but this time with relieved tension.

All eyes landed on him, and all went silent. Time seemed to freeze.

Itunya will live.

He will live to see his brother again.

A/N: I think my writer's block is finally wearing off! Review, guys, to show you're still with me? Won't blame you if you're not.