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A Chance Meeting

Six seasons have passed, placing Kijivu in the long grasses of the Mitopanna Savannah. Now three years old, the white Lion's body has darkened slightly to a light grey, his head capped with a young mane of bright white. His silver eyes stare out from the brown grasses. Jiweusi had taught the young Lion to hunt, but he was still young, playful, and sometimes very awkward, that first kill too elusive for his inexperience.

He had grown very large on Jiweusi's milk, and his growth predicted him to be a force to reckoned with once he fully matured. But for now, the young lion lay in the grass, having tormented a few impala. They had grown wise to the white lion, and moved just out of range.

Kijivu was fairly far south of the Water Hole, and he was probably in Cheetah territory now. Although solitary in the wild, the Cheetah of the Mitopanna liked to gather from time to time. Growing bored of the game he played with the impala, Kijivu moved off toward a ravine not far off. Since last year, Kijivu had been coming here to play.

The stones were great fun in the sloping ravine, which wound North towards the Kikkao. It was hard to say what made the ravine, Kijivu simply assumed it had once been a river. As he approached his usual hang-out, the young lion paused.

He could have sworn he heard something. He waited, he listened, but nope, nothing. He remembered how he loved to run up the slope, leaping rock to rock. Chance had the upper hand, and his game was to see if he could land on the next rock before the previous one tumbled down the ravine with deafening crashes that echoed off the ravine walls.

There it was again- Kijivu knew he heard something now. He strode out onto some of the larger, more stable boulders. They provided him with a good vantage point, as his ears swiveled to investigate. A breeze picked up from the North, so Kijivu lifted his nose to it. He smelled Cheetah... and blood.

The sound came again, very faint, like a weak bleat of a gazelle's calf.

"Hello?" Kijivu offered, curiously.

"I'm stuck," came a faint, beautiful voice, the sound marred with pain.

Orienting on the sound of her voice, Kijivu leapt down into the stones, placing his feet on the ones he was familiar with for being stable.

"Careful!" the feminine voice cried painfully, "Don't crush me!"

"I won't, I know my way." Kijivu called.

In a few moment's, Kijivu found himself looking down on the slim back of a young female cheetah. She wrenched her neck to look at him. She had the most beautiful aqua eyes. Her golden body flinched and jerked, and suddenly the Lion noticed the blood on her chin. This Cheetah could be terribly injured.

"Hey, don't squirm, you might make the stones shift."

"Go away!" the Cheetah cried out desperately.

Kijivu ignored her, moving down closer. She was pinned in a tiny hole, and there was only one way that Kijivu could see to help her. She kept struggling to look at Kijivu, craning her neck to look at him with those fury-filled but absolutely beautiful eyes.

"Keep away from me! I'd rather die!" she snarled fiercely, her teeth pink with her own blood.

"Quiet, easy now... you'll get us both killed," Kijivu glanced up the ravine nervously.

"Mother! _I said keep away _!!" the Cheetah screamed. A clatter came from above, Kijivu looked up to see a stone tumble down the ravine, hurtling towards the Cheetah. Before it reached her, it exploded into tiny bits as it struck a harder stone above them, dust and flakes of rock raining down over them.

"Listen to me," Kijivu said through gritted teeth, "If you want to live, you'll be quiet and you'll be still, got it?"

The Cheetah looked up fearfully, her deep crystalline eyes glimmering with fear. Her face was dusted and a flake of stone rested on her nose. Finally those eyes met his gaze, and for a moment Kijivu let himself swim in the beauty of this female's features. Her nose was a perfect rose pink beneath the dirt, her golden, spotted coat browned by the stone dust, her creamy white chin stained dark red by her own blood... but in spite of her poor state, Kijivu saw her as the most beautiful creature he'd ever seen. The Cheetah's beautiful eyes fluttered with fear at his lack of response, but something about the way he was looking at her turned up a half smile.

"Okay," he said softly. "I'm gonna get you out... but you have to trust me, okay? Do you trust me?"

"Yes." Her voice was barely a whisper.

Kijivu moved down over the female Cheetah, straddling her. She wriggled beneath him in protest.

"What are you doing?!" she whimpered as she felt his massive form above and on top of her.

"Please, trust me," Kijivu said, finding footholds in the stone on either side of the Cheetah. He wrapped one forepaw over her shoulder and gripping her thin form by her opposite armpit. "I'm gonna bite you... I might hurt you, but please know I don't mean to."

Bite me?! He was! He was going to do what she feared! He was going to force himself upon her! What a stupid thing for her to do, to actually respond to this brute's calling out to her!

Kijivu was able to get his mouth around most of the Cheetah's slight neck, and immediately she stiffened and then went nearly limp. As she did so, Kijivu walked his hind legs up the boulders, putting him in an awkward crouch, his head and shoulders at nearly a 90 degree angle from his hips above him. He whipped his body with all his might, and with a painful cry from the Cheetah, He pulled her mostly out of the hole she'd been wedged in. He let go of the Cheetah's neck, and he felt her begin to wriggle a bit, her paws scrambling for a foothold on the smooth stone. Once she gained a purchase, Kijivu carefully let her go and she limped out onto the large boulder.

Once she was safe, Kijivu leapt over to the same boulder to see her. His entire body ached from the exertion, but he wasn't paying the pain any attention, he was honestly quite aroused by the ordeal, the beautiful Cheetah so close to him, in his power and her slight form beneath him. Part of him wished he'd taken longer to relish the feel of her slender body against his belly. His loins flooded with blood, but he tried to keep his composure out of respect for the Cheetah and her ordeal.

She sat, licking her foreleg. With each lick, she was spreading blood from her mouth, so it was getting very difficult to see her injury.

"Wait, wait," Kijivu said, "Let's get you to safety... out of this place. Then we'll have a look at your wounds."

For a moment the Cheetah female glared at him, looking rather 'how-dare-you-tell-me-what-to-do!'. Her expression softened, however. Without the help of this large, strong young whit lion who knows how long she would have been trapped... or even if she would have ever been found at all. She owed him, and she hated him for it. Not only that but by the smell of him he rather enjoyed this little escapade.

Little did this Lion know how much trouble he was about to be in, especially if her mother came along and saw him. But, he was right. The cut on her tongue was bleeding badly, and she would never be able to clean up her leg like this.

She followed him carefully, limping heavily behind him. He was careful to find a way that was not overly difficult for the injured Cheetah, something that she did appreciate. It took a long time, the sun was reddening the sky, but finally they settled in the grass to rest.

She was exhausted. She flopped on her side, panting heavily, her still bleeding tongue lolling out in the grass. Kijivu ached stiffly, but he set to work on cleaning the Cheetah's foreleg, and with his clean tongue he made much better progress on her wound than she ever would have. Her panting slowed, and she seemed to be dozing.

Kijivu inspected her leg thoroughly as he could, now he had limited time with light. Severely bruised and scraped, her leg was not broken. Kijivu felt relieved by this, a Cheetah with a broken leg is as good as dead. He got up and moved to her face. Indeed, she was sleeping. Kijivu smiled at the sleeping beauty, and then set to cleaning her jaw.

"Mmm..." the Cheetah murred softly, and began purring in her sleep. "Mother..." A large warm tongue was washing over her face. That tongue... Wait, that tongue is huge! That's not her mother...

The Cheetah leapt up, with a gasp, then winced on her painful leg. "What- er- Who are you?!"

The white Lion looked at the golden Cheetah. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to frighten you awake... but your tongue stopped bleeding, finally."

She smacked her lips. He was right. Her tongue still hurt terribly from where she'd bitten it during her slip and fall, but at least the bleeding stopped.

"And you'll be happy to know you didn't break anything. Your leg's going to smart for a while, but you'll heal fine, I'm sure."

"Who are you, White Lion?"

"My name is Kijivu, Beautiful Cheetah." Kijivu face-pawed- he hadn't meant to mention what he thought of her quite yet... oh well.

The Cheetah seemed taken aback. She flattened her ears a moment, but then the Lion, er- Kijivu? Slapped a paw over his face. He seemed honestly embarrassed, offering an awkward smile. She remained vigilant against him. Mother had said that Lions could be tricksters... this one could just be a good actor.

"I am Mzao, though, I don't expect we'll meet again anytime soon, Lion."

Kijivu felt genuinely hurt. What had he done to upset her? "What have I done, Mzao?"

"You've done enough." she said, snappily. "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your saving my life, but then again, it was service I had refused. Yet, you violated my will and forcibly removed me."

"And then I showed you what rocks were safe to step on so you wouldn't fall again!" Kijivu said, frustrated.

"I told you to go away!"

"And if I had you'd have surely died!"

"And as I said, I would have rather died!" Mzao snapped haughtily.

Kijivu frowned at the heated snarl on the Cheetah's beautiful face. "But Mzao... I thought..."

"You thought wrong." She snorted, she stood and turned to limp away.

"It's because I'm white, isn't it?"

This made her turn and look at him, her face wrinkled up in a cute, confused expression. "What?"

"Because... because I'm... Maluuni."

"Maluuni? You mean, cursed?" Mzao laughed genuinely. "Right, it would have nothing to do with the fact that you're a damn Lion."

It was Kijivu's turn to be confused. "What?"

"Oh, so you didn't think I knew about you Lions, did you? Thought I was a stupid little cub, stumbling about like a gazelle who ate fermented pears."

"What?! Now, wait a minute!"

"Well, you were wrong. I'm smarter than I look. Don't you worry, my mother has taught me all about you Lions, the cruel victimizers that you all really are. Oh it was an excellent ploy,

Kijivu, I actually thought- for a second- that you helped me out of pure kindness, but I know your kind better than that."

Kijivu laughed now. "Oh, really? Your mother taught you that, huh? Well, what Lion put a kink in her tail?"

Mzao opened her mouth to retort, but a voice from behind her stopped her dead. "His name is Juakali."

Kijivu was just as startled by the stealth of the old, greying and sway-backed old Cheetah that walked behind Mzao, her deep green eyes flashing angrily. Mzao seemed to shrink- her body language expressed fear of her mother. Kijivu observed this, and firmed his constitution against this new acquaintance.

The old Cheetah loped up to the large white Lion, their noses nearly touching. "What have you done to my daughter, Lion?"

"Oh, nothing, just saved her life, that's all." He glanced at Mzao to try to catch some kind of expression from her, but she had turned away.

"And what, exactly, did you save her from?"

"She had slipped in the ravine, and she had become wedged between some boulders... I think her foreleg was trapped. I thought she... and you... would be glad I got to her before the vultures did."

"We owe you nothing, Lion."

The old Cheetah turn to her daughter. "Does he lie?"

Mzao turned, looking at Kijivu.

"Don't look at him!" the old Cheetah reprimanded. "Does he lie?"

"No, Mother. He does not lie." Mzao offered her leg to her mother. "I passed out after he saved me," Those beautiful crystaline eyes flickered to meet Kijivu's gaze quickly. Kijivu could see a new softness in them, as well as a gentleness in her voice. "He could have left me, or killed me... but he tended my wounds."

The old Cheetah eyed Kijivu, who was confused. He had never known that Cheetahs had such a dislike for Lions. Then again, he'd never had an opportunity to meet one before. He wondered if all Lions mutually hated all Cheetahs. He felt horribly depressed. Mzao... She was so beautiful... but, obviously... He sighed.

"Look, I'm sorry. I just wanted to help, that's all. I didn't mean to interfere, or anger anyone. I'll just go, and never bother you again. It was kinda nice to meet you Mzao, and..."

"I am Kimbio." the elder Cheetah said uncaringly.

"It was nice to meet you, Kimbio and your daughter, Mzao. May the sun shine on your coats, and may your journeys always be safe."

With that, Kijivu nodded, taking a final look at the beautiful Mzao before he turned Southeast, aiming for home, back with his mother in the Acacia tree down by the Water Hole.