Love Unites Us All

Interruptions

"I don't like this, Lema. He's been gone for days and there's still no trace of him!" Kito the Klipspringer gruffed as he anxiously paced back and forth on the grass of their clearing within the Mukuni Woods while unfruitfully trying to maintain his usual stoic expression on his face.

Lema, his effeminate Leopard companion who was currently resting on a branch of a nearby tree, nodded in agreement. "I know... I'm actually, like, getting really worried right now. I mean, it's not like Kopa to simply disappear without telling us where he's going." The large feline then sat up as an unwanted thought suddenly invaded into his mind. "Kito... you don't think something's happened to our Kopa, do you?"

Kito halted in his tracks and for once, faced the Leopard with genuine concern. "I don't know... I really can't say. I just hope our search party finds something..."

The moment he said that, the sound of rustling of leaves from behind them caused them to anxiously turn around, thinking it was their missing Lion, only to disappointedly see that it was no-one else but a familiar trio of genets.

"Oh, Mkuumba..." Kito sighed dejectedly at the genet leading the other two, but quickly recomposed himself to show respect for his fellow animal. "Well... any luck?"

"Not much. We searched the entire Woods but didn't find a single trace of Kopa. Although... we did ask around with the other animals, and some of them said that they actually seen your boy several days back... but none of them have seen him recently. So... I don't know, he might be around here, or he might not. We can't really say for sure," the leader genet said, making sure he didn't sound too optimistic in his report.

Lema let out a disappointed sigh while Kito grunted grumpily when the genet finished.

"Well... I guess you've done all you could, Mkuumba," the Klipspringer muttered before giving an appreciative nod. "Thanks for your help."

"Sure... although I must say, we could have done more if Rudo helped with the search."

"Yeah, he could..." Kito trailed off, as he began looking upwards and scanning the surrounding trees as if he was looking for their avian acquaintance. "Where is that loud-beaked Raven anyways?"

"Hey, you know what? I don't know if any of you noticed, but we haven't exactly seen Rudo around here recently either," Lema commented as he hopped down from the branch he was resting on. "Do you think he disappeared together with Kopa?"

Kito frowned as he considered the suggested possibility. "They could have... But if they had decided to run away together, then they could have at least informed us about it so we won't tire ourselves from worrying and searching for them!" The short-tempered Klipspringer grumbled in annoyance.

"Well... sorry we couldn't help much," Mkuumba said as he turned around to lead his pack back home. "We'll let you know if we hear or find anything."

He only took a few steps away when one of his subordinates decided to speak up unexpectedly, "Uh... actually Mkuumba..." the smallest genet began in a squeaky, high-pitched voice. "I don't know if this helps, but I asked that old Civet who lived near the borders yesterday... well, he said that he might have seen a Lion walking across the border towards the Pridelands in the early hours of dawn a few days ago. But I'm not too sure if he was talking about Kopa or someone else-"

"Wait, WHAT?!" Kito blurted out, causing the young genet to suddenly tremble with fear.

"Are you sure he saw a Lion?" Lema asked in a gentler tone so as to not frighten the young genet. "But the only Lion around here is Kopa... and knowing Kopa, I don't he's crazy enough to go back to the Pridelands after what happened the other night."