Backlogged RP from before Yukio joined the Bahari.
It had been damn near close to a fortnight since Zuberi had accidentally stumbled upon the abandoned cub, with each passing day the realization that her mother had indeed abandoned the adorable ball of fluff becoming more apparent. Each day Yukio had become more frantic, desperately grasping at any and all hope that her mother was going to return. Or she did up until their little trip into the nearby pride's open market. The two had spent the entire day there just asking around and searching for any clues as to the whereabouts of the missing lioness. Not a single soul in the pride had seen, heard from, nor even had the slightest inkling on the existence of a lioness of her description.
Zuberi was tempted to call her a Phantom in the making based on just how quickly she could disappear without a trace.
Her actions enraged him to no end. A part of him actually wished for the lioness to have enough gall to come strolling through the den's entrance just so he could have the honor to meet the lioness who had bigger balls than any male he had ever met. He was sure that Yukio and him would be utterly fascinated by whatever half-assed explanation she could come up with to explain her abrupt absence. With it, hopefully bringing the tiny cub some closure on the matter.
Alas, he highly doubted that wish was going to be coming true in this lifetime.
His problem now was how to break it to the child that she was unlikely to be seeing her mother - nor the siblings she endlessly raved about - again. He didn't do kids, he didn't do bad news, he didn't know how to handle this dammit! His job was to scout, not to give a piss poor attempt to play therapist to a understandably heartbroken child! Oh, how he dearly wished that he could get in contact with Aquila at this very moment. Why the rest of the Collective unit, him included, might have teased her about being a rather large mother hen to the rest of the group they could also respect that was also no one better who could offer better advice on to avoid landmines in social situations. What he wouldn't give to get just a brief moment of her consult so he didn't have the full brunt weight of the possible mental scarring of a child weighing on his ill-experienced shoulders.
So, he did what any reasonable bachelor did when trust with the sudden responsibility of having to properly pull himself up by the boot straps and actually adult like he hadn't adulted in his life before: he ignored the issue for as long as he possibly could.
He might not have been at his proudest of moments, but dammit he needed time in order to weigh his options on how to approach this! This wasn't some throw-away decision that could be overwritten in a week, this was a little girl he had to consider!
Speaking of which...
His gaze flickered down to the cub perched upon her rock. Over the past few days she had fallen into the same routine of sleep, eat, sit on her rock, stare out for hours to the landscape outside without uttering so much of a word, pass out in the wee hours, and rinse and repeat it all again in the morning. The first few days he had expected it, he could appreciate what she was going through was tough. However the more time he spent with her the more he started to get concerned. He had never seen a child so...lifeless before. All the cubs had been so bouncy and full of energy, always rip roaring and ready to go, yet she sat in a catatonic state.
He had to wonder how much of a childhood she had been allowed to have so far since as he learned she didn't even seem to understand the basic concepts of the most basic cubhood games. In fact, she seemed almost nervous to fully go out and express herself freely without consequence. It was as if someone had expected even at her young age for her to refrain herself in a manner that extremely exceeded the normal standards for a cub her age.
He could tell that there was still a ember of passion that burned within her, it just needed the proper room to flourish without being smothered.
The first time he had managed to see a glimmer of that passionate side to her was when he had pulled out his beading tools to continue working on his current project why she ate. As soon as he had started his work her eyes lit up with glee and the familiar natural curiosity that should have always been gleaming in her eyes at that age. But as quickly as it came it was snuffed out once he offered her his tools to allow her to play with them as she pleased. Whatever toxic training had been slammed into her hit the reverse button on any progress they had made, and she reverted back into her shell within a blink of an eye.
It only added more fuel to his determination to ensure that one way or another he would find a way to make sure that she would be able to recover from this. This child was going to have the best child he could possibly provide going forward, all the opportunities to heal and find true self in her own time, at her own pace.
He was pulled out of his thoughts by the sudden feeling of a soft head brushing against his legs. Letting out a small 'hmm' he lifted the limb currently being bumped against, allowing the cub to cuddle close to him. Her head simply going limply on his front paws. For a time they just sat like that. He didn't know what else to do other than to relent and willingly concede in her silent demands for the moment of affection that she clearly felt that she needed at the moment. Finally her voice rang out from underneath his chest, "She's not coming back is she?"
Letting out the breath he didn't realize he was holding Zuberi's leg wrapped around Yukio's torso, pulling her into his attempts for a comforting hug. "No, Yukio. I'm afraid not." He answered back solemnly.
It was one thing to think it, fear it, see the writing on the wall, and feel it in your gut. It was another thing to hear the confirmation of the news that you couldn't believe was real.
She might have been raised poorly, but she was not raised a fool. It didn't take a genius to put the writing on the wall together. Though for the life of her she couldn't wrap her head around her mother's actions. All her life the stories that they had been told all had families, happy endings, and great lessons that life would conquered all in the end.
She loved her mother, she thought her mother loved her back, so why wasn't that enough?
"My mama was sad. She was really sick." She began, hot tears whelping up in the corner of her eyes. "We all tried so hard to make her happy, we really did! We found our own food most of the time, we kept quiet to not wake her up, we-we took care of her..." All of their attempts to 'cure' her had been in vain. Yukio had to wonder if her mother even noticed their actions at all? Surely she must have!
With the start of a sniffle she rubbed her face against her shoulder. "But nothing...nothing helped. I heard her mumbles, I heard her talking to herself so many times, I know we were the things that made her sad all the time but-!" Yukio's claws dug sharply into Zuberi's leg. Her voice cracked to barely over a whisper as she continued on. "Why this? I don't understand how she could do this." She shouted, her paws lifting to wave wildly at the front of the cave. "How could she just leave us!? I thought she loved us! She said she would be back but she..." Her voice trailed off into a soft hiss, "Didn't."
His heart wept. So young, and yet she had been forced to grow up far too quickly for her years. Now he understood her behavior, now he understood why she seemed so different. She hadn't been given the opportunity in her entire life he would imagine to simply be a child, to be cared for without worries, to be selfish and spoiled.
She had not experienced having the true love of a parent.
Tenderly he set his paw on the small of her shoulder, slowly rubbing circles into it as he tenderly pushed her back down into his embrace. She had been trying to keep all of this in for so long for the sake of her absent parent. He wouldn't stand another moment. "Shhh, let it out, babygirl. Let it out." He encouraged as her face buried into the crook of his neck, her body starting to shake with the tell-tale shivers of open sobbing.
There was a pause as he just rocked her in his arms, letting her scream and cry out the emotions boiling over.
"As you said your mother was sick, and extremely so as it sounds. For her to give up such an amazing, bright, loving daughter is astounding to me. I will never understand her actions, so I can not speak on her behalf." Zuberi mumbled to her in a soft, loving tone. "But I do know that she was wrong in them. You deserve better, as did the rest of your siblings."
Yukio's head turned to the side, her paws clinging onto his fur for all dear life. In one of the few lessons that her mother had provided she explained extensively the dangers of the world for a cub. Without her Yukio had to wonder where that left her? "I-I dunno what now. Where do I go without her? I don't want to be alone anymore. I can't be alone again, it was so scary."
Oh sweet summer child, stop breaking his heart. With a tsk of his tongue he gazed down at her, a mild smile forming on his face. "You won't be." His smile only grew at her response to his statement. Her head tilting up to peer at him bewilderingly. "I can't promise you that things will be perfect or that I can provide the best care for you. But I can promise you that I'll do everything in my power that I can do to make sure your safe, sound, and happy."
Yukio's eyes widened as she scanned his face suspiciously. She didn't understand why a stranger, a man who she hadn't known more than a month would offer her more than what her own mother did.
Course she was learning very quickly that there was simply a lot in life she just didn't understand yet.
"You won't leave me?" She tepidly asked, her brows furrowing together tightly.
"No, Yukio. Even if I do have to leave you to go handle business sometimes, I'll always come back for you. No matter what."
Frowning Yukio's paws anxiously kneaded into his side as she took a moment to fully take in what he was offering. She could handle being alone, but she couldn't handle another parent abandoning her again.
Course, what other choice did she have besides putting her trust in him? She had no other known family, she wasn't strong enough on her own, her siblings were god know's where. It might have been an extreme gamble, but it was one she would have to take.
With one last sniff she pried one of her paws from his fur, holding it up to him expectantly. "...You promise?"
Chuckling Zuberi leaned his weight back on his hunches, using the paw that wasn't wrapped around her waist to return her crude pawshake. "I promise."
"You do?" She pressed, her expression flickering with a brief astonishment. She hadn't actually expected him to promise, promise!
"Absolutely."
"You sure?" Her face fell into one of the more serious faces that she could muster. Though she failed to realize she looked more like a chipmunk with a bad eye infection than anything remotely intimidating. "Double wild dog, cross your heart and hope to die, stick your head in an anthill otherwise promise?"
His brow cocked at her bizarre request, though his face couldn't hide his amusement. Finally she was showing traits that she was still a child. Good, it was a start. "Double dog, hope to die, cross my heart, and stick my head in an anthill otherwise, and any other rhymes you wish to throw at me promise."
There was a pause before Yukio calmly nodded her head. "That'll do then." She remarked.
Only time would prove if he was going to hold true to his word but at the very least she could enjoy a brief time of respite.