Yuan and Kozo had six wonderfully healthy cubs and Kozo couldn't be happier about it. This was her third time in mother hood and her biggest litter yet. She knew a thing or two about how to raise cubs and couldn't wait to start teaching these cubs a thing or two about life. Already all the cubs were weaned off her milk which meant that it was time for the lioness to hunt.

Yuan Gui had been so good about the hunting and support her during her weakest period of nursing the cubs that she felt it would be good to go out and repay him and her cubs by going on a hunt her self. There had been a little bit of nervousness from Yuan but Kozo had managed to talk him in to letting her go out and hunt. She felt fine and a bit of time away from the cubs for a while would be the best thing she could do for herself. Yuan had agreed to stay behind and watch the young cubs.

So out she went with her mates blessings in to the great fields to stalk something worth dragging home. Preferably something not so large where she'd not be able to drag its hide back to her loved ones. Kozo was a skilled huntress and knew it might be a few days before she was able to find that perfect kill and that she needed to be swift and quick to make sure that the creature did not get away from her. Hunting with out the support of a pride behind her had proven to be a bit of a challenge. Her and Yuan had risen up to this challenge and flourished even with out that support so Kozo was maybe a little over confident.

Tracks were the first thing to catch the lionesses eyes. It seemed like a whole herd of different kinds of grazing animals were on the march together which looked to be in the direction of a near by watering hole. It would take the female lioness a good day before she caught up but the lioness was up to the task. She felt well rested with all the time she'd spent with her young cubs and was ready for the trek.

Kozo traveled through the night under the shine of the star light through the long grasses of the the savannas. In the morning she found a resting spot where she got a bit of a power rest before setting out again. Her aim was to get to the watering hole around the time the sun was setting in hopes she could snag a beast while it was knelt down in the grasses.

Her perseverance paid off as she found she arrived right when she hoped and indeed a good deal of the hooved beasts were knelling down in the grasses beside the watering hole. It seemed as if they had set up camp here undisturbed by any other predator as of yet which was great news for Kozo. Near by was a gazelle nestled far enough away from the rest of the herd that Kozo knew she'd have an easy time snagging the little thing and break its neck before the rest of the herd had any idea of what had happened. It also looked quite old.

Kozo smiled and smacked her chops as she lowered closer to the ground below getting ready to strike. Her hind legs in the ready position as her front paws kneaded the ground below in anticipation of her jaws locking around the small creatures neck.

Just a flash of blue and red followed by the scattering of an assortment of all kinds of beasts. Success. The gazelle hung dead from her power jaws with a bit of blood dripping. The hard part would be dragging this dead thing back safely to her family waiting for her now. Kozo was confident in her self though. She'd hunted most of her life, however, most of her hunts had been either with a pride or with Yuan. Kozo wasn't counting for the fact she had a long ways to go back alone or that a pair of orange eyes were watching her now from just a little ways away and had yet to make them selves known. The rich metallic smell of blood clogged the females sense of smell making her unable to notice anything but her self.

But a crinkle sound in the grass behind her had head turn to find a very thin and very scary looking hyena with a bright green pelt. It looked as if this hyena hadn't a pack and was on her own. With the support of a pack a hyena would never get so thin. At least this is what Kozo assumed. The female lioness tucked the carcass between her front paws and took an aggressive stance going so far as to let out a menacing roar.

"Begone scavenger. I rightfully killed and I have a family to feed. I won't be sharing," Kozo's jaws snapped together to show her very powerful sharp teeth, "I will only warn you once," Her claws were out now as well.

Maybe given any normal day Vila would heed such a warning but it had been weeks since she'd even smelled blood or tasted the richness of meat. Vila was on her own but the hyena could tell that so was this lioness. She was starving and had been waiting for another creature strong enough to take something down so she could maybe run off with a scrap. The hyena's fur was up and her stance was something aggressive as well as her teeth shown. This lioness had no idea what starvation was like, or at least Vila assumed as much. Vila was going to eat and she didn't care if she had to throw her life in danger to do so at this point in time.

"I said BEGONE," There was another powerful roar from Kozo but this did not scare off Vila. The green hyena was advancing upon her and even as she finished her roar. Vila had managed to grab one of the gazelles legs and started to pull at it viciously like a crazed dog attempting to severe it from the body so she could run off. Kozo was not having this and swiped at the hyena's face twice. Vila yipped and retreated back only to lung her self towards the lioness and wrapped her self loosely around the lionesses front leg. It was enough to have Kozo bleed. She roared and bit down on the hyenas back, lifting and throwing her a ways.

The two fought for a good while exchanging blows while Kozo did her best to guard the meat for her family. The final blow was Kozo wrapping her teeth around the green hyena's neck and yanking out her jugular. Vila was dead with in an instant but the damage to Kozo was also severe. The lioness laid between the dead hyena and gazelle trying to catch her breath. She definitely did not have the strength to carry her kill let alone her self back to her family. Her only hope was that maybe Yuan would come find her in time.

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It had been a few days and Yuan was now worried about his mate having been gone for this long. Gathering the cubs for travel he and the family tracked Kozo's paw prints. It took a couple of days given he was managing six cubs by him self but he managed to figure out her end point. The watering hole.

Finding Kozo with out a kill is mostly what he expected. The male would not have been mad about that at all but he imagined that maybe Kozo's shame would prevent her from coming back empty jawed. What Yuan didn't expect to find was his mate would be lying between two dead bodies on her last breath of life.

He'd left the cubs by a near by tree just shy of the watering hole thank the gods because this sight was too gruesome for even him.

"KOZO" He called. Weakly Kozo opened one pink eye. She gave him a very faint weak smile and replied.

"Shoo........" Before the light in her eyes vanished. Yuan's ears dropped to the side of his head. He rushed to Kozo's side. She didn't even see him. She saw Shoo. Her original mate. She died calling to another male but Yuan couldn't not be by her side his eyes wet with tears.

Thats when he recognized the hyena beside her. Vilagos and him had a few encounters where they had made an alliance together and here she laid beside her mate. It looked as if she'd been a corpse even alive on the brink of death. She had taken his mate with her.

There wasn't a whole lot Yuan could do. He couldn't bring her back but he could stay with her for a little while. That was what he did before heading back to his cubs to be a proper father as best he could.

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