I.
Simba casually lounged about near the jungle floor, nicely hugged inside of a gnarly tree root that looped out of the ground and then connected in a tangle of other roots beside an ancient tree twenty or so feet from the one Simba laid next to. He gazed up lazily at the branches that shaded him against the medium blue sky, white clouds floated along tossing light gray shadows and caused the sun to become obscured every few seconds. The teen lion let out a lazy yawn.
A sudden scuffling in some bushes behind him caught his attention.
"Timon?" He got to his feet. "Pumbaa?" the lion lifted a paw and paused. "Is that you?" As the somehow hesistant rustling continued, Simba adopted a smug look. "You guys stalking me...?"
The bushes parted immediately and a cheetah rushed right out of it. Scared witless, Simba had no time to react as the slendor feline bulldozed into him. Though he was smaller Simba was still fiercer at the idea of danger and he thrust the heavier cat off of him. The cheetah stared into his eyes with scared orange ones; she was much more frightened than he was. It clicked then, she was running for her life. A large creature crashed through the bushes after the defenseless cat.
The cheetah was already gone and Simba was pounced upon immediately, but this time it was with the intent to kill. Though his attacker was much larger and bulkier than he was, the young lion wasn't still long enough for the creature to gnash him with his huge paws. As they brawled Simba could tell at last that it was another lion, his unkept mane covered his face and the white clouds passing overhead had finally started to really cover up the sun. The lion bared it's yellow fangs at Simba, seeming to be driven by hunger and desperation. This lion was starving to death.
Simba slipped from under his attacker and the two tangled for another minute. The two finally paused, out of breath. The younger lion saw just how thin this lion really was. What was once probably a big, proud cat had now diminished into a hulking mass of bulging ribcages partially hidden by a ratty mane. The muzzle under this mess wrinkled and Simba knew his time was up.
His assailant opened his mouth all the way and thrashed his unwilling victim onto the ground.
The will and fight Simba put up was strong... but not strong enough. Just as the famished lion's fangs were ready to rip off his head the eyes that shone behind the mane caught sight of who he was about to kill. The younger lion continued to snarl and growl fiercely, he tried reaching up to snag off a chunk of his attacker as well. But the older lion, however, merely stared down at him.
"Simba?" The voice wasn't weak. It was strong, familiar... shocked.
Immediately the lion let Simba up and he stumbled back with his teeth half-clenched and claws ready to inflict. The steely look glistening in the young lion's eyes did not lessen as the older lion stepped into the waning light under the greying clouds. When Simba saw his face he was struck with bewilderment. There was something familiar about it but he couldn't rationalize it at the moment.
A/N: No, this isn't an A/U. So what is this? Find out soon!