A/N: I do not own the cover photo – it belongs to kati-kopa from deviant art.
1 – Good Timing, Sarafina
The Pride Lands - a fertile place of enormous measurements. Diverse in its fauna, the lands were the home of a wide variety of animal species ranging from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope and from the tiny field mouse to the massive elephant (which, ironically enough, feared the small rodent). It was well watered and rich in greenery, making it a natural habitat for all of its vegetarian inhabitants. This, in turn, was what defined it as a suitable place for lions and other predators. The tall grass, which provided all the herds with nourishment and was found throughout the entire kingdom, was also the downfall of said prey animals. While allowing them to feed, it also enabled their hunters to hide and sneak up on them undetected, making it harder to survive. One would find the statement claiming that food could be treacherous weird but, alas, the Circle of Life has always been distinguishable for its unique, strange and often cruel ways.
One thing that was regarded as cruel about it was that, while filled with many beginnings, every start would eventually turn into an ending. Each sunrise had its sunset. Many referred to a monarch's time as ruler as something that rises and falls like the sun, eventually settling down on one's time as holder of the throne and rising with the heir as the new king or queen. Some saw change as the dawning of a new era. Many regarded the rise of the sun as a sign of beginnings while some simply looked at it as what it was: the signal of the start of what was most likely going to be a simple, regular day.
That particular morning was no different. As the sun appeared at the eastern side of the horizon, it was greeted by a young lion who eagerly made his way out of the den that was part of the rather unnatural stone formation known as Pride Rock. The chilly air of the fading night made his cream colored fur bristle ever so slightly, but it didn't bother him too much. In a matter of about an hour it would start to get as hot as an African day could be, anyway. As Mheetu came to a halt at the edge of Pride Rock, he once again felt completely speechless at the marvelous sight that awaited him. The Pride Lands were quite majestic in appearance. There was no denying that.
Nala's younger brother was still a cub, but he was already in the process growing out of cubhood and nearing his adolescence. He was somewhat larger than how big his sister and Simba had been at the time of the stampede. His mother, Sarafina, had told him that his mane would most likely start to grow any day now; a statement which provided Mheetu with a great source of anticipation. The young male was obviously thrilled with that knowledge as well as definitely eager to finally start growing his own source of pride (his mane – of course). He obviously considered this sign of growing up as an occasion of great significance.
Even though he wasn't exactly a cub, the young lion was still just as energetic and enthusiastic as one, which was pretty much why he was awake at such an early hour. It was something he and his brother in law had had in common, seeing how Mufasa's son had grown out of his habit of being an early riser a long time ago. There was such a huge difference between the Pride Lands Mheetu was now looking at to the barren wasteland he'd been born into during Scar's reign… The early months of his life hadn't been easy to say the least. One positive thing he did get out of it all was the close relationship he had with Nala, his older sister.
She'd helped their mother raise him, watched over him and protected him in case the hyenas were bored, eaten less than the small amount of food she'd managed to get for herself whenever he was still hungry and, also, she was his best friend. As gloomy and hopeless as life under Scar had sometime seemed, Nala's presence has always been a great source of encouragement and comfort for Mheetu. He looked up to her and admired her not only for all that she's done for him ever since the day he was born, but also for being the kind and loyal lioness that she was.
The young lion still remembered how upset he'd been when Nala left the Pride Lands to find help towards the end of Scar's reign. But, as distressed as not having her around all of a sudden had been, he'd always known in his heart that she would keep up her promise - and she had. Her brother couldn't remember ever feeling as helpless as he'd felt without her (even if Sarafina had remained with him) but it was definitely worth the wait. His sister had returned with Simba after being absent for a few days. On that day, Mheetu's life had taken a huge turn for the better.
Everything had changed before he could even start to realize what was happening. The most noticeable difference was the fact that the hyenas were gone. It was a new sensation for Nala's younger brother; to be able to go on his own without having any of the adults watch over him, to have that privilege of living his life without constant fear of death. It had taken him some time to get himself to go anywhere on his own but he eventually overcame his worries. Now he was just as carefree and happy as a cub deserved to be!
Another change, one the young male was still getting used to, was, well… his brother in law. Nala had told him about Simba a countless amount of times before finding out that he was still alive in the jungle but, obviously, her brother had never expected to meet him because he'd believed him to be dead. Against all odds, though, the banished prince eventually returned to claim his rightful place as the true heir of Mufasa. Mheetu didn't see it as a bad thing – on the contrary! He was more than glad that Scar and the hyenas were gone, but something that accompanied the coronation of Simba was him marrying Nala and taking her as his mate and queen.
Before Mheetu's young mind could comprehend what was happening, his sister suddenly had so many responsibilities to deal with as the king's second-in-command and so little time to spend with her brother. He had nothing personal against his brother in law. So far he was a much better king than Scar could have ever hoped to be, but to Mheetu it felt like this complete stranger (Simba) had taken his place in Nala's life. A lot of the spare time she did have was spent with her mate, meaning that her younger brother saw very little of her. It would be a lie to say that he wasn't a little jealous of Simba. It was so weird to see his sister show such devotion, trust and affection towards a lion he didn't know at all. Plus he still thought that being in love was gross (being as old as he was).
Even though the Pride Lands already recovered, meaning that a few months have already gone by since the one true king had returned, Mheetu was still very uncomfortable by his brother in law's presence. It's not that younger lion was afraid of him, but he couldn't help but feel a little awkward whenever he was around. Simba was really nice and all of that, but Nala's brother found himself having a hard time even trying to get used to the fact that the king was such a major part of his sister's life and, therefore, his life as well.
The childish grin on the soon to be adolescent's face widened as an idea hit him. It was still a very early hour of the morning, he thought, which meant that there was still some time before Nala would have to wake up and attend to, um… whatever it was she usually had to attend to. He's never really bothered with learning more about what a king and a queen actually had to do because it was irrelevant to him. It's not that he wasn't curious (being a cub, even if he was close to growing out of cubhood, his attention was easily caught by pretty much everything), but he felt like asking Nala would simply ram home how little time she had to spend with him. As for asking Simba, well, that was sort of completely out of the question. If getting these answers from his sister was most likely going to upset him then getting them from Simba would be an even bigger mistake.
Deciding not to waste any precious time, the queen's brother immediately turned on his heels and ran inside. His target was located in the back of the den, but it looked like he had many obstacles ahead of him. All of the pride members were sleeping pretty much all over the place, meaning that he was going to have to be very cautious in making his way towards Nala. He couldn't risk waking anybody up, especially not Simba. After some very careful calculations (or, at least, careful in Mheetu's perspective, seeing how he contemplated his situation for only two seconds or so), the determined young lion began to stalk his way through the slumbering crowd, paying extra close attention to where he was going.
A few stressful moments passed and eventually Mheetu found himself standing next to his sister's sleeping form. He couldn't help but make a slight gagging sound at how one of Simba's foreleg was placed over Nala's side as the two of them rested closely together. Honestly, could anything be more disgusting than this? The young lion frowned slightly as he realized that this was going to make his task even more difficult. He just hoped Simba wasn't a light sleeper. "Psst! Nala!" he whispered quietly, coming over to one of his sister's ears. "Wake up!"
The cream lioness' ears twitched slightly at the sound of his voice, but it seemed like her brother was going to have to go to bolder measures in order to wake her up. He raised an eyebrow as she giggled. "Not now, Simba…" she muttered sleepily. His mouth dropped wide open when she slightly moved her head so that it rested in her mate's mane as she giggled once more. "You silly lion, you…" Why, of all the nerves! Was she dreaming about him all the time now, too?!
Frowning, Mheetu decided to take things to the next level. He once again closed the distance between him and Nala's head, gently biting onto one of her ears and tugging on it. This situation continued for a few moments before his sister finally opened her eyes. Smiling excitedly, the young male let go of her ear. "Hey Nala!" he said, making sure to keep his voice down as she slowly moved from lying on her side to lying on her stomach. During those few seconds Mheetu prayed with all his hearts that Simba wouldn't wake up as a result of her moving about so closely to him and, to his relief, he didn't.
The queen blinked in confusion a few times as her mind slowly drifted from sleep to awareness. When her vision became fully clear she saw her younger brother looking at her with a broad smile. "Mheetu?" she asked, rubbing her eyes with her paws for a brief moment before looking at the entrance of the den. It was still very early and she was obviously 'intrigued' as to why the soon-to-be adolescent had decided to wake her up at such an hour. "What's wrong?" Back during Scar's reign he'd had a habit of waking her up because of a nightmare or because he was afraid of the hyenas nearby, but that was most likely not the case this time around.
"Let's go watch the sunrise together!" said Mheetu excitedly, looking like he was in quite a hurry. The sooner they went, the more time they'd have to be together before everybody else woke up.
At first Nala was about to just groan in annoyance and go back to sleep. After all, there was still plenty of time before she would actually have to wake up. However, seeing the excited, pleading expression on her little brother's face, she just couldn't say no to him. Also, she was quite aware of the fact that he wanted to spend more time with her, and this would be a nice opportunity to do so. "Alright, I'm coming." True, she was still tired and wouldn't mind getting some more sleep, but some things were far more important.
It took all of Mheetu's self restraint to not squeal out in excitement when Nala gave her consent and slowly rose to her paws. After all, doing so might have resulted in accidentally interrupting somebody else's sleep, and he wanted the chances of them being interrupted any time soon to be reduced to a minimum. Just as carefully as he had made his way over to the back of the den in order to wake his big sister up, the soon-to-be adolescent slowly walked back outside. Nala followed but, unlike her sibling, she decided to just go around all of the sleeping lionesses. Silly young ones – always looking directly at what's in front of them and not at the entirety of their surroundings.
The queen briefly halted as she stepped into the open air in order to stretch her somewhat numb limbs. As she did this, Mheetu happily ran back over to her and affectionately nuzzled against one of her forelegs, laughing for a brief moment as she gently urged him along by nudging him forward with her muzzle. He showed no signs of resistance and quickly pranced over to the tip of Pride Rock. This particular spot didn't provide as good a view of the Pride Lands as the very top of the rock formation did, but Mheetu preferred it because, while he would never admit it in front of anyone, he was kind of scared of heights.
To the young lion's delight, it looked as if he and his sister had arrived just in time. While not having gotten there before the sun had initially emerged from the east, the whole period of the early morning hours that was considered as 'sunrise' was still far from over. Since Nala knew her little brother well enough, she went ahead and lay down once she got to his chosen spot. Just like she'd expected him to, the small male immediately took the liberty of lying down on her forelegs while leaning against her chest. This position has always provided Mheetu with plenty of physical contact with the lioness's warm fur and it definitely didn't look like it was about to disappoint him this time around.
Nala couldn't stop herself from giggling a short giggle when she felt a purr of content rumble from Mheetu's throat. He was just too cute for her to handle. Normally, whenever they spent time together, her younger brother would always strike up a conversation about something random. But what he liked the most about spending time with his sister was the fact that they didn't necessarily have to talk to one another in order for him to enjoy her company. Because he's seen less and less of her recently, he was more than content with just lying there with her and enjoying the view.
The two siblings remained there for quite some time. It was after the sun had fully emerged that their attention was caught by a familiar voice from behind them. "Good morning, Nala." Mheetu didn't even need to look around in order to know who it was but he did it anyway. All good things had to come to an end at one point or another…
"Morning, Simba." It was very difficult for Nala's brother not to groan / frown / roll his eyes / make gagging sounds when his brother in law arrived at their side, giving her a short nuzzle which she happily returned while purring softly.
Then, much to Mheetu's already growing discomfort, the king looked down at him with a smile. "How are you, Mheetu?"
The younger male tensed up a little as the paw of his brother in law gently ruffled up his mane. Well, he didn't have a mane just yet but, much like Simba when he was his age, he considered the hair on his head as a mane. "I-I'm fine." he managed to stutter, smiling a small and rather forced smile as he looked up at the older lion. Then, much to his relief, before anybody could say anything else, he heard Sarafina's voice as his mother called to him from inside the den. She must have woken up and, seeing how he wasn't by her side, was wondering where he'd run off to. Without a second thought, Mheetu stood up and quickly made his way inside, feeling rather glad that he'd been given an opportunity to escape the awkward presence of his sister's mate.
Nala sighed and sat up as she watched the way in which her little brother hurried to leave. "Oh, Simba…" she said with a slight hint of concern in her voice. "I don't think he's starting to come around…" It's not that her brother's uneasiness around his brother in law was a bad thing that had to be dealt with as soon as possible, but she hated to see him so nervous around a lion who, at the end of the day, was a part of their family.
Noticing the worried expression on his queen's face, Simba once again nuzzled Nala for a brief moment before staring at the entrance of the den. "Yeah, it looks like it." He wasn't oblivious to how uncomfortable his brother in law felt around him. In a way, he could understand why, but he still wished that things didn't have to be that way. After all, as the king, he had a commitment to the wellbeing of all of his subjects, especially when the subject in question was his mate's brother. "You know I wish it weren't this way."
"Of course I do." said she. It was obvious. Simba would never intentionally make somebody else uncomfortable. It wasn't in his nature. "You know, I did have an idea that might make him feel more at ease around you."
The king's expression lit up as Nala said that. "Really?" If she had thought of something then, by all means, he wanted to hear it. Anything was worth a try. "What do you have in mind?"
"Well…" Nala didn't know what her mate would think of her suggestion, but he seemed like he was willing to give anything a try. It was one of the things she loved about him; he always seemed to have the wellbeing of others on his priority list. "I was thinking… How about the two of you spend some time together, on your own?" she asked. "I believe that Mheetu should get to know the real you; not the lion who's almost constantly busy fulfilling his duties but the playful and, well… somewhat annoyingly immature lion underneath." Mheetu was a very playful individual himself, which was another reason why the queen was so upset that he saw her mate as a stranger.
Simba was silent for a short moment. "Are you sure?" It's not that he had anything against the idea of spending some time with Mheetu, but would simply forcing the younger lion into doing something he was so reserved about doing – to be in his company – be a good idea? "Wouldn't that make him even more uncomfortable?"
"I hope that, after some time, he'll simply realize that he has nothing to worry about." said Nala. After all, it's not like Simba would bite her brother's head off. "Besides, if he just keeps avoiding you, he'll never realize that he shouldn't be so distant towards you."
As much as Simba still believed that just forcing interaction between the two of them might not have a very positive effect, he couldn't help but agree that the current situation could not continue. Mheetu would never learn to be comfortable around him if he kept trying to never cross paths with him. "Wait." he said all of a sudden as a thought occurred to him. "I don't think this can work out…" He was the king – after all. Simply taking an entire day off wasn't something he could do (even if there were days where he dearly wished he could). "I've got a few patrols to go on today, and then I promised the leader of one of the rhino herds that I-"
"I know, Simba." said his mate, cutting him short. She knew more than well that he always had something to do. He never had a free day, but she'd thought about that ahead of time. "How about I'll take care of your chores for today?"
"Are you sure?" asked Simba, not sounding very satisfied with her suggestion. "You also have to lead the hunting party later and I don't want you to do everything on your own…"
"I think I can manage through one day." replied Nala with a chuckle as she licked her king across his cheek, causing him to smile sheepishly. "So, what do you say?" Simba thought about it once again for a few moments before nodding his head in agreement, a determined look on his face. Giggling excitedly, the queen gave him another loving lick before standing up and heading towards the den. Her mate followed closely behind and the two of them stopped after taking a few steps inside.
It wasn't hard to spot the only member of their pride that wasn't an adult. Mheetu was sitting in front of Sarafina, who appeared to be talking to him about something, but what prevented Nala and Simba from approaching was the absolutely horrified and maybe even disgusted look on the young lion's face. It was almost like he was staring at somebody being brutally murdered, except that he was actually facing his own mother. "And that's where cubs come from." she said.
A/N: Good timing, Sarafina, good timing…
This story was basically going to be a very short oneshot which I was going to dedicate to the birthday of a friend of one of my readers. While it is still dedicated to her, it won't be a oneshot. I think there will be 2 more chapters – but I don't know for sure yet. You could say that this is my first attempt at a humor-themed fanfic, so let me know what you think! There wasn't too much comedy in this chapter, I know, but I can assure you that the real fun is about to begin!
This is actually a side project. My main focus is on another TLK story called "Somewhere Out There". Make sure to give it a look if you're a Kopa fan, please!
This short story will be completed eventually; you don't have to worry about me possibly abandoning it, but I don't know when my next update will be. Like I said, my focus is on my other story and I'll be putting the next chapter together whenever I have the time.
See you guys later! Be sure to review and to check out my other story! Also, if you have any friends who might be interested in reading either one of these, make sure to lead them here! Thanks in advance!