Thunder clashed above their heads. Lightening fled across the gray, ominous sky. The savannah was getting drenched, and any animal still out in the open was running in search of a refuge. Two lions darted for a stone ledge and slid underneath it together, laughing all the while. Rain drizzled off the edges of their sheltered haven. It was a snug space, but it was warm and dry for the two.
The dark-maned lion sighed, and then turned to face the lioness next to him. They were both soaking wet, but he couldn't care any less. The lioness grinned, and stared back at the lion. His green eyes didn't leave her rose red ones.
She was pleasantly puzzled by this. The lioness, Sarabi, uncomfortably glanced to the side, breaking their eye contact.
"What…?" she bashfully said. The lion, Taka, shook his head. His mane was sopping wet with heavy water.
"…I can't believe how fortunate I am," he replied warmly. A smile crept up along Sarabi's face, making Taka give her one in return. He brought his chin around the back of her neck and nuzzled into her.
"I love you dearly," he murmured.
Sarabi smiled, but it grew weaker over his shoulder. But over hers, Taka pinned his eyes shut, and a smile spread on his face like wings about to take flight.
This was it. He had to do it now. Everything was too perfect to ignore.
Taka took in a breath. He had waited so long for this moment. A moment that he had tried so hard to ensure that would one day be his: to spend the rest of his life with her.
This is it. He thought. Ask her.
Sarabi blinked sadly, contemplating something as he nestled into her. This wasn't starting off too good. How on earth was he going to take it if she told him what was on her mind? She knew Taka too well. This was going to break his heart.
This is it. She thought. Tell him.
"Love, there's something I've been wanting to talk to you about," Taka said. He was about to plant a kiss on her cheek, but Sarabi pulled away. Taka parted from her, confused.
Sarabi cleared her little throat, and forced a tiny smile. Taka stared at her.
"…Is something wrong?" Taka asked.
"…No…" she started . "But… there is something I've been wanting to talk to you about, too, Taka."
Taka grinned. "Alright." He straightened himself up and looked her in the eyes. "You go first."
Sarabi pressed an unhappy smile. Rain pattered on the ground just outside of their haven.
"Taka…" she started off. "…We've been together for a long time, now…"
"-Yes," Taka smiled in agreement. He had a rising hope of where this was going. "Yes, we have…"
"And…" Sarabi glanced away. She tried to find words that were kind enough to say to him. "You've been so sweet to me all these years… even in childhood."
She returned eye contact. Taka was staring. Nodding.
Sarabi looked away again.
"…But, recently… I think it's time that we-"
She sighed, frustrated. She didn't want to hurt his feelings. But she had to say it.
Taka blinked, concern rising at her struggle to find words. He then gave her a nice smile, raised his paw, and placed it on arm.
"It's alright," He encouraged her. "You can tell me."
Sarabi closed her eyes, and breathed in to compose herself.
"I think it's time that we come to terms that we are just becoming…" Sarabi opened her eyes. She ripped each word out of her mouth hard. "Two… very… different… individuals."
The smile on Taka's face began to fall apart. He was motionless. Sarabi stole a glance up at him in dread.
Taka's eyes looked hollow and empty. He was staring at her uneasily… and began to lower his paw from her arm. The rain outside still drizzled.
"Love…" Taka trailed off. He began to mouth his next words, but he hesitated—afraid, wondering if he should even ask.
"Wh… what are you trying to say…?"
Sarabi stared at him. She shook her head.
"…I don't want to be with you anymore."
Taka sank back, blinking. He spoke above a horrified whisper.
"What…?"
Sarabi cut in.
"I know you probably never saw this coming…" she added. "And…"
Taka stared off—something inside of him falling apart. He couldn't believe this. He couldn't comprehend what he could have done to have her make this decision. She was talking. But Taka couldn't hear her.
"…And I know this might be bit of a shock, but…"
Worried and crushed, Taka interjected.
"I… I don't understand…!" His green eyes glanced around for answers. "What did I do?"
"-Nothing!" Sarabi said.
"-Was it something I said?"
"-No! No, it was nothing you-"
"-Did I hurt you?" Taka went on. "I won't get mad if you tell me, I promise. Do you want to talk about it? Do you feel neglected? Oh, why don't you like me anymore, Sarabi?"
Sarabi's throat grew tight, and it made a hurt animal noise. She held it in, immediately biting her lip. She hid her face.
"No, no…" she said, and then looked up. "It's just that recently… I've been noticing a contrast with… us. I mean, the association you're choosing to be around isn't exactly a good influence."
"The hyenas?" Taka said, appalled. "Oh, dear, they're just hyenas. They won't leave me alone. To tell you the truth, I don't even like them all that much."
"Their habits are rubbing off on you," Sarabi said. "You're getting to be more… detached. And irritable."
"Is that it?" Taka asked. His eyes fell to the ground, ashamed of himself. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even realize I was doing it. I'll change, I can do better, love."
Taka suddenly breathed in sharply.
"…It's Shenzi, isn't it?"
At this, Sarabi perked up her ears and her eyebrows stitched together.
"Wait, Taka, what are you talking about?"
"Sarabi, darling, she's just a friend!" Taka declared. He shook his head, water flinging from his mane. "I wouldn't dare do such a thing to you!"
Sarabi shut her eyes in anger.
"Taka!"
Thunder rumbled in the distance—and Taka stopped talking. His eyes slunk around a few times… waiting.
Sarabi breathed in, and she calmed down again.
"…Taka, it's not just the hyenas, alright?" she said. "I've…"
This was the hard part. She had to push the words out of her mouth.
Sarabi looked at Taka. He was still drenched with rainwater. His green eyes were searching hers, looking for an answer. Taka looked so vulnerable and helpless right now... why did he have to be so good to her? This would've been so much easier if he was a jerk.
Sarabi completed her sentence.
"I've fallen in love with someone else."
Something moved under Taka.
He sank back, the whites of his eyes coming out of hiding. Lightning cut through the clouds.
No.
She couldn't have. She wouldn't have.
Taka pulled back enough to meet the stone wall behind him. He didn't know what to say. What to think. He blinked. Dumbfounded.
"What?" he nearly whispered.
Sarabi shook her head.
"There's someone else."
Taka blinked… and then blinked again. He stared off. He looked away to ponder. It couldn't be true. He had done everything right, hadn't he?
No. There must've been some mistake he made that he wasn't aware of. Some swift act of carelessness, or some gesture where he failed to consider her feelings. He had planned every facet on how he was going to ask for this lioness to be with him. Nobody could be a better suitor than him.
Taka pointed his nose down at the ground like a downtrodden dog. He brought a paw up to his face, and buried his eyes into it. He sighed.
Sarabi's head went down. Her eyes went back up. Silence.
The rain still drizzled outside. And then, out of the blue, Sarabi heard a strangled sob.
She shut her eyes in sympathy.
"Oh, Taka, please don't."
"No, I…" Taka articulated. He then sniffled inside his paw. "…I don't understand. You're my girlfriend. I love you, I-"
He stopped. It was useless. It was clearly over, but Taka held in a dear, anxious breath, and he threw it out there.
"Sarabi, will you be my mate?"
Once spoken, the lioness fluttered her eyelids like a butterfly trying to take off. Her eyes were huge.
"Urm..."
Everything around them had just grown painfully awkward.
She just looked around, unsure of how to react. Was this what he wanted to talk to her about? Her tense face slackened, and she sighed a long sigh. She shook her head.
"I'm afraid the flames that I've once had for you have… dimmed… since I've known him."
Sarabi studied Taka. He wasn't moving. His face was still planted in his paw. A heavy cloud of his own poured over him.
She had rejected him. Just like that.
Taka just sat there. But then he lowered his paw.
"Him," he said, a hint annoyed.
Sarabi looked back at him—apprehensive. Lightening fled across the sky, and a pair of green eyes came up from behind Taka's paw.
"What is his name?" he asked sternly… keenly interested.
Sarabi looked at Taka, panic coming alive inside of her eyes.
His name? If Taka knew his name, he would tear him to pieces. She knew it. Sarabi thus avoided the question.
"His name doesn't matter," she said softly.
"I want to know who he is, where he lives-"
"-Taka, please."
"-Be honest with me," he said, and bore his eyes into hers. They were stabbing. Sarabi stared back cautiously. She didn't really see Taka as she looked at him. She saw somebody else.
"Is it somebody I know?" he said.
Sarabi felt her whole body tighten up.
She looked into those terrible jade eyes. She couldn't believe that she had looked into those eyes so many times and told him that she loved him. Her better sense of judgment told her not to say a word. She was afraid of what to say.
Taka squinted at her, and then spread a sly smile, noting her silence. This said everything.
"So I do know him," he said. Sarabi started to say something, but Taka cut her off. Something he had never done before.
"-When did this happen?" he demanded. "Are you seeing him behind my back?"
"Stop, Taka, you're making me nervous," Sarabi pressed calmly. It was in that moment that Taka looked like he had just realized the tone of his voice. He stopped, like he had discovered someone else was yelling at her.
Taka then looked down, ashamed.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"You're forgiven."
The rain still pattered outside. Sarabi turned her head to look at it. Taka followed her gaze, and it led him outside. He watched the rain as well. They both sat in silence, save for the occasional thunder rolling above them.
Taka looked at the ground, but turned his head to her again.
"I just… get really scared sometimes," he said.
Sarabi promptly looked at him.
"This is exactly what I'm talking about," she said. "You have these bizarre mood swings all the time. One second you're fine, and the next… well… I don't know who you are… anymore. We're so different now, and I honestly think that you might even need some help."
Taka looked up, worriedly. Sarabi stared back at him.
Their eyes fondled with each other.
There was nothing else she could do.
Sarabi then reached over, and laid a paw on Taka's. Taka's gaze followed it, and stared at it as if it were some foreign thing.
Sarabi then put on a nice face.
"I'll always like you, Taka," she said. "But that's it. Nothing more. Nothing less."
Taka looked up. Desperate.
"But…"
He couldn't say anything else. Sarabi kissed him on the cheek, and rose up on all fours. She turned around, and faced the outside world.
Taka's eyes grew, and he asked her where she was going, but she said nothing, and walked back out into the rainy savannah.
Taka watched. He shook his head. He stood up, pleading that she come back, even begging that he take her home. But only her back faced him. She didn't look back. Not once. She disappeared into the hazy gray rain.
Taka fell back. He hit the stone wall behind him. That was it. He had lost her. Lost her forever to someone else. He hadn't tried hard enough. Worked hard enough, or spent enough time on her. He didn't even see the blasted signs. He had made her miserable. Everything that his father said about him, all them were true: he could never do a thing right. No matter how hard he tried.
Taka clenched his teeth, and tightened his eyes.
Tears began pressing on the other side of his eyelids. He bent over, and his eyes welled up. The ache in his chest grew. He couldn't take it. Something was breaking... and he couldn't hold it together.
A sharp yell slipped out of him. Taka staggered back, and hit the stone wall. Tears gathered faster. This was all his fault. He had failed—fallen short. He thought he had done nothing wrong, except love his heart out to her. Yet, she still wanted something more from him. Something that this other lion did, and got away with. Taka felt robbed. Or cheated out of the system. This wasn't fair. She loved someone else, and he wasn't good enough for her.
Taka squeezed his eyes shut and wept. The tears didn't stop. His breathing whistled. It felt like something was pulling him in two, and it was winning. Something tugged at his core.
He had never felt this way before.
The rain had picked up. It drummed the earth a little harder outside.
Taka drew in a breath. He let it fill up his lungs, and then let it out. He did the same thing, again and again, trying to push the pain away.
It helped a little.
As the pain dimmed down, and it gradually morphed into something else:
A faint speck of annoyance.
Thunder rumbled again. Taka clenched his jaw a little tighter. The speck grew.
Into bitter, swimming anger.
Taka opened his eyes, the hurt now gone. He glared at the ground.
Who was this brute, anyway? Who did he think he was? He had some audacity to steal the lioness of his dreams away from him.
If this was a lion that he knew, it narrowed down his suspects significantly.
Taka pushed himself off the stone wall.
This bloke thought that it was perfectly alright to steal something that was rightfully his. After all the history between Sarabi and him. After all the work that Taka had done to make sure that their relationship was safe and sound.
A dark rumble rolled in the clouds. Something inside of Taka grew close to bursting in anger.
Oh, he'd find this sorry lion alright.
Heaven help him once he did.
There was too much of a passionate stir inside of Taka for him to sit still. He had to walk it off. He had to vent on somebody. On anything.
So he went out into the rain.
The water smacked down on him, soaking him entirely in seconds. Taka strode.
He didn't care.
He squinted across the foggy landscape, and saw Pride Rock.
Taka then stepped forward in its direction.
He bowed his head to see where he was going.
He'd vent on Mufasa. He could trust Mufasa. His brother would understand if he told him what happened.
He always did.