"Takaaa!"
The young lion leaped lively, claws out as his merciless paws crushed grass and ground, a grin on the dark features as he chased an helpless mouse. While not a gifted hunter, Taka enjoyed trying his luck, especially if he obtained results. In fact, after a minute of chasing, he pounced on the rodent and pressed his squirming body against the savanna floor, a sharp smile on his lips.
"Life's not fair, huh?", he laughed, baring his canines before opening his mouth and lowering it onto the mouse's head. However, his lunch ended the moment he heard that annoying voice shouting his name. Turning his head in the noise's direction, he removed pressure and so his prey squirmed out and fled. This earned a frustrated growl from young Taka, who stared at the bird condescendingly once he landed beside him.
"Didn't your mother tell you not to play with your food?", said the mature hornbill, folding his wings against his hips as he reciprocated Taka's expression with his own unamused one.
"Zazu, you made me lose my lunch", said Taka, narrowing his eyes.
"Well, if you knew a thing or two about hunting, you'd know that you should not play with your prey, as it is prone to escape with the slighlest distra–"
"And who do you think has distracted me?", replied Taka, wrinkling his nose in spite.
"A good hunter is focused enough not to get distracted by a minor thing! That is another of the things you should know."
Taka hated Zazu with all his might. Not only did he receive more attention from Ahadi than he did, but he somehow called him useless, which only put him in a seriously bad mood.
"Stupid bird…", thought he to himself as he walked back to Pride Rock with the avian flying above him. "I wish I could teach him a lesson and get away with it…"
However, when they arrived, no one seemed to be there, not even the lionesses. When they reached the top of the Rock, they found out all the lionesses including Uru had gone hunting, and that Ahadi and Mufasa were attending kingly duties a bit further away.
"Guess I'll be looking after you until the lionesses or your Father return", chuckled Zazu, holding his beak up high with a proud grin as he marched inside the Rock's main cave.
Although very against this outcome, Taka hadn't forgotten about his wish to mess with the hornbill.
"Yes, Zazu", he said in a silky tone, marching behind him as they stood in the middle of the cave. He was having an interesting idea…
"Very well", said Zazu. "Just in case, I let you know that if you commit any further infractions or behave incorrectly, your Father will be informed immediately. Is that understood?"
As much as it made Taka's blood boil, he managed to bear his comment as he slumped on the ground, intending to play a trick on the avian.
"Don't sweat it, Zazu. I'll be a good boy, I promise", he said, stretching his paws and reaching out to the smaller, pulling him against his chest in a… hug? Zazu squeaked, finding it strange and out of character of Taka.
"Just what do you think you're doing, young man!?", he complained, batting his wings as he was harshly pressed against the end of the mane. Seeming as he was starting to feel suspicious, Taka relaxed his embrace and adopted a soothing demeanor.
"Awh, can't I just give my favourite hornbill a hug?", he said in a smooth tone, sweetening his words considerably, which in turn made Zazu blush.
"E- Er- uhm… T- Thank you very much-"
"Tell me, Zazu, am I your favourite lion?", he sweetspoke, doing his best to release a purr. When Zazu was about to comment that he'd chose Ahadi or Mufasa ten times over him, the vibrating sound made him melt.
"S- Surely, while your brother Mufasa has better manners than y–"
"Ooh Zazu!", dramatized Taka, releasing the bird to rest the back of his paw on his forehead, free paw open on his chest, as if struck by an arrow. "That makes me so sad I don't even… Oh! After all this time…!"
Zazu squirmed out of his arm and landed on the ground, folding his wings to his chest cleaning himself.
"N- Now, Taka, Taka! If only you'd listen to me- The only thing I want to tell you is that you should try being more respectfu-"
"I'm simply not your favourite", pouted Taka, laying on his side while turning his back on him. "Mufasa gets all the fun stuff, just because he's the chosen one… He's Dad's favourite… Mom is too busy to give me attention… And who I thought was fond of me… i- is not…" Rising his head he gave a loud sniff, slowly releasing some crocodile tears. Due to this heartfelt little act, Zazu shyly inched closer, leaning a soothing wing on his shoulder.
"…While I'm not as fond of you as I am of your brother-", he paused, as the beggining of his comment caused Taka to whail louder. "…I'm sure I would change my mind if you'd oblige to change your attitude-"
Suddenly, the teen turned, wrapping his paws around the bird and pulling him to his face.
"I'll do anything to gain your approval, Zazu! Anything!", he whimpered, smiling to himself when the hornbill wasn't looking.
"V- Very well– ack!", squeaked Zazu, squirming against the fur. "For starters- r- release me, will you!"
The dark-maned lion did so and, once the bird got back on his feet, he nudged him with his head, rubbing himself against him as he purred.
"Thanks for giving me an opportunity, my dear Zazu…", he hummed, giving an entire lap around him until his tail flickered under the bird's chin, causing his feathers to fluff up. "I'll make sure not to make you dissapointed…"
"So, are you going to teach me to hunt?", uttered the younger as they exited the Rock. Seeming as the sun was starting to set, the hour was ideal to grab a snack fit of a lion. As Zazu overflew the Pridelands, he located a group of hyraxes frolicking around in the fields. Ultimately landing on a rock nearby, he waited until Taka sat down to reply to his question.
"Why, indeed, I am!", he proudly said, puffing up his chest a tiny bit. "It's the least I could do, seeming as we've finally come to terms in regards to your behaviour!"
Taka gave a crooked smile, but the bird didn't suspect a thing. He knew his Father and brother were coming back from the stroll, but that didn't stop him from coming up with a plan for the bird.
"See that group of hyraxes?", said the bill, pointing it out with his index feather. "It'd be a good start, seeming as they're close to your size. You have to keep a reasonable distance, hide in the bushes and wait for them to lower their back…"
Zazu kept rambling on, looking in the dassies' direction and unsuspectingly paying no heed of Taka. The teen, in the meanwhile, was following Zazu's instructions, though not precisely towards the hyraxes…
"…And then, and ONLY then, is when you have to strike– Huh?", Zazu turned around, eyes not quite locating the feline. "Taka? What are you doing, where are you? You better be doing what I've just told you, or else! We came to an agreement, rememb–?"
A loud screech followed the unfinished words as brown paws roughly pinned him to the ground. When he returned to himself, his eyes were staring at bright green ones, a sharp mouth threatening to chop off his beak.
"Agreement?", said Taka, claws keeping the thin muscles still as he pressed his lips together and cocked a brow. "Oh I'm so sorry, you know how bad I am at remembering things…"
"Unhand me this instant, young man", squirmed the bird, pathetic legs kicking about, "or I'll ensure your Father receives notice of your behaviour, from ME!"
Zazu's audacity ended as soon as Taka licked his lips, the light in his eyes adopting an obscure, tempting tone.
"Don't worry, I don't think you will… make it out of this."
Said this, the hornbill logically tossed and turned as hard as he could to escape, and before Taka could even breath on his face, he was already flapping away. His wings were hurt from the claws, though, so he couldn't fly well.
"Sire!", screamed the avian, noting that Taka was chasing him. He batted his wings breathlessly, but it was useless. In a matter of seconds, the lion jumped up, hoping to tear the bird to shreds with his teeth. Instead, he found him lowered head-first inside his mouth and, two seconds later, down his throat. However, due to his neck size, Zazu found himself lodged in the tube of muscle.
Taka replied to this by trying to cough him up - after all, this wasn't what he had planned. His idea was to kill the hornbill and hide his corpse to both avoid suspiction and get rid of him without blame. However, now that he was feeling the featherful body against his palate and tongue… the idea of swallowing him whole seemed ideal. Not to mention he had a beautiful bulge on his throat waiting to go down… Or did it?
"Get me out of here immediately!", with that scream and by thrashing about inside the tube, Zazu made Taka's neck vibrate. With both the idea of fulfilling his plan and that occurring, Taka closed his eyes and released a throaty groan, pleasure making his fur stand on end as he spread his mouth open, which made his throat muscles pull away from each other and allow the bird to go down.
Giving an audible gulp he breathed harshly, feeling the bump on his throat vanishing and quickly forming in his stomach. Once the bird slumped inside his torso, he stared at his now round belly with both delight and surprise. He couldn't remember the last time his stomach had looked like this. He was usually given the last piece of meat during lunch, so his torso didn't grow that much.
''Guess I won't!'', laughed Taka, his big, slimy tongue licking Zazu's taste off his lips. Turning around, he stood on his fours, but upon starting to walk, he felt ticklish inside his stomach as it swayed from side to side.
Suddenly, the bird dared to speak up, but all that could be heard was loud, incoherent mumbling. Everything added to the warm, tight feeling in his belly. Chuckling again, he decided to rest on the grass, gurgling noises coming from his abdomen as it slowly began to digest. Taka couldn't stop licking his lips, and ultimately slumped against the field, spreading his limbs in delight upon the digestion of one of the animals he hated the most. Now that he thought about it, if only it were posible, he wouldn't mind eating his own brother for all he cared. But he knew he couldn't, so at least this satisfied his needs to some degree.
As Zazu tossed and turned beneath his fur, Ahadi and Mufasa had already returned to the Pridelands. Upon seeing his son enjoying himself, the King walked towards him and lowered his head.
''We're back, son'', he said, to which Taka perked up and sat up. ''Everything okay?''
''Yes, Father'', he said, tail flickering nervously. As he said this, more mumbling came from his stomach.
''Woah, brother'', said Mufasa, head leaning close to his belly, staring at it intently. ''What did you eat?''
Oh, fuck, he's lost for good… Or not.
''A- An hyrax'', replied Taka, and then pointed at the herd of hyraxes a few meters away beside them.
''Hm? And have you seen Zazu anywhere?'', asked the older lion, tilting his head slightly. ''I need to inform him that our duties have been successfully done today.''
''Zazu… Oh, yeah'', said Taka, as his fast mind had been able to create an alibi to excuse himself. ''He was… He was just a second ago here… I had asked him to teach me to hunt, and I succesfully caught an hyrax thanks to him, but… I think he suddenly flew away to look for you, Father, Brother.''
Ahadi seemed thoughtful for a moment, but he bought it. ''Then he shan't be too far. We'll wait for him at Pride Rock.''
Said this, Mufasa and their father headed in the Rock's direction, while Taka stayed on his spot, rubbing his squirmy belly with his paws. He turned around too, squishing his belly against the grass and feeling the avian's body pressed inside the walls of his stomach.
However, as he looked to the horizon, he realized the sky was getting dark, so he stood up and, with a still round, bloated belly, he slowly marched towards Pride Rock. This was one of the very few things he managed to get done. How come he hadn't thought of it sooner? It had been a brilliant idea to eat the King's annoying majordomo. This day had definitively been the best of many now, he thought.
''Seems to me that you're indeed my favourite hornbill, Zazu'', he commented, a purr coming from him as his belly squirmed even harder now and the avian inside mumbled louder. ''Too bad you won't be for much longer anymore…''
