A/N: Hey guys! Nala-Nay here again. So I decided to write a one-shot about our favorite lion and lioness, Simba and Nala…BUT THIS NEW AND IMPROVED. I had a CRAP load of grammatical errors when I first posted it. This is set after Can You Feel The Love Tonight, when Simba says to Nala "Forget it!" and she says "Fine!" and he walks away. Well here, she runs after him.
Note: lol in here, Nala refers to the hyenas as 'mutts' such as dog, but if you look hyenas up or watch Animal Planet, you'll find that hyenas are really in the cat family 0.e!
Disclaimer: I just own the one-shot and the REDONE one shot lol.
Secrets and Realizations
A golden lion and a creamy colored lioness, who once use to be the best of friends, were now in the middle of the jungle in a very heated disagreement.
"You think you can show up and tell me how to live my life?! You don't even know what I've been through." The golden lion known as Simba, turned away from his best friend in a huff. How dare she chastise him on how he should live his life. He had been living Hakuna Matata for a long while now and he wasn't about to change just because somebody from his past told him to do so. A terrible thing had happened to him in his past when he was younger and he thought it'd be better if no one knew about it, especially Nala and not to mention his mother.
"I would if you just tell me." He heard the creamy colored lioness call behind him pleadingly, but he didn't want to turn back. He was just too upset with her.
"Forget it!" He called back to her over his shoulder angrily.
"Fine!" Thinking she had left well enough alone, he walked into a clearing, wanting to literally clear his head. Then he heard a rustle and looked behind him and immediately turned back around to face the opposite direction. She just wouldn't give up.
"No. Not 'fine'. Simba, you need to talk to me." She pleaded with him calmly.
"I've said what I had to say, Nala. Leave it alone." For a second, he thought that she was done when he realized she hadn't moved, but then, she went and stood right in front of him, letting him know that she wasn't giving up without a fight and wouldn't let this go until she got an answer. Simba rolled his eyes impatiently, "Nala, please!"
"No! Simba, I haven't seen you in years and now you're telling me to leave you alone? Not a chance. I want answers." Simba turned to look his best friend in the eye to study her facial features. She was showing true signs of concern and her eyes were looking a little watery. They were both adults with very strong personalities and not to forget that they both had that stubborn emotion down to a T. But then we all remember that even the most strong will have a breaking point and show what they've been hiding.
"Nala," he seemed to be stuck on what to say without being an ass, but yet still try to keep her calm, "you really wouldn't understand."
"Then help me understand. Tell me why you can't or won't go back. I'm not leaving until you do." She's so stubborn! He thought to himself, but he remembers that she's always been this way. How would she react to him after he told her, if he told her, what had really happened? Would she ever speak to him again? Accuse him even worse than what he has already done to himself?
"I really can't tell yo-"
"You can't or you won't?"She cut him off hotly and this pissed him off. Screw trying to be nice anymore!
"YOU CAN'T MAKE ME TELL YOU ANYTHING!" Now, it was Nala's turn to get in his face and give him a piece of her mind. Her fur and emotions were already on edge. They had met, shared some feelings, and now they were arguing, trying to say who was wrong and who was right. Neither of them knew what the other had been through and from what Nala could see, Simba was the one who had the easy life. She got nose to nose with him, even if he was a little taller.
"You know, you said to me 'you don't know what I've been through', well you don't know what I've been through." Nala's best friend rolled his eyes in arrogant disbelief and took a couple of staggered steps back. He threw his bead back,
"Oh, please. What you'vebeen through? It couldn't possibly top what I've had to deal with in these past years." The aqua eyed lioness stepped one paw closer to him, narrowed her eyes, and bowed her body a little,
"You wanna bet?!" Deciding to challenge this girl, he tested her by deciding to name all the things she had that he didn't.
"Let's see…you still live at Pride Rock with our mothers and the pride, you have a king, get to eat regular food, protection…should I go on?" The lioness eyed her friend in disbelief, but then quickly changed her façade and looked away. "That's what I thought." However, the female brushed his last comment away as an unwanted bone.
"Yeah, you would think that, seeing as how that's the way it was when you left." His face quickly dropped and he grew confused at her words. What was she talking about? The Pride Lands were almost just like this place, except there weren't many prides or prey animal.
"What do you mean 'that's how it use to be'?" He had come up beside her the way he did earlier before she told him she had missed him. When she told him earlier that Scar had let the hyenas into the lands, he thought for sure that she was lying and it was just a way to get him to come home.
"Simba, you," She closed her eyes as her voice cracked and she bent her head down, "life is not the same. Our home is not the same place that we use to play in."
"How is it different, really?" His voice was calm when he enquired that she tell him more.
"It's a desolate- wait," She faced him and his eyes widened, " If I tell you what I've been through, you have to tell me what is going on in the head of yours." Well that sob story ended quickly, Simba thought to himself, but knowing that he himself was a fair lion, he complied,
"Alright, Nala. I'll tell you, but you really aren't going to like it." She sniffed a little.
"It is that bad, Simba?" A smile came to his face,
"Hey, you first."
"I could turn this around, you know." Nala said with a nonchalant look,
"Oh, and how's that?" He teased her.
"I asked you first to tell me what's wrong." She countered.
"Well, I asked you second, but if you want to get technical and seeing the gentleman that I am," he put a paw over his heart and bowed his head, "Ladies First." The creamy lioness's mouth dropped ever so slightly, but as quick as it did, another counter thought occurred,
"Age before beauty." Simba, now baffled, looked away in defeat.
"Touché."
"If it's any consolation though," he brought his head towards her, "you won't like, or may not, even believe what I have to say. Scar is a horrible leader as I told you before. The hyenas-"
"You're really serious about that."
"Simba, I'd never lie to you." She implored that sentence to him through her eyes as well, " But yes, they are everywhere and everything is dead. If I go back without help, he'll-" She stopped in the middle of her sentence, wondering whether or not if she should tell him more about Scar.
"He'll, what, La?" Nala turned to look her lifelong friend in his scarlet orbs with tears in her eyes that she is trying her best to hold back. He had called her the nickname he gave her when they first met and she missed hearing it. She hadn't heard it until now since the day he disappeared.
"I'll be forced to-"
"Force to…"
"To be queen, Simba! And I refuse!" Her words, she cried now and it made him immobile. Was his uncle really that bad? Surely not. Simba has known his uncle to be one of great wisdom and gave great advice, but seeing how upset his friend was, this is something that was indeed true. But why would Scar pick her? Well, duh! Simba ridiculed himself inwardly. She's beautiful, strong, smart, perfect in every-
"No." Simba's breathless word was due to the realization that just hit him and his eyes met Nala's, "he wants you to have his heir?" Nala nodded her head, her tears wetting the soil beneath her, nourishing the ground. "Oh, La…" He wrapped his arms around her, providing her a comfort zone, forgetting all the negativity and confrontation they had a few long lasting minutes ago.
"He has made pass after pass and every time I decline. He has a lioness there that is devoted to him in every way, but yet he still comes after me." Her anger was showing through now as was his and she pushed away from him, but not directing her irritation towards him. Scar is old enough to be the girl's father and he wanted her to be queen? "You should see the way he treats us lionesses, Simba. Nothing is fair and we have been forced to over hunt just to feed his mutts."
"I can't believe this." The lion was shocked to all belief, "so what happens if you guys don't bring back a kill?"
"He takes it out on his three favorite lionesses," her voice was just dripping with sarcasm and Simba eyed her, "me, my mother, and your mom." This increased the golden brown lion's anger and he backed away himself, roared to the skies and started pacing. Scar better not have put a paw on either of them.
"Please tell me you're lying!" She shook her head, "this can't be happening!" Nala starred at her best friend with wide eyes. His movements recalled very uneasy memories for her and she didn't like it.
"Please stop pacing, you're making me nervous." She told him carefully and he stopped for a brief second to look at her skeptically, but then continued walking back and forth again.
"I'm sorry, Nala, but I can't help it. This is what I do when I'm frustrated."
"PLEASE!" Her abruptness stopped him in his tracks and he glanced her way, "he does that all the time before he attacks me! DON'T DO THAT!" Mufasa's son raised a black eyebrow and took a slow cautious step closer to her,
"Nala, you know I would NEVER hurt you."It was one of those 'question statements' and he approached her carefully. Their eyes met and even though they were speaking, their orbs were already exchanging words.
"I know that, Simba, but please, it's something I've grown to know and I don't like it." A sweet sigh escaped his mouth.
"I'm sorry." He said sincerely and hugged her again while she collapsed into him, allowing him to embrace her. They were both thinking that fighting about anything should be put on the back burner and wasn't necessary, especially after all these years of being apart. They needed each other now more than ever.
"Simba…"
"I guess it's my turn huh?" Nala brought her head up from his mane and locked eyes with him, smiled, and nodded her head.
"Yes it is." He bumped heads with her softly and then let his companion go slowly, he sighed heavily.
"Alright. I left home because I did something terrible." He made contact with the ground, trying to put his words together. "I don't know how you are going to take this, but I will tell you. If you leave, it's fine. If you choose not to speak to me, I'll underst-"
"Just tell me." She stated to him softly, he looked straight ahead and he finally came out with it.
"I killed my father." What?! How is that possible!? This and many other questions were flowing around in her head, but one seemed to be the right one to ask.
"How?"
"The stampede you mentioned…"
"Mmm hmm…"
"That was my fault. When dad came to get me, he got me out of the fray, but fell back in." Giant and hot tears ran down Simba's face from the mind-movie that was playing in his head from that dreadful day. He was just a cub then and he had caused his father's life to end so short. "My father's death was my fault. That's why I can't go back."
"You were only a cub and he loved you. He died saving you." She couldn't believe that he would hold on to this for so long. He was just a cub at the time and probably would have been proven innocent.
"No! If I hadn't been in the gorge, he would still be here!" His voice trembled and quavered. He had never told anyone, not even Timon and Pumbaa, and he had been with them since he left Pride Rock. Nala came up behind him now and rubbed his back.
"Shh, Simba. Breathe." He took in a deep shaky breath and sobbed quietly.
"I look pathetic don't I?"
"No." She leaned her head to the side so as to look at him, "You look hurt. All these years of holding that in, it had to come out sooner or later." Her kind words made him love her even more from even the time they spent together earlier. She had become very wise within these past years and it made her more alluring.
"I loved my dad, Nala, and I killed him." He said calmly to her, still not believing that he had done such a terrible thing.
"I don't get it though." Nala sounded puzzled.
"Don't get what?"
"Let me ask you this," he turned to gazed at her, "Why were you in the gorge in the first place?" Simba thought for a moment and then answered her.
"I was waiting for a surprise from my father."
"That's strange."
"Why?"
"Why would your father tell you to go to a place that he told everyone was off limits?"
"Well," he thought again, this was indeed a strange ordeal, but then he remembered, "Scar told me to wait down there for him." Nala's eyes widened.
"Scar told you?!"
"Yes." Nala shook her head as if trying to unconfuse herself.
"This just doesn't make sense, Simba."
"How so?" Simba's curious tone made Nala continue on,
"Simba. Scar tells you to go to the gorge-"
"He took me there himself."
"Ok, he tookyou there, tells you to wait for a surprise from your father, in a forbidden area?" The red maned lion nodded his head in response, but only some of this was sinking in.
"So?"
"Come on, Simba! This doesn't sound-"
"Fishy?" Caught off guard, Simba and Nala jumped a little and turned to their left and saw a grey baboon standing there with a staff.
"Rafiki? What are you doing here?"
"Hello, Nala. I am ere to help you convince your friend to go back home."
"Dasiki?"
"Ra-fi-ki." Nala corrected him.
"Ok, Rafiki, Dashiki, Bikini, whatever your name is, I'm not going back."
"Simba!" Shouted his companion. One: he was being rude and two: he just really needed to go back.
"Nala I can't!" He retorted smugly and jerked his head away from them.
"You tink ya fadda would be proud of you right now?"
"Pshh. Who are you to tell me what to do? You probably don't even know my father." He began to walk away from the monkey and the lioness.
"How dare-" Rafiki covered Nala's mouth and spoke,
"I sure do and I know who you are. You are Mufasa's boy!" Stopping dead in his tracks, the young lion whipped back around and starred at the baboon.
"Wha-how-"
"I show him to you. You follow, old Rafiki! He knows deh way!" And just like that, Rafiki took off into the deep grass towards an Acacia grove. Simba came up beside Nala,
"Should we, follow him?" The young lion was sure that this monkey had gotten ahold of some bad fruit as to why he was so spastic and crazy. Nala didn't respond though, she just got up and trotted in the direction Rafiki had gone in and disappeared into the trees. Simba deciding he had nothing to lose and figured that if she trusts him then everything will be fine, followed steadily and found the two looking into a pool of water.
"Look down dere." Rafiki commanded the lion with a crooked finger and staff and he did as he was told. The water mirrored what it saw. The lions, one male with golden fur and a scarlet red mane with matching scarlet eyes and the other of spectacular creamy fur and aqua colored eyes. Rafiki wasn't seen though, for he was standing behind them. Finally the female spoke,
"It's just his reflection, Rafiki." The shaman then put his hand on the back of Simba's mane and pushed his head a little closer to the water.
"Look harder." Nala stayed in her place, but then the water started to ripple and wave and she took a few steps back and the golden lion's eyebrows furred. What is going on? All of a sudden, a face began to form.
"You see," Started Rafiki as the face became more apparent and Simba's eyes grew wider, "he lives in you."
After the 'conversation' with his father, Simba began to think about what he must do. Nala and the old shaman were able to witness this even as well and felt a sense of home and wanting. It was nice to be able to see an old friend and past father figure for the two, but the one it effected most was the future king.
"That was…something." Nala mentioned as she made her way to her friend and sat down. Mufasa had faded away back into the clouds which were now a star filled sky or should I say…fireflies?
"Yeah. I know what I have to do." Even though his voice was distant, still grasping onto what just went on, he now knew what was possible and what he had been running from for all these years.
"Do ya now?" Simba rolled his eyes. Was this monkey going to make a habit of popping up whenever he felt like it?
"Yes. I'm going back." The king's statement was strong and heartfelt.
"Really, Simba?" The young lioness jumped to her feet and was beaming with joy. Was he really going to go back?
"Yes, Nala I am." Simba stood as well and faced his best friend, "I have to face my past. I've been running from it for so long."
THWACK!
"OW! Jeez! What was that for!?" Simba put a large paw on his head to where that crazy monkey had popped him and he glared.
"She told me to." Rafiki ratted Nala out and she laughed, but Simba glared.
"Why did you tell him to do that?" Simba asked irritated.
"We decided to while you were talking to dad, and because it's about time you got some sense knocked into you. Besides, it's in the past now." She mused.
"Yeah, but it still hurts."
"Oh, yes. Deh past can hurt. But deh way I see it, you can either run from it or," Rafiki made a W with both his arms and put on a 'thinking' type of face, "learn from it." He quickly swung his stick towards Simba's head, but the lion's reflexes were too quick and he ducked just in time.
"I'll choose to learn from it, thank you Master Miyagi." Nala started to laugh because this was the Simba she was use to: a snotty sweet who had a nickname for everyone.
"I told you to only hit him one time." She pushed the baboon to where he would tilt a little.
"Well, he learned didn't he?" This caused Nala to laugh even louder and Simba looked at her.
"You just love to inflict pain upon others don't you?" He smirked at her.
"You're still mad because I whooped your tail earlier?" Simba just looked away at her thinking it wasn't a big deal, "honey, you have got to get over that." He faced her once more.
"You wait until we get back to Pride Rock," He made it to where they were nose to nose again for the umpteenth time today, "You're in for it." A challenging face is what she gave back to him.
"Oh, I'm so scared."
"Hmm…" The baboon, being as crafty as he is, pushed their heads together, causing both of their eyes to widen, but then immediately closed them.
"Mmm, get use to that." Simba said to Nala as he pulled away.
"Why?" She was smiling. She knew what he meant, she wanted to hear him say it.
"Well, you are going to be queen after all." He got up and started in the direction of the jungle, wanting to inform Timon and Pumbaa of his destiny.
"Was that your proposal?" Nala asked as ran after him, both of them completely forgetting about Rafiki.
"Of course not. That was an indication." He had answered her arrogantly and when she caught up to him, she batted his arm.
"Rude." She laughed though, "But what if I decline?" Simba then gave her a 'yeah, right' look and then continued walking in front of her,
"Then I'll stay here and you're stuck with Scar." He heard her gasp and he laughed inwardly
"I accept!"
A/N: Alright, so how did you guys like the new and improved one? I liked it a lot better lol. Give me your thoughts people
~Nala-Nay~
