A/N: Hello! ^_^ This is my first ever TLK fanfiction o~o done for a contest. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimor: I do not own The Lion King or it's characters, nor do I own it.
I do not own Shani, she is my best friends OC.
I own Rumble.
Lionesses around the pride nudged eggs marked with the same liquid that Rafiki uses to mark cubs at birth. They were smiling, wanting to see the cubs have such fun finding them. The cubs awaited eagerly in the cave, all running around, snoozing or playfully fighting, eager for the hunt to begin. Only one little cub watched from afar. Lonely, Rumble laid in the dirt, wishing to join the cubs this year but he was never allowed before.
He sighed, wishing that he could be a normal cub. So he was banned, big deal. He buried his nose in his paws before a rather large shadow fell over him. He looked up, and jumped up, ears going back in fear. The large female lion bent her neck and took ahold of his, lifting him from the ground. Behind her he could see his own best friend Shani, who trotted happily behind her mother. Kiara moved easily through the pridelands, bringing Rumble to where the Easter Egg hunt was to start.
She moved back to Kovu, purring happily away, watching the cubs get lined up and ready to prowl for the eggs. Rumble looked at Shani, who crouched next to him.
"I asked mama and papa to let you in the hunt this time!"
Rumble looked around, seeing a few glares, and a few curious looks. He heard rattling and looked behind him to see Rafiki.
"GO!" The baboon cried out, laughing.
Cubs pounced forward, running in all directions. Rumble followed his friend through the pride, both collecting as many eggs that they could find and taking them back to Kovu and Kiara one by one, or two by two. Rumble begun to have fun, running through the dusty pridelands with his best friend.
"Hey there's more eggs over here!"
Rumble stumbled and tripped onto his chin, rear in the air and toppled over. Shani stood up on her hind paws, and fell onto her back laughing.
"It's not funny!"
"It's very funny!" She pointed her paw at him.
"Just get the eggs." He went over, grabbing one in his mouth and running back with Shani.
They ran back to her parents, putting the eggs down and running back to get the rest. Kovu and Kiara looked at the eggs in between her paws, and at each other. They knew full well these weren't eggs set out for the hunt.
"Aren't these...Zazu's eggs?"
Simba could be heard laughing behind his daughter, rolling in the dust.
"Should we tell him?"
"No no, wait wait wait. I gotta see what happens." Simba said, feeling like his younger self raising all hell.
They all shook their head but the ones closet to him knew why. Simba loved to joke around with Zazu. The cubs finished bringing the eggs back, and while it wasn't Shani and Rumble who won, they all had a good laugh at Zazu, who was going ballistic.
"WHERE'S THE EGGS?! WHERE ARE THE EGGS?!"
"Zazu."
"THE EGGS!"
"Zazu..."
"MY PRECIOUS-"
"ZAZU!"
Zazu fell out of the air, landing on the ground and bounced. He straightened up, shaking his ruffled feathers and looked at Simba, who was holding the eggs. On either side of his paws was Rumble and Shani, both hanging their heads.
"YOU TWO TOOK THEM! WHY I OUGHTTA..."
"Zazu, they didn't mean to."
"BUT-"
"Zazu! They didn't know."
"Bah." Zazu looked grumpy, and with Kovu's and Simba's help, got his eggs back to the nest.
Shani looked at Rumble, and with identical smiles, bounded off to find any left over eggs anyone might have forgotten, just for fun. The activity, and the fact the day was warm with spring air was good enough for Rumble. It felt good to run around the pridelands without having to worry about Kovu or Simba banishing back to the outlands. With a smile on his face, he simply had fun on that warm spring day.