Chapter 2- The Tunnel and The Forbidden

In the week that passed, Shenzi and Banzai's camp had to figure out how they were going to hunt.

They tried being as quiet hunters as they could in the Pride Lands, but of course Kiara found them and like the good little kitty she was, she roared and got Simba's attention.

Simba sent them back home and stole their kills.

Kiara and Simba's glares pierced their souls. They went without food for three whole days, until Kamal came up with a breakthrough.

"Why don't we dig a tunnel with our claws under the Pridelands, and into the Outlands?" she suggested. The whole clan agreed that it was a great idea. "You're already showing signs of leadership, my girl." Shenzi licked her pup in a familial way.

A team of the four biggest men and women led of course by alpha female Shenzi and alpha male Banzai, dug a tunnel with their claws, which extended from the Campsite down to under the Pride Lands at land level, and the tunnel peaked up towards the Outlands.

They would hunt for food in this region, and although it was dire, it was better than no food at all.

That night, everyone had a modest dinner of two antelopes who had accidently ran into the Outlands. It tasted way better considering the lack of food for three days, and Kamal bit hungrily into it.

She couldn't sleep that night after dinner.

It could have been the energy from the sudden food, but she also thought it was Jabvah. She couldn't thinking about the young lion she had met last week.

Butterflies came to her stomach whenever she thought about him, his deep blue eyes, kind voice and scraggly mane…but he was a lion.

She was a hyena. Hyenas and lions don't fall in love. That was what her parents had always told her. Because of the feud since the hyenas had been discovered in the Pridelands by already irresponsible leader Ahadi, hyenas and lions had hated each other from the day they had met.

If you asked any lion or hyena, they would say the same thing. No matter what, it is impossible for a hyena and lion to fall in love. Hyenas and lions don't fall in love.

But this didn't reassure her. In the dark of night, she felt herself needing the lion cub more and more.

She noticed the tunnel that her parents and the clan members made. In a split second, a decision was made. Kamal bounced and slid down the tunnel, eager to find her friend.

She tip-toed into the chief cave, but only found a very light brown middle age lioness sleeping with what looked like her two adolescent and one young adult children, the young adult lion had a scraggly small black mane with grey red brown tinged fur.

The adolescent lioness had dull pale gold fur, with black rims and bangs around her closed eyes.

The adolescent male had red brown fur, with a black mane that was better kempt and larger than his young adult counterpart, and dark eye shades around his closed eyes.

She didn't know them at the time, but she was looking at Zira, Nuka, Vitani and Kovu. She sighed in frustration and moved on to the right, which happened to be Chali and Ki's small family cave.

She smiled as she saw inside Jabvah, next to who Kamal presumed was a sister or younger relative, and his parents.

She dragged him outside by the tail, in a small area surrounded by scrub. Then she woke him up by shaking his shoulder gently.

"Hey, Jabvah. It's me Kamal!" Jabvah got up, not even bothered that she had interrupted his sleep. "Kamal! I haven't seen you for a week, how are you?" Jabvah gave her a friendly hug.

"Good. But I can't sleep." Kamal groaned.

"Why not?" Jabvah asked. Kamal blushed. "I-I-I can't tell you." She said shyly. "I won't mind." Jabvah was clueless. "People say that lions and hyenas can't like each other." Kamal blurted out.

"What people?" Jabvah was intrigued. "My parents." Kamal answered. "My parents say that too. But what else could persuade Shenzi to help Scar?" Jabvah thought out loud.

"Shenzi's my Mom. She loves Banzai. She says Zira, this lioness, tricked Scar and my Mom and Dad into being evil." Jabvah's eyes widened at the name Zira.

"Zira? That's my crazy next door neighbour! She makes her son Kovu do all this training and he wasn't allowed to play hide and seek or tag with any of the other cubs. But he managed to sneak some play sometimes with my Mom and Dad and their friends. They got in lots of trouble. Zira's the head of these lands. If someone gets on the wrong foot with her, then they don't' get food for a week!" Jabvah exclaimed.

"That sounds like her, alright." Kamal remarked. She only knew Zira from Shenzi's stories. "So hyenas and lions can't fall in love? Really?" Jabvah was mystified.

"Yeah, I kind of like a lion." Kamal blushed. "Really?" Jabvah wondered who it could be. "Well it's—" They were cut off by an irritated roar of a lioness.

"Jabby-poo! What are you doing out this late, oh a hyena!" Chali exclaimed. "Yeah, um she's my friend." Jabvah tried explaining.

"No she's not! Son, no matter what you think, a hyena and a lion can't be friends. It's just not possible." Chali said to him.

"Not from where I'm standing!" Jabvah defended.

"You're just a cub; you'll grow out of it. In the meanwhile, you get out of our lands, I'm sick of seeing you hyenas around here!" Chali shoved the hyena away from her son.

Kamal quickly scurried away to tunnel and ran back to her parents. She didn't exactly want to cause trouble with a full grown lioness.

"You're wrong! You also say lions and hyenas can't fall for each other! Well guess what, I like the hyena I was just talking to! So I guess I'm some sort of exception!" Jabvah growled.

"Oh my Jabby-poo. I'll have to have the medicine lioness examine you. It's not possible. It's never happened before, what have I told you?" Chali tried reasoning with her son.

"That alone doesn't mean it can't happen altogether! There had to be a tiger that fell in love with a lion, otherwise there would be no tigons! Perhaps Scar is trying to tell me something. Perhaps there will be a cross between a hyena and a lion someday." Jabvah raised his voice.

"You have gone nuts! I need to take you to medicine lioness first thing in the morning! None of this nonsense! Get back to bed, young lion!" Chali scolded, and stormed off to the cave.

Jabvah snarled in frustration and hit a termite filled tree open with his claw. He sighed. "I know how the tiger feels now." He padded off on a downtrodden note to his family's cave.**