Chapter 2: Strawberries

"Scar! You're not in your right mind!"

"Oh, that's where you're wrong Sarafina. You were always wrong! You were wrong to..." The vision blurs.

Sarafina turns to Nala. "Nala, go back to the den, tell Mufasa what's happening."

"No Mom! I wanna fight!"

"NOW!"

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

Nala woke up with a start. She was panting and covered in sweat. She looked around and realized that she was just dreaming. Quietly sobbing, she continued to sit there for quite some time, thinking about her dream.

She looked at Pride Rock. Scar wasn't far away. She shivered in fear. Simba, next to her, was fast asleep. Carefully, she snuck into his arms. At this moment in time, she didn't care if Simba noticed. She needed him more than ever. Simba's warmth comforted her, and she eventually fell asleep.

Upon waking, Simba noticed that there was a familiar cub in his arms. This confused him. He didn't remember falling asleep in this position. He quickly dismissed the matter and realized how great the circumstances were. He tried not to move so that Nala would not know that he was awake.

Nala now awoke and remembered that she had placed herself in this wonderful spot. She dared not move. She was really enjoying this.

After several minutes of pretending to sleep, Nala felt an itch in her nose. Oh no! Oh please no! Not now! The itch grew more prominent. Nooooooo! She sneezed. CRAP! She quickly jumped to her feet. "Morning Simba!" Her morning diziness dropped her back onto her side. Simba chuckled.

"Morning Nala." He got to his feet and successfully kept himself up. Both of them were trying to act natural to hide what had just happened, so they unconciously walked in circles. Then came the realization that this didn't look natural at all, so they sat down.

Nala looked towards Simba. "I had a bad dream last night."

Simba frowned. "What was it?" Nala explained her dream to him.

Simba lifted his eyebrow. "I don't get it."

"Neither do I! It was really confusing." They sat motionless, staring into each other's eyes. "I... I think it might have been last night. Ya know, before I fainted."

"Maybe..."

Simba was growing restless from all the seriousness, so he quickly pounced at Nala. Caught off guard, she was flipped onto her back. Instinct took hold and brought Simba's back to the floor.

"Pinned Ya'!" She laughed. "You can never beat me, can you?" Simba growled. He had to think of another game, so he could win.

"Tag! You're it!" Simba struggled and realized that he could not run away from Nala while she was pinning him to the ground. She smiled down at him. Simba rolled his eyes. "Dang it." Nala giggled and stepped off of him. She started walking away, with her head held high and her tail swishing. Simba ran past her.

Nala stopped. "What are you doing?"

Simba looked over his shoulder at the increasingly smaller cub behind him. "Race ya'!"

"Cheater!" Nala smiled and took off.

They ran for awhile before Nala fell, motionless.

Simba whipped around. "Nala!" He ran back to her. "Nala, are you okay? Nala!" She quickly bounced back up and darted off. Simba growled and ran after her.

Nala saw a small outcropping of trees and made it her destination. Simba had almost caught up to her when she hit the first tree she saw with her paw. "I win!"

Simba skidded to a halt. "Who said you could decide where the finish line was?"

"Uhhh. Me."

"But I made up the game!"

"But I'm the lioness."

"But I'm the future king!"

"Of what?"

She had gone too far. Simba sat and looked down at his paws. "Oh." Nala realized what her words meant, "I'm so sorry Simba! I didn't mean it that way."

"It's ok," he mumbled.

Nala put her paw under his chin and brought his eyes to hers. "Hey, I'm really sorry."

Simba managed a smile and nuzzled her under her chin. "Oh, Nala. I'm so glad you're still alive."

Nala blushed. "Me too."

They looked into each other's eyes. Simba didn't know what to do, so he decided to change the mood. "We're gonna need to find somewhere safe to stay, and this jungle looks like a great place to start looking."

"Yeah, I agree. Let's walk."

The two lions traveled side by side in search of shelter. They took in their beautiful surroundings with wide eyes.

"Wow. It's so pretty here," Nala whispered as she looked at all the different colors of the plants.

"Yeah I guess," Simba replied bluntly. "Look at how tall the trees are!"

"Woah! I can't believe I'm seeing this. Look how the sun is shining through them!"

Simba laughed. "We really found a great place didn't we?"

"You mean, I found a great place."

He smiled, and decided it was best not to argue. Nala would win anyway. "I've got an idea. Let's split up. Then we'll meet right back here when the sun starts to go down, and tell each other about all the great places we found. Then we can decide where we want to stay."

"Sounds great!"

With a goodbye tackle, Nala walked proudly away from Simba.

"I let her win. Yeah, that's right. She's not better than me." Simba walked in the other direction as he mumbled to himself.

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

Things had changed between them. Simba didn't quite understand what it all meant. Nala had been nicer to him lately, and she was laughing more, even though her family had just been killed! Then again, he felt pretty good too. It seemed that just maybe, Nala wanted to be more than just friends. It had been the first time he had ever sensed that from her. Whatever. He'd worry about it later. He had to find shelter.

Nala stopped dead in her tracks. Woah! Could he? Nooooooo. He doesn't like me. I'm just a stupid girl. I'm no princess or anything. She looked into the pool of water next to her. Wow! I guess I am pretty attractive. She looked to her right, and saw a strawberry bush. Simba likes strawberries! She ran through the bush, and the scent of the strawberries clung to her fur.

TRANSITION-TRANSITION-TRANSITION

Nala arrived back at the meeting place first. She took the time to groom herself for the arrival of Simba, who she hoped had found something good because she had found nothing.

"Nala! You won't believe the!... Nala. You look... amazing." Simba's mouth hung open.

Nala scratched a circle into the dirt with a claw and giggled. "Thanks."

"I uhh... found this awesome place." He coughed and collected himself. "I think you'll like it."

"Really?" She brought her face close to his in excitement. "What's it like?"

"It's uhh... You'll see when we get there. C'mon." Simba nodded in the direction of his finding and Nala walked next to him.

Simba couldn't stop looking at Nala. He would quickly move his head towards her every few seconds to take it all in. Nala looked at him. "What are you doing?"

"I'm just making sure you're still there."

"Hah! Sure." She walked ahead of him.

"You don't know where you're going Nala."

"Well I wouldn't want you hurting your neck making sure I haven't poofed away, now would I?"

Simba darted ahead of her. "Hey!" Nala ran after him.

Together, they sprinted through the unknown darkness, barely dodging trees and hurtling logs. Nala ran straight into something furry and rolled down a hill. "Why'd you stop? Idiot!"

Simba laughed out loud. "Cause we're here!"

Nala looked around, and for a second, thought she was dreaming. Everything she looked at glowed and lit up the area an incandescent blue. Vines hung down from the walls, and a shallow river flowed right under their paws. At the mouth of the river was a misty waterfall. "Oh, Simba. It looks..." She tried to think of a word that fit the beauty of the place, but there was none.

"Just like your eyes." Simba finished her sentence. She looked at him with half parted lips and puppy dog eyes as if to say "Awww," but she was speechless. He looked at her eyes, and then at the waterfall, and by the time he looked back, she was sitting next to him with the same expression on her face as she swished her tail back and forth. Simba smiled. She closed her eyes and placed her head under his chin, then nuzzled him up to his cheek. He returned the favor to her cheek.

"Simba, I wish we could stay like this forever."

"But you haven't seen the coolest part yet." They disconnected and Simba walked over to the waterfall. He turned his neck to look at her and flashed her a quick smile. He then leaped through the waterfall, and disappeared into nothingness. Nala gasped.

"No way..." She quickly bounded through the waterfall and fell next to Simba, who nudged her up with his nose.

"Welcome home."

Inside the waterfall was a cave, and it was incredible. Blue crystals lined the walls and lit up the room with the same light as outside. The floor was lined with sand, with a little patch of grass that looked like a makeshift bed.

All that came out of Nala's mouth was a whisper, "Oh Simba..."

"Just when I thought it couldn't get any more awesome, I found this." When he heard no response from Nala, he looked around at her. She was crying. "Nala! Do you not like it? We can find some other place."

"No Simba. It's beautiful. I'm so happy!" In a mix of emotions, she threw herself at Simba and kissed him. For the length of the kiss, both cubs were filled with complete exstacy. The only thing that mattered was the lion that was sealed to their lips. Nothing else. Not Pride Rock, or Scar, or hyenas, or their families, or what their partner looked or smelled like. Their souls intertwined. And that was all that mattered.

Nala lifted her head up and giggled. "Pinned Ya'."

Simba stared in disbelief at her. "I... Wow... That..." He closed his eyes, laid his head back, and opened his mouth into a huge grin. Nala settled down next to him, and he hugged her into his body.

"No Nala. I wish we could stay like THIS forever."