Chapter 2

It was just starting to get dark when the cubs returned to the Pride, Jaali heading off to the main cave behind the Waterfall, while Zuri took Simba back to her and her mother's cave where Zakia sat at the entrance waiting for them.

Zuri bounded toward her mother, who bent down and rubbed her head against her daughters, then to Simba's surprise rubbed her head against his next before ushering both cubs inside the cave.

Laying down she picked her daughter up first and proceeded in bathing her while Simba sat back, fearing he would be the next to be bathed, and much to his displeasure he was. When both cubs were done their baths, Zuri curled up along side her mother while Simba laid himself down a bit away from Zakia.

The lioness watched him with a sad expression, "Simba what ever happened to your parents?" she asked, it had been a question lingering in her mind since the cub was first dropped off to her.

She watched as the young cub tensed at her question, slowly she got up so not to disturb her own cub and walked over to him, but she was taken back by the tears that were falling down his face. "Simba…"

"My dad…he's dead…he tried to save me…my mother…I don't know what happened to her…" which in truth Simba did not know, he did not know what had happened since the stampede and his uncle telling him to runaway. Lowering his head, he was surprised when Zakia lifted him with her paw and brought him up against her, she licked the top of his head, "I bet she's fine little one…" she whispered, "Though she might be worrying about you!"

"Doubt it…"

Zakia raised an eyebrow, but decided not to question him, rubbing her head against his she whispered, "Every mother worries for her cubs one way or another!" pulling away she flashed him a smile and walked back over to her daughter and curled her body around Zuri's.

'A mother would worry about a cub that caused her mates death…' Simba thought bitterly to himself and laid down once more resting his head on his paws, closing his eyes and letting himself drift off into a not so peaceful sleep.

A week passed, and as Simba came to find about the Rasheda Pride, was that due to the close coverage of the trees they often didn't hunt unless prey happened to be very close within their territory, and to feast when they were hungry they often just fished from the lagoon to catch whatever fish they could for themselves and the cubs to east.

Sitting on the edge of the water, Simba watched as Zuri pounced around in the water growling trying to catch whatever fish dared to swim into the swallows.

"Whoa!"

The yellowish cub raised his paw to block the water that came splashing his way as Zuri tripped, as she was about to pounce and fell straight into the water. The brownish cub sat up and shook her head to get the water out of her ears and gave her new friend a cheeky smile.

Slowly getting out of the water, she shook herself to try and get as much water off as possible. "Stupid fish!" she mumbled.

Simba laughed, "Don't blame the fish because you're clumsy!"

Zuri shot him a glare, then with a smile, she reached out and pushed him into the water, she laughed as Simba splashed down in the water and came up spitting water from his mouth. She leaned over pressing her nose to his, "That's for calling me clumsy!"

Simba grumbled and with Zuri's help got out of the water, sitting on the ground with his fur dripping wet. Zuri laughed softly and smiled nudged her head against his, "Now you know not to call me clumsy," turning she padded away giggling.

Muttering to him self, Simba rubbed his ears to get the water out of them and dried off his fur as best he could and bounded after her with Simba moving to walk beside her.

The two cubs walked along side each other through the small glade of trees, not much of the pride was around since Mansa had ordered the Hunting Party to go out and track whatever they could find and Mansa himself was out with Jaali, all that was beside was Zakia and two other lionesses to watch the caves and two cubs.

Laying on a nearby flat rock, Zakia lay with the other two lionesses watching her daughter and Simba play. For the days that Simba had been with the Pride, Zakia had watched him carefully, she often woke to the soft cries that she found were coming from the yellowish cub after she saw that her own was still asleep.

Getting down from where she laid, Zakia walked over and smiled at the cubs, "What are you two up too?" she asked when she noticed they were both still somewhat wet from the water.

Zuri gave her mother a wide smile, "Nothing mama, I was just trying to catch a fish…"

"And she tripped." Simba added making Zuri stick her tongue out at him.

Zakia chuckled and smiled licking the top of her daughter's head, turning her eyes toward Simba she smiled. "And how did you get wet?"

"She pushed me in," Simba stated as Zuri huffed and puffed out her cheeks looking up at her mother who was giving her a stern look. "Zuri?"

"But he called me clumsy Mama!" Zuri whined.

"That's still no reason to have pushed him in," Zakia stated and stood, watching as Zuri lowered her head and pouted, "Sorry Mama," she mumbled. Smiling softly she nudged her head against her daughters, "And you should be more careful if you had been anywhere else and fell I could have lost you," she whispered, licking her daughters cheek.

"Sorry!" Zuri whispered back licking the bottom of her mothers chin.

Simba sat back watching the two, jealousy stabbed at him, watching them made him miss his mother more and more. Lowering his head, he turned and walked away, sitting down near the edge of the water staring down at his reflection.

"What's wrong?"

The yellowish cub jumped and turned around to find Zuri standing behind him with concern etched across her face. He forced a grin onto his face, 'Nothing…"

Zuri cocked her head to the side and placed herself down beside him, "I heard what you told my mom the day you arrived, I was pretending to sleep…I too lost my daddy" she whispered making Simba looked toward her.

"Oh…I mean what happened to him?" the young prince asked curiously.

"Some strange lion came one day, mommy says that daddy was killed by his lion while trying to defend the pride…I was only a week old when he died. But I never knew him" Zuri explained, she didn't know much, because her mother always got sad and never liked mentioning her father.

"Oh…" Simba whispered.

Zuri shrugged, "Doesn't matter…most cubs don't remember their fathers anyways…or that's what Leta tells me. Most cubs are sired by rogue males that leave afterwards."

Simba looked at her, and then back down at his reflection, he remained silent until Zuri spoke again. "Tell me Simba…what's it like where you come from?"

Simba took in a deep breath, "Well…it's not like here…. yes we have trees but not like this. We have rolling grasslands as far as the eye can see. There's a large watering hole not far from Pride rock, where my family and I lived with our pride. The savannah was filled with animals to eat…" he explained a smile coming to his face as he remembered his old home as if he was still there.

"Wow!" Zuri awed then smiled, "Why did you ever leave?"

The smile that was donning the young prince's face vanished, his ears drooped, and he lowered his head. Zuri found herself regretting her question, "Sorry…" she whispered rubbing her head against his when a loud roar echoed through the glad, as the Hunting party had returned, dragging along the bodies of three warthogs they found.

The two cubs left their place by the water and walked over to the gathering pride, the two waited until Zakia approached them, in her mouth she carried a large chunk of meat to feed her and the cubs.

With a motion of her paw, she had them follow her back to the cave where she dropped the meat down and split it for the cubs before taking a piece for herself. She ate hers in silence watching the cubs the whole time as they ate.

Simba poked at his food for a moment, he had never had warthog before, his mother and the hunting party always either brought back Zebra, wildebeest or Antelope for the Pride to eat, nothing ever smaller then them. His head turned to the right when he noticed Zuri was watching him, she giggled and smiled, "Eat its good!" she said taking another piece in her mouth and chewed before swallowing.

Seeing that Simba was still hesitant in eating, Zuri grabbed a piece in her paw and when Simba was least expecting it she stuffed it in his mouth.

Simba stood there shocked when the food was stuffed in his mouth, he stared at Zuri who only gave him a wide smile and a giggle going back to her own food. Chewing the food he slowly swallowed it and licked his lips, "mm"

"Yummy isn't it?" Zuri smiled, finishing off the rest of her meal. Simba only gave a curt nod, and dug into the rest of his food.

Zuri laughed when Simba sat up with a piece of meat hanging from his mouth before he sucked it inside his mouth and swallowed it. The cubs looked up when Zakia walked over and bent her head down and bathed them both clean; with Simba having grumbled through the whole cleaning process. He never really liked baths not even when his mother bathed him.

"Mom! We're clean enough, could we please go and play?" Zuri asked ducking away from her mother, rubbing her paw against her ear where the fur had been ruffled from her bath.

Zakia raised an eyebrow, normally her daughter loved getting a bath she chuckled, "Very well. But be back here at the cave before nightfall!" she called after the cubs as they took off out of the den. Sighing, Zakia shook her head, she wondered how many other mothers took care of two cubs, smiling she laid down and rested her head on her paws, well least with them out playing she could take a nap in peace. With the rest of the pride back she could finally rest with worrying about keeping an eye on the two of them.

"Got yah!" Zuri laughed as she leapt at Simba knocking them both to the ground and tugged on his ear. The exiled prince growled playfully and pushed her away from him and lunged at her only to miss and stumble almost falling into the water if it wasn't for Zuri grabbing hold of his tail and pulling him back. "OW!" he yowled in pain when she had grabbed it with her teeth.

Sitting down, the brownish cub still held his tail in her mouth as he looked at her; with his paw he snatched it back from her. "That hurt!"

"I could have just let you fall into the water you know!" Zuri stated giggling, she walked over and licked his cheek, laughing when he rubbed it with his paw. Jumping over him, she walked along the edge of the water, "I always wonder where this water comes from over the falls," she said lifting her head to look at the waterfall.

"I bet it comes from some big lake up atop that hill," Simba answered staring at the waterfall.

"Our parents tell us through stories that when the Pride first came here that this play was dry like the desert, it was so dry and without food that the Pride had lost their King. And the Queen who left alone with only her cubs and Pride, had wept tears that seeped into the ground. Her tears are what made the land change…and that the cave behind the waterfall was where the King had died of starvation and over heat and so the waterfall is the old Queens tears that fall freely upon the land so that her people may live and prosper and the cave behind it is cooled and protected to make sure no other King dies young like hers had!" Zuri explained her eyes seemed unfocused as she stared at the water that cascaded down into the lagoon remembering the first time her mother had told her that story.

Raising an eyebrow, Simba nudged her with his paw making her come back to reality, "You alright?"

Zuri gave a wide smile, "Of course why wouldn't I be…it's just a touching story. Mom has told it to me at least a good 30 times since I was born."

Simba shrugged, he had to admit though it was an interesting story, kind reminded him of the stories his mother and father would tell him about how his pride came to be. The two stayed there side by side, with Zuri telling him every story that her mother told her, and Simba in return explained all the stories his parents had told him about his homeland.

The two cubs didn't realize it was getting late until they heard Zakia calling for them. Heading back to the cave, Simba took his usual position by the wall as Zuri laid herself down beside her mother. "Goodnight Simba!"

"Goodnight Zuri," Simba whispered laying his head down on his paws sighing as he drifted off to sleep.