Chapter 4: The troublemakers

So despite the slight rocky start, Simba and Nala became really close friends. Well some might see that as an understatement. They were inseparable. The two quickly realized how much in common they had. There was the like to discover and sneaking off, their enthusiasm for adventures, and the fact that they both were so dominant that they could have verbal duels for hours just trying to beat each other with their width. As much as Sarabi and Sarafina liked the fact that their children were getting along so well, it meant for them to keep the double more attention for keeping them out of trouble. And it wasn't like the young prince was dragging Nala along for the ride. No… she was totally into it.

So it came one day that Nala awoke early as the sun rose above the pride lands while the rest of the pride was still fast asleep. The cream coloured cub looked around and found herself held gently in her mother embrace. That's going to be tricky! She thought as Nala tried to figure out the best way to get of the situation. As she glanced to the left, she spotted Simba who lay right beside his mother and father but on his own. She quickly shifted her body form left to right and inch by inch squeezed out and free from Sarafina. Hehe... got it! She smirked in triumph and walked up to her golden furred companion. She nudged him with a paw on his side.

"Simba, hey!" Nala whispered. But the male lion cub didn't move a muscle. All she realized was the rhythmic movement of his belly and the little breezes of his breath. You can't be serious? She raised her eyebrow as she waived back her head. Nala nudged him again, and finally the prince responded with blinks of his eyes.

"What's going on?" He responded with a sleepy voice and rubbed his eyes.

"What's going on? Look what's not going on!" She said silently as he signalled her friend to turn and gaze around.

Simba glanced all over the cave and noticed that the rest of the pride was still occupied in their slumber. An evil and sly grin appeared on his face. "Perfect!" He whispered. As quickly and quietly as possible, he got to his feet and followed Nala outside of the cave. Finally, all the pride land towards my feet and my own desire. He laughed inside as they made their way down aside the huge rock formation giggling to each other. Here they were, on their own. Finally… no parents, no mourning baths, well at least to Simbas delight, no duties, no…

"Where do you think you two early birds are going?"

Oh no… not him! Simba thought as he realized the source of the voice that ripped their smiles of their faces. He looked at Nala who had the same expression of annoyance as himself. The young prince turned around and found himself muzzle to beak with a blue hornbill. "Mourning Zazu! Up so early?" He said cocky and tried to hide the fact that he was really upset of getting caught.

"Well… as the kings major-domo it is my duty to keep an eye on the pride and make sure that all is well in order, which includes… keeping noisy cubs from getting themselves into trouble." Zazu said stern as he formed his right wing to a finger and pointed it onto the cubs' chest.

"Touché!" Nala answered in defeat. Both cubs followed the major-domo back up pride rock where they were already greeted by Sarabi. "Got to hand it to your mother, she really outplayed us here." She whispered into Simbas' ear. The golden cub nodded and faced her.

"Yeah, I think we have to be cleverer next time."

After receiving their daily 'don't try anything like that again' speech and having breakfast, Simba and Nala finally got some time to play on a regular basis. Since their first meeting, Simba even had the chance to make things up with Chumvi and Tojo, he wouldn't call Tojo a friend, but at least the two got along. Chumvi on the other hand was a cub he really got to appreciate having around. He was a really good sport. After a good game of tag, Simba and Nala decided to lie down a bit beside the waterhole. The two were accompanied by Kula and Chumvi.

All four lay on their backs as they gazed up towards the clouds. "Hey, that one looks like a giant elephant." Chumvi called out and pointed his right paw towards the sky.

Right beside him, Kula smiled at him mischievous. "Oh really… come to think about the size of those animals' stomach, I could have sworn that it was you." She answered and made all the others laugh out hysterical. Nala and Simba rolled to the side and the young prince turned his gaze away from his friends.

He right then spotted two male cubs approaching each other with fury in their faces. One of them he recognized as Tojo. He could tell by the huge tuft on his forehead and the darker fur colour. But what made him shiver inside was the other cub. He had seen him before and being in the exact same situation often enough. "Here we go again!" He said frustrated in the direction of Nala, Chumvi and Kula. They first looked at him and then to the other two cubs and gasped.

"What do you want here?" The pale grey-cream coloured cub asked cold with a challenging stare.

"Last time I checked, the waterhole was a place where everybody can get something to drink. And come to think about it, there's no time regulation." Tojo replied proud and had no intention of backing down.

"I know that. I'm not that stupid. But my question remains, what are you doing here?" Mwehu asked but let it sound more of a challenge.

Tojo jerked his head up and growled a little. "Since when do you owe this place? Non-native!" he spat the last words. Tojo knew from the elder lions and lionesses that Mwehu wasn't born a pridelender.

"I don't! But I wonder, if you don't want to hang out with lions of different heritage. Why do you hang around with different species? Does it make your walk look more stylish?" Mwehu responded bursting with anger and mocked him. Yes he had known about Tojos' bird friends and wasted no opportunity to tease him about the way he had to walk because of his hurt his leg that time.

It was the first time, Tojo and Simba had some sort of a moment. Since the ochre coloured cub once had hurt his right hind ankle, he had to look over a bunch of orphaned birds and taught them how to fly. On that day; Tojo learned a really good lesson. And that made him really proud. But the more proud he became, the more defensive he got when somebody tried to ruin that memory for him. "Care to run that by me again, Mweirdhu?" He responded ready to drop the gloves at any moment.

"Watch it! Bird-boy!"

"Scarface!"

That did it. Within seconds, both young male lions had reached out their claws for each others throat. Tojo pressed the rebellious cub forward and tried to flip him over. Mwehu on the other hand shifted his weight slightly and pushed his hind legs into the ochre cubs' stomach. Tojo fell to his side. The scarred cub had him right where he wanted him. He rammed his head into Tojo side and was now on top of him grinning in a mocking tone.

It was right in that moment when Mwehu was pulled off of him as hew raised his paw for a huge stroke. The grey-cream cub looked behind and directly into Chumvis' eyes who had him packed by the scruff of his neck. His head turned and he spotted Nala and Kula helping Tojo to his feet right when his vision was blocked by a golden furred cub. "Come guys, stop it!" Mwehu recognized the voice as belonging to prince Simba. Inside, he screamed in anger yet kept his face from showing any emotion. Chumvi let him go and Mwehu immediately went face to face with him. Their heads were only inches away from each other.

"I hope you know what trouble you are in right now." Tojo called from behind the two females as he licked his left front leg which seemed to be in pain.

Simba shot him a glare which signalled Just stay calm and quiet for a little moment. He then turned his head towards the scarred cub, which still had his eyes locked on Chumvi. "Mwehu! Now is not the time to start a fight with Tojo or anybody else." He said and kept a gentle voice. He now had the full attention of Mwehu. "Look, we're all part of the same pride. What do you think? We start this all over again." At least that was how it worked with Nala and Tama! He thought. "Im Simba, these are Nala, Kula, Chumvi and… well… you already met Tojo!" He exclaimed as he introduce him to all the other cubs around them.

Mwehu raised his eyebrows. "What are you trying to do?" He asked dry.

"Yeah, good question! What are to trying to do?" Chumvi and Kula called out simultaneously.

Simba ignored them and took another step forward towards the angry lion. "What do you say? Wanna' hang out with us?" The others' mouth dropped open as they heard Simbas' proposal. If I don't walk up to him and make the first step, he might end up killing someone for real. Simba thought as this was the fourth time in a few days that he spotted Mwehu getting into a fight. He had to do something.

Mwehu didn't show any emotion as he kept glancing at the golden furred prince. His eyes wandered to the left on the three cubs in the background. Then behind him at the dark brown cub who was earlier introduced as Chumvi. He shook his head. "Sorry! But your pride is not my pride. And quiet frankly, I don't care for any of your silly games." He said cold and walked past the young prince.

Right in the moment as he made eye contact with Tojo for a last time, he growled slightly. "HEY! What's your problem, Simba just wanted to make something up to you. He just ignored the fact that you attacked one of our friends. And THIS is how YOU thank him!" Kula yelled at him and got right into his face.

"You want to be next in line?" he spat at her and growled viciously. Kula stepped a few inches backwards as Chumvi jumped right beside her with anger in his eyes.

"You have to get through me first!" he called back.

"With pleasure." Mwehu responded and got ready to pounce at the dark brown cub. Right in that moment, he felt a paw landing on his shoulder and glanced into the aqua eyes of the cream coloured female cub. Nala! He presumed.

She looked at him with pleading eyes to stop with his aggressive behaviour. "I think it might be a good idea to meet again on another day." She said gently. For the moment, there was no chance of getting through to him on this way on this situation. "Right now, these arguments will get us nowhere.

The grey-cream lion gazed at each and every one the young lions that had him surrounded. Even though, he was ready to take on every cub in the pride lands. But to let himself go in this situation meant that within moments, the parents of these children would have come around and clearly held him responsible for this mess. He didn't care what the older lions thought of him, but even he had to admit that in someway… he needed them. They shared their food with him. And king Mufasa allowed him to stay with his pride. He could move to another pride, but how long would it take for him to find one that bore with him. No… no fight this time… I need them! Mwehu slowly backed off.

However his glance got straight into the blue eyes of Tojo who returned his icy expression "See ya', bird-boy."

"Can't wait! Scarface!"

The group waited up until the lonely cub had disappeared before they turned their attention to the young prince. "What was that all about?" All of them asked out at the exact same time.

"What did I do?"

Chumvi walked right up to him. "What do you mean 'what did I do?' I thought we were friends. And then you take off and approach the enemy." He said furious. His eyes focused on Kula "You heard him; he had no second thoughts about attacking a girl. He wanted to hurt her. And what do you do? You go out and ask him to be our pal." He turned around and grunted.

The golden cub couldn't help it, but he had to smirk about the way Chumvi was acting around their caramel female friend. "Look guys, if we would have just stood back and done nothing, this would have gone seriously out of paw. I had to do something." Simba sat down with his ears dropping to the side. "And I don't know what you guys think but… I rather have him to be my friend than my enemy. The least thing we can do is to make Mwehu feel like a part of the family." He continued gesturing with his paws.

"I agree with Simba! Someone needs to reach out to him." Nala agreed and sat down right beside him. Tojos Kulas' and Chumvis mouth dropped down even more. With shaking eyes, the trio trotted away from the scene and left the duo sitting beside the waterhole. "I hope you don't get the hold of the wrong end of the stick but… that was a really kingly move you put up there." She complimented and smirked slyly.

"Really?... I mean… of course!" Simba replied and pushed out his chest and his typical fashion.

Nala raised one eyebrow and short after shook her head. "I should have known!" She smiled. "So… you got a plan how to approach our little fight club buddy?" She said as they started to make their way back to pride rock.

"Of course… we just walk up to him and have a little chat. Really genius huh?"

The cream coloured female cub just shook her head. "Brilliant idea Patton!" Nala said with sarcasm. (AN: I know, two pop culture references in about three lines. But I couldn't come up with a better synonym for a young lion with a talent for strategies) "Come on your majesty I'll race ya' home." She mocked and the two set off for pride rock.

As the cubs slowly trotted away from their gathering, none of them realized that a pair of green eyes had been locked on them for the whole time. They also showed a special interest in the young prince and his friend. His eyes glimmered in despise. I was set to be the top of the chain. I was supposed to be the first in line. Which is to say… I was until that little ball of fur arrived. And by all that is graceful, is he annoying, always and constantly trying to be good friends with me. Doesn't it have to be enough that we're related? I should have torn out his head from the beginning I saw him. But that would be my demise. If my brother finds out… His thought wandered of. To his right, he could see the sun shining on his paw while the rest of his body stood in the shadows.

His gaze wandered onto his brown/red fur and on the black hair that gathered on what humans would recall as elbows. He and his brother were so unlike and that included not only their appearance. Except for the colour of his hair, he was a male reflection of his mother. The fur, the eyes, everything! His brother on the other hand, was so much alike with their father. And he despised both of them.

Scar growled as he thought about his brother and his father. The great Mufasa, respected by all of the pride Landers, first born cub of king Ahadi and queen Uru, he was the one everybody looked up to and adored. Where as he was Scar, the lion once called Taka, until that accident where he received that wound on his eye. Beside his mother, there was no one that ever wanted to stick up with him. He envied his brother with all his might.

"Scar!"

Speaking of which… he thought and turned around to see king Mufasa standing right in front of him. "What can I do for you your highness?" He asked and left no doubt that he was being sarcastic.

"I noticed that you stopped interacting with our pride recently. Most of the time, you keep yourself in your den. I fear that you may distance yourself to much from us."

Here we go. Typical for my brother, he always tries to be the goody good. "Well, I can't say that I enjoy my time around all of you. Especially when I see new faces running around here and slowly drive us out of our rightfully owned places." He said with a distant face. There was no chance that his little try of spreading mistrust under the lions would work. But there was no harm in trying.

"You're talking about Ni and Mwehu? I told you before, if it wouldn't have been for Ni, Sarafina and Nala would have died out there. Last time I checked, you did care for Sarafina yourself when you were young. And as far as Mwehu goes… he has to find his place in this pride yet." He king answered and tried to keep his calm.

Scar granted his teeth, but as little as possible to not let Mufasa notice. Oh dear brother… it is definitely not a good idea to tear open old wounds.

"However Scar. They both are now respected members of our pride, as well as Sarafina and Nala still are. And that means that they belong to the same pride as you. Don't forget about that." Mufasa replied eyeing his brother. "And since I have to tell you this again, that little hairball is supposed to be your king at one day. And until that day comes, I want you to keep an eye on him as he was your own son." He darted him and walked off.

It seems like this is becoming a regular duty with him giving me a lecture about responsibility towards my nephew and my pride. The thought about having to deal with this naïve cub is so… Scars' eyes widened as he realized. Having to DEAL with this NAÏVE cub… of course. The brown/red lion glanced over to Mufasa who was already yards away on pride rock before he stared into the distance beyond the borders of the pride lands.

The next day arrived and that meant that Simba and Nala went along with their plan to get in contact with Mwehu. But that was easier said than done. Especially with the fact given that the subject of interest had no intention of being found or being approached. To make matters worse, the scarred cub never mentioned to anybody where he lived, except for the sharing of prey. Mwehu barely showed up around the other members of the pride. And when he showed up, it most of the time ended in an argument or a fight. So it was at this point of the day that Simba and Nala lay on guard in the high grass of the savannah and kept an eye out for the cub that searched for nothing else but trouble.

"We've been out her for hours now. Do you really think this is the right way?" Nala asked annoyed as she yawned before she rested her head on her paws.

Simba on the other hand held his position with his head focused as he lay right beside her. "You know, it only had been fifteen minutes." He answered with a smirk. "And besides, do you have a better idea?" With the corner of his eye, he overlooked his cream companion. His mind wandered of as he thought about the last weeks. Simba thought about how his time in the pride had begun, how he first meet the female cub that he could call to be his best friend. Things sure changed fast in the African lands.

"Hel-lo! Are you still here?" Nala called out of the sudden and waived her paw in front of the princes' face. He drove out of his trance and faced her.

"Huh? Oh yes… yes. I'm all ears."

Nala stretched herself out on her back and gazed tired towards the sky. "Y'know, having to wait here is really boring. So… here is my idea. You know that the hunting party is going to return soon. So that means Mwehu is going to join us at lunch. And hat means he's going to leave afterwards. And that means…"

"Get to the point." Simba interrupted rolling closer to her.

"I'm getting there. So, why… instead of waiting out here for him to show up, we wait until meal and follow him to where ever he's hiding?"

Simba widened his eyes as he realized. Oh snap, she really has a point there. That's a very good idea. "There might be some sense in it." He finally admitted yet tried his best to cover up the fact that she discovered a huge flute in his plan. "Yeah, we better wait until dinner." He said. The golden furred cub sat up straight and looked up at his friend. "So… what do you want to do in the meantime?"

Nala stood up and turned her back to the prince. "I don't know. Maybe we could… OOOF"

That was the exact moment Simba had been waiting for. With a sudden rush of energy, he pounced at the female and the two rolled over the savannah. Now I got her! He thought and felt Nala landing under him. But suddenly, the cream cub pushed her legs up and landed on top pf the prince pinning him to the ground.

"Nice try Sim, but you got to put a bit more effort into it." She mocked and let go of him. Simba stared into her aqua eyes. Looks like I finally found my match. Just don't spill it out loud. He didn't realize that he wandered off into staring at her. Nala realized and stepped away from him giving him a soft smack with her left paw. "You're doing it again!" She exclaimed.

The young prince shook his head and got back to his feet. "Yeah uhm… sorry about that." He said embarrassed.

Nala giggled and shoved him again on the forehead. "You're really weird you know!" Both laughed as they heard a roar hauling over the landscape. It signalled the time for dinner.

Just like Nala suspected, it was right before meal that the scarred cub Mwehu showed his face for the first time of the day. And like most of the times his presence was either ignored or anticipated with distance. Only a few of them exchanged looks with him. Nobody talked to him; it was just a moment both sides wanted to get over with really quick. In a lion pride, the males were the ones who had the first right to eat from the prey. After that came the lionesses and last the cubs.

Simba and Nala joined sides as Sarafina bit off a large chunk of meat from the freshly hunted wildebeest and dropped it for her daughter. The cream coloured cub started chewing right away on the prey while Simba couldn't help but lock his eyes on his father and his uncle. Both adult lions never shared any eye contact. They hardly ever spoke to each other in Simbas presence. Come to think of it… he never actually had seen Scar and his father interact in any way since he was allowed to wander around. He slightly shook his head and returned to the little piece of meat.

On the other end of the group, Tojo and Mwehu once in a while locked eyes on each other. Both of them signalled that their argument was in no way forgotten. But other than that… the meal went on as normal as usually.

And so the young prince and his friend waited until Mwehu was finished and without saying and signalizing anything, except a little nod to king Mufasa, backed off from the gathering. Simba made a nod and he and Nala swept out of their parents' looks. Nala hid behind a rock as the scarred cub made a quick glance behind him. Almost as if he knew something was not right. He then continued on his way across a slight dusty trail heading away from pride rock.

Simba wondered as he followed him. This isn't just a slight walk away from the pride. This is living at the other end of our territory. Up to this point, he had never been so far away from pride rock and the overview of his parents. His thoughts wandered off to his father. His dad never took him out to see the huge size of the land he was going to rule one day. When we get back, that's the first thing I'm going to ask dad about. The pride lands might look amazing at sunrise. On the other side of the trail, he could see Nala keeping her eyes on Mwehu. Should I ask her to come with me? This might be the best idea to impress her. Impress her? Why would he need that, he thought. She was his best friend; there was no point in impressing her on this way. Simba shook his head and tried to get the thought out of it.

At this moment, the cream female cub noticed that their target was heading towards a large acacia tree in the distance of the veldt. Of course! Living so far in the veldt and away from the pride, this is the best way to get some shelter for a small cub. The cub stopped and took another glance behind him. This time he gazed into the direction of Nala. She quickly lay down in the grass and tried not to move a muscle. Mwehu walked backwards and was now only a few feet away. There was no doubt that he knew that there was fishy going on here and he stopped right beside her. It was unclear to Nala why she was afraid, so what if she sneaked up behind him? It wasn't like he was going to kill her. Besides… Simba was around too!

"Okay! Playtime is over. Get out of your hideout now!" Mwehu called out and locked his eyes right on the small golden point moving to his left.

Simba pulled up his head and revealed himself to the other male cub.

"Ahhhh… if it isn't his royal plainness? Got to admit, I'm kind of surprised to have you following me around to my home. Where's your girlfriend? I've never seen you two been separated for longer than five seconds." He said with a smile. Yet his voice held no sign of any joy in it.

At this moment, Nala walked out of the grass and came to a halt just beside the golden furred prince. "First! I'm not his girlfriend!" (AN: Finally got that line out of the way) "Second! His name is Simba and I'm Nala. Third we were just trying to get to know you!" She replied with a stern voice.

Mwehu on the other side smiled. It was the first time either one of the two cubs had seen him do that in an honest way. Well at least in an honest and mean way. "And your best idea was to follow me?" he answered as he started walking towards the acacia tree again.

"Would you have let us talk to you and lead us here if we would have asked politely?" She asked challenging. Nala had enough of receiving nasty and mocking remarks from the pale cub.

"No!"

"You see!" She said and turned to Simba.

But the prince just took a few steps forward with a pleading expression. "Please… Mwehu, just hear us out for once. We don't want to be your enemies. We want to be your friends" He didn't know if a friend was the right word what he had in mind. But at least being on a neutral stand with him was an accomplishment. "We couldn't help but notice that you never spend your time with other cubs. You appear for meals and then leave. And then… when we do see you around with other lions… you get into these fights and arguments. And, we just felt that you could use some company around here."

The scarred cub didn't show any response. He just stared at the two and turned his back towards them. "What makes you think that I could use some company?" He answered in a low and calm voice.

Simba and Nala were a bit taken aback by that. Was he really asking this? All lions and lionesses in the kings Pride knew of him having no connection to any other lion and animals. He was completely alone. There was no one who could come to his aid when he needed some. For a small lion cub without a pride to take care of it, it was doomed. "Are you serious? Everybody at one point needs someone to talk to. Everybody needs a friend that he can share his secrets and his desires. I mean… who do you play with during the day?"

"I don't play! Out here, without the protection of the elders, I have to take care about myself. I can't allow myself to let my guard down by playing games." He rubbed the right side of his jaw.

It was now that Simba realized the new scar that had built on Mwehus muzzle. "What happened there?" He asked.

"Unfriendly contact with a snake this mourning. But enough of that, what do you want?" Within seconds, his voice changed form clam and low, to angry and annoyed. He was clearly signalling both cubs that he had no interest in continuing this conversation.

Nala was the first to respond. "Like we already said, you look like you could use some friends around." She got really close to his face and showed that there was some sort of concern she had for him. "Since you did your best to get every cub in our pride to hate you, we thought we could make it a bit easier for you!"

"Easier for me!" He mocked back. "If I wanted company, I would have already made an attempt to get in touch with you." The trio had now arrived at the tree where Mwehu immediately padded to the small opening beneath where he spent his nights. "I'm perfectly fine without any of you little care bears." He said in a nasty tone.

By now, Simba was starting to get really angry at the male cub in front of him. It was the first time, the two of them exchanged more than a few words with each other. And the prince could see by now why Tojo, Chumvi and the others held a serious grudge against Mwehu. He was really a nasty person. "You know, if you would walk around and be a bit nicer, you wouldn't have to live so alone and aside from us." He challenged and became stern.

"What part of 'perfectly fine without any of you' was so hard to understand? Seriously… if you wanted to come over here to lecture me about life, you should have better saved you breath." He replied angrily.

"We were just trying to be nice!" Nala snapped at him angry about the way Mwehu reacted to her friend.

"What is it with you and this being nice thing?" Mwehu snapped back frustrated. By this time, he brought a little distance between him and the other two cubs.

Nala and Simba looked at each other and rolled their eyes. There was nothing to gain here under these circumstances. They turned away. "You know, being friendly and nice to others is the essence of living in a pride. It keeps the harmony in our world." Nala said now with a sad expression. She thought about the circumstances of her birth and how her mother was treated by the rest of her old pride while she was pregnant. Simba saw this and put a paw on her shoulder.

"You wanna' know a lesson of life? Let me tell you one." Mwehu retorted and ran over to them blocking their way.

"Who can tell what's gonna' happen to us—maybe it's true after all."

He started singing as wandered from left to right.

"That our life is just this on exam—in which we shall prove ourselves."

He turned away and stared into the distance.

"Only those who pass it with an A—are allowed to get into heaven!"

Mwehu looked directly into the princes eyes but found no sign of an emotion evolving towards him.

"For all the rest of the dirty bunch, there's left the hell of rebirth."

He got back into his padding motion with gritted teeth.

"As a hyena in the shadow lands, as a warthog with wind… As a meerkat in a colony that nobody wants to have around."

With a quick motion, he got right into the face of Nala who got a bit afraid and stepped back.

"To get us out of this destiny- we shall give it our best."

"Start every day with a prayer or two—instead of aspirin."

Mwehu now looked at a small hill and ran upwards. Becoming curious now, the young prince and his friend followed him. Both found him waiting there and grinning in triumph.

"Only those who run straight to confessional- as it was some kind of race."

"And a call out every sins of them- negotiates an absolution."

With two final small jumps, the scarred cub revealed the African savannah to his two followers' right before he got back face to face with Simba. With anger in his eyes he continued.

"I don't want to paradise, when the way up there is so damn hard!"

"I don't apply for any asylum- I do not mind staying here!"

The trio now arrived on a lift with a small and rocky trail leading down into a valley. Mwehu jumped from rock to rock and came down on the ground as he was still followed by Nala and Simba. Both cubs were barely able to keep up the pace as every slip could make them tumble and could get them hurt.

"Who can rightly share meal and den- and at dinner sits up straight."

"Who always says YES and THANKS- Whose chances are not bad."

Mwehu turned his head towards his crowd and grinned with a taunting tone.

"Who queues well-behaved in every line- with a shining coat."

"Who bares his destiny with humility- will get salvation:"

For a moment, Simba and Nala lost sight of the other cub. The prince turned his head around but got no clue where he could have gone. The suddenly, Nala shrieked as Mwehu jumped out from a bush with a growl as he landed right beside the cream female. Nala tumbled and fell on her back as she spread her paws out to defend herself from him. Simba right away ran aside her and bared his teeth towards the aggressor.

"We shall listen and pay attention- do what we are told."

He turned his body to the side with his head still locked on them. He grinned again and suddenly backed away.

"Subordinate and imitate- from the first day to the last."

Nala got back up and held en expression as to say. 'Next time you're finished'.

"Always play by the rules of life- as THEY have ordered us."

"As they are written down in the book of life- in eternity amen!"

The pale cream cub started running and was immediately given chase by the other two. They ran along the veldt as Simba and Nala finally got to look at pride rock again.

"I don't want to paradise, when the way up there is so damn hard."

"Who knows if we'd have a better life- behind this door?"

Now, Mwehu stopped and faced the other two in an instant.

"I don't want to paradise- when the way up there is so damn hard."

"And before I beg on my knees- I don't mind staying here!"

He led them back to the acacia tree as both Simba and Nala were out of their breaths. Mwehu had held them on their top of their speed so that they could catch up with him.

"I don't want to paradise- if the way up there is so damn hard."

"If I'm not allowed to get in as I am- I'll stay outside before the door:"

"I don't want to paradise- if the way up there is so damn hard."

"I don't beg for any asylum- I don't mind staying here."

Mwehu turned around and face both cubs that were totally out of breath. Inside his mind, he laughed at them. "You know… you can call yourself lucky that I revealed so much of my personality to you. I hope you're happy now." He said with taunts in his voice.

Right across him, Simba gasped exhausted and had to sit down. Nala felt a bit better since she could still stand. But she also was deeply tired. But she finally got a grip of herself and stood up. There was no chance of making up with Mwehu, she realized that now. But the least thing she could do was to give him something to think about.

"You dragged us around the pride lands to tell us that you hate playing by the rules and that you despise being a respectful member of a group. Fine, do what you want to do." Again she was only inches away from him, both could see the others refusal in their eyes. Nala spoke up again. "But one day, you will need some one. And when that day comes, you have no one to turn to. I don't know about you, but that would give me the chills." She said in a low voice as she and Simba padded back to pride rock and left Mwehu all there by himself.

The scarred cub just shook his head and wandered back into his den.

Up in the trees an old looking mandrill could do nothing but shake his head in disappointment.

Authors Note: The song I used towards the end of the chapter is called "Paradies (paradise)" and was performed by a German punk band called "Die toten Hosen (the dead pants)" the text is originally in German but was translated on by Valant. I just altered a few words here and there to match the rhythm of words a bit.