"You're Out of Your Mind"
A MufasaxNala Fanfiction
Written by Rina Bly Pauwau Malenga
Mufasa, Nala, Simba, Rafiki, Sarabi, Sarafina, Scar/Taka, Chumvi, Malka, Kula, Tama (c) Disney
Nia, Buziba (c) Rina Bly Pauwau Malenga
Story (c) Rina Bly Pauwau Malenga
If you'd like to find more information on the stories and art by me, check out my deviantArt page and tumblr! Links are in my profile!
Chapter 6
The walk back home didn't seem like much time at all – and Nala was hoping for a little more thinking time. But as queen, she knew she wasn't supposed to take her time with her own personal affairs.
When Nala entered behind the giant rock, she fully expected lionesses to be sunbathing. A part of her even expected to see Mufasa out there with the others, but he was nowhere to be found. It irked her, in some way. But she quickly was able to ignore it when she heard a numerous boast of laughter coming from the direction where her mother usually took the sun to her pelt. Nala turned her head, seeing most of the pride crowding around Nia. What Nala thought to be a lioness who didn't like to be in the middle of most social situations, she was surprised that the pale female seemed to be leading the charge of joyful energy.
Sarafina smelled her daughter near and thusly turned her head to greet Nala. "Hello, dear," she smiled at the queen. Attention soon followed after Nala as the others greeted her, but none of them leaving their warmed rocks. So, Nala got herself over there.
"Hello ladies," Nala smiled down at them. She sat next to her mother. "What are we all talking about?" she asked.
"Nia was just telling us a story of when her and her old pride was hunting a water buffalo," one of the females boasted for Nia. Nia simply looked over at the lioness speaking and laughed a little.
"What we learned was, don't hunt water buffalo unless you're alright with having a few pokes to the bottom," Nia recapped over her story more comically to Nala, but it jerked the same reaction from the others. Nala, on the other paw, just sat there and nodded her head.
Smiling, Nala contributed. "I guess your pride was good at hunting then, huh?" she questioned Nia. Nia nodded her head and smiled.
"Probably not too wise though, if you're hunting a buffalo without at least ten lionesses there to pull the thing down," Sarafina jested. Some of the females started to laugh again, but the others looked at Nala. "Speaking of which, it's time for a hunt." The sudden reminder brought all the lionesses to their fours and turning to Nala for guidance. In the absence of Sarabi, Nala had become the lead huntress of the pride and she was about to lead another one.
"Alright ladies, let's get to it," Nala smiled before turning around.
"Mufasa!" Nia's voice was heard, and the others looked to where she darted off to to find her next to the large male. With a couple of nods and greetings heard through the group, Nala included herself by smiling at the king before looking over to Nia.
"You coming?" she asked.
"Oh! Yes," Nia nodded and took a look at Mufasa. "Join us?" she asked.
Mufasa, being male, didn't participate in hunts. His brightly coloured mane tipped off more than a fair share of prey for this lionesses, so he had reason to hesitate answering Nia. Clearing his throat, Mufasa offered the best smile he could conjure. "Thank you, Nia. But I will leave you ladies to the hunting," he graciously told her.
"Just watch," Nia suggested.
As Nia fiddled back and forth with Mufasa, her eyes were drawn to the sun in the sky. It was a little lower than it should be, which told her that it was passing time quickly for their hunt. The afternoon was practically fading into evening, so they would have to be swift to catch the herds before it was down time. Looking to Nia, she cleared her throat. "Come along, Nia. We're losing daylight," Nala advised her.
But Nia seemed determined, and Nala furrowed her brows ever so slightly as a result. "Please, Mufasa?"
"She wants to show off her hunting skills for you, king Mufasa," one of the lionesses of the pride joked, causing a high pitched series of giggling. Mufasa looked back at the group, Nia as well but her face was much more shocked that someone had said something like that.
"N-No, I just – it would nice to have a meal fresh, wouldn't it?" Nia tried to reason with the others, and maybe even herself, as she looked back at the golden male. "Please?"
Nala surveyed the two, her ears flicking wildly with mild irritation as she awaited on Mufasa's answer, which would determine one of the huntresses appearance for the late afternoon hunt. To her relief, Mufasa finally let out a small chuckle and smiled. "Alright, I shall come."
The pale lioness beside the king smiled brightly, looking at the others. Compared to everyone else, Nala looked less than thrilled with the childish attempt to get the king to tag along. But she wouldn't mind it much for now; she had a pride to feed.
Setting out and in front, Nala lead the pride over to the hunting grounds. On the menu today: zebra. Sticking low to the ground, the pride of females – with Mufasa tagging along – kept themselves intimate to the earth. Their feline eyes surveyed through the plains, and sifted through the herd. Nala, specifically, was looking for one of the zebras that weren't caring for foals nor with an injury. After the reign of Scar's, she was concerning herself with the growth and existence of new livestock in the Pridelands and she taught the other lionesses to do the same.
Looking over her shoulder, Nala flicked her tail to catch quiet attentions. "There's a zebra straying from the herd over there," she pointed her nose to the striped prey. He was old, she could tell, and he had a very obvious limp in his front leg. "We'll go for him." The others agreed in silence.
"What about that foal over there?" asked Nia. From Nia's face, Nala looked over to the foal with it's mother, a little ways away from the others.
Nala then looked over to Nia again. "What about it?"
"Why don't we just get that one?" she questioned.
Nala didn't think less of Nia for suggesting the foal as their prime target. However, due to her coming to the Pridelands when they were greener than before, she was willing to let it slide off of her back.
"We go for the elderly because we want the herds to flourish with new foals," the only masculine voice of the pride sounded. Mufasa's deep voice was lowered enough so that it wouldn't alarm the zebras into looking over to where the pride was hiding. But it was Mufasa's unique vocals, so it caught the attentions of all the lionesses. "Plus, more meat for the pride."
Nala nodded her head. "Couldn't have said it better myself," she agreed with Mufasa with a smile. He shot her a smile as well before he looked back at Nia, almost like he knew she would have questions or concerns.
"But to kill an old zebra? Isn't that a little...?"
"Harsh? No." Nala's answer was almost immediate, knowing that they were wasting time talking amongst themselves when they had mouths to feed – including her own. Nala wasn't going to lie, she was getting hungry and hunger did something to her. "Alright. This half," Nala drew a line down the middle of the pride females, "Go out to the left of the herd. The other half, go to the right. Your jobs will be to chase the target out of the herd, where my mom and I will ambush it from the front. Got it?" the majority nodded, showing their understanding for the orders given from the queen. "Be safe everyone, and let's do our best," Nala smiled.
"Nala?" Nia's voice prolonged the movements of the others, as they paid attention to Nia. Nala, begrudgingly, looked over her shoulder to the lightly coloured female. "I don't feel comfortable with killing an elder of the herd. Back in my pride, elders were –"
Nala refrained from growling, as her stomach did that for her. She was pretty sure she spoke for the others when she instantly whipped her head away from Nia. "Then don't," she answered the fae. "Move out," she told the others, who willingly left the situation that had proven to be quite challenging to Nala's level-headed authority.
Nia was left there where they were all gathered prior to the planning, looking in the directions where the pride was moving but then soon crouching to not alert the zebras of her presence. Even though she blended in the with the grass perfectly, she slunk her way over to where Mufasa had placed himself.
Nala and Sarafina, now planted where they were to ambush the upcoming prey, rolled their shoulders for sudden actions to come. A silence was upon the plains as they all prepared for the herds cries. Nala's blue-green orbs focused in front of her, not willing to miss the moment to move away from the upcoming herd.
"Are you alright, Nala?" Sarafina's voice infiltrated the atmosphere.
Nala didn't look at her mother like she knew Sarafina was looking at her daughter. "Yes, mom."
"You were pretty short with Nia, don't you think?" Sarafina whispered.
"Can we talk about –" Nala started, but she was soon cut off as the zebras chirped in surprise and hooves were shaking the earth beneath the hunters' paws. "Can we talk about this later?" Nala asked, but she had no chance to listen for her mother's response as she readied herself to take the zebra off of it's hooves and onto it's back for a swift, painless kill. And sure enough, the elder zebra galloped it's way over to Nala and Sarafina. The lionesses sprung up from the grasses. As the zebra jerked himself away from the two, Nala had already placed herself on it's back and hung herself over so it would fall to it's side. Once the weight had shifted, the zebra whinnied to a fall. Surprisingly though, it wasn't Sarafina that placed herself on the equine's throat, but a dash of red that flew past Nala as Mufasa was seen delivering the final blow. The three present at the kill were left to inhale and exhale shallow breaths, trying to catch the air they had lost in hunt and looking at each other with smiles.
Nala looked at Mufasa. "Nice work there, your highness."
With a few more breaths, Mufasa nodded his head. "Thank you, Nala."
Soon, the rest of the pride caught up – including Nia. As they passed "Congratulations." and "Well done."s to one another, they all took a few breathers again before sinking their jaws into the meat. Nala's teeth were already sunken into the black and white pelt of the kill, raking into it's tender flesh to reveal the stomach and slowly eating her way around the bones. Beside her, she noticed Mufasa sit at her left. She acknowledged him with a small smile, before getting back to her kill. But a question pressed her like the warm rays of sun pressed against her pelt. Once Mufasa took a chance to chew his food, she looked at him.
"Didn't know you were a hunter, too," she commented.
Mufasa, now looking at Nala, quickened his chewing and swallowed. "I learned most of my moves from Sa..." he started off pretty cheerfully, happy to have some praise, but then when it turned into the subject matter of his past mate, his dull eyes were once again present and he turned away to focus back on eating. Watching him do so, Nala took more of the kill as well for herself. But the few times she looked away from the zebra, she noticed Nia sitting off on her own. Every so often looking over her shoulder, Nia looked at Nala as well. Her face was playing at a caring side of Nala. But before she could really do anything, Nia picked herself up and walked off. Hopefully back to Pride Rock for safety of not knowing where she really was around the Pridelands.
'I'll speak to her,' thought Nala. It was only fair. She realized that in her time of poor misconduct as both a queen and her mother's daughter, she had probably harmed Nia's feelings – and Nia was sensitive as it already was.