Chapter Seven
"Tano?" Zira asked, the pair had been walking in complete silence ever since they'd left their den a few hours earlier
Tano sighed, "We're not gonna talk about each other's feelings now are we?" he asked, clearly not wanting to talk to her at all
Zira shook her head, "No. never been one for feelings myself, but how are we going to make me look different for the next part of step one?"
Tano motioned forward, a large tree loomed on the horizon, "Let's say that I know someone who can get the job done, although he may need...Persuasion." he said, allowing a small growl after the word 'Persuasion'
"Ah. the old mandrill, a wise decision, he is sure to know what we need." Zira said, nodding her agreement
Tano then laughed, "He will prove an interesting kill after we get what we need."
"No doubts there, I saw him fight alongside Simba in the overthrow of Scar."
"Really? then what is his fighting style? what does he rely on? does he have any visible weaknesses?" Tano asked, suddenly very interested in what Zira had to say
Zira searched for the appropriate words for a little while before answering, "His style is extremely unique, he relys heavily on a long wooden stick adorned with dried fruit, and the only weakness that I could see at the time was that he tired easily."
"Hmmm... not much to work with there, but it does give me an idea of what to do first."
"Which is?"
"I'm gonna take his stick."
Rafiki sat atop the highest branch of the tree that he called home, he mixed herbs together in an old tortoise shell and carefully watched the two lions approaching on the horizon, something about these two was just not right.
Rafiki was getting old, and a fight with two rogue lions was the last thing he needed, he gathered his walking staff and bounded down to the living quarters of the ancient tree, casting a handful of strange herbs to the wind, he frowned.
"Ohh, Mufasa...got a bad feeling about these two my friend." he said, suddenly worried. he turned and bounded down to the ground, using his staff to launch him into the air
Rafiki addressed the somewhat familiar looking male first, "Eh? what are you doing here?"
"I come seeking a disguise for my mate, I need to make her look different." was the male's short, demanding reply
Rafiki clicked his tounge, "Lions, always rushing to 'de life changing decisions, if you dont like her look 'den why you mate to her?" he said
Rafiki then scrutinized the eerily familiar female, "Zira? Is 'dat you?" he asked
"Ah, he recognised me Tano, didn't I tell you he would?" the female asked the male, smiling evilly as she posed the question
Rafiki gasped, "By 'de Kings! Tano? Simba's boy?" Rafiki lowered his staff from his fighting position and walked over to the pair of lions, "I 'tink I can help you out, you follow old Rafiki, he has exactly what you need." Rafiki added, running over to the side of his tree and vaulting back into the living quarters.
Rafiki began rapidly mixing together many different herbs and ingerdients in his tortoise shell, "Do you have fur color prefence?" he called down to Tano and Zira
"A natural color would be nice." was Zira's reply
Rafiki jumped down with the tortoise shell full of an almond brown paste, "Here, you start applying to her fur, keep it light and even, little bit goes loooong way." he said to Tano, streching his arms apart slowly to get the point across, "I'll help you put 'dis on when I get back with other stuff, be right back." he added, jumping back up to the living quarters.
"Eye color?" Rafiki called down
"I like mine the way they are, thank you." Zira called up
Rafiki grabbed his walking stick and jumped back down, there was just something wrong he couldn't figure out about these two, so he wasn't going to take any chances being caught without his weapon of choice.
"Here, let me hold that for you, I can't spread that stuff very well." Tano said, taking the stick from Rafiki's hand
"Very well, but if you loose Rafiki's stick there will be hell to pay!" Rafiki replied as he sat and began applying the paste to Zira's fur
A few hours later, Rafiki had dyed every single part of Zira's body a dark almond brown, he'd even temporarily fixed the scar on her ear, making it virtually invisible.
Rafiki stood and motioned for his stick back, "dere you go, now did you need anything else?"
Tano snapped the walking stick in two with his powerful jaw muscles, "Well, there was one other thing..." he said, staring at Rafiki with malicious intent
"I knew this was a bad idea." Rafiki groaned as he dropped into his unorthodox fighting stance
Tano roared a challenge, "This should be fun." he said as he began circling the old baboon in a low crouch
Rafiki stared at the circling lion, "Well 'den? come on! Rafiki doesn't have all day!" he shouted, bearing his teeth in defiance
A voice from behind him said coldly, "No, you don't." this was followed by a sickening popping sound and Rafiki's body went limp, and as his vision began to white out, Rafiki saw Zira standing over him, blood covering her smiling face.
"...Dis is how it ends?"
Zira had severed the old baboon's spine, Tano smiled, Rafiki had forgotten about her just long enough for her to make her move
"Good work Zira." Tano said, nodding in Zira's direction
Zira laughed, "hardly the fight you wanted him to be huh?" she remarked, kicking the corpse as she made her way over to Tano's side
Tano nodded, "let's be thankful for that. Now, we only need one more thing for our cover story to be airtight."
"What is it?"
"You need to injure me."
"What? Why?"
"It will give them reason to accept us, if only temporarily."
Zira nodded, "Very well, this will only hurt...a lot, I'm sure..." she said, flexing her claws
Tano braced himself, he felt a sharp pain as Zira's claws gouged into his right flank, he roared in pain as his vision doubled
"Grrr... that hurts..." he said, turning his attention to his wound
Zira's claws had dug about an inch into Tano's flesh, the cuts would leave nasty scars and the pain made it difficult to draw his breath, but no major damage done otherwise.
"So, what will my false name be?" Zira asked, cleaning her blood soaked claws
"I...thought I'd leave that up to you..." Tano said between painful inhales
"No, you are so much more creative than I am Tano, I'll leave that up to you." Zira said in a matter of factly tone
"Fine, if you want it to be that way, your new name is Yari, get used to being called that." Tano replied
Zira sighed, "Fine, will you be able to walk on your own to Pride Rock?" she asked
Tano nodded, "It's only pain, I'll manage." he said
Zira stayed close to his side, "If you need help, know that I'm here."
"Zira...just walk please, I'll be fine." Tano said, nudging her away from him
"What is your problem?" Zira asked, offended by Tano's behavior
"We dont need these...emotions, they'll only hurt us in the end."
"What emotions? I was only trying to help."
"Exactly, the only one you should be concerned with helping is yourself."
"How can you say that after..."
"After what? this morning? Zira, do you love me?"
"...Yes Tano, I do."
"Zira...that was only meant to be a part of a plan."
"Well maybe I felt something more! something I had'nt felt since..."
"...Scar..."
"Don't you dare speak his name! You have no right Tano! No right!"
"No, I do have a right! and if you don't like it then maybe you should go! Leave me! that's what everyone I've ever loved has done to me anyway."
"Tano...do you love me?"
"Just go Zira, and have a nice life."
"No. I will see our plan through to the end, with you at my side.
"You might not like the outcome."
"As long as you are with me, I will deal with the outcome."
"Come on then Zira, the Pridelands await our arrival."
Kovu watched the pair of rogues approach, he could tell right away that the male was hurt pretty bad, he ran out to greet the two as they slowly approached.
"Hey, where are you headed?" he asked, concerned
"The...jungle to the...north." the male replied, wincing in pain as he tried to draw a breath
"Well you won't make it in the condition that you're in buddy, why dont you two stay with us 'till your healed." Kovu said
"Thanks, this is my mate...Yari and I'm...Tano." the male said
It took Kovu several seconds to process where he'd heard that name before, "Kiara's brother Tano? you're supposed to be dead."
Tano smiled, "Let's just say -for all intents and purposes- that I am dead, I have no interest in your throne Kovu."
Kovu took a cautious step back, "How do you know my name?" he asked
"Please, an outcast taking the throne? how do I not know your name would be the better question." Tano shot back
"Hey! Kiara, Simba, and Nala would be psyched to know that you are still alive! and mated too..." Kovu said, a mischevious smile crossing his face
Tano shook his head, "Not today, I really need to get some rest, and Yari here is probably no better off than I am." he said, feigning exhaustion
"We have a little extra room in the main den if you are interested." Kovu offered
Tano nodded acceptingly, "Thanks brother, you are too kind." he said as he made his way toward Pride Rock's den
Kani ran over to Kovu after Tano and Yari/Zira left, "Who were they dad?" he asked
Kovu looked at his son, "Your aunt and uncle little buddy." he said
"Really? someone that's related to mom, or someone like uncle Ra?" Kani asked, confused by his father's answer
"He's your mom's brother." Kovu said, looking back toward the den
Kani smiled and charged toward the den, "Oh cool, I gotta go meet him!"
Kani suddenly stopped and turned around, "What's his name dad?" he asked
"His name's Tano, and be nice to him, he's hurt bad." Kovu replied, saying what Kiara would most likely say if she were there at the time
Kovu couldn't believe it, Tano had actually returned.
Kovu had to go tell everybody, and when Kiara came back from her hunt, she'd most likely faint upon seeing him for the first time, and Simba and Nala would probably have a heart attack when they found out.
On second thought, maybe he'd break the news to Simba and Nala lightly, wouldn't want them to hurt themselves after all.
A/N: Ah Chapter seven, and the first casualty of the story (R.I.P Rafiki). so I be needing your reviews to tell me how I'm doing, hope I didn't make Zira and Tano sound too soft in that one part guys, just needed some internal conflict.
Will update with CH.8 soon, thanks for reading, and remember: your reviews help me get my act together if i'm screwing up.