I finally got the next chapter done! Gituku seemed very happy with all your reviews too; he says, "Yeah? Well same ta you guys!!"
Oh, and I'd like to make an announcement: a personally known friend of mine now has an account on here, her name is Zira-fan1. She's new so try not to scare her (laughs).
And a few more names appear in this chapter when Taka and Mufasa are having a conversation, but they don't have a specific meaning for I made them up. And if they do have a specific meaning then it is purely coincidence.
"Only two more days until the BIG day." Mufasa stated as he and Taka watched the lionesses busily hurry around Priderock. Some were moving a few stray rocks that were out of place for safety reasons, some were placing a few flowers here and there for a more decorative touch, and the rest were busy with Sarabi who was in one of the dens.
"You'll both be fine." Taka assured him.
"Zira, Sarafina and I know you two enough to know you'll be… essentially the perfect couple." He teased. Mufasa smirked while cocking an eyebrow at his brother, but his expression soon faded.
"It's not the fact that we'll be married from now on; I love Sarabi, and I'm happy father allows us to spend out lives together. The wedding itself is the problem; I have to memorize all these vows and customs, and I have to know what to do and exactly when to do it…it gets pretty complicated. Almost as complicated as to be king I bet."
"To be king…" Taka began in a dreamlike tone.
"I'd do anything to be Priderock's next king." He stated. Mufasa laughed.
"In that case, I hope you do get picked to be king. All that responsibility; doesn't seem all that worth it to me." His older brother told him.
"Oh the responsibility will be nothing more than an obstacle to push aside. Sure it'll always be there, but the admiration of my subjects and the support of my family will make it all worthwhile."
"I'm impressed; when I talk about being king to other residents of the Pridelands, all they seem interested in is the so-called 'freedom to do what I want'." Mufasa stated.
"Well of course but you have to admit having such a privilege is no everyday circumstance." His brother replied.
"Yes but what if you have an important meeting to go to? Even if you don't want to attend you still have your duty to the kingdom and there is no such thing as skipping-out on those responsibilities."
"I'll be the king; I'll be able to do whatever I please." Taka replied. Mufasa's jaw quickly fell as he stared at his brother; almost in shock. Taka smiled after a moment had passed.
"Just kidding." The younger brother said. Mufasa gave a sigh of relief, and Taka laughed at the fact that his brother had really fallen for that. Mufasa couldn't help but laugh along with him; good ol' Taka, he always knew how to get inside your head.
"So, if you do happen to be 'King Taka' in the near future, who will you take as a queen?" Mufasa asked.
"Hmmm, I'm not sure… Dotty appears capable of running a kingdom, and not to mention pretty as well." Taka replied.
"She's a bit chatty though if you ask me."
"All lionesses are chatty."
"Eh-hem."
Mufasa and Taka suddenly turned their heads when a voice interrupted their conversation. They saw Zira standing in front of them.
"Mufasa, the king wishes to see you." She stated. Mufasa nodded and with a quick farewell to Taka he rushed up to Priderock. When he was gone, Zira walked over to Taka's side and let out an exhausted breath.
"What's wrong?" Her friend asked.
"All this talking about Sarabi's marriage; every lioness keeps saying how 'lucky' she is to be wedded to Mufasa. Even Sarafina can't stop chattering and it's all driving me to my breaking point! Taka you are very fortunate not to be a lioness." Zira replied. Taka laughed and looked out to the Pridelands.
It was so peaceful today; beautiful green fields verdant with life, herds of gazelles leaping across the plains, tree limbs waving in the breeze as a light gust rolled across the land, and an enormous blue sky watching it all happen. The young prince let out a sigh of content; sometimes it was hard for him to believe that this, was his home.
"What are you thinking about?" Zira asked all of a sudden. Taka was shocked.
"Excuse me?!" He nearly screeched. This was not typical behavior for her; Zira was always a blunt, right-to-the-point natured lioness, and thought trivial questions such as "What are you thinking about?" were among some of the stupidest things you could say. And that only girly, gossipy, giggly lionesses, lionesses that were not at all like her, asked questions like that.
"Sorry, I had to spend a lot of time with Sarafina and those other girlish-acting females. Must've rubbed off on me. I tell you Taka if it wasn't for my other group of friends I'd go absolutely ballistic."
Taka knew what she meant; Zira had this clique of about, so far, five lionesses who were a tightly knit group although they still seemed to have their differences. What Taka didn't know, was that it was actually more of a fan club: his fan club to be exact. He also didn't know that all those lionesses were absolutely crazy about him and sometimes it was the only thing they had in common with each other; on occasion two or more members would start quarreling over a disagreement, and the only way it could be stopped was if they saw Taka nearby. In which case they had to stop, for that was one of their rules: "Don't harm the prince."
Yes, Zira even came up with a system of rules for the fan club to follow. "Do not talk to the prince unless spoken to or commanded to do so." "Do not touch the prince's food or other belongings." "You may only approach the prince if accompanied by another lioness." And countless others that had to be memorized if you wanted to be a "Taka-lover", as the other lionesses put it.
Although those lionesses were a fan club themselves, for Mufasa. The ever popular of the two brothers had a fan club just as large as his brother's. And like Taka, he had no idea it existed. The two fan clubs often were often clashing with one another though; because like all rivaled associations, they had their discrepancies.
The Taka fan club admired the younger of the princes for his intelligence, the Mufasa fan club admired the older of the princes for his strength. The Taka fan club admired the younger prince for being unique; unlike nearly all the lions of Priderock, he had a black mane, a brown fur coat, and green eyes, all of which the lionesses found irresistible. And the Mufasa fan club admired the older prince for looking best at looking like everybody else; a thick red mane, golden fur and golden eyes to match, again which they all found irresistible.
But even though the two fan clubs were almost completely different, they both agreed on one thing: "Hail to the prince!!"
Thankfully, Sarabi and Sarafina were not members of either clubs, although they were pressured to do so on one occasion or another. They knew that even though Taka and Mufasa didn't know their fan clubs existed, they did think the lionesses who were in them acted rather weird. And since Sarabi and Sarafina weren't in the fan clubs, the two found a lot more time to spend with the princes than the fan-girl lionesses. Zira was the only fan-girl able to interact with them because luckily, she and Taka had been personal friends since childhood. Sarabi and Sarafina also knew Zira was in a fan club, but kept it to themselves, because 1: Zira threatened to rip them apart, and 2: They could always use it to their advantage later.
"Well, to answer your question; I'm just wondering how those three are doing without me." Taka replied to Zira's question.
"Those three?" She cocked an eyebrow at him in confusion. But after a look from her friend, she realized what he was talking about.
"Oh. …I'm sure they're fine."
Meanwhile…
"Any sign of 'im Ed?" Banzai asked as he watched his friend survey their surroundings by looking out of an eye hole in their enormous elephant skull. Ed looked down at him and shook his head. The six year-old male grunted out of annoyance; earlier today Gituku had been giving them a hard time, especially Banzai.
Truth be told, Banzai and Gituku had always been rivals long before Banzai had met Shenzi and Ed, and it all went off the day they met. To put it long-story short, it started basically with just one insult and then another, and then another, and then another…
Shenzi, who was chewing on a rubbery bone since Taka couldn't bring them food today, watched as the two males scouted the area. She rolled her eyes; despite Ed having turned five and Banzai gaining a few months with six, neither of them had seemed to mature at all. Thankfully, she'd be turning five in only a few months; that would bring the bar up a little.
"Look, if you two are so worried about Gituku and his little gang, why don't ya go look for 'em outside the skull and I'll keep watch here?" She said. Ed came down from the eye hole as Banzai looked back at her.
"You sure?" He asked.
"Yeah." Shenzi replied. Banzai rubbed the back of his neck in uncertainty.
"Well…ok. But I'll go by myself; Ed, you stay here an' make sure no funny business goes on." Ed nodded his head and made a goofy-looking salute. Shenzi rolled her eyes again.
"You're leavin' Ed with me? Gosh, now I feel real protected."
"What, ya think I wanna drag 'im along?" Her friend replied. And without another word he ran out of the skull. Shenzi blew a bang from her eye as she started to grow bored of this whole situation. Then she noticed Ed hungrily eyeing the small, leathery bone she had in between her little paws. Boredom now overcoming her hunger, she smacked it in his direction without giving it a second thought. Ed immediately pounced upon it and began chomping away in a happy manner.
Shenzi couldn't help but smile at the sight. Ed really was sort of cute if you looked at him the right way. Of course Shenzi had many other things on her mind other than male pups.
"Besides, I'm too young fah that stuff anyway." She thought. Now with no Banzai pacing the floor in anticipation and nothing but the sound of Ed still munching on the bone, things were starting to get a little more peaceful in the trio's elephant skull. Shenzi had even found herself drifting off to sleep.
Ed looked up from his meal a few minutes later to see her already dozed off. As if on instinct, Ed ripped off some fur that was left over on the bone, walked over to her and delicately placed it on her back as a faulty blanket. He then sat down as he began panting from joy and his tail wagged in a happy manner at his good deed.
But then, a light crunching sound was picked up on his ears. Ed looked to the entrance of the skull. Although his eyes were diverted in two directions, he could see a paw just barely sticking out by the entrance. Instantly, Ed crouched low to the ground in a defensive position and growled in a warning tone. As if on cue, a certain pup casually walked in with a calm but cocky smirk on his face.
"Banzai left you in charge? Well then this is gonna be easier than I thought!" Gituku stated. Ed growled louder, as if telling him to get out.
"I dunno what you just said, but it isn't gonna change my mind about takin' your little clubhouse."
"It ain't a clubhouse, and you ain't takin' it." A voice cut in. Ed and Gituku looked to the back of the skull to see Shenzi now standing on all fours with the ragged piece of fur to her side.
"Ed, go get Banzai; I'll take care 'a him." Shenzi said to her friend without taking her gaze off Gituku, who scoffed.
"An' what's a girl gonna do to stop me?" He grinned. Shenzi's lip curled back in an angry snarl, but she kept her cool.
"Got get Banzai, Ed." She repeated, her voice growling through her teeth. Ed shook his head 'no', as he didn't want to leave her alone.
"Now." She ordered. Ed was reluctant, but he was more afraid of what she'd do to him if he didn't listen to her, so he left the skull and ran to get Banzai as fast as he could.
"Now we can make this easy, or we can make it hard." Shenzi said to Gituku.
"I totally agree. I'll let you leave without any problems." He replied.
"Can't say I'll let you do the same thang."
"Now I'll ask you agin'," she growled, "get outta my skull!"
"Or what?"
Without warning Shenzi pounced on him. Much to Gituku's surprise she was much stronger than she looked; she had him pinned in less than a minute. Gituku pushed her off with his hind legs, sending her rolling a few feet. He got to his four paws but wasn't up for long, Shenzi head-butted him right in the side and sent him straight into a wall.
"Not bad, for a chick." Gituku panted as he struggled to his feet again.
"Same to you." She smirked. Gituku gave out a tiny snarl before lunging at her once more. Partially thanks to the matriarch training her mother had given her, evasive maneuver lessons to be precise, Shenzi easily dodged his attack then whirled around and ran straight in his direction.
Gituku let out a wail of pain as he felt a set of small, but very, very pointy, teeth lock onto his back. He tried to get to his feet but she held him down. Finally she dug her claws into his back to keep him pinned and raised her head up to speak.
"Say uncle!" She yelled.
"Uncle!" He shouted as he clenched his eyes from the pain.
"Louder!!"
"UNCLE!!" He screamed.
Now a little more satisfied, Shenzi smirked as she got off him. A 4 year-old female beating up a 6 year-old male; Banzai and Ed were never going to believe it. As she got off of him, she thought she heard him whimper from his injuries as he tried to get up, and merely rolled her eyes.
"Aw please; I didn't scratch you up that much. Stop bein' a baby." She said. But still, he let a small whimper escape his throat as he got to only three legs, still working on the fourth one. It was then Shenzi thought she saw a single tear slip down his face. She sighed to herself from annoyance.
"Why are all the males around here wimps?" She thought to herself as she walked over to the pathetic-looking male.
"Hold still." She ordered as she placed her small paws on his side, remembering what her mother or father would do every time she had injuries (which were rare).
"What're, what're you doing?" He said in a somewhat rasped voice as he looked back at her.
His eyes widened at once, when he saw and felt her gently licking the small droplets of blood that had formed on his fur. Her tongue felt soft, and warm, and before long he no longer felt the stings of his wounds. Shenzi let go of him and wiped her mouth off.
"There. Feel better now ya sissy?" She said.
Gituku merely cocked an eyebrow at her…but before long, another little smirk grew on his face, only this time, it appeared to have interest hidden behind it. When he thought about it, ever since he met her, this female had seemed somewhat like…himself; determined, a leader of her own group, and a bit cocky and stubborn. But to his own surprise, not that he didn't like it though, he found himself wanting to learn more about her. He got to his feet and looked her right in the eye, their faces only inches apart from each other's.
"Know what? You're kinda cute." He told her as he got closer. Shenzi's expression immediately went to wide-eyed and surprised.
"Huh?" She said, hoping she didn't hear him correctly as she took a few steps back, now feeling a little uncomfortable.
"Don't play stupid with me; you heard what I said." He replied as he took the same number of steps forward.
"I don't 'play' anything. And if anybody's stupid around here it's you." She spat. But then, Shenzi bumped up against something behind her and looked back to see she had backed into a wall of the elephant skull. Gituku smirked again as he noticed this and took a few more steps forward.
"So uh, what are you doin' hangin' around Banzai all the time?"
"What's it to ya?"
"This." He answered; Shenzi's eyes widened as he leaned in with his lips slightly puckered.
Meanwhile…
"Ed, I told you ta look out for Shenzi; go back to the skull!" Banzai ordered him as Ed kept jumping up and down and waved his paws in his friend's face.
"Will you knock it off?! What're you doin' here anyway?" He demanded. Ed continued to wave his paws in the air as he "spoke." Normally, Banzai would've been able to translate what he was saying easily, but Ed was talking so fast he couldn't make one grunt from another. …Until Ed just happened to laugh out a certain name.
"What about Shenzi?!" Banzai quickly shouted the minute he heard it. Now glad he had his attention, Ed, in a more calm voice, told his friend what happened back at the skull. Banzai's eyes widened.
"WHAT?! Whaddya mean she's alone with Gituku?!" He screamed. Ed repeated the situation in his own grunts and laughs but he noticed Banzai was only particularly interested in the parts about Shenzi.
"Well whadda we doin' here for?! Let's go!" Banzai took off in the direction of the bull elephant skull as Ed speeded after him.
At first, Shenzi was surprised at her friend's rival's boldness, but then her eyes narrowed angrily and the four year-old pup raised her paw up and hit the male pup hard on the side of his muzzle. Gituku grunted in pain as he was slung into the wall from the impact. Shenzi let out a "humph!"
"That's what you get fah tryin' to pull one ovah on me!"
"Shenzi! Shenzi!" Came a voice approaching the cave. Shenzi looked over to the entrance of the skull to see Banzai and Ed running inside. Ed stopped and began heaving for breath once he entered but Banzai didn't stop running until he reached her.
"You ok?!" He asked. She laughed.
"That's what you should be askin' him!" She finished as she pointed to Gituku, who was now rubbing his aching head. He growled as he walked past Shenzi and Banzai.
"Ya know what Banzai?! Keep your skull, and keep your girlfriend! 'Cause I don't want 'em anyways!"
The trio merely stared at him as the walked out of the skull, irate and defeated. But after he had laughed, the three pups all burst out in laughter.
The next day…
Shenzi, Banzai and Ed were all eagerly tearing the flesh off an antelope leg Taka had brought for them for dinner.
"So, how was the weddin'?" Shenzi asked through a mouthful.
"Oh, fine. About as typical as all the Priderock weddings are. My brother's happy, and on another plus side I'm allowed to see Sarabi again." The 16 year-old lion replied.
"You should bring some wildebeest next time." Banzai suggested as he chewed a hunk of meat. Ed waved his index claw at him and babbled something about how he shouldn't talk with his mouth full.
"Aw, shut up Ed." He replied, then swallowed the zebra meat and went to get another bite.
"Anythang else happenin' 'round your place?" Shenzi asked once she had swallowed her mouthful of antelope.
"Well…there is one thing." The prince replied.
"What?" The trio chorused.
"Since my brother and I are finally sixteen, officially adults now by the Prideland's laws, father is going to decide which one of us will be the next king exactly three months from now."
All three hyena pups' jaws dropped, revealing chewed bits of food which Taka found unpleasant to look at but didn't say a word. Banzai, who quickly swallowed his half-chewed up antelope and nearly choked in the process by doing so but shook it off, was the first to speak up after coming out of astonishment.
"Dude!! You mean you might be the next king?!" He said.
"There's a chance." Taka replied.
"Whoa! Are you gonna have all those lionesses bring us food every day if ya are?!" Shenzi excitedly requested. Taka smirked.
"That depends; if I am crowned, will you call me 'King' Taka?" He asked.
"Heck no!" Shenzi and Banzai replied with smirks of their own as Ed, smirking as well, shook his head.
"What if my first decree was to let hyenas into the Pridelands?"
"…I'd have to think about it." The two replied as Ed rubbed his chin and appeared in thought.
"Good enough. Well I must be going. It was enjoyable to see you all again."
"Huh?" The trio cocked an eyebrow at him. Taka rolled his eyes as he smiled.
"I had fun visiting you."
"Ohhhhhhhh."
The three pups then bade their friend goodbye and waved as he exited the graveyard.
A few months later…
Banzai paced the floor as he waited for Shenzi to come back from her 5th birthday celebration; her mother and father wanted to keep her in the skull for the day to give her a surprise, which Banzai thought might've been her favorite food.
"She's prob'ly stuffin' 'erself with zebra right now." He grinned. Ed asked his friend in laughter what he was thinking about, since he was pacing the floor like that and all.
"Just wonderin' when Shenzi's gonna show up. If she is anyway." The older male replied. Ed giggled and grunted about his friend liking Shenzi.
"Shut up, Ed." Banzai quickly growled. Ed began snickering and then mentioned the little comment Gituku had made awhile back when he tried to take their skull. And in his own "words", began singing,
"Shenzi and Banzai
Sittin' in a tree
K-I-S-S-I-" The five year-old pup was suddenly cut off when something came in contact with his nose. He looked up to see Banzai glaring at him with his paw being lowered back to the ground. Ed's eyes began to welt up, and before he knew it, he had burst out crying. As if on cue, Shenzi came into the skull at that very minute. Banzai immediately froze in terror upon seeing her, and could only watch as she walked towards Ed.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked him as she came over. Still crying, Ed merely pointed to Banzai. That was all the answer she needed, and without hesitation, she walked up and punched him in the arm, hard.
"OW!" He yelled, then began rubbing the spot where she hit him.
"That's for beatin' up on Ed!" She told him. Then she walked over and hit Ed in the shoulder.
"And that's for bein' a baby!" She told the other male. Banzai rolled his eyes as he continued to rub his arm.
"Happy Birthday Shenzi."
Anybody heard of an anime/manga series called "Fruits Basket"? It is absolutely my favorite! It's pretty funny too. Anyway the whole "fan club" idea was partially inspired by that, the other half was inspired by all the Taka-loving/ pro-Scar lionesses in TLK 2; I figured there had to be some roots to the whole armada of outlander lionesses more than willing to risk their lives for him, so that's what I came up with. And c'mon, Zira just had to be the leader; look how she's always talking about him!
And if it seems that I put in a little Shenzi/Gituku fluff in there, it was actually put in for a little jealous triggering on Banzai. And I give credit to Jagabor for giving me the idea! Thanks a lot!
Sorry if you're disappointed since it's a little shorter than my other chapters, but I wanted to update before the weekend and I put up a new poll in my profile so I hope it makes up for it. R&R!
