(A/N: Sorry it's been a while since I've updated. Busy life now. Sorta proud of how this chapter came out...think you all might find it a bit short though. Let me know in the reviews! Enjoy.)

The sun had now been up a couple of hours, yet the entirety of the field of competitors and the spectators that surrounded them were asleep. The only animals that were really awake were the track workers and the three pieces of prey pacing their way around the circuit.

A few of the spectators were temporarily awoken as a flock of hornbills took off into the sky above them. They were all flying off to deliver the "morning report: Siku Choka edition," to the prides surrounding the area.

One of the hornbills flew off about a dozen miles to the west before he arrived at the Majani Pride. He landed at the lions' den and cleared his throat, awakening the Majani pride King and Queen.

The two lions looked over at him.

"Good morning your majesties, I am Noyi. I work for Kanafa, the organizer of the Siku Choka."

King Bahati and Queen Nakshi both got up to their feet, alert.

"Oh no…please tell us this isn't bad news," pleaded Nakshi.

"Please Noyi, tell us my brother's okay," Bahati added.

"Your brother? Oh, of course! Lenny – he's fine! I'm just here to deliver the morning report."

It took a couple of seconds for the news to click into Nakshi and Bahati's minds but, when it did, Noyi was almost blown off his feet as they exhaled sighs of relief.

Bahati chuckled, delighted. "Alright then," he said to the hornbill, "let us hear it."

"Very well," Noyi replied, albeit a bit disgruntled at having lost his balance, "Juveda is currently leading…"

"Hang on," Nakshi interrupted, "Juveda? She's leading?"

"Let me finish," the hornbill replied, "Juveda is currently leading the twenty-seventh running of the Siku Choka, an event that has seen the passing of Peponi, Tonka and Guvu…"

"GUVU?"

"Yes," Noyi replied, "Guvu succumbed to injuries in an incident with Elvis. Now let me finish…now, despite the fact that Juveda is leading, she has received very little sleep during the game and many believe that Eboni, Elvis, Nala or Shemshi will take it from her."

"What about Tumaini?" asked Bahati.

Noyi groaned. "I'm getting to that. Now…ten of the fifteen competitors that started are still in the game. Linda and Tumaini have retired from the event with injuries and Winda is multiple points down after being involved in multiple incidents. Now, I am not allowed to leave until I have given you permission to ask me three questions. However, you've already asked me three. But, just to be generous, I will let you have one more."

"How well is Lenny doing?" asked Bahati, before even consulting his mate. Nakshi, however, wouldn't have asked any different.

"I believe he is less than a hundred points down," Noyi replied, "however, despite the fact that he has not been involved in any incidents during the event, the odds are still against him winning. Well, that's all for now your majesties! I must be getting back to the event."

Noyi turned around and flew back off, heading east into the sunrise.

Bahati turned to face his mate.

"Less than a hundred down…you don't think he could win it, do you?"

Nakshi smiled back. "I never thought I could win it," she reasoned.

"Nakshi will never win," Bilauri muttered as she slept, her pride watching on from the hills amused. Bilauri gasped. "Bwana Elekezo…will you let me into the Top 30 club? I really want to hear one of Cheka's jokes."

The Ngorongoro lionesses above, rolled over onto the floor, laughing. However, one of the more serious spectators was watching farther on down the circuit.

"Hey…girls…we're going to have to wake her," she noted.

"But it's so funny!" replied one of her friends, looking back down at Bilauri.

"Keke! You're my favorite Siku Choka competitor ever…can you tell me the secret, I want to win and get in this club…"

"Eboni's just got up. Bilauri's not going to win unless she wakes up, now!"

"Okay, okay…" sighed one of her friends. "Bilauri, wake up!"

"You know, Juni's dead now…you're the highest finishing competitor from Siku Choka 21 that's still alive…"

"BILAURI!"

"Huh?"

"Wake up!"

Bilauri yawned and rolled over. "Just ten more minutes," she muttered.

"Oh for heaven's sake," muttered her friend. "Don't you remember what happened to Zoea in Siku Choka 25?"

"Alright, I'm up, I'm up!" Bilauri retorted, getting to her feet. She scanned the circuit to see what her surroundings were like.

The zebra was making his way through the final turn while the buffalo was on the backstretch. The antelope was all the way over in the first turn while Eboni was waiting in ambush farther on down the frontstretch.

Bilauri looked down and saw Shemshi still sleeping about ten yards away from her. The lioness walked over towards him and shook him awake by the shoulder.

"Hey…teammate, look, it's time to get up."

"Alright," Shemshi replied, grudgingly getting to his feet. He looked around at the track as well, scanning the surroundings and trying to configure a strategy. "We going for the antelope?" he asked.

Bilauri shook her head 'no.'

"We're waiting for the zebra," she replied. "I'm not surrendering this ambushing post that quickly."

"Sounds good to me," Shemshi replied, yawning and stretching. "Want to play a round of rock, paper, scissors? Only one of us can get the zebra…"

He could smell it. No, it was more than that: he could taste it. The scent of the one that he had fallen in love with so, yet he could never reveal his love for fear that his mate could know.

Simba reached out his paw and draped it over her, pulling with a slight amount of pressure, edging her closer.

"It's nothing to be afraid of," Simba whispered, "come here. Nala will never know."

Simba began to nuzzle his newfound love fondly, but was then shocked when he heard the piercing, stern tone of Nala's voice slice through the air.

"Simba," she called.

The lion king gasped and let his new love go. "N—Nala," he stammered, "how long have you been here?"

"Long enough," the lioness replied. "Seriously Simba, how stupid are you?" she snapped.

"N—Nala, look…I can explain…"

"You don't need to explain anything," Nala whispered. "It's pretty clear what's going on here, and I fail to see the humor in it."

"Of course you wouldn't," Simba agreed. "I confess, there is nothing funny about what's happening here. It's just…"

"Simba, you are pretending to have an affair with my tail tuft."

"How dare you call this 'pretending!' Poofy and I are deeply in true love."

Nala rolled her eyes and swooshed her tail over to the side.

"Poofy!" Simba exclaimed. "Why'd she leave me?"

"It was never meant to be," Nala stated in a bland tone.

"I never even got to give her a love bite."

"Now that would have earned you a slap."

"You're trying to get in between us," Simba suddenly realized. He got up to his feet. "Don't worry Poofy, I'm coming."

Nala swished her tail back the other way though, with a sly smile on her face. Her tail tuft was now behind Simba.

"Aw, that's a shame," Nala stated. "To get to Poofy, you'd have to take a step back…and you'd be disqualified from the Siku Choka."

Nala chuckled and rested her head back down, satisfied that she had triumphed in her little conflict with Simba. She wanted to have a few more minutes of sleep. After all, it would be a while before the prey would work their way over towards…

"YEOW!" meowed Nala, jumping up onto her feet.

"Sorry," stated Simba, aware that he had just put his mate in through a lot of pain, "I just really wanted to give Poofy a love bite."

Nala did a double-take between Simba and her tail.

"H—how did you get back there?" she stammered. "Did the officials see you?" she asked.

"Nope," Simba replied, proudly. "See this stick," he stated, lifting a small piece of wood up into the air and placing it next to the track's edge. "Watch, my front feet are right next to it, and now…" he led on, standing motionless in front of Nala, "…I'm behind it," he finished, despite never having moved an inch. Nala did another double-take, this time between her mate and the stick. Sure enough, Simba had, in fact, been able to move back a couple of inches from where the stick was.

"That's amazing…" she stated. "How'd you do that?"

"Eh, you'd have to ask Shairi," Simba replied.

"No I don't," Nala corrected him. "You want to sleep inside Pride Rock tonight, don't you?"

Simba sighed. "Alright," he replied, "I'll tell you. It's something called the Balducci Levitation. Two-legged creatures use it to pretend that they're levitating. You turn at an angle towards the track, lift up your paw on the side towards the infield and push your heel up on your far side paw…so that you're just standing on your right toes. Then, do the same with your rear legs and slide your toes over. The officials see us moving but their minds are unable to process it, as the brain's adapted to believe that levitation is impossible so it just ignores it."

"And…if you do get caught?"

"Well…it's true, I'm not a professional at it. So I'm not going to use it too often. After all, it is cheating…and I don't believe in cheating. Unless there's a tail tuft involved."

Nala rolled her eyes.

"Why are we both back up standing now, anyways?" Simba asked. "We're up right with Shemshi and Eboni…they've got tons more energy than us. We're not going to be able to make it to the end without more sleep."

Nala knew what Simba was saying, but she couldn't help but shake her head in disagreement.

"We're behind in points, Simba," she reminded him. "We're gonna have to."

Shairi rolled over in her sleep, unintentionally letting her rear legs flop down onto Winda's back.

"Um…Shairi…"

The lioness opened her eyes. It took her a couple of seconds to realize where she was and why she was woken up…until she felt how uncomfortable her back legs were.

"Oh," she exclaimed, chuckling, "sorry Winda," she added, moving her legs off of her back.

Winda smiled back. "That's alright," she replied, before letting out a yawn. Shairi did the same.

"Time to get up?" she asked.

"Looks like it," Winda confessed. "Bilauri and Shemshi are getting set up for a chase."

Shairi groaned. "I don't want to get up."

"Me neither, but I guess we're going to have to, especially if we want to win."

"Winda, look…I'm sorry I snapped at you earlier," Shairi stated apologetically. "I hope you understand why though."

"I do. Truly, I do Shairi. You don't have to apologize for anything…it's I who should be saying 'I'm sorry.'"

Shairi looked at her sister square in the eyes.

"You mean that?" she asked.

"Of course," Winda replied. "Don't worry Shairi. I'm thinking clearly now. For the first time in this game…I'm thinking clearly." At this, Winda heaved a deep sigh. "And…I'm sorry Shairi, but…that's why I think…I've got to go. My injuries haven't quite healed up the way I thought they would."

Shairi felt her heart stop beating for a second as she realized what her sister was saying.

"W—wait…" she stammered. "You're pulling out?"

Winda gave a feeble smile as a response. "I can't win, Shairi. It's dangerous out here and…I've been the one getting the short straws all day. It's just not my Siku Choka."

"N—no – wait…Winda, I need you! You can't retire!" Shairi was sitting up straight now. Winda's plan had made her forget about how tired she was.

"You don't need me," Winda replied, standing up on all fours, "and I mean that sincerely. You've got Simba, Shairi…and you're right, you two have worked well together. There's no reason you two can't win."

"Look, Winda, I'm not dumb. Sure, I've got Simba, but who else has he got? Nala's in this game, remember? You seriously think Simba's going to see this game out without helping her? He's going to abandon me eventually, I know it. In fact, I'd be disappointed in him if he didn't. Who's that going to leave me with?"

Winda grinned as a response. "I think we both know the answer to that," she replied, "and that's the other reason I want to pull out. Best of luck to you, Shairi."

Winda turned away from her sister. Without hesitation, she took her four feet off of the mud and onto the green stuff, leaving her older sister feeling very lonely.

"What on Earth…?" Shemshi blurted out. "Winda just walked out!"

Bilauri checked over towards the backstretch as their teammate left the circuit. "Good riddance," she muttered. "She wasn't a whole lot of help, anyhow."

Shemshi rolled his eyes. "Okay…whatever. Now remember, Bilauri," Shemshi said slowly, "make sure you pass Eboni before you take the zebra down. That way, you'll be in position to ambush when she goes for the next zebra."

"Yes, Shemshi," Bilauri replied, through gritted teeth. "I know how to play this game."

"Alright," Shemshi stated, defensively, "I was just checking."

The zebra passed on by the duo and Bilauri gave chase. The zebra soon began to run too, and the chase was on. However, Bilauri, having just slept, knew she had plenty of energy in her right now to take this zebra down. She just needed to wait until she had passed Eboni.

She was taken by surprise, however, when Eboni ran out of her ambushing post and began to chase after Bilauri's zebra.

Bilauri knew what she needed to do; she needed to take this zebra down now.

The lioness put on an extra sprint and easily had the zebra down within a few seconds. She had won the battle…but not the war.

Eboni had bluffed. She had started to run, but had quickly returned back to her ambushing post as soon as Bilauri had taken the zebra down.

Now, Eboni was lined up in ambush as opposed to Bilauri. Evidently, Bilauri and Shemshi's strategy hadn't gone according to plan.

Bilauri and Eboni watched as the new zebra entered the circuit right alongside Eboni, while Shemshi was too busy face-palming himself.

Bilauri began to give chase but she knew it was in vain. Eboni had the new zebra down before she could get there. Immediately, another zebra was released…yet Bilauri had still yet to make it up to the prey-release point. Eboni was now twenty points richer.

Bilauri was now right up to the prey-release point, however, and was now ready to tie the score up with Eboni.

The problem though was with the prey. Having just released a few zebras onto the field one behind the other, and having had the rest of the zebras lined up at the gate watching their herd-mates get killed, the zebras freaked.

Shemshi grinded to a halt and Bilauri and Eboni's eyes widened as a group of thirty zebra broke ranks on by the track officials and stormed onto the circuit. The prey was now storming on down the front straight…towards Bilauri, Eboni, Simba and Nala.

"Uh…Nal'?" called Simba.

The lioness didn't reply. Her jaw was hanging.

"Nal'…there's a stampede of zebra coming towards us…how does this work?"

"They're points," she whispered as a reply.

"What?"

"I—I've seen this happen before. The officials will try and get them off the circuit…but if they can't and we get them first, they're points."

"So…you're telling me…that…"

"We've got to go for them? Yes," Nala replied, never taking her eyes off of the zebra. She crouched down. "Good luck Simba."

Tumaini couldn't blink. Her eyes were affixed on the action.

"I really, really wish I was still in this game right now…"

"Please don't tell me what happens," Sarafina replied, with her paws resting across her eyes.

Even Timon, Pumbaa and Rafiki couldn't help but let their jaws hang as Simba and Nala ran right into the zebra stampede, while Kiara was just laughing and clapping.

Two zebra had already been pulled back off the circuit, leaving just twenty-eight for the lions to chase.

Eboni and Bilauri both got one each down quickly then covered their heads as the final few zebra ran on over them. Shemshi brought one down too, but was less aware of the locations of the other zebra. One ran right into him, smacking the lion in the head and then falling over. Shemshi was sore, but otherwise okay, while Bilauri took advantage and clamped her jaws of life down onto the zebra's neck.

Simba, who had had a lot less hunting experience than the rest of them, was struggling with the process of selecting and targeting just one lone zebra out of the herd. Nala wasn't, and she easily scored a set of ten points for herself. Not wanting to be outdone, Simba finally decision to rush him and make his move, but a cry from his mate stopped him.

"Simba, don't!" Nala called. "You're right in the middle of the stampede – you'll be hit!"

Simba snarled and turned back away from the prey, making his way out of the rush.

"Well what do you expect me to do?" he snapped. "Let them go?"

"Look, if you fall down, the zebra are going to trip over you and…"

"Trip over – Nala, you're a genius! Come, follow me!" exclaimed Simba.

Nala gave her mate a perplexed look, but had no time to argue with him. The lion king had already run far away back into the middle of the stampede. Nala finally came back to her senses.

"W—wait…Simba, wait!" she shouted, running off after him.

Behind them, Eboni and Shemshi had both scored another set of ten while the officials had chased about nine more zebra off of the circuit. There were fourteen left.

Simba, however, was concerned with none of that. He had run up to the front of the zebra stampede and was now running right alongside the lead zebra. Nala charged up and started running next to him.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"You'll see," Simba replied. "Be prepared to stop!"

The male lion looked over towards the zebra that was standing next to him, and then rammed into his side really hard, using his muscular shoulders to knock the zebra off balance. It worked! The zebra fell.

Consequently, the next zebra in the stampede tripped over it, and the next zebra tripped over him.

"Stop!" yelled Simba.

Nala and Simba grinded to a halt and then turned back to watch as all the zebra stumbled. As they fell down alongside them, the unbalanced herbivores became easy pickings for the two lions. Nala didn't need Simba to tell her how to do this part. Both lions began running across the circuit, killing each and every zebra that they could get a hold of.

Bilauri tried to catch up with them and join in on all the action but, by the time she got there, they had all either been killed by Simba or Nala or chased off of the circuit by the track officials.

A disgruntled Bilauri made her way over to line back up in ambush while a fairly chuffed Simba and an awestruck Nala were meeting in the center of the circuit.

"Not bad for a rookie, eh?" asked Simba.

Nala was still in a slight state of disbelief, yet she knew what had happened. It was time for her to confess her true feelings.

"I love you," she stated.

"Come again?" Simba asked.

"S—Simba," Nala stammered, the edges of her mouth twitching, "I—I must have scored fifty points. I—I'm in the lead! That was amazing Simba, gods I love you!" she exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her mate.

"Awwwwww…" cooed the audience, watching them embrace.

Immediately, the couple reacted by taking a step back from each other.

"R—right…" Simba noted, "…we've got an audience."

"Oh, we're mates, they can get over it," Nala reasoned. "Still, let's back to this game, shall we?"

"Or you could just go back to sleep," Simba suggested. "It would give the rest of us a chance to catch up."

(A/N: Well, there's a new leader and, in all honesty, I have no idea if the Badulcci Levitation would work for four-legged creatures. I hope you had as much fun reading the tail tuft scene as I did writing it and, if you like these little Simba/Nala stories that I build my stories off of, you may want to stay tuned to my page. I have a story (one or two chapters) that'll be out in a few days - it's based off of an old horror story that I read the other day and I thought that a TLK adaptation to it would be neat.

(A/N 2: What do you think of Winda's unexpected retirement? Let me know in the reviews!)