Chapter 21: The Return of a Broken Leader

"Taka!"

Taka looked helplessly at me as he fought for his life against Ahadi. "Zira, don't worry about me," he begged, his green eyes full of pain. "You will end up forgetting me anyway. Go home, Zira. Go home to your Pride, and remember to be strong."

"NO!" I roared in anguish, helplessly watching as Taka disappeared beneath Ahadi's flashing claws and teeth. "Taka….."
I caught one last glimpse of his beautiful emerald eyes before he vanished completely. I couldn't stand to hear the roars and whimpers of pain and fury.

"Bianca?"
I jumped awake, my paw pads stinging and the slice in my ear burning. I blinked sleepily, breathing heavily. It was only a dream, I thought, trying to slow my breathing. It was only a dream. He didn't die.

"Bianca, are you okay?" I growled grouchily and looked up into the concerned crimson eyes of Mufasa. Of all the lions I would have seen, of course it had to have been Taka's brother. "What?"

Mufasa bent down and sniffed my ear. I snarled and backed away from him. Mufasa looked a little hurt, but I wasn't concerned about his feelings right now.

"Your ear looks pretty bad. Taka didn't come to the den last night, and he didn't even come hunting this morning. He NEVER misses that!"

I looked at the red lion, a little tiny bit irritated. What did Mufasa care? Didn't he know that his own father had attacked Taka and I?

Mufasa sat down, settling himself comfortably on the soft grass. Great, just great, I thought dryly, now he's ready to sit down and have a nice, long, boring conversation with me. "What happened to your ear?"

I flinched, and instantly Mufasa looked at me gently. "It's okay, Bianca. You don't have to tell me if you're not comfortable about it."

I wanted to sneer at the red lion. He obviously could use some more practice reading emotions.

"Mufasa?"

At the sound of a strange voice, my ears instantly flicked backwards to catch what the lion was saying.

Mufasa tilted his head in warm greeting and purred. "Sarabi! I had almost hoped I had lost you!"

I looked behind me. A dark tanned lioness a tad bit shorter than me was smiling at Mufasa. Well, more like smirking, actually. "Of course you didn't. I could smell your scent miles away!"

Mufasa grinned sheepishly, and turned to me, waving his tail for Sarabi to stand beside him.

"Sarabi, this is Bianca-"

I frowned and quickly corrected him. "Zira. My name is Zira."

Mufasa looked at me strangely, muttering under his breath that he had thought my name was Bianca. "Anyways, Sarabi, this is Zira." He turned to me, smiling. How could a lion smile that much?! Obviously Mufasa hadn't seen many hard trials in his lifetime. Then again, he was older than me. Like by two years probably. I was only going to be two years old this spring.

"Zira, I'd like you to meet Sarabi. She's my mate."

No, I sarcastically muttered in my brain, I never would have guessed; what with the way you two are teasing each other.

Sarabi nodded politely at me. "Hello, Zira."

I nodded sharply in return, feeling more than uncomfortable.

Sarabi tilted her head, obviously curious about something. "Do you mind me asking a question?"

I shrugged carelessly.

Sarabi frowned ever so slightly at my bad manners, but continued. "Is there a reason you are named after the great lioness-turned-evil Kalina?"

I growled, and leaped up. "I changed my mind, Sarabi. I really can't take any more interrogation from either of you." I started to leave, but Mufasa's powerful and commanding voice instantly made me stop. "Zira!" I turned around slowly, showing that I was making the decision to stop and not Mufasa.

"Zira," he repeated, his voice gentler, "you can't go anywhere with that ear like that. You need to come see Rafiki."

"I'm fine!" I snapped angrily, then turned around and started to race for where I had left my Pride a little over three weeks ago. Mufasa roared, "ZIRA!" But I didn't feel like turning around this time, so I didn't.

My paw pads were aching and my ear was absolutely on fire by the time I got to the "Kazimu" hunting grounds. At least the border line was still there, and it looked stronger than ever. I knew I could trust Vashti while I was gone. The problem though, wasn't in coming back, it was how I was going to tell my Pride, -especially Blue- why I had so suddenly run off and then showed up three weeks later. Alpha was going to be furious, but I could really care less what the fluff-brained lion thought of me. He was about to be replaced anyway. I took a deep breath and leaped over the border, twisting in midair for the fun of it. I landed hard, but didn't lose my balance. I simply used the momentum I had in landing to propel my paws forward in a run.

"And there she is, showing off; but that's nothing new."

I twisted around to see the lioness speaking. "Vashti!" I purred, and ran forward to meet her in the middle of the distance between us. Vashti ran the rest of the way. "Bianca, wherever you went or whatever you did, don't you DARE do that ever again! You nearly gave Blue a heart attack! She was as white as if she had seen a ghost when she came back out of Lium's den. I went in there, and saw Lium. I don't approve of what you did to him, whether you needed revenge or not."

I tried to say something, but Vashti cut me off with a wave of her paw. "Don't try to defend yourself, Bianca. What you did was wrong. Everyone deserves forgiveness. But thankfully for you, I'm not going to lecture you very much, seeing as how you are injured and all. Come on." I followed her without a thought. I didn't even realize that I hadn't corrected her when she called me Bianca.

AN: I know! I am in so much trouble! I was supposed to update Tuesday but I have been so busy with school, plus I'm in a drama at our church, and besides that I was planning my dog's birthday party! I am so sorry for this very late update! Sorry! Anyways, it's finally up, at least. I should be updating next Tuesday, but if I don't then I will update next Friday. Don't forget to review! :)