Well, here it is a new chapter. For those who do not know, Shani was the name for Simba's sister in early production of The Lion King, but Shani never made it to the film. However, because I think it would be interesting to see Simba's sister, I used her in this fanfic. And I would like the opinion of you readers about that. Now that is over, let's begin.
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Chapter 34 – The haunting cub
Two weeks had passed since the day when Ramuka and her small pack were banished from the Pride Lands, and during that time no trouble had yet appeared. Scar and Zira were successfully keeping the hyenas under control, and, mainly because of the example given by Ramuka and the others, they hadn't yet interrupted the hunts of the pride, eventhough the lions and lionesses weren't still completely used to the presence of the clan on Pride Rock.
Unconsciously to Scar and Zira, the pride was training in secret, and also training the cubs, in ways of fighting hyenas. They didn't have too much time for that, but they used whatever the free time that they had, and the training was giving some profits. Sarabi directed the training in her best way, eventhough she was hevily pregnant.
Surprisingly enough, even Sakia and Uzuri had agreed in participating on the training program, probably because Sarabi was careful enough to tell them that the training was against an eventual hyena mutiny, because hyenas aren't as stupid as they appear to be. They may be laughing crazily while making evil plans of the size of a baobab tree. Both, mainly Sakia, insisted that Scar and Zira would keep them under control, but eventually they agreed with Sarabi, who said "Caution is never too much".
Because Tojo was having a special training with Rafiki, and the other cubs were doing also training with the pride, Kisasian was completely alone for most of the time, because his parents had their duties in the pride, and the other cubs weren't playing with him. Kisasian didn't know that, but the lionesses had told the cubs that Kisasian was dangerous (again because of his scar) and they couldn't play with him. Tojo was the only cub to ignore it, but he wasn't around for most of the time, so Kisasian was a rather lonely prince.
Eventually, three months and a half after Mufasa's death, it came one moment, the moment that Sarabi and the pride were awaiting anxiously, but that Scar and Zira were regretting heavily. It was the moment of the birth of Sarabi's second cub, and the end of Sarabi's pregnancy that lasted more than four months. All the pride was there. Leo and Moyo were taking care of the cubs outside, and even Tojo had stayed there, free of Rafiki's training for one day. However, there was also someone who feared that moment.
The someone fearing that moment was Mega. He had a feeling that Sarabi would have problems with the birth of her second cub, and that the happiness could turn out in tragedy. He tried to speak about that to Scar, as carefully as he could. He went to the king and queen, who were also outside the cave.
"Uh… Scar?" asked Mega, trying to sound respectful.
"Yes, Mega?" asked Scar with tensed voice.
Mega couldn't guess, but that was being a very hard moment for Scar.
"Why it has to turn out like that?" thought the king. "I killed Mufasa, I killed Simba, I am king, but Mufasa, before dying, had to leave Sarabi pregnant with a second cub that would haunt me! Why?"
However, he tried to shake away those thoughts when he spoke with the lion. Mega spoke, with a little bit nervous voice: "Uh… Scar… I have a feeling… that something may turn out wrong with the birth of Sarabi's second cub."
"What do you mean?" asked Scar.
He spoke with genuine worried voice, but he was also a little bit curious about what could be Mega's feeling about that. He soon had his answer.
"I think that the birth might be hard." said Mega, with worried voice. He added next: "And when I mean hard I mean too hard for both mother and cub to make it through. So, I want to ask you if I may call Rafiki for him to help Sarabi."
For the next seconds, Scar didn't answer, too busy with his thoughts.
"Why it had to be?" thought Scar. "I deposed Mufasa according with the Law of Challenge, I am the rightful king, and now the new cub can't be a threat to my throne. But, as long as she can't threaten my throne, she can haunt me as another living monument in my failure on my relationship with Sarabi, and, what's even worst, of what I did to Mufasa and Simba!"
Anyway, Scar turned to Mega, and asked, with the calmer voice that he could express: "And… why are you afraid of that, Mega?"
Mega sighed deeply, and then said: "Because of what happened in the past. You and Uru nearly died during your birth. Zira nearly died during Kisasian's birth. And now…"
"I see…" said Scar, very slowly.
The king thought for some seconds, and then he said: "Alright, Mega. You may go and call Rafiki."
"Thank you, sir." said Mega, bowing.
After that, he left Pride Rock. Zira, who had always been at Scar's side, asked: "What should we think of it?"
"That Mega knows way more than he wishes to tell us." replied Scar shortly.
"You heard him too many times." said the queen. "He told that your father made him to promise that he would never tell about their lives before they joined this pride… and Mega keeps his promises."
While running to Rafiki's tree, Mega was just thinking what troubles could have been avoided if he had broken his promise to Ahadi, if he had told the pride of their past life, and mainly, he was hoping that his idea of calling Rafiki wasn't necessary, and that Sarabi's cub would be born without any problem.
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Unfortunately, Mega's intuition and memories were right. The birth of Sarabi's second cub was being unusually hard, for sure way harder than Simba's birth. She tried to push with all her might, but eventhough, her cub wasn't coming out. The other lionesses, mainly Penda and Sabini, tried to support the former queen with all their might, but speaking honestly they weren't able to do anything, except giving her moral support.
"It's… hurting… me…" panted Sarabi, trying to push the cub once again without success.
"Calm down, my dear." said Penda, hugging her daughter. "Just…"
"You should rest a little bit." said one new voice.
All the lionesses turned their heads, and saw that it was Zira the one who had spoken. Almost instantly, most of the lionesses formed a circle around Sarabi, as if they feared that Zira would attack her. But she just said, seemingly undisturbable with the attitude of her subjects: "Mega went to call Rafiki, and he shall bring one of his fruits. You should save your strenght."
"And how do you know that?" hissed Sarafina, staring at Zira with a menacing look.
Zira was about to speak, when Uzuri spoke for her, with a somewhat angry voice: "In case you don't remember, she also had a cub! And no one of you was here to help her! No one of you was here to see the problems that she had! You should have some more respect for her!"
"I can speak by myself, thank you, Uzuri." said Zira, but inside she felt relieved that her adoptive mother was standing for her.
However, the discussion didn't go further, because, right on that moment, Mega entered the cave, with Rafiki on his back. The mandrill jumped off the lion, and ran to Sarabi, with one of the fruits that he had given to Zira in his hands. He went to Sarabi, and Zira said: "First, you have bite the fruit, then, you push with all your strenght when Rafiki tells you. Right, Rafiki?"
"Yes, my lady." said the wiseape, before extending the fruit to Sarabi.
Understanding what it was expected from her, Sarabi bit the fruit, chewed, and swallowed it. She felt her strenght regained, and shortly after Rafiki, who had placed himself behind Sarabi, shouted: "Now! Push!"
Sarabi pushed with all her strenght, and then, she sighed from relief. She had finally managed to release the cub. She fell on the ground, panting.
"I… did… it…" whispered Sarabi, still panting. "I… did… it…"
When she recovered her breath, she turned to Rafiki, who was holding her cub in his arms, (because Rafiki had his back turned to her, she couldn't see the cub) and asked: "Rafiki, is my cub a boy or a girl?"
Rafiki turned to her, still holding the cub, but Sarabi didn't look very carefully at the newborn, focusing on the monkey's face.
"It's a girl…" said Rafiki, with unexpectedly sad voice. "But…"
"But?" thought Sarabi, confused. "This is not good…"
She looked better at the monkey's face, and noticed something unusual. He was sad… unexpectedly sad. She knew that, whatever it was to come, wasn't good. All the pride was focused on the wiseape, almost as worried as Sarabi. Moyo and Leo had just came in with the other cubs, and now they were also listening anxiously.
Sarabi was afraid of making any further questions, because of the answer that she would get, however, she knew that the question had to be done.
"Rafiki…" asked Sarabi, fearfully. "My cub is alright… right?..."
Rafiki sighed deeply, and then, he said very hesitantly, with his voice full of grief and sadness: "No, Sarabi. I'm sorry, but… the cub didn't survive the birth… I'm very sorry…"
All the pride gasped from amaze, and also of sadness. Sarabi's jaw dropped of surprise, and then, she buried her face in her front paws, crying like mad.
"No…" sobbed Sarabi. "No… it can't be… my cub… Mufasa's cub… dead…"
At the entrance of the cave, Mega sighed deeply, and bowed his head.
"I had a feeling that this would happen. Well… at least Sarabi has survived… but what will be her reason of living, after her cub having died? At least there is no mate and son here to hate her cub for having killed Sarabi."
All the members of the pride had their heads bowed, even Scar and Zira. Some of the lionesses were crying, but the only sounds heard on the cave were the loud sobs of Sarabi. Penda and Sarabi were trying to confort her, but it without success.
On that moment, by pure casuality, Mega lifted his head, and looked at the cub, who was still in Rafiki's arms. And he noticed something. The cub had moved! Yet very weakly, but she had moved.
"THE CUB IS ALIVE!" shouted Mega, and all the pride instantly turned to the cub. Sarabi raised her head to the cub at an amazing speed, right on time to see the cub moving her paw, this time more strongly and firmly. Then, the cub squealed.
Rafiki placed her on Sarabi's paws, and said: "With your respect, I shall leave now."
And so, Rafiki left the cave, returning to the Tree of Life. Now that he was gone, Sarabi decided to look better to her newborn cub before cleaning her It was a girl, so Sarabi would name her Shani, like she had planned. Shani had Mufasa's golden fur, and rather resembled a miniature Uru, althought her face was more like Sarabi's face. Because she still had her eyes half-closed, Sarabi couldn't see very well the colour of the eyes of her newborn daughter, however they seemed violet.
"My father also had violet eyes." thought Sarabi, smiling.
The most unusual thing that Sarabi noticed with her newborn daughter was that she was unusually big for a newborn cub, especially female. Shani seemed a little bit bigger than Simba when he was newborn. She also seemed significantly less helpless than newborn cubs usually are. During the first seconds, she seemed dead, but now, she crawled out of her mother's paws, in an attempt to get to Sarabi's milk.
Sarabi chuckled, and at first, she tried to help, but in the end, the former queen decided to allow her daughter to make all the way, just to see if she would make it. And she made it. She got there very tired, but without stopping during the way.
Sarabi sighed deeply, still very tired, because of the hard birth.
"Congratulations, Sarabi." said Sabini. "And by the way, your new daughter is very cute."
"Thanks, sis." said Sarabi.
On that moment, the two sisters turned back, hearing a sound. Scar was approaching, with a piece of meat that had spared from the previous meal. Sabini and Sarafina instantly stepped in between the king and the former queen, like if they feared that the lion would attack Sarabi (probably because of the furious stare that he had), but Scar simply dropped the meat in front of Sarabi, and said: "You should eat, to regain your strenght. You're very tired."
"Thank you." replied Sarabi with hollow voice.
And she started eating the meat. But then, she heard Scar's voice: "You better protect well your new cub. It's a dangerous world… accidents happen."
The king's words scared Sarabi almost to death.
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On that night, both the pride and the clan were sleeping peacefully, without anything to disturb their sleep, for the first time since Mufasa's death. Of course, there existed exceptions, like always.
Scar was sitting on the top of Pride Rock, looking at the stars, and mainly to the one that he believed to be Mufasa's star.
"So, before leaving, you had to leave here a new cub of yours to make sure that she would haunt me, right, Mufasa?" thought Scar, baring his teeth at the star, like if Mufasa could see him. "Don't you think that it is haunting enough for me, to live with the guilt of killing you and Simba?"
Then, Scar heard someone coming close to him. Even without turning back, he could almost guess who was the someone.
"Scar…" said Zira, coming close to her mate. "You should come. You've spent so much nights without sleeping lately. I'm worried about you."
"In case you don't remember, each night that I've spent without sleeping, you've spent without sleeping as well." said Scar. "That's because you want it. By the way, where's Kisasian?"
"I left him with Uzuri." said Zira.
"For a change." replied Scar sarcastically. "Now, my love, what do you want."
"Like I said before…" began Zira again. "… I'm worried about you. If you had seen the way how you looked at Shani… I understand you, really, but now there is one important question about that: what will you do?"
"What do you mean?" asked Scar.
In fact, he had a good guess about what his mate meant by that question, but he needed to confirm it. Zira began speaking, very hesitantly: "Will you… do… to Shani… what… you've done… to Simba?..."
When she saw the look that her mate gave to her, she gulped, and instantly regretted what she had told. But Scar replied, in a somewhat calm voice: "No, Zira. I won't do anything about Shani. But I'll tell you honestly: if some accident happens to her, I won't regret it."
Zira was rather indifferent at Scar's sentence, but then, she added, in a more worried voice: "Scar, there is also another problem."
"What is it, my dear?" asked Scar.
"It's about… Kisasian…" said the queen, hesitantly.
"What happened?" asked Scar, suddenly deeply worried. "Is he alright?"
"Yes… and no…" said Zira.
"What do you mean?" asked the king, confused.
"Look at him." said Zira. "He was never very much accepted by the cubs of the pride, except by Tojo, but now, since the time when he has the scar, they seem to run away from him, like if he had a curse! And it's all my fault!"
With those words, Zira collapsed and began crying.
"Zira, it's not your fault." said Scar, hugging her and licking her face, wiping off her tears. "It's not your fault."
"And there's also another thing…" said Zira worriedly. "We still haven't told him that he will not be the next king…"
With those words, Scar sighed of sadness. It was true. They hadn't told yet to their son that he wouldn't be king, even being the first born. Scar sighed, and said: "Zira… about that… I will speak with him tomorrow. I'm not sure about how he will react… but I'll try not to be too stern or too harsh for him. It will be hard, I know that… but it has to be done… I know he should be the heir, but…"
"It's your decision." said Zira. "You're the king, and I trust you…"
With those words, Scar and Zira went down Pride Rock, and returned to their sleeping place, each one of them having an untranquile night.
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On the next morning, nothing too different happened that would distinguish it from the previous days. The pride woke up, the hunting team departed, led by Zira, eventhough Sarabi stayed behind to take care of her newborn daughter, and, this time, Scar also stayed behind.
He went to his son, who, since Simba's death, was always sitting on the edge of Pride Rock when Tojo was misteriously absent, and said: "Uh… son…"
"Dad!" said Kisasian happily. "Will we play, like we did before?"
"No, son." said Scar sternly. "I have to talk to you, about a very important business."
"Oh… what is it?" asked Kisasian, without suspecting of anything.
Scar sat down, sighed deeply, and said: "Uh… Kisasian… you do know that I am king, and your mother is queen now, right?"
"Right." said Kisasian, with a boring voice. "And I hate that. Now you have no time for me!"
"This will be hard…" thought Scar. "But the longest time that he has an illusion, the more he will suffer when I tell him the truth."
Scar sighed deeply, and then he said: "Uh… Kisasian… I don't know if you ever thought of that, but… now, you are a prince."
"Yes…" admitted Kisasian, in a voice that showed that he hadn't been paying attention. "And…"
And then, he remembered that, if he was a prince, as the oldest son of the king, he would be king. He had to ask about that to his father. So, he asked: "I will be king?"
The cub's voice seemed divided, like if he partially wanted to be king, but on the other hand he thought about that as very difficult. But then, his father spoke again: "No, son. You won't be king after me."
Scar's words made Kisasian to feel a little bit sad, and also a little bit curious. He wouldn't be king? Why not? The prince decided to expose that question: "W… why, dad?"
Scar sighed deeply, and then he said, with his voice about to break: "You're not a bad lion… but… I don't think you have what is necessary to be a good ruler…"
Those words made Kisasian to feel like if his world had broken down. The pride had ignored him and rejected him, they almost chased him away, and now his father was telling him that he wasn't good enough to be king! He shouted, with completely unrecognizable voice, and tears in his eyes: "You're saying that I'm not good enough to be king?"
Scar just couldn't reply. The voice of his son had scared him. He had heard that voice in his own mouth, right on the night when he got his scar, but hearing that voice on his son's mouth, and directed to him, just, left him like paralysed. Scar just stayed silent, however, his expression spoke a little bit for himself.
"THAT'S NOT FAIR!" shouted Kisasian, with a fountain of tears coming out of both of his eyes. "SO WHO WILL YOU MAKE KING? TOJO?"
Scar didn't know how to say that to Kisasian. During the last weeks, Tojo had kept speaking a little bit with Scar, and they even had become good friends, however, Scar would never make Tojo king after him. But he didn't know how to say that to his son, who was completely heartbroken now.
"I HATE YOU!" shouted Kisasian, crying even more, if possible. "I HATE YOU ALL!"
With those words, Kisasian ran off without looking behind.
"Kisasian!" called Scar, with breaking voice. "Son! Come back!"
The king barely heard his son's reply, but it sounded something like: "Leave me alone!"
Scar just collapsed to the ground, covering his head with his paws, sobbing, but without crying: "What have I done? I just lost my own son. My only son!"
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Kisasian returned to Pride Rock on that night, but he was different. Instead of the sad and bored look that he usually had, he had an angry and cold look, like if he barely repressed his will of hitting someone always that he passed by them. Besides, he hadn't returned alone. If we count dead bodies as company, that is.
He had returned with a prey, a big lizard, who had lost his tail, probably after the first unsuccessful try of Kisasian to grab him. It wasn't very delicious, but surely satisfying. He just stayed outside the cave, and started eating the lizard, without coming in. Koza and Chumvi, with typical cubbish curiosity, decided to come out of the cave, and got surprised by finding Kisasian eating alone, and a prey of his own. They sometimes liked to make fun of other cubs, but they hadn't a real intention of doing it to offend.
"Here it is." said Koza mockingly. "Scar Junior."
"He even has a scar to match his name!" said Chumvi, in the same annoying voice.
"Get out!" said Kisasian, taking his eyes of the lizard for one moment, and then eating again.
"Sure… Scar Junior." said Koza, laughing.
"I said get out!" shouted Kisasian again. "Get away, because I won't repeat it a third time!"
"Pipe down!" said Chumvi, mockingly. "Your scar may blow up!"
And then, it happened. Without any kind of further warning, Kisasian pounced on Chumvi, and began slashing him with extended claws, and biting him seriously. Chumvi was so surprised that he barely reacted. Only Koza's intervention managed to save Chumvi before he got seriously wounded.
"I will repeat again…" said Kisasian. "GET OUT!"
And finally, Chumvi and Koza went inside. Kisasian began eating, until he heard more steps. He looked, and saw his mother, coming close to him.
"Son…" whispered Zira, tenderly. "May we talk?"
"NO!" shouted Kisasian, turning his back to his mother. "I DON'T WANT TO TALK WITH ANYONE!"
"Son, please…" whispered Zira with begging voice. "You're heartbroken… I understand…"
"NO YOU DON'T!" said Kisasian. "You don't understand what is like to be outcasted by everyone!"
"As a matter of fact, I do!" thought Zira, but she only said: "Son, please… don't act like that… your father and I…"
"Think about me as worthless!" said Kisasian, crying again. "You should have called me "Taka", not "Kisasian"!"
"We never thought that." said Zira.
She was trying to be as gentle as she could, because she had a feeling that if she got mad on that moment, that would only make her son's attitude worst, and it wouldn't help. She only said: "Son, I love you, your father also loves you… come eat, please…"
"I don't want your food!" said Kisasian. "I don't want anything from you again!"
Zira didn't know how to react, but she decided to try a different way: "You decide. If you change your mind, we are in the cave."
She went inside the cave, almost sure that her glutton son wouldn't pass a whole night only with a lizard for a meal and sleeping in cold rock. But, when she went inside, she spoke with Scar about her worries: "Scar… what shall we do? I couldn't speak with him… maybe you…"
"I can't…" said Scar. "After today, he probably hates me from the bottom of his heart. I can't do anything. Let's go to sleep. I heard what you told him. If he changes his mind, he will come inside."
However, Kisasian did not change his mind. Scar and Zira passed the whole night on their sleeping places, but without sleeping at all, just like Kisasian, who spent the whole night crying, both outside and inside.
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What do you think? I tried for this chapter to be rather dramatic... but with some happy moments in the middle... I hope I succeeded. Well, but you readers will tell me. Please, review!