"I dare you to eat that bug."

"We said no eating gross shit!"

"There are no rules, I can dare you to do anything."

"Well, I'm the Prince so I say no."

Tama shoves Simba and, startled by that aggressive turn of events, he falls to the dirt. Tama is no bigger than him so this is a feat that has Tojo laughing, Nala clapping, Kula giggling, and Chumvi gasping.

"This is why you're no fun to play with, Simba. You always pull the Prince card."

There is cleaning Tojo should be doing, dishes Chumvi and Kula should be washing, lessons Nala and Tama should be partaking in. Instead they all got a pass from the Prince to abandon their chores in exchange of playing in one of the castle gardens. They can't play close to the Jua Limegusa training grounds, because then Tama's mama might see her and Nala and call them to duty, so they've settled for a grassy patch on the opposite side of the castle.

Here, just the gardeners are witness and they have not been employed to tell on the youth.

"You didn't do my dare!" Simba pushes himself back to his feet.

"We all agreed kissing was off the board, asshole!"

And because there is no adult supervision, they can say words like that.

"The bug probably tastes like zebra," says Tojo. He has the bug trapped between his hands, he hasn't stopped squirming as it crawls and crawls.

"And if I don't?" Simba is talking to Tama.

She draws a pretty dagger on him, a decorative thing with a brass handle and steel blade that glows silver with disuse. It's new and shiny and sharpened. It's a ceremonial dagger initiates of the Jua Limegusa are given as a promise of the service they will carry out. Nala has a similar dagger strapped to her hip.

"I will use this!" Tama waves the point of her dagger in Simba's face.

Tama knows Simba knows she won't actually hurt him, but Tama is also unpredictable and a brat so who can be sure? Nala, sensing this, chirruped a low mrr-ow as she stepped forward and bumped the side of Tama's head with her forehead. Tama responds with a sharper mewl. Kula approaches next, crooning. She is the calming factor, gentle where Nala is commanding. The three girls have a conversation with sounds from the back of their throats, adorable little things that aren't as menacing as Tama thinks.

"Fine." Tama lowers the dagger but doesn't sheath it. "If you don't eat the bug, you'll have to kiss Nala."

Betrayed, Nala exclaims, "Don't drag me into this!"

"You just said kissing was off the table!" Simba complains.

"Eat the bug, then!"

Nala is huffing and puffing, arms crossed and braided hair falling over her shoulders. Tama is smirking and purring (read: laughing), one hand on her dagger and that curl that always sprouts on the top of her head falling on her forehead. Tojo holds the bug. Chumvi would be flickering his tail in earnest anticipation if he'd had a tail at the time. Kula's cheeks twitch like they would if they had whiskers.

Simba eats the bug.

[ * ]

They are giggling and shushing each other, running down the hallway all six of them. Tojo is holding Zazu's cane and they are putting as much distance as they can between themselves and the King's most trusted advisor. It wasn't really a dare, though it was, but the six of them took it in stride and made it a group prank for the Royal Mshauri.

Where should they leave the cane? No idea, they just keep running.

How long before Zazu realises it's gone? No idea, they just keep running.

"Wrong turn!" hisses Chumvi.

"What are you all doing?" asks Sarafina. She is carrying a basket of fresh laundry for the Queen.

Behind their backs, the kids pass the cane to keep it hidden. Kula, at the very back of the group, is the last to take it. She stands behind Tojo, trying to appear smaller than she already is. It doesn't help their innocent façade.

"Nala?" asks her mother.

"We're just playing, Mama."

"Shouldn't you and Tama be down by the gardens with Ujana?"

"Mama doesn't have time to train cubs," says Tama.

"Who's in charge of you right now?"

Tama and Nala shrug.

Sarafina hums. "And you two—" Kula and Chumvi jump. "— Shouldn't you be in the kitchens?"

Kula passes the staff and Simba grabs it.

"Yes, ma'am," the twins chorus.

"Off you go then."

Kula and Chumvi scamper off, leaving four behind.

"Tojo."

"Yes, ma'am?"

"Farisi told me the Prince's laundry was all done, as well."

"Yes, ma'am."

Sarafina props the basket against her hip, staring down the boy until he also leaves. Down the hallway Sarafina just came from.

Leaving three.

"Are you headed down to join the other Jua Limegusa cubs?"

"Yes, Mama."

Nala gives Simba a look of apology and Tama a look of mischief. They both go back the hallway the group just came from, on their way to the castle grounds and the garden the Jua Limegusa cubs train in. Where Tama and Nala should have been since the morning.

Sarafina smiles at Simba. "You might want to hide that better if you don't want Mshauri Zazu to find it. He and the King won't talk forever."

With a pat on the head, Safarina continues on her way to the royal chambers to fold and put away the clean laundry. Simba looks over his shoulder down the hallway Tama and Nala disappeared to, down the hallway that (if you make a right turn not a left turn) leads back to Zazu. Simba keeps running and figures he might just leave the cane in the laundry house.

[ * ]

"Pinned ya!" purrs Nala. "See? That's what we learned today!"

There's various degrees of amusement again. This time they all come through as purring, since lions can't laugh. With the afternoon training of the Jua Limegusa done, dinner taken care of, and laundry folded they can all play again. Simba had to spend the afternoon doing the boring part of being a prince, attending to private tutoring and doing ceremonial salutes with a wooden staff that was meant to mimic a sword. Tojo could only join him for the salutes because of the laundry.

Simba nudged Nala off him with his paws, but that only left him open for Tama. He'd barely gotten back to his feet when he was tackled again.

Tama's wild curl, the one of her forehead, was replaced by a characteristic tuft of fur on the top of her head. Almost like if she too would grow a mane as she entered adulthood. She was tawny where Nala was pale and Kula was dark. Tama was less considerate than Nala, pressing down on the Prince's shoulders with her dainty cub paws.

"Get off me!" Simba shoves, but it takes more than once to get Tama off him. He shakes himself, passing his tongue over his shoulders to fix the fur that stood on end. "My Baba showed me stuff too."

Chumvi's ears perk up. His fur is dark like Kula's. Tojo's is a golden darker than Simba's. Both their mane tufts are longer than the Prince's but he tries not to let that bother him. He's the youngest of the males, after all.

"We're gonna learn stuff from the King!" Chumvi purrs.

Simba, pleased with the attention that got even Tama to shut up, crouches. "You gotta stay low to the ground."

He moves around, placing a target on Kula's incessantly twitching tail-tuft. The other five cubs watching with various degrees of interest— with Chumvi at the most and Tama at the least. Simba makes a whole circle around his friends, rushing a little more every time his paws misstep and dry leaves or dirt rocks crunch underneath.

"Try not to make a sound."

Simba pounces. Kula jumps too, a loud startled mewl coming with it. Everyone laughs. Nala and Tama nuzzle their friend to help her flatten her fur bristled in shock. Simba smiles.

Until Chumvi, to show what he just learned, pounces and takes him down.

[ * ]

On their own, the roars barely create echo. Together, they at least startled the small birds of the inner courtyard. This is the perfect spot to practice roaring, though they've been berated for disturbing the visiting courtiers and interrupting meetings with their practice. But the surrounding walls of the garden make them sound louder!

They're not scary, the little roars, but the cubs want to pretend they are. The little birds certainly think they are scary enough.

"Tojo is still loudest," says Kula. She's on the grass, belly-up, first one to get tired of their little game and only roaring when the others do at the same time.

"That's cause Tojo is the oldest," says Simba. He crouches and then jumps, roaring as he does. This roar isn't louder than the ones that came before it.

Tama roars after him, as if trying to one-up him. "I think I am louder."

"Are not!" Tojo pounces on her and the cousins tangle themselves in a playfight.

Kula and Nala cheer for Tama.

Simba roars again, and further up he hears the rumour of birds that take flight from the ledge of the open hole that allows sunlight into the inner courtyard. He smiles, a lion-smile, and his whiskers twitch. That would be good enough to at least scare some Hyenas, right? Baba still wouldn't let him join the parties that drove the Hyenas away but if he could just show Mufasa his roar was scary.

"Pinned ya!" says Tama, which has turned into a phrase among the girls. Simba has heard all the cubs of the Jua Limegusa use it, probably something regarding training.

Tojo tries to bite her ankle and Tama leaps off him with a loud mrr-ow! Calling him profanities that she has definitely heard the actual soldiers say during their training. Simba only heard curse words second-hand from his friends because his parents and tutors were all very proper when they spoke. He'd gotten a wooden ruler to the head from his mathematics tutor when he accidentally said fuck in front of her.

With newfound motivation on healthy competition, Tojo and Tama begin to roar one after the other. Trying to sound louder, louder, louder. It puts a strain in their cub vocals, but Simba isn't about to tell them.

Nala puts her chin on Kula's belly, watching the cousins. Chumvi mimics his sister's position with his belly facing the sky.

Tojo and Tama startle when a red-billed hornbill lands before them with a loud flutter of wings.

"How can the King and Queen hold a formal meeting with the nobles of Aboyami when there are cubs creating a ruckus?"

Everyone mauls over excuses but they get interrupted by Tama roaring right on Zazu's face, startling him the same way they'd been startling small birds. Though Zazu doesn't take flight in fright.

He has barely said "Young lady!" when Tama is bolting out of the inner courtyard and off to hide. Zazu debates between the bratty daughter of the General and the other five cubs, but neither are being disruptive at the present time. So he takes flight and leave.

Tojo says to the others, "Run!" and they escape in the opposite direction.