Hey guys, it's Toony...
Wow, just...what can I say after three years of silence on this story? Except that I'm so sorry that I did that to you all...
I promise, I will give you a reason for it at the end of this chapter, but for now, I hope that you can enjoy take this time to enjoy this new post. It's not as long as the first three have been, but I just wanted to give you guys something other than just fill a chapter slot with only an Authors Note.
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Chapter 4: Building Trust
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"AAAAAH!"
The lionesses, most of whom were laying out on nice, flat rocks and soaking up some sun while others snoozed under the shade of trees, were startled from their naps at the sudden scream that seemed to rip through all Pride Rock. At first, they thought that their home was under some sort of attack, but after another howl came out ringing out from within the den, they all began to lay back down to enjoy the rest of their lazy afternoon with amused smiles on their faces.
"Sounds like Sarabi and Nala are at it again..." One lioness stated with a tired chuckle as she lay her head back on her paws.
"I think I'm beginning to feel rather sorry for him." Another said, earning a few giggles from her pride sisters.
Back in the den, Ryan was seriously rethinking his previous thoughts about it not being so bad to be among lions after Nala and Sarabi had shown him kindness.
Three days had passed since king Simba allowed Ryan refuge with the pride as he recovered from his injury, and while many of the lionesses, including the king, were still weary of him thanks to a certain hornbill, most of them slowly began to get rather used to his presence among them. Some even started to think that he seemed rather nice despite the horrible tails that Zazu would tell them as Ryan didn't appear to have a cruel bone in his body. He was a bit whiney, yes, but not at all cruel.
Ryan, in turn, seemed to grow used to the pride as well, and his interactions with Nala, Sarabi and Timon and Pumbaa helped quite a bit with that. Really, the only ones around here who didn't want anything at all to do with him was the know-it-all majordomo and the red eyed lioness with the three cubs. But the boy didn't mind, he was perfectly content to be able to hang out with the friends he already had.
Timon and Pumbaa were by far some of his most favorite visitors, the two of them were very interesting characters. They had all sorts of stories to tell and for a couple of animals, they were actually pretty funny, even when they weren't trying to be. But as cool as they were, he could have done without their constant persisting to get him eat insects.
Slimy or crunchy, he would consider starvation before he would ever force anything wiggly down his throat!
And as for Sarabi and Nala, the more he spent time with them, the better he enjoyed their company.
Sarabi never failed to be kind to him, she always made time for him in and made sure that he was feeling okay every day and slept beside him every night, so he was warm; she even made sure that he was always offered a portion of any kill the pride made. To which he would politely refuse and just snack on a bit of his own reserves that he had in his pack here and there.
Nala was great too, and Ryan very much enjoyed all the stories she would tell him about Simba and herself when they were cubs. They were quite the little adventurers when they were young, although their escapades often landed them in a bit of trouble; like the time Mufasa had to rescue them when they had a run-in with the very same hyenas he had saved Timon from.
And he loved it when she would let him hold Kiara during the time they would visit. She was so cute, and sweet and fuzzy, and did he mention cute? Even though she couldn't move around that well or see, she was still pretty feisty and playful and would often latch on to his hands with a surprisingly strong grip to deliver little bites and kicks with her hind legs when he would try to tickle her round tummy.
Despite enjoying the time playing with an adorable baby, something Ryan quickly took notice of was that Nala never wanted to leave Kiara alone, not even for a minute; and would usually leave her with Sarabi or another of her pride sisters whenever she had to go somewhere. But once she saw how gentle and attentive the young man was to her, she soon dubbed him the honorary babysitter so that her pride was free to do whatever.
Or if she and Sarabi ever felt the need to go out for a drink and stretch their legs.
Ryan didn't mind, in fact, if he was being completely honest he found it to be the highlight of his day simply because he could play and cuddle and nap with the adorable baby lion all he wanted without feeling embarrassed about it. But, despite how good he had it considering he was living among lions, there was one thing he wished that both the former and present queens would stop doing...
"OW! Seriously! Enough!" Ryan hollered as he tried once again to crawl away from his captors. "Get off me!"
As Ryan's wound recovered, Rafiki was a frequent visitor and stopped in at least once a day to check on the bite and reapply that gross, chewed up pulp. The old baboon was pleasantly surprised that it seemed to already be healing faster than he expected on his second checkup, but he made sure to tell Ryan that he once the medicine was dry, he would need to wash it off so his skin could breath.
That instruction, Ryan really wished Rafiki would have just kept just between them because Sarabi and Nala, for some reason, took it upon themselves to make sure that it was cleaned.
Now, if they would have used water like any other normal person, Ryan really would not have minded their help in cleaning it...but they didn't use water. They were animals, and as animals who didn't use water other than for drinking, they had a different means to clean things...their tongues.
And no matter what Ryan said against it, they refused to take 'no' for an answer. So yet again, Ryan was so glad he was wearing his cargo pants with unzippable legs, otherwise, he probably would have died from an even worse amount of embarrassment than he already felt!
"OW!" Ryan yelp as it felt like sandpaper was roughly dragged across his knee, receiving a short laugh from the queen of the Pridelands as she lay on top of him.
"Honestly, Ryan, must you make such a fuss every time we clean it?" Nala asked as from her spot of laying across his middle while Sarabi just continued to "clean" the bite. "You're behaving like a cub!"
They had this tag team all figured out, one would clean the wound while the other would lay on him so he had no chance of escaping. Either on his back or his stomach, it just depended on how he would fall when they pounced on him after he tried to run.
"I am not! How many times do I have to say I'm not like you guys?!" he snapped, cringing as Sarabi went over the already tender skin of his leg. "Okay, maybe the first couple of times it really needed cleaning, but now it'll heal faster if you just leave it alone! Your tongues are hurting worse than the actual bite does!"
"Maybe he's right, Sarabi." Nala started with a slight giggle. "it is looking a lot better, and there doesn't seem to be any sign of infection."
"Yeah Sarabi, there's no infection!" Ryan agreed with a hopeful expression on his face.
The older lioness thought about it silently, but after a few moments, she finally gave a nod of her large head as a smile appeared on her face.
"Very well. We'll leave it alone." she announced.
Ryan would have jumped for joy if Nala's heavy body wasn't still pinning him down.
"But you have to let us check it every now and then." Sarabi told him. "Just so we can make sure that it's healing properly."
"Fine, deal! Just no more sandpaper tongues!" the young man quickly agree, rolling out from under Nala when she finally stood up and into sweet, sweet freedom
"Ryan, I think I'm going to take Sarabi down to the watering hole for a drink with me." Nala announced as the boy grabbed the bottom part of his pants leg and began zipping it back into place. "Could you please watch Kiara again until we come back?"
"Sure thing, Nala." Ryan said as he reached over and picked up the napping cub before he cradled her in the crook of his arm and rubbed her soft belly with his fingers. "I'll take good care of her!"
So with satisfied smiles, Nala and Sarabi headed out of the den while Ryan relaxed with the infant. He smiled when the infant let out an adorable yawn and nestled against his chest, but when he suddenly noticed that frantic chatter filling his ears, he looked over to see Simba walking in from the back entrance of the cave with Zazu perched on his shoulder.
Ryan didn't know what the fuss was about, but it finally seemed like it wasn't about him for once.
He only caught bits and pieces of the conversation, but he heard enough to make a rough picture of the situation. Apparently, there hadn't been any good rain fall in a long while and the plant eating herds were beginning to drift further and further away in search of food that wasn't dry and brittle; he also managed to hear something else...
"-this terrible dry season has also attracted a large pack of painted dogs!" Zazu announced with a distasteful sneer. "Ruffians! They're even more mangy and flea ridden than hyenas!"
"Yes, it is a surprise to see them here in the Pridelands. At the very least, they don't seem to be ravenous killers." Simba commented. "But fly out every once in a while, and keep an eye on their pack; inform me immediately if they do anything to break the laws."
Zazu gave an affirmative nod, but as he turned and made to spread his wings, he met gazes with Ryan as he sat across the way from him and his king.
"Hmph! Devil!" the hornbill spat before he took to the air to carry out his kings instructions as Ryan just rolled his eyes. If that was all he would get from beak-for-brains, then he hoped the bird would just continue to ignore him from now on.
But to his surprise, once Zazu was gone, Simba started walking towards him...with a smile on his face no less!
This was...different, Simba had never smiled at him before, the only thing he would ever get from the lion was quiet, suspicious glares as though he thought that Ryan would go on the attack at any moment.
But here he was as he came to stand right in front of him while the young man could only stare, his mind completely blank before Simba took the initiative.
"Good afternoon, Ryan." He greeted with a friendly tone.
"Oh, uh, hi; good afternoon?" Ryan began, still a little unsure of what he should say as he began to drum the fingers of his free hand on the cave floor as an awkward and uncomfortable silence fell between them.
His mind was yelling at him to say something, anything! This was the first time the king was taking the time to talk to him and making an effort to be friendly when he didn't have to, especially considering that he seemed reluctant to let Ryan stay here with them at first despite the fact that the boy had saved a friend of his. This was a big deal for the young man, so say something already!
"Sooo...dog problems?" Ryan hesitantly began, almost slapping himself. Awesome, way to confirm that he had totally been eavesdropping on the conversation.
"Ah, you heard that?" Simba asked as he raised a brow.
"Er, not all of it, just what you and banana bea-Zazu said about there being a pack here." Ryan told him. "His voice carries."
The lion suddenly gave a laugh, catching Ryan by surprise with another first since this conversation started.
"Yeah, you can always tell when Zazu is speaking..." Simba commented with a nod of agreement. "A pack of wild dogs have been spotted attempting hunts and even scavenging after the kills the pride has made; They're not the friendliest of sorts, and while it's very unusual for them to roam so far from the Flatlands, I assume it's simply because this drought has taken a toll on their territory and I'm willing to allow them to stay as long as they respect the circle of life."
Ryan gave a nod, that was fair assessment, and pretty generous of Simba to allow strangers to stay in his kingdom.
"But enough about that, how are you feeling?" the red maned lion suddenly asked, changing the subject. "How's that leg of yours?"
"It's fine, I'm able to walk around without it hurting as bad, now. I'll be able to get out of your hair here pretty soon." Ryan answered, offering him a smile as he patted the knee of the injured limb. "The stuff Rafiki puts on it really helps, and Nala and Sarabi have been...'helpful' too, I guess. Have they always been so overbearing, though?"
"Ha, ever since I can remember; mother especially." Simba said with a soft chuckle before he bowed his head and nuzzled noses with Kiara. "And I see that they've made you the babysitter, again."
"Yeah, but it's all good; I like watching Kiara." Ryan assured him as he tickled the infants along her ribs and belly, earning a smile from her as she gave that adorable little growl and tried to swat at his fingers. Simba gave another little smile before it slowly turned into a thoughtful frown as he contemplated something.
"Have you given any more thought as to why you were brought here?" he asked the young man. "Were you able to discover what my father chose you for?"
Ryan thought back to that night, when things he would have never thought to be possible all happened, for three days he racked his brain and replayed Mufasa's words over and over in his head...but no answer ever came to him. He also thought back to that weird dream the first night he spent here, but eventually he just put it aside as he figured that dream was only influenced on by all the stress and the complete craziness he had gone through.
"No. I still think it was all a big mistake." He finally said. "I just don't have the power to save anyone from anything, and no matter what Rafiki says, I still think Mufasa meant to get help from my mom, but you guys ended up stuck with me...sorry."
Simba tilted his head to the side at the young man's statement as he thought that wasn't entirely true.
"Well, even if you happen to be right about that, I wouldn't sell yourself so short, Ryan." the king of the Pridelands told him. "After all, you were able to help Timon in his moment of need, weren't you?"
Ryan looked up at Simba, surprised at this bit of praise while the large lion gave a wink of an eye and started towards the entrance of the den, leaving Ryan to tend to Kiara while a smile appeared on the boy's face as he felt pretty good about the whole exchange with the king. It looked like he finally seemed to be trusting him now...at least a little bit.
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Alrighty, now that this chapter is finished, I do believe I owe you guys that explanation...
I don't know if I ever wrote anywhere on my FanFiction account of what was going since the last time I updated this story, any of my old stories really...if I did, I don't remember it. But my grandmother was very sick and we moved in with her just so I could help her clean house, make sure she took her medicine, just be there to help her with anything I could. But at the start of 2015, her illness became too much for her to fight anymore and she passed away.
For a long while after that, I barley did any writing; I maybe have updated one or two stories here more recently, and I've kind of preoccupied a good amount of my time with working on a tribute story called 'A Wish that Sails through Rainbow Stars'. I'm taking a short break from it for emotional reasons, and also because I've been wanting to update my other stories, especially this one since 'The Lion King' is a very special movie to me.
I hope you guys can forgive me for this long absence and thank you all for being so patient with me.
