Chapter 34:
Sly needed someone to talk to. There were so many questions spinning around in his head he felt dizzy. He wanted to find answers and quick before he made himself sick. He couldn't find Timon, Zuri, or Sudi after his encounter with Sengbe and he thought Kito wouldn't understand what he was talking about, so he walked outside of the cave over towards the sleeping warthogs.
He carefully approached Jina, who was sleeping next to Pumbaa. He climbed onto her back and onto her head, taking hold of her ear and whispering, "Jina, are you asleep?"
Jina sleepily groaned, "Noisy crickets. You're lucky I'm not hungry." She yawned and smacked her lips as she began to settle back down.
Sly grimaced, "Same old Jina. Wonder if the same method still works." He walked to the other end of the warthog, to the tail. He lifted the tail up to his level and lightly brushed the brushy part of the tail over Jina's back.
Jina began to snicker, and then giggle, and then laughed until she sat up and looked back at what was tickling her. "Oh, so it wasn't bed bugs. Dang."
"Same old Jina," Sly grinned as he released the tail.
"And same old Sly. The tickling trick always worked for you. Why'd you wake me? I was having such a nice dream."
"What I wouldn't give for a nice dream. Listen, Jina, can we talk somewhere without whispering?"
Jina glanced at the sleeping warthogs and cheetah, and then nodded. She walked around to the other side of the cave. "Is this good, Sly?"
Sly jumped off Jina's back and walked around the warthog to meet her in the front. "Good enough. Listen, Jina. You're still Zuri's best not-the-same-species friend, right?" Jina nodded. "You understand what she says most of the time, right?" Jina pouted her lips, thinking for a moment, and then she nodded. "Then maybe you can help me understand some of the things we were talking about tonight."
"Sure, Sly, but why didn't you ask someone else?"
"I would've, but I can't find anyone else who understands her like you do."
"All right, then. I've got time, so start from the beginning."
Sly nodded and sat down in front of her. "OK. I was sitting up on the roof of the cave like I normally do anymore, thinking, and then Zuri comes up..."
Earlier tonight...
Zuri climbed to the top of the skylight and growled at the meerkat sitting with his back to her. "You have no consideration to a girl trying to catch up on her sleep!"
Sly turned to look at her and grinned, "It's not my fault you made your nest under the skylight Zuri."
Zuri blushed slightly when she realized the meerkat was Sly. She lifted herself up and sat down next to him. "No, I guess not. So what are you doing up here all by yourself?"
Sly sighed as he rubbed his eyes. "I'd like to say it's insomnia, but it's not. I haven't really been able to sleep lately. Too many dreams I don't like or I don't understand. I come up here to try to understand them..." He shook his head. "But I haven't come to a conclusion yet."
Zuri rubbed a flower petal from her bracelet between her fingers for a moment. "I'm sorry. I'm sure my coming here made things a lot more complicated for you."
"Maybe, maybe not." Sly looked up at the stars. "Someone told me once that dreams can be a window into the future. I kept having dreams about you... and you came."
Zuri sighed and scooted closer to him. "But I didn't know you were here. If Kito hadn't left like that..."
"We'd still be wondering whatever happened to each other, wouldn't we?"
A moment of silence. Zuri tapped her fingers on her knee, trying to make conversation. "I heard dreams can also be forgotten memories trying to resurface. So... what else have you been dreaming about?"
Sly turned his eyes to look at her. "You wanna know?"
"If they're not all about me, I could help you think."
"All right..." He turned his eyes back to the sky. "In one dream I'm just a pup, barely a month old. I remember my eyes adjusting to the light, like it was the first time I came out of the tunnel. Then I remember being in tall grass in a pile of fresh leaves... next thing I know I'm--flying."
Zuri suppressed a small giggle. "You had wings?"
Sly shook his head. "Don't think so. I didn't have a choice in the direction I was going. I remember landing in a tree, and then tumbling down branches and hitting the ground. That's usually when I wake up."
"Ouch." Zuri rubbed her chin. "I don't know. Maybe you were snatched by a bird or something when you were a pup."
"I dunno. Mom and Pop never mentioned it to me. Besides, if that fall really happened I'd probably be dead right now."
Zuri drummed her fingers on her knee, thinking. "Do you remember anything else from that dream?"
Sly was silent for a moment, thinking hard. "I remember... a big rock next to a small tree... and another pup there, probably one of my brothers or sisters from the litter. Must've been one of our first homes or something, because I don't remember that kind of rock or tree anywhere else we stayed." He shook his head and laughed slightly. "You'd think after I had that dream so many times I'd remember everything."
"Maybe... so what other dreams have you had?"
Sly lowered his eyes slightly. "The day I was cast out of your colony."
"Sly, I'm sure my father would let you come back if you just asked him. There's so many people there who want to see you," Zuri said in a near-desperate tone.
"I've told you before," Sly said in a stern voice, "I can't go back. Khairi isn't long for this plain and I'm suppose to take his place with Yasmin when he dies."
"Can't you take a few days and make peace with him?" Zuri asked in a soft voice.
"With him?"
"I've told you; he's changed. You'd hardly recognize him."
Sly snorted. "Check back with me in a month, after I've taken position as leader and married Yasmin. Then you'll be out of my mind."
Zuri was silent for a moment. "... Yasmin told me about the deal between Sengbe and Khairi."
"... I shouldn't even be here. I don't belong here," Sly sighed. "Yasmin thought I was cute and that's the only reason my father and I are here."
"So, you don't really love her?"
Sly exhaled. "I love her, but not in the way she wants me to love her. I would've left if it was just me, but Pop..."
"He couldn't travel that much. I know, I remember how he was. Better for him to stay in one spot at a time. And besides that, I'm guessing since your litter siblings died he wanted to make sure you lived to a ripe old age."
"Basically. And he thought if I stayed I could grow to love-love Yasmin. But it's three years later and I don't feel any different towards her."
"So why are you marrying her? Not so your father can finally have some kind of authority?"
"No, more of a sense of duty, I guess... in attempt to move on, like you obviously have."
Zuri exhaled and put a paw on Sly's back. "In a sense I have."
"What do you mean?" Sly looked right at her.
"Timon reminded me so much of you... that's what first attracted me to him. But he has his own traits that separates him from you."
"Such as?"
She shrugged slightly. "He's a little childish and lazy sometimes, but he taught me how to have fun."
"I would've taught you if fun wasn't a four-letter word back then," Sly growled, folding his arms in front of his chest.
"I know you would've, but you still made me laugh. The only other thing I can think of that separates the two of you is... well..." Zuri hesitated.
"Go on."
"He... he never told me he loves me." Sly arched an eyebrow. "It's not that he doesn't try, Sly, it's just... he can't successfully. And I need to hear those words coming from his mouth. I've been meaning to talk to him about it, but he keeps finding other things to occupy himself with. Granted, finding Kito was important, but so's this. And I was going to sit him down and talk to him today, but he's disappeared somewhere again." Zuri sighed. "What am I suppose to do when I feel my mate and I are on the rocks anymore?"
"Oh, Zuri, you're not the first to have marriage trouble," Sly said as he rubbed Zuri's back. "Quit overreacting."
"I am not overreacting, Sly. He hasn't even tried getting along with you, even though I've asked him to. I... I'm starting to wonder if he really even does love me anymore."
"I guess he did kind of leave all of a sudden today..." Sly said as he put an arm around Zuri's shoulders. "But I'm sure he was just trying to avoid me, not you."
"Well, he never expected he'd actually ever meet you, Sly. We weren't suppose to ever see each other again."
"Where does it say that? Your father's words weren't written in stone. It was probably an experiment the heavens were testing and we didn't have a say in it."
"Maybe it was... but..."
"But...?"
Zuri swallowed and said, "The experiment never changed how I felt about you... even now. I love you, Sly."
"I love you, too."
Zuri sighed. "You have no idea how much I've needed to hear that..." She reached over and kissed him on the cheek. He blushed slightly. There was a moment of silence before they suddenly closed the gap between them. It was short, but it would've lasted longer if Zuri hadn't pushed Sly away from her. "Stop it," she whispered.
"What's the matter?"
Zuri rubbed her arms as she sighed and looked up at the stars. "It's not right. I could list so many reasons why it could never work out between us now."
Sly sighed and leaned back. "You're right."
"I'm sorry. For that one moment I forgot I was married and had a family. For that one moment I thought it was three years ago, when we were together."
"I felt the same."
"I love Timon now the same way I loved you then, even if he can't say he feels the same way. As long as I know he does, I guess that's all that matters."
Sly grinned slightly. "Too much time apart. We loved each other for what we were then, but not now. We've changed too much to start again, huh?" Zuri nodded. "I guess it was written in the stars that we meet again, but can't really be together without being unfaithful."
"A word of advice?" Zuri turned back to Sly. "If you want to find true happiness, Sly, don't let your father control your life." She leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before standing and walking around to the skylight to climb back down. She was about to go down before she took one more look at Sly, and then paused.
Sly noticed and blinked. "What?"
"I... never noticed before..."
"Noticed what before?"
"You have your mother's eyes." She climbed down before Sly could get another word out. He watched her go down, and then he sat back down, rubbing his chin.
Present...
"My mother's eyes? You remember my mother, Jina. Do I have my mother's eyes?" Sly asked Jina, who had been listening to Sly retelling the conversation.
Jina rubbed her chin, looking into Sly's eyes. "... You have such pretty eyes, Sly."
Sly grunted, "Jina, I'm trying to make a point!"
Jina blinked, "Sorry. Well, I barely remember your mother, but I don't remember her having green eyes. She had brown, didn't she?" Sly nodded. "And your father has gray eyes."
"And my brothers and sisters never had green eyes either. I always considered I got it from my grandparents or something, but now it's like Zuri knows something and she's not telling me." Sly started pulling on his ears. "And I don't understand what she means! That just adds to all the questions swimming around in my head! If I don't find answers soon I'll drown!"
"You'll cause internal bleeding if you pull like that, Sly," Jina dryly said as she watched Sly. She then put a hoof to her chin. "Hmm... you said you had a big rock and a tree in your pup dream, right?"
Sly released his ears. "Yeah, so?"
"Maybe some more memories will pop up if you go there."
"But I don't even know where that is! How am I--?"
"Don't ask a lot more questions. Now then, I only know one place where a meerkat colony lived near a rock and tree like the one you described. I could take you there."
"You could?" Jina nodded. "You'd save me a lot of headaches trying to find it myself, Jina. Thanks."
"Oh, don't mention it. Hop on." She knelt down to let Sly climb onto her back. "Can we at least tell Pumbaa where we're going so he doesn't overreact that I'm gone?"
"All right."
They spent the next five minutes trying to wake Pumbaa up and then told him the message. He went right back to sleep. Jina walked away from the caves and over towards the log that stretched over to the Pride Lands. Before they set foot on the Pride Lands' soil...
"Jina?"
Jina gulped and stopped when she saw Timon walk towards them. She nervously smiled; she wasn't sure how he and Sly got along yet. "Uh, hi, Timon. What are you doing out here?"
"Took a stroll. What are you doing out here?" Timon returned the question.
"Taking a stroll." She stepped off the log and walked around Timon, keeping Sly out of view. "Well, be seeing you around, Timon. I'll be back later tomorrow."
"Where are you going so you won't be back until tomorrow?"
"Uh... secret."
Timon put a paw on his hip. "Uh-huh. So secret that he's coming along, too?" He pointed to above Jina's head.
Jina looked up and noticed Sly had climbed onto her head and was looking at Timon. "If you must know, Great Timon, I'm trying to get some questions answered and Jina's taking me there," Sly said.
"Really. Is it a long trip?" Timon asked as he folded his arms in front of his chest.
"Sorta, yeah..." Jina awkwardly said.
"Then would you mind if I come along? I've got some questions I want answered, too." Timon jumped onto Jina's back and looked up at Sly.
"What kind of questions?" Sly asked with a raised brow as Jina began to walk away from the Outlands.
"Some questions you can answer, like..." Timon cracked his knuckles with a growl. "What were you doing with your lips on my mate's lips?"
Sly looked taken aback at first, and then he growled, "Were you spying on us, too?"
"I was just looking for Zuri and I happened to listen in on your rooftop conversation. Then you two exchange the 'L' word and kiss."
"You want honesty? I don't know what happened up there! It just happened; we considered it an accident! We forgot what time we were living in and--" He paused a moment. "... What, did you not stick around after the kiss?"
"The moment I saw the kiss I looked away and left."
"Then you missed Zuri pushing away from the kiss and say why it wouldn't work out between her and I anymore."
Timon blinked a bit. "I did?"
"They changed while they were apart. They loved each other for they were back then," Jina spoke up.
Timon looked at Sly, who had a brow arched at Timon. Timon blew some air out of his mouth. "Load off my mind." He rubbed the paw he used to punch Sudi earlier. "Good thing you said that, otherwise I would've broken my paw twice."
There was a brief moment of silence before Sly broke it. "So..."he began, "do you love her?"
Timon arched an eyebrow. "She asked me to try getting along with you, didn't she? That's what I'm here for now."
Sly grinned, "You must love her."
"I do, enough that if she wanted to be with you instead of me... I'd let her."
Sly looked a bit taken aback by that answer. He then cleared his throat. "I want to know what she ended up with. Are you the best thing for her?"
Timon looked at him, and then back towards the Outlands, where he thought Zuri was. "I hope so."
To be continued...