Yeah! Next chapter!

You might have wondered where Taka was during the whole ordeal in the last chapter. Well, let's go back in time a little less than twenty four hours. Won't that be fun? About the time that Simba saw the lionesses heading out for the hunt sounds right. Because at that very moment, Taka was at the western water hole that connected to the deep river the hippos lived in. That's right. So why didn't he get mentioned during Nala's rescue, you ask? …

Taka took a deep breath before submerging his head under the river head. He brought it out again a moment later and shook the water off. What was wrong with him? As time went on, the burning flashes seemed to becoming more frequent and more intense. Thank goodness none of them lasted over a second.

Taka looked up. The giant male hippo watched him warily. It knew Taka was of royal blood and if he charged the lion, he would be in trouble. But not even that could keep Taka safe from the beast's instinct. He edged away from the water. Today was not the day to start an inter-species war…

Taka froze. The burning hatred was back, worse than ever. Taka's eyes went out on sticks and his claws tried to sturdy the rest of his body on the earth. He could barely breath. Taka struggled to stay conscious. He felt sick. His heart thundered in his ears… It passed…

Taka breathed deeply. This is not good, he thought. He collapsed on the ground to regain the strength that was just stolen from him.

Hours passed and Taka recovered.

Scar!

Taka snapped his head up. His heartbeat was in his ears again. The brother-prince snapped his head around for the lion who said that. The name seemed so familiar to him, yet so…

Laughter.

Taka breathed deeply, quickly. The hippos didn't seem to have heard it. You're letting it get to you, he thought. You're hearing things.

Very suddenly, Nala came catapulting through the thicket on the other side of the water hole. She jumped in, screaming when she realized she was going under water. There was an elephant not so far away. Taka crouched down in the grasses and approached the water hole. He didn't know what he was doing, but it didn't matter. His body took over his mind.

As a cub, Taka had loved the water, just like Simba did now. He had been an excellent swimmer, and it came back to him now. He eased into the water. Like a crocodile, he kept his nose just above water, keeping out of sight of the thrashing Nala. Within seconds, Sarafina, Sarabi, Mufasa, and a few pride lionesses were at the river shore closest to where Nala had drifted. He approached the cub slowly, staying as invisible as possible.

Somewhere in Taka's sub-conscious, he had thought he would try to save Nala, but here he was, watching her slowly drown. Sarafina began to walk into the water. The hippo he had seen earlier knew these two were not of royal blood. But still it hesitated.

Simba! How did he get here so fast? An unknown anger was welling up in the prince's uncle. As he watched Simba attack the charging hippo, as he watched Sarafina reach her belly in water, as Nala's strength began to dwindle, something took over. At first Taka fought back, but Scar was too strong for him. The lion dived down under water.

Scar knew how to hold his breath for at least four minutes, even if it was painful. He lurked at the bottom of the river. Above, he saw Simba re-enter the water next to Nala. The anger exploded. He zoomed up and attacked his nephew's left hind leg, dragging him down into the darkness of the bottom of the water world. He tasted water mixed with fresh blood.

But Simba retaliated. Although the cub couldn't see him, that didn't mean he couldn't fight him. Scar felt sharp claws dig through the flesh beneath his mane. He let go of Simba's leg, and Scar once again became Taka. The lion watched Simba save Nala from below. What did I just do?

The sun was set. Taka looked around nervously. He hadn't been here in years. He needed to find her, talk to her. The Elephant Graveyard.

Two hyenas came out to 'greet' Taka. He put on his most intimidating look as they neared. "I need to see Shenzi," he snarled. One hyena looked both ways before leaning in to say, "How are you gonna benefit de hyenas with your visit?"

"By not telling the King where to find some hyenas that I happen to know sneak into the Pridelands every fourth day for meat!"

"Understood," said the second hyena. "Follow us." Taka did. They stopped in front of the main elephant skull. One said to the other, "I'm goin' ta sleep, man."

"Yeah, a'ight, I'll take care of this," said the second hyena. Then to Taka, he said, "Wait here. I'll send Shenzi down to see ya." And he left.

Why do I feel like I'm in a doctor's office? Taka waited. And waited. And continued to wait. Finally, Shenzi showed up. Taka grabbed her by a flap of skin in front of her neck.

"What the crap!" Shenzi said, startled.

"I need your help!" Taka said to her.

"Well, I can see that!" she spat back. "For going insane, no doubt! Geez!"

Taka let go. "Sorry. I'm stressed right now."

"I could tell dat, too!" Shenzi said. She looked at him suspiciously.

"What?" asked Taka.

"Scar-"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Taka screamed. Shenzi didn't so much as flinch.

"Taka, you've come down 'ere how many times since the day of the stampede? Twice? And that was to say you didn't kill Mufasa and that you were getting' hitched? Excuse me if I don't understand why you're here!"

"He's back!" Taka whispered to Shenzi. She furrowed her brow.

"Who? Who's back?" she asked.

Taka looked around. "Scar!"

Rafiki treated Simba accordingly everyday. None of Simba's injuries were quick to heal. If Rafiki wasn't in the cave, he was gathering healing herbs or making strange apparatuses beneath Pride Rock. He splinted Simba's broken legs, bandaged his paws, and did both to the left hind leg. Simba didn't complain. But anyone could tell he was in pain. The only places you could touch without him recoiling were his face, neck, and tail. No one (except Timon) bothered him about it. Simba hated being left in the cave like some newborn. At least he had company.

Timon and Pumbaa came to cheer the prince up everyday. Their jokes were lame and their stories were obviously exaggerated, but Simba still appreciated it. But the company he especially was happy to see was Nala. Thankfully Pumbaa understood they wanted privacy and would take Timon away.

It had been two weeks since the incident. Nala had told Simba about her father, and they comforted each other. Simba noticed Nala acting slightly different towards him, as though she were nervous about something. He didn't care. He just wanted her to tell him he wasn't missing anything by being stuck in one place.

After a few more days, Simba's paws healed. Some of his broken limbs were beginning to show improvements. But whenever he tried to work with his left hind leg, he'd fall, hurting his ego more than his body. It was healing, but was still awful looking. Rafiki changed the bandage twice a day. And Uncle Taka, it seemed, was spending less and less time at home. But then something happened that took everyone's mind off of Simba's condition.

Zira had a son born. 'Nuka' she named him. The lionesses cleared a path for Simba took look down from his resting place at his new cousin. He smiled at the proud parents. So Simba got more company, Nuka and Zira. It wasn't long until Taka's wife announced being pregnant again. Rafiki told her that the next would be born around the same time Simba got back to normal. A while.

Simba was fascinated by how often Nala would watch over Nuka for Zira. Nala seemed attracted to little cubs. One day, Nala and Simba lay parallel to each other, watching Nuka (now about the age of Simba when the stampede happened), and Nala was acting particularly odd.

"Simba," she said watching Nuka chase a bug through the cave, "We've never talked about the…er…" Simba's eyes widened. They both knew what. The betrothal. They had both always thought of it like a monster in the shadows, waiting to tear apart their friendship. Nuka caught the bug. He took it in his jaws and began to prance around the cave with it.

"Wha-what's there to talk about?"

"Well, um… I dunno. I guess I just wanted to know if you needed to talk about it," Nala said. Liar, thought Simba.

"I don't."

"Okay," Nala seemed relieved, but disappointed in herself. Zira came in the cave.

"Alright, Nala," she said, "I am here to relieve you of your duties. You can go, if you want."

"I'll just stay here, thanks." Zira took the hint and left the cave with her son, who was hollering about having caught the biggest bug in the world.

"Mind if I sleep?" Nala asked Simba.

"Uh, no." Nala smiled and rolled over on her side to sleep. Her head came down next to Simba's right front paw. He startled. Something in his chest seemed to flutter and flip. He looked out of the cave mouth to see if anyone was watching. He looked down at Nala's head again. And slowly, he lowered his head down next to hers to sleep. They both smiled.