"I kissed a girl (And I liked it)"
By: Gabriel LaVedier
Here comes chapter three. Vitani is broken by the things Kiara has said and done. Kiara is selling her soul to the devil for a chance to make her parents proud. And Kovu is going on his merry way, aided by Mufasa's zealot, who wishes to turn living brings into political pawns. The lives and loves begin to slowly combine and interact, but in this part, there's not much going on. More than a drabble but less than a real, full chapter. Primarily, this will show just how Kiara can recover from the poison she was fed. And, as a note, I'm still looking for snuggly Kiara/Vitani images and stories. All help is greatly appreciated.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. I have nothing. I claim no infringement.
Chapter Three: It felt so right…
Very few people knew, yet everyone knew. Mufasa had a personal zealot. His own grand unifier of faith and obedience. The circle of life was natural as could be. None disputed it, even before the coming of the Pride Rock monarchy and the imposition of the formality. But none ever considered it, because it was so obvious and so natural. No mystical nonsense worked behind it. It was always just the way things were.
Then came the rulers out of the mysterious distance. They conquered the land with ferocity and a unity of purpose backed by the mystic proclamations of the zealous Rafiki. As he said, the invaders did, and they slaughtered their opposition. Because he was more than the others, more than just someone making wild motions, someone with a message that seemed to come from unspecified "great kings" who promised victory. All too soon, his message was truth, and those he backed in power.
So though everyone knew that Rafiki was a zealous advancer of the pride and a loud proclaimer of the circle of life, very few really appreciated what it meant. What that much power meant, really. But Rafiki knew. Knew well that all the power he had, for all the time he had left in his life, was due to the regular and continuous line of succession, from King or Queen to Prince or Princess. That what was most vital in the world was ensuring there would always be a monarch, and always be an heir to the throne.
In the space at the top of his baobab tree, Rafiki drew his innumerable pictures, driven by visions and his sharp understanding of the motivations of others. Each time he finished his vision, he erased it with a snarl of hate, and started again. His harmony was broken, and had been for some time. Now his visions, born of his understanding of the way things were conflicted with his conscious knowledge of how to preserve his position.
He dipped his fingers into his powder pots and painted, again and again. Golden fur flowed out from under his fingers, with a pleasing feminine shape and proportion. Kiara. But the second drawing, though begun with dark-toned earth pigments, lightened just slightly. He could not stop himself from adding an angular femininity to it. Or from placing the crushed beetle shells in the eyes. A brilliant blue. Over and over again.
"No! Dis is not how it is supposed to be. Kiara must be with Kovu. An heir must come! Mufasa! Help me to erase what is right and do what is necessary. Help me lie to your granddaughter, and preserve your line. Guide my hand, and make Kovu the one. Not his sister." He dipped his fingers into the pot again. And began painting again, growing angry as he reached the middle of the painting. It was betraying him. Again.
- - -
Kiara walked through the lush, lively Pridelands, dragging her paws, going nowhere in particular and getting there as slowly as possible. She had just been serenaded by her father's personal spiritual advisor, her new intended getting into the spirit of the song, while she… faked her way through, as she had faked her way through so many things. It was all she could do to maintain the proper image that Kovu told her was correct.
It weighed on her mind more and more, as time dragged on. Ever since that day… That horrible day… She had felt lower than any creature on or under the earth. She had torn out Vitani's heart and rent it to pieces. And Vitani was still alive to suffer the agony. And she knew it, clearly and unambiguously. She had felt the love and adoration in that kiss. It had burned through her veins, lit a fire in her soul, a fire she wanted more than anything to extinguish. Because it reminded her of every kiss, every touch and caress that Vitani had given her since the day they met. And there had been many. Innocent, sweet, caring, playful, teasing, loving, adoring. Each one meaning the same thing. The thing she had rejected.
She was a monster. A liar. Playing a game for the sake of her parents and her destiny. That's what adults did. That's what she had been told. That's what seemed to be so. There could be no other way of looking at it. Adults suppressed all their feelings, all their inclinations. They couldn't be playful or silly or frivolous. So why would things like love and devotion be any different?
Arriving at a small watering hole near Pride Rock, she bent down for a drink, a few small tears slipping down along her muzzle and into the water. She thought she was alone, feeling free enough to let slip those few small drops from out of her personal store. But she was wrong.
"Kiara?" From a tall stand of grass came her redoubtable uncles, Timon and Pumbaa. The meerkat had spoken to her, looking up with a concerned expression.
"What's wrong? Did something happen with Kovu?" Pumbaa nudged softly against her side, looking up to Kiara's face with a look of great concern.
"Oh… It's… It's nothing, really." A smile slowly grew on Kiara's face, stretched too far, pulled too tight, her eyes dull and unhappy and still loaded with unreleased tears.
"Now, come on. We've known you all your life. You can't lie to us. Something's the matter. Did you have a fight with Kovu?" Timon deftly ran up Pumbaa's back , leaping form the top of his head onto the back of his niece.
"No. I promise you. We haven't had a fight. Everything is perfect. We're still getting along. Just perfectly. It's all perfect. We get along…"
"Perfectly?" Timon finished, walking onto Kiara's head and casually strolling down her muzzle.
"Yea. How else would we get along? We're meant to be together. It's our destiny. Our relationship is written in the stars and proclaimed by Rafiki. He knows everything. It must be true."
There was a short wince, that ran through both Timon and Pumbaa, simultaneously, at the mention of Rafiki. Though it showed in Pumbaa's bulk, Kiara could feel it clearly atop her nose. "You might not want to put ALL your faith in him. Just, you know, in case." Timon leaped from Kiara's muzzle, to the top of his partner's head.
"In case of what? I've always trusted Rafiki. Just like daddy always did. Everyone trusts him to help us with our lives in the circle of life. He knows much."
"Yea, but not everything…" Timon muttered just under his breath. But loud enough to be heard.
"What was that?"
"Listen… Don't go spreading this around… Bur Rafiki… He's not right about EVERYTHING. There are, you know, one or two things he might be a little bit wrong about. You know, just those bits and pieces here and there that you'd hardly notice."
"Like what? He has proven his knowledge in everything he has done for us, from the anointing of heirs to the proclamations of the great kings of the past. How could someone so rich in knowledge, and so trusted, be wrong?"
Timon tapped his fingertips together, pursing and un-pursing his lips as he considered the question. He knew what to say. But not how to say it. His mind raced as he regarded his pseudo-niece. It was Pumbaa, however, who spoke at last. "He was wrong about us. About what we were like."
Kiara tilted her head a trifle, regarding the mismatched pair, the second family she had known her whole life. "What's wrong with you? You're… You're my uncles. You raised my father when he was little. He owes you his life and Rafiki must know it. He has to have the highest respect and admiration for you."
No answer came from either of them, for a long and painful moment. Timon broke the silence with a soft tone, barely enough to be heard. "He thinks a certain way."
"What way is that?"
"The way that says…" Timon choked on the words, but Pumbaa was there to take them up.
"Boys go with girls. Only."
Kiara winced, a twitch running through her whole body. She remembered the fire. The burning in her soul. Remembered Vitani. "O-only? Bu… But what does that have to do with you?"
"Didn't you ever wonder why Pumbaa and I are always together? And only us? Why, even being the hero that saved my colony, I never picked one of those ladies to be my mate? Why Pumbaa never thought to go and find himself a prime lady of the porcine persuasion? It ain't from lack of trying."
"Wait. You mean you are… And he's… You're both..?" Kiara stared disbelievingly, looking between her uncles. She hadn't even had an inkling. Their relationship seemed so natural to her that she never suspect that there was more to it than what there seemed to be. But then, no one had ever taught her that it was wrong. She had never seen it. And before Kovu twister her in knots, she saw nothing wrong with her feelings for Vitani. She still saw nothing wrong with them. But she had a duty. A duty that could not be broken.
"Surprise?" Timon put on a half-hearted smile and spread his hands a little bit. "Kinda sudden, I know, but…"
"Wait! Don't you… Don't you have a responsibility to your colony?" The lioness quickly came face-to-face with Timon, her quick breath nearly knocking him over.
"What do ya mean? I brought them to paradise from the middle of the pit of shame. I suppose I should go back and out in some ceremonial guard duty to make up for what happened before but that's-"
"No, no, I mean… You're famous. Important. You're practically king of the colony. Don't you have a responsibility to settled down like everyone else, and have babies with a mate?"
"Gee, I hope not. That might be a little hard, you know, what with me liking males like I do, and, well, with me having Pumbaa here for as long as we both live. I don't know how I'd manage that. Don't know why I'd have to. Even if I am some kinda leader figure, when I'm gone someone will take up my spot. Problem solved."
Kiara had to think about that. She looked down and pawed lightly at the loose dirt. Someone will take up. Someone. "It's not that simple. Is it? I am princess of the Pridelands. One day, I will be queen. When my time is done, an heir must come forward. But who would that heir be if not my cub?"
"Anybody you choose. You just have to be the best queen you can be, and then pick someone to be the best queen or king after you're done." Pumbaa encouragingly nudged against his ersatz niece, smiling his usual huge smile at her.
Kiara looked up at Pride Rock, claws flexing and stabbing repeatedly at the dirt beneath her. "I was taught all my life that Rafiki was always right. That the line of succession of Pride Rock was to be unbroken forever. That the circle of life had no beginning and no end. But it had to begin somewhere, and it will end when the last thing dies. Rafiki was wrong about you. About other things. But the line must be unbroken." Her shoulders slumped at that last statement, head dropping and eyes misting. "Not for the circle of life, the great kings of the past, Rafiki's words or my own feelings. But because if it is not, my parents will be disappointed. Or worse. The ones who raised me and gave me all that they could. I owe them."
"As long as it's what you want. What you really, really want…" Pumbaa looked up at the imposing rock as well, while Timon was comfortably settled atop his head.
"It's what I can be convinced that I want. And in the scheme of being an adult, that's all that I need to know. That I can tell myself it is right. And it will be."
To be continued…