Chapter XII

Nira and Shemba lay on their backs in the long yellow grass, gazing up into the many wonders of the night skies. Nira's head was relaxed, his eyes remained locked on the stars trying to work out what some of them looked like. Shemba was looking up, however her belly felt the intense pain of nerve's bubbling away. What she did now was potentially going to alter fate for the rest of their days. Forever. She edged closer to Nira ever so slightly and sighed.

"It's nice isn't it?"
"Hm?" Nira whispered.
"This is nice." Shemba replied.
"Yeah. I just can't help think that..."
"What?"
"I'm going to get in trouble for this..." Nira sat up. "Maybe I should just go..."
"No, no, no!" Shemba stopped him. "It'll be fine. I promise."

Nira looked at Shemba before lied back down and shut his eyes, feeling the breeze across his face. Shemba knew that this had to be it. This was her last chance to tell him how she felt. She exhaled and cleared her throat.
"Nira" She coughed.
"Yeah?" Nira replied, swivelling his head. The sudden look in his brown soft eyes was enough to stop Shemba dead in her tracks. She was suddenly hit with a wave of nerves. Nira's attention was grabbed however he was more interested in the stars.

"I-I need to...I need to tell you something..."
"Go on..."
"It's serious."
"Shemba, you can tell me anything. You know that."
"I know, but...I don't really know how to tell you this."
"Come on..."
"Alright." Shemba deeply inhaled. "Nira, I-" She exhaled in frustration unable to tell him how she felt and flipped over on her side. "Never mind."

Nira sat up again, interest caught and concern growing. His concern for his best friend was stronger than his interest however.

"Seriously, what's wrong? I won't judge you."
"No, no don't worry. It's fine. You can live on without it." The guilt of not telling her best friend how she felt became too much, suddenly being hit by a wave of emotion. She looked over once more to find Nira continuing to stare down at her, his eyes consumed with concern.

"Please Shemba, I want to help you."
"Nira, you know how we were talking about...relationships and...stuff the other day..."
"Yes..."
"Well...where do you think we...we like stand? You know, as in friend zone...more than that...less than that..."

Nira lifted his eyebrow and lied back down, more confused if anything. He turned his head so his eyes met with Shemba's. "What you mean?"
"I mean...I mean-what I mean is..." She stared into Nira's brown eyes before sighing. "How close do you think we are?"

"Well, I think we're close enough to tell each other everything."
"I just, I don't know if I can explain what I need to tell you..."
"Come on," Nira used his paw to gently wipe some of the tears off of her face. "Is there something you wanna tell me? I'm not gonna judge you."
"I don't know if you're going to be able to handle it."
"I've heard much worse, believe me."
"Just-just no Nira. It's fine. I'm fine, seriously."

Nira, unable to get Shemba to open up, shrugged his shoulders and returned to gazing upon the wonders of the night sky. Shemba gulped, she was going to have to admit her true feelings, she couldn't live on knowing he didn't know. She slid closely into him so her body nudged his and rested her head on his shoulder, a warm smile spread across her muzzle. Her foreleg wrapped tightly around his underbelly.

"What are you doing?" Nira chuckled.
"I'm cold." Shemba lied. Nira sighed and with his right foreleg grasped her tightly in an attempt to warm her up. He shut his eyes and found his head snuggling into her. She sighed, knowing that she had to brave it now.

"I need to know something." She whispered.
"What?"
"How do you feel now?"
"What you mean?"
"Like now, when we're together..."
"Well, err...I feel warm?"
Shemba giggled.

"No. I meant...I meant like-your feelings?"
"You've been speaking with my mom, haven't you?"
"Why..?"
"Well," Nira sighed as though he had heard this many times. "My mom has this weird obsession with thinking that me and you are like, together. She goes on about it every now and then. It's weird that she goes on about it."

Shemba shifted uneasily against Nira, slowly lifting her head to stare into his brown eyes. "You think so?" She sighed.
"Well...I don't mean it as in like...I wouldn't wanna...I would...I don't think I would wanna get with you, because...y'know..."
"I know what?"
"Well, I mean you...your...really pretty..."
Shemba hid her head in her free paw, blushing. "Well...I wouldn't say that exactly." She giggled.
"I mean it. I think you're so pretty. Everything about you is so...so..."
"What?"
"So perfect. Any guy would be lucky to have you. But...I just-I just don't think I'm..."
"You don't think you're...?"
"I don't think I'm that guy. If you know what I mean."

Shemba sighed amorously. Her heart continued to ache once more at the splitting words that one she loved had spoke, almost ripping her chances for good. Shemba didn't respond, she remained staring at the young prince for a few minutes while he fell into a light slumber, still holding the dim furred lioness.
They remained in their embrace for a good twelve minutes or so, both even purring a little warming up on the inside and out before Shemba shot her eyes open. She had had a little snooze of her own. She watched the chest and belly of Nira whom she was still attached to, slowly increase in diameter and deflate peacefully. A wide smile was spread across Nira's face obviously dreaming of something amusing and possibly enjoying the level of intimacy the two lion's shared. Their heads were snuggled together as if they were an item and they tightly held each other, Nira still completely oblivious to the way Shemba felt.

Shemba was literally at the lastchance. If she didn't make her move this very second, they would remain in the friend zone for the rest of their days and she would most likely be exiled.

She moved her paw across the underbelly of Nira and twirled lone hairs of the mane on his chest. Her head turned and faced Nira's muzzle, slowly moving in to admit the real colours of their relationship and to prove her heart was for him.
She became so close that she could feel her warm breath bouncing back off of his face before her tongue escaped her muzzle and pressed against the side of Nira's own.

The second he could feel her warm tongue brushing up against his muzzle, Nira's brown eyes shot open like bullets and dilated. Once Shemba drew away he flipped his head round and he gawked, shocked, at the smirking lioness. When his expression didn't change, Shemba's heart dropped.
Shit...well done you idiot!

Nira sprung up from their embrace and backed a few steps away fearfully. Shemba scrambled to her paws, now determined to show him how she felt. She stepped over to him quickly, grabbed his paw aHerHErhnd began to nuzzle him underneath his chin lovingly. The first thought that bounced to Nira's mind was he wondered what his best friend was nuzzling him for. After a few minutes of wondering why, he whispered nervously,
"She-Shem...Shemba?"

After whispering her name out of confusion, he decided not to say or do anything to prevent it; the feel of her soft fur and her paw felt...nice. He slowly and almost reluctantly slid his eyes closed and lowered his head down, where they began to rub their heads together in a warm nuzzle. Even though Nira had been feeling awkward when he shared an intimate moment with his best friend, the nuzzle they shared he felt no weirdness, instead enjoying the few minutes of intimacy they could share. Shemba, on the other paw, was in ecstasy. The fact that she was getting what she wanted emptied her guts of the pain and warmed her up inside.

Her paw slowly ran up Nira's foreleg, but Nira put an end to the nuzzle and shot back, suddenly hit with that weirdness. He slowly took a step back from Shemba, keeping his eyes firmly locked on her.

"Wh-what were...why did we...what was...?" He gulped. Nira couldn't explain the strange emotion slowly flowing through his blood.
"Well we-we shared...a nuzzle." Shemba replied.
"I know thatpart! But...but wh-why did you just do that?" Nira took a few more cautious steps away from her. An overly awkward pause filled in the gaps between the two lions, before Nira could only think to ask:

"Seriously...why-why did you do that?"
Shemba fought back her heart and decided it was honesty time. She couldn't cover any longer. She took a breath in and her muzzle just managed to tug a half smile as she looked at her paws shyly.
"It felt like a time to, you know?"

"Well, did you…you know...was it-was it nice?" Nira asked.
"Why, was it not nice for you?" Shemba replied instantly, throwing her head back up.
"Oh, no, I…I liked…I don-I don't really…know."
"Well, technically speaking...the only real way we could know if you did enjoy it, is if we did it again."
She briskily walked towards him.

"No!" Nira shouted. Shemba stopped dead in her tracks leaving minimal distance in between the lions.
"I mean...what I mean is - do you…do you want to…do it again?"
"Why, don't you? I won't force you."
"Well…errm I-I don-I don't th-I don't think we...wait;" Nira squinted his eyes, he was suddenly realising. "You...you-have...you like...do you like me Shemba? More than a like?"
Shemba exhaled heavily.

"Yes."
Nira took yet another step back, now cornered by a tree; Shemba took an immediate step closer. Nira was shocked; a feeling of slight guilt filled him, he really shouldn't have said they didn't have feelings for each other. In all honesty things in his head were whizzing past so quickly that he couldn't think straight.

"Okay, are they…strong feelings?"
She nodded her head with a half smile tugged along her muzzle again. She took another cautious step closer where Nira chuckled briefly.

"I…I-I'm going..." He walked past her and began to leave fast paced.
"No! Wait!" Shemba shouted. He stopped and turned. "Don't you…feel the same Nira? Even just a tiny bit?" Her hopes for the answer she so desired lifted.

"The same? Ermm...well...I-I honestly don't know Shemba I mean...I've never really looked at you that way" He lied. "Should I look at you...that way?"
"Do you want to look at me in that way?" She asked.
Nira cleared his throat whilst thinking of an answer.
"I-I kinda probably...don't like you in the same way you like me..."
Shemba sighed and openly and mindlessly admitted her feelings.

"I love you."
Suddenly her paw was covering her muzzle, shocked by what she just said. Nira gasped equally as loud and swallowed.

"You-you love…me?" He stuttered. "Me? You are talking about me here...right?"
She nodded once more.
Nira bit his bottom lip, clueless as to what to say next. Any signs or signals, even the intimate moments, he was completely oblivious to up until this point. One thing he did know was that he had to get away, for now at least. Tonight had moved forward far too quickly.

"Okay," He started. "Now I really have to go." He turned around. "I'll...see you tomorrow."
"Nira stop!" She yelled after him. "Please! Don't leave...not yet..." Nira stopped again, this time he didn't turn around.

"Okay," Shemba sighed. "Nira, I can't let you leave yet because I need to tell you how much I love you." Nira's jaw dropped, still not turning around. "It's true though, I can't lie anymore. When we splashed around in the watering hole, I loved how close we were then. When we bashed noses, I didn't want to move away from you…"

"Is that why you looked so upset when I said that stuff?" Nira interrupted, still standing and facing the other way.
"Yes, and when we were talking about friend zones I wanted to say 'I don't want your friend zone, I want more than that.' Ever since tonight I never had the nerve to tell you, because this is what I was afraid would be the outcome. It's taken a lot of guts for me to say this but I'm not going to try and fight it anymore. I can't lie to you anymore. Nira, I love you."

Nira stood facing away from Shemba for a prolonged, awkward minute before he sighed as his tail end slammed to the floor.

"I'm sorry Shemba. I don't know how to react to that. I mean I will admit, yes, I have loved you in the past but…I just let it pass, or at least I think I have. I didn't think you would love me. But, but now that I haven't looked at you like that for a long time I just don't know how to react."

Shemba slowly walked towards him.

"So yeah I'll admit it openly, I loved our nuzzle, I loved it when we were splashing around and I loved it when we based noses...twice, but I don't know if I love you. The main thing I'm trying to say here is, I don't want to hurt you, on the inside or the outside. I would never forgive myself if I hurt you. Plus think about it, if I said no, we couldn't stay friends. I mean think of all the tension and awkwardness there would be. We wouldn't be able to look at each other, let alone be in the same area. I just don't know if I love you or not."
She sat next to him.

"Well, if you said no then I would have to get over it, wouldn't I?
"But anyone knows it's difficult to get over love. No it's not difficult, it's impossible. You can't fight the way you feel."

She sighed.
"That's why I told you tonight. I told you because my heart was aching. I had to tell you how I really felt. I couldn't live on without you at least knowing. You don't have to tell me this very minute if you do or not, I can wait. Nira, the only time it is awkward is when you tell yourself it is awkward, like tonight, we were both telling ourselves it was awkward, and it was. If you loved the nuzzle, would you want to do it again?"
"Of course I would. I would do it a thousand times again. Just...not now."
Her head slipped slowly under his muzzle. Nira didn't protest, even though he said he didn't want to, but it felt good.

"Think about this Shemba; what if we broke up?"
"Whoa, Nira. Stop, your only focusing on the negative. Think about it positively. What if you said yes? We would be happily together, closer than ever. And there wouldn't be any more awkwardness, because we would love each other. I promise you this; I can't tell you how much it means to me that you're even thinking about it. I'm sorry if I pressured you but I couldn't face an exile without you knowing I loved you. It would just degrade me."

"Can I let you in on a little secret?" Nira whispered.
"What?" Shemba replied.
"I lied when I said I didn't think we should get together."
"Why?"
"I thought you would get all weird..."
"Like, you did tonight?"

Nira abruptly laughed.
"Yeah. See this is what I don't wanna lose. I don't wanna lose how close I really am to you. Because I do love you Shemba, just not the same way you love me. Or at least I don't think I do, I mean oh I don't know!"
"Nira, the question is, do you want to love me like I love you? Do you want this, or do you need it as much as I do?"

Nira lifted his head from Shemba's and then placed his muzzle to the side of her own, both lions shutting their eyes. Nira sighed as if care free as Shemba began to purr quietly to herself.

"I do. I do want to love you, but I don't know if I do. Because at the very end of the day, you're the only lioness I can freely and openly talk to without awkwardness, you're the only one I can hug and just be myself with. You're like one of the closest lionesses to me and it's obvious that were like destined or some crap like that. But when I think this my mind just absently strays away from how I could potentially feel about you. I just...I just..."
"What's stopping you? You're right, fate probably does want us together."
"I just...I just need something that would help me decide."

Nira and Shemba remained in their embrace, neither lion even considering ceasing. In a split second it just hit Nira what they were doing, they were cuddling. He felt Shemba edge closer to him. His emotions reached sky high but it was a differently strange but equally nice emotion.
"This doesn't feel awkward anymore."

Nira slowly began to nuzzle her once more. Their trust and feelings towards each other slowly grew each minute they nuzzled. The lions began to purr softly, showing that they both enjoyed the minutes they spent together. A few hairs from Nira's mane flopped onto Shemba's head.

"Nira..." Shemba purred softly.
"Yeah?"
"Don't leave me tonight."

Shemba allowed her tail to slide up Nira's back and stroke him gently. Without thinking, their heads lifted and their noses sat comfortably together. They slid their eyes open just to look into each other's. Nira had never noticed before, but the hazel in Shemba's eyes to him was now astounding. His eyes shut once more, suddenly grabbing Shemba's foreleg for reasons he couldn't explain. He was going to brave it.

"Shemba, I-I lo-" Nira's speech was abruptly cut off. He sighed in frustration. "I can't say it...I'm sorry I just can't say it."
"Why not?" Shemba whispered. She slowly and lovingly licked the side of his muzzle, causing his eyes to shoot open, being taken back by this. "What's stopping you? I know it's true, you know it's true, even the air knows it's true. Don't you believe it yourself?"

"I'm trying to, but it's...it's hard."
Just say it Nira! He thought to himself. She loves you, and you know exactly how you feel about her...

"I'll start you off." Shemba said. "I love you Nira."
"I-" His speech once again cut off. Sweat slowly slid off of his fur and he drew away.

"No!" Nira shouted. Shemba stepped back in shock, her eyes locked firmly on the one she loved, her heart slowly breaking. "I can't do this, I can't do this now. I'm sorry Shemba I'll see you tomorrow. Please understand, that all felt good and I know how I feel about you but...oh I'm so confused!"

"But what about what you just said?" Shemba screamed, her eyes filling with tears. "You just told me it wasn't awkward, that you knew how you felt!"
"I can't help it! Tonight's moved just too quick for me to explain. I guess I'm just freaked, I mean just yesterday we were..."
"Friends? Friends who knew how we felt, who knew what they wanted! From what you've told me tonight I know that you had feelings for me yesterday, so what's wrong?"
"What, Shemba your telling me that none of that for you was weird..."
"Of course it was, I'm trying to look past that! I'm trying to look past that because I love you!"

Nira went deadly quiet, taking in every word Shemba was saying.
"I love you Nira, I understand you couldn't see it before, but I know you love me too!"
"I do..." Nira replied.
"Then...then what's stopping you? What could possibly be stopping you from admitting your true feelings? Nira please don't leave me here," She ran back up to him and began to lick the side of his face, then throwing herself into a nuzzle once more. "Please don't leave me alone tonight. After today I just I need you there next to , don't go home. Please..."

They continued to nuzzle as Nira pondered Shemba's desperate plea. He wanted to stay but there was just something stopping him. The strange emotion that was telling him not to grew, however he knew how he felt about Shemba and was prepared to do anything to show he did.

He sharply inhaled. "Alright...I'll stay with you."
Shemba pulled away. "You will?" Nira nodded, wiping away yet more of Shemba's tears and continuing their nuzzle. Shemba wrapped her foreleg around Nira's tightly and purred. For once in her life, she was going to get what she wanted.