Kijani awoke the next morning to find the cave of Pride Rock deserted. For a moment, he thought he was somewhere else entirely until he smelled the familiar scents of his old pride wafting in still darkness. Surprised that the cubs did not wake him, Kijani got up and stretched before heading outside to see where everyone was.
He reached the edge of the rock and looked around; he soon found most of the lionesses and Simba grooming each other near a shady tree, the cubs were nearby playing happily. Kijani smiled and looked around for any sign of his mother, father, and even Haidar. They probably went off to do some business with their territory.
Kijani was just about to climb down the rock and join the pride when he noticed a small dot at the very top of Pride Rock where most kings and queens stood when talking to their cubs about ruling the Pride Lands or if they also wanted to survey their lands. Kijani decided to see who it was and slowly climbed up the rock.
When he arrived, he found that his father Kovu was sitting at the edge staring out into the distant lands. The old king did not move a muscle, only his mane swayed in the gentle breeze.
"Sleep well son?" Kovu asked without turning.
"Yes sir, but why did you not wake me?" asked Kijani.
"Your mother and I felt you needed some extra sleep this morning since you did have a long journey and was given an early wake up call yesterday," said Kovu who motioned for Kijani to sit next to him.
"You didn't have to do that, I felt a little foolish waking up like that, now I probably missed some important things," said Kijani.
"Don't worry you haven't, I just sent Conga on an errand to check out the approaching storm that might be heading our way," said Kovu as he pointed his nose at a very large rain cloud many miles away. It looked like it was dumping heavy rain in that area and it seemed to show no signs of stopping.
"So it's finally coming," said Kijani with a sigh, rain was his favorite; he liked to play in it with Hondo on really lazy days.
Kovu only nodded and remained silent for a few moments. Kijani stared at the father he had not seen in years, his mane was still full but it was showing some tinge of grey and his coat seemed to have lost most of its luster. His eyes looked tired and forlorn, almost wrinkly, yet somehow he was still as strong as ever.
"So where is Mom and Haidar?" asked Kijani.
"Your mother thought it would be nice to take Haidar to the outskirts to speak with the hyenas and see if there are any problems, they should be back later this evening," said Kovu.
"That's good," said Kijani as he looked down the Pride lands with his father.
"You know I did miss you," said Kovu turning to his son.
"Yeah, but I'm glad you told me I would leave because then there would never be any more stories to tell," said Kijani with a sigh.
"Heh, I didn't imagine my warrior to become a nomad but still I was worried about you for a long time, I had hoped you would at least find some messenger birds to tell me where you are," said Kovu.
"I tried once but they wanted some strange human fabric in return and I was not about to endanger myself with a human," said Kijani.
"Smart move," said Kovu.
Kijani nodded remembering that day, it had been two years after he had left and he and Hondo felt that the Pride Land needed to know about their situation. Hondo found the group and asked them to find the Pride Lands but the birds in return wanted a strange fabric from the local human village called cotton. Kijani did not want to risk his life or a human's for that matter just to get a small piece of it. The birds called them cowards and taunted them for a few days before Kijani got so frustrated and angry that he leapt into the air and ate one of them. The birds went silent after that.
"You know, I haven't heard a story from you yet," said Kovu.
"Well I've only told two to the cubs, so far I have many more to tell them," said Kijani.
"Are there any stories that older lions can hear?" asked Kovu with a curious face.
"Sort of, but most of them are more cub appropriate, but I can still tell you one if you want to hear it," said Kijani.
"Of course, one just for me that you think I would like," said Kovu with a heartwarming smile. It was enough to show that he really did care.
Kijani thought for a moment, sifting through his memory of stories his father might like to hear. He finally remembered a story that was a lot like his life, only different and with a different species.
"How about The Prodigal Meerkat?" asked Kijani.
"Sounds like something about Timon," said Kovu remember Simba's old friend.
"Oh it's definitely not about him, this meerkat was more troublesome, kind of like how I was, only he rarely learned from his mistakes," said Kijani.
Kovu chuckled a little. "Alright you got me interested; I would love to hear it."
To a lion, calling a meerkat strong is like saying you are a coward, for even the weakest lion can kill the strongest meerkat if they wanted to. But of course to a meerkat, calling a member of their clan strong was because they were tougher than any meerkat they had ever seen, and could chase away even the most dangerous snake. And no one fit that description better than Zuberi, the alpha male of the meerkat clan known as the Darkstripe Clan. For even his name meant strong, and any challengers who tried to fight for territory knew that this was true.
Now Zuberi had two sons, Donkor who would one day become the alpha when he was old enough, and Juta his youngest who wasn't so wise. Of course Zuberi never showed much love to his youngest, for it was his birth that caused his mother's death. His mother was Zuberi's greatest treasure; they had grown up together ever since they were a month old. They left their old clan and settled on a new land where they would raise a family for many years.
But her last pregnancy made her body weaker and the labor she had to endure was most painful and lasted for many excruciating hours. They had to call the local medicine man to attend to her, three kits were born but only one survived. Fearing that the kit would not live within his first month, his mother did not bother to name him. Yet he slowly grew strong while the milk he suckled from his mother made her weak and in only a few short weeks of knowing his mother, she passed away quietly one dark night.
This broke Zuberi's heart, and for a few days he moped around the tunnels giving out orders the best he could, but everyone could tell that his spirit was sick and his mind was saddened.
It was finally on the fourth day when Zuberi came to his senses and began to bring out orders once again. While he sat there contemplating about an upcoming tunnel, his sister came up to him with the kit that his mother passed away from.
"Your son has been crying for you Zuberi," she said as she held him in front of his face.
Zuberi stared at the fuzzy face of his newest child, he looked into his eyes and saw his wife's eyes as they blinked and stared back and the smile, it was the same one his wife had. This child had stolen his mother's strength.
"Take Juta away, he reminds me too much of my wife and raise him until he is older. Once he can fend for himself, let him dig in the tunnels," said Zuberi.
His sister did not argue knowing the condition he was under, yet she felt sorry for little Juta especially his name which meant "regret." She hoped though that in a few months things would change for him.
As the months went by Zuberi did change but his love for his youngest son never showed and every time he saw him he would only sneer and walk off to see how Donkor was handling things.
Of course doing this to a child can have a big impact on them and once Juta was older he began to get aggressive and destructive. Often times Zuberi was sent out to see what caused a cave in only to discover that it was Juta who had done it. Zuberi never punished him though and instead walked away calling his son an embarrassment and the biggest mistake he had ever made.
He often got into fights with Donkor as well. Juta usually lost those fights and Zuberi would start showing concern for Donkor like he was the looser and telling him he should not fight or his toughness to become a leader would rub off easily.
It wasn't until Juta was nearing his adult phase when he realized that he needed to get out of there and start a life of his own. No one was showing any care for him and he just felt like a big thorn in their side. So one evening without even telling them, he left the clan in search of a better life.
Of course a meerkat being on his own is like a lion with no teeth. It just doesn't work out very well for them. Poor Juta spent a restless night hiding under a rock while different noises could be heard all around him. Many times he thought he would be found and eaten and by the time the sun rose, poor Juta was such a nervous wreck that he started crying, something he hadn't done since he was a tiny kit.
Of course any sound can attract the attention of any predator since anything to a predator can be food. Juta knew this but he had no idea how to stop it and five minutes later, he heard the worst sound imaginable, the sound of something unknown coming toward him.
The only thing Juta could do was take a big stick and hold it in his paws and hopefully scare the creature away. He was ready to swing when the creature appeared, luckily he stopped in midair.
"Well by golly, that swing would have hit me in the gut no doubt about it, but I know you were aiming for the face," said the meerkat as he stepped toward Juta he was no doubt commenting on Juta's bad swinging skills.
"I thought you were a predator," said Juta sheepishly.
"Well with you carrying on that way, I'm surprised someone hasn't found you yet. You crying about your clan?" asked the meerkat.
"No way, my clan never loved me so there really is no use crying over them," said Juta bravely.
"Then why by the almighty Lord above did you cry like that?" asked the meerkat.
"Because I'm stressed out, sleeping alone with all those night sounds, you never know where they are coming from," said Juta honestly yet angrily.
"Heh you sound like me the first time, come on I'll take you to my gang, you can hang with us if you want, you look like the kind who would enjoy our company," said the meerkat as he started walking away in the long grass.
For the first time in his life, Juta felt accepted. It was a strange feeling at first but then he realized that it was a great happiness and that his life was now about to change. He quickly followed his new friend through the grasses until they came to a tree with a large hole near the roots and four other meerkats resting on the roots of the trees.
They looked tough, but Juta knew they probably had a good side to them like the meerkat he had just met.
"Hey boys we got a new clan member!" the leader said.
The four meerkats looked up and stared, Juta waved sheepishly.
"Tell them your name," said the meerkat as he nudged him.
"They call me Juta," said Juta.
"Nice to meet you Juta," said one meerkat.
"Looking for a home?" asked one.
"You seem tough," said another.
Juta only smiled while the five introduced themselves. The one Juta ran into was named Iregi, the other four were Farid, Kenan, Sule, and Meeka.
Meeka was the only female of the group, yet she looked tough and the kind of meerkat that you would not want to get on the bad side of. She was slender yet strong yet her eyes seem to show a sign of sadness like something bad happened to her long ago. Juta would find out later what her story was about.
"So what do you guys do all day?" asked Juta after he met his new friends long enough.
"We have fun," said Iregi with a sly smile.
"Yeah we don't dig all day like other meerkats, we do what we want and no one can stop us," said Kenan.
To Juta it sounded like a great thing, he had never liked digging and colony life really was boring doing the same things every day. He could sense he was going to like it here.
For almost a year Juta enjoyed the harmless fun that he did with his new friends. Of course to them it was only harmless but to the creatures that they played tricks on it was just downright annoying and the six members were often running away from whatever they were bothering before they could even get caught.
It was one day though when Iregi thought it would be fun to scare a small pack of hyenas in the area. They were known to be a little superstitious and that prank could not be passed up.
Sule was the first to creep up behind the hyenas while the others watched a few feet away, snickering quietly. They hyenas were resting in a rather shady spot as well so they all looked drowsy but not too drowsy.
Sule hid behind a root and in the biggest booming voice, he called to the group. "What do you think you are doing on my roots," he said trying hardest not to laugh.
The lead hyena jumped up startled and looked around. "Who said that," he said nervously.
"It is I the tree you are sleeping under, what makes you think you can sleep near my roots," said Sule.
"We thought we could Mr. Tree, we are tried from the sun and your shade cools us off," said the hyena.
By now Sule had traded with Iregi who began to talk to them as well. "You thought, well that's just a damn shame, no one should think that, not when we have anything to say about it," he said.
"But sir, we did not know you could talk or have a mind," said the hyena.
"You are very ignorant I see, I should do something about that," said Iregi.
"W-what do you plan on doing to us?" asked the hyena who was now shaking.
This time Farid came forward. "Oh I don't know, maybe wack you with my branches ought to teach you all a lesson," he said.
"But what if we just leave?" asked the hyena, the others were now backing out.
"You may, once I am done punishing you," said Farid. "Now let me think.
The hyenas stood there waiting to hear their punishment, but one seemed to notice that this was a trick especially after seeing a small rodent running in another direction a few moments ago. Quietly he snuck behind the tree and saw Farid standing there trying his hardest not to laugh as he thought of a silly punishment for the group.
Farid did not see him until it was too late, he was trapped against the tree. The group saw it happen and Iregi called a retreat. Everyone started to run save for Juta who was surprised by their actions.
"So we are not going to help him?" asked Juta sounding very upset by this.
"Hey Farid's trouble is his own trouble, he can find his own way out, now move before they get you too," said Iregi with a growl before disappearing behind the bushes.
Juta looked back at Farid who was now trapped by five hyenas, and just as Juta turned away, the hyenas grabbed Farid. The tiny meerkat clan was now one short.
For many days, the passing of Farid deeply disturbed Juta who soon realized that Iregi was not really a friend, especially since he would not bother to help Farid in his hour of need. It was about a week after Farid's departure that Iregi finally noticed Juta's behavior and decided to find out why.
"What's wrong Juta, you haven't touched your cockroach casserole," said Iregi while Juta silently picked at his food.
"Oh its nothing," said Juta who was really not in the mood to argue with the leader of his little group.
"Come on its something, you never act like this, you can tell me, we're pals," said Iregi.
"Yeah until a predator comes after me," said Juta with a sneer.
Iregi stared at Juta with surprise, his newest member looked quite upset and now he had to hopefully change his perspective. "You're still sore after we left Farid out there?" asked Iregi.
"I am and you haven't even shown any concern or sadness since he left, I find it heartless," said Juta.
"Hmmm, you find that heartless huh, but didn't you say your father was like that?" asked Iregi.
"My father would have still mourned for me," said Juta.
"You think that, only because you don't know any better," said Iregi.
"Oh yeah, how so?" asked Juta who was now standing up and staring at Iregi directly in the face, his paws rolled into a fist ready to strike if he wanted to.
"Others can trick you into thinking they care for you and when you are looking the other way, they go out and tell others how terrible and stupid you are, that's how my father treated me," said Iregi.
"So you don't care for any of us?" asked Juta.
"Sure I do, its just that we are small and need to take care of ourselves, there was no way we could have all gotten those hyenas away from Farid," said Iregi.
"But showing no sympathy afterwards?" asked Juta who was now yelling in anger.
"Hey I am the leader here, and what I say goes, Farid's trouble was his own trouble, he should have seen that hyena sneek up behind him," said Iregi who was also now yelling and holding his paw in a fist.
"You could have warned him though," said Juta.
"He should have seen it," said Iregi.
"But friends are supposed to help each other," said Juta.
Iregi turned around, he had no way of saying anything back to Juta, yet he was still angry that this young meerkat was challenging his authority whether he was right or not. And before Juta could even blink, Iregi turned around and punched him hard in the face. Juta fell back a little clutching his injured nose and stunned for a short time. But it was short enough for him to come back at Iregi and punch him as hard as he could in the eye. Soon both meerkats were on the ground stirring up the dust around them as they clawed, scratched, and punched each other until one could no longer take it.
The fight lasted only two minutes before Juta was finally knocked cold, he lay there on the ground, bloody and sore while Iregi stood up and laughed at him.
"Next time you think about challenging my authority you better have some new moves ready," said Iregi who then walked away with the rest of the clan, leaving Juta where he was.
Juta slowly got up and made his way to a small rock with a depression underneath and that's where he stayed for a few days, nursing his wounds and wondering why he had gotten himself into the mess he was in now.
He began to long for his old home, he wanted to show his family he could change, he wanted to show them that he was not a mistake his mother made, and he wanted to feel loved and he did not care how long it took.
After about a week of resting and getting his energy back, Juta started his way home. He passed Iregi along the way but no one said anything. They all knew that they were another one down.
He was only a few miles into the trip when a looming shadow flew overhead. A hawk had spotted him and he was so deep in his thoughts that he forgot to watch out for them. He ran as fast as he could but he was no match for the hawk's swift movement and in a few seconds he was caught in the creature's talons.
Juta cried out in fear and tried his hardest to get him to let go but the hawk only ignored him and flew him toward a nearby tree. Juta thought that this was now the end for him and gave up the struggle until something happened. The hawk suddenly let out a screech in agony causing him to let go of his prey and Juta went tumbling down toward the ground. The last thing Juta saw was a large boulder that he was heading straight into.
When Juta awoke, he thought he was dead until he felt a horrible sensation on his left leg that made him cry out.
"Don't move it, you broke it pretty badly," said a familiar voice.
Juta looked up but could only see shadows because it had now been nightfall.
"W-Who are you?" asked Juta.
"It's me Meeka, you took a bad fall but you should be okay as long as you don't move that leg for a few weeks," said the shadow.
"So you're helping me?" asked Juta who took a sip from a concoction that Meeka had made to help him with the pain.
"I thought about what you said to Iregi and that was a very brave thing to do, no one should stay near someone who shows no sympathy for the dead. So after I saw you leave I decided to follow you, of course it was about two hours after you did so but I am glad I can run fast, that hawk would have eaten you. Luckily I know how to use blow darts," said Meeka.
"So you were the one who startled him?" asked Juta.
"Yup, shot him right in the bum I did, he should be okay though, just some swelling for a few days," said Meeka with a sly grin.
Juta laughed before feeling some heavy pains in his chest causing him to lay back down in exhaustion.
"You rest now, that fall should have killed you but your life of sadness seems to have made you stronger," said Meeka.
"That's probably it, and I'm glad too, I want to go back and set things right," said Juta.
"And you will once you are better," said Meeka.
For about a month Meeka stayed by Juta's side, caring for his broken leg and letting all the bruises heal. Even though they knew each other for almost a year, they had never really talked to each other since Meeka was more of the outcast of the group. But now that they were alone, they told each other stories about what had happened to them in their old colonies.
Juta could not blame Meeka for her toughness though. She had grown up in a colony where she was basically ignored and never praised for anything she was done. Often her parents would praise her sister for all she had done and it was usually right in front of her showing no sign of how Meeka would feel. Finally after many months, Meeka had enough and killed her sister in front of everyone. She was exiled from her colony and was told that if she ever set her paws in the colony again she would be killed on sight.
She met Iregi only a few weeks later and became part of his clan until Juta showed up. Now she just wanted to find a place where she could be accepted and also shown care, she did not care if it was love but a care that was enough to make her feel needed.
Juta decided that he would let her come and live with his colony and hopefully they would accept her. And once Juta was all healed up, save for the fact that he now had a permanent limp; they made their way back to his old colony.
When they arrived, Juta's father Zuberi was busy helping to set up a new den and when Juta limped over to him, Zuberi gasped in shock.
"Juta?" he said with surprise.
"Yes father it is me, I have returned if you would like me back as your son, if not I would still like to be a member of this clan as long as you show care for me and my friend Meeka here," said Juta.
Zuberi gave a warm and loving smile and hugged his son proudly before looking at the son he had not seen in a while in the eyes.
"I did not realize how much I loved you until you were gone, I thought you had died out there looking for a better life but now you are back and we must now prepare a feast in your honor, along with your new friend here," said Zuberi who had terribly missed Juta because he no longer saw his wife's eyes and smile in the colony. It made him wish he had been kinder to Juta and thought he would never return.
And so a feast was set and everyone in the colony attended and Juta was loved as much as his brother Donker was. Donker was a little skeptical at first but he finally decided that having a brother back was one of the best things he could have hoped for and became even closer to his brother, though they still did fight a lot. And even Meeka found her place in the colony and became very close to Juta, but of course that is another story.
Kijani finished the tale while both Kovu and Conga stared in awe. Conga had actually arrived back in the middle of the story and didn't even bother to try and interrupt them with the report on what was going on in the Pride Lands.
"That was well done my son," said Kovu.
"Yes that was truly engrossing, I actually hope to be around when you tell the cubs your other stories," said Conga.
"Well you are all welcome to attend when I am telling them," said Kijani with a smile.
"I would be glad to, and I do agree with you now, it was a good thing I wanted to kick you out, too bad I was rough with you on that," said Kovu.
"But hey at least you still showed some concern for me," said Kijani.
"True," said Kovu.
"And it looks like Conga has some news for us," said Kijani who looked down at Conga with a smile.
"Oh right, sorry I forgot you were here for that, but you know what, why don't you tell Kijani what is going on, he might give some interesting advice," said Kovu.
"You really mean that Dad?" asked Kijani.
"Sure, I've been hearing it for so many years now it's nice to have someone else take over for a change," said Kovu.
Kijani only nodded at Kovu's fun idea and turned to Conga who was now trying to remember what she had discovered in the first place.
"Ummm….what was I saying….oh dear I guess I am growing old already, I really need an apprentice," said Conga.
Kijani and Kovu chuckled.
"Oh yes that's right. The rains are definitely headed this way. I spoke with the Misty Pride and they said they had a nice storm reach them yesterday, it was only a drizzle really but it cooled everything down. I also spoke with Dinari, he and his mate has a new nest to attend to and it's the last one they plan on having since they are as old as I am. Sadly only two eggs are in it, I just hope both are interested in the family business," said Conga.
"And what if they aren't?" asked Kijani.
"Then I will be very frustrated but I will talk to Jabir about what he thinks might happen in the future," said Conga.
"Very good then, umm…well I guess we better prepare for the storm that's coming, no doubt the rest of the pride would like to hear that," said Kijani trying his hardest to sound like someone of important royalty.
Conga only chuckled while Kovu rubbed his son's mane in a goofy manner.
"That's exactly what we will do, come let's go tell the others and watch for changes in the sky," said Kovu.
Kijani smiled and ran down the rock ready to tell the pride what he had heard while Kovu took his time going down the rock with Conga on his shoulder.
A/N: Okay which excuse can I use first about the long wait? Okay first of all we never got to move to the new place, mom discovered that it was a bad neighborhood and didn't want to live in a place where a lot of robberies occurred. I did have two papers to write during that time though so I was concerned about those two things. I had also hoped to update this chapter on the 29th since you don't get to do that very often but mom ended up catching the flu so I ran around town looking for things to do so I would not catch what she had especially since they really needed me at work. I'm glad I did not catch it because work was really busy this weekend. Everyone knew that Sunday would be snowy so they all flocked to see us since it was 65 degrees outside. We had 3,317 people show up and we did not have enough parking since we were adding more to the overflow lot so we had a lot of fun with that.
So yeah those are my excuses, sorry for the delay I know some people have been waiting patiently while others, I will not reveal names but her name rhymes with Chewy, decided to throw a tantrum on my Deviant art journal. It was actually funny so I am not complaining, I think she read my profile on here and saw the meerkat as the main character.
Also I did kind of base it off of the Bible story in Luke 15:11-32. I thought it would be a fun idea since it's a great parable to try out. And of course name meanings:
Zuberi: Strong
Donkor: The Humble One
Juta: Regret
Farid: Unique
Sule: Adventurous
Iregi: A Rebel
Kenan: Just a regular African name
Meeka: Strong Hearted
Well I hope you all enjoyed this very long chapter, the next one will probably not be as long as this and a little sillier so don't miss it, I have no idea when I will update again. Also this is going to be a long story, probably up to fifty chapters if I can come up with that many short stories for you guys and I kind of want to take my time since this is the only lion king story I can think of for now, of course that can change. So this story might be up and running for a few years, but we will see. Any way I have rambled on and on so please review and I will see you all later.