Jelani chuckled as he hid under a nearby bush. This was the best hiding place ever and he knew the girls would never find him. Of course his hiding place was far from Pride Rock but Asha had hid far from Pride Rock before as well, it took them several hours to find her but it was still a fun hide and seek game, one that Jelani hoped to duplicate.

For a few minutes Jelani gave a sly smile ready to pounce out when the cubs came running to find him but soon his smile turned to pure boredom and started clawing the ground.

"I didn't realize a few hours can take this long," said Jelani with a sigh.

He was still determined though to stay where he was, he would just have to find something to do. Of course the cubs had been warned that morning as well that the storms were finally coming and that they had to watch the skies. If it turned dark, they needed to go in.

Of course Jelani completely forgot about this as he began to play with a colorful beetle and soon dark clouds began to form. For about an hour the clouds gathered slowly, the wind soon began to pick up and small raindrops fell from the sky. It didn't bother Jelani though, the air felt cool and the beetle was such a cool thing to play with.

Suddenly, the sky began to rumble loudly and Jelani looked up with concern in his eyes. No one ever told him about rumbling clouds, perhaps they were hungry and wanted to eat him, he did not like that thought one bit.

"Sorry bug, I have to go home, I'll play with you later. I need to get home before the storm clouds eat me," Jelani said to the beetle as if it was his best friend.

Jelani began to run through the rippling grass as the rain finally began to fall, it was a heavy rain and the wind made it even worse as it stung his eyes making it hard to see. But onward he ran hoping to get home soon. But because of the rain in his eyes, he was not watching where he was going and ran straight into something that felt like a tree. Jelani fell backwards as he heard something grunt with surprise and then stomp the grass with its leg.

"Oh my you gave me quite a scare there," said the creature. It was friendly so Jelani knew he didn't have to run right away.

Jelani shook his fur and looked up to see himself face to face with a giraffe. It was Kifaa; she had been dozing happily as the rain fell around her and also keeping an eye on things. She wasn't doing a very good job on that though.

"I'm sorry, I'm just trying to get home before the clouds eat me," said Jelani.

"What makes you think the clouds will eat you?" asked Kifaa with a chuckle.

"Because they are growling, can't you hear it, you better run too before they eat you," said Jelani as he hid underneath Kifaa to get out of the rain.

Kifaa laughed again. "That's only thunder young one, it happens every time it rains, it won't hurt you but the lightening might," she said.

"Oh I thought those were teeth missing me," said Jelani.

"That's an interesting way of seeing it, now you need to get home you said, which cub are you?" asked Kifaa, her neck bent down almost to the ground, staring at Jelani while her ears twitched back and forth in a most comical way.

"I'm Prince Haidar's cub, Jelani," said Jelani.

"Oh Prince Jelani, last time I saw you, it was your coronation and you were only two days old, how many months ago was that any way?" asked Kifaa.

"Four ma'am," said Jelani politely.

"My goodness how time flies. I'm Kifaa by the way," said Kifaa.

"I've heard of you, Conga mentions you on her morning reports sometimes," said Jelani.

"How nice of her, now then you stay under me while I watch for any of your pride members, I would take you home myself but I tend to walk too fast for a lion since I have much longer legs," said Kifaa.

Jelani only nodded while he shivered under his protector. It was a strange feeling being watched by a giraffe but for some reason, he felt safer around her than anyone else who had watched him before, it must have been those huge hooves.

Jelani looked up at Kifaa, staring at her immense size. It was the first time he had ever been this close to a giraffe and even though his father told them that they were the tallest animals on the plain he did not believe him. Now he did and could not help staring at her long legs that were covered in spots. His eyes followed her legs all the way up to her stomach where he could see spots but they were very pale and not as noticeable. Her stomach was more white and creamy than spotty, and when he saw it jerk a little, he gave a gasp of surprise.

"Is everything okay?" asked Kifaa as she looked down at him again.

"Are you hungry? I just saw your stomach twitch," said Jelani.

"Hah Hah no, that was just my calf turning around in there, its due in about a month," said Kifaa in a very motherly voice.

Jelani sad nothing but he did wonder how a giraffe gave birth when they were so high off the ground. He decided not to ask though; it would be more fun to watch it happen if he got lucky enough.

A little ways off, Kijani was just returning with Hondo on a small expedition to check out an elephant herd for Kiara. It had to be cut short because of the rain but he didn't really mind, it felt nice and the savanna would no longer be hot for another half a year.

He was talking to Hondo about running in a nearby mud puddle when he heard Kifaa yell at him from three hundred feet away. Knowing that giraffe's rarely bothered with lions unless it was urgent, he went to investigate. Before he could even ask what the matter was, Jelani poked his head from underneath the wet grass.

"Hey why aren't you at Pride Rock?" asked Kijani in a voice only an uncle really had when their nephew was not doing what he was supposed to be doing.

"I was playing hide and seek with the girls, and went out too far," said Jelani as he bent down to let Kijani grab him by the nape of the neck.

"Well let's take you home before you catch cold, Azmera must be worried sick. Thank you for watching him Kifaa," said Kijani as he grabbed the cub.

"You are very welcome, and take care," said Kifaa who then went back to her napping while the rain continued to fall.

Kijani nodded back and raced back home with Hondo hoping that Jelani had not been missed for too long.

That was definitely not the case though when Kijani arrived at Pride Rock, Azmera was frantically circling the cave while Naima was trying her hardest to calm her down. They were so distracted by this that they did not even see Kijani and Hondo pad into the cave, the three triplets on the other hand did notice and Zuri was the first to run forward and try to pounce on Jelani

Kijani quickly let Jelani go who then sat there and started shaking all the water that was on him onto the girls. The girls squealed with delight. Causing both Azmera and Naima to run over and see if Jelani was alright.

"We gave up searching when it started to rain," said Asha trying her hardest to talk to Jelani while Azmera picked him up.

"Yeah we thought, you would be back then," said Zuri.

"I actually went out to the Pride Lands by myself, and I met Kifaa the giraffe," said Jelani proudly while hanging from his mother's mouth.

The girls squealed with delight while Azmera only growled.

"And you had to get all wet and worry me sick didn't you, now I have to give you a bath," said Azmera.

"Aww mom!" said Jelani grumpily.

The girls started to laugh before Naima gave them a soft growl of her own.

"You three need a bath as well," said Naima.

"Aww man I wanted to hear a story from Kijani," said Kali.

"Yeah me too," said Zuri.

"Well," said Naima while licking Asha down the back causing the young cub to shiver from the sudden feeling of a rough tongue cleaning her, "Why not let him tell you a story while we bathe you, if that is alright with him." Naima looked curiously up at Kijani who only smiled.

"I do not mind one bit, is there something in particular you guys want to hear?" asked Kijani.

"Yeah I thought of this while I was with Kifaa," said Jelani as he twisted himself around to look at his uncle. "How do giraffes not get sick from being so high up?"

"Well that's a good question, though the story does contain situations about the birds and the bees, but I will try to make it age appropriate for you guys," said Kijani as he looked at Azmera and Naima with concern.

"Oh don't worry, they need to understand sooner or later," said Naima.

"Yeah I found out about the real stork when I was younger than Jelani," said Azmera.

"Hah, Hah alright then, let's see what I can tell," laughed Kijani.

Now as you know, each animal has a distinctive thing about them that separates them from other animals. The zebra has the stripes that can confuse any lion that is trying to stalk one in a group. The elephant has a long trunk that can easily grasp branches with (and swing poo at you if you are not careful enough). And of course the monkey has a tail that can help it swing through trees with the greatest of ease. (No this story does not rhyme)

But the most strange creature of all is that of a giraffe, it has a neck that can be longer than any one else in the savanna, and his legs are so long that you have to crane your neck to see where they end. It's like a strange creature out of an imaginary story that just bounced right out of the person's brain who created it, and that's what makes them so unique. They have spots from head to toe, a long tail that can easily swat a fly in the blink of an eye, and horns on their head called ossicones which males use more often than females for territorial disputes.

Now Amari was the perfect example of a giraffe like that, he was eighteen feet tall from head to toe and his head was so massive that some believed it was thicker than the shaman's baobab tree. He was still young though, only six years, the mature age for a male to start courting as many females as he could. But he had a problem.

Amari had motion sickness. The first year of his life, he did not have a problem, he was just like any normal calf, playing with the other giraffes his age often causing mischief and what not. But a few months after his first birthday, things began to change. At first they were small headaches that could often be fixed by a small flower and the headaches would be gone for a few days.

But as the years went by, the headaches got worse and he often found himself lying on his side in the late evening wondering how long he had been out and how come no other animal had tried to eat him.

He tried his hardest to stay level, looking down was the problem that caused everything to make him get motion sickness, looking up helped him get better but looking straight was his best bet for not having a bad headache or an upset tummy and he tried to hide it the best he could.

Then there was Tisha, Amari's best friend since he was five months old. They had promised each other when they were old enough to understand the birds and the bees that they would be mates and have as many children together as possible. But when Amari's motion sickness became a problem, they rarely ever saw each other and when Amari did see Tisha; he usually ran the other way making her wonder what was wrong.

But secrets can't last forever and one day Tisha followed him through the savanna telling Amari that she was old enough and that she had been waiting for far too long for their first child. Amari knew he would never loose her and stopped what he was doing and stared Tisha straight in the eye.

"Tisha!" He said sternly.

"Yes my love," Tisha said as she circled her long time mate.

"I………………….," there was a long silence.

"Yes?" asked Tisha waiting to hear the excuse.

"There comes a time in a mans life where one says, I'll get to it when I'm ready and I am not ready," said Amari.

"But you are a mature adult aren't you and you promised and you have been running from me since you were a year old and I have been searching for you because I want you to have my first calf, all the other males are after me and I have to run from them," said Tisha.

"But the commitment," said Amari in a whiny voice.

"Oh you'll be too busy with other females to know the difference," said Tisha who then gasped. "You didn't mate with someone before me did you?"

"Hey a promise is a promise, and I promised you, but not right now, not when my hooves seem to have some sort of fungus on them, look do you want to have a fungus among us?" asked Amari as he quickly scraped some grass onto his hoof that looked very gooey and gross.

"But what does it have to do with children?" asked Tisha.

"Everything, our children could grow up to be fungusy and then all the animals would laugh at them and call them funny names," said Amari.

"Oh that won't happen, now I demand you start this now, I have been waiting long enough," said Tisha as she waggled her butt into his face.

And of course to a male giraffe, that is all too tempting and before he could even say no for the millionth time, he went for it, only to wake up a few moments later in the grass while Tisha looked up at him.

"Did I succeed?" asked Amari.

Tisha only stared at him and grunted before running off believing he had done so on purpose. Amari of course knew the problem but he didn't want to tell her the truth. Hopefully that was enough to keep her away now.

But that wasn't the case, two days later he ran into her again and this time she was very determined.

"Will you cooperate this time?" asked Tisha.

"I really don't know because you see I have mouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu," said Amari as he tried his hardest to look straight ahead but his bowels were telling him otherwise.

"What you have a mouse on your tail or something?" asked Tisha as she tried to look at his tail. (Hee Hee, small tribute to Ratatouille)

"No it's not that," said Amari.

"Then stop stalling," said Tisha yelling as loud as she could causing Amari to back up with fright.

Amari sighed and tried to get it over with, only to find himself in the same position as last time only this time, Tisha looked at him with concern.

"Are you doing this because you don't want any kids or are you really sick?" asked Tisha.

"I want kids, I just can't do it, my head starts to get all fuzzy while my stomach feels all nauseating but for some reason I can't barf as if my neck can only bring my stomach up halfway before I faint," said Amari.

"And why did you not tell me this before?" asked Tisha.

"Because I thought you might hate me," said Amari sheepishly.

Tisha watched Amari get up before walking over to him and giving him a big sloppy kiss on the cheek.

"We have been in love for most of our lives, there is no way I would ever hate you for any problem you have," said Tisha.

Amari only smiled while Tisha leaned against him and started to groom his mane with her teeth because it was getting quite mussy.

"But we do have to do something about this and I know just the person for the job," said Tisha between strokes

"Who?" asked Amari.

"Sela the shaman," said Tisha.

Right away Tisha led Amari to Sela, an old baboon who could heal anything at the drop of a dime. Sela of course was more than happy to help and she looked over Amari all over asking him strange questions and making him cough when she searched odd places.

For the longest time she searched and after a while Amari thought that Sela could never find the problem until she gasped in surprise.

"What is it?" asked Amari.

"I should have looked up sooner because I didn't realize it could happen," said Sela getting all excited.

"What would happen?" asked Amari getting excited while Tisha sat nearby waiting to hear if their luck would be good.

"You're left ossicone is on backwards," said Sela.

Amari looked confused until he felt the top of his head get twisted while Sela somehow began to turn it around. For a moment Amari felt all sorts of feelings, from anger, to distress, to depression and to even emo and that would not have been pretty. Until finally Sela stopped and stood in front of him.

"Now how do you feel?" asked Sela.

Amari looked up and down and walked around the tree seeing if any strange feelings would occur but nothing did. And for the first time in years, he ran as fast as he could from the tree to a nearby rock and then back to the tree before finally responding.

"I feel great," said Amari.

Fifteen months later, Tisha gave birth to a healthy little girl and soon after, the other females in his area had his kids and as the years went by his family grew until he died of the ripe old age of twenty-eight. His children totaled thirty-three, there could have been more than that but as you know, childhood can be dangerous. Still though he had a great life and it was all thanks to Sela for making it all possible.

Kijani finished the story while all the cubs stared at him with mouths open wide, they were all quite speechless. Azmera and Naima on the other hand were both trying their hardest not to laugh at their cubs silly confused faces.

"And that's why giraffes don't get sick," said Kijani keeping a straight face.

"That was weird," said Kali.

"So we could have something on us that can make us get sick like Amari sick too?" asked Asha.

"Probably but because we are low to the ground, we don't have to worry about that," said Kijani.

"Well it is a story, so it's probably not true, but it was entertaining," said Jelani trying to be as truthful as he could.

"Well I'm glad you agree on that," said Kijani.

"Do you have any more weird stories like that?" asked Jelani.

"Probably but what's weird to some is actually very normal to others," said Kijani.

Jelani and the cubs nodded, it was the first time feeling very unsure about a story, but Kijani knew that in the future, their opinions of stories would definitely be different.

A/N: Wasn't that story cwazy? Yeah I know I've been in one of those moods lately where you just want to giggle like crazy. Plus I saw Horton Hears a Who so that can also be the reason for that. And for some reason while writing this I could just hear Steve Carrell's voice on Amari, weird huh. So yeah go see Horton Hears a Who, it's hilarious.

On a more serious and grumpy sounding manner, I have noticed that I am getting less and less views on my stories. Are they that bad or are you guys just busy? Come on you can tell me I'm not afraid as long as you don't bash it too hard and say it sucks without giving a really good explanation on that I'm fine. Yeah last chapter only 22 people looked at it and that made me sad. So please read and review and when you say you will check out a story please review it as well that lets me know you read it, plus I read your story and reviewed it, what's so hard about doing the same for me. I just feel it's a nice thing to do, I know I'm weird shut up.

And before I forget once again, the name meanings:

Amari: Strength (Yes I did have another character named that, Nala's brother in Memoirs of a Blue Bird)

Tisha: Strong willed

Sela: Savior

Oh yes and before I forget, giraffes don't get motion sickness because there is a vein in their neck that keeps them from letting the blood rush to their head too fast, especially when the bend down for water, so yeah my own imagination drove me nuts on this story. That's actually kind of fun though.

Also I may not update again until May, it just depends on my work load right now. I've been really busy writing lots of papers and it's driving me nuts and its keeping me from doing things I want to do. But don't give up on me I still have lots of stories to tell and hopefully they will not be as lame as this one. Well see you all later.