Chapter 2
Slowly opening his eyes, the poor young cub awoke from his dreamless slumber and got up to stretch himself out. Smacking his lips, he found that they were loosely dripping wet, indicating that he had been given water in his sleep some time ago. Glancing to his right, he could see that he was on the inside of some kind of dark, stony den of some sort, which confused him to a rather large extent.
Upon looking behind him, he saw that the jungle was beyond the den's shadows, with the sun past its highest point and already beginning to set. Some of the low-lying fog that covered the jungle ground in all directions was crawling its way to the inside, going about as high as his paws. The sight was uncomfortably eerie to such a young cub as himself.
When Simba turned to his left, however, his eyes laid upon that of Kaa himself looming over him, making him shudder in shock. Even though his instincts told him to run, Simba unexpectedly walked closer with wide-eyed curiosity and awe at the awesome serpent before him. His eyes met up with Kaa's.
"Ah, good to see you're alright, lion cub," Kaa hissed, feigning concern. "I was almost worried that you wouldn't make it."
"Who are you?" asked Simba in a surprisingly calm voice, beginning to smile in wonderment. He had never met the python before, but something about him seemed trustworthy to him.
"I am Kaa," the snake replied, introducing himself. "and I welcome you to my den."
Simba looked around the cave thoroughly this time to get a clear look. For the most part it was featureless except with a few rocks here and there on the ground.
"I found you in the desert earlier, you poor thing... passed out and on the verge of death." Kaa said making an effort to sound like he cared in the slightest about him. "But out of the oh so strong responsibility I felt from finding you, I saved you and brought you here to safety." Kaa finished."
Simba said back to him, "Well... thank you."
"Might I ask why you were out there to begin with?" The python added, this time genuinely curious as to what the cub would say.
"I... don't know," replied Simba, sounding hopelessly confused. "Actually, I can't even remember who I am or... or where I came from."
"Oh dear," Kaa said, pretending to be sad. "Well, I'm terribly sorry to say they there are very few, if any, lions in this jungle. So your parents are likely nowhere near here."
He kept up the act as Simba lowered his head in sadness for a moment, but he couldn't help mentally smirk. How he loved playing his prey as though they puppets. "I'll tell you what... I'll take care of you from here on out. A-at any rate, your parents are likely looking all over for you in fact, so maybe it wouldn't even need to be forever. Stick with me and you'll be able to survive in this jungle... should the odds be in your favor, that is."
Simba lifted his head up in excitement. "Really? You really mean that?"
"Of course," said Kaa as he used his tail to grab Simba's face and squish it affectionately. "Such a cute little kitten like you shouldn't be out here all on his own."
Simba smiled again once Kaa let go. He didn't know why, but he was already liking his new friend. A moment of silence passed before he asked innocently, "So what are we going to do now?"
Kaa smirked deviously, knowing exactly what he wanted to do first with his new prey...
Thanks for WTF123 for his excellent touch ups and Chapter 1 last time (sorry for not crediting you there).