Lion King 3: The Chosen Ones

Tanabi's Arc

Chapter Twenty: Bonding

Disclaimer- I don't own the song Noyana, it belong to Lebo M...but it's not like you readers give a damn right ^^?

The harsh wind blew against the struggling members of the Shadow Pride as they continued to walk to their destination. Icy cold rain pelted them while booming thunder could be heard overhead. Tanabi gritted his teeth as his wet mane hit him in his face again; he instinctively closed his eyes and turned his head away. He officially thought that Kufuru was an idiot.

Despite the clear warning that a storm was coming, the king urged the rest of the pride to move on. Tanabi had noted how dark the sky was getting, but was ignored for the simple fact that no one wanted to stay in that horrible desert any longer. Now the ex-prince wished he could take it back. He would happily chase after vultures for the rest of his life than die in the storm.

"There's a cave up ahead! Just push on a little further!" the charcoal-colored lion almost yelled at the rest of the pride from the front of the line, his voice sounding muffled over the sound of the thunder.

"You better be telling the truth Kufuru!" Naima spat in frustration, the light crème lioness stumbled a bit bumping into Tanabi who was behind her. "Sorry Gwala!"

"It's fine!" he quickly replied back, trying his hardest not to sound sarcastic, gently nudging her off of him. Tanabi didn't know how far behind he was compared to everyone else, but he didn't care; his mission was to make sure no one else got lost. The job was self-appointed because he didn't want anyone to die in the storm, and so far the brown lion was doing a pretty good job.

The cave that Kufuru had mentioned was small, but no one seemed to have the energy to complain. In fact, by the time Tanabi reached it, everyone had hid in the far reaches of the back, shivering and in fear. Tanabi tiredly leaned against a wall near the mouth of the cave, watching the heavens wreak havoc on everything in their path. The stagnant clouds were completely a dark grey color, glowing white in the distance, presumably from lightning.

Heh, I haven't seen a bad one like this since I was a cub, the ex-prince mused to himself, a frown coming to his muzzle. That was probably why he was so calm despite everything; the last time he and Jelani had almost drowned in a river because of their stupidity, so anything else seemed pretty tame in comparison.

"Looks like it won't be stopping for a while, huh?" Someone said softly beside him, snapping Tanabi out of his fascination with the weather. It was Naima. The lioness was completely drenched from the rain. Her normally off-white pelt seemed to look grey now and her tuft seemed to be stuck to her forehead. If Tanabi wasn't so tired, he would have found Naima's new look hilarious.

"Yeah," Tanabi murmured, thoughtfully not knowing what else to her. She gave him a warm smile.

"You should come into the cave more, so you won't catch a cold," Naima replied amusedly. "I know you're a big tough lion and all, but I know you must be freezing. C'mon, sit with us. I promise I will behave this time."

The ex-prince cracked a slight smile, she had a point. Suddenly a white bolt of lightning struck the ground a few feet in front of them and a huge deafening boom quickly followed. Both Tanabi and Naima's eyes grew huge in awe.

"Whoa," was Tanabi's intelligent reply; he had felt his heart skip a beat. That was the first time he had ever been that close to lightning before, and he fervently thanked the gods that it wasn't him standing there. The others had gasped in horror and some cubs started crying, their mothers officially freaked out by the display.

Taking this as a warning sign to move away from the entrance of the cave, Tanabi turned around to leave. "That was pretty cool huh?" he quipped to his female companion. But instead of getting a snarky response like he had expected, Naima was silent. Tanabi frowned worriedly. "Naima?"

The lioness's lavender eyes were huge and her pupils had dilated from fright, her teeth chattering nervously. She was still concentrated on the spot where the lightning had struck, almost as if she was paralyzed. Tanabi smiled wryly; the poor thing was afraid of lightning.

"It's okay now, Naima," the brown lion said softly amused as she shook her head. He gently nudged her. "C'mon, let's go. You'll be a lot safer in the cave."

Naima wrinkled her nose at him in disgust, snapping out of it. "I hate lightning," she replied as she turned around, only to take another skeptical peek at the outside, as if to tell it to leave her alone. 'Why does it even exist anyways? Just for the spirits to mess with us and laugh?"

"Yep," Tanabi replied reflexively, earning an annoyed look from Naima. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her, Naima knew better than to ask a rhetorical question around him.

The cave was almost pitch-black even with the dim light from the cave entrance and very warm. It seemed most of the Shadow Pride had bunched up together for comfort and Tanabi found it too crowded for his liking. He hated others touching him or getting too close; it was a pet peeve he developed shortly after the death of his grandfather. The brown lion hated the feeling of someone's hot breath on his neck or the feeling of someone bumping elbows into his side. Too bad for him; there was hardly any room anywhere else for him to be isolated.

"I hate you." Tanabi growled under his breath at Naima, as someone accidently hit his left side for the fourth time and once again a small cub started whimpering in his ear. Naima grinned brightly at him.

"Get over it Gwala. You need to be more sociable. Say it with me, so-ci-a-ble."

"I hate you."

"I know, you already said that," the light colored lioness said teasingly, sticking her tongue out at him. Tanabi sighed and buried his head under his paws.

"Go ahead keep on messing with Gwala, sis," Gunju piped up from beside her. "If he hits you, I'm going to laugh."

"I didn't know you were part of this conversation, Gunju," Naima retorted as the mane less lion shrugged his lithe shoulders.

"And I thought a conversation was between two people. You're the only one talking, Naima," Gunju shot back teasingly, his violet eyes dancing mischievously. "If you had kept your voice down, maybe I wouldn't have said anything."

"I was keeping my voice down. It isn't my fault my voice carries," Naima said nonchalantly. She looked down curiously at the small ball of fluff in Gunju's paws. "Is he asleep yet?"

"His name is Chiumbo," Gunju shot back at her, offended, as he lovingly nuzzled the small crying cub. Chiumbo was Gunju's son and the spitting image of him, except for his tiny white paws and muzzle which he got from his deceased mother.

"I'm scared Daddy," Chiumbo squeaked pathetically, his big violet eyes shining with unshed tears. "I wanna go home."

"We don't have a home remember? Kufuru made us leave."

The small cub hiccuped again. "But why Daddy?"

"I don't know, Son," Gunju replied, his voice distant. Chiumbo started crying again, this time much louder. Tanabi sat up in annoyance and groaned. Was he ever going to get any sleep?

"Way to go, genius!" Naima replied, smacking Gunju upside his head. "I can't believe you made him cry again!"

"What?" Gunju complained. "What was I supposed to do? Lie to him?"

"Yes!"

This family has issues. Tanabi thought instantly, eying the two siblings and letting out a yawn. Even though he was well past annoyed with Chiumbo's tears, he understood perfectly how jarring leaving the home was. It only made the ex-prince more curious as to what exactly the pride was looking for, because the paradise they were looking for couldn't possibly exist in real life. Was the blind adulation of Kufuru's vision simply a way to cope with losing their former kingdom?

The brown lion frowned even more. How could anyone in their sane mind believe in Kufuru like that? With the exception of Naima, no one seemed to really question Kufuru or their god Jabari. Tanabi shook off his thoughts; he was an outsider who barely lived a full month with them, and here he was judging the very lion who accepted him without any second thoughts. This was his home now and he should be more open minded, not cynical about everything.

An idea popped into Tanabi's mind when Gunju tried to soothe the crying Chiumbo with soft shh-ing noises. He turned to Naima who was trying to keep Chiumbo from crying as well.

"Do you know any lullabies you could sing to him?" Tanabi asked curiously. "Any songs?"

Naima gave the prince a look. "What do I look like Gwala? His mother?" She then started looking thoughtful. "Well… I do sorta know one. But… I don't know all the words to it."

"Try it, then." Tanabi replied simply as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Fine. Gunju, hand 'im over."

"What? No! Can't you see I'm trying to make him sleep over here?" Gunju said tiredly, still rocking Chiumbo.

"And you're doin' a great job," Naima retorted sarcastically as her brother reluctantly gave his son to her. The small light brown cub pitched another fit worse than the first time and Tanabi cringed as he started to flail around, crying harder.

"Shh. Shh, hey now," the lioness whispered soothingly, her voice taking on a motherly tone. She slowly started stroking Chiumbo's tuft on his head and started singing, her voice calm.

Sikuyo {We are}

Indlela {On the path}

Yelizwi {Of the voice}

Lobomi {Of righteousness}

The small cub stopped crying and looked up at Naima with wide eyes. Tanabi smiled at how gentle and pretty Naima's voice sounded. He would have never known that the loudmouthed lioness had a good singing voice. The words of the song were soothing and beautiful and Tanabi found himself at peace. His eyelids started drooping and he let out a yawn.

Ikhaya labantu (Home to people)

Behleli ngendweba (Who live in peace)

Nina ka (Some of you)

Nehluka (Are different)

Kuthixo (In the eyes of God)

Ngo kona (Because of your sins)

Nhitini (What are you going to say?)

Chiumbo, seeing the older lion yawn, opened his cute little mouth and yawned in return. He slowly snuggled closer in the crook of Naima's right forearm to get comfortable. The ex-prince laid his head down on his own paws, watching Naima dreamily as he yawned again.

Noyana, noyana (Are you going? Are you going?)

Nithini noyana (What do you say? Are you going?)

Noyana, noyana (Are you going? Are you going?)

Nithini noyana (What do you say? Are you going?)

Noyana phezulu (Are you going up there?)

The light colored lioness stopped singing and smiled warmly at the sleeping Chiumbo who was currently curled up in a ball. She licked the top of his head affectionately, wishing him a good sleep. "I did pretty good, huh Gwala?" Naima whispered to the brown lion beside her. She wasn't expecting a response or was going to get one in return, as Tanabi had already fallen asleep, snoring lightly, his face completely at peace.

Naima giggled to herself. Good night to you too, Gwala.

Aww, wasn't that sweet ^^? Tanabi won't think so when he wakes up...so yeah that's all I have to say about this chapter. Thanks to raekafajrajo, Pigs Go Moo, Prince of Pride and especially Kiara32 for the beautiful artwork she did of Tanabi and Ayira. As usual, the rest of you go review ^^.

Names:

Chiumbo: Small