What's up… so here we have the next chapter which means that after this one there will be three more left.

Reldor: After reading a lot of fanfics over the last months. Leaving the scene out was no option. Like you said, it adds a lot to the story. In general I would love to see the scene in a recut of the movie. The scene definitely puts the stacks up higher and would have made Scar become a more menacing villain. Giving the fact that after he takes over the pride lands, he basically does NOTHING.

Emily642: my thoughts exactly. The thing about Scar giving her the choice between pestilence and cholera could be ordered in the category 'saved by the bell'. I was already facing and considering a long argument where Nala was refusing to leave the pride and had to be persuaded by Sarabi and the rest of the lionesses. But when I was just two sentences awy from the moment where Nala was rejecting him. I had the idea to go the easy way. The Nala I tried to set up here would have not left just on her own decision without anything endangering her. Besides having her banished was no option for me.

Jatha: The thing with the dialog will be a common them over the next chapter. By now we have entered a point in the story where we're basically doing a 'play by play' with little additions and left outs. The first thing I heard about this scene were in fanfics as well. Back then, I thought to myself "oh this is a bit cliché with the villain going after the hero's girl." And like the producers, I thought it was a bit to creepy. I think that it has mostly to do with the huge difference in age and that the villain in this flick is the love interests freaking uncle.

But like I said earlier, it is the most logical event that lead to Nala leaving the pride. With my version, I wanted Scar actions to be a bit more caused in the heat of the moment/passion. I set up that Scar was more interested in Sarafina and didn't plan to go after Nala in the first place. Of course it added to the drama that Nala turned out to look exactly like her mother. I wanted to bring across that Nala was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But enough of that! Let's continue…


Chapter 13: and where the journey may lead you

"I don't know what type of game you are playing with me Sarabi. But I assure you that, when I get behind this, you will face the consequences and the complete power of my wrath!" Scar said angrily as he circled around the former queen. It had been days since Nala got send away to her mission of finding an opponent for Scar. The king was more than upset, he was completely furious. "So… I ask again. Where did she go?" He snarled at her.

The beige lioness in front of him kept her stem face and showed no emotion. Inside however she was smiling a bit. He doesn't know, our little plan worked out. Sarabi thought yet didn't move on the outside. She just kept staring down pride rock as the king continued walking around her. "I don't know Scar, she could have gone anywhere! It is no real surprise to me. I mean, after what you pulled days ago." She remarked knowing that the king was about to snap.

And she was right. Scar didn't waste any second before getting into the lionesses face and snapping his fangs close in front of her. "Are you accusing me of something? I made a legit proposal to a lioness. I don't see how you are allowed to judge me on that." He snarled.

"If you think, blackmailing a young lioness to become your queen while threatening her to hurt anyone who is in some way close to her is the right way to propose to someone, you're an even bigger fool than I thought." Sarabi knew that giving contra to the king right now, could make things even more heated up around pride rock than they already were. But right now, all she cared about was to not give the king the upper hand.

"AWAY!" Scar yelled as he pointed with his paw down to the dusty and dry fields in front of pride rock. Sarabi gave him a quick mocking smirk and padded down the path. The king watched after her with cold and angry eyes. His sister in law really started to get on his nerves. If this would keep up, he really had to think of a way to make her stop permanent. Scar then continued walking to the end of the ledge emerging from his rocky castle. Everything was falling apart. Everywhere he looked, he found subordinates and idiots having only on purpose; to ruin his time as king. Scar had already made clear that if the hunting parties were not getting successful any time soon, the lionesses would get even more punished then they had been before.

He then heard movement on the left and he twisted his head. His senses relaxed a little as he saw Zira coming up the path of pride rock and having a distant glance on her face. She gave Scar a quick nod and a smirk before passing him without further notice. "Where have you been?" The red/brown male lion said stern turning his head to his right side.

The tarnish lioness stopped and turned her head while her body still directed towards his den. "Out! I went on a diplomatic mission." She said cold and padded inside the kings' chamber.

Scar didn't like this either one bid. Yet again, he had to admit that Zira was an ultimate opportunist. She knew when a chance for an evil plan to succeed was there and she took it. So just in the night after he was informed that Nala had run away. Just like when he was all tired and helpless, Zira lured him in. And maybe just like Nuka, this was going to turn out like a bad choice. But he had to admit, Zira was really knew how to achieve her goals on the smooth way. Just like he had always taught her.


Again it was one of those days where Simba had nothing else to do than just lay down on his back…or his stomach (just depending on what was feeling more smooth at the moment). Nothing to worry, nothing to do except enjoying his life as a bachelor alongside his two friends Timon and Pumbaa. The sun was shining brightly on his golden coat as he had positioned himself in a hammock made out of lianas in the midst of a clearing he and his two buddies often used as a settling point. Simba inhaled the fresh non air and dazed off with his eyes closed.

But his soon found peace was disturbed as he felt paw and hoof steps approaching him from the distance. Simba didn't dare to open his eyes as he could already tell his companions walking over to him. "Hey Simba, we wanna go out for a walk, wanna come with us?" Pumbaa asked in his typical joyful and optimistic manner.

Simba couldn't help but smile at him, yet he didn't have the motivation to stand up and take a hike. "No thanks Pumbaa, I just stay here and take a nap." He answered shaking his head with a bride smile.

"Suit yaself buddy!" Timon replied as he hopped onto his warthog friends' neck and used the hair on top of Pumbaas head as reins. Seeing as their feline friend had already dazed off into the land of dreams, the strange duo didn't want to bother him anymore and trotted off. "Y'know Pumbaa, this occasion calls for a song!" The meerkat remarked while his friend began to walk away from Simba.

Pumbaa glanced up in delight. "Uhm… I know one, I know one. What do you think of this?" The red furred warthog cleared his throat. "My heart is beating like a jungle drum! Rakatungtungrakatungonburu." He started but got quickly intervened by his meerkat friend.

"Nah! Do ya' think his heart is currently beating like a jungle drum?" Timon answered and called inside his friends' ear.

The warthog let his head sink for a short moment in disappointment before bringing back up with joy in his face. "Oh… and what about this one? I've got jungle fever, she's got jungle fever, we've got jungle fever, we're in love." Pumba once again started to sing and did a little dance with his hoofs before Timon jumped onto his muzzle and waiving his hands.

"Do you really think he's in love right now?"

As Pumbaa directed the pupils of his eyes to the sky and opened his muzzle to say something. "I guess no… I mean, I don't know what he's really thinking since I can't watch into his head. But since you put it this way, I guess you're right."

The duo continued to walk across the jungle with none of the two saying a word for about three minutes. But then, Timon brought his head up and pointed his finger into the sky. "Now I got one! Pumbaa… I need a beat." He crawled up to his buddy's ear and started whispering a beat into it. Right after that, Pumbaa started to repeat.

"A-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh, a-weema-weh!"

Timon gave him an ok sign and began with the text. "In the jungle, the mighty jungle. The lion sleeps tonight. In the jungle…"

In the distance, Simba could still hear his friends singing and calling out through the jungle which made him put the ends of his muzzle up as he smiled gladly. But tiredness soon overcame him and he drifted off into sleep.

"Haha… and once again, the mighty Chumvi stands triumphant over the little ogre Tojo." The dark brown cub called to the pride lands as he had both his front paws pressed onto his ochre colored friends' back. Tojo pressed his paws against his cheeks in frustration because of the recent defeat. "Wanna go again my dear friend?" Chumvi then said as he laughed before he got off from Tojo to bring their eyes on the same level.

The ochre cub smirked a little before he got into a sitting position. "I swear to you Chummy, one day I will be the one standing on your back. And then your little world that you created will have vanished into pieces. Muahahahaha!" He answered and gave of a fake sinister and maniacal laughter.

Simba only smiled as he laid a few feet away and observed his two friends. Yeah he could definitely enjoy having only Chumvi and Tojo around to play. But he still looked forward to the day he and Nala were allowed to play together. Only one day of his punishment were left, he made it through six days of one week he wasn't allowed to hang out with his cream furred female friend. And boy did he look forward to talk to her for more than a few words at meals and before bedtime.

"I'm seriously Chummy! Get off of me, why don't you try to knock Simba over for a change."

The golden cub right away went to his feet and got into a cautious stance. He was expecting Chumvi to jump at him at any second. And he was not gonna be disappointed. The dark brown cub jumped at the prince and tried to pin him down to the ground. Yet Simba had a lot of training time with Nala and quickly countered his friend having him roll out into the open. They both laughed as they got into another round as Chumvi tried to press him to the ground and Simba using his back to throw him over. The two cubs wrestled for quite a while until they both dropped exhausted to the ground. Simba glanced up into the afternoon sun before he glanced to the side seeing that Tojo and Chumvi were doing exactly the same.

The ochre cub, extracted his paws from his body as he swung after a butterfly passing over him. "You know guys, life couldn't be better." He said and inhaled deeply. A roar could be heard in the distance which made all three of them shook their heads up and ran back to pride rock. The hunting party had returned with a freshly killed animal.

Everybody joined in on the meal. Mwehu had quickly chewed off a piece from the Zebra, the hunting party had brought with them, and positioned himself a few yards away from the rest. Simba on the other hand right away got beside Nala who greeted him with a quick smile. "So… any plans for tomorrow already?" The cream furred cub asked silently between chewing off from their prey.

"Not yet but… I'll think of something." The young prince answered trying to avoid any attention or suspicion coming from their parents.

It didn't take long for the pride to finish their meal and for Mwehu, Scar and, to his surprise, Jiwe to go their separate ways. Simba watched as Sarafina directed her daughter to follow her along the side path of pride rock to probably get another bath. Simba didn't hesitate and walked up to her bringing his muzzle close to her ear. "I see you tomorrow then."

Nala turned her head and smiled. "I still don't what we're going to do!" She answered shifting her gaze back and forth from her friend to her mother to not get spotted to soon.

"Just meet me outside the cave short after lunch, I pick you up there!" Simba replied with a silent voice. Nala gave him quick hug which made the golden prince blush a little.

"I see you tomorrow then!"

"You bet!" The male cub smiled and trotted back over to his own parents not knowing that this would be the last time, he would ever see Nala again.

Noises made Simba shook out of his sleep. Still dizzy but pretty aware of his surroundings, he perked up his ear to see what was the source of the sounds. Every animal in the jungle knew that this was not a quiet place, but there were occasions where even the constant rumbling was disturbed by something strange hailing through the fauna of this place. The golden lion quickly recognized what was causing the sounds in the distance. And his eyes widened in concern.

It were screams of fear and horror, and they were coming from his friend Pumbaa.


Hey sleepy head! Get up, we have things to do! A voice inside Nalas head made her wander off from her trance. She looked around and still found herself in the desert. Yet after hours of walking and padding, the cram lioness had found a nice little oasis where she could lay down in the shade, take a drink and daze off a little bit. The way through the desert in this immense heat was hard and exhausting. The sun was burning down unmerciful on her coat and the heat was drying her out from the inside. But she couldn't stay here for too long, like the voice in her head said. She had thing to do.

Slowly, the lioness brought her upper body up and heaved her figure into a sitting position. She glanced around and except for the little green plant life that was surrounding her by now, Nala could see nothing else but sand and dry earth. Slowly she walked up to a little pond where she sank her head completely into the liquid. It was refreshing to have the at least pleasant temperature water enclose on her face and make her head feel a little less dizzy. OK! Now, which direction to go first? Nala walked up to the edge of the oasis and glanced over the sandy and dusty landscape. Thanks to her keeping attention to the stars the other night, and considering the stand of the sun. She was able to make out of which direction she was coming.

Short after she watched a few vultures circling in the sky above her, she continued to walk in the opposite direction of where she came from. After a few hours more of walking, little doubts started to fill the lioness from the inside. I hope that old mandrill knew what he was getting me into. Nala heard rumblings coming from underneath her. She knew immediately that it was her stomach that was making notice of himself.

Nala had to find something to eat quickly, she already felt tired again, the water she consumed earlier was barely enough to keep her moving for the rest o the day. And with no other shade in sight, she was going to be out of protection from the merciless sun. Once more, her mind wandered off to her pride she left back at home. It would be a shame if her journey would end here, in the middle of the desert without anyone taken notice of the cream lioness ending here on her way to find help.

Suddenly, she felt the ground under her paws feeling different. Nala tilted her head down and found herself at the end of a field of yellow colored high grass. She brought her head up further and her eyes widened in shock, how in the world could she not see this coming? Right in front of her stood a majestic looking jungle with green plants wherever she could glance. All she had to do to get there was making it through the field. With that jungle up ahead, her chances of finding someone who was willing to help her were as high as never.

But first, the cream lioness had to quiet down her stomach; she had to find something to eat. Movement in the left corner of her eye made Nala twist her head. Right on cue! She though almost in disbelief. Not far away from her, she spotted a warthog leaving the protection of the jungle and walking up to flat lying tree trunk in the open field.

Nala didn't hesitate and went into a pouncing position. The lioness kept her body low and slowly marched forward gaining up to her fresh found prey. What is it doing? She thought as she watched the red furred animal standing up flatly behind a tree. Is he trying to pounce on to the little bug on the wood?

A bunch of birds suddenly leaping of the ground into the air made her jump a few inches while she gave away a slight gasp. Oh no! Nala thought and dropped down to the ground at once. The warthog tilted his head to the back and glanced directly into her direction. For a short moment, Nala was ready to jump up and attack the fat animal. But the warthog only shrugged and made his way over the tree trunk which he tried to climb just a few seconds ago.

Now she had him, Nala pressed her back legs into the ground ready to jump the animal at any second.

"AHHHHHH!" He screamed in horror and started running away.

Oh no you're not! Inside her mind, Nala cursed at the fact that she got caught. Now she had no other chance as to give chase to her fleeing victim. Maybe it was my hunger that made me impatient! Jeez this thing is fast. The cream lioness ran after the warthog. Due to her hunger and exhaustion, she could not really catch up to it. And to her surprise, the red furred animal was even agile enough to maneuver itself quickly through the jungle.

The warthog ran up the huge roots of a tree and dodged the attack of Nala who started to get frustrated. "Come here you…" She yelled as she missed another jumping attack.

Now the animal was even winning ground on her. Nala couldn't believe it. She, the best huntress in the pride lands was gonna be ditched by a fat pig. But then her eyes widened and the edges of her muzzle turned upwards. The red animal had caught itself under a tree root. Soon, she had him. What the…? A meerkat coming to the aid of a warthog? Already, this place seems really weird. But whatever… Nala could already feel her teeth sinking in the animals flesh as she charged forward and jumped at the strange duo.

"ROAR!" It came from above. And seconds later, a full grown young male lion jumped over the root into her direction.

Oh my… no… was all she could think of as her eyes widened in shock. Already, the male lion had pressed her to the ground. Nala moved quickly to slip under his grasp and started throwing her paws art his face. What's going on here? Is he… protecting them? Again, Nala swung her claws at his mane as the two lions circled around each other. The two looked at each other for a second. Nala was exhausted, she couldn't go on with a male lion for much longer, he seemed to be really healthy where she was basically under immense mentally and physically stress for the last… years.

The male lion took a little offset and jumped right at her once more. Nala got knocked over by him as she could feel her back getting in contact with the ground. Oh wait… I got one more move up my sleeve.

Like so many times before, Nala shifted her body around which caused the lion to land hard on his back as Nala pressed her paws onto his shoulders and pinned him to the ground. The male gasped in shock and astonishment as he glanced up at the cream lioness. Ha... it worked, now you better stand down or…

"Nala?"

I'll… wait what?" Nothing could have prepared Nala for what happened next. The male just spoke out her name. How does he..? She quickly backed off a few feet and came to a halt unsure if she should run or stay.

"Is it really you?"

How does this lion know her name? She observed him quickly. It was definitely not Chumvi. For being Malka, he missed the black hair. To be Jiwe or Mwehu, he certainly lacked the scars. For Ni, he was too young. The closest thing he came to was Tojo, but this lion had golden fur and a red mane in contrast to Tojo ochre ones. She had nothing. "Who ARE you?" She asked carefully.

The male smiled as he walked two steps closer. "It's me… Simba!"

"Simba?" No way! He is dead. Simba IS dead! It… it can't be. Nala shifted her head forward observing the lion who still smiled at her. The realization hit her like a buffalo with its horns. The golden fur, those amber eyes, that… that smile. It was cocky yet incredible warm. The little wrinkle that appeared on his left side when he smiled. It was really him. Her face lit up and she couldn't help but cry out. "WHOA!"

"WHOA!" Simba answered and the two stormed towards each other. They brought their foreheads together like they used to when they were cubs and began dancing around each other.

"But how did you?"

"How did you?"

"Where did you come from?" Granted that wasn't the best question Nala could have thought of in that situation but her mind was non corpus mentis anyway right now.

"Whoa it's great to see you!"

He was acting like a little cub seeing his best friend in front of him for the first time in more than two years. Actually, Nala was acting the same. "It's great to see YOU!" She answered as the two continued to jump around in joy and circling each other.

"What are you doing here?"

Is he serious? 'What am I doing here?' He's the one who was called dead for the last years. Nala couldn't help but to keep looking into his amber eyes as she still had so many questions to ask. Well, start with the obvious. "What do you mean what am I doing here? What are YOU doing here?" She asked as the two came to a halt in front of each other while shifting their front paws back and forth nervously.

"HEY! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?"

Nala glanced down to find the source of the voice. It was the meerkat, Simba must indeed been there to protect them. She had totally forgotten about the little animal and his warthog friend. Oh-oh! Maybe trying to eat Simbas friends wasn't the best idea to come up with.

Simba glanced down too towards his friend abut kept his smile all the way. "Timon, this is Nala. She's my best friend." Simba smiled warm at the cream lioness and brought his head up.

He still sees me as his best friend. Nala was completely flattered, after all these years, Simba was just as joyful and caring as he was back in the old days. She returned the gesture with a warm smile herself. She ignored the kinda skeptical 'friend' which Timon answered before Simba called Pumbaa over who introduced himself to her. "The pleasure is all mine." She answered gladly to the animal that a moment ago was going to end on her dinner plate.

"Okay… time out! So let me get this straight. You know her, she knows you… but she wants to eat him. And… everybody's okay with this. DID I MISS SOMETHIN'?" Timon was yelling out loud as he breathed heavily for air.

Seeing as his friend was close to having a heart attack, Simba brought his head down and tried to calm him down. "Relax Timon!"

Nala on the other hand had other things to worry about. "Wait till everybody hears that you've been here all this time. And your mother… what'll she think." She couldn't wait to see the looks on everybody's faces when she was walking up to pride rock, right in front of that face of Scar and Zira to present the true heir of the pride lands to them. She couldn't wait to see the broad smile on Sarabis face when her son was coming up to her.

The golden lion backed away a little bit by the thought of his mother. I can't go back. Not after what I've done. "She doesn't have to know! Nobody has to know."

Yet the enthusiasm in Nalas face was not reduced one bit. "Of course they do, everybody thinks you're dead."

Dead… but how! I just had to run away. "They do?" He noticed Nalas face getting stern and sad in an instant.

"Yeah! Scar told us about the stampede." She said with a heavy heart.

That was what he feared; Scar had told them about how he caused the wildebeests to go wild with his tiny roar. But Nala doesn't seem to care about that fact. How much does she know? "He did? What else did he tell you?" He asked avoiding her gaze for a moment to not give her a chance to ask him further.

"What else matters? You're alive!" Nala tilted her head back as she realized a very important fact that she didn't brought up to the table yet. Rafiki! You are a genius! "And that means… you're the king." She widened her smile as the thought of her best friend being the one that could bring them all out of their misery hammered itself into her mind.

"King? Lady have you got your lions crossed." Timon got back into the conversation which caused Nala to glance down at him.

What's going on here? Don't they know who he is? Hasn't he told them? Nala thought. Pumbaa was acting weird as he crawled up to Simba and started to kiss his paw. He really didn't tell them. Seems like he has changed after all over the years. Yet her attention was drawn back to Timon who just had asked about being the king.

"NO!"

What the… "Simba!"

The golden lion turned away from her and started walking away. "No I'm not the king. I mean I was gonna be but… that happened a long time ago."

Nala couldn't believe it and frowned. When they were cubs, all he did was bragging about how he was going to become the future king. Hell… he even introduced himself with the title prince Simba. Now this was something, she had to address. But she couldn't do it as long as these two were around. "Could you guys excuse us for a minute?" She asked and addressed Timon and Pumbaa with a sly smile.

After a quick argument, the meerkat and the warthog started to pad away and leave the two lions alone. Simba glanced after them as he could only shook his head at the fact that Timon reacted more like a diva then he would admit it. He turned around to see Nala glancing at him with a stern expression.

"You've changed!" She said blandly.

"No I didn't… not that much!" Simba answered giving her a sly smirk. Yet he kinda had the idea what was going to follow next.

Nala put on a smirk herself and raised her left eyebrow. "Whatever happened to the cub that couldn't wait to be king?" She asked from her position.

Simba heart sank a little bit. He didn't want to bring up the day his father died, seeing as that would only call out questions from his female friend. But he had to if he wanted her to understand. "He… he vanished on that… that day." He said and his face dropped. The golden lion glanced to the side and saw that Nala had turned her head to the side as well while she stared to the ground with sad eyes. "What, what is it?" Simba walked up to her right side and asked in concern.

"It's… It's like you're back from the dead." She answered and inhaled deeply before facing him again. "You have no idea what this will mean to everyone. What it means to me." Nala let her head hang down once more. She looked really sad.

He had to do something to make her feel better. "Hey, it's okay!" He smiled.

"I've really missed you!"

Simba was completely taken aback as his best friend pulled her head closer to him and brought it under his chin. His eyes widened and he started to blush. The two lions started to nuzzle each other as Simba smiled gently. "I've missed you too." The two stood in their position for quite a while until a strange rumbling made the golden lion back off from his friend. "What was that?" he asked perplex.

Nala giggled a little embarrassed and glanced down on her stomach. "Sorry, I… kinda have been running on empty for the last hours." Nala answered and rubbed her belly with her right front paw.

To her right, the golden lion smirked and nudged her with his muzzle on the shoulder. "Well then! Let's find you something to chew on." Simba said and led the way away from the scene with Timon and Pumbaa watching them from behind.


The evening was settling over the jungle as Simba led Nala for a quick round around the block. There were so many things the two had to say to each other. But still there was some sort of preserve in the air. All the time, Simba tried to avoid letting the subject turn towards him being the king and the day where his plans of becoming the king were erased from the surface of the earth.

"And then, the guy walks up to these three hyenas and goes like this, 'the best thing you can do is go die and save me from make you die'." Nala laughed as she told her golden friend of the day, Mwehu and Malka met for the first time. "He and the other three animals did not even have started before Malka enters the scene and starts arguing with him. It was totally priceless."

Simba listened to her carefully enjoying every little syllable that came out from the cream lioness' muzzle. The two were literally walking fur to fur as they trotted through the green landscape of the jungle. The golden furred lion couldn't help but keep one part of his left eye always locked on his female friend. He felt really strange since the moment she arrived earlier on. "Here we are!" He finally said and raised his paw into the direction of a clearing.

Nala glanced around confused and tried to observe the place. "Here?" What do you mean 'here we are'?" She asked not seeing what the male wanted.

"I thought you wanted something to eat." Simba answered and walked over to a flat lying tree trunk. Nala watched him with a frown not sure what he wanted. The male lion hammered his paw on the wood and caused several grubs to crawl out of the trunk. With his left paw, he grabbed a pair of them and carried them over to Nala. "Here you go!"

The cream lioness raised her eyebrows and backed away a bit. "You are not really going to…" But Simba had already put one of them in his muzzle and slurped it down his throat. "… eat that?"" She finished.

"You want some?" He again offered her one of the grubs but only caused her to back of a little further.

Nala put her paw in front of her body in defense. "I think I pass on this one. I… actually don't feel that hungry anymore! But I could go for a little drink." She then said putting on a nervous smile.

Seeing as he probably should have seen this one coming, Simba smiled reassuring and extracted his paw to his right. "You're lucky; I just have the right thing for you. Come on!" Together, they climbed down a small path beside a waterfall.

Can you feel, the love tonight...

the peace the evening brings

The world for once, in perfect harmony

with all its living things.

The two lions settled down beside a small pond with Nala on one side, and Simba on the other side. She quickly put her head down to sib from the water which was really cold. Simba eyed her closely. When in all those years did she become so beautiful?

So many things to tell her

Simba brought his head down to take a drink himself. His and Nalas eyes met and the cream lioness gave him a warm smile. This caused the male lion to back off and pull his head back up.

but how to make her see.

The truth about my past..Impossible!

With her being around, all the demons of his past were free to return to him. What if she got curious again? He couldn't tell her. The fact of her knowing that he killed his father would make her despise him for the rest of his life. And at this point, he knew that he didn't want to be separated from her ever again.

She'd turn away from me..

He continued to watch his female friend as she continued to let the cooling water float down her throat as she opened her eyes to face him.

He's holding back, he's hiding

Something was wrong. That was something that Nala was sure about. Why didn't he want his mother or the rest of the pride to know about him being alive? Something far more painful happened that day at the gorge. Something that he tried to bury deep inside his conscience.

but what I can't decide.

She brought her head up and looked at the former prince with confusion in her eyes. What was he suddenly smiling about? "What's on your mind Sim?"

Why won't he be the king I know he is

"Watch and see!" Simba gave his friend a wink and ran pass her making Nala watch after him with yet even more confused eyes than before. The lioness turned her head around and watched after him.

the king I see inside...

She then spotted Simba running up to her with something that looked like a liana between his teeth. The male ran past Nala who shook back shocked as Simba sailed through the air.

Can you feel, the love tonight

In a high bow, Simba landed directly in the pond as he spread water all over the place. Right away Nala ran at the bank as he tried to get a peak of where her friend was right now. "SIMBA, SIMBA! You Alright?" She called out as she brought her head close to the surface.

"GOT YA!" Was all she heard as a golden flash emerged from the water and enclosed its arms around her neck. With a quick motion, Simba pulled the lioness under the surface into the water only for her to tilt her head out of the pond with frozen shock.

the peace the evening brings

Nala gasped out loud as she desperately swam to the bank and pulled herself out of the pond. Her fur was completely wet and she felt the freezing cold engulfing her body. "I see that you really made progress in your swimming skills. I have to admit, that was really fun." She heard Simba say behind her as the male himself got out to the side of her friend. His face was completely covered by his wet mane. "If you like it then… GO BACK IN!" She said and shoved her friend back into the pond before darting off into the distance.

The world for once, in perfect harmony

Simba pushed himself back to solid ground and immediately darted off after Nala. The two entered a field and the cream lioness gave her golden companion a quick glance before she picked up her pace. "Face it Sim, you'll never catch me!"

"You better make sure, or else you're in big trouble!" Simba pushed his body to the edge as he closed up to her. The lions were now running side by side having the most fun ever for the last years. And just as Simba was about to tackle Nala to the ground, the lioness dodged to the right and jumped down a little slope. The golden male jumped after her and found her already waiting for him. She got up to her back feet and extended both her front legs offering Simba to jump directly at her. "Do you think this is such a good idea?" he said still laughing."I mean we could… ahhh!"

with all its living things

He and Nala tumbled backwards and the duo rolled down yet another slope. For a short moment, Simba lost sight of nearly all of his surroundings and could only see cream in front of him.

Can you feel the love tonight

WHOMP! It made as they landed soft on the ground with Simba on top of his cream friend. He still had his eyes closed and thought about how he finally managed to have Nala pinned to the ground. But that thought was disturbed as he felt something wet and sweat stroking alongside his cheek. He opened his to see Nala looking at him kinda… funny. She laid back in the grass staring at him.

You need'nt look too far

She leaned back in the grass staring at him with her aqua dream like eyes. A glance that made him completely defenseless and dizzy. She licked him on the cheek. Not one of those friendly ones like the one she gave him back at the elephant graveyard. This one meant more.

All Simba could do in that moment was stare at her in amazement of how beautiful she looked. The golden lion smiled as he felt his head getting hot once more and realized what was going on here.

Stealing through, the night's uncertanies

Nala kept glancing up at him with her seductive eyes still intact. "Are you just going to freeze to death up there or are you gonna do something?" Simba hesitated a second before he leaned forward to nuzzle her gently and passionate. Time slowed down at once as both lions enjoyed this moment.

Love is where they are...

Simba brought his head away from her and glared at her dizzy and dreamy. "I bet if Zazu would be here, he would give us one of these 'I told you so' looks." He said and leaned forward once again giving his 'girlfriend' a lick on the cheek himself. "Kinda funny how it took us more than three years to get to this point." He kept licking the cream furred lioness all over her face as she turned her head to the side with her eyes closed and her muzzle turned into a smile.

And if he feels the love tonight,

"I know. And quite frankly, I don't care what Zazu would think right now." She grabbed his head with both her paws and pulled him closer to her as she buried her head in his mane. "Just do me one favour!"

In the way I do.

The golden furred male was barely able to get what she was saying as his hormones were running the isle of men right now. "What?" he mumbled facing her again.

It's enough for this restless wanderer.

In her mind, Nala recalled what she said that day on the elephant graveyard. "Simba, don't leave me!" Simba remembered and made their cheeks touch each other for what seemed like eternity. "Don't worry Nala! I'm not going anywhere."

Just to be, with you.


Author's note and trivia: Songs used in this chapter are…

Jungle drum by Emiliana Torrini - I can't say I especially like the song (It's okay I think) but it has the word jungle in it and it was one of the first that came into my mind to make the joke work.

Jungle fever by Stevie Wonder – Now this one is a good song.

And of course… Can you feel the love tonight – music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice