XII

The Dawn of Adolescence

A few days went by. The cubs grew used to scavenging, but it was hard. First they had to find a kill, which they obviously didn't always succeed in even that. And it really only counted if other various scavengers hadn't already gotten there first. Nevertheless, they managed to scrape up enough food to survive, even just a little longer.

It was on the fifth sunrise that they all became desperately hungry, though. They laid beside a small water hole, sulking in the climbing sun. When Banjija's tummy rumbled, he groaned and sat up, thinking he couldn't take it anymore. And, despite their earlier search in the body of water they stayed near, he thought, maybe there were fish. They just hadn't found them yet. So, he reluctantly got up and staggered over to its edge to peer in. Suddenly, Banjija gasped. There, staring at him from the surface, was his own reflection. But it had changed - much. His eyes had now fully devolved from baby blue. The strange thing was that his right eye was a deep purple, while the left was a crimson. He tilted his head slightly, seeing the long whiskers come out from his broad snout. Banjija curiously lifted a giant paw to extend the claws and he grinned, seeing how much sharper and longer they looked, and it was there, when he made a pose to watch his reflection a bit more, did he gasp one more time. For, atop his larger head, were a few discolored strands of fur. They stuck out from the rest of his brown-gold coat. But no...they were not discolored. They were supposed to be like that. They were supposed to be a nice red. They were supposed to be longer than the rest of his fur.

"Meersha! Gatu!" he suddenly called. "Come quick!"

The two cubs had been resting in the grass when they heard Banjija call. They both jumped up and scrambled over to him.

"What?" asked Meersha.

"Look!" he said, and he dipped his head for them to see.

"Your mane's finally growing in! That's great!" cried his sister.

He looked back up and smirked proudly. "I'm an adult now!"

Gatu swished his black tail tuff back and forth, grinning at the teen lion.

"What about you, Gatu?" Meersha then asked, turning to him. "Let me see your head."

"M-me? Oh, no. I do-don't have a ma-mane yet." he replied, somewhat surprised and yet pleased.

"Ah, come on." Banjija said, rolling his eyes, before grabbing Gatu's head and forcing his face to the ground. "See? There it is!"

He let him back up and Gatu cocked his head, before looking down into the water and gasping.

"My-my mane!" he cried out.

There on his head, were little black strands as well, just beginning to grow.

Meersha sat between the two proud lions, giggling.

"What?" they both asked.

"You might have the start of your manes, but you still look like cubs to me," she answered in a meow.

"Well look who's talking, little miss meow." Banjija remarked with a snicker.

"What? It's not like I have a mane,"

"Yeah, bu-but you l-look older," Gatu then said.

She blinked, before looking at the water as well. Indeed she looked different. Her face, head and body shape had changed from that of a young cub, to that of a young lioness. Meersha was more slender, but still looked strong and had muscle. Her coat had changed slightly to look a bit pale, and all together, she thought she looked like a younger - more yellow-gold - Kinara. She smiled, seeing that her eyes had, too, changed from baby blue to a calm green-yellow.

"Well I have t' say, this is nice," she exclaimed and giggled again.

Hunger bit at their stomachs, fleas chewed at their skin and fur, ribs showed themselves greatly, but the three seemed proud, and none of them could help their smiles. Before long, they began to romp around, laughing as they pounced each other, still acting as cubs but at the same time, trying to keep their dignity, and so it seemed as if the play was just a bit more than roughhousing. Not one of the lions wanted to be under the other, and even though Meersha had once been the best at wrestling, due to the males' thicker bodies, she usually found herself stuck beneath one or the other.

Just then, Banjija pounced Gatu, and they went rolling into the water. As Gatu pushed him off, he gasped again, staring into the water with his one purple eye to see the reflection of an unknown lion watching them. The two turned around, getting out of the water. Drenched, they watched as another teen rogue came over to them.

"Hey," he said. "I was watching you play,"

"W-who a-are y-y-you?" asked Gatu nervously.

"We weren't playing, we were wrestling," replied Banjija, glaring.

Meersha came over to them and asked, "Who are you?"

"I'm Unaro." he answered.

Unaro, even though he was a teen, was still bigger than the three, for his mane was a light redish patch atop his head and began to climb down around his chest and shoulders as well.

"I couldn't help but notice you cubs," he said, cheerfully.

"We're not cubs," hissed Banjija.

"Yeah," growled Gatu.

Both the males dipped their heads to show the start of their manes.

"Well isn't that nice." Unaro replied. "Look," he then said. "Could I interest any of you in fresh meat?"

Suddenly, the three perked. "Fresh meat?" asked Meersha, suspiciously.

"That's what I said."

"How?"

"There's a pride not too far from here. They're called the Broken-Claw. I can lead you to them."

"What's the catch?" questioned Banjija.

"Look, ya want food or not?"

Gatu was licking his lips now. The three of them couldn't resist the temptation. Finally, they agreed, and so took off, trailing the unusual lion. They came to a hill, only to look down and see a few lionesses basking in the sun.

"That's them," he said.

"Where's their leader?" asked Banjija.

"They don't got one. Not a male one at least. That's why when I came along, and they saw my mane, they chased me off, even after I begged them for just a scrap of meat. See, they got cubs, and they're mighty protective of 'em."

Meersha asked, "How do they have cubs if they don't have a male?"

"I've heard that they're one of the only prides willing to take cubs in and adopt them."

"Why is that?" asked Banjija.

"'Cause they have no male to kill them." answered Meersha, keeping her eyes on the lionesses.

Suddenly the three of them wished they hadn't grown up so fast as all their tummies rumbled.

"They didn't want me around 'cause of my mane. But you're smaller than me. If you guys go, you could pull it off..."

"Look, we have manes!" hissed Meersha's brother.

Unaro shook his head. "They've just started to grow...we can take care of that."

"We can?" they all asked.

He nodded. "Yeah. Just follow me."

Both the males took a step forward, but Unaro shook his head. "One at a time please."

Gatu looked questioningly at Banjija, who suddenly pounced forward, smirking. "I'll go first." he said.

Unaro smirked, too, and led Banjija away to the south, over a hill and to a tree. Meersha watched nervously as she sat down by Gatu. Within a few moments, her brother and the rouge were out of sight. She sighed.

"'Kay, how are you gonna 'fix' this?" Banjija asked as they sat down by the tree in the shade.

"Easy," replied Unaro.

Suddenly, the larger lion grabbed the smaller one with his paws, and before Banjija knew what was happening, Unaro had bit down hard on his head and pulled back. Banjija yelped out, feeling a surge of pain rush through the top of his scalp. He struggled, but Unaro let him go and, as Banjija turned to look at him with slightly watery eyes, he glared as he saw tuffs of his fur - including the beginning of his mane - in the lion's mouth. Unaro spit it all out.

"Yuk, ya need t' take a bath, kid," he said, snickering.

Banjija rubbed his head with his own paw as if to make sure this was true. And yes, it was. His mane was gone, and he was left with his regular coat of fur. Suddenly he felt like a cub again, and even looked like one as he stared into a near puddle. Perhaps he looked like a cub, just about to begin adolescence, but he snarled and slapped the surface with his paw, before turning to Unaro, angrily.

"What did you do?!" he hissed.

"Don't worry. It'll grow back," Unaro said casually, licking a paw with extended claws.

Banjija took an awkward step back. Even though he had truely had a mane, he was still smaller than older adolescents and adults.

"Now, ya best be quiet 'bout this. Go back and get your little friend." Unaro said, still licking his paw.

"No." stated Banjija, a little nervously.

"Look. I know you don't like that other cub." Unaro then said, looking up over his claws. "He probably gets in your way all the time, don't he? And what about the little sheela? Bet he's leavin' ya in the dirt, alone. Bet he's always gettin' a piece her if ya know what I mean." Unaro then winked.

"Gatu? Meersha? Meersha's my sister! Why would I want her? Ew!"

"Ah, well, still. If I had a sister and a male around, I wouldn't let 'em near each other. Besides, I've seen how you look at Gatu. You have hate in your eyes."

"I - what? I don't hate Gatu. I mean, he's annoying but..."

Unaro shrugged. "Right. Whatever. I was just saying...I mean, seriously, do you really want that guy with your sister?"

"What d' ya mean?"

Suddenly Banjija remembered the night he had seen Gatu pounce Meersha. Sure, he had saved her, but what was he trying to do? What was he playing at?

"Look now," Unaro then said, pointing a paw down the hill.

Banjija quietly looked down, then gasped and snarled as he saw them nuzzling each other. He began to march towards them as Unaro said, "Remember, ya didn't feel a thing with this...'procedure'."

He knew what Unaro meant, and so smirked as he came closer to Gatu and Meersha.

"But, Gatu," Meersha had said when she saw her brother walk away with the unknown rouge, up the hill. "That lion...I don't wanna trust him. He's a rouge, how can I?"

"Meersha," Gatu had said gently. "We're rouges."

She had sighed and then nodded, looking at the ground. "I know but...I just can't help thinking about what those other rouges had done to us. To the other cubs. To my dad. To my brother..."

Gatu had whispered, "To my mother..."

Meersha had then looked up to him, a tear in her eye. When he had looked back with a small, weak smile, she suddenly said, "Oh, how can you be this strong?!"

"Me? Strong?" he had asked, with a quiet chuckle. "I'm nothing but! I have one eye!"

"Which proves how strong you are," she had exclaimed.

But he had gone on. "Listen to how I stutter!...Wait," He then had paused.

"Gatu! Your stuttering! It's...gone!" Meersha had cried happily.

"I can't believe it!" he had said.

"Neither can I!"

And that's when they both had began to nuzzle, gratefully.

They looked up then. "Hey love birds," said Banjija as he came closer. There was a glint in his eyes, but they hadn't noticed.

"Banjija!" Meersha said, happily as she looked up and then jumped up as well, head butting her brother lightly and playfully. "Gatu's stuttering is gone!"

"Ah, isn't that nice," he purred in reply.

"Banjija, where's your mane?" Gatu then asked suddenly.

Meersha gasped and took a step back to look at him more carefully. Banjija smirked and took his paw to stroke his own head once.

"Gone." he answered. "If we want the meat, we have t' act like cubs...Now, Gatu. Go." he then nodded up the hill.

"How'd he do it?" asked Meersha curiously as Gatu began to nervously climb the hill.

But Banjija ignored her and turned to Gatu to yell, "I didn't feel a thing!"

When Gatu finally came to Unaro, he looked up. "How'd-?" he started to ask, when suddenly he found himself in the grasp of the older lion. Unaro was about to bite him as he did with Banjija, but Gatu struggled furiously, before sinking his teeth into Unaro's paw. "Ah!" Unaro cried in pain. He snarled and bit down on Gatu's back, drawing blood. Gatu roared out, a tone of agony in his voice. He suddenly stopped his wriggling, and Unaro moved the bite up to his head.

Down the hill, Meersha gasped. "Gatu!" she cried out, and was about to run up the knoll when her brother jumped in front of her.

"It's all right," he said quickly. "Gatu'll be fine."

"But didn't you just hear him?" asked the female, desperately.

"I think you're hearing things, sis," he said.

But Meersha pushed him out of the way and started to run.

Back at the tree, Unaro let the cub down. Gatu leapt up, snarling in pain and anger. His mane was gone now and he was left with nothing but the stinging sensation in his head and the oozing, red liquid blanketing and crusting his back. He abruptly lifted his head to glare at Unaro with his one eye.

"You!" he snarled.

Unaro shrugged and licked the same paw he had before. When Gatu pounced at him, Unaro took his giant paw and smacked the cub-lion, raking his face and leaving vertical scratches. Gatu again, cried in pain.

"I wouldn't mess with me if I were you, cub." Unaro growled lowly, getting up.

Gatu found himself shaking in anger and fright.

"Besides," Unaro then said, smirking once more. "Your little friend was the one who said you'd be OK with it."

"He what?!"

"Yup. Whatever his name is said you'd be anxious to let me rip that little waste of fur of a mane right out of your empty head. He also said you wouldn't mind if I did two more things."

"Huh?"

"One: this." Unaro then jumped the smaller lion and bit his tail, ripping out the tuff of black fur. Gatu cried out as Meersha came. She gasped.

"What are you doing?!" she screamed.

Unaro looked at her and spit out the tuff of fur, still snickering. Banjija finally came up from behind her, panting.

"I...tried..." he said, pausing in attempts to catch his breath. "to...stop...her..."

Meersha gasped again and Gatu glared at him.

"Banjija!" he growled, now stepping over to his peer.

Banjija blinked at Gatu, never having seen him like this before. Never this angry, or this...strong either. Even with the long, red scratches across his face, and the tail tuff ripped out, with the drips of blood coming from the tip of his bald tail made Banjija inwardly gulp.

Unaro suddenly began laughing, and all three cubs looked up to narrow their eyes at him.

"There was one more thing that Banjija said I got to do," he then exclaimed.

They all tilted his head as Banjija blinked with a, "Huh?"

With that, Unaro pounced Meersha. She cried out in surprise.

"I get this lil lioness," he smirked.

"What the hell?!" she snarled from under him.

But Unaro continued to lay on her, just to keep her trapped and away from the others.

"I never said you could have her!" Banjija defensively called.

Gatu began to stalk forward, the way he had seen his mother do before she had leapt on prey.

"Don't even think about it," Unaro warned, looking at Gatu now. "I was nice to you before...twice. The third time you won't be so lucky."

Gatu sat up then, frowning.

"Let my sister go!" Banjija said.

"Don't worry. I won't do anything to harm her...I promise." he said.

"What do you want then?" Gatu growled.

Unaro smirked, and Meersha's eyes widened in fright. He saw this and shook his head with a laugh. "Oh no, sheela! Not that! Ha, I can't believe you thought...Anyway," and he looked up at Banjija and Gatu. "If you don't want her harmed, then I need you two to get the meat."

Meersha was under the body of a half-adult lion, and so she could nothing but struggle...for now. Her brother and Gatu were both too small to take him on, even if there were two of them, due to their weak bodies because of malnutrition, and of course, inexperience. Finally, Gatu sighed.

"What do you want us to do?" he asked.

"I told you...go get the meat. Say you're lost cubs and ask if you can take some meat on the way back to your family. Bring it back up here to me, and you can have her back." he explained, sounding serious now.

"What do you want with her?" Banjija snarled, suddenly.

Gatu shook his head as he looked solemnly at Banjija. "C'mon," he whispered.

Finally giving in, he nodded, and they both turned around.

"But if you hurt her...!" Gatu yelled over his shoulder, but did not finish.

When they were gone, over the hill once more, Unaro let Meersha go as he stepped sideways off her. She leapt up and turned around, careful not to turn her back to him as she snarled. "What the hell do you want with me?" she hissed.

"My, your language is getting a little...off, ain't it?" Unaro said, grinning as his tail swished in the grass.

"Tell me...it's not to make cubs?" she asked, fearfully, having not been as satisfied as Unaro had hoped from his last answer.

He shook his head, frowning now, which surprised her. "Make cubs with a cub? Disgusting," he growled.

She sighed in relief. "Then what is it?"

Unaro then stood up, shook off a few twigs and blades of grass, before walking around her slowly. "No...it's not to happen yet."

"What?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.

"We must wait for it. But the explanation can come now..." He then cleared his throat and went on. "My grandmother and I travel alone, without a pride. You see, after my mother died for some unknown reason, Natira, my grandmother, took care of me. But, she is a shaman. She is one who can do the strangest things. This is what scared the pride off, away from her and I."

"I don't see where this is going," Meersha said.

"You'll see...OK, so my grandmother and I were left alone. Soon, when I was old enough to travel, we decided to go from place to place. But Natira has gotten old, and cannot hunt. I can't hunt alone, and so I am forced to find food by scavenging for us, or getting our meals this way...tricking pre-adolescent or early adolescent lions to beg all-lioness prides - like the Broken-Claw - to get me the food."

"I thought you said that Broken-Claw's one of the only prides who's willing to take cubs in...?"

"It is...or was. See, the main reason why prides don't take cubs in is 'cause the males always want to kill any cubs who aren't in their blood, right?"

Meersha sighed and looked at the ground with a grave face.

"I see you've experienced that," Unaro then said. "Anyway, Natira and I decided since this way - and scavenging - were the easiest ways to get food, so any pride we'd come to, we'd kill off the leader."

Meersha gasped, looking up. "That's terrible!"

"Natira can kill anyone if she wants. She just has to be in the right place at the right time...Anyway, she does that to every pride we pass. This way I can trick little ignorant cubs - like your brother and his friend - to get us the food. But we always must move on, for a new leader always comes, and Natira made a vow to kill only one leader for each pride we come to.

"The strange thing is, Broken-Claw is different. I don't know if it's ever had a leader, or ever will. That's why we're thinking about staying here, near the borders..."

Meersha tilted her head. "You're almost an adult. How come you stay with your grandmother? Shouldn't you have left by now?"

He shrugged. "It's not really her taking care of me...It's me taking care of her."

Meersha nodded. "But if she can kill anyone, why can't she use that to hunt?"

"Powers weaken her. That's the reason she only kills off one leader per pride. If she does it enough times in a row, though, she'll die.

"Now, to the point...You see, Natira has always had these crazy ideas about some lioness or lion, who can do something for her."

"Do something? What?"

"T' tell ya the truth, I'm not really sure. Anyway, almost every full moon, she has me get someone around your age and bring them to her. She's always said, 'That's not the one.' so I always have to take the lion back. It pisses me off!..." He paused, then grinned. "Sorry...So, t' go on...Natira thinks she's found the lioness...you."

"Me?" asked Meersha, surprised at this.

"Yes. You."

"I don't even know her!"

"She's a shaman! She can sense someone's presence up to a hundred yards! That's why she's so good at tracking...So now, tonight, I must bring you to her. If she thinks you're the one, then she'll tell you what to do."

Meersha had a horrified look on her face and Unaro laughed.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it's nothing that important...except that she's been looking for the lion about all her life...Also, I doubt it will be you. Like I said, she always says, 'That's not the one.' I assure you, it'll be the same thing with you."

But Meersha wasn't as sure about this. Her gut tightened somewhat as she gulped, and laid down in the grass, waiting for her companions to return.