Chapter 2: The Only Option

Well, thank you for the reviews and criticisms, they are greatly appreciated! And look it's only been three days, hooray, and so far my fastest update! Well, make sure to enjoy the twisted plot and don't forget to comment! :) (P.S. - I try to make my chapters lengthy, but I'm so rushed by life it seems longer than it really is!)

Simba/Nala

After the confrontation and Nala's orders for Kiara to go cool off at the waterhole for a while, Simba and Nala took time to converse in the cool shade of the cave while the afternoon sun streamed in from behind.

"Nala, I don't know what I'm going to do with Kiara, she rejects chosen males like it's poisoned antelope!" Simba sighed, pacing the den. "There aren't enough males in the world for Kiara to choose, so looking further would be impossible!"

"Simba, first of all, why don't you let Kiara pick a mate that she truly loves? She can't reject on someone she loves? Look at your son, Tanabi plays with her, he accompanies her, he loves her like a brother should. Let her choose someone who will do that." Nala inquired, taking a breath. "Besides, you need to be looking into a mate for Tanabi anyways. He's older, destined to be King, so choose a wife for him and stop worrying about Kiara!"

"Nala, Tanabi has to pick a female from our pride, it's the law, besides the females are too old or too young for Tanabi! Second, Kiara has to be betrothed to a male, hand-picked by the parents!" Simba roared.

"Why can't you bend the rules, you did when you spent time with Timon and Pumbaa! What happened to that?" Nala roared back, bewildered.

Simba started to growl, but stopped. He started to remember a time….. where things were different….a time when his son actually spent a full day with him…..and he had told a story on the summit.

~FLASHBACK~

"Dad, Dad, wake up! You promised we would be on the summit today!" A young Tanabi begged, inside the dark sleeping cave, where many lions were trying to ignore his pleas.

"Okay, okay, I'm up!" Simba got up on all fours, yawning. This was totally déjà vu, he thought.

Tanabi ran out of the cave just in time to see the magnificent bright orange-pink sun rising above the horizon.

"Wow! Look at the pretty colors, Dad!" Tanabi exclaimed, beckoning his father to watch.

"Yes, I know Tanabi. Remember my speech?" Simba yawned, concentrating on his son.

"Okay, fine, I'll race ya to the top!" Tanabi laughed and started to ascend up Pride Rock at a high speed.

Simba tried to keep up, but his legs and all of his muscles started to ache, and he roared, "TANABI! (pant), WAIT UP!"

Tanabi obediently slowed to a walking pace, and by the time father and son reached the summit, Simba was eternally exhausted to the point of collapsing.

"Daddy, I'm sorry for running, are you okay?" Tanabi asked, looking down at the ground with guilt.

Simba noticed the guilt in his son's face and decided to start his story.

"Tanabi, pay attention now, I'm going to start." Simba stated.

Tanabi snapped back to attention and respectively sat by his father's side, listening.

"Now then, let me start from my beginning as a happy, go-lucky prince, just like you." Simba smiled, laughing at his own statement. "Now seriously, Once upon a time, just in this same place, my father showed me the borders of the Pridelands. I was very confused, but later it would teach me a lesson. Now, do you remember the stories of your (not so) great-uncle Scar?"

"Yes, father." Tanabi responded, looking around at the gorgeous waving grass savannah down below.

Then to his right, he saw a shadowy, condemned place, which now is called "The Elephant Graveyard". He had heard tales of this story before. Tanabi remembered hearing endless hints from his father about this, but not very descriptive like this speech was going to be.

"Well, he 'tested' my bravery by tricking Nala and I by going into the Elephant Graveyard. Scar thought the hyenas would instantly tear your mom and me apart, but my father came right after we got trapped at the end of the tunnel. He roared, making the hyenas tremble and scatter, and punished both of us." Simba sighed, recalling the experience.

"Wow…" Tanabi breathed, imagining the situation. "What happened then?"

"Well then… Scar told me he had a surprise for me, so I told Nala I would be right back, but then he triggered the wildebeest trap which killed my dad…." Simba looked down, trying his hardest not to sob in front of his son.

Tanabi immediately comforted his father, saying, "It's alright daddy, I understand."

Tanabi hated when his dad got emotional. It was like a big, dark cloud had overpowered his mind and forced depression.

Simba sucked in a big rush of air and let it out, continuing.

"So, it killed him, and Scar exiled me, which led to my meeting with Timon and Pumbaa. I stayed there until I was a very young adult, and then Nala found me again. We defeated Scar, and reclaimed the rightful ownership of the throne." Samba finished.

"Oh, that sounds cool. How did we get in the picture again?" Tanabi inquired.

"I…. uh….will tell you when you're older…" Simba trailed, looking away.

"Oh, before I forget, daddy, I have a question, another one." Tanabi responded, looking up into his father's eyes.

"Yes, Tanabi?" Simba asked, sitting down on the stony ground.

"How do I be nice to Kiara?" Tanabi asked innocently, smiling.

"What, did you do something to her that I don't know about?" Simba asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, just asking since you didn't have siblings." Tanabi giggled.

"Just be sensitive towards one another, and most importantly, have a sense of caring and help each other in any situation." Simba answered, looking at the sun's position in the sky.

"Oh okay, are we done, daddy?" Tanabi asked.

"For today, yes. Your mother and I have to talk." Simba responded.

"Again?" Tanabi sighed on the way down Pride Rock.

"Well when you find the right mate, you'll want to spend more time with her, like I spent time with you." Simba explained in the proper manner.

"Okay, fine." Tanabi pouted. "But we'll still have fun together, right?" Tanabi smiled mischievously up at his father.

"Right!" his father pushed Tanabi down with his massive paw, playfully.

The son and father then descended onto the ground, and went off to their daily routines.

~END OF FLASHBACK~

"Have a sense of caring…..help each other in any situation…..spend time with each other…. it's crazy but it just might work…" Simba thought while Nala tried to get him out of hell's longest hallucination.

"Simba! You better fricking get up before I go to the watering hole to get a mouthful of water!" Nala threatened, nudging his midsection.

"Huh, wait, huh?" Simba babbled, looking in each and every direction.

"What were you doing? Daytime sleep-walking? You were like that with your eyes open wide for at least an hour!" Nala yelled, confused at the sudden transition.

"I was reminiscing, and have our final option that might actually work!" Simba exclaimed, giving Nala a bewildered expression.

"So, are you going to actually tell me, or keep babbling about your flashbacks?" Nala groaned, rolling her eyes.

"Well…" Simba started, and then whispered his idea in his mate's ear.

Nala eyes got wide and began to tremble; she was shell-shocked, and looked like someone told her a scary bedtime story.

"ARE YOU INSANE!" she screamed making Simba sorry he brought up the concept. "Our Pride will get guffawed at AND scorned at, if we decide to interbreed our children!"

"What else can we do?" Simba shivered, trying to back away from Nala's nervous wrath.

She sighed. She wasn't the answering type, so she said, "We'll tell them, but I certainly don't think it will work."

Tanabi/Kiara

While the commotion was at hand in the sleeping den, Tanabi and Kiara were cooling off at the waterhole as instructed. Both were floating lazily in the cool aquamarine water, and no eye contact was made. Tanabi then sighed, and dove underwater, looking at all the multicolored fish that were swept from the river. Surfacing, he went on dry land and shook his fur and his auburn mane dry. Kiara looked up to see Tanabi lying down on the dry savannah grass, thinking, as usual.

"Why does he think a lot, it seems endlessly boring." Kiara thought as she got on land, shook his fur, and laid down next to her brother who had a depressed expression upon his face.

"What's the matter, 'Nabi? Cat got your tongue?" she asked, concerned.

"No, just very disappointed at dad." Tanabi sighed, reminiscing.

"Why, did he tell something that made you upset? I know he made me upset, the nerve of him to pick more freak delegates for my approval!" Kiara growled, and then sighed.

"No, it's something that he forgot to tell me and a promise that probably is expired for him." He sighed, concentrating his grieved emerald eyes on the ground.

"What, the talk?" she asked, confused. "Mom told me all about that at least a week ago, and the facts were nasty."

"You got it?" Tanabi cocked an eyebrow at her, bewildered. "I never got any information on that, besides, dad hasn't gotten around to picking a mate for me yet."

"I'm sure it'll come naturally, besides, the girl talk is probably worse than the boy talk." She shivered, thinking again.

"Kiara, besides me not going to have a mate yet, how come you're rejecting males right and left?" Tanabi inquired, wanting to know the truth.

"Well, most of them are mean, and probably blow all their steam on me if I try to speak." She shuddered, recalling the Adani experience. "Others can't speak 5 words without getting nervous or troublesome in their voice."

"Oh, I remember that freak; he tried to do it to ya right on the spot!" Tanabi growled, remembering the forced, threatened words.

"Never want to have a mate like that." She stated, and that was removed from the conversation's standing point.

"Anyway, the future looks bleak unless interbreeding is an option, or mom and dad have another child that can actually get a mate." Tanabi laughed, joking around.

"Eww, you pervert, don't think that will solve our problems! Remember that cub that was born with blindless and two missing legs? He had to be put out of his misery because it was cursed by the shaman, the poor thing!" Kiara pointed out, shuddering.

"Oh come on, Kiara, we wrestle! 'It' just requires more…" Tanabi started, laughing.

"You are sick, brother." Kiara groaned, rolling her eyes. "If mom and dad found out what you were thinking…"

Suddenly, they heard a yell from Pride Rock, and it heard just like their mother.

"Uh oh, we better check to see what's wrong….." Tanabi trailed.

The two lions took off, and arrived just in time to see their parents at the base of the rock, faces all serious.

"You have something to tell us don't you?" Kiara sighed.

"A lot, and Tanabi, I owe you something too." Simba look directly at Tanabi's gaze and Tanabi knew exactly what he was talking about.

The two teens gulped and separated with Simba and Tanabi on a different side of the cave, while Nala and Kiara waited in the main sleeping cave, not knowing what was to come….

There you have it, the second chapter. The rating may be upped, but no guarantee. The next chapter includes the birds and the bees talk, for men. If you female reviewers are offended, skip to the bottom of the chapter. Review! :) (Word Count: 1,980)

-PrinceTanabi (Jonathan)