Chapter Six: The Bath

As the cubs continued to sit and converse, Simba began to moan.

"Nala, the pain's getting worse."

"How bad is it?"

"We might have to go see Rafiki. But not right now. I want to go when it's nighttime."

Nala raised an eyebrow in confusion, curious as to why her friend would not go to the doctor immediately.

"Oh…I think I need a hug," Simba moaned as he rolled around slowly on his back. Nala complied, and began licking the spot where Simba had been hit.

A smile crossed Simba's face, and this did not go unnoticed by the others. Chumvi jabbed Tojo in the ribs, smiling knowingly, while Mheetu watched with a small smile of his own.

My plan is coming to fruition, he realized. Slowly, but surely, things like this will only become more frequent, and pretty soon they'll be betrothed. Then my future position is assured! After that, Vitani and I can begin our reign of terror across the savannah!

Nala eventually stopped licking, and smiled seductively. "Feeling better?" she asked in a knowing tone.

"Of course," Simba smiled.

Her tone reverted back to being serious and concerned. "Do you wanna walk around some?"

"Yeah, I think I will," Simba decided as he got up. He walked around in a confident, kingly manner, causing the others to giggle uncontrollably.

"What?" Simba asked, his head cocked to one side?

"Oh, nothing," Chumvi smiled as his paw covered his face.

"Okay, I get it," Simba frowned. "You all think I'm acting like a king too early."

"Might as well do it now," cackled a familiar voice. The cubs turned to watch Vitani crawl out of the bushes, with Nuka trotting behind her.

"Who knows," Vitani continued, "you might never get the chance to be king! After that whole thing at the Elephant Graveyard, I bet you'll get yourself in some other deadly adventure some time. I know you too well, cousin. That urge for adventure won't leave you. It'll come back, and you'll wander off to some other place where you aren't supposed to go, and you might get yourself killed. Wouldn't that be hilarious? Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

"You're a psycho, Vitani!" Nala spat. "I don't get how Simba could possibly be related to someone like you."

"Who asked you, pretty princess?" Vitani asked mockingly. "Enough of you, you insolent little mite. C'mon Nuka, let's help Simba have some real fun."

She then pounced at Simba, who just barely jumped out of the way. Knowing Vitani would not stop there, he ran as quickly as he could from his deranged cousins. He rushed through the open savannah into the brush, Nuka and Vitani hot on his heels.

He skidded to a halt when he came across a gigantic mud puddle, and as he turned to look behind him, Vitani and Nuka leapt at him, causing the golden prince to tumble into the muck.

"Oh, is little Simba all covered in mud?" Vitani sang in her cruelest voice. "The poor little prince will probably be grounded for not being presentable."

Two round eyes suddenly appeared from the mud, and a mud-covered Simba sprang out of the mire and ran past Nuka and Vitani. The female cub tore two large leaves from a nearby plant and shoved them in Nuka's paws before pursuing her slime-adorned cousin. Nuka placed the leaves in his mouth before running after her.

Simba was back out in the open, continuously looking behind his shoulder to see if Nuka and Vitani were still after him.

As the other cubs observed the scenario, Mheetu remarked, "You know, he looks a lot like Chumvi right now."

"Hey!" Chumvi shouted, rather offended by Mheetu's unflattering comment.

"That wasn't very nice, Mheetu," Nala scolded her brother.

"Since when have I ever been nice?" Mheetu smiled in a self-satisfied manner.

Nala had nothing to say in response.

By the time Simba stopped running, he was less than a foot away from the edge of the waterhole. The cubs at the other side were staring at him, absolutely speechless. Some of them were stifling laughter.

"You wouldn't be acting like this if it was Dad!" he shouted across the waterhole.

After hearing a loud crash, Simba turned around to behold Vitani leaping at him with unparalleled strength and ferocity, with an utterly depraved smile on her face. Simba widened his eyes. Only now did he realize what her plan had been all along. She landed right on him and both cubs tumbled straight into the waterhole.

Nuka bounced along, still holding the leaves in his mouth, as Vitani and Simba emerged from the water. Simba was still covered in mud, though some of it had washed off, and Nuka handed Vitani one of the large leaves before she pinned Simba to the shallow bottom of the waterhole.

Simba began kicking and squirming as Vitani began scrubbing Simba with the leaf, roughly and without any care or concern for his comfort. She smiled demonically as Simba kicked and splashed everywhere.

"HEEELLLP! HEEELLLP! Somebody help me! AAAAAHH!"

Simba's next words were nothing more than gurgling sounds as he swallowed the nearby water. Vitani continued to ferociously scrub him, clearly enjoying his agony.

As Nala and the others watched, she felt very sorry for her golden friend.

I know he hates baths even though he should take them, she mused, but this is cruel! She's only doing it because he hates it so much. That was probably her plan all along. Get him all muddy, then bathe him like this and humiliate him in front of all those other cubs!

Without another word, Nala ran at top speed towards Vitani, knocking her off of her feet and sending both girls into the water. A soaking, but clean, Simba sped out of the waterhole as fast as he could.

After shaking himself dry, Simba turned and watched the two girls rolling and tumbling in the water. Vitani sunk her fangs into Nala's neck, causing her to cry out in pain, before she retaliated by scratching Vitani's cheek.

Nala then leapt out of the waterhole after Simba, and as she turned around, Vitani snarled at them.

"Okay, you wanna fight? Well, we'll fight!"

Well, that was rather intense, wasn't it? Vitani's quite the master planner, isn't she? She succeeded in humiliating Simba in front of a whole bunch of cubs, and that will definitely have repercussions through the next several stories. I'm glad I don't have cousins like that. And what about Choyo? Hmm, he probably won't be too important in the future…

At any rate, the final chapter may be up either tomorrow or Thursday. See you then!