Here's a fic for any of you who are interested in such things. And it's going to be about Simba! Yeah, my first fic starring Simba. Kinda strange for me, I know. But you can't not love Simba.

Also, if anybody thinks they have a good idea for a tlk fanfic, be sure to PM the idea, and if I like it, I'll put it on my 'to do' list, and eventually, I'll write it! And if you're just a guest, leave a review on any one of my stories with the idea.

Anyways, be sure to leave a review! And enjoy the fic.

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Mufasa's POV

'Find out what your idiot brother is doing.'

Mufasa snorted. Easier said than done.

He opened his mouth wide as he yawned, trotting out of the cave. Like normal, Taka was already gone, doing whatever it was he did every day. About a month ago, his father Ahadi had asked him to find out what exactly it was that Taka did every day. Mufasa had of course agreed, seeing no harm in the matter.

But he'd had exactly zero success so far. The first thing he did was go right up to Taka and simply ask him. But then Taka had gotten squirrelly, and he'd rather blatantly lied to him, and said he didn't do anything when he left. Which was rather suspicious in itself. Obviously he had to do something. Doing nothing was physically impossible.

Well, actually he'd have to ask Taka about that one…. he was smarter than him. He would know if it was possible for someone to do nothing.

In any case, he was sure Taka would never tell him where he was going. Not on purpose, anyways. His next idea was the second most obvious there was. To follow Taka to where he went, and observe him.

But complications arose quickly with that idea as well. The first time he tried it, he followed them from a very long way off, as far as he dared to do so without completely losing sight of them. He went after them all the way to the border, where there stood a great big hill.

Every day that rouge, Simba, and his brother Taka, and sometimes even Sarafina walked over that hill and down the other side. Since he was attempting not to be seen, Mufasa couldn't follow them too closely. Every day he waited a few minutes before going up to the too of the hill himself, and when he looked down at the other side, they were always gone.

No, really! It was like they disappeared into thin air! Even their scents! At the bottom of the hill by the border their scent stopped at a mud pit. He would follow their scent right up to that mud, but past it he had absolutely no clue where they could have gone. It was rather obvious they must have rolled in the mud to mask their scents…

But why?

He had ran up and down the border as quick as he could each time, in an effort to try to catch up to them wherever they could have gone. He never caught scent or sight of them, again, they had disappeared! They couldn't have gone back the way they came… he would have seen them. And the only thing past the border was the Elephant Graveyard, lying in its eternal shadow. He couldn't have gone across the border, he had to have gone to the side. But Mufasa had zero luck finding out which way.

And so for the past month he had been thouroughly stumped. Sarafina had said nothing when he had asked her where she sometimes went with Taka and Simba, and she hadn't said anything to Sarabi either. He'd even attempted to speak to the rouge, despite the feeling of… strangeness he'd gotten from him. Every time he spoke to Simba, Simba would always give him a sort of calculated look, as if he was searching his soul.

Sarabi had also mentioned that Simba sounded like a absolutely wonderful name. To which of course Mufasa had scoffed at her, Simba's name was completely moronic. What idiot would actually name their own son Simba? The name meant lion for crying out loud! It was just redundant.

But other than the discovery of Sarabi's affection for the name, nothing interesting had turned up in the past month. And so Mufasa again found himself performing his daily ritual, the ritual of following Taka, or in this case his scent, and watching him disappear to who the heck knows where.

He sighed as he trotted up a hill on the open savannah. He would so much rather be hunting! Or doing something exciting with Sarabi! Or simply talking to her rather than trying to fulfill his father's pointless and completely unnecessary quest to find out what Taka did with his day.

Who cared what Taka did for fun? He was sure it was harmless, what could Taka ever do that would actually hurt anyone? Ahadi disliked Taka because he was weak, but it wasn't like Taka would ever hurt anyone, for that reason alone. Mufasa rolled his eyes as he reached the top of a hill, and looked down the other side, expecting to see what he saw every day: absolutely nothing.

Instead, he saw his brother Taka sitting underneath a tree, down at the bottom of the hill. He raised his eyebrow, squinting down at his brother. He could see Taka smiling happily from here…. and he was talking to someone…. but whom? He couldn't see anyone else with him…

Wait, no, there was another animal as well…. it had been sitting behind the tree. And… another animal? Wait, at least three animals he hadn't seen right away. They were smaller than Taka, and had grey fur. They were talking to him… Taka opened his mouth to laugh. He certainly seemed to be enjoying himself.

But who were those other animals? It wasn't a species he recognized. Not at all, they were…. small. Grey fur… hunched backs… black paws…

He tried to think. He'd heard that description somewhere before… from his father. Ahadi had told him all about a certain creature. What was it called? He looked back down at Taka and the animals, trying to jar loose his memory.

Hold on!

They were- hyenas!

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Taka's POV

Taka and sat in the savannah by the border, waiting for the hyenas to show up. They had agreed yesterday to meet here in the Pridelands, and so he was here. Simba had gotten bored and left to go find some food, with Taka agreeing to stay here until Shenzi and the rest showed up.

As he sat there, he heard a rustling behind him in the grass. Turning around, he saw three hyenas jump out of the underbrush, and bare their teeth at him, growling. Taka jumped back, his eyes wide from surprise.

"What's the matter Taka? Don't tell us we really scared you that time?" Asked one of the hyenas suddenly. All three of them stopped growling, and sat down with amused expressions on their faces.

"Wait a minute, It's you guys! I thought it were someone else." Chuckled Taka, grinning at his friends.

"So, we got you!" Replied Banzai, his face alight with glee. Of course Banzai would be the one to take the most pleasure out of scaring him.

"Huh. Well, that's still only once." Responded Taka, slightly miffed.

"Even so! I'm never going to let you forget it!" Said Shenzi, grinning playfully. Taka couldn't help but return the smile. The hyenas were always there for him. Ed jumped up and down, letting out that creepy trademark laugh of his. Banzai turned to him, and asked him what was up.

"What is it Ed?" Said Banzai. In response, Ed only laughed some more. Banzai listened a bit, then turned back to Shenzi and Taka. "He says wants a race!" Declared Banzai.

"A race?" Asked Taka.

"Yeah, sure! I'm up for a race!" Agreed Shenzi happily. She marched past Taka and proceeded to point out the markers. "How about from here to that tree?" She asked, pointing her paw at the nearest shady spot.

"That seems fair to me!" Added Banzai.

"Okay then. Get ready to be beaten!" Declared Taka, as he turned to face the tree in question. Banzai and Ed hopped over to get into position. Taka reviewed his opponents. He had a clear advantage, what with the longer legs. Hyenas were just... shorter.

"Right! On the count of three! Two! One….. Go!" Yelled Shenzi, beginning the race.

Taka burst ahead, sprinting, toward his goal. He smugly glanced back, watching the hyenas start to fall behind. This would be a done deal in no time. However, Shenzi wouldn't let the race go so easily. When Tala turned back to look forward, she jumped up, and landed on his back. Taka felt the impact, and he stumbled a bit, but kept going.

Shenzi lightly dug her claws into Taka's back, just enough to keep herself from falling off. Taka grunted as he tried to shake her off, and still maintain his speed.

As he neared the tree, he felt Shenzi adjust, as if preparing to jump off. So that was her plan! Instead, as Taka neared the tree, he very quickly turned sideways, throwing the hyena off his back.

He felt Shenzi go airborne, and he saw her land in the grass with a thump. Smirking triumphantly, he turned back around to continue the race. Then, Banzai ran past him quicker than he could have thought possible! Before he could regain his speed, Banzai ran up to the tree and touched it with his claws.

"Hey… Did Banzai just win?" Asked Shenzi in wonder, as she, Taka, and Ed walked up to the victorious hyena.

"Yup! You all had better believe it!" Grinned Banzai, as he danced around the wood.

"I say it was lucky." Said Taka, as he sat down next to the celebrating hyena.

"Luck? How about skill?" Replied Banzai, his eyebrows cocked.

"Banzai, your only skill is skill in eating." Replied Shenzi.

"You know, that still counts." Said Banzai, as he finished up his victory.

"It does take a prodigious amount of skill to be able to cram the entire haunch of a wildebeest into your mouth." Said Taka, smirking.

"Exactly. I'm glad someone agrees." Said Banzai. The four of them sat down in the tree's shade, suddenly silent. Taka rolled over onto his back, sighing contentedly.

"I'm glad you three are my friends." He grinned.

"Heh. It's kinda strange, when you think about it. A lion and some hyenas, and they're the best of friends." Shrugged Shenzi.

"Hey, we're only mortal enemies because of something that happened generations ago. And whatever it was exactly doesn't matter anymore. It's not like we have to be enemies…. it's just Ahadi and tradition that says so." Replied Taka.

"Well… you broke tradition then." Added Banzai.

"Yeah." Nodded Taka.

"Then…. when you're all grown up, and Ahadi is dead and your brother is the king…. could you….. try to let us back in the Pridelands?" Asked Shenzi, turning to face Taka. Taka frowned.

"Well…. Muffy is pretty reasonable… and he doesn't hate me. I'll probably be able to convince him." Nodded Taka. "At least give you some of the border, you know? So you guys can feed yourselves."

Shenzi smiled. "Thanks Taka. It's nice knowing you'll at least try."

"Of course I'm going to try! I'm not going to let my only friends down." Replied Taka, grinning. "It's an atrocity you can't feed yourselves. Trust me, I'm going to fix that eventually."

"I should hope so!" Agreed Banzai. "But more importantly, where's lunch?"

"Lunch? Simba went to go get some." Replied Taka. "He should be back soon."

"How soon is soon?" Asked Banzai gruffly. "I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry!" Grinned Taka, standing back up. He shook the dirt off of his fur, his dark mane bristling around him. He looked around, scanning the surrounding hills for any sign if Simba, hopefully returning with something to eat.

"Hey, is that him?" Asked Banzai, pointing up at one of the hills. Taka followed his paw to see a red lion standing atop one of the hills a little ways from them, barely in view. He narrowed his eyes, trying to recognize him.

Then he gulped.

"That's-! That's Mufasa!" He exclaimed, as he saw his brother turn around and begin to run away. A thrill of fear shot through him, as he instinctively took off after him. The hyenas looked at each other, but didn't move.

"Taka! What did you say?" Shouted Shenzi, calling after him. Taka ignored her, he had to catch up to his brother! He had seen him with the hyenas, this wasn't happening, this wasn't happening!

"Muffy! Wait!" He shouted, but he wasn't even sure his brother could hear him! He reached the top of the hill, to see Mufasa was already at the bottom, still out of earshot. "Wait!" He shouted. He took off down the hill, his paws pounding against the dirt beneath him.

But Mufasa didn't stop. Taka sped up, trying to increase his speed. He had to catch him, he had to catch him! He dug his claws into the ground for each step, bounding across the grass, running faster than he ever had in his life. He had to catch up, he just had to!

He couldn't let Muffy tell anyone!

Then, as he jumped over a small pile of rocks, one of his front paws caught on a rock. He very abruptly stopped in mid air, and felt pain shoot up his leg as he flipped forward onto his back. In the space of only a second, he hit the rocks below him, and he hit them hard.

He let out a cry of pain as he thudded into the stones. He laid there for a moment, immediately bringing his paw up in front him to see if anything was injured. His paw throbbed, but nothing looked out of order.

Groaning, he rolled over to his legs, bruised all along his back. He felt dazed, he hadn't had the air knocked out of him since Shenzi had pushed him into that hole…

"Taka! What the heck are you doing, what is this?" Asked Shenzi, skidding to a stop next to the rock pile, having just ran down the hill after him. Taka looked at her with a panicked expression.

"We're screwed….." He whispered

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Mufasa's POV

Mufasa padded up to the top of Pride Rock, feeling out of breath.

There were hyenas! In the Pridelands! And Taka was with them, he was talking to them! What the heck was that? Why the heck was that? It didn't make any sense, Hyenas were a bunch of filthy murdering bastards, why was Taka speaking to them and smiling?

He trotted into the cave, feeling anxious. He needed to tell someone about this, and he knew exactly who. Walking up to Ahadi as he ate his lunch, he took a deep breath.

"Dad? There's something I need to tell you…."

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Okay, great. There's that. But there's something I gotta ask you all.

Do you think this chapter moved the pace forward too quickly? I mean, like I'm hurrying the story up, kinda launching into things? I think I am, but you guys are the ones reading it so do tell me… if I am, I'll put a chapter in between these two, to serve as filler.