"Simba!" Nala exclaimed at seeing that Simba had fallen asleep again. She nudged him, causing his eyes to flicker open. "Wake up, sleepy-head!"

"H-huh?" said Simba as he woke up, looking around with half-closed eyes. "W-what did I do?"

Nala giggled. "You didn't do anything, Simba! You just fell asleep."

He chuckled softly. "Yeah. Sorry about that. I guess I just can't help myself when I'm snuggled up with you like this."

Simba and Nala were up late at night on the edge of Pride Rock, watching the stars – a favourite pastime of theirs. They loved looking at all the shapes that could be seen amongst the twinkling stars, and enjoyed dreaming up all the different things that could be out there in the enormous universe beyond.

Needless to say, they had been cuddling each other affectionately, and this caused Simba to fall asleep in Nala's warm embrace. She thought it was rather sweet, and it caused this funny feeling she felt in her chest, and she knew it was love. Simba could look adorable when doing anything.

"I'm surprised I didn't fall asleep b efore you," Nala admitted. She smiled and rested her head on his chest – which had now fully healed from the events of the other day. "I do find it kind of sweet. You're not like anyone else I've ever met, Simba. You're sensitive."

"And that's a good thing?" he said, grinning.

Nala looked up at him and nodded. "Uh-huh. I wouldn't to be with anyone else. You're exactly like me, and that's what I love about you. We're so alike." She grinned. "And I'd kill for that tuft of yours."

Simba lightly stroked the tuft of fur on his head. "You like my tuft?" he said, feeling himself beginning to blush. It was very rare that anyone gave him a compliment like that.

"Simba, it's the most adorable thing I've ever seen," Nala told him, as she moved his paw away from his tuft and stroked it. "That's what you look like to me: adorable."

A goofy smile spread across Simba's face as he stared at Nala through half-closed eyes. "You're pretty good, too," he told her before falling onto his back, eyes closed.

Nala waved a paw in front of his face. "Simba? Simba!" She giggled. He seemed to have fainted, which only added to his cuteness. "He never ceases to amaze me," she said to herself as she rested her head on Simba's chest and closed her eyes. She happily drifted off to sleep, her dreams filled with happy thoughts about the love of her life.

She and Simba had no idea about the out of body experience they were going to have the following morning…

"So… tired…" Tojo rasped as he crawled across the jungle ground with Tama on his back, absolutely exhausted from walking for around five hours. "Need… water… Death… imminent…"

"Stop complaining, you baby!" Tama shouted. "There's only an hour left to go!"

As soon as Tama told him that, Tojo collapsed to the ground, on the brink of falling unconscious. Tama's eyes widened momentarily, before she rolled off of Tojo's back and joined him by his side, an angry look on her face.

"Tojo, get up now!" Tama ordered. "I'm warning you! I need to get to the Pride Lands by tomorrow morning!"

"I can't go any further, Tama," Tojo told her as he took some deep breaths. "I can't feel my legs. I'm gonna be sore for days."

Tama rolled her eyes. That was of no important to her. The only thing that mattered to her was getting to the Pride Lands when she wanted to! Stupid Tojo, getting tired all the time! He'd only been walking for about five and a half hours straight – what was the matter with him?

"Fine, you win this round," Tama told him. "We'll sleep here and leave for the Pride Lands first thing tomorrow morning."

She grabbed him by the throat and pulled his face to hers. "Got it, mister?"

Tojo nodded. "Yeah. First thing tomorrow morning. I'll be ready by then. Just please… don't make me carry you any more… I'm so exhausted…"

"I don't even know why I bothered making you my slave!" Tama exclaimed as she got to her paws. "I should have enslaved a big, strong lion instead! One who isn't just a pathetic cub!"

"You're a cub, too," Tojo informed her.

Tama gasped loudly, putting a paw to her mouth in shock, as if that was something she didn't know. "How could you say such a thing? I prefer to think of myself as a young, young adult."

"Same thing, really. And anyway, why do I need to carry you all the time?" Tojo complained. "Can't you use your powers to magically float to the Pride Lands or something? You know – instead of making me carry you all over the place?"

Tama frowned. "Do you listen at all when I tell you anything? I'm not the expert in magic, you know. I wasn't taught very well by my parents, considering they spent a lot of their time arguing with that Hago guy."

"I never did ask you before: what happened to your parents?" Tojo asked, curious. "You never seem to mention anything else about them, other than that they didn't train you in magic very well."

"Oh, they threw me out a long while ago," Tama replied quickly, causing Tojo to grin.

"Got tired of you after a while, did they?" he joked, still grinning. "I wouldn't be surprised."

"No!" Tama snapped angrily. "The pride I was in has very strict rules. One of them is that all cubs must leave their families when they reach a certain age in their cubhood. So one day they just literally picked me up and threw me out of the den, leaving me all on my own to fend for myself. It's lucky I have you – I'd be dead within a month, otherwise."

"You just use me, don't you?"

Tama nodded. "Uh… yeah! What was your first clue, stupid? Now have you got all of the information you needed?"

Tojo frowned in response. "So you have no control over your powers?"

"Barely. I could extend my claws right now and something totally crazy could happen to someone far away from here," Tama replied.

Tojo raised an eyebrow, unconvinced. "So if you extend your claws then something will happen to someone far away?"

Tama nodded. "Watch." Tama lifted up a paw and extended her claws for a few seconds, before returning it to the ground. "There. Somebody's probably running around burning to death right now, all because of that."

"I just hope you don't set me on fire one day," Tojo hoped.

"If you do everything I say then I won't have to," Tama said, smiling. "Now give me a massage – I'm tired from all of that walking."

Tojo's eyes widened. "But you just… And I… Oh, forget it. You'll probably rip my head off if I don't do it anyway."

Tama winked at him. "Got it in one. And don't forget – in b etween the toes this time."

Tojo gulped.