Chapter 8

The surprise visit from Bapoto and Masika opened a floodgate of questions in Molly. Promising to answer them as long as she started following him out of the Pridelands, Scar tried to think of the shortest answers possible as she trailed behind.

"Who's your brother?"

"Mufasa."

"And why is he so important?"

"My brother is King of Pride Rock, he rules the Pridelands."

"And Sarabi?"

"Mufasa's mate and leader of his hunting party." He hated the next question.

"Why aren't you living in this Pride Rock place with them?"

"I choose not to," he snapped, his voice rougher than he'd intended.

After a pause, Molly asked, "Why would they be so interested in meeting me?"

"Like the cub said, I'm known to be a loner."

Another pause, "Then why me?"

"You've already asked that."

"And you already dodged it."

Stopping, Scar looked at her, then away. Sighing, he shook his head, "I don't know."

"What?" Her tone made him look back at her; her eyes were staring at him, but they were unfocused, "You don't know?"

Shrugging, Scar frowned, "Why do you care so much?"

Baring her teeth, Molly grunted, imitating her human laugh, "I've been turned into a lion and you wonder why I care so much about the reason behind it?"

Scar sighed again and sat down. It wasn't night time yet, but the sun was already touching the horizon. They'd barely gone past the watering hole. The border of the Pridelands was a whole night away, if they ran.

"I. Don't. Know. What do you want to hear? That it was love at first sight? That I couldn't bear to go a day without you?" agitated, his tail swished violently in the grass, "So far, you've been the only other creature I've had any interest in knowing in my entire life." Snapping his teeth shut on the last part, Scar growled and stormed off into the grass. He ignored Molly's calls and further questions. They would only get him in trouble.

After a while, she quieted and simply followed him along. Stealing a glance at her once, he cursed when he saw the pleased smile on her face.

...

The sun went down.

Molly felt reborn.

Never in her life would she have expected to see anything like it, "Humans really are blind in the dark," she gasped as she stared in wonder.

Scar was standing at the top of the hill on a rock, watching her chase grasshoppers by starlight. There were no clouds, and a sliver of moon shone down. Molly saw everything as easily as if it were noon. Pouncing at another bug (and missing on purpose, of course) Molly jumped down from the hill and went tumbling through the grass. Rolling to a stop on her side and laughing, Molly stood and shook herself.

Seeing Scar at the edge of the hill, peering down at her, Molly crouched playfully. Tail swishing back and forth, she watched him. With a bored expression, he sat down.

Snorting, Molly dug her claws into the dirt and barreled up the slope at him. Surprised, Scar leapt up and dodged her, jumping past her and running headlong down the hill. Throwing up dirt with her paws as she turned herself on his tail, Molly felt exhilarated.

Chasing him across the plains, Molly felt her new body's speed and strength for the first time, and she loved it. She could do anything, catch anything. Kicking it into higher gear, Molly began gaining on Scar. Turning at a sharp angle, Scar gained ground ahead of her again and ran straight for a cliff face. Bunching his legs, he leapt to the top of the rock and spun to watch her.

Setting her jaw, Molly gathered her legs under her, feeling the muscles tense, and jumped higher than she thought possible. But it was too soon. Her jump fell short and her claws scraped stone as she slid to the ground. Slumping to her butt, she glared up at a very smug lion.

"You're pretty fast for a new lion," Scar cooed, "But no one can ever catch me."

"That a fact?"

Grinning, Scar leapt back down next to her. His green eyes seemed to be scanning her face for something. Stepping closer to her, Scar rubbed his face against hers and continued to slide down her body until his head rested against her side. Freezing, Molly let out a breath slowly and tried not to give into the urge to shiver. What the...

Gurgles came from her stomach and Scar lifted his head with, "Hmph, just as I thought. Come Molly, I think you have plenty of energy left for lesson one."

...

Scar knew it would take time to teach Molly the basics of hunting before they actually went after anything, but he needed to know exactly how hopeless she really was.

"I want to see what you can manage without me telling you anything," he explained, "There's no reason to waste time on something you don't need to be told. Your instinct should be a decent enough guide."

"My human instinct?" Molly smiled sideways at him.

Scar sighed, "It will have to do. Maybe your new body comes with new instincts."

Giving him a doubtful look, Molly said, "That's why I made the jump so easily."

Ignoring her sarcasm, Scar continued, "I want to see if you can sneak up on me."

"While you're expecting me?" she raised an eyebrow, "Unlikely."

"Like I said, I want to see what you need instruction on. If that means everything, so be it."

Rolling her eyes, Molly trotted off a few feet, "Are you gonna stay there then or is it like hide-and-seek?"

"Hide-and-seek?"

"Yeah, you hide, I-"

"I know what it is," Scar cut her off.

Snapping her teeth shut, Molly leaned a little to one side as she stared at him, waiting.

Not recognizing this body language, Scar went on, "We play it too. I didn't know humans played games like us."

"I didn't either," Molly said, smiling.

"Hide-and-seek with me will have to wait until you're a little more experienced, I think," he half-teased.

Molly snorted, "We'll see about that. I've already got skills, you teach me too well and I just might end up becoming the hide-and-seek master."

Grinning, Scar nodded his head towards the other side of the hill, "I'll be out in the open, facing away from your direction, but give me time."

"How long?"

Scar was already off, "However long you think it will take me," he called over his shoulder.

...

"Lions obviously don't have watches..." Molly sighed, and watched Scar as he ran up and over the hill. How in the world did he expect her to be able to sneak up on him? He'd been a lion all his life, she'd made the change-over that very morning. This body was unfamiliar to her. She felt she would have had better luck sneaking up on him in her loud and clumsy human form.

Starting forward after counting to one hundred, Molly trotted up the hill at a brisk pace, but slowed once she reached the top. Peering down the other side, she saw a path in the grass leading back around where they'd been headed. Making her way to the entrance, she hesitated and looked around, stretching her head up high. The grass was tall enough to obscure her sight of Scar, but his big body had made the path perfectly clear. Lowering herself so her stomach almost scraped the ground, Molly crawled forward as silently as she could. Having already learned to trust in her new sensitive ears, Molly twitched and strained them to listen for anything moving or breathing in the grass. Sniffing at the air, she was shocked to find that she could almost sense a trail leading her through the grass, straight to him. His scent filled her nose, and she slithered along the path until the grass abruptly ended and a patch of worn dirt opened up before her.

Facing away like he'd promised, Scar sat fifty feet from her. Taking a deep breath, Molly crept out of the grass and, moving painfully slow, closed the distance between them.

Not turning, or acknowledging her in any way, Scar continued to stare out at nothing, his tail curling back and forth behind him.

There was no way he'd heard her. She'd impressed herself with how quickly and quietly she'd caught up to him. Was she really going to manage to sneak up on a lion? Excitement welled up in Molly as she came within touching distance of him. Straightening, she gave an evil grin and leaned forward.

"You're not very good at this at all," Scar said.

...

Scar had heard elephants move more silently than Molly had. He'd heard her since she'd reached this side of the hill, even before she plunged into the grass. When he could clearly hear her breathing behind him, he'd learned enough about her 'skills' to assess the situation. He had a lot of work.

"What do you mean not good?" Molly demanded, "I even sniffed you out!"

Furrowing his eyebrows, Scar asked, "The path wasn't enough for you?"

"That's not-I mean... Damn it, I don't even understand how I could have done badly. I thought..." staring at her feet, she gave up trying to explain herself.

"What did you think, Molly?"

Shaking her head, she answered him anyway, "I thought I was being so quiet and clever. I wouldn't even know what to change to make myself do any better."

"I think that's why it's called learning."

Raising her eyes, Molly met his with a reluctant half-smile. Her stomach growled for food again.

"Tonight, however, lessons are over. It's time for you to eat."

...

Molly stared down at the dead zebra, its throat torn to shreds, dead eyes wide with fright. Scar was already chewing hungrily at one of its hind legs. He hadn't allowed her to watch him kill it.

"We'll see if you can eat it first. Then you can watch me kill," he'd said.

Smart lion.

Stomach roiling and warring with her brain, Molly shook her head and gasped. Lifting his head from his meal, Scar watched her intently, "Molly?"

Shaking her head harder, Molly told herself to stop looking at its face. If she just looked at something else and imagined steak... Again, the hunger pains in her gut screamed for her to take a bite. To please eat SOMETHING. Closing her eyes, she opened her mouth wide and clamped down. Blood and fur filled her mouth and even as she salivated, her gag reflex tried to reject it. Ripping off a chunk, she felt it tear and a dangling wet bit slapped against her chin like a lasagna noodle. Chewing as fast as she could, Molly swallowed and gasped for air. Opening her eyes, she found Scar watching her still. Licking her lips, she swallowed again and took another deep breath.

"Molly?" Scar asked again, "Are you alright?"

Unfortunately, she was just fine. The hunk of raw zebra settled cozily in her stomach, her mouth watering for another bite. Bending down, she said, "I don't want to talk about it right now," and took another bite.

Once she'd eaten her fill, Molly walked quite a ways off from the dead animal and Scar, who wasn't quite finished. Sitting and staring up at the stars, Molly thought on how easy it had been to devour the raw meat fresh off the bone of an animal. It had still been warm, and she'd found that only added to her craving. It bothered her, but not as much as she had expected. Maybe Scar had been right and her body had come with a few new instinctual add-ins.

The wind blew and brought Scar's scent with it. Turning her head as he came to stand beside her, she gave him a brief smile, then looked back up at the stars, "They're beautiful out here. You can't see them very well from where I live. The city lights are too bright to get a worthwhile look."

"You...can't see them at all?" Scar sounded more concerned than Molly would have expected.

"Well, kinda. I mean, we can see the really bright ones, but this is just..." she grinned at him, but he only frowned back, "What? What did I say?"

"If you can't see them...how do they watch over you?"

Furrowing her eyebrows, Molly asked, "The stars?"

"No, not just the stars," Scar looked up at the sky, "The Kings of the Past."

Staring, Molly didn't know what to say. Was this some sort of lion religion no one knew about?

"Molly," Scar's voice changed, he sounded like a kid who's realized the truth about Santa, "What do you think stars are?"

"Well, humans have been able to discover that they're suns, like ours, only they're much, much further away."

"Suns," Scar still remained fixated on the sky, "How have you discovered this?"

Uh-oh... "We... Some of our kind have gone up high, higher than the birds and clouds. We've found out a lot about what's outside our world."

His body shivered once, and the male lion whispered to himself as he lowered his head, "My father...my grandfather..."

"Scar?"

He looked at her, "I don't understand why our parents would tell us such stories...if they didn't think they were true."

"They probably did think they were true, Scar, and they still might be. There's plenty that us hoity-toity humans don't know squat about. The afterlife would be one big one. Changing someone's species would be another one," she nudged him gently and smiled.

Returning her smile, Scar asked, "When your family dies, do you believe they go to live among the stars?"

Molly smiled and nodded, then rubbed her chin against Scar's shoulder, "We're not royalty, but I think they're up there."

Chuckling, Scar asked a question that puzzled her, "Have they ever come to help you?"

Hesitating, Molly shook her head in bewilderment, "No...never."

Taking one last long stare at the sky, Scar said, "Mine neither."

...

Sooo... This one was a tough one to get through. Once again, I failed you guys by taking a long time, but unfortunately I have a reason. One of my cats passed away in a bad way right in front of me. I won't depress you with the story, besides I don't like retelling it. Needless to say, the last thing I felt inspired to do for the last two months was to write about felines... And the chapter still turned morbid, after all my attempts to steer it out of that. I guess it is what it wanted to be though, and maybe it's what I needed. I dunno...

As promised, here are my replies to you guys since last time:

A HUGE thank you to the following readers that sent such awesome comments, I love hearing from you guys!

Princess1heart1hubby, Katara Melody Cullen, Lady Minuialwen, kid23jk7, Reldor (Lol, no steamy love...yet...), Lorna Roxen, compa16, Crystal991 (Lol, wow thank you! Glad it's keeping your interest!), sandradee27, sisi-cat-chan, shadowoftheblackdeat, BrightShadowWalker (ROFL! Oh yes, I have big plans for all the numerous ways to make them both as uncomfortable as possible. Absolutely LOVE the Ghost in the Darkness idea, it's a great movie, why shouldn't they watch it? ;) Lol), foreverlostdreamer (They'll definitely meet up sooner or later, but I'm enjoying writing about just Scar and Molly too for now. Glad you're enjoying it!), sarahthepirate98, PlaguingYou'reDreams, England101 (In almost complete agreement with Scar being numero uno, I love me some Jafar from Aladdin, so they're kinda neck-and-neck... Lol, I don't think I'd react as well either), Erik-is-my-angel-1234, mystic twilight princess, Nefeli Psycho (Thanks, glad you stuck with it and that it changed your mind! ;) As far as the M rating goes, I'm not sure I could pull off a believable erotic scene between two animals...but Disney's certainly given me plenty of material to work with...), Durimu (Lol, and here I was worried my chapters were on the long side!)

Thank you again, tons of love to every last one of you!

Any other questions or comments? Ask away, I'll reply at the bottom of the next chapter. :)