"Did I just hear you right?" Tojo asked, not believing for a second what Tama had just told him. It was impossible. It was illogical. It was stupid. But he really, really, really wished it were true.

Not that it would be true, of course. Tojo was just hearing things. Tama never really said anything to him. His crazy mind had gone into overtime, and now he was just imagining happy scenarios where he didn't have to suffer day in, day out. There was no way Tama had told him that he—

"Tojo, I don't want you to be my slave anymore," Tama repeated. "Can it make it sound any clearer than that? Do you want me to shout and scream at the top of my voice so everyone in the kingdom can hear?"

"No, no, no," Tojo replied, holding his paws up. "It's just that this is… a little crazy. Actually, it's more than that – it's insane. Did you wake up one morning to find yourself with someone else's brain? Someone who actually had a little bit of sympathy for me? Or are you ill? Do you have a temperature?" Tojo put a paw on Tama's forehead, narrowing his eyes.

Tama pushed his paw away, frowning. "Tojo, I'm not ill, and I haven't gone crazy either. I've decided that you are no longer my slave. I am freeing you."

Tojo's eyes widened when he realised that Tama really meant it. Sure, it was crazy and unnatural for her, but he was free now! He could do whatever he wanted to!

"But… why?" Tojo asked, confused as to why Tama was suddenly deciding to free him. "Why would you want to free me? I thought you were going to make me be your slave for ever?"

"I've decided against it," Tama told him. "After all, you're of no use to me as a slave. I make you do far too much work for me. Now that I've freed you, we can be partners together."

Tojo raised an eyebrow. "Partners?" he exclaimed. "Now, what exactly do you mean by 'partners'? Is that just your fancy way of saying 'extreme slavery'?"

Tama shook her head. "No, no, no. Don't be so stupid, Tojo. I've decided that if we become partners then I'll stand a better chance of making Simba my boyfriend. Don't you think so too, Tojo?"

"Let me get this straight: you have now made us both equal, so we can work together to make the Prince your boyfriend?" Tojo considered arguing against that for a moment, but instead shrugged, not really caring. "Beats carrying you around the place and massaging your paws, I guess."

"That's the idea," said Tama, nodding. "Think of what we can achieve by working together! First, I'll make Simba my boyfriend, then I'll become Queen of the Pride Lands, and then I shall enslave the world!" Tama laughed evilly at the top of her voice.

"I lost you at that whole 'enslaving the world' part," Tojo told her, collapsing onto his back and looking up at the bright blue sky. "Somehow I think that two cubs like you and me will find that difficult to achieve."

"Okay, okay, so I was kidding about enslaving the world," Tama said, as she lay beside Tojo. "But I can still make myself the Queen. I'll be the most powerful Queen the Pride Lands has ever seen!"

"So, if – and I will repeat that word – if,you do become the future Queen, what will that make me?" Tojo asked. There had better be some kind of reward in this for him, or this was going to be a very disappointing partnership.

"Oh, I don't know, the jester or something," Tama replied quickly, not really concerned about such trivial matters.

"The jester?" Tojo exclaimed in surprise, before frowning. "Gee, thanks, Tama. That's what I always wanted. You have the purest heart in the world."

"I know," Tama agreed, not picking up on Tojo's sarcasm. "I'm just a very nice person, aren't I?"

Tojo sighed. "Yes, Tama. You're very nice. I'm proud to be your new partner," he said sarcastically, only earning a wide grin from Tama. "So, what's the first job in this… 'partnership'?"

"Oh, I don't know," Tama answered, rolling onto her stomach and looking around the field they were in. "I haven't really thought of anything yet. All I was concentrating today on was making you my new partner."

Tojo closed his eyes. "Oh, well. If there's no work to be done then I'm happy. I'll just take a nap for a few hours. We were up pretty late last night."

"Tojo, tell me a bedtime story," Tama instructed. "Preferably one filled with lots of death, and horrible things happening to nice people."

"Bedtime story?" said Tojo. "It's the middle of the afternoon, Tama. Wouldn't a bedtime story be more appropriate for… well, bedtime?"

"Don't be silly," Tama replied. "Now get on with the story."

"I don't have to follow your orders anymore, Tama," Tojo reminded her. "You can't boss me around like you used to."

"I'm not ordering, I'm requesting. Come on, Tojo. Just a quick little story to help me get some sleep."

Tojo rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine. I'll tell you a story." Tojo cleared his throat. "Once upon a time there was a cub called Tama, and she killed everyone in the entire world. The end. There we go. Nighty night." Tojo closed his eyes immediately, and tried to get to sleep.

"Tojo, that's not a proper story!" Tama argued. "Although it was nice of you to include me as the main character, but that's not the point! Tell me a proper story!"

All she got in reply from Tojo were a few snores. He had fallen asleep already! "Tojo? Tojo! You wake up right now, mister, or I'll… do something. Yeah! What do you think about that, huh?"

Tojo didn't say a word, and continued to sleep. Tama sighed, and lay beside him again.

The relationship Tama and Tojo had was a funny one, that was for sure. No one could really tell what they saw each other as. Were they enemies, or friends, or acquaintances? No one really knew. At times Tama seemed to really like Tojo, but then at other times she seemed to despise him more than anything else in existence. It really was crazy.

So what was the real reason Tama told Tojo that he was no longer her slave? Well, it was because she felt sorry for him. Really sorry. There was a time when she wouldn't feel sorry for anyone or anything, but that felt like a long time ago now.

A few days ago, she realised that she had been really horrible to Tojo. She'd treated him like a piece of dirt, and she slowly came to realise that she shouldn't have done that to someone as nice as him. He didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve any of it. The poor guy shouldn't have even been her slave in the first place. They could have been good friends together. Great friends! But instead, she'd decided to take advantage of how sensitive and exploitable he was. That more or less made her a monster.

Tama decided the logical thing to do would be to make Tojo her partner. That more or less made them proper friends now. That sounded good to Tama. She was right – they could accomplish a lot together.

Nothing more than friends, Tama assured herself. Not even that – partners. I don't want things getting complicated.

Of course, her feelings were always going to win over her mind, no matter what she told herself.