Chapter 3: Verba hac nocte
Kuhisha awoke in the middle of the night. Realising where he was ,he let out an annoyed grunt and looked over at Simba who was snoozing peacefully.
Then he looked around for Igunya. His eyes gazed her blocking the entrance with her sleeping body.
It was a weird feeling for Kuhisha to be here without any of his gang members or his mom.
He felt an odd loneliness. A loneliness that would normally not rear it's confusing head but now it was here and he wasn't sure what to do about it.
Normally he was surrounded by either his mom, who showed all the maternal love a mother could offer, or his friends who respected his
natural aura as a leader, a role that had helped him mask some insecurities. He felt reassured because he felt appreciated.
Right now though, he felt lonely.
Agunya didn't hate him but Kuhisha knew that at the same time she was here because she was either ordered to or because she volunteered.
Not someone who appreciated him, at least not to the degree he was used to.
Then there was Simba. The prince of the pridelands , that arrogant little... He didn't bother finishing that thought.
It basically would only spell out what he already knew. He didn't like Simba and due to what had happened ,Simba didn't like him.
He looked up at the stars and the cosmic eternity looked back at him, as if it was asking "Now what ?".
He knew that it would take some time for him to fall back asleep.
As a very social cub being surrounded by other lions helped him to relax and drift of into sleep easily. Sometimes it helped if he had someone to talk to.
He sighed yet again, realising that his options were thin. Then he made a descission.
"Wake up, damn it"
These whispered words rang into Simbas ears.
He slowly awoke, a yet not very clear defined figure standing above him.
"Nala ?" He asked, barely awake.
"Do I sound like a f*****g girl to you ?" Asked the figure which was now becoming clearer in Simbas vision.
"Kuhisha ? F**k of and let me sleep you c**t , I'm too tired for your s**t right now." Simba responded.
"I just wanna talk. I swear I'm not gonna make fun of you for the duration of this conversation." Kuhisha assured.
"Why?" Asked Simba , still disgruntled.
"It helps me sleep" Responded the older cub.
"Good for you but I'm normally awake when I talk, so though luck" Said Simba turning to the other side.
" Please Simba, just a bit of chit-chat, it doesn't have to be long." Said Kuhisha. Simba was suddenly wide awake.
"Did you just say please to me" He asked genuinely confused.
"Well, yeah" Said Kuhisha, unsure of what to make of this.
Simba gave an evil grin. "Could you repeat that, but put 'your majesty' at the end of the sentence?"
Now it dawned on Kuhisha what Simba was on about. "Seriously? " He asked.
"It's up to you Kuhisha. I am awfully tired but you could at least make it worth my while." Simba said retaining his grin.
Kuhisha sighed once more and said. " Please Simba , just a bit of chit-chat, it doesn't have to be long your majesty."
Simba chuckled. "Alright, that's enough for now. What do you wanna talk about ?"
"Nothing in particular" Said Kuhisha as he sat down next to Simba. "talking just relaxes me. Ask me a question or some dumb s**t"
Simba thought about it for a second. He could go for a cheap shot and just p*** Kuhisha of, or... " Why do you hate me?" He asked.
Kuhisha chuckled. "Hate isn't the right word. I just think it would be a shame if your arrogant a** wouldn't be put down now and then, plus you're so easily irritated."
"I'm not easily irritated, you're just being an a**hole for no good reason." Said Simba, in an energetic hiss.
" See what I mean. Said Kuhisha with bemusement.
"That...I ...you..." Simba was lost for words.
"What's the matter, was that too fast for the princess don't worry I give you time to process it." Taunted Kuhisha.
"You're such a prick." Said Simba, trying to downplay his irritation.
"Whatcha gonna do, tell your daddy ? Oh wait, he ain't here. Is little Simba gonna cry now."
Kuhisha kept going. Simba was about to snap when he remembered something his mom had told him the night before.
"But mom, I just get so angry and I can't stop myself" Simba had explained to Sarabi.
"Son, you should not let everything get to you this easily. Imagine what would happen if your father acted on every provocation. Ok, here is something that might help you calm down whenever you are in such a situation."
She held up her right front paw and extended her claws.
"If you're angry, you'll undoubtedly extend your claws involuntarely but instead of using them , count them"
"But I know how many claws I have" Simba had argued.
"I know, but by counting something you will automatically be preoccupied long enough to calm down you can take a deep breath and think about what to do next."
Simba looked at his front paws and to his surprise , found that he had extended his claws.
He counted them and then looked up at Kuhisha again, who was surprised by the lack of an imediate angry response.
Then Simba took a deep breath and to his amazement he had the right words available.
"I mean, I thought about it. Crying , I mean. Sometimes I just wanna roll up and weep forever but then I realise that I would probably make things worse. Don't you feel like this sometimes?"
Once those words had left Simbas mouth he realised that he had just potentially given Kuhisha ammunition to start another verbal quip.
Simba nervously waited for a reaction from Kuhisha.
Surprisingly enough Kuhisha was smiling.
" What kind of a dumb question is that, everyone feels like they wanna cry sometimes. You probably more than others but that's another story."
He finished with a sh** eating grin.
"What is that supposed to mean ? I don't cry that often only when..." Simba had to stop himself mid sentence.
Kuhisha hadn't stopped grinning. "Go on. When do you cry ?"
Simba just scoffed. "F**k you Kuhisha ,I thought you wanted to be talked to sleep or something, not piss me off" Simba said.
Kuhisha hadn't even noticed how he was trying to provoke Simba yet again.
At least until now. "I...huh, you now you're not wrong about that."
Kuhisha contemplated. He thought about it for a second but decided to ponder this thought later on, probably tomorrow.
"Alright, for real now. Let's just talk. Crying...as i said everybody feels like it sometimes." Said Kuhisha.
"Yeah" Simba said , not certain if Kuhisha was being serious.
"when did you last cry ?" He said, probing territory he was sure , Kuhisha would try to avoid if he was just trying to get him riled up again.
Kuhisha thought about this question for a few seconds. "I'm not gonna tell you when I last cried but I will tell you about one time when I did."
Kuhisha took a deep breath only to quickly add. "If you tell anyone about this, I swear you will catch these paws."
Simba nodded a tad taken aback.
Then Kuhisha took another deep breath and started talking.
"About a year ago. My mom had just arrived at the tribe and she was very grateful that Mufasa had allowed me as an unknown cub into the pride as well. I was trying to make some friends and there was a cub who was a tad younger than myself.
A happy cub, so I wanted to talk to him. But before I approached him, I heard him talking to another cub.
He was talking about how cool he thought his dad was. He kept on going about all the great things his dad taught him.
I never really knew my dad , any memories of him are too vague. I felt anger swell up inside me.
It was as if that cub was mocking me for never having had these memories.
Anger quickly gave way to sadness and so I ran away until I found a cave where I could be alone, there I broke down crying"
Kuhisha said very factually.
Simba looked at him with interested eyes. "Who was that cub?" He asked with genuine curiousit.
Kuhisha kept quiet for a few seconds.
It seemed like he was preparing an answer in his head and then ,without answering the question, asked. "You gotta answer now. When did you last cry?"
"Well I guess" Simba said ,trying to recall the day."it was" Then he remembered. He was hesitant. Could he actually trust Kuhisha ?
What if kuhisha had made that story up and was now just waiting for him to tell a real one.
Then , Simba feared , Kuhisha might use this obtained knowledge and make him the laughingstock of the pride.
Though Simba couldn't help but have an intuition that Kuhisha had told him the truth. Something about the older cubs mannerisms.
A lack of bemusement ,replaced with resentment in his voice.
"Alright, but don't laugh. It wasn't the most recent time either. About three months ago, do you remember the tuft on top of my head being gone? "
Simba asked and Kuhisha nodded. "Yeah what was up with that?" Kuhisha inquired.
"I asked Nala to do that. I wanted to go with the hunting party, so ithought i had to look like a lioness.
I obviously was as much incognito as one would expect, meaning not at all. One of the lionesses pointed it out.
She pointed me out in the crowd and said that I wanted to be a girl but I just wanted to be part of the hunting party." Simba blushed just by the memory of it.
"I was embarrassed and ran of crying. I held my tears in until I was out of sight, then I cried like a baby.
Unbeknownst to me, Nala had followed me and tried to calm me down.
She gave me a hug and told me that she thought I was very brave for actually daring to try. I just thought I was a loser."
Simba had stared at the stars while telling the story.
So when he looked back at Kuhisha he noticed that the older cub had fallen asleep.
"But then again it's not that important."
Simba turned to the stars once more and felt a fresh breeze of the night rustle through his fur. There stood the stars, seemingly unmoving like sunshine reflecting droplets of water high up above him.
Always there , always shining. Simba lay down and fell asleep immediately.
Igunya, who had been awoken by the cubs conversation, but had not signaled so, was also returning to Morpheus arms.
End of chapter 3
Next Chapter: Chapter 4: What did I tell you two about Fighting ?
