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Vitani sighed as she approached the cave, her head low. She had been exhausted, exhausted from her ever-racing thoughts and exhausted from putting up with watching over her nephew.
Her ever-racing thoughts were of that night she saw the rogue. The rogue’s sudden valor, her paw touching his, this weird feeling she had when looking into his eyes. She cringed. It was just so sappy, whatever the feeling was.
Her nephew seemed to be going though his teething phase, a phase that afflicts any lion weaning from milk. The little twerp thought was okay to bite just about anything to practice his biting skills for when it was time to start eating meat, anything ranging from objects Vitani had to keep the kid from swallowing to her very own tail.
The lioness groaned as she plopped right onto a hammock-like structure formed by vines entangled between branches, letting a paw slide down her forehead as she felt a headache coming on.
Just then, Kovu ran up to Vitani. An excited grin running across his face.
“Vitani, great news.”
“What, now?”
“We’re having another cub!”
Vitani rolled her eyes, a miserable look on her face. “Oh, great. Now I got even more cubs to babysit.”
“C’mon Vitani…”
“Kovu, that’s two cubs, I got two ears. I like my ears when they’re not being tugged on by a couple of snot-nosed little knuckleheads.”
Kovu blinked, utterly confused. She had gotten along fine with his son, but now she was just completely alienating the very concept of cubs. “Vitani, what’s gotten into you?”
“Nothing, Stupid!” she shook her head, eyes squeezed shut. She looked like she was going to explode. She quickly defused, “I just… I just need some air…”
Without giving Kovu a chance to speak, she darted away from Pride Rock for a majority of the day.
Kovu shook his head, mumbling to himself. “Must be a full moon…”
………
Vitani paced in the field at the floor of Pride Rock, flicking her tail as she grumbled to herself. She was still on the thought of what came over her that night with the rogue. The young lioness had feelings she could not explain, and it made her mad.
Why did she touch his paw last night? What in the Stars came over her?Normally her form of gratitude was just a short ‘Thanks’ and she would run off. No, saving her life was a different thing, but something about the rogue saving her seemed especially out of the ordinary, so out of it that it unlocked an affectionate form or gratitude in her. What were the words for how she felt? It was driving her insane.
She stopped pacing and plopped on the ground, groaning as she ran her paws through her hair, ruffling it into a matted mess.
Little did the lioness know, someone had been watching her. Rafiki, the old shaman mandrill, had very discreetly stuck his head out of his Baobab tree. He tilted his head in sympathy and contemplation as he watched the lioness struggle to search her feelings.
“I don’t get it,” Vitani thought aloud, “what’s wrong with me…?”
“Just because you haven’t had the feeling before does not mean it is wrong.” a voice responded.
Vitani gasped, her head and tail tufts standing on end as she leaped to her feet. She turned rapidly to the source of the noise, scowling. Someone was stalking her, and it wasn’t that stupid, goody-four-paws rogue!
“Over here!”
Vitani’s head whipped the other way, what in the Great King’s name was going on?
“Getting warmer!”
Not at all, you can’t be warmer if what you’re looking for completely relocated itself. Vitani was seething, what insult to her sanity was this? Should she bail and run home? No, she teach this punk a lesson about stalking her by shoving his tail down his throat! Vitani stormed to the direction of the voice, claws unsheathed and teeth bared.
Rafiki popped up from the grass right in front of her, his face close – too close – to Vitani’s own. “And where do you think you’re going?”
Vitani’s deadly demeanor quickly transformed to a nearly-jumped-out-of-her-skin one. Her fur stood up again as she craned her neck back so this freak of nature’s face wasn’t so close to hers.
“Where you will be going –” Rafiki placed a finger on Vitani’s chest, right where her heart was, “– is where your heart takes you!”
Her look of surprise faded back to a bewildered scowl, “Look, you Banana-Binging Bozo, I don’t need to ‘go’ anywhere, just home.”
Before she took even a single step to the direction of her home, she paused and took a good look at the monkey, slowly remembering who he even was, “Hey… you held my nephew up there!” she gestured to the ledge of Pride Rock with her head.
“Yes, and you will find what you are looking for – up here!” he pointed to his tree just before climbing it, glancing back to find the lioness still sitting in the field, a look of confusion plastered on her face.
“What are you waiting for? Hurry up!” the mandrill called, loudly cackling shortly after.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah! Will you pipe down? It’s late!” Vitani panted as she climbed the seemingly never-ending tree, her claws feeling like they’d fall out of her paws.
After a good few minutes, the lioness finally made it all the way up the tree, panting hard from overexertion. “What… makes you think… what I need… is physical…?” Vitani gasped for breath in each pause.
Without warning, Rafiki pulled a good chunk of hair from Vitani’s head.
“Ow!” Vitani yelped, glaring at the mandrill as she rubbed her head. “Hey, buddy, what’s the big idea?”
Rafiki did not answer, he placed the sample of fur into a bowl made from an empty turtle shell. He then cracked open a fruit and let the juice fall into the bowl. Finally, he swiveled the bowl to let the fur and fruit juice mingle.
Vitani arched an eyebrow as she watched the process, “…You’re not gonna make me drink that, are you?”
Instead of a direct answer to Vitani’s question, Rafiki gasped.
“What?” Vitani’s heart began to race, “…What?”
“Close your eyes and tell me what you see.”
“What?”
“Don’t ask, just do!” the mandrill chortled in excitement.
Vitani did as told, still completely unsure if it was right to do as a crazy old monkey she hardly knew said.
Rafiki broke the long silence of concentration, “Do you see it, yet?”
“Oh, I see it!”
“You do?!”
“Yes, I see it!”
“Tell me what you see!”
“I see…” Vitani’s eyes snapped open, “…that you’re a total nutcase who thinks a bowl of hairy fruit juice is an answer to my-”
Rafiki flailed his arms in the air, “Oh, nonononono- Keep your eyes closed, you’re going to break your concentration!”
Vitani simply snorted in response. Whether the monkey was crazy or whether this was just a long process of finding her answer, it wasn’t going to harm her in any way. She closed her eyes again.
“When I say a word, visualize the opposite of what I say.”
Vitani frowned a bit, eyes still closed. “Um… o-okay?”
“White?”
“Black.”
“Up?”
“Down.”
“Happy?”
“Sad.”
“Love?”
That word in particular was the one on Vitani’s mind, the one she feared would be why she showed affection to the rogue. She was hoping it wasn’t some stupid mushy-gushy feeling over some dumb, flirty lion. After hesitation, she responded to the mandrill.
“…Hate?”
Rafiki nodded, “What do you see when you guess these words?”
Vitani slowly opened her eyes, “I… I think about… relationships…”
“Yes. What in relationships do you link these words to?”
“Opposites attract?”
Rafiki gave Vitani a light whack on the head with his gourd stick. The latter gave a yelp in surprise and clutched her now aching head.
“OW! Do you have a death wish?!” she unsheathed her claws.
“Take another guess.”
Vitani paused to think, “Well… sometimes your personality is the opposite of another’s, I guess it causes ups and downs – emotional ups and downs –, and it can… turn your hate into love?”
“Yes!” the monkey bounced, he then wrapped his arm around the lioness’s shoulders. “But remember, where there is love, there is hate.”
Vitani lowered her ears, “I-Isn’t that kinda what I just said?”
“Wrong!” Rafiki unintentionally shouted in Vitani’s ear before leaping to a branch, dangling upside-down from it. “Your love began with hate, but be careful with it, or your love will end with hate.”
Before Vitani can utter a single rebuttal, the monkey was gone in a flash as his cackle echoed through the tree, leaving the lioness to piece his confusing, vague words together.
“…What was that juice for?” Vitani called, but was too late for Rafiki to be able to hear her question. She sighed with frustration and made her way down the Baobab tree.
‘I don’t get it,’ Vitani thought to herself, ‘If Kovu and Kiara get that stupid song while they binge on fruit, how come I get a threat?’
As soon as she glanced at the ground, she noticed the vibrant light it reflected. Her eyes widened before she slowly rose her head to find the moon was full. Just then, it clicked. Her promise!
She gasped, “The rogue!”
She ran far from Pride Rock to meet the rogue by the lake, where they had met for the very first time just days ago.

Previous: Chapter 3
Next: Chapter 5

Description

Vitani sighed as she approached the cave, her head low. She had been exhausted, exhausted from her ever-racing thoughts and exhausted from putting up with watching over her nephew.
Her ever-racing thoughts were of that night she saw the rogue. The rogue’s sudden valor, her paw touching his, this weird feeling she had when looking into his eyes. She cringed. It was just so sappy, whatever the feeling was.
Her nephew seemed to be going though his teething phase, a phase that afflicts any lion weaning from milk. The little twerp thought was okay to bite just about anything to practice his biting skills for when it was time to start eating meat, anything ranging from objects Vitani had to keep the kid from swallowing to her very own tail.
The lioness groaned as she plopped right onto a hammock-like structure formed by vines entangled between branches, letting a paw slide down her forehead as she felt a headache coming on.
Just then, Kovu ran up to Vitani. An excited grin running across his face.
“Vitani, great news.”
“What, now?”
“We’re having another cub!”
Vitani rolled her eyes, a miserable look on her face. “Oh, great. Now I got even more cubs to babysit.”
“C’mon Vitani…”
“Kovu, that’s two cubs, I got two ears. I like my ears when they’re not being tugged on by a couple of snot-nosed little knuckleheads.”
Kovu blinked, utterly confused. She had gotten along fine with his son, but now she was just completely alienating the very concept of cubs. “Vitani, what’s gotten into you?”
“Nothing, Stupid!” she shook her head, eyes squeezed shut. She looked like she was going to explode. She quickly defused, “I just… I just need some air…”
Without giving Kovu a chance to speak, she darted away from Pride Rock for a majority of the day.
Kovu shook his head, mumbling to himself. “Must be a full moon…”
………
Vitani paced in the field at the floor of Pride Rock, flicking her tail as she grumbled to herself. She was still on the thought of what came over her that night with the rogue. The young lioness had feelings she could not explain, and it made her mad.
Why did she touch his paw last night? What in the Stars came over her?Normally her form of gratitude was just a short ‘Thanks’ and she would run off. No, saving her life was a different thing, but something about the rogue saving her seemed especially out of the ordinary, so out of it that it unlocked an affectionate form or gratitude in her. What were the words for how she felt? It was driving her insane.
She stopped pacing and plopped on the ground, groaning as she ran her paws through her hair, ruffling it into a matted mess.
Little did the lioness know, someone had been watching her. Rafiki, the old shaman mandrill, had very discreetly stuck his head out of his Baobab tree. He tilted his head in sympathy and contemplation as he watched the lioness struggle to search her feelings.
“I don’t get it,” Vitani thought aloud, “what’s wrong with me…?”
“Just because you haven’t had the feeling before does not mean it is wrong.” a voice responded.
Vitani gasped, her head and tail tufts standing on end as she leaped to her feet. She turned rapidly to the source of the noise, scowling. Someone was stalking her, and it wasn’t that stupid, goody-four-paws rogue!
“Over here!”
Vitani’s head whipped the other way, what in the Great King’s name was going on?
“Getting warmer!”
Not at all, you can’t be warmer if what you’re looking for completely relocated itself. Vitani was seething, what insult to her sanity was this? Should she bail and run home? No, she teach this punk a lesson about stalking her by shoving his tail down his throat! Vitani stormed to the direction of the voice, claws unsheathed and teeth bared.
Rafiki popped up from the grass right in front of her, his face close – too close – to Vitani’s own. “And where do you think you’re going?”
Vitani’s deadly demeanor quickly transformed to a nearly-jumped-out-of-her-skin one. Her fur stood up again as she craned her neck back so this freak of nature’s face wasn’t so close to hers.
“Where you will be going –” Rafiki placed a finger on Vitani’s chest, right where her heart was, “– is where your heart takes you!”
Her look of surprise faded back to a bewildered scowl, “Look, you Banana-Binging Bozo, I don’t need to ‘go’ anywhere, just home.”
Before she took even a single step to the direction of her home, she paused and took a good look at the monkey, slowly remembering who he even was, “Hey… you held my nephew up there!” she gestured to the ledge of Pride Rock with her head.
“Yes, and you will find what you are looking for – up here!” he pointed to his tree just before climbing it, glancing back to find the lioness still sitting in the field, a look of confusion plastered on her face.
“What are you waiting for? Hurry up!” the mandrill called, loudly cackling shortly after.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah! Will you pipe down? It’s late!” Vitani panted as she climbed the seemingly never-ending tree, her claws feeling like they’d fall out of her paws.
After a good few minutes, the lioness finally made it all the way up the tree, panting hard from overexertion. “What… makes you think… what I need… is physical…?” Vitani gasped for breath in each pause.
Without warning, Rafiki pulled a good chunk of hair from Vitani’s head.
“Ow!” Vitani yelped, glaring at the mandrill as she rubbed her head. “Hey, buddy, what’s the big idea?”
Rafiki did not answer, he placed the sample of fur into a bowl made from an empty turtle shell. He then cracked open a fruit and let the juice fall into the bowl. Finally, he swiveled the bowl to let the fur and fruit juice mingle.
Vitani arched an eyebrow as she watched the process, “…You’re not gonna make me drink that, are you?”
Instead of a direct answer to Vitani’s question, Rafiki gasped.
“What?” Vitani’s heart began to race, “…What?”
“Close your eyes and tell me what you see.”
“What?”
“Don’t ask, just do!” the mandrill chortled in excitement.
Vitani did as told, still completely unsure if it was right to do as a crazy old monkey she hardly knew said.
Rafiki broke the long silence of concentration, “Do you see it, yet?”
“Oh, I see it!”
“You do?!”
“Yes, I see it!”
“Tell me what you see!”
“I see…” Vitani’s eyes snapped open, “…that you’re a total nutcase who thinks a bowl of hairy fruit juice is an answer to my-”
Rafiki flailed his arms in the air, “Oh, nonononono- Keep your eyes closed, you’re going to break your concentration!”
Vitani simply snorted in response. Whether the monkey was crazy or whether this was just a long process of finding her answer, it wasn’t going to harm her in any way. She closed her eyes again.
“When I say a word, visualize the opposite of what I say.”
Vitani frowned a bit, eyes still closed. “Um… o-okay?”
“White?”
“Black.”
“Up?”
“Down.”
“Happy?”
“Sad.”
“Love?”
That word in particular was the one on Vitani’s mind, the one she feared would be why she showed affection to the rogue. She was hoping it wasn’t some stupid mushy-gushy feeling over some dumb, flirty lion. After hesitation, she responded to the mandrill.
“…Hate?”
Rafiki nodded, “What do you see when you guess these words?”
Vitani slowly opened her eyes, “I… I think about… relationships…”
“Yes. What in relationships do you link these words to?”
“Opposites attract?”
Rafiki gave Vitani a light whack on the head with his gourd stick. The latter gave a yelp in surprise and clutched her now aching head.
“OW! Do you have a death wish?!” she unsheathed her claws.
“Take another guess.”
Vitani paused to think, “Well… sometimes your personality is the opposite of another’s, I guess it causes ups and downs – emotional ups and downs –, and it can… turn your hate into love?”
“Yes!” the monkey bounced, he then wrapped his arm around the lioness’s shoulders. “But remember, where there is love, there is hate.”
Vitani lowered her ears, “I-Isn’t that kinda what I just said?”
“Wrong!” Rafiki unintentionally shouted in Vitani’s ear before leaping to a branch, dangling upside-down from it. “Your love began with hate, but be careful with it, or your love will end with hate.”
Before Vitani can utter a single rebuttal, the monkey was gone in a flash as his cackle echoed through the tree, leaving the lioness to piece his confusing, vague words together.
“…What was that juice for?” Vitani called, but was too late for Rafiki to be able to hear her question. She sighed with frustration and made her way down the Baobab tree.
‘I don’t get it,’ Vitani thought to herself, ‘If Kovu and Kiara get that stupid song while they binge on fruit, how come I get a threat?’
As soon as she glanced at the ground, she noticed the vibrant light it reflected. Her eyes widened before she slowly rose her head to find the moon was full. Just then, it clicked. Her promise!
She gasped, “The rogue!”
She ran far from Pride Rock to meet the rogue by the lake, where they had met for the very first time just days ago.

Previous: Chapter 3
Next: Chapter 5