Heya, everybody! First of all, thanks to you who sent replies about my drawings. :-) (I belive it was 4 or 5 of you.) Well, many of you probably aren't reading my post, since I'm a 'lurking newbie'. But anyway, I wrote a short fanfic. When I wrote it, I thought a little about the 'current state' of this list. The list has good times and bad times, just like Simba and all others. But mainly, this is just a pure TLK fanfic. Soo... read it, and tell me what you think. :-) -Panthera, forever fateful TLKfan. Moods. On a rock, deep inside the green jungle, a young adolescent lion was laying, his mane just starting to show up around his neck and chest. A young lion, in the middle of the jungle... but his mind was elsewhere. His face was filled with thoughtfulness, the look in his eyes was distant, his ears would not react to any sound around him... The only part on him which was moving was his tail; it batted the ground idly. «Hey, Simba!» The meerkat pushed some reeds aside, glancing around, but there was no sign of who he was looking for. Not so strange. A meerkat isn’t a very big animal, and he couldn’t see much with all those high reeds and plants all around him. «Geez, is it really /possible/ to /not/ find a guy his size?» The meerkat grumbled to himself and pushed past more plants... He was shocked as a large, fuzzy tail suddenly swept down, almost striking him. Stumbling backwards, the meerkat called out. «YAAAH!» The lion quickly leapt to his legs, and turned around, fangs and claws ready to defend him of the possible danger... He held his breath... then let it out with a sigh of relief as he saw who it was. «Timon! Don’t scare me like that!» The meerkat dusted off himself, rising back up to his hindlegs. He frowned. «/I’m/ the one scaring /you/?? Man, you need to watch that tail! You almost knocked me senseless with that thing!» Simba looked at him furiously. «Well, if you would just leave me alone for once and don’t come after me, maybe you wouldn’t-« He paused, then sighed and shook his head, turning to pads further into the deep jungle. Timon stared after the adolescent, gaping, then sighed heavily too and turned to go back to the clearing... «Well, did ya find him?» Pumbaa was just swallowing some grubs he had found under a log by the waterfall clearing. «Yeah.» Timon muttered, not even paying attention to all the delicious grubs he normally would have been all over now. He sat down on a rock, frowning and leaning his head in his hands. «And...? What happened? What’s wrong?» The warthog trotted over to his friend, looking curiously down to him. «Don’t ask, Pumbaa... He’s just in one of those /moods/ again.» All the day, Simba wandered under the high jungle trees, thousands of thoughts running through his mind. Eventually, it became night, and Simba was far away from his two friends now. He had left the jungle, and arrived by a small pool, out in the open grasslands. Behind him was the jungle, in front of him was the mountains... and behind them was the desert. The desert which made the way back to the Pride Lands... The Pride Lands. Simba shook his head sadly, trying to remove the memories of the lands he had been born in. But he couldn’t. Memories of old friends and relatives came back, people he had loved dearly but hadn’t seen in almost a year now. He remembered all the times he had played with his best friend Nala, and gotten in trouble together with her. And the time he pulled a trick on Sarafina, but got away with it. The thoughts made him smile. Then the thoughts wandered to his family... He remembered all the groomings and all the love he had gotten from his mother. He remembered laying by her side, snuggled into her warm and soft fur... And he remembered his father. He said he’d always be there for him... But where was he now? The young lion looked up to the sky, almost in tears. «Where /are/ you, father??» He demanded. But there was no answer... Not that he thought he deserved an answer. After all, Mufasa's death was /his/ fault, Simba’s fault... Why should he care to watch over a son who would do this? Simba struggled to keep his breathing calm... «Brave lions don’t cry.» He muttered to himself, desperately trying to pull himself together. «Real lions don’t cry!» Clawing the ground, he could no longer hold his tears back, and he felt the warm, salty drops roll down his cheeks. «But I’m no real LION!!!» He roared out with grief and pain, then he sat down crying bitterly.. «I’m sorry father... I didn’t mean to disappoint you. I didn’t... I’m so sorry..» He cried until he had no more tears left, and his sobs slowly faded away to nothing... His gaze moved to look down to the pool... His reflection. «Who Am I?» He asked, directly to the picture of his sad face in the water. Silence... Then the wind suddenly increased, and Simba’s fuzzy, growing mane moved gently around his neck. The wind made the trees move, and the sound was almost like a whisper. Simba stood up, looking around with a frightened gaze. He wondered what would happen next... Just then, he heard a familiar voice... «Hey, Simba! Is that you?» His head swept around sharply, and he watched as his two friends emerged from the jungle. The lion sighed. «Yeah... it’s me.» He answered quietly. Timon, who had been riding on Pumbaa’s back, now jumped down and frowned almost sternly to Simba. «Now, what the hell are you doing out here? We were worried about you!» Pumbaa blinked and looks down to the merrkat, tilting his head. «But I thought our motto was ‘Hakuna Matata’? That means ‘no worries’.» Timon shook his head, giving Pumbaa an annoyed glance. «No, Pumbaa, this is different.» «Yes, it’s different....» Simba took a step forward, looking at his friends sadly. «Hakuna Matata means ‘no worries’ as in Don’t worry about responsibilities. Timon meant worry as in worrying about other people, because you care about them and don’t want them to get hurt.» He smiled softly. «And that means you care about me... That means a lot to me, guys. Thanks.» Timon crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow and looking lightly insulted. «Well, of course we care about you, Simba! You’re our friend!» But the adolescent didn’t respond. He glanced back to the pool, and sighed deeply again, drooping his ears. «Simba, are you all right?» Pumbaa approached him carefully. Simba looked back to the warthog, remaining quiet for a moment, then he smiled. «Yes, I’m all right... Come on, let’s get out of here.» He padded past them both. The meerkat and warthog looked at eachother, shrugging, then they followed him. The three friends went back to the jungle.. On a rock, far, far above the jungle, near the edge of the waterfall, three friends was sitting, watching as the red morning sun slowly made it’s way up to the sky. For once, the faces of the meerkat and the warthog were serious. Simba’s gaze would not leave the view of the sun lightning up the green carpet of trees below. «Look. See how the sunlight touches every tree of the jungle?» He spoke quietly, still not looking to the two others. «That’s your home. That’s your kingdom, and it’s just so beautiful. So beautiful that you will never leave it. It’s your kingdom.» Timon and Pumbaa were confused, the first more confused than the other. «But it’s your home too, Simba.» Pumbaa said. «It’s your kingdom, too.» The lion sighed and shook his head, a look of sorrow crossing his face again. «Maybe, maybe not... But either way, I can’t leave....» Timon rolled his eyes and leaned towards Pumbaa, whispering. «Oh no, he’s getting into one of those /moods/ again...» But Simba heard them. He perked one of his ears in their direction, and a mischievous grin crossed his face. Suddenly, he turned, and pushed Timon gently down from the rock, making the meerkat scream in surprise. Then he leaned down, and gave Timon a wet slurp of his tongue. Pumbaa blinked, then he started laughing. Simba laughed too. «Ewwwww!» Timon rose again, wiping off himself, and he looked rather displeased. He frowned up to Simba. «Geez, what was /that/ for?» The lion shrugged, still grinning widely and chuckling. He gave the meerkat a playful wink. «I don’t know. I guess I’m just in one of those /moods/ again.» ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com