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Hyena Love, by Loa

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Chapter 4 - What Happens When You’re A Murderous, Scheming Scumbag...

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Look, haven’t you got the idea by now? I don’t own The Lion King, OK? Oh, and this chapter has got a few descriptions of foreplay in it. And violence to boot. Like I always say, PG13?

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The Elephant Graveyard: Shenzi’s Flat

Banzai stumbled backwards a few paces, tripped over a table and went down, still holding onto Shenzi.

"Bloody Hellfire!"

"Oh, shi-"

There was a lot of noise made as Shenzi and Banzai fell over each other.

"Mmmph..." Banzai was now right under Shenzi.

"Ow." Shenzi managed to get up off him, "Sorry about that."

Banzai checked himself. Nothing appeared to be broken, though he had definitely twisted something when he fell, "Ouch .That’s all right."

Shenzi sighed, "I shouldn’t have tried to make you tell me something you didn’t want to." She peeled a slice of pizza off her arm.

"You..." Banzai looked at Shenzi, who was looking at the pizza thoughtfully. She turned to enter the kitchen, "You are beautiful."

There was a quiet splat as the pizza hit the floor. "What?" Shenzi turned, very slowly.

What the hell made me say that? thought Banzai to himself. Oh well, I’ve burned the boats; I might as well drown the helmsman, "You are beautiful."

Shenzi stood there, gaping. Finally she found her voice, "Do - do you meant that? You - you’re not serious, are you?" There was an odd look on her face. She turned away from him quickly, "No !No, you don’t… I can’t… It won’t..."

Banzai stepped forward, "I do… You can… It will..."

"It always hurts! That’s the way it has to be! That’s the way it has to go! That’s what has to happen!" she cried, more to herself than him, "Stop leading me on, Banzai!"

Banzai took a deep breath, "I’m not leading you on. I could never do something like that. Whenever I look at you," he said, "whenever I think of you, whenever I talk to you, whatever you do… I love you." He took her face gently in his hands and turned her to look at him, "I love you. Shenzi."

Shenzi looked at him for a moment, searching his eyes. "You mean that?" she asked.

"What do you think?"

Shenzi remembered back…

~~~

...to when she had lived in the Dark Lands. A male hyena she had adored with every fibre of her being… And

though he beat her to within an inch of her life, she had adored him with every fibre of her being… She had gone back to him. But he had beat her again. She came to her senses and snapped. She had fought him, and promised him, rather graphically, that if he came after her, she would string him up by his balls. Then she had left the pack and started looking for a new one. It took almost a year. But before she had left, she had promised herself one thing; that she would never, ever love anyone, ever again. If she had learnt anything, it was that love hurts. She had promised…

~~~

"NO!" Shenzi pushed Banzai away.

"What?!" Banzai was confused.

Shenzi turned away from him, "How dare you try to take advantage of me in my own flat! Get out!"

"What? But Shenzi..."

"GET OUT!" Shenzi screamed, "GET OUT!!" She managed to push Banzai out of the door, and bolted it behind him. Just before she crumpled to her knees and started whisper, over and over again, "Love hurts. Love hurts. Love hurts. Love hurts..."

~~~

Cur looked up at the apartment building. It stood up against the background, looking a little like a broken tooth. It was a horrible place to live, but it was still the place where all the most important people in the Graveyard lived. "That’s the apartment where Shenzi lives. I don’t know the exact flat number, but I have learnt that she lives right next door to Banzai and Ed." Scar started off towards it, "Where do you think you’re going?"

"To find Shenzi, you imbecile!" Scar snarled.

"Oh, no. I’m coming too. After all, I want to see the look on her face when she sees the two people she hates most in the world. As soon as possible."

Just then, Banzai approached the two of them, an angry look on his face. Cur stepped forward to greet him, "Hello there, friend."

Scar stepped forward as well, "Your name is Banzai."

"How do you know my name? I’m not your friend!" snapped Banzai. He looked from one face to the other. Cur was noticeably taller than him, but totally unfamiliar, though about the same age. The older man looked familiar, but Banzai couldn’t place him right now.

"Do you want to live?" asked the older man. Without waiting for an answer, the younger man jumped forward and grabbed Banzai in a headlock, "Then you will be our friend."

"Let me go!" yelped Banzai. It was useless to struggle; the young man was much stronger than he was.

"Take us to your flat." Scar’s voice was flat and emotionless.

"Who are you? What do you want?" asked Banzai. Scar bent down to look into Banzai’s eyes, smiling cruelly, "Sc-Scar!"

Scar smiled, "This is my associate, Cur. I want to rule the Pride Lands. He merely wants the Graveyard."

"Hang on a second..." Cur said, then grunted as Scar drove an elbow into his gut.

"Take us there!" Scar roared.

"No!"

Scar drew the gun and held it to Banzai’s head, "Do you see this?" he asked Banzai, "It is a device used to kill people. It goes ‘bang' .And I will use it on you if you do not do as you are told!"

Banzai gulped…

~~~

Pride Rock

"Dad?"

"Yes, Kiara?" Simba smiled down at his daughter.

"You promised that today you would take me around the Pride Lands! You know I’ve only seen a bit!"

"Very well." Simba called out, "Zazu?"

Zazu ran into the room, "Yes, Sire?" Kiara noticed he was as usual holding his small notepad and pen. He wasn’t actually particularly tall, but he was so puffed up with his own importance that he did actually seem large, a thing she had noticed long ago.

"I am going out with my little girl for a little while. Hold all my appointments until I return. Until I come back, you are in charge."

Zazu swelled up even more. Kiara was sure that he would burst one of these days, "Yes Sire! And if something is very important?.."

"Bar the hyenas attacking in their thousands or Scar coming back from the dead, it is not important. It is you who makes the decisions today, until I return."

Kiara was jumping about all over the place, "C’mon, dad!"

"OK darling, let’s go!"

~~~

The Elephant Graveyard

Shenzi was still crying when someone hammered on the door, "Who is it?" she called.

"It’s me, Banzai!" called a voice. Someone else laughed madly, "Ed’s with me too. Can I come in, Shenzi? It’s really important."

Shenzi smiled. At least she could explain to Banzai now why she had pushed him away, "Just a minute!" she called. She blew her nose, wiped her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened the door a crack. Then it burst open. There were four people in front of her. Banzai, Ed… "Scar!" she cried out. Then the young man jumped forward, "Cur!" she screamed as he pinned her against the wall. "Banzai, how could you..."

Cur laughed cruelly, striking Shenzi across the face, "I’ve finally tracked you down, Shenzi! What are you going to do about it now? I thought you kept your promises!"

Shenzi turned to Scar, "You scum!" she snarled, "You can’t keep your grubby little hands off power for a couple of weeks, can you?!"

Scar ignored Shenzi and turned to Banzai, pushing him against the wall. Banzai struggled, but to no avail, "You

are no longer of any more use to me." Scar drew the gun and pointed it at him.

Shenzi stared at the gun, then at Cur, "I didn’t know even you could be that much of a lowlife Cur, to supply that jerk with a gun."

"I’ve been waiting for this moment a long time," Cur leered, "Finding you was quite the challenge, I must admit.

Still, you’ve always been good at running. I wonder, how good are you at fighting?" At this he kissed Shenzi on the lips. Hard.

"Get off her, you bastard!" Banzai yelled. Suddenly, Ed leapt past him and knocked Cur over and off Shenzi, unfortunately knocking her over at the same time. "Ed!" he shouted. Cur spun around and punched Ed into the wall, stunning him.

"Goodbye, Banzai." Scar sneered, "Such a pity you couldn’t have been more like a female. You would have made such a promising matriarch. You really should consider it in your next life." Banzai shut his eyes tightly and waited for the bang, and the pain.

"NO!!!" Shenzi screamed.

There was a bang and Banzai was knocked down, but there was no real pain. He opened his eyes and stood up. Scar was still holding the gun, which was smoking, and staring at Shenzi, who was swaying from side to side. She was holding a hand tightly to her chest. She raised it up to look at it, turning it from one side to the other, looking at it as if she had never seen it before. It was covered in blood. Her sleeveless might have been red, but you could see the darker stain where the blood was already coming through. Then she crumpled to the floor.

"You moron!" bellowed Cur at Scar, "I wanted the tart alive!!"

"Is it my fault that she pushed Banzai out the way?!" yelled Scar.

Ed managed to stand, swaying slightly, "Ha-ha?" he suggested, nervously.

Banzai dropped to his knees and picked Shenzi up off the floor, holding her unmoving form to his chest and sobbing. There was already a large pool of blood where she had fallen. Then he looked back up at Scar, "YOU BASTARD!!!" he screamed at him, jumping to his feet. Ed grabbed him.

"Hee-heh-hee!!!!" laughed Ed, holding Banzai back.

"I don’t care!!" Banzai screamed again, the tears running down his face, "I’m going to kill you, Scar!!" Ed bunched up a fist and punched Banzai right between the eyes, not to knock him out but to stun him.

"Hee-hee-ha-ha!" he growled. Scar and Cur looked at each other, "Ha-ha-ha-ha!!" Anyone could tell that this meant something to the tune of, ‘you’ll pay for this.’

"There’s nothing we can do now," snarled Cur at Scar, "You idiot! I’ll take this," he pulled Shenzi’s body over his shoulder roughly, "And you can take this." He ripped the thin necklace from around her neck, breaking it as he did so, and threw it at Banzai’s feet. Banzai collapsed to the floor and picked up the broken necklace, still sobbing. Scar and Cur walked out the door.

~~~

Fear…

Pain…

Blood…

~~~

Outside The Joshua N’Clement Apartment

"You idiot!" yelled Cur at Scar, throwing Shenzi’s still form onto the rough ground outside the apartment, "I wanted her alive and you killed her! That bitch ruined my face and I wanted to keep her alive for it!!"

"Is it my fault she pushed Banzai out of the way? I wouldn’t have killed her otherwise!" Scar paused and took a deep breath, "Anyway, she’s dead now, and there’s nothing we can do about it. Look on the bright side - Banzai is going to be miserable for the rest of his life!"

"I don’t care about Banzai!" screamed Cur, "If Shenzi were alive she would feel all the things I was going to do to her! I could have kept her alive for years so as she would wish she was dead! And now that she is dead, all

that’s out the window!!"

But Shenzi wasn’t dead. She unstuck an eyelid and opened her eyes slowly. She almost vomited at what she saw. Bright red blood covered her body. Her clothes were soaked in the stuff. The pain in her chest was almost unbearable. Scar and Cur were still arguing, and they hadn’t noticed her coming to. She started dragging herself away quietly, desperately, leaving a trail of blood behind her.

"If she was still alive I could..." shouted Cur, pointing at Shenzi’s body. Or at least, where Shenzi’s body had been. Now there was just a trail of blood leading south. Cur and Scar stared at it for a few moments.

"After her!" screamed Scar.

~~~

Shenzi gasped with the pain. She could hardly drag herself along, let alone stand. Her breathing was coming in ragged gasps of air. She shook her head, fighting to clear her vision as she crawled along, bleeding freely from the half-dozen cuts caused by the rough treatment of her body and the jagged surface of the ground beneath her. Tears of pain began to run down her cheeks and mix with the blood already on her face. Then she heard shouting behind her. She grabbed hold of a wall and pulled herself up against it, leaving a smear of blood behind her. Looking back, she could see Cur and Scar following the trail of blood. Shenzi started running, or at least staggering, gasping as each step tore at her chest. It didn’t help that her shoulder was starting to play up again.

"Come back here!" yelled Scar. Being rather older than Shenzi or Cur, he was already getting out of breath himself.

"Give up now and I won’t hit you so hard - at least, not as hard as I would if you keep running!" screamed Cur. He was gaining on her.

Shenzi would have liked to yell something back, like an insult or a catcall, but the pain in her chest was too great to waste any of it on insults or smart comments. She knew that she was running out of life as well as breath, and her top was now soaked in blood. She just continued staggering along. Finally, she found herself at the top of a waterfall (look, this is my story, ok?). She glanced behind her and saw Scar and Cur getting ever closer. Bastards behind, rocks to each side and water in front. What a hell of a choice. Shenzi swore in her head. This really wasn’t her day.

‘Oh Gods, please have mercy on me...’ she prayed to herself. Then she jumped.

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Go to Chapter 5 - What Happens When You Have To Trust Your Worst Enemy...