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Hyena Love by Loa

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

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Look, I don’t own The Lion King, ok? I’m not Walt Disney, all right? And this chapter is a PG13.

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The Pride Lands

Simba and Kiara were now walking beside the river.

"You see, Kiara, everything in the land exists in a delicate balance. Everything has a place and a reason to live. If you are to be a good ruler, you must respect all people, regardless of shape, size or colour. Every blade of grass," Simba touched a patch of grass, "and every drop of water has a reason to exist."

Kiara went over to the river and looked into it, "Every drop of water. Gosh!" As she turned away from the river, her eyes fell onto a body lying almost hidden in the grass, "Dad?"

"Yes, Kiara?"

"There’s a lady lying next to the river. What’s her reason to exist?"

"What?!" Simba jumped over to the girl’s limp form and turned her over gently. A pale face looked up at him. Tired eyes searched his face. Bloodstained red rags covered a battered body. "Who are you?"

"My name… is Shenzi..." she gasped, "Please… help me..." She slumped.

"Shenzi?" Simba thought for a moment, "Shenzi !The leader of the hyenas!" he roared. "Why should I help you?"

Shenzi got up a little, "Not a hyena… Not a leader… Just a human..." She took a deep, laboured breath, "If you don’t help me… you’ll never know..." She slumped for the second time.

"Know what?" Simba growled, angrily, "I should just push you back into the river!"

Getting up again was even harder this time. "You’ll never know… Scar still lives..." Shenzi slumped for the third time, but this time she did not get up. Though she was still breathing, she would certainly die without help. Simba turned away from her.

"Dad, what are you doing?" asked Kiara.

"Leaving her here to rot."

"But you just said a good ruler must respect all people. Regardless of shape, size or colour."

Simba opened his mouth to say something to his daughter. Then he closed it again and sighed. There was nothing to say. Kiara was right. He pulled the unconscious Shenzi over his shoulder. "Let’s go to see Rafiki."

~~~

Rafiki looked at Shenzi and frowned.

"What is this wound?" asked Simba, "I’ve never seen anything like it."

"It is called a ‘gunshot wound’," said Rafiki, "It is caused by a nugget of steel known as a ‘bullet' .It rips skin, tears muscle and breaks bone. Shenzi is very lucky that this bullet hit a rib. However, even my arts cannot tell if she will survive the night."

"She said Scar is still alive. Could she be telling the truth?"

Rafiki sighed, "I do not know. But I do know that Shenzi is a strong matriarch. She would not ask for help if she thought she could do without it. We will find out nothing if she dies. You may doubt it, but if she is telling the truth, then the survival of the Pride may depend on her." Simba left Rafiki to try and heal Shenzi. Rafiki sighed. He had not told Simba that nothing short of a miracle would save Shenzi now.

~~~

Now Shenzi stood in a tunnel between the light and the dark. The pain was increasing. It would be so much easier to give in, to go to the light, then the pain would go away. She readied herself for the final journey. Suddenly, a voice spoke in her mind and a figure stepped forward to greet her…

"Shenzi..."

"Mother?"

"Shenzi, you must not give in to the pain. Will you let Cur win? If you do not stop him, he will rule all of the lands. You are needed on earth, not in the heavens."

"Who needs me?" asked Shenzi, "There are so many others who could beat Cur and kill Scar… Banzai, Ed… Just let me die, mother..." She bowed her head.

"You think the hurt will go away if you die? No Shenzi, it will not. You know in your heart that Banzai loves you. He cannot live without you. He will not eat. He will not sleep. He will sit by a window and slowly die. And you will be responsible for his death."

"No!"

"And Ed? When both you and Banzai are gone, what will he do? Ed needs someone to be there with him. To look after him. You and Banzai are the only ones who have ever cared for him. What will happen if you leave them? You know, don’t you?"

"Then help me, Mother!"

Almost at once, Shenzi felt warmth cover her body. The pain in her chest was lessening. If she had been awake, she would have seen the bullet wound slowly healing up on her body, and Rafiki staring at her.

"When you awake, this will be nothing more than a dream. But remember, I’ll always be with you..."

~~~

The next afternoon, Simba returned to Rafiki’s small house. Rafiki was smiling.

"Shenzi is alive, Simba!" he cried out. Simba entered the room in which Shenzi was healing. She was still asleep, but her breathing was now regular. Rafiki beckoned Simba closer, "I do not understand this. Yesterday Shenzi needed a miracle to live. Today she sleeps as peacefully as a baby. There are strange forces at work here."

Simba walked over to Shenzi and looked down at her. Rafiki had changed her out of her black rags and into a plain white dress. He frowned, "Will she be able to talk right now?"

Rafiki shook his head, "No .She must wake of her own accord. It would be wisest to wait. Remember that she is still weak from the wound, " Simba sat down on a small chair to wait. About an hour later, Rafiki called him in. "She can talk to you now."

Simba entered the room. Shenzi was sitting up in the bed, looking rather tired, "Shenzi?" he asked, and "You said Scar still lives Elaborate on it."

"You get to the point quick, don’t you, yer maj?’"

"Don’t talk to me like that!"

"Do you want to know or don’t you?" Simba did not answer, "When you flipped Scar off Pride Rock, he bounced down to us. Seeing as he had just betrayed us, we started to rip him apart. But before we could finish the job, your idiot girlfriend jumped us and stopped us killing him. We dragged him off to the Graveyard and gave him a trial, but before we could execute him, the… change happened and he escaped in the confusion." Shenzi took a deep breath, getting more and more enraged, "He has returned with an enemy to take my armies! He tried to kill Banzai! HE SHOT ME!!"

"Calm down, Shenzi," said Rafiki, "Simba, you should go now for a while and let Shenzi rest."

~~~

Some hours later, Simba returned to the room where Shenzi was resting.

"Shenzi?"

"What?" Shenzi snapped. She looked at Simba, "Oh, it’s the right royal brat. What’cha doing in here?"

Simba frowned, but continued. He had thought Shenzi might be like this. "I came to ask you some more questions."

"Like what?"

"Who’s the hyena you talked about? Do you know when the hyenas might attack? And why are you helping us?"

Shenzi sighed, "The ex-hyena’s name is Cur. He wants me alive, though he thinks I am dead right now. But if I don’t return, Cur will take over my armies, then Scar will rule all. I cannot let that happen. The Graveyard is my responsibility."

"Is Cur… bad, then?"

"Bad? He’s the living devil! He wouldn’t kill you until he’d run out of things to do to you! He’d pour red-hot coals over your legs to keep you from running away! He’d punch you into unconsciousness to keep you quiet!" Shenzi laughed madly, "Bad? Ahahahahahahaha!!!"

"Then I must attack the Graveyard before Scar, and Cur expect me!"

Shenzi was still laughing, but this statement stopped her abruptly, "What?! Oh no you bloody well don’t !Those are my people living there, and they have done nothing wrong! I won’t let you slaughter them!"

"Then they will take over the Pride Lands!"

"Don’t you understand? Even if your girls attack now and surprise my people - there are still at least 200 of us ready to rip you to shreds! There are better ways for me to get back my post than just barging in and killing people, believe you me. If I went by that theory, I’d have died a long time ago, and I’d never become matriarch!"

"OK, let’s see what better plan you can come up with!"

"Don’t you think I want this to end as well? If things go as they are, Scar will rule the Pride Lands, you’ll wind up dead, your girlfriend will probably get raped, my people will be ruled over by a male, and me and my friends will be horribly tortured!" Shenzi sneered, "Whatever plan we come up with, we have to trust each other." Simba paused, "Look, if it makes you feel any better, I don’t want to work with you any more than you want to work with me. But we’re both humans. We have to put it behind us. For a little while, anyway. As soon as this is over and done with, we can go right back to being mortal enemies, OK?" Shenzi extended a hand towards Simba.

The pair of them looked at each other. Simba knew Shenzi was right. They had to work together. He took her

hand and shook it, albeit reluctantly.

~~~

Go to Chapter 6- What Happens When You Seemingly Return From The Dead…