Rani : Her Story

Chapter 2

As I laid down beside Sahasi and Ananda preparing to sleep, a shadow passed in a blink of an eye. I frowned, feeling curious to know who's that.

It's Hami, I realized.

I stood up quietly and walked out of the cave. Along the way, I tripped over a lioness's tail but she just grunted and carried on snoring.

"Hey!" I shouted but quietly and pounced on the cub, ruffling his tiny tuft. I won't call it tiny, actually. It's super long.

"Oh.....hey Rani!" He called back, looking a bit sad. I got off him and elbowed his rib and once he looked at me, I raised brows.

"Ham....what's happening? Why did you look so upset?" I asked softly. He looked at me with crystallized eyes.

"Rani, will you hate me for telling you the truth?" Hami asked looking quite alarmed. I shook my head feeling confused.

"I might get angry but I can never hate you!" I saw him relieved at my words.

"Mom, Dad and I are leaving!" He said and I felt like my world is breaking down. My smile disappeared.

"What? But....." I couldn't say anything. I felt hurt and betrayed. Really. "But why?!" I croaked out.

"I don't know. I was a bit hurt when Mom announced it, we're leaving tomorrow at sunrise," He answered back, looking teary eyed and me....I'm crying.

"Did the o-others know?" I stammer, and felt my heart palpitating faster. He sighed and nodded, breaking me into two.

"I'm fact you're the last one to know. You are the emotional person out of all of us so I intended to tell you-"

"Enough! Why will you leave? Why will you leave me? Have you ever thought of my feelings? How I felt?!" I shouted him coldly, seeing surprised with my voice. I was just too mad and angry to begin with that Hami is leaving. And the others knew and no wonder they looked at each other earlier.

"Rani-" Before he could say anything else, I caught him off by walking away. I stop and turned slowly feasting him with cold eyes.

"Don't tell anyone I'm out. I'll be back," I said calmly and left. I ran somewhere and suddenly I found myself somewhere away from the Tree Of Life and found myself staring at pond and thought.

Hami's leaving. I felt broken. I felt angry so I threw some stones away with my paw so I watched how it skips the water. I felt too lost and afraid.

"Anything wrong?" I heard a voice. It's so soft. I looked up to see orange-brown eyes looking into mine. Through the moonlight I can see he's a cub like me. He had a sort of a light golden pelt and a fiery red small tuft on his head. He had a pink nose. He looked manly to me.

"Who are you?!" I shouted, turning to my defense stand. He looked pretty shocked. Father always told me not to talk to strangers.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you," He said and was pretty sincere so I calmed down. But I stared at him fiercely.

"I'm Kiongozi but call me Kion, I'm the prince of Pride Lands," He introduced himself. Pride Lands?! That sounds a bit familiar.

"I'm Rani, princess and future queen of the Tree Of Life," I replied, a bit shy. I'm always shy meeting new people.

"Oh so you're from the Tree Of Life. I've heard about it from my parents. I heard it is a great place. Pride Lands is like three miles away from it," Kion smiled at me. He looked damn adorable!

"Then what are you doing here?" I asked wondering why he's far from home. He is just smiling big at me.

"Just took a walk to clear my mind. I got to go back before Mom and Dad finds me so why are you here?" He asked me back.

"Well a close friend of mine is leaving and I'm very upset and angry. What should I do?" I asked, my ears flattening.

"Well then we leave it to the Circle Of Life. That's how it works, close people to us will tend to leave us one day but we have to do and make sure they'll stay in our heart. Be happy for him or her and who knows, you might meet him or her again one day," He smiled at me.

"You're right. I should be happy for my friend," I nodded. I wondered if I'm being selfish that I'm not happy that he's going. I have to be there for him. Me and Kion talked for a long time and unexpectedly we became friends.

"Kion! Where's that naughty boy?! Kion!" A shout came out of nowhere. I was really startled so I jumped.

"Sorry that's Zazu, he's looking for me, I better go! Bye see you later!" He yelled as he ran away, sending me into fits of loud laughter. I walked back home thanks for the wind. I entered the cave, and finally went to a deep sleep.

———-

I slept quite good but was still sleepy the next day because of me and Kion's long talk today. I felt someone impatiently nudging me with a nose.

I woke up reluctantly to meet Stella. She looked at me quite impatiently but told me in a soft voice, "Hami and his family are going, do you want to let them go without saying goodbye?"

I jumped at her words and scrambled off for outside. Stella led me near the large mountain pass where everyone's waiting.

"Rani, you shouldn't be sleeping late like this? When I woke up, you're still sleeping like a log!" Mother scolded me but was stopped by Father. I grinned as I nuzzled her as a way of a sorry.

I grinned towards Hami and his parents, Akida and Judy. I nuzzled them telling them to have a safe journey and a good life and I turned to Hari.

He seems pretty surprised concerning how angry and cold I was yesterday. I grinned at him and walked to him.

"I'm not angry at you anymore. Instead I am very happy. Hope you have a good life and let us meet in the future," I whispered to him. He nodded looking happy and we hugged.

Everyone nuzzled them one by one. After some heartfelt moments, they turned around and stared to leave.

Hami stopped and turned around to look at me. I grinned, winking at him. He winked at me back and sprinted off by his parents' side.

I lost my friend, hope I won't lose more.

———-

Hello. How's the chapter? For some reason, I felt sad while writing this chapter. This shows how Hami and Rani are close.