Son of a Legend

Part 25: It's Starting to Show

11 months later...
Kasi has just gone into labor. Koda is pacing around outside of the main den, which is where Kasi is giving birth to a baby girl.
"Is it normal to be this nervous?" Koda asks in a panicked voice.
"Absolutely," Simba and Kovu say at the same time.
"You'd think that it would get easier every time, but it doesn't. Take it from me, I had 3 kids all born at different times." Simba tells his grandson.
"That's not helping me to calm down!"  Koda says, still in a panicked tone.
Mkali pats his cousin on the shoulder.
"There's one thing in common with every birth in this family from my dad's birth to your daughter's birth, and that's that the mother-to-be is with someone who knows what they are doing." Mkali tells his cousin.
Koda takes a deep breath. "Thanks, Mkali. That makes me feel a little bit better."
"No problem, Koda. You'd do the same for me." They give each other a fist bump. Makini walks out of the den.
"Koda. It's time." Makini tells him.
Koda sighs. "Wish me luck, boys." Koda follows Makini into the den. A few minutes later, Nala and Kiara return from a spa day. A few minutes after that, Misuli, Kushona, Vitani, Laika, and Asha return from a patrol (Leah and Laika only came along on the patrol because Kasi and Koda couldn't patrol and Koda wanted Mkali to stay with him. Asha was getting babysat by Leah, which is why she was also on patrol).
"Hey, how's my brother doing?" Leah asks.
"Well, he's in there with Kasi right now, but he was kinda nervous earlier." Simba explains to his granddaughter.
"Sounds about right." Kushona states.
"How long do we have to wait?" Vitani asks.
Suddenly, there's a half grunt, half scream that comes from inside the den.
"That long." Mkali says sarcastically.
About an hour passes before Koda emerges from the den.
"Kasi's doing great, and so is our daughter." Koda says with a huge smile on his face. Koda leads everyone into the den. Kasi is holding a female cub with soft brown fur and a black nose.
"She's beautiful." Everyone says when they go in.
"What's her name?" Kiara asks.
"Kamani." Koda answers proudly.
"That's a good name for her." Mkali tells his cousin.
"Thanks, man. It means a lot to us." Koda responds.
Mkali smiles at the newborn lioness, but then he suddenly remembers a dream that he had last night. It was a dream where he and Taji had a son of their own. Mkali liked that dream, but he was disappointed when he woke up and realized that everything was just a dream. Mkali sighs. He pats Koda on the shoulder.
"Congrats again on your daughter." Mkali tells him. He proceeds to walk out of the den to go on a run to clear his mind. Everywhere he went, all he could think about was Taji. How she made him feel, the good memories that they had together, how willing she was to help him when he was at his worst, it all came flooding back to him. Mkali started to get frustrated and ran faster, but it seemed like the faster he ran, the faster all of his memories started to come back to him.
"WHY!? WHY TODAY OF ALL DAYS IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME!?"  Mkali screams at the border of the Pridelands. He enjoyed the memories, but he hated the feeling that he got when he had to go back to reality. He hated the feeling of envy that he got when he saw Kasi and Koda together, or Laika and Kushona (they started dating within the past month).
Mkali sighs and sits down on the ground. "I don't know about you, Taji, but I miss you to the point that I'm starting to not be able to function right. I mean, look at me. All I've done since coming back from the Tree of Life is kill my uncle and put 40 pounds of fat on. I know I shaved 35 of those off, but still, shame on me!" Mkali looks at a river that is flowing nearby. "I don't know how much longer I can go being away from you, Taji."

At the Tree of Life...
Taji has just gotten back from her patrol. She sees a bunch of lions gathered outside of the tree and groans. She turns and runs off to find her mom.
"Mom!" She yells. Queen Rani turns around and sees that her daughter does not look happy. "Did you seriously organize another one of those meet-and-greets with a bunch of male lions!?"
"Look, Taji, I know that you don't like these, but you're going to be queen within the next few years, and you'll need a king to rule alongside you." Rani explains.
"I told you that there's only one lion that I want to be my husband!" Taji yells at her mother.
"Taji, I know, but if Mkali was going to come back, I feel like he would've by now. I've spent the last 2 years worrying about you crying yourself to sleep every night over him! You have no idea how much it breaks my heart to see that!" Rani says to her daughter.
"Just stop meddling in my life, mom! I'm an adult! I'm 18! I can make my own decisions!" With that, Taji runs off to the river of patience. This is where her and Mkali would have many of their heart to heart conversations. Taji wishes that she had told Mkali about her feelings sooner than she had. She looks back on her time with Mkali, and the signs were there that she had shared her feelings since day one.
"I'm such an idiot!" Taji growls at herself. "Mkali, I just want you to know that I miss you. I know you can't hear me, but I just need to say that. I need to get it off of my chest. I actually had a dream last night where we had a son together. I don't remember what we named him, but I remember you loving it." Taji looks around and shakes her head. "I'm done with my mom's behavior. If she does anything like this again, I'm going to run away and go to the Pridelands."
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Hey guys! Sorry for the late update, I just wasn't feeling very well, but I wrote as much as I could. Unfortunately, most of you won't be reading this until tomorrow, but just know that I did upload on Saturday like I said I would. I will upload again tomorrow, but make sure that you guys are taking all of the precautions to not get sick. Thank you, guys, for reading! Catch you on the flip side!