Neema the leopard cub was separated from her mother and became lost in territory after territory of angry adult leopards who drove her out. when she finds the pridelands the lion guard finds her. But can they trust her?
Neema drags the small Impala with her as she treks into the outlands. 'How dare they take the word of the herds over me.' she growls. but the more she thinks about it the more she comes to realize the Lion guard probably never trusted her from the beginning. 'Kion only pretended to be my friend... until it didn't suit him anymore and then he drove me out just like everyone else. Why did I think I could ever matter to the Lion Guard?'
"Neema." Mzingo calls as he lands on a rock near her. "I heard what happened. The whole Pridelands are in a fit about it." he smirks. "I told you the Lion Guard would never Let you stay."
Neema drops her impala and turns to look at Mzingo. "you were right... I should have just moved along when I had the chance." She sighs and picks the impala back up and continues to walk.
"where exactly are you going?" Mzingo questions.
"to find a tree... or a cave..." she replies through the impala. "anywhere that I can be alone."
"but your heading right into Janja's territory." Mzingo says following her closely.
"so..." Neema replies coldly. "doesn't matter I'm as good as dead anyways."
Mzingo stops following Neema and just watches her pad deeper into hyena territory. 'I've never seen a predator so... down hearted. Could I have maybe taken this... a bit too far?'
"well looky what we have here." Janja chuckles from the shadows. Neema hears him but continues walking as if she hadn't noticed. "I think you might be lost little leopard." He says slinking his way around the rocks behind her.
"what do we do Janja?" one of the Hyenas asks.
"cool it." Janja demands looking over his shoulder at the pack of Hyenas following him. "this one is mine." He runs past Neema and slides in front of her making her stop. "stop ignoring me and tell me what you're doing in our territory."
Neema sets the impala down and looks Janja right in the eyes. "I just want to be alone... somebody like me shouldn't have friends... I'm only a burden."
"hu..." Janja raises an eyebrow. He hadn't been expecting her to say something like that. "wait you aren't out here to mock us or something?"
"no... why would I do that?" Neema replies. "I just want someplace to eat."
"oh..." Janja's eyes dart across the ground. "well um... if you ain't here to fight... then I guess that's ok."
"appreciated." Neema bows slightly and then continues to drag her impala through the dirt.
"Janja." Cheezi questions. "aren't we going to eat her?"
"nah..." He shakes his head. "I don't think I could find any pleasure in hunting somebody who doesn't fight back." He frowns. "I do think it may benefit us if we help her out instead of push her away." He grins a bit.
"you have a plan Janja?" Chungu chuckles.
"of course I do fur brain." Janja looks around then follows Neema. "hey little leopard lady! Wait up!"
Neema turns around still filled with sadness and betrayal. "what?"
"I heard your looking for a place." Janja smirks. "I know a great place. You can have it long as you help us out from time to time."
"let's see then." Neema replies.
Janja nods and leads her down a narrow pathway to a cave. "not sure why something like this is out here in the middle of a cave but I thought it was a bit interesting."
They squeeze into the cave entrance and it opens up into a large cavern with a hole in the top. Sunlight streams down over the top of tree, underneath Rain water has pooled and collected into a small pond.
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"oh wow..." Neema looks around in awe. "It's beautiful."
Janja smirks. "yeah if you say so." He shrugs. "none of us Hyenas can climb trees and the entrance is pretty narrow for most of us to try to squeeze through. We do sometimes come in here for water but it's mostly empty."
"I like it." Neema smiles a tiny bit. "thank you."
Janja nods and takes his leave. "you know where to find us if you need anything."
"ok." Neema carries the Impala to the tree and proceeds to climb onto a lower branch. 'I could get use to this.' Neema looks around. 'Location is pretty good... I don't think anybody will bother me here, and if they do.' she looks at her claws. "I'll make them leave."
-a little while later-
Neema has picked the bones of the impala clean and left them scattered on the ground beneath the tree. She leaps Gracefully from the branch and lands on her paws. She glances up at the hole in the top of the cave. "sun down." Neema smirks. "time for night predators to prowl."
-Meanwhile in the pridelands-
Ono lands on a rock in the middle of the lion guards lair. "I don't think Neema caused any of those problems today Kion. She's far too..."
"I know Ono." Kion interrupts. "she's nice. But she's using us to get to the herds. It's our job to protect the herds Ono."
"Besides I don't think all the herds would make up the same lie just to get Neema kicked out." Beshte says.
"that's right." Fuli nods. "there isn't any reason for all the herds to lie. So she must have been doing it."
"but that's just it Fuli." Ono whines. "Neema didn't seem like she was lying either. And I can tell when somebody is lying."
"well..." Beshte frowns. "maybe she's just good at lying?"
"I'm not really sure you can be that good at lying." Bunga cuts in. "nobody has ever got past Ono before."
"that is true Bunga." Kion sits on the ground as he tries to think. "maybe it would have been better if we had just kept her under surveillance."
"but if she found out she would think we didn't trust her." Bunga replies.
"but... in the end... we didn't trust her." Fuli says.
Everyone reflects on this for a moment.
"Fuli is right." Kion sighs. "I think... I may have gone too far."
"excuse me..." Ajabu calls from the cave entrance.
"hu? Ajabu? To okapi?" Beshte hurries to the entrance. "what's the trouble?"
"I um..." Ajabu looks around and then frowns. "I hope I'm not to late."
"for what?" Bunga questions leaping onto Beshte's head
"to warn you that the herds don't like Neema and they plan to find a way to drive her out." Ajabu looks around again.
"what?" Kion stands up surprised. "why would they do that?"
"I heard some of the animals talking about how she was a threat to the circle of life." Ajabu looks over his shoulder. "I don't know what their issue is she doesn't seem to have hurt anybody."
"oh no..." Kion runs towards the exit. "I have to fix this."
"fix what!?" Ajabu calls after him.
"Neema!" Kion turns to look at Ajabu. "we already drove her out."
