The Lion King

Chapter 4 - I Just Can't Wait to be King

Chapter 4

Sarabi lifted her head.

There it was again.

Her eyes narrowed as a blur of tan raced eagerly across the plains, first skipping, then running, then racing. It drew nearer and nearer, and Sarabi's gaze followed it lazily until at last, the shape came into focus, and she smiled, her head gently falling back into her paws.

"Hi, Nala!"

Sarabi kept her face slack as the cub bounced excitedly past her, grinning at another cub across the path.

"Hi, Simba!" the other cub answered with an identical grin.

She smiled at her friend just as her mother's tongue rasped gently across her flank. Sarabi saw Simba smirk, noticed his eyes flicker to her, and watched as he leaned toward Nala, whispering with one paw covering his mouth, "Come on, I just heard about this great place!"

Sarabi lifted an eyebrow, her tail flicking restlessly behind her. How fascinating. She would be interested to hear Nala's answer.

"Simba!" The cub scowled at her friend, her whiskers twitching disdainfully. "I'm kind of in the middle of a bath!"

Without another word, she turned away from him.

Sarabi lifted her head fully this time, her orange eyes still fixed on Simba, who was staring at Nala in dismay, his tail drooping.

"And it's time for yours," the queen spoke up.

Unable to help herself, Sarabi reached down for Simba, who cocked his head at her, too late. A gasp blew from his throat as the lioness gently fixed her jaws around him, drew him up by his scruff, and dropped him promptly in her lap.

"Mom!" the cub exclaimed, clawing frantically at the air.

Still smiling, Sarabi drew him back and began to rasp her tongue across his matted flank.

"Mom," the cub complained again, though this time, he ceased to struggle. "You're messing up my mane!"

Right on cue, Sarabi's tongue flicked Simba's hair into a wild do. This prompted another smile from the queen, who at last loosened her grip on the cub.

"Okay, okay, I'm clean," Simba protested, clambering out of her lap and pawing messily at his hair. "Can we go now?"

"So where are we going?" Nala piped up from the other side of the path. "It better not be any place dumb!"

"No, it's really cool!" Simba assured her with another cheesy smile.

Sarabi rolled her eyes.

"So where is this really cool place?" she asked, not failing to notice her son's cringe.

"Oh," Simba said, turning around and grinning up at her. "Around the Water Hole!"

The Water Hole? Sarabi laughed inwardly. Since when did you like taking baths?

"The Water Hole?" Nala echoed, clearly as convinced as Sarabi. "What's so great about the Water Hole?"

Simba whipped around, his eyebrows lowered, and snarled, "I'll show you when we get there!"

"Oh." Nala glanced quickly at her mother, her tail curling behind her. She'd gotten the clue. "Uh, Mom, can I go with Simba?"

Sarafina's eyebrows shot up, and she looked at Sarabi, a smile playing across her lips.

"Hmm, what do you think, Sarabi?" she asked.

"Well..." Sarabi looked down at the still smiling cubs, suspicion tainting her stomach like a piece of bad meat.