Shenzi's New Friend

The odd pair finally reached the borders of the Pride Lands and the cub hesitated, he'd never strayed this far before and the sun was setting fast. The hyena padded on ahead and lifted her nose to the sky.

"We're almost there, I can smell Ed from here!" she snorted a laugh at that and then paused, looking back over her shoulder. "Well, are you coming?"

Taka slowly turned his gaze back to Shenzi as she yammered on.

"They won't miss you!" she urged. The lion narrowed his eyes at that. No, they wouldn't. He moved forward to follow her and before long the two were overlooking a small cliff that led right into the heart of hyena land.

"You live HERE?" The lion reeled back with disgust at the scene sprawled out in front of them. The land was barren and cracked; for miles around there were bones, most of which had been stripped clean long ago. Fog rose up from the ugly sight; the stench of decay was in the air.

Shenzi nodded, "Lovely, ain't it? Home sweet home." The hyena sighed and moved on ahead.

"Why would anyone want to call this place home." Taka muttered as he followed her.

"Who said we wanted to? Stupid, stinky lions put us here!" she sneered in disgust.

"Hey," Taka snapped, "Don't forget who just escorted you safely out of the Pride Lands."

Shenzi paused and looked back, "I wasn't talking about you. You're not like the rest of 'em," she offered a sideways smirk, "You're different-" she paused as the cub only frowned, "you're SPECIAL!"

Taka gave a weak smile and shrugged his shoulders, "You're the only one that seems to notice."

The two continued on for a little ways before Shenzi suddenly stopped.

"You might wanna wait here..." she whispered as she caught sight of the clan, "I wouldn't wanna see you get eaten!" she giggled softly.

"Eaten!?" Taka gawked, the fur standing up on his back. His eyes narrowed at her laughter.

Shenzi waved her paw at him, "Don't worry, I'll explain what happened to them! They'll love you!"

"As an appetizer?" the lion hissed under his breath; backed away slowly. Shenzi frowned and took on a serious face.

"Please, trust me. I promise you'll be safe," her eyes met his for an instant and for some reason he did trust her. Aside from his mother, she'd been the only creature to express legitimate kindness towards him. The first that hadn't made him feel inferior. The first he might dare to call 'friend'. The cub nodded and shrunk down as Shenzi turned to walk towards the other hyenas.

"I'm the clan princess after all. They'll listen to me." She mumbled to herself.

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Noooo Shenzi wouldn't wanna see him get eaten...oh the cruel irony. Anyways, stupid short story is stupid and short. I might add to it someday.

Sketch: [link]