The lioness backed back, claws whipping around in an effort to lash his face, but his mane deflected the blows as he closed in. Gathering himself, Simba launched himself at her, jaws spreading as he prepared to seize her throat--

--and then he gave a startled “WHUFF!” of surprise as her feet sank into his belly, knocking the wind from him. The world spun crazily, and he found himself lying on his back, the lioness pinning him to the ground, her hot breath billowing in his face as she bared her fangs at his throat. Stricken, sure he would be dead in a few more seconds, he looked up to meet her gaze...and saw the brilliant green eyes staring into his.

He had seen those eyes in a thousand dreams. “Nala?!”

The snarling grimace of the lioness vanished, her face transforming from awesome rage into awesome beauty. Her jaw dropped and she backed away, crowding into a tree trunk and staring at the stranger before her. “Is it really you?”

She gazed at him suspiciously. Was it possible that Taka would send someone to follow her? Nonsense. A male such as this he would have killed outright, or at least driven off. “Who are you?”

“It’s me! Simba.”

“Simba?” The name rolled oddly off her tongue as she looked at him. Funny, she had known a cub by the same name when she was a child...her eyes widened as she looked into his face and SAW him, oh gods, he was ALIVE!

“WHOAAAAW! A simultaneous explosion of joy erupted from the two as they rubbed heads together in greeting, filling the air with a cacophony of confused questions.

“But how did you--”

“It’s GREAT to see you!”

“It’s good to see YOU!”

“I thought you were--”

“HEY! WHAT’S GOIN’ ON HERE?!”

Simba grinned and introduced his companions to Nala, chuckling at Timon’s utter confusion. His mirth was short lived, as Nala looked at him, her face serious.

“Wait till everyone finds out you’ve been HERE all this time! And your mother...what will she think?”

Simba felt a mad rush of panic that nearly overwhelmed him. “She doesn’t have to know. Nobody has to know.”

“Of course they do! Everyone thinks you’re dead!”

He looked at her, shocked. “They do?”

“Yeah.” She lowered her gaze sadly. “Scar told us about the stampede.” She glanced up tentatively, afraid to meet his gaze.

Simba was awash with cold fear. “He did? What else did he tell you?”

“What else matters?! You’re alive! And that means...” she looked at him, a new look of awe on her face mixed with newborn hope. “You’re the king.”

Simba froze into immobile stillness. He watched numbly as Timon and Pumbaa transformed before his eyes, looking at him like some new kind of insect they’d never seen before. Before Timon could embroil himself into an argument with Nala, he sighed deeply. “Maybe you’d better go.”

Timon gaped. “It starts. You THINK you know a guy...”

Simba watched them leave, then grinned shamefacedly at Nala. “Timon and Pumbaa. You learn to love ‘em.” He fell silent as he saw Nala with her back to him, looking as if she might begin weeping at any moment. He went to her and leaned against her shoulder comfortingly. “What? What is it?”

“It’s like you’re back form the dead,” she said quietly. “You don't know what this will mean to everyone. What it means to me--” Her voice threatened to betray her, and she silenced herself as years of dreams and hopes, things she had long forgotten and buried away in her mind now clamored for attention. She remembered playing with him long ago, cub games in the sweet grass fields of the Pride Lands where time stood still.

Simba nuzzled her tentatively. “Hey. It’s okay.”

Shaking with the years of memories that threatened to burst forth, she buried her head in his mane, rubbing her cheek firmly against him. “I’ve really missed you.”

CHAPTER 64: CAN YOU FEEL THE LOVE TONIGHT?

The water cascaded over the edge of the rocks, rolling smoothly into the deep pool at the foot of the falls, the frothy spume spraying into the air and wetting the coats of the two lions who picked their way along the rocks.

Simba followed Nala across the natural bridge, pausing to shake the cool droplets from his coat, making a miniature rainbow in the air as he dried himself. He joined her at a still pool where she was bending to take a drink. He was not the least bit thirsty, but at a loss as what else to do, he leaned over the water and took a couple of swallows, his eyes on the lioness across from him. He was unable to believe his friend had found him again! He had missed his family dearly, but there was something special about Nala...

She glanced up and caught him staring at her, and he stopped drinking, raising his head in alarm and embarrassment. But she merely smiled at him and bent to the pool again. "She doesn't know," he thought. "Else she wouldn't smile at me like that. Oh gods, what am I going to tell her?" He looked away from her, the shame dousing the joy he had felt.

Nala lapped at the cold water daintily, enjoying the liquid as she soothed her parched throat. The trip across the desert had been exhausting, and after that high speed pursuit of Pumbaa that had nearly ended in disaster, she was fairly desperate for a drink. Curious that her friend had taken up with a warthog, of all creatures. What Simba saw in that-

She glanced up at her friend and stopped in mid-drink, shocked at the look of absolute sadness in his features. Worried, she lifted her head, intending to ask him what was wrong, but Simba saw her glance up and immediately brightened, the mask of despair vanishing as if it had never been. He stepped to the edge of the pool, then tensed his haunches and leapt gracefully over to her side, smiling enigmatically as he passed. Nala turned to look at him, thoroughly confused. What in the world was he up to now-

Her eyes widened in surprise as he ran past, a vine clutched tight in his jaws, soaring out over the pool to land in its center with a terrific splash. She watched, at first amused, then alarmed as the ripples of his landing disappeared and he still showed no sign of surfacing. She padded to the edge and looked about anxiously, looking for any sign of him.

The water in front of her erupted, spraying her thoroughly as Simba rose and clasped her around the shoulders in a hug. She started to smile and ask him if this was his way of saying hello when she felt her balance shift alarmingly.

"Oh gods," she thought. "He's not doing what I think he is-"

But he was indeed. Simba's weight pulled her forward and down into the icy water with a tremendous splash. The lion surfaced, a grin on his face as he watched Nala scramble from the water, gasping, and huddle in a wet crouch, her teeth chattering. She made no move to rejoin him, and his smile wilted a little as he realized he might have stepped over the line. He pulled himself from the water, the cool liquid running from his mane in small streams as he went to her, a concerned look on his features.

Nala waited until he was next to her, then with a wry grin she shoved him playfully back into the water. "Gotcha!" she thought, laughing delightedly. She shook herself, then trotted away as Simba climbed from the water again, a grin on his face. Another laugh escaped her as she dodged among the trees, her friend in full pursuit of her and bent on revenge. She twisted agilely through a dense thicket, chuckling as she heard Simba smash through the debris.

"Clumsy!" she yelled at him.

"Oh, yeah?!" He grinned and put on a burst of speed as they entered a lush meadow, the late afternoon sun glinting through the trees as he drew nearer. She plunged into the undergrowth on the far side of the clearing and turned to face him, rising on her rear legs and pawing at him playfully. He laughed, rearing up to meet her and throwing his forepaws around her shoulders, his extra weight overbalancing them both and sending them tumbling down the hillside to slide to a stop at the bottom.