Author's Notes

Gosh, when did all that time pass? I hardly have time for writing lastly, it's terrible. And after that month, I have no more than traditional 3k words for ya... But hey, you don't to read about my problems, there's this pantheon of hyenas waiting for your attention!

I think this particular chapter might score high - though the final decision isn't mine to make. Enjoy!

Sun got up yet another time. It ascended onto the sky slowly, embroidering every nearby cloud with gold, trying its best to poke its rays through any tiny holes there might be, seeming to be desperately craving to touch the earth. Not long after, it was offered the chance – and soon, whole Pridelands were immersed in its light. It squeezed into cracks, bounced on dew, tickled eyes clenching shut at the contact, used every puddle, every drop of water to try and blind any animal unfortunate enough to glance at it.

Despite its almighty efforts, however, the fiery orb could do nothing to as much as touch the land being so close to the Pridelands it almost made it look as their shadow. Courtesy of smoke, mist and ash, there was no way for any blissful ray to visit the inhabited cemetery.

During the times of Ahadi, it was popular to believe that its inability to reach that certain area made sun so frustrated, that it attacked the peaceful dreamland lying right next to it with a fierce power, sometimes with so much devastating fury it would cause a draught. Ever since the deal was made between the royal parts and the graveyarders, though, it was no longer advocated to shout "Curse those hyenas!" every noon, so the belief started to fade away.

Nevertheless, there were still some creatures actually enjoying the turn every morning was taking. To name one, there was Gituku, lying in front of the den he currently decided to call his, watching life around him from behind almost completely dropped eyelids. It was so amusing: just a second ago a mother hyena whined about there being no sun in the morning, which in her opinion made the place look sad ("I'd rather point out the lack of grass, abundance of dirt and bones, and did I mention your sorry appearance?", he thought); not long before that, some cubs ran by him, wondering aloud if their parents could punish them for leaving home while it was dark outside… talk about keeping your offspring in the dark.

Even those were nothing when compared to the comments his own self was evoking in the bypassers though. "Look, it's that dreadful murderer!", he recalled a snippet of overheard conversation; "Sleep while you can, bastard!" said silently someone he didn't know; "We're doomed", prophesied some pessimist, having barely looked at him. Every time, Gituku had to do his best not to burst out into laughter. Barking, spitting and cursing didn't get to him, he knew perfectly well the frightened mass of incompetently ruled fools would not dare say one of those things if only he showed in any way he was wide awake.

"Oh crap!" shouted an elderly hyena Gituku's lost interest for a few minutes ago. Careful not to let anybody notice his head twitching, he calmly refocused his eyes and quickly understood what happened – the darn retard must have failed to notice a rock in his way and tripped, landing in, to say it lightly, an uncomfortable position.

"Watch your mouth!" came an exclamatory reply from a den adjacent to Gituku's. He unemotionally noted the mood of the female hyena living there with her family was getting worse every day. Either his presence had something to do with it, or she had just decided to grace the world with some more of the useless spawn of hers and wasn't exactly keen on the accompanying feelings.

The male stood up clumsily, ranting as he did, "Well excuse me for not having seen that friggin' rock! In case you went blind from crying over the fact you're living next to a well-known criminalist, it's damn dark out here!" he yelled, then turned around to continue his trek.

"Then develop some night vision, you lousy dotard!" Gituku's neighbor from the other side joined the quarrel. Judging by the fact the guy barely smiled at all, the silent observer guessed the best part of the scene was yet to be heard.

"Shut your bloody muzzles, loudmouths!" now really furious, the female emerged from her abode, glaring daggers at everybody in range. "There might have been my cubs listening an' I don't wanna them to use such dirty language!"

"'Stop looking down on everybody,' said a giraffe," was her muttered response.

The female huffed angrily, took a loud breath in, then released it, waved a paw and got back inside. Gituku almost groaned; it was this close to a truly fun event!

A long moment of silence followed, making him deliberate over possible actions. With no more fun to go round, he thought about having some breakfast. The idea was quickly rejected, as there was no hunger to be satisfied. Besides, his appointed meeting with T was to happen "in the morning". And despite the environmental proof being scarce, that was the time.

Before he could produce any other project of an activity, a foursome of cubs drew his attention. The group was moving and speaking in a way that was screaming to anybody more observant than a rock that they were up to something… And having spent more than a day back in the graveyard, Gituku had a pretty clear image as to what that might be.

"There he is, see?" whispered one of the cubs, pointing a paw at the seemingly sleeping adult hyena.

"Woah," the others echoed.

"I heard when they attacked, he was taking lionesses single-handed!" said excitedly a young female from the group. Gituku couldn't help a surge of self-proud rushing through his system as he thought of some past battles.

"Mah mama says 'e could kill a male lion if he wanted!" the thing was getting better any minute.

"Yeah, even Banzai had a hard time kicking his butt," the one cub that remained silent before finally joined the discussion. Without much need to think about it, the unannounced onlooker decided he didn't like this fellow.

"You kiddin'!" laughed the female, earning much esteem from him… only to lose it with, "He wouldn't stand a chance against Banzai!"

"Now that's a warrior!" one of the males exclaimed, soon to be backed up by the other two.

"There ain't a braver guy in the world," he continued, making Gituku gnash his teeth not to yell at the whole kith. But he had learned it, the hard way, several times: vengeance is a dish best served cold.

"You guys are brave?" the same cub that got so much of his loathe piped up all of the sudden.

"Well duh, look where we're standin'!" laughed the female, prior to slapping a high five with one of the males.

"I bet'cha you couldn't go any step further towards him," the darer said smugly, waving his paw invitingly in Gituku's direction.

"There, you're wrong," answered the female with a smirk, making several steps instead of one. "How's that, losers?" she smirked.

"I'm on," said one of the males, covering half of the distance between the group and the terrorizing target. "Beat this!"

The one who originally came up with the challenge looked at the only cub left beside him, but he just shook his head, giving up. The competition wasn't over, however, as its last participant started toward Gituku… and, in an awe-inspiring display of courage, delicately touched the adult hyena's side, sitting close.

He puffed his chest, proudly taking in the admiration glistening in his friends' eyes. "Brave like Banzai, ain't I?" he boasted.

"I'd say…" a voice slowly uttered from behind him, shaking slightly with barely contained anger. The cub turned around to see the no longer sleeping adult hyena towering over him, heaving with fury, fur standing on his neck and a look that could kill. He suddenly snapped his teeth, missing him by a hair.

The whole four of them were gone in a flash, screaming in fright as they sprinted away. Gituku smiled, but it soon faded.

"Scaring away a bunch of cubs, there's a great achievement," he sighed.

Unexpectedly, a strong smell hit his nostrils. He sniffed it in, quickly to discern the pungent scent as one of urine. This time, a frank snicker crept onto his face.

"Turns out the poor fella really was as brave as my dear novio," he laughed under his breath.

Having finally gotten up, he decided to look around, hoping to catch sight of anything entertaining. To his displeasure, there was nothing; not a single living being moving in his proximity, no events going on.

"Now what do I do?" he thought aloud.

"Go kill yourself," a proposition came from the den on his left. He didn't respond, as something else caught his attention.

"Well, lookie here," he muttered to himself, gazing at a certain female making her way towards him. Unaware of being observed, she was walking in a way that was very natural and slightly timid at the same time, making every bit of Gituku's masculinity tremble. That Banzai sure was a blind idiot if he could live with two females of such beauty and not get either… An idea suddenly popped into his head, so he stepped forward and called, "I cut!"

T looked up in surprise, not expecting him to be waiting for her… "Um… good morning, Gituku," she said carefully, before looking at him with curiosity and asking, "What do you cut?"

"I better spell it for ya," he laughed. "I see you, T."

"Oh," she soon joined his laughter. "Good one."

"So," he asked after awhile, "you're here to learn somethin' 'bout my past?"

"More or less. We don't really have to stick to it all the time."

"Glad to hear it. If I might propose one thing though, let's walk instead of sitting here. It'll be less awkward that way, right?"

"I guess so…" she agreed, albeit reluctantly.

"C'mon, I don't have no purpose in bringing harm to you, whatever Banzai might have told you. Plus, it'll be fun to show you some places I'll be speaking of."

"Any," she said with a smile.

"Pardon?"

"You don't have any purpose in hurting me… Or so I hope."

Gituku smiled in response and turned in the direction he had chosen for their trip, waiting until she walked over to his side before they both set off.

"Now, I want to make some arrangements before we start," he begun after a moment. "At first, you won't probably believe or acknowledge some of the things I'm gonna tell you. Please, don't chime in with all the 'impossible's and 'I don't believe that's. I don't expect you to put a full trust into words of someone with my record, I only ask you not to discard those ideas, just store them as trash in your mind if you decide them to be worth only so much. But do store them."

"O-kay," she replied slowly, looking at him curiously.

"Great. Let me begin with this: I have no idea as to why I was conceived. Why my mother, a smart and good-looking hyena she was, would agree to spend her life with a selfish, arrogant and cruel monster of my father."

"Well that's ironic to say of you," said T, earning herself a murderous glare. "Uh… never mind."

"Well anyway, I came to live in this world... and soon learned how hard was it gonna be. To put it lightly, my dad had a different idea on how should the society look. He believed it was males who were supposed to rule... and therefore, turned the lives of me and my mother into hell."

"Again, it's not like you behaved otherwise."

"Are we going to talk about my misdoings or the past?" asked Gituku, slight impatience to his voice. "'Cause if you doubt that, lemme assure ya I'm aware of what I've done."

"Ok, ok, calm down," said T meekly.

"Fine. Well, where was I? Ah yes, my beloved father. I guess I could spare you the details, but since you seem so eager to compare the two of us, let me tell you how delighted I was every time my mother screamed in pain, getting hit for no other reason than his bad mood, how pleased I was to come home every night and see her in ever-worsening condition-"

"Revenge isn't getting you anywhere, you know," she hardly muttered.

"It's not like you behaved otherwise," he winked.

"Point taken."

"Anyway, those were the conditions I had to endure every, single, day. Though you'll probably dismiss the idea, at the time I was as innocent as any cub you'd choose. The fear – of my father, for my mother – was slowly getting to me, making me wonder what life would look like if I run away. Could it really be that bad? It sounds weird now, but then- Instead of daily beatings, peace, blissful solidarity in place of hate-breathing parent… That's when I met Monifa," he closed his eyes with a smile.

"Did she… make your life easier to bear by comforting you?" guessed T, making Gituku burst into uncontrollable laughter.

"I- I-hahaha-I'm sorry, it's just… No, she didn't comfort me. In fact, the first thing that happened between us was a nasty scrap. But chronologically… For my constant fear of going home, always being at a lack of strength due to the beatings happening after my mother had been too weak to stand between me and that beast, I was always laughed at. No cubs would ever play with me… So I had learned to get what I lacked by overpowering those who stood in my way. It soon appeared that I've been more accustomed to pain than anyone else and so could win most of the fights, which were plenty at the time being. I still believe that terror I spread was fairly justified."

"How so?" she dared to interrupt. "How is something like that right, if only for your conscience?"

"Well, since all they did was taunting me, knowing nothing 'bout me, I simply taught each and every one I could what did it mean to be beaten and scared."

"Real mature," she said with sudden scorn. "Even for a pup."

"And I guess you'd just grin and bear it, huh?" he spat back, getting irritated as well.

"Yes, I did," she answered shakily, struggling to keep her tone calm despite the explosion of emotions brought out by returning memories of her childhood. Immediately, Gituku's expression turned into one of understanding.

"Well then, if your father was such a bastard as mi-" he never had a chance to finish, as his body made a sudden contact with the ground. Looking up, he could see T pinning him down with a fierce glisten in her eye.

"Never insult my parents again," she said angrily, then turned away from him and run quickly. Nevertheless, her sobs were well audible for a few seconds before she disappeared behind the omnipresent piles of animal remains.

"Never underestimate anyone," Gituku muttered to himself, getting up. "Eh, since we're mostly done for today, I might as well eat something, that gal won't be talking to me 'till tomorrow anyway."

With that, he continued towards the inner part of the graveyard.

Banzai awoke to find T gone, Shenzi still absent and Ed… being himself. Licking the wall of their skull and rubbing his head against it in alternating turns wasn't exactly the weirdest thing he could do.

He knew pretty well what was T probably doing, though it was still hard to believe she would concede for something as crazy as deciding to spend time with that scoundrel without anyone to protect her. Not that defending him while the stupid traitor returned seemed sane. To think of it, T had already been acting kinda weird for a few days before Gituku suddenly appeared… That couldn't have any connection, could it?

Banzai tried his best to remember anything suspicious she could have said during that time, but he hardly ever paid big attention to the specific words used by anyone. And she wasn't much around anyway, spending most of the time with Abeni and Kamau.

Then it suddenly hit him.

Those two were friends with Gituku. If T was with them all the time, acting strange, right before the unworthy scum came back… The conclusion was horrible, but it made sense. There had to be a wide plot, perhaps with several hyenas included, and that could lead only to one thing… A new mutiny!

As something touched his back, he jumped in surprise and turned around nervously, only to spot a cackling Ed.

"Don'cha sneak on me like that, man," he said, calming himself.

"Why not?" a new voice asked from behind him, causing him to whirl around even quicker and glare at no one else than Zazu, the blue-feathered royal majordomo.

"And whaddaya want?" Banzai demanded with hardly concealed disdain. The matters with the lions and their servants may have been resolved, but the differences were definitely too great to be fully overcome over a course of several months.

"I am here to announce a royal wish to your leader," his answer came through gritted beak, making it clear as a day that the antipathy was reciprocal.

"Well too bad, she ain't here."

"I've been informed that this is the… abode she occupies. Seeing as you're probably something along the line of her personal assistant, maybe you'd be able to direct me towards her current whereabouts?"

"I dunno where she is, if that's what you're asking."

"Would you at least be aware of any future blank spaces in her schedule she might commit to the royal messenger?" teased Zazu, finding it particularly amusing to see the hyena chew over his words.

"No idea."

"Do you mean you have problems understanding me or you are uninformed in the matters I'm asking about?" He hadn't liked the errand at first, but now it was getting really worth it. "Because-"

"She ain't here, alright?" exclaimed Banzai suddenly, startling him. "An' I dunno when or where she's gonna be, so you might as well go'n'look for 'er for yourself!"

"Hmph, and here I was thinking that hyenas are slowly becoming as civilized as-" Once more, he had no chance to finish as Banzai suddenly snapped at him. "Savage barbarian!" yelled Zazu, already from mid-air.