A Lover's Tale-Chapter 1, The Jungle Reunion

I stepped over a small, crystal clear puddle of fresh rain. It smelled nice, very sweet. It didn't rain that much back at home in the Pridelands, but here in the jungle, it was almost everyday, soaking wet.

I was surrounded by green. Green trees, green grass, green moss on the tree trunks, even some weird, green birds. It was great here, everything clean and alive, so very different from my home. I liked it, the green, the rain, and the thought of how easy relaxation came to you here. I still loved the Pridelands more than anything, but it was like a second home here. It was nearly like Heaven.

I was only here because the King of the Pridelands, Simba, had sent me. He said that he didn't know why I needed to go here, but that he had had a dream telling him to send me to the jungle. He also said that as soon as he awake from the dream, Raffiki the baboon had actually been waiting at Pride Rock to speak to Simba. He said that Raffiki told him to send me to the for unknown reasons. All Raffiki could tell Simba was that it would be a trip that would change all of our lives, and that it would absolutely have to be me.

So I left.

I didn't even know which way the lush jungle was, I just said out that morning after Simba told me. I walked for at least two days until I found the first jungle. I could tell from Simba's stories that this had been the place he was raised. I stayed in the jungle for three days, waiting for something, anything. But nothing came. So slowly I kept walking, until I was surrounded by another savanna much like the Pridelands. I never even imagined this place existed.

After days of walking through the unfamiliar heat, I found yet another jungle. This time I walked as slow as I could, looking for signs of anything, but not taking the time to stay. I was out of it in a matter of hours.

And back into another savanna, though this one was more dead. It reminded me too much of the Outlands, where I was unfortuanately raised. This horride place took me four days to walk through, only because I was still looking for unknown signs. I knew if I turned around any time soon, I would make it home in two days, if I kept up a normal pace. But going where I was going, I was taking long.

And so the day before now, I arrived in this perfect, beautiful forest. I listened to the quiet rush of a distant waterfall, the soft songs of the tropical birds, and the tiny crackling noise of dirt under my feet. By now, I was exhausted. I found a small place underneath a short tree and cuddled with myself, finally falling into a deep sleep.

"Psst! Hey! Hey, wake up, you!" I heard faintly. I didn't want to wake up, everything was so peaceful! I loved it. I just wanted to stay asleep forever.

Finally, i got sick of the annoyin voice attempting to wake me up, and the new nudging in my side. I knew that someone was actually pushing me to get up.

My eyes flickered open and looked up to where they stared into a pair of soft brown eyes. When our eyes broke, I stared over the rest of the eyes' body to see that it was yet another lion (As I had guessed from the feeling of his paw) with a dark golden pelt with a brown mane of hair. He had a cute little smile, showing his sparkling teeth, and he had large clumsy paws, though he had a good balance from what I oculd tell. He was very muscular, strong, tall, and purely beautiful. And yet, he looked quit familiar...

"Finally woke up!" he said enthusiastically. "Thought you were dead! No, I'm kidding, I saw you breathing. So are you okay?" He looked concerned after I looked him over about five times silently. Then finally, I got it.

"Kopa?" I said so quietly I wasn't sure he could even hear me. My voice shook, and was full of sadness. It was mixed with happiness though, when I realized...

"Kopa?" I repeated louder, and I jumped up, beaming. "KOPA!" I screamed, and burst forward, placing my front paws hard on his shoulder and intwining my neck with his.

"Umm, er, uh, do I know you?" he asked in an equally shaky voice. I jumped down, my smile fading. I looked him deep in the eyes, mine full of sudden sadness again, and closed my mouth for a second.

"Yes, Kopa, it's me! Vitnai," I whipered to him.

"V-Vitani? Who're..."

"Your best friend, Kopa! Don't you remember the Pridelands? And when we were cubs?" I asked. Wait, what if this wasn't Kopa? No, it had to be...

"Vitani?" he said in sudden realization, his eyes widening, his jaw hanging open.

"Yeah, yeah, Vitani!" I said to him, beaming again. He fung his body onto mine in a giant hug, and we laughed loudly. Then he got up.

"Vitani, you don't know how much I've missed you! And everyone else, but mainly you! Your're my best friend, Vitani, I just could hardly stand running away, leaving you behind-"

"Wait, you...you ran away?" I said. He looked as if he wished he wouldn't have mentioned that at all. "Why?"

"Well," he started warrily. "I was told to. A horrible, mean lioness told me to leave. She said if I didn't that I would be killed, I had done terrible things and if I went back, everyone would kill me."

"First, what were those 'terrible' things?" I asked.

"The last day I was there, remember I gave you that bad cut on your shoulder when we were playing? That was it..." he said sadly. "I'm sorry..."

I turned my head and focussed my eyes on my large shoulder to see a small tuft of fur upturned where the hair had never grown back right on that huge cut on it from Kopa. "It's okay. But who...who told you?" I whispered the last part of the sentence.

"She was cruel. Her name was Zira," said Kopa with a shudder.

"I...I know her. She's my mother," I said, looking down. "Why didn't you come back?" I asked before he could start with awkward appologies.

"Well, I knew Zira was strong, and that she could gather many followers. I couldn't go back to that, could I?" he said.

"Well, she's dead now, you can come back!" I said excitedly.

"Well, it's like home here..."

"You know, you sound just like your father. That's exactly what happened to Simba! Please, you rightfully belong there!" I said.

"Vitani, are you absolutely sure Zira is gone?" he asked seriously.

"Yes, Kiara saw her die."

"Kiara?" he asked, puzzled.

I gasped.

"Oh, Kopa, you never knew her!" I shouted.

"Who?" he said.

"Well, see, Kiara's your sister," I told him.

"I, I have a little sister?" he stuttered at me.

"Yeah, you do, Kopa!"

"Well, she can't go all her life without meeting her older brother then, can she? Let's go!" He yelled. I shouted with pleasure and we made our way out of the lush jungle, barely looking back.

"So what's she like?" he asked, and I could tell I'd have to fill him in on every second of our lives that we lived without this cuious lion, and laughed to myself.

Author's Note: Hello everyone! This is a new story that Kopa98 and I decided to write. We decided to do this because Vitani is my favorite character, Kopa is his, and together we thought we could create a good romance/adventure story. I hope everyone enjoys, please review soon! :D