John Burkitt - Chronicles of the Pride Lands

Malaika stared after him, a frown on her face. "Honey tree, you don't have to stay here. Go play with your friends; I'm fine."

Misha shook her head. "Uh-uh. I really want to help, Malaika. Please let me stay." She glanced over her shoulder at Tanabi's retreating form. "All he wants to do is go play with Togo and Kombi, anyway."

Tanabi swatted angrily at an offending pebble in his path. He had been looking forward to this afternoon; he had planned to show Misha the neat joke Togo and Kombi had come up with to play on Uzuri. And now...he sighed, depressed. It had seemed funny at first, but now the whole joke seemed pointless.

"Phooey, " he said, disgusted. "Uzuri's no fun to tease, anyway." He started to turn, intending to head back to the main cave and take a nap, when something landed on him, bearing him to the ground with a startled "OOF! " Gasping, he rose to see Togo looking down at him with a mixture of amusement and disdain on his face. "Tsk tsk, " he clucked sadly. "Fell for it again, kid."

Kombi trotted out from behind a rock, yucking it up for all he was worth. "Sucker! How many times are you gonna get flattened before you figure it out?"

"Shaddap! " Tanabi snapped, startling them both. "Why do you always keep pouncing on me like that? You know how much I hate it! "

"Sheesh, calm down, willya?" Kombi peered at him, intrested. "What's got your fur on end today?"

"Misha." Tanabi cut his eyes away, suddenly embarrassed. "She won't come and see the joke we were gonna do."

Togo's eyes widened. "You mean the one we were gonna pull on Mom?! " He shook his head vehemently. "Naw, man, we can't pass this one up. It's the best one we've come up with yet! " He looked at Kombi worriedly. "C'mon, Tanabi, we gotta do this one! "

Tanabi looked at the ground. "Nah. I really don't feel like it. You guys go ahead without me."

Kombi shook his head. "We can't, remember? You have to distract Mom for us; that's why we showed it to you. You've gotta come."

“Why don’t you take Habu instead? He’s a lot quieter than I am, anyway.”

“That dweeb?” Togo snorted derisively. “He’s no fun. Come on, T. Let’s go.”

“He’s not a dweeb, buzzard brains, ” Tanabi said sharply. “He’s just not into jokes, that’s all.” The prince got up, shaking himself vigorously, and turned to leave. "Sorry."

"Wait a minute, here." Kombi squinched up his face in thought, an expression rarely seen from him. "If Misha DID come, would you go with us?"

Tanabi looked at him suspiciously. "Well, yeah, I guess so. But she's helping Malaika babysit her cubs. I already tried talking to her; she won't leave."

Kombi grinned at him. "No problem! We've just got to get Malaika to make Misha leave her alone; then she can go with us! "

Tanabi rolled his eyes and snorted. "Oh, brilliant. And just how, pray tell, are we going to get her to do that?"

"Simple. Ask her."

The young prince rolled onto his back, laughing. "Oh, now that's rich. You're going to go up to Malaika and say, 'Gee, we really want Misha to come and play with us; would you tell her to buzz off?'"

Kombi's smile spread into a predatory shark's grin. "Nope. You are."

"Okay, let me get this straight. You want me to tell the girl I don't want her to help me? Ridiculous." Malaika shook her head. "She's invaluable to me. Besides, I couldn't do that to her; it would break her heart."

"Aww, please?" Tanabi dredged up his most pitiful expression and turned it on full force. "It's no fun playing tag without Misha, Auntie Malaika."

Malaika raised an eyebrow. "You and Misha are going to go play 'tag' with those two? Right."

"Honest, we are! No fooling." Tanabi was secure in this fib; the prank on Uzuri DID involve them distracting her with a fake game of tag, so technically he wasn't lying. Well, sort of, anyway.

Malaika turned the matter over in her head for a minute or two, then appeared to come to a decision. "Oh, all right. I'll get her to go with you."

"Yeah! " Tanabi bussed her cheek. "Thanks, Malaika! " He scampered off, eager to inform his friends of the good news. The lioness stared after him, a faint smile on her face. "Misha, dear, did you catch that?"

"Uh-huh." The cub popped up from behind the lioness's bulk. "I don't wanna play with Togo and Kombi; they're always being mean to someone! Tanabi’s always so nice to Habu and me; I don’t know why he wants to hang out with those two.”

The lioness looked at her thoughtfully. "You know, hon, I've got an idea that might just solve all our problems."

"Really?" Misha looked slightly perplexed. "What?"

Malaika laughed. "We're going to give them a taste of their own medicine, Misha." She bent to the cub’s ear, whispering.

Several minutes later, Tanabi looked at his friend in utter shock. "She said WHAT?! "

Misha sobbed uncontrollably. "M-Malaika s-said I wasn't paying enough at-t-t-tention to the babies, that I kept ru-running off and playing with you guys instead of watching them." She collapsed on the ground and held her head in her paws. "S-She told me I'm not allowed to see them anymore..." her voice trailed up and away into a wail.

Togo looked at Kombi and grimaced. "Oops."

Tanabi patted Misha on the cheek worriedly. "Uhh, calm down, Misha. I'm sure she'll let you see them again; she's just sore, that's all."

"But I didn't DO anything! " Misha cried angrily. "I DID watch them, real careful. I did everything she said to do, Tanabi; what did I do wrong?" She buried her face in his chest, her tears soaking the fur.

"Aww, man..." Tanabi glanced at the brothers angrily, as if looking for support, but the two had suddenly found something fascinating about their toes, for they studied them intently, avoiding his gaze. He turned back to Misha and rubbed cheeks with her reassuringly. "Well, since you're not babysitting, do you want to go see our joke?" He smiled halfheartedly. "Maybe it'll make you feel better, anyway."

"Oh, PHOOEY on you and your stupid joke! You don't even care, do you?" Misha's eyes blazed with anger. "What's my mama going to say when Malaika tells her I'm not even fit to look after newborn cubs? I'm worthless! " She fell back, tears streaming down her face. "I thought you were my friend, Tanabi. I guess I was wrong, wasn't I?" She turned and began to walk away.

Tanabi stood frozen, unable to speak as Togo stepped down and joined him. The older cub elbowed him and snorted. "Boy, she can't take a joke, can she?"

The tendons in Tanabi's neck creaked as he turned to face him. "Get away from me, " he said icily. Togo shrank back as Tanabi leapt up and sprinted after Misha, calling her name.

He raced around a granite outcropping and nearly blundered into her. "Misha, wait."

She stopped, but did not turn. "What do you want?"

He circled around her until he was face to face with her. "I-I have to tell you something." He cast his gaze down to the ground, unwilling to look her in the eye. "It-It's my fault Malaika kicked you out."

"Huh?" Misha cocked an eyebrow at him. "What're you talking about?"

His right ear began to jitter nervously. "I asked Malaika to get you to come play with us, " he said in a small voice. "I didn't know she was going to freak out like that, though. I thought she'd just, you know, maybe let you take a break for a couple of hours, or something." He finally looked up and met her gaze miserably. "You aren't worthless, Misha; I am. I shouldn't have tried to make you do something you didn't want to. You're my bestest friend in the world, and I just wanted to spend some time with you, that's all." His eyes began to water and he rubbed his nose with a forepaw, sniffling. "I'm really sorry, Misha. Please don't hate me."

Misha stared at him silently, looking into his sad face. Abruptly, she grinned, and leapt through the air, tackling him. Caught off balance, the startled Tanabi toppled, again giving out a healthy "OOF! " as his bruised back once again made an aquaintance with the hard rock.