7 Chapter 7. No responsibility

Asafa sat beneath a tree with Pumba.

Simba and Timon and ran away to eat and compete about something.

"Kid, how do you feel being with us?" Pumba asked. Both he and Timon had taken a great liking to the cubs they had found.

As for Asafa, he thought about it. He knows that the life he is currently living, was a story, a movie in his past life... But that doesn't change the fact that he is currently a lion. He came to realise that many things wasn't shown in the kids movie.

He, as a lion had seen his lion-pride bring back a half dead gazelle, just to show the cubs how to kill it properly.

He had eaten and tasted every part of a dead animal.

His father had gone out to pee around the pride lands to so that the smell keeps other lions away from their land.

Fact is, he is a full blown lion, and he couldn't help but to come to terms with that as he raised his palm and pushed out his sharp claws.

'I will grow stronger and faster than my brother as we grow, but also stronger than any other lion because of the gift I received.' Asafa thought.

"Kid?" Pumba asked as he noticed that Asafa was lost in his thoughts.

"Ah sorry, I'm just slightly worried." Asafa said

"About what?" Pumba wanted to help the cubs to adjust as much as possible.

"I am very thankful to you two for taking us in, and were doing our best to adjust, but the truth is, we are meat eaters and it might be bad for us to live only on bugs..." Asafa honestly replied his worries.

"Ah, not that I want to kill or eat anyone, it's just what I am." Asafa said as he saw Pumba worried.

"oh... I might have a solution to that." Pumba said as he stood up.

"Follow me!" Pumba said happily as he started walking towards a direction.

"What about Timon and Simba?"

"Hakuna Matata." Pumba said as Asafa followed him.

After walking throughout the forest, they finally arrived in a clearing with a huge lake that was connected to a waterfall and a river.

"Learn to hunt in the water, there's lots of meat in fish!" Pumba said happily that he found a solution.

"... that might actually work.."

'Don't cats love fish? It might be extra work to fill my stomach, but at least I won't be making Timon and Pumba uncomfortable.' Asafa thought.

"Well then, LAST IN IS BACON!" Asafa said as he jumped into the lake.

"Aahh cheating!" Pumba shouted as he followed.

Asafa and Simba became close with Timon and Pumba in no time, they enjoyed their time together snd had fun everyday, forgetting their troubles and responsibilities. Before they knew, a year had passed by.

"I think I won that one!" Timon proclaimed

"But Timon, didn't all three of us eat more than you? You only ate 34 snails, we ate over 70!" Pumba asked.

"Pumba, this is why I am the brain in our group. Look at our size differences!" Timon said as he patted Pumbas big stomach.

"10 snails for me, is like 100 for you., so I ate more than 300 hundred." Timon said with utmost confidence.

"Oh I see." Pumba said.

"All I hear is fart noices, I ate the most, so I'm the official master of snail eating. I'm the snail eating king!" Asafa said with a grin, but as he said king at the end, he remembered what had happened the year earlier....

"Asafa, you only ate 79 snails, I ate over 300, I'm the king in this Forrest!"

"No way, that's cheating, I ate 68, that's like 10000 because I'm a kid!" Simba tried reasoning.

"That makes sense!" Pumba said.

"No no no, it's not about age, it's all about size. Simba, my little furry carnivore friend, listen closely, snails are like stars, the bigger the sky, the more stars. You stomach is bigger so it can hold more stars." Timon explained his rocket science.

"Oh...." Simba wasn't so sure about that.

Asafa looked up to the clear, dark sky. The sun had set and the stars and moon were shining brightly, he couldn't help but to feel nostalgic.

Just as they were about to arrive at their sleeping area, Asafa stopped.

"Sorry guys, need to use the men's room" Asafa said with his typical grin.

"Ah don't be too late Mr. second place " Timon said as he waved him away.

Asafa turned around and his grin disappeared, and a slightly sad one took over.

He walked towards an open place and layed on the ground, looking up to the sky.

'Even though Scar killed father... I could have prevented it with just little effort, am I also to blame?...' Asafa thought as he looked up to the stars.

He had been feeling very guilty about what had happened, and he knew Simba also did, but the difference is that Simba had nothing to feel guilty about.

Asafa had played with the thought of telling him that Scar killed their father, but how would that help Simba? He's just a kid and by now, Scar had probably already filled the pride lands with his army of Hyenas.

Simba couldn't return as he'd die before he could even reached there.

This was Asafa's conscious reasoning, but unconsciously, the real reason he hadn't told Simba was because he was afraid that his brother would in the end leave him and return.

Asafa knew that the day would come when Simba would be cleared of his crime, and return as the rightful king... but Asafa wasn't without guilt, so he believed that he couldn't return, how could he face everybody?

"Sigh, father, I'm sorry." Asafa said as he looked up at the stars. He couldn't help but to reminisce about the last night he had with his father.

'I wonder how disappointed you'd feel if you saw me now.' he couldn't help but to think.

His destiny was obvious to everyone, he would one day become the brother of the king, and the strongest lion and protector of the pride lands.

It was obvious since his birth, instead, he is here in shame, never able to return.

His ear twitched as he heard someone coming near. Looking back he found Simba.

"You think dad is looking over us.." He asked as he stopped beside Asafa, looking at the stars as well.

"Maybe... but he would probably not like what he sees."

"This is our own fault, we are the reason that dad died, we can no longer return." Simba said, but this time he had come to terms with this and it didn't sadden him as much as it did a year ago.

"Maybe..." Asafa said, not dearing to look into his brother's eyes out of guilt.

"Simba, I want to be alone for a while..."

"Okay... but you know where you have me... Timon and Pumba as well." Simba said as he turned around.