Scar's Empire
(A midquel in the Tales Of Sanri)
Read the Tales Of Sanri before reading this.
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Scar had just flung Mufasa off the gorge wall, and was walking back
towards home. Yes...his plans were working. Faking a misty-eyed
expression, he told of the untimely and 'heroic' deaths of his brother
and nephew. 

"Yet out of the ashes of this tragedy we shall rise...to greet the
dawning of a new era, in which Lion and Hyena come together."

The hyenas ravenously surrounded Pride Rock, and scrounged for leftover
dinners from the night before. The lionesses began to fight them off,
but with warning growls from Scar they halted, and slunk into the
sleeping quarters as their food was gorged by the ravenous scavengers.

Lying in a high crevice this whole time was Sanri. Ahhh...her Taka was
King now. Yes...finally. Her dreams, and his dreams, had been fulfilled.

She crept down the rocks and approached Taka.

"Ahh...tell me, your majesty...what did you do?"

The look on Taka's face was strange as he glanced at her. Perhaps it was
the fakely accusing tone of voice she had interrogated him with.

"I thought at least YOU, Zira, would have believed me." he said with a
smile.

Sanri did not reply. She looked up at Taka with eyes full of confusion.

"I thought at least YOU, Taka, would still call me by my real name, and
not by Mufasa's name for me."

Taka looked at her, full of understanding.

"Yes, Sanri...but you understand, I get so used to hearing others of the
pride refer to you by that name..."

"So you automaticially forget who I am? You think I am just a symbol of
Hate? Do not call me Hate unless you see me as Hate. I will not call you
Scar unless all I see of you is your Scar, and not the lion inside."

Taka smiled.

"Well, I have a little surprise for you," he said. "You will be the
first to have cubs to me."

"Well, I expected so," said Sanri. "Not saying I'm ingrateful..."

Time passed. Every lioness in the pride, spared Nala, was soon to have
cubs to Scar. Sanri knew that even if Nala had been of age she would
have been spared. Nala was the cub of Sarafina and Scar. She herself had
been sick at the time, or it would not have happened. Well, maybe it
would have. Mufasa had hated her, and still cared for his brother a bit,
so he wanted to betrothe a son of his to a daughter of Scar. It was the
only way to stretch the family out a bit, anyways. Scar had not had much
choice, but he never thought that Sanri would find out.

She had guessed, eventually.

Months passed.  Her cubs were the first to be born. She lay alone in the
sleeping quarters and lay, awaiting their arrival. Taka walked in the
sleeping quarters to check on her.

"How are you, Sanri?" he said.
"Just fine..." Sanri replied.

She closed her eyes to rest a bit. Taka walked from the sleeping den.

An hour later, a single cub was born. There had been a shortage of food
and water, so even if the cub was scraggly and thin, she was grateful.

"Taka?" she called.

The other lionesses heard and rolled their eyes. Zira always demanded
special attention. She was just that way. And she called Scar by his
other name. They only viewed her as a bit of a kiss-up and Scar's
favorite.

Taka found Sanri lying in the den with a small male cub. He was thin,
his ears were rather big, and his tail tuft was scraggly, but to Taka
and Sanri he was wonderful.

Taka looked at him a bit.

"Hrm...you know the river that flows through the desert way north of
here?" he said.

"The Nuka?" Sanri replied, baffled. "What about it?"

"That's what we can name him," said Taka.

"But Nuka means Smelly and Stinky!" she exclaimed.

"Your point?" he said. "He's not named for that, he's named for a River.
It's okay to name him that."

The little cub looked up.

"Okay, okay," said Sanri. "Maybe he will be the future king."

"Don't get your hopes up, Sanri," he said. "I realize now that Sarabi
shouldn't be having my cubs. Since she's still the rightful Queen, and
I'm the King, our cubs will be the new throne-holders."


Sarabi's cub was born, a dark, sandy-colored male, with the black tail
and mane tuft of Scar. He was lean, yet healthy, and he was born the
future king.

Sarabi did not take pride in her new son. Of course, she cared for him,
but despised the fact that his father was Scar, and that he would become
the King one day. She named him Komonjo.

Nuka was soon overshadowed by all. His mother did not give him much
attention, because he had little potential. He therefore was not taught
anything, and was rather dumb compared to many of the others. Sanri did
not take the time to think that if anything happened to Komonjo and
Sarabi, Nuka could become the future King.

The day this dawned upon Sanri, she had just found out that she was soon
to have cubs again. In fact, she was the only one to have cubs again
soon. 

The plan was perfect. She could kill Komonjo, and, her new cubs,
healthier cubs, could be the royal ones.

For it was obvious they would be healthier. Taka gave her special
attention, and all food must first be presented to her. If she ate it
all, tough luck for everyone else. When food was short, starving hyenas
were the menu.

Yet the Hyenas did not repel against Scar when this happened. They
merely asked for a bit of meat, too.

And Scar usually gave his faithful allies a tiny piece to share.

But now, everything must be focused on the coming of Sanri's new cubs. 

Sanri decided the plan would have to take place soon. She told Taka she
wanted to go on a walk, alone, so he let her, grudgingly. He knew she
could fend for herself. he just wanted to protect her.

Quickly, Sanri crept from the sleeping den. Komonjo was napping outside,
sunning. She grabbed his scruff, carefully, as not to wake him, and took
off.

"Here's where your time ends, cub," she said, dropping him in the dirt.
Komonjo awoke with a start. 

"What?" he said groggily, looking around. "Where am I?"

"Well, don't worry about where you are now, little Komonjo, just worry
about where you're gonna be when I'm through with you."

Still sleepy, he looked at her in a confused way.
"Where would that be?" he said.
"With the great Kings Of The Past," she said, laughing.

Suddenly his eyes shot wide open. He began to scream.

"HELP! PLEASE, HELP!" he tried to run. "ZIRA'S GONNA KILL ME!" the poor,
disoriented cub ran in the wrong direction, towards the desert.
Sanri leapt at him, her eyes slitlike in anger. She clawed his back
open. The brave cub ran on. She sliced his body up as he skittered
forward. He finally began to slow. Sanri stopped. She watched him run,
bloody and dying into the desert.

She walked home.

Thirsty and famished, she arrived admist a chaotic scene. Lionesses were
searching everywhere for Komonjo. Worried, Sanri sidetracked to the
dusty remains of the watering hole, and rolled in it until it became
muddy and hid the scent of Komonjo on her fur.

She went straight at a lope back to Pride Rock. Taka was trying to hide
his amusement at it all.

"Everyone!" Sanri called. "I saw Komonjo near the desert, being eaten by
vultures! The cub is dead, and I do not know how."
The lionesses all glared at her, unbelieving. Sarabi began to cry.

Taka walked away from them and got Sanri alone. He repeated a line she
had told him quite long ago.

"Ahh...tell me, Sanri...what did you do?"
Sanri looked at him in fake surprise.

"I thought at least YOU, Taka, would have believed me." she replied.

She walked to the sleeping chamber and lay down, her cubs due in three
days.


The morning dawned gray and black, like every other day since Mufasa and
Simba's deaths. Yet inside Pride Rock lay two new members to the Pride.

One was a male cub, who looked exactly like Taka; the other was a female
who resembled Sanri, except for her visable whisker dots and shorter
head.

"Lets name them..." said Taka aloud.

Suddenly someone entered the den.

"Momma, I'm hungry," whined young Nuka.

"Nuka..." began Sanri. She was tempted to tell him to leave. But instead
she looked back at the two unnamed cubs.

Nuka looked on with surprise. He smiled his little Nuka smile and tried
to get closer. Yet his parents paid him no attention.

Suddenly Taka sniffed the cubs. He grew still.

"Sanri...these are not mine."

"What?" she said.

"Did you ever wonder why you had cubs and no one else did? I
wondered...I wondered how on earth you were having cubs in the first
place. They aren't mine, I can tell...but I care not who their father
was. I will treat them like they are mine."

Sanri suddenly remembered a dark intruding lion. Taka had been sleeping,
and the lionesses faught him off. His name had been Wenshui. Yet he
managed to leave the pride with his little gift. In the end, he managed
to get himself killed by a snake...

She vowed to never tell Taka she knew who the father was.

"I have ideas for their names," she sad. "The male...his is like you,
yet unlike you. We can name him Kovu, another name for Scar. And the
female...Vitani. War. Her name shall be a reminder of the war we fought
for these days. The future King is Kovu."

Nuka looked on sadly. He was jealous. Scar was HIS father. HE was the
firstborn. HE should be King.

Sanri was sleeping in a crevice one day when there was a ferocious
uproar. Scar had smacked Sarabi down for mentioning Mufasa's name.

A golden Lion leapt from the gray rock and landed near Scar, a growl
rising in his throat.

"Mufasa? No- you're dead!" said Scar.

"Mufasa?" said Sarabi softly, nearly knocked out.
"No, it's me..." said the Lion. Sarabi's eyes opened and she smiled,
unbelieving. "Simba?"

"Simba?" said Scar. "I'm surprised to see you...alive..."he grumbled to
the Hyenas, who gulped and recoiled.

The battle began. You all know the story...

Scar was flipped from Pride Rock. He landed far below, his back
hurting....but he managed to sit up.

He was surrounded by his hyena friends...

"My friends..."
"Friends? I thought you said we were the enemy..."

The hyenas tore into him.

Sanri watched, screaming, from above. She launched herself down to
defend him.

She struggled. Hyenas tore into both of them, hungry for one last meal.
She screamed and roared, and felt the burning fire bite her.

"TAKA..." she yelled.
She felt a push, as Taka helped her up onto the rock above. She had no
time to think...she reached for him, but the hyenas continued thier
attack.

"TAKA!" she screamed.
"SANRI..."
In a flash he was gone, swallowed by the fire as it swept across the
land.

"NOOO!"
Sanri held her head in her paws and cried, as the rain fell for the
first time in three years. 

Her thoughts swallowed her. Disbelief consumed her. Taka was dead.


She would be Zira from now on. Taka would be spoken of as Scar. Unless
she was alone.

She barely listened as Simba banished her and every cub born to Scar
from the Pridelands.

She took her cubs, and glared at Simba. She muttered under her breath.
"Simba...watch your back, little cub. I shall kill you one day...I shall
not die until I do, so help me Taka."