The Bravest One
Time seemed to pass quickly with the cubs. Soon Maliki and Kim had grown stronger and more curious. Maliki looked dark and handsome, his body was very mature for a cub of his age and the giggling female cubs all adored him.
Kim, in the meanwhile, was everything his brother wasn't. He looked a lot like Kovu as a young cub, only with a lighter fur color and less mane. The only girl willing to play with him was Shani, who was very a very shy cub and unwilling to join the wrestling games of the others. Kim liked her more and more as they grew up, and she became his best friend. (Very similar to Nala's and Simba's in their cubhood.)
But the only thing bothering Kim was that Shani seemed to be very fond of his brother, too. And he could understand why. Others got to laugh everytime Kim and Maliki had a fight; Maliki was stronger and beat Kim every time. And in so humiliating way: he jumped on Kim, and wouldn't let him up until he would be sorry. Sorry for what? Usually it was Maliki starting the fight, just to show off.
"Hey Kim, wanna wrestle?" Maliki shouted again.
Of course, everybody was watching.
Kim twitched his nose and turned away.
"I caaan't heeeaaar youuuu!" Maliki shouted, with a very annoying tone in his voice. Kim knew his next line, if he'd back up:
"Coward! You're a wuss, I knew it!"
This was the worst line Kim could think of and it made him see red. He roared and pounced on his brother. Maliki just laughed. He always did. It made Kim even angrier and Maliki knew it. And he took advantage of it.
When Kim was blinded by his anger, he couldn't predict his brother's moves and so he always ended up losing. Same thing this time.
Maliki shouted: "Hey Shani, watch this!", pinning his weaker brother to the ground.
Shani, she was watching.
A wave of despair and anger blew over Kim and somehow he got up, for the first time he got out from Maliki's tight squeeze. Maliki was just as surprised as Kim himself was, but pounced on him again and pinned him....again.
"Say it!" he hissed. "No..." Kim whined but Maliki held him tight. "SAY IT!" "NO!" "Say: Maliki, I'm sorry that I tried to measure your power of a king and didn't accept defeat."
Kim felt tears in his eyes: no, not now, not when Shani was here, she would think he was weak...He didn't want to be defeated, not this time.
"No."
Maliki couldn't believe he was hearing this. He was the king, Kim was only a weak little brother who didn't have any REAL power, and still he refused to accept defeat.
"What's going on here?"
Suddenly, every other cub ran to a different direction. Only Maliki and Kim were still there, Maliki standing on top of Kim. They both got up very quickly when they saw their grandfather padding majestically at them.
"Uhh, we were just...wrestling." Maliki blushed and lowered his head a little. Kim lay still on the ground, trying not to sob.
"Wrestling?" Simba asked in a very tense tone. "It looked like a real cat fight to me." "Well, I...he..." Maliki tried to explain. "No, Mali. Not this time. Not he, YOU." Simba sounded angry and Maliki lowered his head even more.
"I've been watching you for a while, and so has your father." "D-Dad?!" Maliki whispered fearfully. He never wanted Dad to find out about this, though he didn't exactly know why. "Yes, and now he wants to have a talk with you."
Kim had never seen such fear in Maliki's eyes, in fact he didn't even know Mali could fear something.
"Come with me, Maliki. And Kim, go to you mother." Kim nodded, and ran to the cave.
Maliki gulped and followed his grandfather with a heavy heart. Kovu was waiting for him at the top of Pride Rock. Maliki sat next to him and kept his head low, not wanting to face his father.
"Mali, why do you keep doing this to your brother?" Kovu asked straight. "D-doing what?" "Why do you keep teasing him?" "I--well, I..." "Is it fun?" "I--I don't know, kinda, I guess." "Why?" Maliki sat silently. He couldn't answer. "Because...He's so..." "Easy to win?" "Yeah, I guess so." Kovu peered at the setting sun.
"What about your nightmares?" he suddenly asked. Maliki froze. "What do you mean, what about them?" "You keep dreaming about falling. You have a weak spot, too and I don't tease you about it." Maliki sat still, starting to understand. "Look down, Mali." "I-I don't want to." "Look down from the cliff, Maliki." Kovu sounded determined. Maliki was scared to death. He COULDN'T watch down, Dad knew it. "Please, Dad..." "Say it, Mali. Say: Dad, I'm sorry for trying to measure your power as a father by refusing to look down and confess my fear of heights." Maliki started crying. Now he understood where Dad was getting at. He nuzzled Kovu's paw and cried: "I can't, dad! I can't! Please, don't make me do it, you know I can't look down, please, please..."
Kovu smiled gently. He had made his point. He lay himself down and took Maliki in his arms. "It's okay, I'm not gonna make you do it. I know you're afraid. It's okay, Mali..." He comforted the little cub until he calmed down.
"Now do you understand how Kim feels? I know he's weaker than you, but you are the future king and kings don't treat their subjects the way you treat poor Kim. He loves you, he really does, but that will end someday, if you don't show how much you love him." Maliki knew this was true. He loved Kim too, he just didn't want to show it too often. Sometimes when Kim hurt his foot and there were no adults near to help him, Maliki told him stories and jokes and kept Kim laughing until their parents came home.
"I'll try to be nicer to him, Dad. I promise." "No more wrestling?" "No more wrestling." Kovu smiled. "Good. That's what I wanted to hear. Now let's go home so you can apologize to your brother."
Kovu and Maliki got up and headed down Pride Rock, back in the cave.
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