yeah-what-future:
It was nice seeing that smile on her face again and it was something he missed about seeing on her. He was glad that his promise not to leave so suddenly like that helped Kiara feel much better about what had happened between them in the past. He stayed put in hugging her and smiled back at her when she pulled back to look at him. She was still as pretty as ever as far as he was concerned. His grey eyes watched as she took of the locket and put it back around his neck. Slowly his hand reached up to touch it after so many months, it felt a bit odd wearing it again but he knew how much this meant to her.
His smile never left his face as he just looked at her. There was a bit of an awkward silence that filled the air as they just stood close together. He was afraid to say anything out of ruining the silent moment they were having to get used to each other’s presence again. As her gaze looked down, his smile faded into a light frown. Very carefully he placed the side of his index finger under her chin to gently lift it back up to look at her more properly. His eyes searched hers for a minute before he finally answered her. ”I’ve missed you too, Kiara.”
Her smile slightly grew when she noticed him touch the locket now hanging around his neck. It was true that it meant a lot to her. When she had looked down, it surprised her a bit when he gently lifted her chin with his finger. She looked up into his eyes again as he looked into hers and she smiled at his words. She trusted him. She trusted that he wouldn’t just leave her again. She worried about him all the time and it was always about if he was okay or not. She would do anything to protect him or make him feel better or anything else. It was part of the job being his best friend.
As they continued to stand there, the urge to kiss him only got stronger. She gulped slightly and it started to become too much for her. She couldn’t hold herself back any longer. She leaned up and forward and gently pressed her lips against his. In that moment, she felt a spark. She felt something she had never felt before. When she kissed him, every little bit of doubt left her mind. When she kissed him, it felt right. Her lips broke away from his and she took a step back, covering her mouth with her hands, “Oh my…I’m so sorry…I…” She turned away so her back was facing him, not knowing if she should feel good because of how the kiss felt or bad because she had done it without his permission.
yeah-what-future:
He shifted a little bit on his spot as she seemed to sigh too. Did he say too much to hurt her more? Quickly he tried to go back over what he said to see if there was anything he said that was hurtful or offensive. Nothing seemed really mean to him and as he looked back over to her, he finally noticed her hair had grown a lot since he last saw her. It was nice.
A frown came to his face as he was confirmed that his suspicions were true. She did want to help him. That alone was the very fact that he didn’t want to tell her what was going on with him. Besides, despite the help she had been to him in the past, what he had to deal with was just something he had to do by himself, alone without any other help. Abandon? No. He didn’t abandon her. More like taking a leave of absence for his own, but he wasn’t about to tell her that.
The next thing he knew was he felt the weight of her body on him as she hugged him tightly. On instinct, he stiffened at being shown physical affection before he forced himself to relax. He didn’t care one bit that she was still wet from her swim. Slowly and hesitantly he hugged her back. “I won’t Kiara. I won’t leave like that again.”
A smile broke out on her face when he told her he wouldn’t leave like that again and a sigh of relief escaped her lips. She kept hugging him for a few moments before letting go slightly but still standing there in front of him. Her eyes looked into his and her smile grew. He had the most gorgeous eyes she had ever seen and she had always loved them. She then reached behind her neck and unhooked the clasp of the locket and then removed it from her neck before putting it around Jim’s neck and clasping it behind his neck. She let it set in place before looking into his eyes again, “Right where it belongs.”
As she stood there, that close to him, the urge to kiss him came back, just as it had the last time they were here together in the water. She wanted to so badly but she didn’t know how he felt about her anymore. She hadn’t known how he felt for a while, even before he left. Her feelings for him would never change though. She would always love him. She gulped slightly and looked down, “You have no idea how much I missed you Jim…”
yeah-what-future:
He stood there in silence, waiting for Kiara to react to what he just said to her. Even though he couldn’t really bring himself to look at her out of his own shame, he could feel the anger that was permeating off her and especially the look she was probably giving him. His mother perfected the ‘hands-on-hip-and-glare’ look as she did it to him almost on a daily basis. Still, he said nothing as she just exploded his emotions out on him and just took it. Everything she said was right anyways. Her words stung hard but he didn’t say a word until she was finished.
Finally, after she was done saying her peace, he spoke. “I left because I had to deal with my own things and I had to do it alone. I didn’t find you to tell you because you probably would have wanted to help me through the things and I didn’t want that at the time.” Slowly he looked up at her to answer that last question, looking her right in the eyes. “You deserved a lot more than that Kiara but I wasn’t focusing on what the implications would be. I was at a very fragile place emotionally already that I couldn’t think of anything else.”
Watching her tears finally fall down her cheeks, he hesitated with uncertainty. Should he go over to her and comfort her? No doubt she was confused by his sudden, and unannounced arrival. Maybe he shouldn’t have come here. Maybe he should have just stayed away and stayed back at his own home to rot in his emotions. “Kiara. All I can really say is that I’m sorry but you weren’t the only one who felt like they were being put through hell.”
Kiara listened to him and sighed as she looked down now. Her once short brown hair was now long and went down to the middle of her back. It was wet to it clung to her skin and when she looked down, it fell around her face until she looked back up at him. He finished talking and she wiped away her tears and blinked back the fresh ones that wanted to escape.
“Of course I would have wanted to help Jim…You’re my best friend and all I want is for you to be happy and safe…” She chewed on her bottom lip as he continued on. Her heart ached as he spoke her name and her eyes met his, “I know you’re sorry…But you abandoned me…Just like Kovu but it was different with you…” She couldn’t take it anymore. She just couldn’t. She gave in and ran the few feet between them and she wrapped her arms around him tightly, hugging him close to her, not caring that she was still wet from her swim, “Don’t leave me again…Please…Don’t abandon me again…I missed you so much…”
yeah-what-future:
Jim didn’t hear a sound coming from in the tent. Maybe she hadn’t come here in a long time and was instead with her family back at the Priderock place that she told him about. He was just going to come back the next day if she wasn’t around. That is, before he heard splashing from the lake beside her tent. Hearing that noise and knowing it had to be her, his heart dropped like a rock into his stomach. He tried not to panic and loose his nerve by simply running away. He would have to face her eventually even though he wasn’t too fond of the idea.
Turning his head towards the lake, he saw her head poking out of the water and watched with worry in his eyes as she swam towards the shore. What would she do to him? Hit him? Throw things at him? He stood perfectly still like a rod as she approached him, his grey eyes looking to her necklaces and that sick feeling in his stomach returned when he saw the other one he left on his bed when he left.
It didn’t take long for him to notice that anger in her eyes, the demanding voice and her body storming towards him. Cautiously he took a step back as he was waiting to see how hard she would hit him. He relaxed just a little bit when she stopped a few feet away from him. By the mere fact she almost used his full name, he knew the extent of just how angry she was with him. A light shuffle of his feet was all he really did for a while as he considered her question. His whole body was shaking with nerves as he tried to come up with a decent answer. “…I had to see you again. To see how you were doing and stuff.” He bit his bottom lip again and turned his gaze away from her, unable to look at her out of guilt.
She stared at him, tears of anger and the pure fact that she had missed him threatening to overflow but she blinked them back. She watched as he shuffled his feet and she noticed how he couldn’t even look at her. All her feelings that she had kept locked away for so many months were finally being released and coming back to her, all because he was standing in front of her again. She wanted so desperately to just hug him and never let him go, to tell him she loved him, to kiss him, to just be there with him but the angry part of her wouldn’t allow such things.
She listened to him and she placed her hands on her hips, arching an eyebrow at him, “You had to see me again? You wanted to see how I was doing? Why did you leave in the first place?! You didn’t even tell me! If I had never gone to your house that day, I would never have even known you were gone! I would have thought you were avoiding me! But I did go to your house and I found your locket laying there on your bed! You knew what I would think if I found it! Why couldn’t you just come to me and tell me you were leaving?! After everything I’ve been put through! After being your best friend for so long you didn’t think I deserved more than just a locket and an abandoned house?!”
She couldn’t hold them back any longer. The tears over flowed her eyes and spilled down over her cheeks. Her heart was pounding as the stood there filled with anger, confusion, love, happiness and sadness. There were so many emotions flowing through her and she didn’t know what to do with them all.
yeah-what-future:
Man, how long had it been anyways since he had been down here? He had pretty much lost count of any sense of time for a while as he went off to deal with his own stuff. With most of the past behind him, Jim finally was able to comprehend and reflect just what he did to one of his best friends. What was he even thinking in just leaving her with a note and the locket? Racking that up with another one of the stupid things he’s done recently, he pinched the bridge of his nose. What would he even say to her? He was sorry? He didn’t mean to hurt her the way he did? If he knew Kiara, a simple apology wouldn’t cut it.
But what else could he do? That was all he had for her and he could think of some ways to make it up to her. Coming close to the little hideaway that she showed him a few months back, he slowed his walk even more. Biting his bottom lip, he rubbed his arm. Would she even be there? The tent she made was only a few feet away yet he couldn’t bring his feet to come a step closer. What would she say to him? Or even do? Would she forbid him from ever seeing her again?
Taking whatever strength or stupidity he had left in him, he took the next few steps forward to stand in front of the tent. He dared not go inside to see if she was there. Instead he just called out to her in a shaky, nervous tone. “K-Kiara? Are you in here? It’s me…Jim.”
It had taken Kiara months to try and get over Jim but she never did. Instead she locked away her feelings and chose to forget about them considering she believed that he wouldn’t be coming back. Ever since that day, Kiara had been at Pride Rock with her family or in the Pridelands practicing her hunting or exploring the jungle. However, she had recently decided to head back to her little hideaway to relax.
She had been there for a few days, taking time to herself and such. Today, Kiara decided to go for a swim so she changed to her human form and got dressed in a red bikini and dove in. When Jim arrived at her little getaway, Kiara was still swimming in the lake. She surfaced the water and heard her name being called. She rubbed water away from her eyes and looked around until her big brown eyes finally found him. Her eyes widened in disbelief and amazement and she shook her head. She swam to the shore and walked out of the water and over towards him, the blue necklace her mother had given her and Jim’s locket both hanging around her neck.
Anger and confusion filled her eyes as she stormed over to him, “James Hawkins! What are you doing here?!” Her hands balled up into fists as she stopped a few feet away from him, water dripping from her body, “I thought you were gone forever. Why did you come back?”
stupidtheweasel26:
not-just-a-princess:
Kiara looked around with him and sighed, “Not really but that’s because I’ve lived here my whole life. I’ve already done everything one can do around here. You could explore or hunt or relax under a tree. There’s a jungle around here too and that place is much more fun and a lot cooler. It’s always hot here.” She looked back at him and smiled, “Yes. My mother and father, Nala and Simba, are the King and Queen and yes, they are lions.”
“Oh,” Stupid said, feeling sad for Kiara that there was nothing to do for fun in the Pridelands. Everyone deserved to have a bit of fun in their life now and then.
Why, in Toon town everything was fun, in fact………..This gave him an idea.
“Say Kiara, have ya ever been ta Toon town?”
Kiara tilted her head to the side with a confused look, “Toon…Town? I’ve never heard of such a place. It sounds interesting. What’s it like?” Her ears stood up on her head and her tail swayed from side to side, excited to learn about this new place.
stupidtheweasel26:
not-just-a-princess:
A light giggle escaped her maw as she looked at him and shook her head, “Please. It’s alright. No need to be all formal and stuff.” She looked around as he did and then looked back at him and smiled, “Well I call it home but it’s called the Pridelands.” She motions toward Pride Rock in the distance, “And that is where my family and I live. That’s Pride Rock.”
“Oh, da Pridelands huh? Is der much ta do ‘round here?” He said, glancing once again at the barren wasteland before them. “So, ya familiy live here too? Are dey lions liek you?” He asked. He was so curious about this place and the Princess.
Kiara looked around with him and sighed, “Not really but that’s because I’ve lived here my whole life. I’ve already done everything one can do around here. You could explore or hunt or relax under a tree. There’s a jungle around here too and that place is much more fun and a lot cooler. It’s always hot here.” She looked back at him and smiled, “Yes. My mother and father, Nala and Simba, are the King and Queen and yes, they are lions.”
