Prompt Shop Bop

"Forever Young" - Kubariki

by John De Sohn

"I remember when we were kids"

Kubariki is no longer the cub he once was. Though he is technically training to be a Soldier, Kubariki is truly training as an Heir, and the chosen Heir at that, preparing to one day follow in his father's paw prints to become King of the Isle of Roses. Despite all of this, Kubariki has not forgotten when he was a cub. He has matured since officially stepping into his role as Heir, but he had to mature even before that point. When he was little, Kubariki had a best friend, Hadithi. When she was allowed into the nursery for the first time, Kubariki quickly hit things off with her. They were fast friends and thick as thieves, constantly playing or causing mischief. Though their antics could be annoying at times - no one could tell which of them was the bad influence bringing that side out of the other one - everyone agreed that they were sweet together and enjoyed seeing what the two were up to that day. That all changed when Hadithi went missing. They didn't tell Kubariki at first; in fact, he figured it out before they got the chance to break it to him carefully. The news devastated him, and he was never the same after that, no matter how much he did to hide it. Even now, Kubariki still cherishes the memories he has of being with Hadithi, at this point not even daring to believe that she might still be out there. Like the rest of the pride, Kubariki has forced himself to accept that his best friend is dead; she has to be. What else could have happened to her? So, though he would never admit it, he often thinks about what they did as cubs, trying to ignore the hole it leaves in his heart.

"They say we got one life, one life to live"

For the longest time, everyone kept telling Kubariki to give it up. They'd tell him that it wasn't worth dwelling on, and eventually, Kubariki got good enough at faking it that they believed he had finally moved on. They insisted that Hadithi wouldn't have wanted him to cling to her this way, but how would they know? She was just a cub. He had just been a cub. Did they not understand that? Still, Kubariki does understand their argument to an extent. They want him to remember that he only has this life, and want him to be able to live it to the fullest. They don't want him to be trapped and living in the past, but in the process, Kubariki cannot help but feel that they were rather heartless. He'd lost his best friend, and everyone told him to just let it go and forget her. How could he forget a girl who had had such a large impact on his life? She was important to him, more important than almost anything else at the time, and then she was cruelly ripped away. It would be so much easier if Kubariki could follow their advice and live as if he'd never known her, but he can't, and they just don't seem to understand that. Kubariki would love nothing more than to let go of the silly lioness from his childhood, but every time he tries to live his own life, the one life he has, he cannot help but remember the life that she lost. Would she have given up on him the way he basically had given up on her?

"And when we grow up we show love"

It took him a while to realize just what the promise he made to Hadithi really meant. After all, the implications were lost on a cub; he didn't realize just what making someone his Queen entailed. His parents had laughed and dismissed it, but the promise has stuck by Kubariki. Would he have kept it, had the spunky lioness stayed around? There's no way to know. The few times he has brought it up to someone, they have told him that it is unimportant, and that a cub, especially at that age, doesn't know anything about feelings. They dismiss the feelings he had, the dull ache in his heart that he still has when he thinks about her and wonders what she would be like now. According to many of his pride members, they can't have been in love, or can't at least have had a romantic love, because that's not something someone can experience till they are older. It infuriates Kubariki to no end that they would say his feelings back then weren't legitimate, because if that were the case, why does he feel them now?

"And give all we can give"

As the future leader of the Isle of Roses, Kubariki has had to put aside many things, including his own feelings. Though he tells himself that Hadithi cannot possibly be alive, because there's no way a cub her age could have survived on her own, he cannot help but wonder if there's even the slightest possibility that she could have lived. After all, if she died, why did they never find any sign of it in the time where the pride was still searching for her, before they had to pronounce her dead? If it weren't for the position he is destined to hold in the pride, he might have upped and left, at least temporarily, to search for some sort of clue as to what might have happened to his friend. Even if she died, Kubariki was desperate for some sort of closure. However, he didn't have that option. His father and mother would have been devastated if he chose to leave, and besides that, he couldn't bring himself to abandon the pride. He has a duty, something he understands now that he didn't understand when he was little. He owes it to the pride; it's a part of his duty, whether he wants it to be or not. Kubariki is older now then he was back then, and knows that to lead means to sacrifice, even if it comes at the expense of his own emotions.