A/n: Hello! So this is my second story I'm posting within the Lion King fandom which, unlike my first TLK story (The Upendi Day Celebration), involves characters from both The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride and The Lion Guard. I wrote this story to portray the members of The Lion Guard as adults and also a brief mention to explain why Kion was not seen in the second TLK movie (according to my imagination, anyways). Please enjoy my story and feel free to leave a review :)

Disclaimer: The Lion Guard and The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride characters all belong to Disney and its associates. I own nothing but the plot.

Forbidden Love

Chapter 1: Undesired News

It had been exactly two weeks since the events that unified the Lions of the Outlands together with the Lions of the Pridelands, which all started when Zira, the now-deceased, former leader of the Outlands' Lions plotted to kill Simba and take over his reign to conquer the entire Pridelands herself. Unfortunately for the ambitious, evil lioness, fate chose to be cruel to her that day, and she eventually found herself falling to her death into a rapid-flowing river during a horrendous battle between the two prides of lions.

And with Zira gone, the lionesses of her faction defected and were eventually welcomed to live in the Pridelands with Simba's blessing, which he had done so in Kiara's honour. Zira's death wasn't the only good news that spread across the Pridelands; animals from all over the Serengeti had the opportunity to gather at Pride Rock to witness the union between Kiara, Princess of the Pridelands and Simba's heiress, and Kovu, the youngest son of Zira and is now Kiara's mate and Simba's son-in-law.

The following couple of weeks to come since that fateful day have been rather peaceful, as the Outlands Lions eventually settled down and were getting along just fine at their new home at Pride Rock. With Kovu as her mate, Kiara's life had never been happier. Simba and his mate, Nala, too had enjoyed the peaceful retreat of the following weeks, as order was once again restored over the Pridelands.

One particular morning, just as the Sun had began to rise, two animals were seen walking across the vast Acacia grazing grounds and heading towards Pride Rock; an elderly mandrill and a young adult Lion. The mandrill was Rafiki, a mysterious old shaman who, despite his senile-like mannerisms, was considered the wisest being and the sage of the entire Pridelands, and whom also happened to be a close friend of the Royal family. The young Lion was Kion, the young Prince of the Pridelands, Simba's heir and leader of the respected Lion Guard, a band of five animals who had sworn to protect the Pridelands with their lives.

Kion had formed the Guard when he was a cub, after it was discovered that he possessed a special ability known as the 'Roar of the Elders', which, when applied, will instil a huge amount of power to his roar and would in turn have a destructive effect to whomever or whatever it was aimed at. In his years of growing up, Kion had to use the 'Roar' quite a few times, most of which were used as a last resort to fend off enemies. Of course with great power comes with great responsibilities, and as such, the young Lion was always training to discipline himself whenever he had the time, either on his own or with the help of Rafiki. And on that morning, Kion had just finished his daily meditation session with Rafiki at the mandrill's baobab tree-home and were now heading back to Pride Rock.

"I must say, Kion, your focus and attention have proven to be much sharper than usual this morning!" Rafiki exclaimed to the young Lion in his thick African accent.

"Heh, what can I say, Rafiki? I learnt from the best!" Kion replied as he grinned at the mandrill. "That journey that you forced me and the rest of the Guard to go on sure changed us a lot!"

The 'journey' that Kion was referencing to was actually a task assigned by Rafiki to the members of the Lion Guard exactly two weeks ago. The old mandrill had met with the Guard at their lair and tasked them to climb to the highest point of Mount Kilimanjaro and visit the eternal resting place of the founding members of the Lion Guard, which, according to Rafiki, was a ritual that every subsequent generations of the Lion Guard had to adhere to. The journey itself proved to be a very daunting task, and it took Kion and the Guard five whole days to complete it.

And while they were journeying their way up to the Mountain, they were oblivious to the battle between the Pridelands' Lions and the Outsiders which had taken place hundreds of feet below them. So it came as a surprise to Kion when he arrived back at Pride Rock and found out that the Outlander Lions were, from then on, living with his family and the other Pridelanders. At first, he didn't quite like the fact that the Outlanders were living at his home, but since the last couple of weeks, he had eventually grown used to having them around and even considered them as part of his own family.

"It's good to see how much you've improved yourself, Kion, not only physically but spiritually as well!" Rafiki chuckled as they walked on ahead. "Oh, it felt like it was just yesterday that you were only a young little cub who had just discovered that he possessed the Roar of the Elders. Now look at you! You've grown!"

And so he had. Kion grew from a slender young cub to a matured young adult Lion. He now had a fully-grown bushy mane which grew around his head and on his chest, and thick muscles that covered his shoulders and hind legs, complementing his powerful and robust built. His boyish voice had broken so that he now speaks with a calming deep and husky voice that reflects his gentle nature.

"Thanks for that, Rafiki," Kion chuckled good-heartedly at the old shaman.

"No, thank you, Kion! It has always been a blessing for me to watch the only son of Simba grow up to become the matured young Lion that you are, now," Rafiki complemented back, much to Kion's contentment.

Just as the pair were a few yards away from Pride Rock, three animals were seen heading towards them from the other direction; a Honeybadger, a Hippopotamus and an Egret, who was flying above. They were the three other members of the Guard; Bunga, Beshte and Ono. Kion had recruited them when they were much younger, and just like their leader, they too have grown and matured over the years.

Bunga the Honeybadger had grown slightly bigger in size and his high-pitched voice had broken into a deeper and lower-pitched tone. Though he may have matured physically, his mannerisms and behaviour haven't changed much, as he still kept up with his childish antics and regularly likes to play random pranks on Kion and the others. Beshte the Hippo had grown much larger in size which certainly came as an advantage, as it aided him in terms of strength and made him appear more intimidating to enemies. Ono the Egret had grown much taller and slender than before and his unique, raspy voice had become slightly deeper and raspier, though these transformations don't actually effect his abilities as the most intelligent and the keenest of sight member of the Guard.

"Kion! Rafiki!" Bunga cried out as they approached their leader.

"Hey, guys! What's going on? And where's Fuli?" Kion asked when he noticed that fastest member of the Guard wasn't with them.

"Sorry Kion, we don't know where she is," Ono replied, earning a look of concern from Kion. "We were at Pride Rock earlier waiting for you and Fuli to start our morning patrol when Kiara came in and said she needed to see you urgently."

Kion let out a long sigh at the mention of his sister looking for him. "Alright, fine. I'll go and meet up with Kiara. In the meantime, you three can go on ahead and patrol around the grazing grounds in the North. Oh, and keep an eye out for Fuli. She's never been late for morning patrol before."

"You got it, Kion!" Beshte said as the trio turned around and started heading northwards. "Oh, and nice to see you, Rafiki!"

"Bye now!" Rafiki called out to them as they slowly disappeared from their sights. He then turned towards Kion. "And I'll see you at our next meditation session tomorrow morning!"

"You better believe it!" Kion chuckled as he left the mandrill and rushed towards his home at Pride Rock.

As he entered through the main entrance of the lair, several Outlander lionesses warmly greeted and acknowledged him to which he humbly nodded and smiled back at them. Just then, he was approached by a particular male Outlander lion who had a very distinguishable black mane and tufts and whose appearance very nearly resembled that of Scar's. It was Kovu, Kiara's mate and Kion's brother-in-law. Though they've only known each other for two weeks, both Kovu and Kion had an instant liking for each other on their first meeting, mainly due to them sharing the same kind-hearted and friendly nature. Though Kovu was much older than him, he always interacted with Kion as if they were long-time pals of the same age and was always hanging out with him whenever he wasn't with Kiara. Needless to say, Kovu viewed Kion as the brother he never had, considering the sour relationship he used to have with Nuka, his now-deceased step-brother, back when he was still exiled in the Outlands with his famiy.

"Kovu! Heh, I wasn't expecting to see you here," Kion cheerfully greeted Kovu with a grin, though he was clearly surprised by his brother-in-law's presence. "I thought you went out hunting with Dad?"

Kion's question was met with a solemn look from the Outlander lion. "I'm sorry, Kion, but there's been some bad news. We received word that Ma Tembo is critically ill and there's no chance of her surviving. Your parents have just left to see her and possibly attend her funeral later on."

Kion was clearly devastated with this piece of news. Ma Tembo was the elderly leader of the Elephants of the Pridelands and was a very close friend of the Royal family, but she was particularly close with Kion and always acted as a grandmother figure to him as he grew up.

"How come no-one came to tell me about this?" Kion asked with a frown and holding back his tears.

"The messenger elephant said that it was Ma Tembo's request that you and Kiara do not see her in such a dire condition. Your parents thought it was best to respect her wishes, so they left without you and your sister. Oh and err… they left Kiara in charge of the Pridelands while they're gone, so she's the acting Queen for the day."

Kion was disappointed to find out the elderly elephant whom he was close with didn't want to see him in her final moments on this earth, and the fact that his sister was the ruler of the Pridelands for the day didn't make him feel any better.

"Is that why she's looking for me? To let me know that she's the acting Queen and I have to do everything that she tells me to do?" Kion rhetorically asked in a sour tone, much to Kovu's amusement.

"No. I called you because of something else," Kiara said as she suddenly appeared behind Kion, startling him on purpose.

"Yeesh! Must you do that?" Kion frowned at his sister, but his look of disapproval was only met with a smirk from her.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya," Kiara replied smugly before giving her brother a sisterly nuzzle against his shoulder. "And I'm sorry about Ma Tembo."

Kion's expression fell once again at the mention of the elderly elephant. "Yeah, I'm sorry for that too." He paused before deciding it was probably better to change the subject. "So what was the reason you wanted to see me?"

Kiara and Kovu glanced at each other (much to Kion's suspicion), before Kovu decided to step up and do the talking. "Vitani is waiting for you outside the Lair, Kion. She wants to have a word with you in private."

Vitani was the second child and only daughter of the late Zira and had been living with the Pridelands' Lions since her mother was killed. After settling down in her new home for the past couple of weeks, she grew to enjoy being in the company with the Royal family along with the other Lionesses who were the original inhabitants of Pride Rock. Just like her younger brother, Kovu, she was particularly close with Kion and usually preferred to hang around with him whenever he was off-duty. Having only known each other for two weeks, the pair interacted and saw themselves merely as friends and nothing beyond that. But just recently, the pair had been spotted spending time together quite frequently around the Serengeti, which, as a result, sparked some rumours going around of a possible romance between the two that spread within the animals of the Pridelands and even within the inhabitants of Pride Rock, though both Kion and Vitani were completely oblivious and unaware of such hearsay.

Kion had spent more than enough time with Vitani to learn that she was very blunt and frank and was always doing things on-point by herself (having inherited those traits from her late mother), so it came as a surprise to Kion that she summoned him through Kiara, which was not usual of her.

"Why didn't she just call me or looked for me herself, like she always does?" Kion asked while raising a brow in suspicion.

"Oh, you'll find out when you talk to her," Kiara responded, putting on an assuring smile that only resulted in heightening her brother's suspicion.

"Okay…" Kion said as he gave a final doubting glance at his sister before heading towards the Lair's exit.

Both Kiara and Kovu observed Kion as he slowly made his way outside.

"Do you think it will work?" Kiara asked her mate in a low voice once Kion was out of earshot.

Kovu remained silent as he continued to observe Kion through the Lair's entrance before he eventually let out a sigh and looked hesitantly at Kiara. "I've known your brother for only two weeks now, but even then I can tell that he's not at all ready to accept what lies ahead of him."

Kiara turned shifted her attention from Kovu and stared after Kion while sharing the same doubtful expression. "That's how I feel about him too."

XXXXX

The moment Kion left the Lair's entrance, he could see Vitani settled down near some bushes as if she didn't want to be seen outside, and all the while she was seen sulking and staring at the ground. Though she was usually seen with a sour face whenever and wherever she went, Kion could feel that there was something was bothering the young Lioness as he carefully approached her.

"Vitani? Were you looking for me?" Kion gently called out to her, prompting her to suddenly sit up straight and with a surprised look on her face.

Vitani opened her mouth to say something but hesitated as if she was afraid of uttering the wrong thing to Kion. She then took in a deep breath and decided to just go straight to the point with him. "Kion, I'm not sure how you're going to react to this, but… we are betrothed."

"Ah ok, then I'll just… wait, what did you say?!" Kion blurted out, thinking that his ears were deceiving him.

Vitani was unsure whether he couldn't hear her or just couldn't believe what she just said, so she repeated her sentence slightly louder this time. "We are betrothed to each other, Kion. We are betrothed, as arranged by your father."

Kion's jaw dropped open and his mind was desperately trying to make sense of what Vitani had just said. The whole world started spinning and he could feel his hind legs slowly going limp.

"We're betrothed?"

To be continued…

A/n: So what do you think? Hope it wasn't too shabby for the first chapter :P Please do read and leave a review on your thoughts of this chapter, and do check out my other TLK story, 'The Upendi Day Celebration' when you have the time :) Thank you so much for all your support! :D

PS: Just an FYI, every plot mentioned in this particular chapter would eventually play a bigger role in the upcoming chapters ahead. Also, a huge shout-out to Jaa88 for being my beta! If you need his services, feel free to contact him via PM.