A young female cheetah slowly stalked through the long swaying grass of the African Savannah, her tail swishing behind her hypnotically as she crept up on her prey.

A small gazelle grazed contently, not even looking up as the unknown predator grew closer.

'Remember to stay downwind so your prey can't smell you,' She remembered her mother's words, 'step lightly and keep your tail out of sight.'

The young cheetah followed the lesson, but quickly pushed away the memory, this wasn't the time to get caught up in sad thoughts.

She got within pouncing range, tensing and bunching her hind leg muscles to pounce-

A crashing sound startled her, and the gazelle, it lifted its head and then bolted away.

With a growl of frustration, the young cheetah lunged after it but halted after just a few steps, it was out of sight, no point in wasting energy.

So instead, she spun around to figure out what had disturbed her prey.

"Come on out!" She called, "I already heard you!"

Following the sound of her voice, another feline slipped into view.

It was a male lion cub, she realized, he was young and small, but sturdy and a small red mane fluttered with the wind as he shuffled his paws in embarrassment.

"Care to explain why you were trampling around making the sound of an elephant stampede?" She growled harshly, "You scared away my food!"

The lion cub looked away and the young cheetah felt a stab of pity, maybe her harsh tongue wasn't necessary...

"Sorry about that," He mumbled, "it's just that...it's my first time away from Pride Rock, I don't really know my way around."

Now the young cheetah paused, his first time away from Pride Rock? Sure he was a cub, but not that young...

Reading her inquisitive look the lion cub continued, "My father is very protective over me, he doesn't want me to get hurt."

She snorted, maybe he was a cub but he was big enough and muscular enough that any smart predator would go for easier prey, actual prey.

"Wait, this is your first time away from Pride Rock?" She asked disbelievingly, "Just because your father is a little worried for you?"

"Well...yeah," The lion cub said, "my name's Kion, my father is King Simba."

Now she was surprised, what were the chances? That she would run into the prince of the Pridelands while out hunting, during his first time outside Pride Rock.

But she was surprised, not awed, she had never felt the same sense of devotion and loyalty to the royalty of the Pridelands that most animals did, mostly, the lions, in general, sat around all day doing nothing and thinking they were so amazing, not to mention taking all the credit for all the less-noticed animals hard work.

But seeing that Kion was just a cub, and he couldn't have possibly yet done something she would find offensive, she replied in-kind rather than disdainfully, "Well, hello, Kion, I'm Fuli."

Once she had also introduced herself, Kion suddenly seemed much more relaxed, he smiled in a friendly manner, "Hi, Fuli...um, I hope you don't mind but, what are you?"

Despite herself, Fuli felt a laugh bubble up in her throat, "I'm a cheetah, the fastest land-bound animal ever!" she finished proudly.

She felt a thrill when Kion looked impressed, "Wow, I've definitely never seen one of you before."

Fuli deflated, "That's because... I'm one of the only ones left, most of us are gone... my parents, too."

Kion looked shocked, "That's horrible! I'm so sorry!"

Fuli shrugged it off, "It's not like there's something we can do about it," she straightened, "by the way, you still owe me a gazelle, and I'm still hungry."

Kion looked embarrassed, "I've never actually caught anything before," he admitted.

"Why's that?" Fuli wondered aloud, some of the dumbest animals did stray towards Pride Rock, but even so, Kion should have been thrilled to try to hunt on his first day out, "Show me how you do it."

Looking self-conscious, Kion got into a clumsy hunting crouch.

Fuli immediately started to laugh, "No, no, don't do it like that! No wonder you can't catch anything," signaling for him to stay crouched down she paced around him to study his form, "okay, for starters keep your paws a little closer together, lower your tail behind you, and bend your knees more... No, your back knees, your hindquarters are too high, anything will spot you like that."

She stayed there practicing with Kion until she deemed him good enough.

Kion stood and stretched, "That position did feel more comfortable."

"Good," Fuli said, "because now we need to go and get me my food, don't worry, I'll share."

The hunted for the rest of the afternoon until they had gathered a respectable pile of food, then they settled down to share a zebra.

Fuli was feeling slightly self-conscious, she wasn't used to company, especially not someone the same age as her this close to her, not since her parents died...

She pushed those thoughts away before Kion noticed, "So," she said slowly, "you probably need to be heading back now, huh?"

Kion's ears flattened, "Yeah, probably, my dad might be worried about me."

"From what I'm hearing King Simba worries too much," Fuli joked.

"Yeah," Kion grumbled, "I can vouch for that," he smiled, "well, maybe I'll see you tomorrow?"

Fuli was taken off-guard, she had accidentally bumped into Kion and they had caught food for the food that she had lost, she hadn't been aware that he might want to keep seeing her.

Fuli didn't have any friends, not one, and she was now starting to feel a pleasant warmth from Kion's hopeful question.

"Sure, why not?"