"Slow down, Bunga," Kion shouted, "you're not even looking where you're going!"
"No need when you're running from someone as slow as you!" Bunga taunted, crossed arms as he ran backwards.
They chased throughout the Pride Lands, Kion never fully catching up to Bunga, before the Honey Badger accidentally ran back first into an adult lion, knocking him down. Bunga got up and shook his head. When he saw Kion's worried expression, he looked up, gulping as he saw the frowning expression on King Simba's face. Laughing nervously, he got up and walked to Kion's side.
"Hey, dad," Kion quietly greeted his father.
"Kion, Bunga, watch where you're running!" the king scolded them.
"Sorry, dad. If it helps, I told him to look where he was going."
"My bad," Bunga chuckled.
"That's alright," he sternly replied, his expression not yielding, "now shouldn't you be on patrol?"
"We were actually heading there, but Bunga said he thought that he was faster than me, which he's not," Kion smirked at his friend.
"Yet you couldn't catch me the whole way here," Bunga challenged.
"Boys," Simba tried to get their attention, but couldn't because of their bickering. Sighing, Simba tried again. "Boys!" he yelled ferociously, getting them to stop. "Bunga, would you go on ahead? I need to speak to Kion quickly, he'll be with you soon."
"No problem, your highness," Bunga replied, "see ya Kion." With that, he ran off, glad to have avoided trouble.
"Son, when you are done on patrol today, I need you to help me with preparations tonight," Simba instructed his son.
"Preparations?" the young prince asked. "For what?"
"Your mother and I are to host this year's Valentine's Day celebration," he explained, obviously futile when he saw his son's confused expression. "Do you remember the talk I had with you before you became leader of the Lion Guard?"
"Ugh, don't remind me," Kion rolled his eyes in annoyance, "'can you feel the love tonight' and all of that stuff. What does this have to do with it?"
"Valentine's day is a celebration of romance and love that has been around for thousands of years. It is an important part of life which is strongly believed in, and like every year, there will be festivities and a celebration," he leered at his son, "which you will be attending," Kion moaned, "you are welcome to have your friends come along. There will be music and dancing, so we need to make sure the area will be clear and organised. Make sure you are here to help. Understood?"
"Yes, dad, can I go now?" he answered, all too urgently.
"Yes, son, go and join the Lion Guard," Simba told him, an instant before Kion burst off in the direction Bunga had gone. Simba sighed. "He's never going to learn about romance, is he?"
"I wouldn't be too sure," Nala told him, sneaking up from behind, "when you were his age, you weren't too keen on romance either."
"True, but you weren't either," he argued, smiling at his beloved, "though we found each other again eventually."
"Yes we did," she nuzzled her head with his, "but something tells me that this year, his mind will open to the idea."
"Oh really?" he said, clearly not agreeing with her statement. "And what makes you say that?"
"You'll see," she told him, slyly walking away.
/
Kion eventually caught up with Bunga at the watering hole. When he got there, he saw that two other members of the Lion Guard- Beshte, the strongest, and Ono, the keenest of sight- were also there.
"Phew!" Bunga sighed. "And we thought we'd have to patrol without you OR Fuli."
"What did your dad want to talk about?" Beshte asked.
"He wants me to help prepare for some lovey-dovey Valentine's Day celebration tonight," Kion answered. Then he picked up on something Bunga said. "Wait, where's Fuli?" The others just shrugged. "Ono, head up and see if you can spot her."
"I'm on it!" He said, shooting up into the sky. Within seconds, he caught sight of a yellow and blue blur heading their way. "She's coming now and... it looks like there's something on her."
Just as he said that, Fuli- the fastest of the Lion Guard- arrived. When she stopped, they all looked at her wide eyed when they saw that nestled behind her ear was a blue flower.
"Hey guys," she greeted them, before growing uncomfortable with their stares, "what? What is it? Have I got something on my fur?" She checked her body.
"It's not that, it's the flower," Kion explained.
"Oh," she said, folding her ears almost downheartedly, "you don't like it, do you?"
"No, it's not that I don't like it," Kion quickly replied, thinking he'd upset her, "it's just that it's a bit... out of the blue." Beshte chuckled. "What?"
"'Out of the blue'," he laughed.
Sighing, Ono explained his amusement. "The flower is blue."
"Oh, right," Kion nodded, turning his attention to Fuli, "what's with the flower?"
"Well, I heard that it's Valentine's Day today, and I thought I'd make myself look good. It only happens once a year, and if I want someone to be my Valentine, I better make a good impression."
"Be your 'Valentine'?" Ono asked.
"Sort of like a date," she explained, "you got a Valentine, Kion?"
"Nah, I'm not a fan of romance and all that stuff," he told her, nonchalant.
"Oh," she said, "cool." Her face did not match what she said, though.
"Okay, Lion Guard," Kion, oblivious to her emotions, "let's patrol!"
They all followed him, cheering. Fuli, however, sat for a moment, frowning.
"Okay," she sighed, downbeat, before running off to catch up with them. In a tree nearby, however, the vulture Mzingo had watched the whole scene unfold.
"A little trouble in paradise, is there?" he thought out loud. "If she's feeling unloved, then she will be less focused, so this would be a good chance to defeat them once and for all."
/
Over in the Outlands, the hyenas were doing the same thing they always did- moaning about the lack of food.
"Janja, when are we gonna get some food? I'm hungry!" Chungu complained to their leader.
"Maybe if you'd shut up complaining, you wouldn't be so hungry!" he snapped back. "Now let me think about how we're gonna defeat that pesky Lion Guard."
"Perhaps I can help with that," they heard a voice call, which they turned to see that the voice belonged to Mzingo. "I might have some information that will be of use to you."
"Ah, Mzingo! Welcome!" Janja greeted his ally. "Whatcha got for me?"
"Well, apparently, the king is planning a special celebration for Valentine's day, which is a celebration of 'love'," they all shuddered at the word, "and Kion hates it, but Fuli was hoping he would celebrate it with her, so now she's heartbroken."
"How does that help us, though?"
"Think about it. If she's heartbroken, she'll be less focused, so if we catch her off guard, we can capture her, bait in the others and take them out once and for all."
"Interesting," Janja contemplated the proposal, smirking as he formulated a plan, "I'm glad you found me, Mzingo. Come on, boys! I've got a plan!"
/
"Alright, here's the plan," Janja explained, hiding in the shrubs with Cheezi and Chungu near a herd of zebra, "when the Lion Guard come, we chase the zebra. We let the others herd them away, but while you two lead the others away, I'll lead one group towards the Outlands with Fuli, and when she's there, she'll have nowhere to run. The bird flies up and sees her, they come to save her- BOOM! We take. Them. Out."
"No more Lion Guard, and lots of zebra to eat!" Cheezi cheered, chuckling maniacally.
"Shh!" Janja hushed his comrade. "They're here."
Up on a hill nearby, the Lion Guard took observation of the herd.
"Everything seems okay to me, Kion," Beshte told his leader, smiling at the peace.
All of a sudden, the herd started running away from them, looking panicked.
"Where are they going?" Bunga asked.
"Ono!" Kion ordered. "Fly up, see what's happening!"
Ono nodded, heading over the herd. His eyes widened when he spotted Cheezi and Chungu.
"Hyenas!"
"Hevi Kabisa! Janja!" Kion headed towards the herd, the others nearby. "Bunga, Beshte- you try lead them back towards the roaming ground. Fuli, try round the ones at the front away. Ono- you and I will try and chase off the hyenas."
"Got it!" everyone shouted.
"Till the Pride Lands ends, Lion Guard defends!"
Bunga and Beshte charged sidewards. As Beshte blocked the path for one group of zebra, Bunga jumped onto the neck of another zebra and herded the other group back to their roaming ground.
"Zuka Zama!" Bunga cheered as he led them away.
Meanwhile, Ono and Kion had cornered Cheezi and Chungu.
"You know you don't belong in the Pride Lands!" Kion shouted at them. "When will you learn? Now head back to the Outlands!"
"No problem, Kion!" Chungu shouted as he and Cheezi retreated.
"Wow! That was... easy..." Ono remarked, somewhat perplexed.
"Yeah... but at least the zebra are back," Kion pointed out, gesturing towards the herd, who had completely returned to their roaming ground. "Let's regroup with the others, then head off, because I think that's it for patrol today."
Ono and Kion headed back onto the hill, where Bunga and Beshte were waiting.
"Everyone okay?" Kion asked.
"We are," Beshte told him, looking worried, "but where's Fuli?"
"She's not back here?" The hippo shook his head at him. "Did either of you see Janja while herding the zebra?" Again, he shook his head. Kion's eyes widened in fear. "Oh no! Janja must have captured her! Ono, you know what to do!"
The egret took to the skies once more. He searched the Pride Lands, but couldn't find her. "She's definitely not in the Pride Lands. I'll look over at the hyena territory." He flew towards the barren wasteland and what he saw frightened him to his core. "Oh no," he gasped.
/
In the Outlands, Janja and the other hyenas laughed at Fuli, trapped in a cage of bones.
"You'll never get away with this Janja!" she snarled, clawing between the bones.
"I already have!" he laughed back. "Your precious Lion Guard pals are coming here, and little does poor little Kion know-"
"You leave Kion alone!" she snapped.
"Oh," he goaded her, walking towards the cage, "the little cheetah has feelings for the prince!" The hyenas laughed, much to her displeasure. "Too bad that he'll never feel that way for her!"
Fuli had had enough- she took advantage of his cockiness and scratched him right on the nose. He reeled back in pain, snarling, before taking the flower from her head and crushing it into the ground. She gasped, crying as she lay down in the cage.
/
"Kion, slow down!" Beshte shouted, chasing after his friend. "We need a plan!"
"No time! Fuli's in trouble! I'm not losing my friend!" he shouted back.
"If we rush in there without any clue as to what we're gonna do, she'll be worse off!" Ono argued, stopping his friend in his tracks.
"Fine," Kion huffed, "Ono, you make sure no vultures interfere. Beshte, Bunga- take out the cronies. I'll lead Janja away from Fuli. In the mean time, get Fuli to safety and out of the Outlands."
"But what about you?" Ono feared his friend's anger would cause his downfall.
"Don't worry- I'll get out, just make sure she's okay."
Ono nodded reluctantly and flew upwards. Kion, with Beshte and Bunga nearby, took off towards the Outlands. Eventually, he came face to face with a large group of hyenas, but no sign of Fuli or Janja. When one of them tried to attack, Beshte leapt over Kion and landed on the hyena's back.
"Don't worry, Kion, I've got your back!" he smirked.
Kion nodded as he and Bunga headed further in. After travelling through the deserted, rocky wasteland, he found Janja, who sat on top of the cage of bones that confined Fuli. About ten other hyenas surrounded them.
"Janja, let Fuli go!" he roared, his anger fiercely burning in his eyes.
"You actually fell for my little trap," the hyena laughed at him, jumping off the cage. "You're trapped here, and you're all mine."
"You'll have to capture me first," Kion shouted, before taking off further into the Outlands.
"Keep her where she is," Janja ordered, "he's mine."
Janja chased off in the direction Kion had gone. Meanwhile, the other hyenas stared at Bunga. The honey badger, however, just laughed as he jumped on the back of one and led it right into a wall. Two more came at him from either side. Bunga jumped out of the way, and the two hyenas collided heads, falling into a pile. Just as another three were about to jump him from behind, Beshte threw a group of passed out hyenas at them, causing them to pile up on the others Bunga had taken out.
While they dealt with Janja's clan, Ono flew down and landed on the cage.
"Fuli!" he said, catching her attention. "We'll get you out, don't worry."
"Thanks, Ono," she told him, still a bit sullen, "I think if you could peck at the middle bone here, it should crack it and I could break out."
"Ay, ay!" He got to work, chipping away at the bone. Surely enough, a large crack appeared. "Try now!"
She tensed up, before bursting forward, breaking out of the cage and colliding with the last two hyenas, who landed where the others were.
"You alright Fuli?" Beshte asked.
"Yeah," she answered, looking around for Kion, "where's Kion?"
"He led Janja away, so we could free you," Ono explained, pointing in the direction Janja had gone.
"Then why are we still here?" she shouted. "We need to help him!"
She sped off, leaving the others in a dust cloud before they followed after her.
/
"You've got nowhere to run, Kion!" Janja taunted, having trapped Kion in a dead end. "And all because you and that cheetah didn't feel the same!"
"Leave Fuli out of this," he snapped, "I don't know what you're on about, but it doesn't matter, because you are not getting away with this!"
Janja leapt at him, pinning the prince to the ground. Just as he was about to strike down, Fuli charged in, knocking Janja to the ground.
"You'll pay for that, ya here me?" he snarled, getting up. As he was about to attack again, Kion tackled him, pinning Janja to the ground. He crawled out from under the lion cub, but saw that the other members of the Lion Guard were approaching. "It's clear I ain't winning today, but this ain't over!"
With that, Janja ran off and the Lion Guard, not seeing which way Janja went, approached the two cubs.
"You're safe!" Ono called to them as they got closer. "You both alright?"
"Yeah, but Janja got away," Kion groaned, before smiling at Fuli, "thanks for saving me."
"I didn't save you, Kion," she told him, sincerely, "you saved me."
"Well, you're my friend, I couldn't leave you here." He turned to the others. "We better go, the festival will be soon, and I need to help my dad set up."
"Oh, yeah," Fuli looked down, frowning, "I think I'm gonna miss it, you guys. Have fun without me."
"But why?" Bunga asked. "Come on, it'll be fun! It'll just be us hanging out."
"Maybe," she told them, "I'll think about it." She headed off towards the Pride Lands, with Kion chasing after her.
"Fuli, wait!" Bunga called, before Beshte put his foot in front of him.
"Little B, this is something we shouldn't interrupt," he told him, "give them some space."
/
"Fuli, wait up!" Kion shouted as he caught up to her. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, Kion," she sighed, not looking at him, "I'm fine."
"Fuli, I can tell you're upset, and I hate to see you upset." He looked at her ear and noticed the flower was gone. "Fuli, your flower!"
"Oh, yeah," she huffed, having forgotten about that, "Janja took it and crushed it. It doesn't matter, though."
"What do you mean it doesn't matter? You said you wore it especially for today!"
"Yeah, but if you don't like it, then what does it matter?" she looked right at him, her glum expression making his heart ache.
"Why should you care if I like it?"
"You didn't figure it out, did you?" he looked at her blankly. "Kion, I wanted you to be my Valentine." He opened his mouth to say something, but couldn't find the words. "Look, it's fine. I'll go to the party and hang with you guys. I better go, my momma will be wondering where I am." She sped off before he could reply, leaving him on his own.
"Fuli..."
/
As he walked towards Pride Rock, the thought of Fuli being upset- and because of him as well- plagued his mind. He looked up at the sky and sat down. He saw the clouds morph into Mufasa, his grandfather.
"Kion," the apparition spoke to him, "I sense your mind is troubled. How may I help you?"
"It's Fuli. She was all excited for this dance and she was hoping to go to it with me, but I'm not into all of that romantic stuff."
"And I assume you are afraid that you have upset her?"
"I don't want to be the reason she's upset; she's my friend, I don't want her to be upset at all. It hurt to see her get so sad over all of this. What do I do, grandfather?"
Mufasa looked at his grandson. He could tell that the young lion cared greatly about the young cheetah, and thinking about the way Kion described the situation, he smiled at the cub.
"Kion, my advice to you is to really think about what Fuli means to you. Think about how you feel about her, and once you have figured that out, you will have your answer."
While Kion was not sure what his grandfather was suggesting, he nodded.
"Okay. Thanks, grandfather."
/
Later that day, the celebrations were underway and everything was going perfectly. Simba and Nala watched on as everyone was having fun, either talking peacefully or dancing together.
"This was a wonderful idea, Nala," Simba credited his wife's choice, "everything is splendid."
"Why thank you Simba," she replied, "and I appreciate your support. You were so helpful when setting up earlier."
"Kion was too," he looked around and noticed his son was out of sight, "actually, where is Kion?"
"He told me he needed to take care of something with the guard," she explained, "he's not with his sister, which isn't surprising, but I don't see him with his friends either."
The others were watching the party, chatting amongst each other.
"This party sure is great, huh guys?" Beshte commented, grinning from ear to ear.
"It's really well organized," Ono added.
"It's un-bunga-lievable!" Bunga cheered. "What do you think, Fuli?"
The cheetah, who had been silently looking at the happy couples who were dancing together like one entity, lifted her head up. "What? Oh, yeah, it's fine." The others looked at her, sad she wasn't having fun. "Look, I'm gonna get a drink from the watering hole."
She walked over to the Watering Hole and bent down to get a drink.
"Fuli?" she heard someone say from behind her.
"Yes?" she asked. When she turned around, she saw Kion. She gasped, because in his mouth was a flower just like the one she had earlier. "Where did you get that?"
"I didn't want you to be sad, so I thought I'd get you this," he told her.
"Aww, that is so sweet," she told him, finally smiling again, "thank you." She let him put the flower behind her ear and it looked just like she did earlier. "It's perfect, really."
"It's only perfect now that you're wearing it," he felt his cheeks heat up a little, much like Fuli's did. "You do look pretty with that on, but you... do anyway."
"Oh, Kion," she giggled, "why'd you do this?"
"Well, I couldn't stop thinking about you since earlier for some reason and it made me think about how close we are. And... well..."
"Kion? Are you about to ask what I think you are?"
"Fuli," he smiled, "would you be my Valentine?"
She squealed and hugged him.
"Yes, yes, I will, Kion!" she happily answered.
"Then let's go dance," he told her, breaking out of the hug, "I should tell you I've never really danced before. Not like this anyway."
"Me neither, but who cares?"
They walked back to the celebration and onto the dance floor, a number of the other party members, including their friends, turning their heads when they saw them. They could hear them murmuring things like 'oh my gosh, is that the prince?' and 'about time', but they didn't care. They started to slowly move in sync with each other's movements, holding each other close to their bodies.
"You're a pretty good dancer," she complimented him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"So are you," he replied, blushing, "I'm glad we did this."
"Me too." She rested her head against his chest, purring in content as they continued to move together as one.
All the while, Simba and Nala watched on. While Nala smiled proudly at her son and his date, Simba expressed more shock than pride.
"Are they... dancing?" he asked her.
"It's cute," she sighed, "kind of like when we were reunited."
"Looks like you were right," he smiled at her, "he's finally learnt about love."
"And I could not be happier for him."
"You knew this would happen, didn't you? Did you convince them to do this?"
"Not exactly. I had to inform people about the celebrations, and I just so happened to tell Fuli as well. It was obvious she liked him, so I figured if she knew, she might go for it and ask him to the dance, or at least inspire Kion to ask her."
"But what about when he gets older? There has never been a non-lion in the royal family."
"There has also never been a Lion Guard with non-lions. And besides, she clearly makes him happy. Even if this isn't meant to be, which something tells me it is, let them have this moment."
Simba simply nodded and smiled as he watched his son and the girl he liked dancing together.
/
"Thanks for being my Valentine, Kion," Fuli smiled as they sat together by the Watering Hole, gazing into the starlit waters. She rested her head on his shoulder.
"The pleasure is all mine," he smiled, "this was a lot of fun, and I don't think I would have had such a great time if it wasn't with you."
"So, do you think there's a chance that we... you know, could... do this again some time?"
He turned his head and smiled at her. "I think we can give this a try."
Fuli yawned, before standing up.
"I have to go, Kion," she told him, "but I'll see you tomorrow."
She kissed him on the cheek, before running off home. Kion smiled as he looked blissfully in the direction she had left.
"See ya, Fuli," he said out loud, before heading on home, where his dreams would be filled with thoughts of him and her.