Flashback - 7 years earlier.

Her paws beat against the ground, her desire to get to her family made her ignore the slight pain as she tried to increase her speed. Eiena leaped over a fallen tree that came across her, tripping slightly but regaining her balance, continuing on. Late once again for her usual family tradition, but that wasn't what worried her. Often dreams would come by, and give her a sign of some sort of terrible things happening to her pride. Whether it was another pride killing them without her being there ready for battle, or the king or queen dying. She didn't like them in the slightest, and these dreams were the reason she was in a hurry to get back.

The moon settled above her, and the rain wets her light gold pelt. Her olive green eyes flickered in the darkness, following the scent of her pride was easy, but it was difficult to be on the lookout for items that would be the cause of her fall. Eiena was mediocre in combat, certainly not the best, however, she could hold her own, perhaps not to the point where she would come out victorious. Eiena was simply fledged in combat, multiple flaws recognized by her teachers in combat made her think she would never survive in the wild parts of Africa. The doubt in her mind would not cease, and she wondered why she hadn't felt the hesitance to press on.

Eiena's eyes widen in surprise after coming across a stone wall that stood before her.

"Freeze!"

The voice made her muscles tense. She turned around to acknowledge the blurt behind her, claws unsheathing slowly, preparing herself just in case. The lion wore an overgrown black mane that stretched along his back, his glaring hazel eyes not going pass her. Eiena was sure that she had never seen the young male before. She took her time looking over more of his facial features.

"State your reason for trespassing, outsider, and don't even think about planning an assault, because that will be the end for you." the stranger threatened. Eiena felt some weight release off of her shoulders, more than glad that the lion hadn't attacked her for no specific reason.

"I apologize. I have been searching for my pride that I heard was in a war a few days ago. I did not mean to trespass I assure you." She saw his eyes narrow through the falling rain, some of his face covered up by the night. Figuring that he was likely unconvinced, she lowered her body in a submissive gesture, claws sheathing. "I am no threat to your lands."

His frown adapted to a neutral demeanor, "You were about to infiltrate private land, therefore, I can't assume you're telling the truth." he confirmed. Eiena thought she wasn't clear enough with what she just said, "With that being said you will be brought back to headquarters far from here, where you wait for a proper punishment. You will either be forced to swim with the alligators, or tied up and thrown into a river where you will drown slowly." He explained thoroughly. " Though I wouldn't worry. If you act alright, we'll put you into a hole where you'll stay." he took a half step towards her, "Now do you want to arrive unharmed? or would you rather try to put up a fight with me?"

Their rules were harsh. Eiena didn't want to be taken apart by hungry alligators, nor did she want to drown, and spending the night at another prides place as punishment is something she didn't want to go through. Especially with her fear of small spaces. She didn't want to waste any more time finding her pride, and if it meant going to the lengths of removing someone who stood her way, so be it. Eina unsheathed her claws once again, releasing a growl that she suppressed in her throat. Her opponent did not see past her sudden decision of violence, and he also let his claws rip into the ground.

The lions circled each other, teeth bared, waiting for one of them to make a move; until the male sprinted at her with much speed behind the lunge. Eiena despite caught off guard relied on her quick reactions, and shifted towards her right, dodging the life-ending claw and allowed it to rake against the stone wall. The dodge made her almost trip and fall on her chin due to how late the evasion was, but recovered well and faced towards him again. Eiena had his speed noted, he was quick on offensive which forced her to play more of the defensive role, though she already prepared a counter for this.

He regarded her with a stern look, "Are you quite sure you want to do this? You don't look like someone who fights much, and I'd like my opponents to give me a challenge."

"These days, they teach warriors to never underestimate a foe and I'm quite sure that you take your job seriously. So how about we skip the lectures, and fight." she replied sharply.

He didn't need to be told twice. The male went in for another quick lunge, his intention to push her back and make her slip on the wet ground, but she did not allow this. Eiena was skinnier than him, which made her dodging easy, jumping from side to side. If he went right, she would push back and dash left. This continued for a while until Eiena had been awarded for her patience. His strikes become slower, much more sluggish, and lead to a quick slash on his cheek. Her goal wasn't to land a powerful hit, merely to get him frustrated. Eiena's plan indeed went on for a minute or two, blood starting to run down his right cheek as she continued batting at him; connecting surprisingly quick. Furthermore, as if luck were now fully in her favor, the lion slipped on the ground himself but not falling, stumbling after a pitiful swing. Eiena seizing the moment, brought all of her strength into one quick lunge and jolted the lion across the chin.

This time he let out a pained roar, then staggered backward, trying to shake the blur out of his vision. He wiped his paw across his eyes, before seeing the lioness charge at him aggressively. Now his flawless timing came into play. As the lioness swung at him, he threw a claw of his own at her, and with his slight reach advantage, he smacked the lioness straight in the jaw with a left. The moment to take over stared him in the face, he denied her attempts to climb back to her paws. The lion wrapped his paws around her throat, pressing down against her

"Give. Up." He hissed.

"No!" He never saw it coming. In a desperate effort, she spat out bloodied saliva targeted for his right eye, and the tactic worked well. The male roared with disgust, shocked at her dirty ways of trying to win a battle. Not wanting to stop there, she pushed with her back legs, also pulling herself up after, not minding the mud-stained on her fur. Eiena tried pushing on the attack, rushing him again, ignoring the sharp pinch in her legs. Dismissing the thought of going for another strike, she instead went for a tackle which worked well due to temporary distraction. The lioness knew she'd never stand a chance against his strength, but she wanted to get more hits in. She played along with thinking he'd be shocked by her strategy and unleashed rushed swipes on his cheekbones. Clotting him left and right, snarls exchanging between them, now using her weight to keep him down, and blood crusted on the grass.

"Get off!" He roared and punched his legs into her belly using brute force to flip her off completely. Again they found themselves glowering at one another, waiting for one to slip up.

"Never in my life have I seen such a stubborn lioness. It's amazing to me how you continue to fight, even though I outmatch you in strength."

"If you won't remove yourself out of my way, then I have no other choice but to kill you." she implied, "I can understand that you have a task to do, but I have to cross this border. Now move, or die..." Eiena growled, lowering her head below her shoulders.

He shook his head, "You can't win lioness! Just go before you do something you'll regret. I'm much more powerful than you, you must know that.

She grimaced. "I don't have the strength you say? Tell me.. who is the one that has splattered your own blood on your face?" She said, watching the blood drip from his cheeks.

"I'm not one that can die easily. I've been through the most gruesome training there is, mastering combat, and having experience on the battlefield." he boasted, "If I wanted to, I could end this."

"I'm sick of your mouth." she told him angrily, "If you're such an excellent combatant then come prove it to me, and trust me I'll make it quick."

"Likewise."

They ran at each other with rage exposed in their eyes, Eiena held her own against the young lion well, her defensive skills almost outmatching his. However, the male came back with his own scheme, pulling out unpredictable maneuvers that caught her off guard, and it cost her blood.

"Agh! Damn you!" the male spat, taking another hit across the nose seconds later. "This is stupid! Why don't you do us both a favor, and run off somewhere else? This is a waste of both our time and you know it too!" he exclaimed.

Her expression turned grim again, "Just let me by, and we can forget this whole mess ever happened."

He growled and broke off the staredown. "I can't do that. I'm not disobeying orders for some lioness."

"Why? Your pride will never know. We can forget this." she claimed, "Just let me through."

They shared a look again. Eiena read his expression for a moment, and she saw the doubtful look he gave her. He needed more encouragement, she had to make something work. Eiena relaxed her shoulders and sheathed her claws again.

"Your secret is safe with me, I swear," she spoke slowly. Hoping every word she said got to his head so that he could trust her.

"What's your name?"

She swallowed the surprise that was almost shown in her eyes, clearly not expecting the sudden question. "Eiena."

He snorted softly, "Eiena, huh?" his eyes closed, and his teeth gritted. "Although I'm about to do something I know I'll regret later, I guess I have your word that you won't say anything about this, ever, right?" he questioned, eyes glaring at her intensely, skepticism shown in them.

"I promise," Eiena confirmed.

A sigh came from his nose, "Alright then. Go on, don't make me change my mind."

Eiena's face light up with joy, more than glad that he didn't want to drag this fight on. "Thank you!" she blurted quickly and turned to face the wall she was prepared to climb. Eiena hurried close towards it, before looking over her shoulder to glance at the young lion. Though he didn't return her stare; his expression jumbled with emotions, but the one she could pick out the most was worry. "Hey," she called and received a brow raise. Hesitating for a moment before she asked him, "May I know your name?"

"Zeni." He stated, and their eyes were peering into each other from there. Besides the blood on his fur, he was quite handsome, though she was far from ever growing feelings for him, thank the stars for that. She found growing attachments for individuals was meaningless, which was undoubtedly a lie, but she hadn't learned that yet.

A grunt slipped out at the aching wound in her leg, and the cuts on her cheek were there as well, fighting to keep herself on her feet with gritting teeth.

Zeni took a step, "Do you need help?" he offered. Eiena shook her head stiffly, but Zeni was still eager to provide assistance. Carefully he limped over towards her, struggling with his own wounds but proceeded on. Her eyes turned to him and growled with hostility laced in it, causing him to pause and blink. "I don't need your help, I can take care of myself."

He frowned, "Don't be stupid." he shot back, "There's no way you can climb with a wounded leg. Just let me help you."

"I recall that you were the reason I have this wound in the first place," she replied bitterly.

"And healing your leg is a way of apologizing. I won't harm you," he argued. Eiena was still a bit doubtful until he added on, "You need me. You won't make it unless you get proper medical treatment, trust me... please." Zeni pleaded.

The unfortunate truth that was said to her was hard to swallow. Eiena thought long, and soon anger rested in the bottom of her stomach, spitting out a curse in her head. She curled her lip, and muttered, "fine..."

Zeni nodded, "I'll find some herbs until then you just sit tight. I'll come back for you."

She only acknowledged his words with a look of warning, her eyes piercing in his, and after a moment he dashed off into the woods, the sound of paws smacking on the ground slowly fading from her hearing. Eiena sighed irritably after flopping on the uncomfortable, wet ground. She moved to lay on her back as her eyes gazed at the dark blue sky. It had stopped raining thankfully but was only a minor improvement in the hole she fell in.

Moments later, her eyes slid open, finding herself almost dozing off into a deep slumber. She inwardly kicked herself for letting her guard down for a mere minute. Her eyes flickered around the woods, searching for the lion that promised would be back soon. When her eyes caught a hold of the sky again, it was pitch black, with of course bright stars glaring down at her. It was a beautiful night she thought, but it quickly slipped away, remembering why she was out here anyway.

Her head lifted from the ground; eyes looking down upon the ground in between her paws, which was mixed with mud and blood, mostly mud, however.

"Uhm... Eiena?"

The sadness had dispersed from her face, and knowing the familiar voice she adapted into a small frown. Zeni dropped a plant where herbs sat separated from each other. "I bought the herbs. Your leg should be healed tomorrow at least-"

"What?" she shook her head, "No, I can't wait that long. I have to go now!" she exclaimed angrily, and resumed trying to rush up to her paws, thought the process took a while through pained grunts. Her back left leg trembled with pain the more pressure she put on it; her persistent nature the only thing that encouraged her to fight through the pain. Zeni gave her a strange look, his brows furrowing together confusedly. "What the hell are you doing? Trying to make it worse?" he asked, after watching her collapse. Her green eyes gave him a pointed look, however, she did not reply; only looking away like a pouting cub.

Zeni sighed, slightly annoyed and lowered his head to place the herbs in his mouth delicately, some of his mane dripping over his forehead as he did this. Zeni walked over and sat not too close beside Zeni, dropping the herbs by her cheek. "Eat." he ordered, but Eiena only took a side glance towards the herbs and looked back towards the other direction, murmuring, "you eat them, I don't have to if I don't wanna."

He narrowed his eyes, "Eat. Them."

"Go. Away." Eiena retorted.

Zeni groaned. This lioness had a wall of childish manner he couldn't get around, signaling to him that this would go on forever. He scrunched up his face, "If you keep acting like this you won't ever see your pride again. Just cooperate for once?"

She sent him another mean glare that was meant to remove himself away from her, but he merely mirrored it; telling her through expression that he could do this all day. Their stare off went on for what seemed like an eternity. Giving in, at last, she rolled her eyes, and grabbed at the leaf piled with herbs, holding it upside down with only her paw, and stared at it. Her bottom lip twitched, then eyes looking at Zeni who had a cub-ish grin on his muzzle she wanted to smack right off his face. "I'll get you for this later." she stated lastly and bit off the biggest herb resting on the leaf. Eiena munched on it slowly, cringing while doing so, and finally swallowed.

"Weeeell? Did you like it?" He asked, the grin still annoyingly placed on his face.

Her eyes widen, mouth opened, and that gave Zeni the idea that it tasted good to her, proving that he was right. "I can't believe it Zeni... it's... it's..."

"The best thing you ever tasted? Something you want to have for break fest, lunch, and dinner? The best medicine for a wound?" He went on.

Her half hooded, emerald eyes turned to look at him, "It's the worst thing I ever put in my mouth."

Zeni scolded himself for not knowing that she played the role of acting surprised. "Are you serious?"

"Yes I'm serious!" she yelled, "Don't worry though, I'm still gonna hurt you for making me taste something disgusting as this. Probably gave me a disease." she went on. Zeni couldn't really let out his rage because deep down inside he knew that she would have him fooled.

He merely let out a laughed. "You're an interesting lioness Eiena."

Her face heated up, which was more a blush than rage clouding her face. Zeni was too slow to catch onto it though and looked away from him. "Shut up. You should have seen the look on your face, when you actually believed I thought it tasted good."

To her surprise he chuckled, "You got me there, Eiena." he admitted. "The herbs should heal you, and you can climb up the wall tomorrow." he put in before yawning, "But for now, I'm going back to my pride." Zeni turned his back towards her and began walking back into the woods. "Good luck with finding your pride."

"Wait!" she blurted, "I-I mean... will you..." the words were stuck in her throat, fearing the possible reaction that would come from him, after she asked, "Will you stay with me? I need someone to help me if I ever get attacked. I am injured you know.

Zeni gawked at her, completely frozen at the request. "I..."The answer was stuck in his throat.

"Thank you." she said with a tired smile and shivered from the unexpected, cold breeze that brushed past them.Zeni was aware of this, but didn't really seemed to have a reaction from the cold. He guessed it was due to his mane. The lioness was shivering more after another long breeze flew by. Zeni wanted to give her warmth, yet he also didn't want her to be creeped out by his offer. Whatever her answer would be, he couldn't allow her to freeze to death. He gulped, and prepared to shoot the words out of his mouth before... "Will you... sleep with me for tonight?"

Zeni was unprepared by the question, and his expression showed it. He argued in his mind whether to deny the offer, giving a reasonable explanation to why he would do no such thing, or he cuddles with a beautiful lioness. No! What was he thinking? Beautiful lioness?

"Zeni? Are you alright?" she asked him and interrupted his thoughts. Digging out the courage, he padded over towards her, and made his way behind her back, laying on his side, she turned her head slightly to look back at him. He pulled out his arm, letting it hover over her side, "May I?" she looked unsure, but eventually nodded. Fulfilling her request, Zeni brought his arm around her belly, wanting to pull her close, though not sure if she would allow this. However, almost as if she read his thoughts, she cuddled up close to his underside, quite sure he heard a small purr when she got closer. "You're warm..." she implied, her voice soft and kind, a tone that warmed his heart.

Zeni couldn't help but smirk, slightly amused at her statement before this. "I thought you were one that could take care of yourself?"

Eiena rolled her eyes, good-naturedly this time. "Trust me, I know when to quit sometimes." her body shifted slightly, pulling his arms closer to feel him more. "I find it funny how we were just fighting a moment ago, and now we're cuddling up to each other. How do you feel about that?"

"I guess it's bizarre... but it's just to provide warmth right? It doesn't mean anything."

She hated to admit that a small part of her grew an attachment towards him and hearing him say that hurt her slightly due to the sad fact that this was the longest talk she had ever had with someone and to be in someone else's arms would be satisfying but...

"Right. It doesn't. Zeni... tomorrow morning... would you like to help me find me pride once we reach the top of the wall? You don't have to- I just was curious if you wanted to-"

"Yes."

She turned her body around so her green eyes dug into his hazel ones, his arm still wrapped around her, she inched closer almost to where their bellies touched. "I get bored standing here doing nothing anyway."

Eiena had an unforced smile on her muzzle, "Look at us Zeni, we're practically friends already. The way we're so close together, you'd think that we were more than friends already." The words that came from her mouth were true, but this time Eiena felt nothing wrong with what she said. He healed her leg after they had recently got into a battle to the death, that was something she would remember in her heart, it was sweet of him.

"Goodnight Eiena..."

"Goodnight Zeni..."

As the night went on, they both eventually fell asleep, and during the time, a new friendship was formed.