Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and the OC's.
A/N: After watching the Lion King for the millionth time, I thought about something real hard. What if the whole "jealous younger sibling" was hereditary? Anyway, enough of me ranting. Enjoy.
The Roar Within
The First Encounter
"Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it...."
Those words echoed in the green-eyed lioness's head as she stared down at the blue-eyed male that was hanging onto a small ledge on the large mountain for dear life, pleading for the lioness to help him. The lioness stared at her brother with indifference before making her decision, knowing that whatever she chose, it would determine rather the lion lived or died...
----
Once the ceremony was finished, the rest of the pride emerged from the den. Gathering around a lion with green eyes, dark brown fur, and a dark brown mane, and a lioness with ruby red eyes and faint orange fur, the members of the pride congratulated Kovu and Kiara on their third cub. The baby lioness had chocolate brown fur with ruby red eyes that she had undoubtedly received from her mother.
"So what should we name her?" Kiara asked as the rest of the pride began to disperse.
"Hmm..." Kovu replied. "I don't know..."
The conversation was interrupted by a cream colored cub with a black tuft on his head and black rims around his ears dashing towards them. His ocean blue eyes stared in excitement as he approached his parents and his new baby sister. "What's her name?!" he asked impatiently as he nuzzled the infant cub. "Come on, tell me! I want to know her name."
"We haven't named her yet, Bahari," Kiara told him.
"I have a good name," a voice spat from behind. "Mavi..."
Kovu, Kiara, and Bahari turned to see a lioness cub with light brown almost golden fur and piercing green eyes approaching them. She glared at her older twin before turning her attention to the infant that her father now held gently by the loose skin around her neck. "Nyota! Why would you want to name our sister, crap!" Bahari yelled.
"Because that's what it looks like," Nyota snarled.
"Well that name matches your attitude," Bahari shot back. "You should take it."
Nyota growled and attempted to pounce on Bahari, but the older cub dashed out of the way causing Nyota to fall hard on the ground. Bahari attempted to help Nyota to her feet, but she snapped at him before returning to the den. Kiara shook her head as she saw her oldest daughter disappear from sight.
"What am I going to do with that cub?" she sighed.
"Why don't we worry about this one first," Kovu remarked as he placed the infant beside Bahari. "We still don't have a name."
"How about Sena?" Bahari stated as he nuzzled the infant once more. "Its way better than crap and it means..."
"Beautiful," Kiara finished. "I like it, what do you think Kovu?"
Kovu nodded his head in agreement. "Sena it is..."
----
A golden brown lion with a red mane and matching red eyes stood alone. The light from the moon illuminated the lion known as King Simba and the gray streak running through his mane sparkled and turned a bright silver. Staring at the stars in the night sky, the aging lion patiently awaited for the cubs to arrive. As if on cue, Bahari rushed up to Simba with a dark reddish cub following close behind him. The cub had a brown tuft with light red streaks on the end that seemed to fall over his right eye and dark brown eyes that were almost always dancing with excitement.
"Grandfather," Bahari began. "Nyota didn't want to come, but I brought Masai instead. Is that okay?"
"Sure," Simba answered . "But only if Masai feels like listening to a story."
"Definitely, Simba," Masai replied. "The only story I've heard since my sister and I joined the pride is why they call a dung beetle a 'dung' beetle. Needless to say, it gets grosser every time Pumbaa tells it."
Simba chuckled for a second as he remembered the first time he had heard the dung beetle story. "Anyway," he started as he continued gazing at the stars. "Legend has it that every ten years, the stars form into an image of the greatest king who ever lived. My father told me about it when I was a cub."
"Cool!" Bahari said excitedly. "Hey Masai, in ten years my image will be up there in the sky."
Simba, Bahari, and Masai watched in amazement as the stars slowly began moving around. Before any of them could make out the image, they were interrupted by Simba's majordomo, Zazu, quickly flying towards them. "Sire!" he squawked. "Haribu and the Northern Mountain Pride have entered the Pride Lands!"
"Zazu, make sure all of the cubs are hidden in this area," Simba commanded. "I'll send Timon and Pumbaa over here to watch them and I'll get Kovu and the lionesses to meet me at the border. Bahari, Masai, stay here..."
----
Nyota approached Bahari and Masai with a usual scowl on her face. She didn't bother speaking and almost immediately plopped down by a nearby rock. Following close behind her were two lionesses both of whom were carrying the infant cubs of the pride. Bahari quickly identified the first one as his aunt, Vitani, mostly due to the fact that her electric blue eyes seem to pierce through the darkness. She was holding Sena in her mouth in a protective fashion. Beside her was a lioness with dark red fur and dark brown eyes. The cub she was carrying was a male and he had the same dark red fur as her, but his eyes were a dull gray.
"Aunt Tani," Bahari started as she sat Sena on the ground next to him. "What's going on?"
"We're being attacked," Vitani answered. "I need you to help Timon and Pumbaa keep a close eye on everyone while we're gone."
"Teleza, are you going too?" Masai asked his older sister as she placed her young cub beside his uncle.
Teleza nodded her head. She was one of the youngest adults in the pride, but was definitely capable of handling herself. "Sena and Tatu can barely crawl so we need you three to make sure nothing happens to them."
"Come on Teleza," Vitani told her. "Simba and Kovu are waiting for us."
The two lionesses raced off and in a matter of minutes, the group of cubs noticed a meerkat and a warthog heading in their direction. "Its about time you two got here," Nyota said coldly as she gestured towards Sena and Tatu. "Why don't you do your jobs and babysit these brats!"
"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the den," Timon remarked. "Now that I think about it, have you ever woke up on the right side of the den?"
"So you're saying the left side of the den is the wrong side?" Pumbaa asked his meerkat companion curiously.
"Pumbaa don't hurt yourself," Timon replied.
Bahari laughed for a second. "Don't worry about it you two," he told Timon and Pumbaa. "Nyota is always upset because I'm the future king and she'll still be the same old lioness with anger issues."
"Oh shut up," Nyota snapped. "I could careless about you being king."
"You're lying," Bahari replied. "I can tell by the sound of your voice."
Nyota growled and attempted to pounce on her brother once again. However, the results were the same as before. Nyota groaned as she stood up from the ground. "Bravo," Masai remarked sarcastically. "You know, you can be my queen any day."
"Really..." Nyota replied as an evil grin formed across her face. In a flash, she pounced on Masai and effectively pinned him to the ground. "Sorry, Masai, looks like your 'queen' just owned you."
Bahari, Timon, and Pumbaa laughed and even the two infants; Sena and Tatu giggled. The relaxation ended quickly as Bahari picked up an unfamiliar scent. Nyota and Masai seemed to pick up the scent as well and quickly (or in Nyota's case not so quickly) moved in front of Sena and Tatu.
"Its a lion isn't it!" Timon yelled. "Oh Pumbaa, we're gonna die!"
"Calm down," Bahari told the meerkat. "I got everything under control."
Bahari knew he was lying, but he hoped that no one could tell. His nervousness increased as he heard pawsteps getting closer. Three lion cubs made their way towards the group. Bahari had never seen any of the cubs before and immediately knew that they were not from the pride.
The cub to the left was a female. She was slightly smaller than the other two. The cub had golden fur and amber eyes. She had a huge smile on her face compared to the other two who just grinned menacingly. Nyota rolled her eyes at the obviously ditzy cub.
The cub to the right was the only male in the trio and was the biggest of the three. He had dark brown almost black fur, sandy brown eyes, and black head and elbow tufts. He glared directly at Masai who growled back at him.
The cub in the middle shocked Bahari the most. Her fur was snow white and her blue-green eyes had a seductive look in them. "Well," she began as she continued towards Bahari. "Daddy never told me how cute the cubs are in the Pride Lands."
"Who are you and what do you want?" Bahari demanded.
"My name is Princess Katia," the white cub answered. "These are my friends; Jinga and Kisu. We're from the Northern Mountain Pride and we just wanted to explore the land that our pride is going to control soon."
"Yeah right," Nyota shot back. "Do you three idiots know whose pride your messing with? I bet my dad can kick your dad's butt."
Katia ignored Nyota's comment and continued staring at Bahari. She looked like she was trying to challenge him. "Come on Katia," Kisu told her. "Let's kill 'em." Those last three words sent a shiver down Bahari's spine.
"Hold on Kisu," Katia commanded never looking away from Bahari. "I want to fight this one. One on one..."
A/N: So that's the first chapter. Below is a list of meanings for the names in Swahili.
Bahari means "Ocean"
Nyota means "Star"
Sena means "Beautiful"
Masai is actually a name of an African tribe in Kenya.
Tatu means "Three"
Teleza means "Slide" Katia means "Seduce" Jinga means "Senseless" Kisu means "Knife" Anyway, let me know what you think. R&R!