Hey y'all!

This is my first story for a continuation of The Lion King...umm...I hope you like it!

I am putting a lot of effort and thought into this, soo yeah! Tips, readers, and reviews are APPRECIATED! :D

Thanks for taking time to read this.

Enjoy!

TLK 3:

Kovu's Pride

The light, cream lioness roared in pain as the contractions started again.

"Shh, Kiara, calm yourself…" another, older cream lioness hushed, "Just a few more pushes…right, Rafiki?" she asked to a nearby mandrill soothing Kiara. He nodded, and began to whisper an ancient prayer.

"Ahh!" Kiara yelped as a tiny, light golden-brown bundle flopped out of her. The diminutive, newborn cub began to mew and reach for its mother.

"Shh, little one…I mean, Princess Uzuri." She smiled, and her mate, the King of the Pridelands, walked in nervously.

Rafiki laughed, "Come in, your highness. The Princess has arrived." The mandrill's thick African accent was filled with joy. The lion looked from the wise shaman to the tiny bundle that he helped create. Shyly, he walked up to it and licked it, now smiling.

"Hey, sweetie…my name's Kovu, and I'm your dad." Kovu laughed when Uzuri mewed loudly at him, and she began to suckle on her mother's milk.

Kiara suddenly eyed something in the far right corner of her cave…two, purple-mud-brown eyes twinkling at her. Kiara smiled at them, and the eyes gasped and darted out of sight. This caused the Queen to laugh once more.

"It's okay, Mlenzi, come meet your little sister!" she said, exhausted but ecstatic.

The cub, probably a couple of months of age, slowly creeped in. His mesmerizing eyes were captivated and curious with the little bundle beside his mother. Mlenzi's gossamer, dark-golden coat shivered as he came up to the end of the cave.

As the adolescent approached his new sister with caution and stuttered, "H-Hi there…welcome to the world, Uzuri. I…I'm Mlenzi." The prince lay down, and sniffed her. Uzuri mewed loudly again and stopped drinking to cuddle up in a bundle on Mlenzi's paw.

There was a soft, "Aww…" from everyone in the cave.

The prince smiled ear to ear, and said happily, "I promise to forever protect you, little one. I will fight for you, love you, train you, and take care of you when others cannot. Which means…I will, for all eternity be your malaikamlinzi."

"Mlenzi! Mlenzi! Mlenzi!" a young cub was running toward a group of older adolescents, all laying down, chatting in a small circle with a younger cub batting a leaf in the middle.

"Hm? Oh, Uzuri…" the largest male said, his eyes darting to the cub. "C'mere, rascal!" he teased and put his humungous paw over her tiny head. She growled and tried to bat it off, but fell on her back in the process.

"Oof!" she squealed, but quickly got back up and lashed her tail playfully.

The other lions laughed and started chatting again.

"So, Penda, who's mane is bigger, mine or Mlenzi?" a dark brown lion with a darker spot on his cheek. His dark golden brown tufts were almost qualified as a mane, but not quite yet. Mlenzi rolled his eyes.

The Prince's mane was rare; he had a black mane with large stripes of brown running down it. Rafiki had said it was a sign of diversity from the Kings, but he didn't know if it was good or bad.

"Hm…that's a toughie. I think…" the lioness, a light golden lion with a dark stripe down her forehead said with mock-thoughtfulness.

"Indeed, comrade, indeed…" an oddly spotted, chocolate colored-lioness spoke up, playful sarcasm dripping with every word.

"I say…Mlenzi!" Penda suddenly burst as her bright green eyes observed the two males, puffing their chests out and grooming their fur to make it look bigger.

"What? No way!" the other male exclaimed.

"Sorry, man." Mlenzi apologized playfully. He puffed out his chest. "Some lions got it, and some lions don't." He stuck out his tongue. His friend rolled his eyes and snorted.

"Yeah, one day yours'll be bigger than his, Baka," Penda purred.

Baka playfully shoved Mlenzi. "You bet it will."

"Penda, why is your face so red?" Uzuri finally squeaked after playing with the other cub in the middle.

The other cub stopped playing and looked up too. She looked from Penda to Baka, and cooed, "Oooh…" she whispered to the Princess, giggling to one another.

"W-what? Oh, that… sorry, I don't feel so good. See you guys later," Penda gasped and got up quickly to run to the waterhole.

Baka stared after her, his expression blank. Mlenzi shoved him lightly with his paw.

"Dude, she likes you." He said seriously.

"What? Who? Penda? No, she couldn't. Why-Why would I like her? I don't like her." Baka shuffled his paws and laughed nervously.

Baka's twin, Furahi, rolled her eyes. "Little bro, you're so stupid." She whacked his head with her fluffy tail.

The dark brown lion growled pointedly and rolled his eyes. "I'm only younger by thirty seconds, c'mon! And I do not like her. Not."

Both Furahi and Mlenzi rolled their eyes at him. "Okay, cous'." Mlenzi said, giving up for today.

"Well, I'm going to go with Penda to see how she's feeling." The young lioness winked at Baka and got up. She whistled to the tiny cub that was originally in the middle of them all. "C'mon, Cheshi, come with me... Like you could use the exercise…" she muttered.

The cub, about the princess's age, perked her ears and jumped up. Oddly, her entire coat was a shiny, gossamer white color. She had light, pink eyes that danced with curiosity. Giggling, she said, "Okay! One second!" Cheshi turned to Uzuri. "See ya later, Uzuri!" she said sadly and ran after her older adopted-sister.

Uzuri's ears lowered sadly. "Oh, okay…bye…" she said quietly, but suddenly cheered up and pounced on her brother. Mlenzi smiled and pulled her closer with his paw. The princess began to yawn and put her front paws over Mlenzi's big ones and closed her eyes sleepily. Baka laughed quietly.

"So, you actually got her to sleep?" The Queen suddenly said from behind Mlenzi. Mlenzi smiled, "Yeah. I guess Cheshi wore her out."

Kiara smiled warmly, "If only you were a lioness…you'd be a great mother!" Baka snorted in laughter, but Mlenzi scoffed.

"Mooommm…" he groaned.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," she said playfully, swatting his puffy tail. "Here, let me take her." Kiara said after admiring her two children. Mlenzi carefully slipped his paw from beneath her, and Kiara picked her up as gentle as possible. The Queen walked toward the main cave.

"So, Mlenzi…do you like anyone? " Baka said, smirking.

Mlenzi rolled his eyes. "There's no one to like. Furahi's my cousin, duh, and Penda's already taken."

Baka's ears perked up and his eyes widened. "What? Why? W-Who?" he exclaimed. Mlenzi raised his eyebrow.

"Um, y'know, just being curious…not like I care or anything, heh." The brown lion dismissed the subject.

"Maybe, like, a rogue will come one day? Like my mom and dad." Baka continued.

Mlenzi thought about settling down. "I think we're too young. We should enjoy life wile we can, right? Start some parties, have some fun…get into mischief." He smiled and got up.

"When I'm King, I'm going to rock Pride Rock," the Prince said mischievously.

Baka scoffed and stood up too. "But a King always needs a wingman to keep him down to Earth," he said, shoving Mlenzi. Mlenzi smiled and laughed.

"C'mon, let's go see if Penda's okay." Mlenzi ended.

The two friends walked near the lush savannah, looking for the waterhole with their friends.

Meanwhile,

"No! Stop it! Aaahhhh!" I screamed as the vicious lion swiped at me again.

I kept backing up, put he hit me every time. My heart pounded in my ears.

"M-Mommy! Daddy! MLENZI!" I screamed as the lion picked me up, laughing evilly.

"Hush, child, if you are to be welcome here." He said, his voice dripping with intensity.

We were in a large, dark canyon. Holes in the ground blew on sweltering steam that would start a fire easily. I could hear demonic laughing and vicious roars all around me.

"W-what do you want with me?" I cried, hot tears pouring down my face. The lion laughed his evil laugh again.

"You will see…once you start your training." The lion said. I finally got a chance to look ay him. His thick, black mane was stained with…blood? He smelled like death, or at least smelled really bad. His teeth dug into my back with every step. But his most interesting feature was not his lankiness or his evil voice…

But he had a scar over his left eye.

"Ahh! No, no! Get off me!" a cub screamed, swatting at the lion.

"Ow, ow Uzuri! Stop! Uzuri!" Kovu yelled as his daughter spazzed and swiped his eyes and nose.

Uzuri opened her eyes, breathing heavily, her heart in her throat.

"D-daddy? Daddy!" she whimpered and ran into him, crying.

"Shh, Uzuri, it was just a bad dream. You're safe now." He put a paw over his daughter protectively and shh'ed her. She wouldn't stop trembling.

"N-no! Daddy, t-there was a lion in my dream…" she hiccupped between sobs.

"Shh, it's okay…we will talk about it tomorrow. You need to go back to sleep. It's okay, he won't come again." Kovu whispered, laying back down.

"B-but what if he comes back?" the terrified princess cried, sniffling.

"Then tell him if he messes with the Princess of the Pridelands, your ol' dad will beat the fur outta him." He smiled and pulled her closer, hearing her breath slow down into peaceful, rhythmic patterns.

"Okay…goodnight…" she whispered, already falling asleep. Uzuri curled into her father's mane, and sighed with content.

The Princess slept soundly, and had another dream…but she was only chasing a butterfly, thankfully.