Disclaimer: All characters mentioned belong to Disney.

For the purpose of this fic, I made both Nuka and Vitani Scar's biological cubs – even though I doubt Vitani could be his daughter, and I'm not even sure about Nuka.

English is not my first language, so there might be some mistakes.


Vitani sighed, resting her head on her paws. It was not an easy day for her: she had to smooth down a situation that could have turned into a fight. One of the lionesses (who had an outrageously long name and preferred to be called Dotty because of the several dots under her eye) found out that her share of food was missing and, of course, made a big fuss about it, as good meat was scarce in their lands. When things like that happened the lionesses usually accused Nuka of taking their goods – which Vitani knew for sure wasn't true, because Nuka stole only from Kovu, and even that he couldn't do frequently because their mother could notice. But Zira's followers liked to shift the blame on him when they could to avoid responsibility. After all, Zira was always ready to punish Nuka for what he did and didn't do – and they knew she still won't banish him, because he was her son. Her son from her beloved mate, the late King Scar…

Vitani didn't really care much about that, but she was his daughter, too. It was not a big deal to her; she didn't even remember him, and, as she's been told, didn't look much like him. Nuka, however, frequently complained about being passed over for the throne, which Vitani always found annoying – the idea of Nuka being king was utterly laughable anyway. Nuka also tried to convince his sister that Kovu got his place as Scar's heir unfairly; he told Vitani about how Kovu was taken in by their parents. After Scar disowned Nuka, he tried to have a second cub, which he hoped would be better than "that fiasco" (Nuka was specifically bitter about that phrase; Scar said that right in front of him). When Vitani was born, Scar seemed to be quite satisfied – he immediately sent his hyenas out to search for a "complementary" male cub, one that should look as much like him as possible. The king wanted everything to go just as he demanded; his daughter and this cub will be raised together, in the same family, to carry on his legacy and genes.

But soon, Scar was killed, and Zira, grief-stricken and enraged, in exile with three little cubs, vowed to destroy Simba. She absolutely cherished Kovu, who, as she thought, was estimated purely by merit – unlike Vitani, who was the heiress "just because". The news that Simba has a daughter only convinced Zira to center her plan around Kovu. She thought the girl was a perfect opportunity to use her son's future prowess… He could seduce the princess and lure her into a trap. The only question that remained was how, and they soon had an answer for that.

Ever since Zira realized Kovu could do much more than just target a princess – that he could get to her father through her affection – Kovu and Vitani's training became much more intensive. Vitani was a skilled fighter; she was both strong and intelligent, and knew how to take advantage of it. She frequently won fights with Kovu, even though he was bigger than her… And yet she wasn't as valued as he was.

Vitani pretended she wasn't hurt by that fact. After all, it was more practical to use Kovu for their plan. And she was always treated with respect, unlike Nuka. She didn't have much to complain about.

"Why? Why is it always me?!" a grumpy male voice inquired, and Vitani lost her train of thought. Nuka entered the termite mound where she was resting, muttering to himself. "If anyone's stealing their food, it's Kovu! He always gets the biggest share, and he doesn't even do anything usef–"

"I already told them to calm down," Vitani interrupted him with a sigh. "Now can I please have some peace and quiet before someone else decides to bother me with their problems?"

Nuka turned to his sister, pouting. "There's no way I'm going out there! They're still looking at me like they want to rip me apart!"

'If you won't shut up, I will rip you apart,' thought Vitani. "How about a 'thank you, dear Sister'?" she asked.

"Oh… Um… Thanks," Nuka said, a little embarrassed. "But they're going to tell Mother, and that… That's not good." He shivered, as if stepping on a scratchy plant.

"Well, that just means there's no point in hiding here, doesn't it?" Vitani snapped. Maybe she went too far with that remark… Nuka seemed quite terrified, and, in fact, he had every reason to be – their mother always enjoyed beating up on him. Vitani even had to stop her sometimes out of fear she would injure him too badly. But today Vitani was too tired, and had a smothering headache. Nuka's troubles had to wait.

Nuka looked at his sister like she just slapped him. Quietly, he walked to the farthest corner of the mound, and sat there. Vitani rolled her eyes and tried to relax again.

"If Kovu didn't get so much food, there wouldn't be a problem," Nuka muttered to himself, but Vitani could still hear.

"Glad you informed me of whom to blame for your presence," she said aloud with her usual snark.

Nuka made an incoherent sound.

"All I'm saying is that if Kovu was getting a regular share, everyone else would've had enough to eat!" he grumbled.

"…You do realize that Kovu is our ticket out of this wasteland, don't you?" asked Vitani, even though reminding Nuka of this never helped to get rid of his obsessive mumbling.

"Yeah, and why him? Why not us? Scar wasn't even his real f–"

"Scar adopted him and disowned you, remember?" Vitani explained, remembering all the other times she had to repeat this little detail to her older brother.

"They didn't even give me a chance!" Nuka cried out, to which Vitani closed her eyes and flinched at the pain inside of her skull. "And besides… Scar might have disowned me, but he didn't disown you."

"So? I'm not the one who should assassinate Simba."

"And why not?" exclaimed Nuka. "Think about this! Mother didn't let us show her what we're capable of, and I'm sure – I know Kovu is going to disappoint her, and I don't want to let this happen!"

"Disappoint how exactly? He's training to do one thing. He's not you to ruin such a perfectly set scheme."

"It's not only that!" snarled Nuka, ignoring his sister's insult. "Our precious 'chosen one' is going to be king! Don't you think he'll stop listening to Mother? He's already full of himself as is!"

Vitani grimaced in irritation.

"Oh, what makes you think he'll be so good? He doesn't know what we're going through, because he always had everything! Don't you think we're more deserving of the throne? I mean, look – you're supposed to be the heiress, right? And I was disowned unjustly! I think we can do the job no worse than Kovu, and we will never go against our mother! And you can't tell what's going on in his head!"

"Neither can you," Vitani raised an eyebrow.

Nuka got out of the corner and came closer to his sister. "He's not what Mother thinks he is, just believe me on this!"

Vitani didn't respond. Nuka was too blinded by jealousy to see the situation adequately. And yet… He was right that things turned out not the way it was intended. She should've been queen, not Kovu. Was it fair that just because he's more fitting for one particular task, he'll get the kingdom which was never even supposed to be his?

Nuka, at that time, plopped on the ground and started to scratch his mane. "These termites are getting on my nerves!" he growled, leaving a bloody scrape on his side with his claws. Vitani blankly watched him trying to get the insects out to no avail.

"Let's imagine, we defy Mother and assume Kovu's mission instead," she said thoughtfully. "What good it'll make if we disrupt the whole operation?"

Nuka stopped scratching at the spot, forgetting about the parasites tormenting him.

"You… So you do want to make it right?" he asked.

"Only hypothetically," Vitani admitted.

Nuka got up with the happiest smile she had ever seen on his dorky face.

"Kovu won't do it right anyway, that's the point," he said. "So it's better to have him out of the game as early as possible. That way, mother will see what he's really like".

"And what is your plan? Kill him?" Vitani raised an eyebrow.

"Of course not!" Nuka shouted in a very offended tone. "Who do you think I am? Our excuse for a father?"

"Oh, so you have another brilliant suggestion?" Vitani snorted with a condescending smirk.

"We've gotta make him fail."

"Fail", repeated Vitani, making sure her sarcasm is obvious enough for Nuka to drop this ridiculous idea. "Right. And how, might I wonder, can we do that?"

"it's simple. We'll make Kovu fall in love with the princess. Then he wouldn't want to make his girlfriend sad by killing her daddy".

Vitani's eyes almost went round. Did Nuka just suggest something relatively sensible? "Nuka" and "sensible" were two words she was convinced she'd never use in the same sentence. But the idea still seemed pretty far-fetched.

"Okay, fine. But how is that supposed to happen?" she inquired. Really, how do you make two complete strangers fall in love with each other? There's no way to know for sure they'll even like each other to begin with.

"That's what we have you for," Nuka said seriously. "Take all of your sisterly nastiness – you know, the stuff when you're telling me I'll never have a date in my life and die a virgin – and use it on Kovu. Motivate him the worst way you can."

Vitani nodded. The perspective of having the throne became alluring again.