Upendo Day Celebration

A/n: Greetings! This is actually my first time writing within The Lion King fandom, so I'm really praying that I won't disappoint readers with my first TLK fic. I have to admit, I've only watched TLK 1 and TLK 2 only once, but my main attraction is more towards the TV series, The Lion Guard. So, as you can guess, this fic will be more cannon towards The Lion Guard series rather than the movies. I'll be writing the first chapter to test waters, so if there's any errors; grammatical or informational, do let me know and I will make necessary changes and (hopefully) improve in the upcoming chapters. Here goes…

Chapter 1: The Beginnings of a Special Day

Dawn arrived as the sun slowly ascended over the horizon, casting its brilliant morning light all over the African Savannah, marking the beginning of a brand new day. All around, animals from all walks of life rose from their peaceful slumber and moved about to start off their day's activities within the Savannah. These majestic lands of the Savannah were better known as the Pridelands, one of Mother Nature's finest creations where animals, insects and plants all coexist in tune of the natural flow of the Circle of Life.

The Pridelands had many places of interests, one of which happened to be Pride Rock; a huge rock formation that towered several feet above the land with the pinnacle providing a splendid view of the vast Pridelands for as far as the eye can see. It was also a home for a special pride of lions that ruled the entire Pridelands. And on this particular morning, a young member of this royal family was laying on her side, still peacefully deep in her slumber…

Kiara, a cream-coloured lioness cub and royal princess, remained completely oblivious to the arrival of a brand new day, as she lay fast asleep at her usual spot on the Rock. Gentle snores and occasional purrs escaped her mouth as she dreamt of her future self, being the future queen to rule the Pridelands. An unconscious smile formed on her lips as her dreams depicted her future self as a fully-grown adult lioness, beaming with pride as animals all around her bowed down before their Queen as she walked past them.

Meanwhile, another lion cub was just a few feet away from her, who was stealthily and craftily creeping towards the sleeping princess by the second. His name was Kion, a young lion cub with a brilliant-golden coat of fur and was the royal prince and whom also happened to be Kiara's younger brother. A smug grin spread across the young prince's muzzle as he prepared to give his elder sister the wake-up call of her life.

When he finally got close enough to her, he quietly placed his mouth just inches from Kiara's left ear and shouted, "KIAAARAAAAA!"

"AHHHHH!" the startled lioness cub screamed as she sprang several feet into the air before landing back onto the ground on all fours.

She looked all around her in panic, thinking for a wild moment that the Pride was under attack. But when she saw Kion laughing heartily at her reaction, she let out an angry growl to accompany the equally frightening glare that she shot at towards her younger brother.

"KION! YOU'RE DEAD!" she cried out as she instantly leapt into the air, ready to pounce on the laughing Kion.

Unfortunately for her, Kion was much faster and managed to leap out of the way in the nick of time, just as Kiara landed at the spot where he was just milliseconds ago.

"Catch me if you can!" he playfully called out to his sister before making a break for it.

Kiara frowned and instantly chased after her younger brother. "You better pray I don't, you little… grrr!"

Kion simply laughed as he sped off with Kiara close behind him. While playfully trying to escape his sister's fury, Kion leapt across a lion and a lioness who were lying down and cuddling each other while they were in the midst of their slumber. The couple were the cubs' parents: King Simba and Queen Nala. The moment Kion leapt across his parents, the two adult lions instinctively woke up and sat up to see what's going on.

Simba and his mate turned to their left to see Kion running away from them. At the same time, the Lion King also heard movement coming towards his right. He turned his head just in time to unfortunately see Kiara just inches away from smashing into his face.

Kiara had wanted to follow Kion by leaping across her sleeping parents as well, but it was unfortunate that they were both awakened by Kion's movements and decided to sit up just as she had launched herself into the air. And now, her forward momentum prevented her from doing anything to stop herself from smashing straight into her father.

"ARGH!"

"OUCH!"

Both father and daughter painfully exclaimed when Kiara involuntarily hit her father right in his muzzle with her head. Nala, who was coincidentally shielded by her mate from being hit, gasped and rushed over towards her husband and daughter.

"Simba! Kiara!" she cried out worriedly as she approached them.

Kiara was slightly dazed by the impact but was otherwise fine. She then caught sight of Kion, who was several feet away from them and her face turned sour once again. Simba was unfazed by the impact, but he was worried about his daughter.

"Nala, sweetheart, are you okay?" he asked with a hint of panic in his tone as he lowered himself to inspect his daughter.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Dad," Kiara assured while still maintaining her frown as she eyed Kion in the distance. "Sorry about that."

Simba let out a long sigh of both relief and exasperation, but immediately put on a warm and hearty smile after that. The impact had somewhat caused him to remember about his own reckless self, back when he was a cub several years ago. "That's alright, Kiara. I'm glad you're not hurt."

Kion saw what had just happened and meekly headed back towards his family.

"Sorry for waking you guys up," he nervously said as both his parents gave him looks of disapproval.

Nala finally shook her head and decided to look at things in a positive light.

"Well, at least you two prevented your father and I from oversleeping," she chuckled, earning a similar hearty laugh from her mate.

Kion went over to Kiara.

"Sorry that you weren't able to catch me, sis," he playfully teased before gently nuzzling against his sister in a brotherly way.

"Ha ha…" Kiara replied in a rather annoyed tone but eventually decided to lovingly nuzzle back with her brother. Like all siblings, she and Kion rarely see eye-to-eye. But despite all their teasing and arguing, deep down they know they have nothing but sibling love for each other.

Simba and Nala smiled as they watched their two children reconcile with each other. Kiara eventually turned to her father.

"Dad, are you teaching me any new lessons today?" she asked. The 'teaching' she was referring to was Simba's daily training for her to learn the ropes of becoming the future leader and ruler of the Pridelands.

Simba smiled at her before turning to Nala and giving her a loving and adoring look.

"Actually, I thought of taking a break for today and instead do something special with all of you on this extra special day," he replied with a smile as Nala began to affectionately nuzzle against him.

"Err… what's so special about today?" Kion inquired while trying not to feel disgusted by his parents' display of affection for each other.

"Have you forgotten, Kion?" Nala softly responded to her son. "Today is the day of the Upendi Celebration."

"Oh… the Upendi… right…," Kion trailed off and looking rather unhappy about it.

The Upendi Celebration Day was a celebration of love. On this day, animals all over the Pridelands would spend the entire day with all their loved ones. One of the customary rituals that the animals practice during the Celebration was the act of publicly showing affection for one another as well as presenting gifts.

During past Upendi celebrations, Kion and Kiara spent the days with their parents, making each other gifts and generally spending their time as one loving family. Kion didn't mind these practices, but one thing he really couldn't stand about the special Celebration was the constant act of love and affection that both his parents and other adult animals displayed to each other throughout the day. And to top it off, Simba and Nala would relate to their children about their younger days; from the time they both fell in love with one another to the time they married and conceived the young cubs into this world (minus the explicitly intimate details in between).

Kiara enjoyed listening to her parents' love stories, but Kion was completely put off by them, as he didn't like all the 'mushy-mushy' things said and displayed by his parents to each other.

"So what are we going to do for the Upendi celebration?" Kiara asked jovially while facing her parents.

"Well, your mother and I have decided to bring you and Kion to visit all the romantic places we went during our honeymoon," Simba calmly replied as Nala nestled comfortably next to him.

"Yes!" Kiara exclaimed loudly before playfully leaping into the air.

Kiara was clearly overjoyed with excitement at her father's announcement but Kion just stared at his parents in horror. Their very suggestion was Kion's version of the deepest pit of Hell, where he would have to suffer for countless of hours being forced to witness his parents constantly nuzzling and kissing with each other as they toured the places where Simba and Nala spent their time during their honeymoon.

Deciding he was far from being able to survive the imminent torture, Kion began racking his brains to come up with an excuse so that he would be pardoned from having to go on such a trip.

"Err… Mom, Dad? Is it alright if I spend Upendi Day with the rest of the Lion Guard instead?" he asked with a sheepish smile and silently praying they would say yes.

Simba and Nala were surprised by their son's request, as they genuinely thought that Kion loved spending Upendi with family members. This was all thanks to Kion being able to control himself and not reveal how he was secretly disgusted and uncomfortable with the holiday. Seeing that this would be the first time Kion would spend the Upendi with the rest of the Lion Guard, both King and Queen agreed to let their son go off with his friends for a change.

"Alright, son. Go ahead," Simba replied with a smile, much to Kion's utter relief. "But, are you sure you want to miss out on such a memorable and exciting trip?"

"Err… it's okay, Dad! I'm sure Kiara can tell me all about it when you guys get back! Bye! See you! Love you all!"

And after giving a brief hug to his sister and parents, Kion shot off away from Pride Rock and headed towards the heart of the Pridelands as the rest of his family watched him slowly disappear from their sights, feeling rather confused by his abrupt departure.


After running for a couple of miles and making sure he was far enough away from Pride Rock, Kion finally slowed down in his tracks.

Phew! Glad I'm able to escape from that disaster, Kion chuckled to himself as he looked back and saw that Pride Rock was only a dot in the distance.

Now that he was alone, he decided to actually do what he had suggested to his father and start looking for his friends.

At least I won't have to worry about the Upendi and any mushy-mushy stuff when I'm with them, the cub thought to himself with relief.

He went off and headed towards the Guards' usual meeting place, which was embankment next to the Water Hole. As Kion headed towards the direction of the Water Hole, his sharp eyes suddenly caught sight of the familiar golden-yellow fur of a female spotted cheetah cub resting on the ground just ahead of him. He halted in his tracks to call out to her.

"Fuli!"

The young cheetah instantly sat up when she heard her name being called. Fuli turned around and noticed Kion in the distance. An automatic smile immediately graced her lips the moment she saw her lion friend.

"Hey, Kion! Come on, get over here!" she beamingly called out as she invited Kion to join by her side.

With a smile, Kion wasted no time to sprint towards Fuli, the feisty female cheetah cub whom he personally cherished in his heart and was someone whom he was proud to call his closest childhood friend.

To be continued…

A/n: So… what do you think? I'm pretty sure you guys can guess where this fic is heading based on the last paragraph of the chapter ;) If there are any errors or characters that are OOC, please do inform me and I'll make the necessary adjustments accordingly. Hope you guys are kind enough to drop a review once you've finished reading this chapter :P Thanks again and have a great day ahead :)

PS: I picked up the word 'Upendi' from LK2: Simba's Pride, which apparently means love in Swahili (at least that's what Google Translate told me). So, I got the idea to write this fic synonymous to the nature of the Month that I published this fic in (February 2017), which is often regarded as the Month of Love.