***Introductory Author's Note***

Hello everyone, and thanks for starting my next story. I won't blab a ton like I usually do for the introductions, but I would just like to thank Prince of Pride for his support in this. After all, it was a part in his story, "Prince of Destiny" that inspired this. But without further ado, I give you…"Turncoat."

-Ben

***TURNCOAT***

***Chapter 1***

***Tanai***

The sun was high over the African savannah when a nearly grown lion descended the path from Priderock's main cave to the grounds below. His light mane contrasted slightly with his darker body, a fur trait he cursed in the hot summer days. He envied the lionesses with their cool pale coats without the thick and stifling mane of a male. Though he couldn't complain too much; his mane had provided the extra neck protection he needed in some tight situations.

"Tanai!" came a call from around a large boulder.

He quickened his pace and circled the great stone to see the usual gathering of animals sitting in the shade of one of Priderock's many overhangs. Simba sat atop a stone and glanced at the younger lion.

"We were wondering when you were going to join us." He remarked, pretending to be annoyed.

"Sorry, Simba." Tanai bowed slightly out of respect. "No excuse."

Simba nodded again and gestured to an open spot. He knew that Tanai probably did have a very good excuse for being a couple minutes late, but he was just too self critical to share it.

Tanai accepted his gesture and sat between another lion and a cheetah. He looked at the other animals that ringed around the King. It seemed that everyone had come and that he was the final member of the unit to arrive. He felt bad, but he had been asked by one of the newer huntresses to help move a fresh kill. The young lioness didn't have the bodyweight to support the wildebeest she had caught, but Tanai knew that it was no excuse for punctuality. He was expected to me there by noon, and he wasn't. Hence, there was no excuse.

"Alright, it's good to see you all again." began Simba. "First thing to discuss is last week's skirmish. Talia and Furo, you both did a great job at warning us of the outlanders, keep up the good work." He said towards a pair of leopards who nodded in appreciation. "However, we need to work on our reaction time. The outlanders got all the way to the waterhole before we intercepted them. Had anyone been out there they would have been at serious risk."

Tanai began to zone out as Simba recounted the events of the Skirmish. He was there, he already knew what happened, and in fact he was the one who gave the analysis to Simba. He looked across the many faces of the listening animals, trying to judge their response.

Most of them were lionesses, the largest and most skilled fighters in the pride. Their numbers were closely followed by the males, mostly former rouges. Ever since Kopa had been killed, Simba had been building a solid defense to repel any further attacks on the Pridelands. He allowed in many of the well behaved rouges on the condition that they would protect the Pride when needed and not compete with the royal family for power. Also among the listeners were other predators including cheetahs, leopards, and even some hyenas. All lived in the Pridelands and viewed the current king with great respect and admiration. They didn't want their home to be ruined by the outlanders in the same way that Scar had during his reign.

Tanai realized he had been zoning out when he snapped back to focus on Simba. He hated when he did that; as the unit leader he needed to be paying attention at all times.

"Is there anything else that anyone wants to address?" Simba finished. The warriors looked around at each other, wondering if anyone was going to offer anything further, but no one did.

Simba nodded when it became clear that they were finished with the review. "All right then. Let's proceed to the training grounds."

The animals stood and followed the king out of the cool shade and across the hot plains towards a diverse bit of terrain not too far from Priderock.

"Tanai," Simba began, falling into step alongside the younger lion. "I meant to ask you how your leg was doing."

Tanai shrugged nonchalantly and looked down at his right leg. The wounds he had received in the skirmish had almost completely disappeared. "I'm fine; Rafiki's salves did their work well."

Simba remained skeptic. "Are you sure? If you don't think you should spar today then you don't have to."

Tanai chuckled. "I'm going to spar whether you like it or not, Simba."

The king frowned. "Fine, but be careful. I don't want you to be injured when the outlanders come back."

Tanai smiled. "Can I take my guys now?"

"Yes, go ahead."

"Okay team two, circle up over here!" he called to the group as they neared the training ground. Once the members had gathered around him he continued. "We're going to start on the agility drills, move to an endurance run, and then once we're good and exhausted we'll finish with sparring."

The team didn't protest verbally, but he could see it in their eyes that they were not pleased with the iterary. Tanai just smiled and led them to the start of the agility course and set them off in groups of three to traverse the fifty-yard obstacle course.

Tanai worked himself into the drills to make sure he got the same amount of exercise as the warriors he was leading. He crossed over logs and around boulders. Up trees, over trenches, and through bushes.

After a several runs of the drill, they moved onto the endurance run as promised. They went around the hot savannah at a fast pace for a while before ending back at the training grounds where Simba was finishing his sparring matches with his team.

"Well you guys lucked out." Tanai said once he caught his breath. "We've got a minute or so before we'll spar."

He looked around at his exhausted team to see expressions of pure relief. Many of the warriors had never trained like this before they joined the unit, and they had to play a bit of catch-up. Tanai, on the other hand, had been doing the drills and exercises ever since he had been taken in by the pride when he was a young cub. He shook his head at the memory; it wasn't something he wanted to revisit.

"We're all set over here." Simba called as he led the first team over to the agility course.

"Thanks," Tanai responded before turning to his team. The division into teams wasn't based on anything other than the need to make training simpler. "Let's go, match up!"

He watched as lions found other lions and cheetahs found other cheetahs. The first match was to be an even match up, as always.

"Tanai?" asked a large lion.

"Yes, Hanta?"

"I would like to challenge you." He said in faked formality.

Tanai chuckled and followed him to an open slot of grass. He assumed the stance Simba had taught him so long ago. Hanta did the same and the two started to circle each other.

Hanta lunged first at Tanai's throat, but fell short when the unit leader pulled back onto his hind legs. From the unusual standing position, Tanai leapt over the over-extended lion and landed on his opposite side. Hanta swung at him, but the paw fell onto open air when he sharply pivoted around his back leg. The spin made Tanai a bit dizzy, but put him in n ideal position next to Hanta's back leg. In a single motion he swept his paw upwards, tripping the larger lion onto his back and pressing into his shoulders for a pin.

"Gotcha." He said through slightly heavy breathing.

Hanta smiled. "I liked it better when you were half my size and I could throw you around like a ragdoll.

Tanai laughed and helped his friend up. "You taught me well."

"And the student has surpassed the master... well I guess it happened a while ago."

"Almost a year."

"What? Has it really been that long?"

Tanai nodded. "I was very proud of myself the day I pinned you for the first time. I remember the day."

Hanta looked at the closest sparring match. "Look at Kala go." He said, clearly impressed. "She only just started training a couple weeks ago and she's really getting the hang of it."

Tanai watched the young lioness carefully. "She's got a good stance, it's well balanced." He cringed as she was slammed to the ground by her opponent and pinned.

He walked over to her and smiled. "Well how did that feel?"

Kala blinked up at him, still a bit dizzy from the blow. "Not too great…" she admitted.

"Well you're doing well in any case."

"Thanks… I'm going to go sit down I think…" she said in a dazed tone.

Tanai turned to see Hanta chuckling. "What?" he asked.

"Just her." Replied. "She reminds me of you."

"How so?" Tanai asked warily. He wasn't quite sure if he was going to like the answer.

"Remember the first skirmish you got into with the outlanders?"

"NO!" he replied to the smirking lion, instantly remembering the event. "Don't bring that up again."

"You got destroyed by that guy!"

"I know… I was there." He replied darkly.

"Don't act all defensive about it, you're one of the best, if not the best fighter we have now. You could take that guy no problem now. Hell, you're even good enough to be my superior."

Tanai rolled his eyes. "Don't go talking about my rank again, I still think of you as my superior."

"You shouldn't." Hanta countered adamantly. "Simba made you the leader of this unit for a reason."

"And what reason would that be?"

"That you're a good leader and that he trusts you to make the right descisions."

"Well thank you, but like I said, I still look up to you."

Hanta shook his head as he walked away to find a new opponent. "You think you're looking up, Tanai, but you're really looking down. You surpassed me a long time ago."

Tanai watched him leave. Maybe Hanta thought he was good enough, but Tanai didn't. He had a long ways to go before he would consider himself to be even close to being a good enough leader, warrior, and person in general.

The afternoon progressed as expected and soon the teams had finished their exercises. After they met back together for some closing remarks, the animals went their seperate ways. The lions went off into Priderock and the others went off to their own families. Tanai was about to head back to the main cave when Simba cut him off.

"Tanai." he said rather seriously.

"Yes?"

"Do you remember the conversation we had before we started the training?"

Tanai thought back to the talk. "Um… that I need to be careful?"

Simba nodded and gestured to his leg.

The younger lion looked down at his leg to see a moderate amount of dried blood that had flowed from his healing wound. "Oh… that. I, uh… no excuse."

Simba laughed. "I'll take that to mean that you just wanted to spar."

Tanai smiled. "Yea, I guess."

Simba shook his head. "I know that you love the danger of it all, but please Tanai, be more careful."

"I know, I know." Tanai muttered. "The Outlanders are going to attack one day and I'll be too injured to-."

Simba cut him off. "No, Tanai. I mean in general; on and off the battlefield. I don't want you to get hurt; and I mean that as a friend, not your commander."

Tanai smiled at the gesture, it was rare for the king to show such affection to a non-family member. Then again, Tanai practically was family. When he had been taken in as a cub Simba acted almost like a father to him. "Thanks Simba. I'll try to be more careful."

The king seemed lost in thought. "You know, Tanai… I don't think I tell you this enough, but I'm very proud of you."

Tanai continued to smile. "Thanks."

Simba was silent for a moment. "Your father would be proud as well."

"He left me." He replied neutrally. It wasn't a touchy subject for Tanai, he just didn't like it when people tried to sugarcoat his father's actions.

"He cared about you." Simba countered. "He wanted to make sure that you were safe, even if he wasn't."

The younger lion nodded. "We still don't know what he was running from. It could have just as easily been a lie to get someone to take me."

"Don't discount your father like that." Simba said sternly. "If you could have seen him the night he brought you to us, you wouldn't be so quick to think like that. He really did care about you."

Tanai sighed. "I know… It's just…"

Simba nodded. "I know it's difficult, but you can't blame him. There was something outside of his control and he did what any parent would do, make sure that their cub was safe."

Tanai knew Simba was right, and truthfully he didn't feel anything towards his father but regret. He regretted not being able to remember much of him, and not being able to know him. He felt regret, but little anger. It wasn't the memory of his father that bothered him so much, but the memory of being young. His father wasn't the only one who was taken from him.

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The stars shone brilliantly in the African sky, more brightly than usual. It was the dry season which meant that there was less humidity and haze to cloud the celestial bodies. Tanai loved this time of year for exactly that reason; the bright night allowed him to see easily at night. He sat atop a large boulder overlooking the waterhole. The moon's light shone on him from both the sky and from its reflection in the glassy water.

He came to this spot often, preferably alone. He didn't consider himself to have had a difficult or unfair childhood, but it definitely hadn't been easy and Simba's mention of his father only brought back other painful memories of a lost childhood friend. Footsteps at the base of the large stone made him look down.

"Hey." Called the lioness on the ground.

"Hey." He replied back to her.

"Mind if I come up there?"

Tanai shrugged. Usually he liked to be alone, but this was the princess. "Not at all."

Kiara climbed the stone side easily and sat beside him. She was silent for a while before speaking. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing."

"Are you thinking about him?"

"Who do you mean?"

"You know who I mean."

Tanai smiled, he did know who she meant. "You know me too well, and yes, I am. It's almost the anniversary."

"I know there's not much I can say to make you feel better, but I am here for you."

"Thanks Kiara. I just wish things could have been different… I wish I was strong enough to-"

"Kopa's death was not your fault, Tanai. You need to accept that."

Tanai sighed and looked at her. She was right of course; he had been just cub when Zira killed the prince, a relatively new member to the Pride and no more able to defend his friend than Kopa was himself. "I know… It's just wrong. He was my best friend."

"I know." She said quietly, resting her head on his shoulder.

Tanai smiled at her gesture. He knew that she liked him, and the feeling was mutual. But they had decided a while ago that it wasn't a good time. Tanai was extremely busy with dealing with the outlanders and Kiara was learning from her mother how to be a good ruler. Besides, they were young and had all the time in the world. There was no need to complicate things now.

He rested his head on top of hers. Even if they weren't officially "together", it still felt good to share the beauty of the night with her.

***Author's Note***

Here's the first chapter and I hope you liked it. Not much actually happened except an introduction to the characters, but it's the exposition as I learned in English class. Tell me what you think of the characters, the plot and all that stuff; I really want to know what you think.

-Ben